I just got back from getting my snow tires taken off my 06 230 sport. I should have waited a few more weeks but I just got impatient. Anyway, I went to NTB because the stealership wanted over $125 to do it, and the tire place would do it for $60. I get there to pick the car up and the brain surgeon that worked on the car had the front tires on the back rims, and the back tires on the front rims. I just wish I'd had my camera. The tires were in the right corners, but on the wrong rims. The front was sticking out like two inches past the wheel opening, and the back was tucked under the car. Then when I tell the guy they are wrong and he had to do it again, he got ****ty with me and wanted to argue about it. He said he didn't see anything wrong with the way they looked. [sm=badidea.gif] How can it be that people that work on cars can know so little about the cars they are working on? Anyway, at least it is over.

 

Easy its cheaper to hire someone with less knowledge cause they will work for less. Though i do stuff myself if i cant i have found a local import shop and the people there are top notch though they take forever. No problem though cause they do it right.

 

I find it difficult to locate service companies in any industry that are satifactory.

 

Because nobody wants to pay for a good job anymore. The originator of this post bitched becaust the dealer wanted $125.00 so he went to the bix box shop to save a few $. But in the end wasted his time because the 16 yr old didn't know what tire went where.

 

All i know is that $125 is a crazy amount to pay for just a dismount, mount and rebalance. I can go have it done for 20-40 depending if the wheels are on or off the car and this is from people that know what they are doing. The are a family owned business and i have never had any trouble from them. And y do u assume that the person doing it was young? It doesn't matter what the persons age is it just takes common sense or at least put the wheels the same place u found them if u have no common sense.

Dont u work at a dealer anyway?

 

You don't think the dealerships have the most experienced technicians changing tires, do you? It's most likely the "kid" in the garage does that kind of work. And unless he's brand-spankin' new, no one's going to check his work unless he asks someone for an okey dokey.

There are plenty of people who have had shoddy work done at a dealer, and that was by experienced technicians. The fact that they charge a lot of money doesn't make them good. This forum is full of stories of people who've had to take their car back to a dealership several times for the same problem. Sometimes they finally get it fixed, but not always.

 

Im not defending a dealer, the post above was about not finding good service in any industry. I am very aware that you can find very good service from independent shops. Yes I work at a dealership, but that has no bearing on the comment made. It does seem that the majority of employees I run across at bix box chains are teenagers, because if a tech has any skill they move on to dealerships/management/independent shops. I used to be a car audio installer for a big box chain, and as soon as I could hold my own I moved on to a high end independent. In my experience good techs don't stay at big box chains no matter what form of service is provided.

 

Can you really call it a stealership if you can't get the same service anywhere else? Just food for thought. Believe me I hate the dealership as much as anyone. For that matter, I hate almost mechanics.

 

My point is that dealerships aren't always the best choice for the best service. Sometimes their service is poorest. Taking tire service as an example, the dealership is the last place I'd go. They don't specialize in tires and they don't train tire specialists. Tires are an afterthought there. Often they don't know how to handle their specialties, let alone tires.

You can get better service at a tire store. NTB, well, maybe they're getting too big and loose. I usually go to a smaller specialty store like a Goodyear or Merchants store, for example, even though they are chains. Prices there are in-line with those mentioned by mbz300sdl and their primary trade is tires and wheels. They bring up newbies too, but so does every shop, big or small, chain or not. Big chains like NTB just do it more often so the likelihood of running into a true dink is higher. On the other hand, NTB's prices are really aggressive, so that's the appeal if you go there.

 

Lets just limit the service industry to motor vehicle service. Whenever investigators have tested the honesty of these outfits by presenting them with a perfectly working car, more than half will say an expensive repair is needed. That's more than bad service in my book, but certainly it's bad service. Most people I know check around with others to find a competent service person in all areas of service. I think most people would be fine with paying for a good job if they knew it would be done well and guaranteed. At least I would.