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Miserable Attitude - Tallaght tyres, Old Bawn.

kruger73

Folks,
We all know considerable savings can be made through purchasing tyres online, compared to the prices on the high street here. I appreciate costs involved in maintaining workshop, staff, etc in central locations and have no quibble with it, but will continue to buy online when savings made justify it.
I am interested to know what people consider a reasonable charge to fit and balance a tyre to a rim? Rim already off the car. Time involved - possibly 10 mins, max 15?
I am finding some tyre workshops have a bad attitude towards somebody arriving with a tyre not purchased from them.
Specifically Tallaght tyres in Oldbawn. Wanted €25 from my wife for one tyre to be put on the spare rim (which didn't have a tyre on it, so no waste charge) and balanced.
When I rang and politely questioned the person involved he hung up on me and told me he wouldnt welcome my business.
As someone who runs a business myself, I believe it would have been smarter for him to argue his case and perhaps win future business from me?

My wife had €10 on her, and he sent her away with a tyre on a rim not balanced. She found his attitude to be intimidating and condescending. As I find myself with many of these individuals, they would have you believe there is some sort of dark art involved in the service they provide, which gives them the right to condescend gruffly to people. Simple manners cost nothing.

I am ultimately asking if people think the €25 was a fair price? Am I being unrealistic?

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smash

why argue over €25 to get a tyre done right?

You wouldn't argue with a solicitor when they want about €100 to type a letter or about 15k to help you sign documents when you're buying a house!

delly

The price is the price, just because its not an industry where everything has a pricetag on it, you feel that you can haggle?

Seriously, next time you in Tesco's, try to haggle on your groceries and see how far you get.

silver campaign

I don't work in a tyre depot, but if and did and someone arrived with a tyre
under their arm and asked me to fit it, I'd tell them where to go.
If you want the use of their staff skills and expensive equipment, the least you could do I stump up the extra few euro and buy a tyre off them.
When will people learn the basics of economics. Buying locally and supporting local business is better in the long run.

Paulw

delly wrote: »

The price is the price, just because its not an industry where everything has a pricetag on it, you feel that you can haggle?

What's wrong with trying to haggle? It's good business. Most companies/businesses would prefer to keep a customer and have them return than to just turn away business, especially in the current economic climate.

Nothing wrong with asking why the price is the price.

If you don't like the price, you're free to go elsewhere.

I personally don't think the €25 was too expensive, but no harm asking for it to be done cheaper.

hobochris

I think the op is complaining more about the attitude.

In fairness from the ops description, the guy on the other end of the phone could have been a lot nicer and polite and said sorry but that is the best price I can do, which even tough slightly above the Ops expectations may have resulted in the business. A lot of people don't mind paying slightly more then expected if the other person is being upfront and pleasant with them.

kruger73

And the question I asked the board was whether I was being unrealistic about the 25€, not to receive a lecture on the right to haggle or buying locally.
And for the record, many solicitors will negotiate fees. Particularly in the current economic situation.

meboloxitis

I agree with you on this one OP.

You are entitled to negotiate a price for a service from this company. They don't have to agree to this but they could have handled this customer query better! To hang up the phone on you like that entitles you to tell as many people as possible about their crappy customer service imo.

I think it is a disgrace the way they turned your wife away like that. Companys have been getting away with treating customers like crap in this country for far too long & customer service should be their number 1 priority.

We get so many referrals in my company for doing a good job & looking after our customers. I would never hang up the phone like that on a potential customer for fear of damaging our reputation.

In response to what the other posters replied.... WTF?
Put yourself in the OP's situation for 1 minute and re-read your post

_Kaiser_

In fairness to the OP, I don't think it's the price so much as the attitude he/his wife were met with that he has an issue with.

I'd agree with him. If the guy he spoke to was "intimidating and condescending" then that doesn't make good business sense - particularly in the current climate - where there's no shortage of garages competing for customers.

So what if the OP didn't buy the tire there. There's a lot of garages that have no issue with this (look on Eiretyres for example), and at the end of the day a job is a job.

The days of companies picking and choosing their business are over, and the sooner some of them wake up to that the better for them and the customer.

leon8v

silver campaign wrote: »

I don't work in a tyre depot, but if and did and someone arrived with a tyre
under their arm and asked me to fit it, I'd tell them where to go.
If you want the use of their staff skills and expensive equipment, the least you could do I stump up the extra few euro and buy a tyre off them.
When will people learn the basics of economics. Buying locally and supporting local business is better in the long run.

Well in fairness, you could also argue that people should also learn the basics of business. With the dawn of the internet and availablity of almost everything online, its going to happen that if tyres are available on the internet much cheaper than here, then people are going to buy them on the internet. Now if this tyre guy had a bit of business sense, he might take advantage of this. Lets say he has €10000 worth of equipment for fitting a tyre in the form of the tyre fitting machine and balancing machine. If they were to charge €15 to fit a tyre and lets be generous here and say they do 5 tyres an hour, which in reality could be doubled, then they are taking in €75 per hour, that means it would take just over 133 hours to pay for the equipment alone which is just over 3/4 weeks work. Now if you look at the reality of this its not going to be in use every hour of every day but rather than getting into a huff because someone didnt buy the tyre off them and they lost out on the margin on the tyre, they should be thinking about the margin they could be making on the fitting of tyres. In fact if any of these guys had any sense they would be advertising that they will fit tyres that customers bring in themselves. There will always be customers who cant wait for internet tyres to be delivered and will buy in the tyre places so they wont lose tyre sales completely. Actually maybe I should invest in a tyre machine myself!!:D

As for the €25 per wheel charge, its a bit pricey. From memory the last time I got a set of tyres fitted, It was €15 per wheel or close enough and that included taking them off the car although I gave him a hand myself but he priced it before he knew I was going to take the next one off each time for him. That was in Rounabout tyres at walkinstown roundabout. Have always found them friendly to deal with.

Anan1

steve06 wrote: »

why argue over €25 to get a tyre done right?

You wouldn't argue with a solicitor when they want about €100 to type a letter or about 15k to help you sign documents when you're buying a house!

Actually, I would.

bladespin

€15 to €25 depeneding on who and where seems reasonable enough, TBH it sounds pretty cheeky landing at a tyre centre with a tyre from another supplier and expecting them to change it for a tenner, didn't you even ring them to check they'd do it in the first place.

Not too sure of your business acumen either, surely you'd put some value on your time and equipment

particularly as the person showing up with their own tyre is very unlikely to put any substantial business your way in future, a fitting machine costs around €2k, balancer is about the same and you need a compressor to run the changer.

BTW I get my tyres shipped from the UK, most garages/tyre centres will fit them but I make sure to call and ask first.

Gregor Samsa

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

There's a lot of garages that have no issue with this (look on Eiretyres for example), and at the end of the day a job is a job.

Looking on Eiretyres, most of them seem to charge about 15 euro per tyre, plus about 12 euro additional charge if it's an alloy.

OldmanMondeo

Of course you can try and get a better price, just the same as you can bring your business somewhere else if you are not happy with the given price. I know Old Bawn tyres and have heard good things about them. But look at it from both sides, you are not happy spending €25.00 on getting a tyre fitted and balanced, OBT are not happy you not buying the tyre from them.

As regards pricing on tyres, there is very little mark up on tyres and the only way enough money can be made ios to charge the labour of fitting. Factor in the cost of the machines, compressor, wheel balancer, tyre changer, cost of paying someone to fit them, ESB etc. €25 doesn't seem that much now. Also Most tyre guys have copped onto people getting tyres via internet and are charging a lot more for fitting and balancing.

NewApproach

While it's true the tyre place will lose a (probably significant) margin on the sale of the tyre, they also lose the hassle of ordering, keeping, insuring and paying for that stock from the supplier.

In return they get a fee for doing something at no extra cost, the machine is there and the staff aren't going to have to work OT to fit a tyre.

They could take it the wrong way, and tell you to get lost, but considering the customer has the tyre in hand, he is just donating business to a rival.

To me its a no brainer for the tyre place. As for the charge, I think €15/wheel inc. balancing is the general price.

Tigger

im amazed that they'll put on yer dirty internet tyre at any price

if i sold tyres for a living i wouldn't help people who import from a lower vatted area to take advantage of the exchange rate and vat rate and then expect me to put myself outa business

daRobot

kruger73 wrote: »

And the question I asked the board was whether I was being unrealistic about the 25€, not to receive a lecture on the right to haggle or buying locally.
.

There's more preachers on this board than Texas :pac:

Personally, I think EUR25 is way too much to fit a tyre.

I got mine done locally for 15 per tyre (Inc balancing and disposal of old ones), with tyres bought from Camskill. Was happy enough with that rate.

EUR10 might be a seen as not worth the hassle, from the side of the tyre center, especially seeing as it was only one tyre, but there's definitely a point missed here:

If they had been friendly and fitted it for a 10/15 , while pointing out that this was a total one-off, you'd most likely go back to them for other work, and this post may be recommending them as a sound bunch to deal with.

NewApproach

Tigger wrote: »

im amazed that they'll put on yer dirty internet tyre at any price

if i sold tyres for a living i wouldn't help people who import from a lower vatted area to take advantage of the exchange rate and vat rate and then expect me to put myself outa business

Surely providing a service is his business. Thats like saying a car dealer wont service a car for you if you didn't buy it from him also

Anan1

Tigger wrote: »

im amazed that they'll put on yer dirty internet tyre at any price

if i sold tyres for a living i wouldn't help people who import from a lower vatted area to take advantage of the exchange rate and vat rate and then expect me to put myself outa business

The choice here is between fitting a tyre for a reasonable charge and getting no business at all. Of course every tyre fitter is entitled to chose the latter, but the reed that doesn't bend in the wind breaks in the wind.

Mr. Presentable

Yeah, I'll do the job for whatever you have in your pocket. Right.

CiaranC

I buy my tyres of the guy in Old Bawn tyres and he has done various bits and pieces for me gratis as a result.

Maybe you caught him on an off day.

Mr. Presentable

Some work is not worth taking. Say the OP got the tyre done for €10.00 when the going rate at OBT is €25.00. Now we will all expect to get it for €10.00, making that the going rate, and my wife will show up with €7.00.

I know Old Bawn Tyres, and find them good to deal with. For example, I found a large screw in my tyre, went to them to remove and repair. They took the wheel off, removed the screw and found it has not pierced the membrane, so they put it back on and didn't charge me.

Obviously I buy my tyres there, so I was looked after.

OP, €25.00 sounds fair to me. As for phone calls to the Tyre Centre, they probably have more to do than discuss their price structure with an irate non customer.

Gone Drinking

We own a garage that we let a mechanic run for us, he charges 15 to put a tyre on and balance it. He doesn't have a problem with it.. If you buy a tyre from us, there's no fitting and balancing charge.

He won't do work for someone who arrives with their own service kit as he says its not worth his while.

I remember a foreign guy coming in with day with his own oil and oil filter, who wanted to pay for using the ramp so he could do it himself :rolleyes:

WarrenB

This is the whole problem in this country .. the whole buy local ..save the local company is rubbish ..

People are becoming a lot more price savvy now (its about time), buying off the internet and sourcing lower priced goods and services.

The tables have turned now and the companies who are changing over the odds for goods and services will go out of business ..and good riddance to them.

People now are looking after themselves and their own interests as number one.

Tigger

NewApproach wrote: »

Surely providing a service is his business. Thats like saying a car dealer wont service a car for you if you didn't buy it from him also

i disagree

servicing a car happens (should anyway

) regularly throughourt a cars life
tyres are fitted once per tyre life if no-one fitted internet tyres then internet tyres would be much m ore hassel

Matt Simis

NewApproach wrote: »

While it's true the tyre place will lose a (probably significant) margin on the sale of the tyre, they also lose the hassle of ordering, keeping, insuring and paying for that stock from the supplier.

In return they get a fee for doing something at no extra cost, the machine is there and the staff aren't going to have to work OT to fit a tyre.

They could take it the wrong way, and tell you to get lost, but considering the customer has the tyre in hand, he is just donating business to a rival.

To me its a no brainer for the tyre place. As for the charge, I think €15/wheel inc. balancing is the general price.

Yeah, only once before have I heard the "Tyre places wont want to fit internet tyres" line and it wasnt from a Tyre place. It bothers me that people would find it acceptable (or good business) for a tyre place to tell someone to get lost if they didnt buy a tyre from them.

I usually pay 10 to 15 per tyre to have them fitted, they seemed happy for the easy and fast job. I only once bought tyres "locally", though they just ordered them from the Net anyway. The only reason I bought locally was they told me they would have them the next day (they didnt, so Ill buy my tyres online from now on).

I dont know the profit margin on a tyre, but I would suspect all things considered, they would make similar profit from fitting and balancing (5min job) as ordering, stocking and selling the tyre (spread over 2days of ordering etc).

Tigger

WarrenB wrote: »

This is the whole problem in this country .. the whole buy local ..save the local company is rubbish ..

internet shops done't pay rates don't pay insurance don't pay for staff for rent and don't employ anyone in this country

of course they are cheaper but they also buy cheaper due to fixed pricing on sterling/euro rates if no one buys in this country then the country is fecked

People are becoming a lot more price savvy now (its about time), buying off the internet and sourcing lower priced goods and services.

The tables have turned now and the companies who are changing over the odds for goods and services will go out of business ..and good riddance to them.

People now are looking after themselves and their own interests as number one.

well thats lovely :cool:

WarrenB

Tigger wrote: »

well thats lovely :cool:

Well, its the truth. Take a look at the traffic and the queue on the M1 heading North on a Saturday.

Until retailers and service providers get real on their prices, the queues will get longer and more people will be driven to internet shop. Unfortunately most will go out of business rather than lose face (and a small cut in profit).

Heres some "free" shopping advice to save money :

1. Look for what you want to buy online and get the price
2. Go try it on, have a look at it in real life etc .. in a shop here
3. If you like it, order it online and save a bloody fortune.

Like it or not, this is how many people are shopping these days.

NewApproach

Tigger wrote: »

i disagree

servicing a car happens (should anyway ) regularly throughourt a cars life
tyres are fitted once per tyre life if no-one fitted internet tyres then internet tyres would be much m ore hassel

Tyre changes happen only marginally more often than servicing on average.

And you can be sure someone will fit internet tyres. If they all refused to fit them, I'll open up my own tyre fitting garage!!

CJhaughey

I bought a set of 5 tyres from Camskill at a great price back when sterling was even with the euro.
I went to three places and got the following responses:

1st place, 20 for fitting but we can't balance jeep tyres the centre hole is too big, ah and it will be another fiver to dispose of the old ones. €125

2nd place, We don't fit tyres that aren't bought here, had a bad experience fitting no-name tyres for a guy and he wanted to sue us.

3rd place, No problem 60 to fit 5 and balance the front two, and I will dump the old ones for you as well. €60.

Guess which one got my business?

JHMEG

Seems excessive as I paid €35 to get 4 tyres that I bought from eiretyres.com fitted and balanced at my local tyre shop (Gill's Tyres, Dublin Rd., Carrick-on-Shannon). They made no bones about it.

steve06 wrote: »

You wouldn't argue with a solicitor when they want about €100 to type a letter or about 15k to help you sign documents when you're buying a house!

Why wouldn't you?