A $300 plus POT HOLE! I think I "won". Update#66

[DawnCt1]

I was out shopping today and transversed a parking lot with two way traffic and a group of unavoidable pot holes that weren't evident until it was too late.
With 5 minutes I had a flat on my basically newish tire. The side wall blew out, probably a laceration. The new tire is arriving tomorrow, I am driving on a donut so I called the property manager of the strip mall that basically told me to "pound sand". Rather than pounding sand, I took pictures of their "meticulously maintained parking lot", uploaded them, and emailed them to the person who told me to pound sand, along with a letter detailing our conversation and the situation. I CC'd the businesses in the strip mall; well known names. Within five minutes of hitting "send", I got a phone call. Now they want to "work with me" but will I resind the emails to the leasees. I assured them I would when I was made "whole". Tomorrow I get my tire. I will will fax them the bill. (over $300) and then I will cc them on my "wonderful customer experience" with the property management company. Wish me LUCK!

 

[C.Ann]

Good luck! You got off easy with just a flat - pot holes can do some serious damage to your car.. Your "quick thinking" will hopefully pan out for you..

 

[DawnCt1]

Good luck! You got off easy with just a flat - pot holes can do some serious damage to your car.. Your "quick thinking" will hopefully pan out for you..

I am glad I took pictures. I think those pot holes will be gone by tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Libby X 3]

Shame about the tire. Hopefully now they will work with you like they should have in the first place.

 

[golfgal]

$300 for ONE TIRE????? Are they gold plated??? I am glad I don't drive your car. Good for you for holding them responsible though. I just hope they don't see it as blackmail and now that they have your email--it doesn't get forwarded to the police.

 

[DawnCt1]

$300 for ONE TIRE????? Are they gold plated??? I am glad I don't drive your car. Good for you for holding them responsible though. I just hope they don't see it as blackmail and now that they have your email--it doesn't get forwarded to the police.

I don't know how it can be considered black mail. I didn't threaten to email the companies. I did email the companies. They have the CC. Its a consumer complaint with real damage by a company that didn't maintain their shopping mall. $303 plus tax to be exact. I have an all wheel drive CTS with wide, low profile tires. Michelins.

 

[DawnCt1]

Shame about the tire. Hopefully now they will work with you like they should have in the first place.

I did them a favor. Christmas shopping and the main driveway is a bombed out mess.

 

[golfgal]

I don't know how it can be considered black mail. I didn't threaten to email the companies. I did email the companies. They have the CC. Its a consumer complaint with real damage by a company that didn't maintain their shopping mall. $303 plus tax to be exact. I have an all wheel drive CTS with wide, low profile tires. Michelins.

The blackmail comes when you sent the email to the other retailers in the mall basically saying, "pay for my tire or else". The problem is you also included the "or else" already.

$300 for ONE TIRE???? Ok, maybe I don't know much about tires but I just put new tires on my van and the 4 of them were $400.

 

[C.Ann]

I am glad I took pictures. I think those pot holes will be gone by tomorrow afternoon.

I think it was last year that DD's FIL had an accident about 2 miles down the road from here.. He got rear-ended at a stop sign.. First he called the police, then he called here to have DD come down and take photos of the damage to both cars.. Smart thinking.. These days you can never be too careful..

 

[C.Ann]

Michelins.

That says a lot.. DD's DH just had to buy 4 new ones for DD's SUV..
He's still sobbing about it...

 

[DawnCt1]

The blackmail comes when you sent the email to the other retailers in the mall basically saying, "pay for my tire or else". The problem is you also included the "or else" already.

$300 for ONE TIRE???? Ok, maybe I don't know much about tires but I just put new tires on my van and the 4 of them were $400.

I actually didn't say "or else". I reinterated the conversation, described the situation and sent the pictures. I CC'd the retailers in on that email with the pictures. If I were replacing all four tires, they wouldn't be with Michelins, but the car is new and they need to match.

 

[manning]

300 sounds about right. I have a new mountaineer and if I got Michelin it would be about $200 per tire and they are standard 18 inchers.

 

[JR6ooo4]

How fast were you going? to cause such damage to a relatively brand new tire!

Mikeeee

 

[MouseketeerOvaHere]

I love how all the whistle blowers/nay-sayers come out in full force on these threads.

Dawn, I commute on a hwy that is littered with pot holes and I carry a camera in my car just for this reason. Well that and in case of an accident but more so for the road conditions. I have been lucky thus far but some of my co-worker have been a victim of the wheel biters. I just replaced a tire on my Tacoma from a pinch flat and it came right to $275 after dismount, mount, balance, and new valve stem. Very smart taking quick action. Good luck.

 

[DawnCt1]

How fast were you going? to cause such damage to a relatively brand new tire!

Mikeeee

I was speeding through that parking lot at just about 10 mph... right along with the rest of the traffic. Its the main drive way through the parking lot, not in the area where the cars park.

 

[RitaE]

eh, okay.
But you know - it was a parking lot where you were driving 10mph - not 4 lanes of bumper to bumper interstate traffic going 70.

I have to wonder why you didn't just avoid the humongous hole in front of your car and save everybody all that fuss.

 

[phorsenuf]

I was out shopping today and transversed a parking lot with two way traffic and a group of unavoidable pot holes that weren't evident until it was too late.
With 5 minutes I had a flat on my basically newish tire. The side wall blew out, probably a laceration. The new tire is arriving tomorrow, I am driving on a donut so I called the property manager of the strip mall that basically told me to "pound sand". Rather than pounding sand, I took pictures of their "meticulously maintained parking lot", uploaded them, and emailed them to the person who told me to pound sand, along with a letter detailing our conversation and the situation. I CC'd the businesses in the strip mall; well known names. Within five minutes of hitting "send", I got a phone call. Now they want to "work with me" but will I resind the emails to the leasees. I assured them I would when I was made "whole". Tomorrow I get my tire. I will will fax them the bill. (over $300) and then I will cc them on my "wonderful customer experience" with the property management company. Wish me LUCK!

I don't think emailing the businesses in the mall was a proper thing to do. And telling the property management company that you'll rescind the emails AFTER they make you whole seems a little blackmailish to me. You should have just cc'd all the higher ups at the property management company instead of the leasees. Why did you need to involve them?

 

[tinatark]

Come on people, I know many of you don't *like* Dawn, but give it a break!

Blackmail? Gold plated $300 tires? Why didn't she avoid it?

I am happy to see a consumer standing up and having a corp. do the right thing... we should all do it instead of letting their "policies" stand when their negligence causes damage to our property.

 

[phorsenuf]

Come on people, I know many of you don't *like* Dawn, but give it a break!

Blackmail? Gold plated $300 tires? Why didn't she avoid it?

I am happy to see a consumer standing up and having a corp. do the right thing... we should all do it instead of letting their "policies" stand when their negligence causes damage to our property.

I have no issue for her taking her complaints to the management company. I don't agree with getting the leasees involved.

 

[DawnCt1]

eh, okay.
But you know - it was a parking lot where you were driving 10mph - not 4 lanes of bumper to bumper interstate traffic going 70.

I have to wonder why you didn't just avoid the humongous hole in front of your car and save everybody all that fuss.

Because I have nothing better to do that deliberately hit pot holes and waste my afternoon. The car in front of me obscured the pot hole and there was on coming traffic going the other way, so I couldn't turn out suddenly into their path.