Wal-Mart Auto Tire Scam

On Friday, August 22, 2014 11:52:21 PM UTC-7, wrote:
>
> The warranties are printed on the reverse of every single work
> order at Walmart. Your accusation is simply libelous.

Not for the one I got just 5 days ago -- completely blank on back.

The website was hardly better. All it said was this:


Assembled Country of Origin: USA
Components Country of Origin: USA
Warranty Length: 60,000 miles
Supplier Warranty: 60,000 miles

February 18, 2016

Goodyear Tire and Rubber should stop manufacturing Viva car tires, sold exclusively by Wal-Mart stores. These tires cannot be properly balanced and cause vibration of the car and eventually cause the feeling that the car wheels are wobbling as the car travels down the street or highway. These cheap "economy tires" will cause premature wear on expensive steering and front-end suspension parts, not to mention the disconcerting vibration of the car. Three years ago I bought a set of four Goodyear Viva tires at our local Wal-Mart and put a total of 6,000 miles on them (I'm retired). I had Wal-Mart rebalance them twice during this time period. It's been a year since the last rebalancing, and the car "wobbles" down the street so intensely, it just made a lot more sense to replace them, than to balance them "for free" again. I ordered a set of Michelin tires online from Wal-Mart and had them install the tires this week. Wow! What a difference. The car runs smoothly again with no vibration or wobbly feeling. I always regarded "Goodyear" as a rock-solid, fine American manufacturer --- an American institution of yesteryear, as well as an American "icon" and a giant of American industry. I'll never, ever buy any kind of Goodyear tires again, and I advise the public to do the same. Is this what you get when you buy "Made in America"? It's beyond belief that Goodyear and Wal-Mart put so many millions of these horrible, badly made tires on our roads. I'm P.O.'d, big time.

P.O.'d Pete > wrote:
> It's beyond belief that Goodyear and Wal-Mart put so many millions o=
>f these horrible, badly made tires on our roads. I'm P.O.'d, big time.

Is this the first time you have ever shopped at Wal-Mart?

_Everything_ at Wal-Mart is like this. They specialize in cheapened-down
versions of legitimate products. You can buy a TV set that says SONY on the
front and looks like a normal SONY set, but when it breaks down you'll find
it's a special model made only for Wal-Mart, Sony won't sell repair docs
and their normal repair centers won't touch it.

What did you EXPECT for Wal-Mart tires?
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

"P.O.'d Pete" wrote:

Here's the only part of your post that matters...

> Viva car tires, sold exclusively by Wal-Mart stores.

http://mythreecents.com/reviews/walmart-viva2

On 2016-03-17, Scott Dorsey > wrote:
> _Everything_ at Wal-Mart is like this. They specialize in cheapened-down
> versions of legitimate products.

Other big-box stores do the same thing. That "John Deere" garden tractor
at Home Depot or Lowes is a "value-engineered" product actually built by
another company under license. (Usually MTD.) Likewise with things like
name-brand water heaters etc. at those stores. They are special cost-cut
versions that you'll be hard-pressed to get parts and service for later.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roger Blake (Posts from Google Groups killfiled due to excess spam.)

NSA sedition and treason -- http://www.DeathToNSAthugs.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roger Blake > wrote:
>On 2016-03-17, Scott Dorsey > wrote:
>> _Everything_ at Wal-Mart is like this. They specialize in cheapened-down
>> versions of legitimate products.
>
>Other big-box stores do the same thing. That "John Deere" garden tractor
>at Home Depot or Lowes is a "value-engineered" product actually built by
>another company under license. (Usually MTD.) Likewise with things like
>name-brand water heaters etc. at those stores. They are special cost-cut
>versions that you'll be hard-pressed to get parts and service for later.

Oh, absolutely. After all, they have to compete with Wal-Mart!
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Friday, April 7, 2006 at 4:24:14 PM UTC-5, wrote:
> I'd like to let people know about a fraudulent automobile tire scam
> going
> on at Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express stores.
>
> Wal-Mart has agreements with tire manufacturers such as Goodyear and
> Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich (same company) to exclusively sell certain
> tires
> from these manufacturers. These include the Goodyear Viva/Viva II/Viva
>
> Touring, Uniroyal Radial A/S and others. However, the manufacturers DO
>
> NOT provide their normal warranties for these tires. If you search on
> these
> tire names on the manufacturer's websites, you will find that they
> specifically
> disclaim warranty coverage for these tires, and say that warranty
> coverage is
> only available through Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart provides no such disclaimer
> in their
> advertising, so there is no way to know this without going to the
> manufacturer's websites. Customers are led to believe that they are
> buying
> national-brand tires with a national warranty, when they are not. It
> appears
> that these manufacturers are simply allowing their names to be used so
> they
> can sell a high volume of lower-quality tires through Wal-Mart.
>
> However, the problem is much more serious. Wal-Mart still advertises
> mileage
> and defect warranties for these tires, but in fact, they WILL NOT
> provide
> copies of warranties to customers, nor are they available in the stores
> or by
> mail. These warranties apparently DO NOT EXIST. This is a violation
> of
> Federal Trade Commission regulations under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty
> Act,
> which requires advertised warranties to be provided to customers or be
> available in stores. (See "A Businessperson's Guide To Federal
> Warranty Law"
> at www.ftc.gov). It is also a violation of federal and state laws for
> deceptive sales practices.
>
> I have tried for nearly a year to get a copy of the warranty for some
> tires
> that I purchased at Wal-Mart, and they will not send it to me. The
> Wal-Mart
> managers and customer service people seem oblivious to the requirements
>
> of the federal regulations. Even worse, an automotive consumer radio
> show on
> KKZN radio (760 AM) in Denver has reported that Wal-Mart is not
> honoring
> these advertised tire mileage warranties. Obviously, if they won't
> give you a copy of the warranty, it makes it impossible to enforce it's
> terms.
>
> This same sort of scam is going on with various manufacturers of other
> products
> such as car batteries. For example, Exide batteries will not honor
> warranties
> for their auto batteries sold through the now-defunct Country General
> farm
> supply stores.
>
> Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich and Goodyear are well aware of this
> situation and
> disclaim any responsibility. I will not buy any
> Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich tires or
> Goodyear tires so long as this nonsense is going on.
>
> I would suggest that, whenever you buy tires, ask for a copy of a
> MANUFACTURER'S warranty in advance, before you buy the tires. Don't
> settle for a store warranty or verbal promises. If the warranty has a
> list of
> tire models that are covered, make sure your model is listed. If you
> don't
> have something in writing, you've got no warranty.

You get what you pay for.

Andy

On Friday, March 18, 2016 at 4:20:53 PM UTC-5, Andy K wrote:
> On Friday, April 7, 2006 at 4:24:14 PM UTC-5, wrote:
> > I'd like to let people know about a fraudulent automobile tire scam
> > going
> > on at Wal-Mart Tire and Lube Express stores.
> >
> > Wal-Mart has agreements with tire manufacturers such as Goodyear and
> > Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich (same company) to exclusively sell certain
> > tires
> > from these manufacturers. These include the Goodyear Viva/Viva II/Viva
> >
> > Touring, Uniroyal Radial A/S and others. However, the manufacturers DO
> >
> > NOT provide their normal warranties for these tires. If you search on
> > these
> > tire names on the manufacturer's websites, you will find that they
> > specifically
> > disclaim warranty coverage for these tires, and say that warranty
> > coverage is
> > only available through Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart provides no such disclaimer
> > in their
> > advertising, so there is no way to know this without going to the
> > manufacturer's websites. Customers are led to believe that they are
> > buying
> > national-brand tires with a national warranty, when they are not. It
> > appears
> > that these manufacturers are simply allowing their names to be used so
> > they
> > can sell a high volume of lower-quality tires through Wal-Mart.
> >
> > However, the problem is much more serious. Wal-Mart still advertises
> > mileage
> > and defect warranties for these tires, but in fact, they WILL NOT
> > provide
> > copies of warranties to customers, nor are they available in the stores
> > or by
> > mail. These warranties apparently DO NOT EXIST. This is a violation
> > of
> > Federal Trade Commission regulations under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty
> > Act,
> > which requires advertised warranties to be provided to customers or be
> > available in stores. (See "A Businessperson's Guide To Federal
> > Warranty Law"
> > at www.ftc.gov). It is also a violation of federal and state laws for
> > deceptive sales practices.
> >
> > I have tried for nearly a year to get a copy of the warranty for some
> > tires
> > that I purchased at Wal-Mart, and they will not send it to me. The
> > Wal-Mart
> > managers and customer service people seem oblivious to the requirements
> >
> > of the federal regulations. Even worse, an automotive consumer radio
> > show on
> > KKZN radio (760 AM) in Denver has reported that Wal-Mart is not
> > honoring
> > these advertised tire mileage warranties. Obviously, if they won't
> > give you a copy of the warranty, it makes it impossible to enforce it's
> > terms.
> >
> > This same sort of scam is going on with various manufacturers of other
> > products
> > such as car batteries. For example, Exide batteries will not honor
> > warranties
> > for their auto batteries sold through the now-defunct Country General
> > farm
> > supply stores.
> >
> > Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich and Goodyear are well aware of this
> > situation and
> > disclaim any responsibility. I will not buy any
> > Michelin/Uniroyal/Goodrich tires or
> > Goodyear tires so long as this nonsense is going on.
> >
> > I would suggest that, whenever you buy tires, ask for a copy of a
> > MANUFACTURER'S warranty in advance, before you buy the tires. Don't
> > settle for a store warranty or verbal promises. If the warranty has a
> > list of
> > tire models that are covered, make sure your model is listed. If you
> > don't
> > have something in writing, you've got no warranty.
>
> You get what you pay for.
>
> Andy

The old now defunct Gibson discount stores. One time I bought some tires there. They had a thing with a gas station just up the street that mounted the tires.

On Thu, 17 Mar 2016 20:09:18 -0800, "Sanity Clause"
> wrote:

>
>"P.O.'d Pete" wrote:
>
>Here's the only part of your post that matters...
>
>> Viva car tires, sold exclusively by Wal-Mart stores.
>
>http://mythreecents.com/reviews/walmart-viva2
>

Looks like 7 years of complaints about the same tire. Yet they keep
selling them. I wonder if most of the people who buy them tend to be
people who just drive around on city streets and rarely go over 60 mph
and don't notice the flat spots as much and don't subject the tire to
the heat from high speed driving that makes them fail.

Can't say I'm terribly surprised to read this about cheap tires sold at Wally World.

I had a similar feeling about Primewell, which apparently is a cheap Chinese brand made for Firestone shops. Maybe Primewells aren't as bad as Vivas, who knows.

I almost bought a set of four Primewells due to the attractive price, but then had a sudden onset of good sense.

Instead, I bought a set of four Firestone Affinity Tourings. They were a little less than what I paid for four Michelins at Costco almost 6 years ago.. I doubt any Firestone tire is quite as good as a Michelin, but they seem OK so far. They're certainly a massive upgrade from those Primewells.