November 7, 2008
Wal-Mart Store Manager
1000 Bypass N
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky 40342

“Wal-Mart is committed to providing you superior customer service and a pleasant shopping experience”; someone should tell the Lawrenceburg, Kentucky “TLE” department about this, I don’t think they received the memo.

I took my car in on November 3rd, 2008 to get my tires balanced due to a vibration in my steering wheel. The employees were semi-friendly but nothing that I was impressed with; they balanced my tires and I was all set.

As I drove out of the parking lot, I noticed that the vibration in my steering wheel was actually worse, so I thought I needed an alignment. Due to work and my personal life, I could not get my car in for an alignment until November 6th, 2008. I decided to drop my car off at Goodyear in Frankfort, Kentucky on my way to work and pick it up on my way home.

Goodyear called me and told me that my car didn’t need an alignment; they explained to me that I had two bad tires (belt separation). I explained to him that I had just had my tires balanced and they didn’t mention anything about it; he told me that whoever balanced my tires should have picked up on it immediately. The problem was not something that just happened immediately but had happened over time and one tire was extremely bad.

I called the Wal-Mart in Lawrenceburg and explained the situation and they said they couldn’t do anything to help me until they saw the tires. I left work early in order to drive my car from Frankfort to Lawrenceburg safely (hitting the roads before the afternoon traffic); the guy at Goodyear told me that the one tire was extremely bad and could blow out at anytime.

I made it to Lawrenceburg Wal-Mart safely and explained the entire situation to the “manager” of TLE (Daniel). He went out and had the guys take my tires off and check them. I watched and realized that the way they checked to see if the belt was messed up was to put it on the balance machine; the same machine they used just a few days early. The guy doing it this time automatically picked up on the issue and quickly tested all 4 tires. Daniel came in and told me that all four tires were bad but two of them were still covered under Manufacture Warranty because I had bought them there and there was a known problem with this line of tire; so two of my tires were completely, 100% free and then I would have to buy two and my car would be fixed.

The guy on the phone from earlier had told me that they had 2 of the tire I needed in stock and to go ahead and bring the car in; Daniel tells me that the computer says they have two but they actually only have one. They call a few other Wal-Marts and find three of the same tire in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. The tell me to drive my car to Harrodsburg to get the other three tires and they will go ahead and sell me the one tire they have; Daniel told me that Harrodsburg would have to honor the Manufacture Warranty and if they had a problem with that, give him a call. He told me that since I had to have four new tires (two of which I had to pay full price), I should just buy the tire there and then buy one tire in Harrodsburg and get the other two for free.

Instead of putting my good tire that I just bought on, they put it in my passenger seat. After they put my tires back on my car, they came in to tell me that they broke one of my wheels (the center piece that covers the lugnuts) and that if I order and pay for one, they may reimburse me. They also explain to me that Goodyear “cross threaded” one of my lugnuts but they got it back on but they can’t ensure me that it will go on again. (How do I know they didn’t cross thread it on November 3rd or just then since the waited to tell me until they put it back on?)

The employees were very rude and actually acted like the situation was my fault; the guy pulled my car out and I told him “thanks” and he just looked at me and walked off. The only bright spot was the one female employee there at the time. She was nice and tried to do what she could to help me.

I headed to Harrodsburg to get the three remaining tires; when I got there, I asked to talk to the highest manager in the store at the time. I explained the situation to him and he gave me over to the TLE guy and told me he would “take care of the situation”. I will admit that the employees in Harrodsburg were extremely friendly, they listened to me, they explained stuff to me, they talked to me, they quickly went to work on my car and it was a totally different experience. (I will be taking my car to Harrodsburg Wal-Mart the next time it needs work, it’s well worth the drive!)

The only problem that I have with the Harrodsburg store is the way they “took care of the situation”; they fixed the situation by selling me another tire. Since the tire was covered under the Manufacture Warranty, they did take a few dollars off based on the amount of tread used. I told them to call Daniel, which they did, but that didn’t help anything.

In the end, I had two bad tires that should have been replaced based on the Manufacture’s Warranty because the tire was faulty (nothing that I did) and instead, I had to buy a new tire at full price and another tire at a small discounted rate. I don’t believe this situation has been taken care of and since the highest “in store” manager couldn’t get the job done, I have decided to write to you. I will also be sending this to our local newspaper, featuring it on www.sharkysworld.com and telling everyone that I can about the lack of customer service; I wouldn’t take my car back to Lawrenceburg TLE for anything, not even new windshield wiper blades.

I believe the best way to take care of this situation would be to issue me a gift card (I would rather have all the money I am out back but I doubt that will happen) and a letter of apology. The way I see it, I am out a lot more money than I should be; here is a break down –

$20.00 – Balance from November 3rd which obviously never actually happened because if it had, he would have noticed that two of my tires wouldn’t even turn straight on the machine, which means they wouldn’t have balanced correctly.

$20.00 – I have no idea how much it will cost to get my wheel fixed because of the cross threaded lugnut that I’m 99% sure was caused by a Wal-Mart employee.

$20.00 – my wheel center piece, I’m sure it will be much more than this because I have to order it from a Nissan dealer because it’s the actual wheels and not just hub caps. (there are two of my centerpieces that are now broke that weren’t before my trip to Lawrenceburg TLE but they didn’t admit to the other one so I don’t feel I can ask for that).

$20.00 – the discount for the new tire I bought in Lawrenceburg because it was covered under the Manufacture’s Warranty. Daniel explained to me that I had to buy two new tires because all four were bad, however, the guy in Harrodsburg told me I only had two bad tires which means I should have gotten two new tires at a discounted rated.

This doesn’t include almost an entire day wasted running around Kentucky, the gas wasted or the fact that your employees put me in danger; not once, but twice, by putting a tire with a broken belt back on my car and telling me it was safe to drive. Instead of putting the tire I bought in Lawrenceburg on my car to replace the bad tire, they put it in my passenger seat and told me that the guys in Harrodsburg would fix it.

If this situation is not taken care of; my next step will be filing a consumer complaint with the Kentucky Office of The Attorney General and the Central Kentucky Better Business Bureau (BBB).

If this is what you consider “committed to providing you superior customer service and a pleasant shopping experience”; then they failed…miserably.

Thank you for your time.