Living in a small town is really funny . . or not so much sometimes. First, Sunday night there were two murders probably less than 3 miles from my house and because (1) our town newspaper isn’t printed on Sunday or Monday, even when Monday isn’t a holiday and (2) our “local” tv station in Joplin which is 65 or 70 miles away, was taken out in a tornado a month or so ago, we didn’t know anything about it til Vince got to work on Tuesday. Chad was camping and by the time he got back in town, he knew all about it. According to Chad, the 17 year old who allegedly stabbed 14 and 18 year old girls, had been at the same lake where Chad and his friends were camping, though he wasn’t camping with them. Anyway, where else can you live and know nothing about two murders so close to your house? Not that I needed to know . . but it’s weird not having access to local news.
Back to the tires . . Chad and I took his car in last week for the tire guy to look at his tires. Yep, they’re bad. They need to be changed real soon. They have to be ordered because Chad’s car takes weird tires. The guy was telling me that tires these days don’t really come with mileage warranty. OK . . not so sure about that but I’m not going to argue . . especially since Chad didn’t have his receipt.
I came home and looked on the blog (where every issue of my life seems to be documented!) and the tires were ordered in September so I went to the tire manufacturer’s website and they say those tires have an 85,000 mile warranty . . not that you get free tires if they don’t last 85,000 miles but there is some warranty. Chad and I started figuring when he’d had his oil changed and we knew how many times he’d had his oil changed and he never goes over 4,000 miles between oil changes so we knew he didn’t even have 10,000 miles on the tires. I called the tire guy back.
Me: I checked on the Kumho website and those tires are supposed to have an 85,000 mile warranty.
Him: Hmmm
Me: I think there should be some kind of warranty on them since you aligned the car in January, Chad has had the tires rotated once and the way we figure it, Chad doesn’t even have 10,000 miles on those tires.
Him: Hmmm
Me: Don’t you think there should be some kind of warranty?
Him: Sure seems like it!
Me: You’re the dealer! What do we do?
Him: I don’t know!
OK .. time for Vince to get involved. This is not what I’m used to encountering when I deal with tires. Forever, I’d dealt with Pumpelly Tire in Lake Charles and had better than excellent service. In KY, we dealt with Shelby’s Tire and they were fantastic too.
Vince called the tire dealer and they told him basically that he was going to have to talk to Kumho and see what they said. The tire dealer here did go back and find the receipt (no computers here!) where the tires were put on in November so Chad probably didn’t have more than 6,000 miles on them.
Vince called Kumho and it went back and forth for several days and finally, today Chad got tires. Last I heard, he was going to have to pay about $13 per tire (instead of $95 per tire) but by the time Vince and Chad got there to pay, the guy they needed to talk to was gone so they’ll take care of paying tomorrow.
A friend who lives near here in KS had given me the name of a tire shop in KS they deal with . . in case Chad needed tire work while he was at school, so I think we’ll be dealing with them from now on.
Peggy says
It is strange when things happen so close and you know nothing about it, but the same thing happens here. We heard on the Paducah news that a man had died in KY lake near where we live. Then we heard a day later from someone at the hospital who’s son works with the water patrol group that found the body that the man lived in our town and also Texas. It took a while, but my husband put together who the man was and he lives in our neighborhood. We really didn’t know him, because he is now the owner of his mother’s place. She passed away last year. If the address had not been in the paper a couple of days later with the report of it being an accidental death, we would not have know it was him.
Tires are the most important part of the car and I agree with you that you need to find a new place to get tires. It is hard to believe only one manufacturer makes the tire that Chad needs. I have never heard of that brand, so they must not be something sold to us with “family” cars.
JudyL says
It’s not that only one manufacturer makes them but it’s an odd size and the small dealers around here don’t stock that size so it has to be ordered and they only carry a few brands. Chad works at Wal-Mart so it would be easy to get the tires from them and have them installed while he’s working but Wal-Mart can’t even get the size tire he needs. I’d never heard of Kumho either but since my tires were bought at the same shop, there’s a good chance it’s what I now have too. I’ll have to check it out.
ewellette says
Sorry to tell you I heard about it in Tennessee probally before you did. My best friend was telling me about it. Both of the girls did not make it. So So So Sad. I well remember the news (or lateness of) from when I lived there. Back then we had Mon- Sat news, and the paper came by way of the mailman and was always a day or more late used to drive me nuts.
As for the tires, was it North of town, or kinda across the street from Vince’s work? Sounds like near work….Doesn’t really surprise me. You have to just keep on top of things like you did. As for Walmart tires, I had to replace them long before the “required” time with them …. twice, never again.
Cindy says
Whaaaaaattt? I didn’t hear anything about a double murder! There wasn’t anything in the Pittsburg paper yesterday or today either.
Yeah, Wiseman’s here in town is the best.
Cheryl L says
I read the Springfield paper online everyday (since we used to live there) and read about the murders, too, and wondered if it was very far from you.
As for the tires….well, it seems that NOTHING lasts as long as it used to, and I’m convinced that is by design. They COULD make them last LONGER than they used to, but then they wouldn’t sell as many would they? Pretty soon even warranties will be a thing of the past, or the only way to get one will be to buy it, as is the case sometimes now anyway. It all makes you crazy if you let it, but these days much of what is going on makes me crazy=)
Pat says
I’m glad the tire issue is resolving in a more fair manner that it originally seemed was going to happen. Scary about the murderer having been at the same lake area where Chad was camping…how sad for the families of the people killed by that guy.
Maria Stahl says
You mean you don’t have small-town radar, either? Most of my town knows stuff before it actually happens. I never hear anything.
Nancy says
Shoot, I never know what’s going on in my own neigherhood and I am home all day!! LOL We only have the “free county” paper and there is only one page of “news”.
Glad about the tires. I finally finished a fight with the local hospital billing dept yesterday. I had to go to the Chief Financial Officer to get a refund due us….
Hope to pick up the check today….
Julie says
Radio my friend, Radio. Am is great, though NPR on FM will work. I heard of the two stabbings by radio Monday I think. Thought of you, but seeing that your town ISN’T that LITTLE! LOL I didn’t figure you were involved (thank heavens!) or knew of these people.
There has to be another tire dealership in your not so little town. I’d change if I were you!
Marla says
Judy, I am proud of you for not giving up on getting those tires for Chad. That is a lot of money you saved! Also, did you know that if you look on the sidewall of the tire somewhere, there is a date on them that shows how long they are supposed to be good for? I will have to ask my DH exactly as it was over a year ago I found this out. This is because so many tire dealers stock pile these tires and over time, they can dry rot even if never used. Supposed to be a safety protection. The average consumer does not know this. I sure didn’t until a friend told me. Also, although there is a actual specified weight that each tire is supposed to have, most people do not keep enough air in their tires. My DH keeps our tires about 35-40 #, not the 30# the tire states should be. Low tire pressure wears tires out very fast. One of the reasons Firestone has those lawsuits in the late 90’s and early 2000 was that people driving Explorers did not have enough air in them. Just something to think about and wanted to share. Just google “tire expiration dates” for more information.
ruth anne shorter says
The things I learn here!!! I am going to remember the tire pressure and the date on tires. Go Judy, for all that hard work helping to solve the tire problem. I get so tired fighting for what is right—I am encouraged by you.