Thursday, July 14, 2011

Normal Day, Except...

Tuesday was a normal day—went to my office, had an appointment in Georgia, and then….

I got into my car and a strange light came on my dash. I looked at the radio area and it said to check my tire pressure. My left rear tire only had 22 pounds in it! I was close to Costco so I headed there. I’ve never dealt with them about tires, but I do shop there frequently since they opened. I drove to the side that said “Tire Center” and there were chains across each opening. I got out and asked a couple of workers if the tire center was already closed and they said no and the manager was right there talking to some other workers. I went over to ask him if someone could look at my tire. He said that normally you go through the front door but since I was already back here, pull a little closer to the building and he would get someone. He didn’t say it in a nice way. I told him that I didn’t know. A very nice guy came out and checked all of my tires and he said, yes you only have 22 pounds in this tire. He checked to see how much my tire was supposed to have and put in the air. I then parked in front and went in for about 45 minutes. He had 32 pounds of air in my tire. When I came out, it has 28 pounds of air. This time I went back inside to the tire center and the nice guy was there at the counter and I told him about my tire. He asked if my car was at the side and I told him no, but I would go get it. When he felt of my tire this time, he felt a nail. I asked him if he could fix it and he told me no BECAUSE IT WAS A NON COSTCO TIRE! I told him him that it was 7:30 p.m. and I live in Marion County, what was I going to do? He put 39 pounds of air in my tire and said that should get me home.

When I got off Signal Mountain Road I drove into WalMart’s tire center. I ran into the door and asked if I could get my tire fixed because it had a nail in it. They asked if I was the woman on the interstate with a nail in her tire and I laughed and said there must be another woman out there with the same problem. I learned later that my daughter had called and they said if I got there before 8 p.m. they would fix it. My son-in-law was trying to call me when I got to WalMart and I just didn’t have time to answer. I walked into WalMart at 5 minutes before 8 p.m.

I thanked God for WalMart and they didn’t refuse me because it was a NON WALMART tire! I was scared that I would have a wreck or blowout on the interstate. Something needs to change at Costco.

DR
7/14/11

1 comment:

  1. So glad you got it fixed and made it home alright. We don't have a Costco here but I'll certainly remember this story if we ever do. The only thing worse is being taken advantage of because I'm a woman. I was told by a dealership that all my head gaskets were blown (I was in college).I drove home and it was a $20 fix-definitely NOT head gaskets. A Midas Muffler shop once told me my brakes were shot and I needed $2000.00 worth of work. Took it elsewhere and it was a $100.00 fix.

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