Costco - Tires

Greg of Carlsbad , CA November 2, 2009

I would like to inform other customers that they need to use caution when purchasing Michelin Hydroedge tires from Costco and other tire centers. I lost 9 mpg when I switched to the Hydroedge on my 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid. I trusted the website and the tire technican information claiming better fuel efficiency. Very dissatisfied that Michelin doesn't make the Energy tire for Hybrid applications. I contacted my Honda dealer and Michelin customer service and both did not recommend this tire on Hybrid vehicles. I hope both Costco and Michelin websites begin posting disclaimers for hybrid vehicle owners. Loss of fuel mileage. Unhappy Customer.

Sandy of BRADBURY, CA October 19, 2009

Bought 4 Michelin tires at the Costco in City of Industry, CA about 4 years ago using my sister's membership. Everytime I wanted to have my tires rotated, my sister had to go w/ me. That was a hassle in itself. Then my sister got sick of Costco overall and moved her membership over to Sam's. I tried to get my tires rotated after that and the guy I spoke to on the phone said I could bring in my original receipt and they would help me. So I do that and when I get there the guy there tells me NO, since the membership expired then they can't rotate my tires anymore. I told them I spoke to so and so on the phone and he looked at like AND??? So now I've been driving around without having rotated my tires in who knows how long and I need new tires cus the back ones are all worn down.

Anyway I ended up getting a Costco membership for myself so I could buy the Wii Fit a few weekends ago and decided to ask them about my tires. I'm sure you can guess what they said. Basically again the answer was NO. The tires go w/ the original membership and unless that is re-instated not only can I not rotate my tires but any warranty that existed on the tires expired w/ the membership. WTH IS THAT CRAP??? I PAID OVER 700 for all 4 tires!! I asked if they would pro-rate the old tires if I bought new ones and of course the answer was NO. But he did kindly inform me that I am welcome to still buy new tires from them. Um I don't think so.

jim of sd, CA October 15, 2009

today I went to Costco to have tires rotated that I paid for in buying new tires. this person herb was a jerk. he was trying to start off selling me brand new tires again. 20,000 miles on 60,000 tires- I told him I just wanted tires balanced and rotated. He said he would not rotate tires becuse in his eyes rear tires were better to stay on rear of vehicles - I said I want to balance and rotated- he would not - This ios the first time a jerk like this at costco have I run into. Talk to manager of store and he was useless too.

Greg of Centennial, CO September 5, 2009

Spoke to Adam (Mgr @ Costco Parker Tires) who said that because I drove the car & the tire could've been fixed (if I noticed the slow leak and brought in right away) it invalidated my warranty & the most he'd give me was 50 off a new tire. (the list price 220-50=170). He also said I needed to give him an answer ASAP as he was the only one who could remedy this & he was going on vacation for a couple of weeks and was the only one to order a new tire.

A routine nail in the tire, not the sidewall but the tire. this is something when I used Discount they fixed without a question. Costco is trying to charge me another 170 + tax. This should've been covered under their road hazard policy.

Wonsop of los angeles, CA July 30, 2009

In February 09, I bought four new tires at Costco. After several months, in July 09, my mother went to Costco to shop and to put air (gas) in the tires. When she asked an employee at the tire shop to have air put into the tires, he acted like he doesn't understand her. How can he not understand "I need air put into my tires"? She was upset how he tried to avoid helping her. The customer service was unpleasant.

Carl of Pasadena, CA July 24, 2009

Dear Sirs: My wife and I went to the Costco tire department today, July 24, 2009 to purchase a new set of four tires for our passanger automobile. After waiting beyond the promised hour and a half we were told we would have to wait for the job we decided to ask a fellow named Rick at the counter how much longer we would have to wait for the car. My wife asked Rick how the job was progressing by saying to him we, and I quote her, "we were told that the tire installation would take no more than one and a half hour". The store clerk responded in a very discourteous manner saying, "I never told you nothing". I did not hear the conversation myself but I was confronted by my wife who was on the brink of tears. I will not stand for discourteous treatment of the ladies especially when it is my wife whom is being abused. Please excuse my typing.

Michael of Colorado Springs, CO July 17, 2009

I wish I had known about this site sooner. The complaints I've read regarding purchasing tires at Costco is right on the money! Their warranty is worth less than the paper it's printed on. They will do and say ANYTHING to get out of any warranty obligations. Here is my experience: I had bought Costco tires about a year ago, just before our trip to northern California and down to San Diego. They advertise "free" tire rotation, balance, road hazard, etc. for the "life" of the tires. Well... I took the Sienna into Costco to get them rotated, etc. I missed a rotation, so the tires had about 12,000 miles on them. Apparently there's too much wear on the front tires compared to the rear tires so they refused to rotate them because it would be "unsafe." Also, the front tires have uneven wear - only about a millimeter! - between the inside and outside of each tire. That means they would refuse to honor any wear guarantees or any other warranties. These are 70,000 mile tires but they will probably be worn out under 30,000 miles. My original tires lasted nine years! I'll be fortunate to get three years out of tires I bought at Costco.

Discount Tire NEVER hassled me about tread wear or anything else. They always honored wear guarantees despite not having rotated a set of tires for over five years on one of my vehicles. I would rather pay a little extra at Discount Tire and know they are going to stand behind their product and service. They will get my tire purchases from now on. My mechanic is going to rotate my tires for me and do some other maintenance. I won't use the entire word he used to describe Costco's way of getting out of a warranty, but it starts with bull. He thinks the tires will be ok if we can get the tires with the better tread on the front where the drive is.

Jose of Vallejo, CA June 11, 2009

I brought my car for a tire rotation. They lost my wheel lock key. I had to go to Pepboys to buy a new lock. They did reimburse me for the lock. However, my time was wasted and not to mention that in the past; they have misplaced my lock several more times. Costing me to comeback the following day.

Lawrence of McLean, VA May 6, 2009

Costco is committing deceptive selling practices, bordering on Fraud (deliberate deception for personal gain) when they sell replacement tires. I had a tire blow and went to Costco to get a new one. I was initially told: The warranty on my tires was 5 years, & the warranty was from the date on the tire, regardless of having proof of purchase. Since the tires were just over 5 years from when I purchased them, the second point did not seem to matter. Then, when I was going to bring in my second car after another tire blew, and this one was under 5 years I asked about the warranty. This is when Costco staff told me that Costco did not cover any warranties unless I had bought the tires from Costco. Upon hearing this I checked with Michelin and found out the warranty was 6 years and from the date of purchase (I had my proof of purchase). I then contacted Costco and the manager told me it did not matter as the warranty was only if the tread did not last properly. This made no sense, so I again contacted Michelin and found out Michelin pro-rates the cost of the other 3 tires to encourage you to replace all 4.

So, in effect,had I known this before I replaced the tires on my car at Costco, I could have gone to another Michelin dealer (like NTB as I did on my second car) and would have paid less as Michelin would have given a rebate to the dealer for the remaining tread on the tires which had not blown. Also, other dealers match prices, so there is no advantage at all to going to Costco and a major disadvantage. It also does not seem possible the manager did not know this, and if he truly did not then Costco is negligent in its training program. So, Costco has a policy where it is much more expensive to buy tires from Costco as customers will lose the warranty on their tires. To avoid losing business Costco staff lies to the customers. Then, if a customer complains they try to ignore them and destract them with other lies. Michelin, by the way, was wonderful in all my dealing with them. NTB also was great in matching Costco's price, road hazard and all.

Jay of Boise, ID January 21, 2009

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