Firestone tried to rip me off over TPMS

lonniebear

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Location
san antonio
TDI
2011 Golf 6M 4dr.
So I had a big screw in one of my rear tires. I usually use discount tire for patch work but Firestone was closer to my work. when i went to pick up the car they wanted to charge me $33 for the patch. I said that sounded a bit pricey (discount always does it for free) and the guy said it was because they have to rebuild the tire pressure monitor. sure enough on the work order there is parts and labor for rebuilding the tire pressure monitor. i told him that my car uses a passive system with the abs and he looked at me like i was crazy. then asked the tech if my car had pressure sensors and the tech said yes. i paid and left, called my dealer and talked to one of their techs to confirm that the 2011 golf uses the abs for the TPMS. called Firestone and told him he was a crook and had charged me for parts he didn't use and labor that wasn't done. he refunded the entire $33. needless to say, i will never use Firestone again.
 

veedubfreak

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Location
Denver, Colorado
TDI
2011 golf
2 things. The 2011 does use the ABS, made buying new wheels that much cheaper.
Second. Removing and repairing a tire does not require rebuilding the sensor even if it had one. You should probably call corporate and let them know that their office is scamming people, and or the BBB.
 

pknopp

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Location
WV
TDI
2012 Jetta Sportwagen
Just noting.......My daughter just had a bad experience with Firestone also. This seems to perhaps be their thing now.
 

dcc

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
Discount tires do this also, except they may tell you up front if you ask for the fee breakdown.
Its just a way the tire shops have figured out how to make a coupld of extra dollars.
The story I got from Discount tire was that if they replace my tires, and don't service the tpms sensor seals...and there is a air leak, they will charge me again to repair the leak...
 

sfpegasus

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2009
Location
San Francisco
TDI
none!
Tire shops are getting a bad name these days.

I had a Firestone dealer refuse to mount a (slightly) used tire on an new Porto alloy that I maintain as my spare. "Liability issue" or some trash like that.

After reading this, I'm glad they forsed me to go elsewhere.

Costco was not a problem when I put tires on the Rabbit. Decent work at a decent price.
 

BrShootr

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2011
Location
Utardia
TDI
MKVI JSW
I had discount tire trying to charge me for the TPMS as well when I got a set of rims and winter tires. I just told them my car did not need it since it used the ABS. The guy simply apologized, said it's hard to keep track of how each brand does it, removed it from the bill and was done with it. They had it explicitly listed "TPMS rebuild" or some crap.

Maybe I have a particularly good shop where I get my tires, but what I do know is that now that I've found a good service place I'll keep coming back. Report the issue to corporate and they'll deal with it if they care. Remember that each shop is independent in the sense that you can't keep track of every crook that works in your company.
 

Cooper

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Location
MA
TDI
2011 JSW (traded in 5/2015)
A friend also had an issue with Firestone in the 1980s when we were in grad school.

His car had no power. Firestone wanted to replace the transmission.

I went with him to a transmission shop for a second opinion. A person took the car for a ride with us and said, "I don't know what it is. But one thing I can tell you is that it's not the transmission."

He said to take it to another garage, tell the owner that he sent us, and ask the owner to loosen the exhaust manifold. He suspected that the catalytic converter had collapsed. That's what it was.
 

veedubfreak

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Location
Denver, Colorado
TDI
2011 golf
I had discount tire trying to charge me for the TPMS as well when I got a set of rims and winter tires. I just told them my car did not need it since it used the ABS. The guy simply apologized, said it's hard to keep track of how each brand does it, removed it from the bill and was done with it. They had it explicitly listed "TPMS rebuild" or some crap.

Maybe I have a particularly good shop where I get my tires, but what I do know is that now that I've found a good service place I'll keep coming back. Report the issue to corporate and they'll deal with it if they care. Remember that each shop is independent in the sense that you can't keep track of every crook that works in your company.
This is how the Discount near me is. Very upfront about everything. I ordered my 19"s from them, and due to it being a discontinued wheel they had to search around for them. Finally found another store that had ordered basically the last 20 sets in existence and had a set shipped to this store. Well, I go to pick them up and 1 of the wheels is the wrong wheel. Correct box, wrong wheel. So they had to order a 2nd entire set because the other store wouldn't just send 1 wheel. Well in the week or so between when the first set came in and the 2nd set, I got a nail in my factory tire. Of course the nail was "outside of the repair area". So the tech put my spare on and basically told me to pound sand. I came back the next day to see what the status of the wheels was and talked to the manager who was the one I had ordered my wheels through, and told him about my nail issue, brought the tire back in to show him. Due to the tire having a whole 800 miles on it, he ordered me a replacement tire, replaced it and didn't charge me a penny.

So not every one out there is a crook.
 

P0234

Veteran Member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Location
NoVA
TDI
11 JSW
The car industry is full of crooks. What do you think happened to the kids in school that never paid attention to anything except stealing went? Most aren't working at NASA.

The thing is, the free or $12 repairs, they can't make money on it, so why not just raise the price? Same thing with the $10 oil changes....
 

lonniebear

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Location
san antonio
TDI
2011 Golf 6M 4dr.
years ago, Discount over torqued my lugs so bad that half of the stems broke when i removed the wheels to replace the bearings. I fixed them and then took all my receipts to Discount. The manager not only paid me for the parts but gave me extra for my time. And like I said, Discount has never charged me for patch work, even when the tire isn't theirs. Shouldn't have been lazy and gone to Firestone. lesson learned.
 

Dariof

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Location
So. Nv & So. Ca
TDI
2011 JSW TDI
The car industry is full of crooks. What do you think happened to the kids in school that never paid attention to anything except stealing went? Most aren't working at NASA.

The thing is, the free or $12 repairs, they can't make money on it, so why not just raise the price? Same thing with the $10 oil changes....
Good point!

Great thread.
 

lonniebear

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Location
san antonio
TDI
2011 Golf 6M 4dr.
The car industry is full of crooks. What do you think happened to the kids in school that never paid attention to anything except stealing went? Most aren't working at NASA.

The thing is, the free or $12 repairs, they can't make money on it, so why not just raise the price? Same thing with the $10 oil changes....
Funny you said that. I worked at NASA and have always dreamed of being a mechanic and owning my own shop. I'm hoping one of my three boys will want to be a mechanic and share my dream. maybe it's a grass is always greener sort of thing.
 

Dunno513

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Location
Mirror Lake, NH
TDI
2006 NB PD-TDI DSG
So the shop fixing your car adds a few extra unnecessary fees.... hmm... wonder who else does that in everyday life?

$10 is a completely reasonable fee for plugging a tire. Any more is a complete rip. Some shops "require" them to remove the tire to put a patch which they claim is the "ONLY" way to do it right.

Best thing to do is carry a good plug kit. The key to telling the good ones from the bad ones... the more disgusting they look, the better they are.. Stay away from the neatly packaged ones. They dry out way to fast and don't stick to crap.

Problem isn't with the shops doing this to people. It's the people who let them get away with it. They just don't understand that the $10 oil change comes with pressure to rotate tires, do a coolant flush or differential service which are usually pure profit.. Especially when they don't even do the work.

Fools will come and go, and crooks will always have a business to run be it a repair shop or a ponzi scam. Screw home economics... time to start teaching kids about the real world... it kinda sucks!
 

P0234

Veteran Member
Joined
May 18, 2011
Location
NoVA
TDI
11 JSW
$10 is a completely reasonable fee for plugging a tire. Any more is a complete rip. Some shops "require" them to remove the tire to put a patch which they claim is the "ONLY" way to do it right.
I do think that removing the tire and patching from behind is the best way to do it. Doing a decent patching job takes at least 15 minutes, if the tire is not on the car. That amounts to $40 an hour not including materials. Most people expect that price with the tire on the car, add another 5 minutes to that. Granted tire jockies aren't high paid employees, but add in benefits, overhead and materials, where is there room for profit?

I think people have prices fixed in their head, and as a result business keep having to reduce quality.
 

lonniebear

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 25, 2011
Location
san antonio
TDI
2011 Golf 6M 4dr.
like a said, discount will usually do it for free. it's just a good business move. they aren't paying the kid by the job, he's getting paid whether he's fixing my flat or standing around. only thing it cost them is the patch kit. and out of it, i buy my tires there.
 

veedubfreak

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Location
Denver, Colorado
TDI
2011 golf
Discount repairs your tires for free because they know it will get you to at the very least come back to them to look at new tires when you are due.
 

Ol'Rattler

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jul 3, 2007
Location
PNA
TDI
2006 BRM Jetta
$10 is a completely reasonable fee for plugging a tire. Any more is a complete rip. Some shops "require" them to remove the tire to put a patch which they claim is the "ONLY" way to do it right.

Best thing to do is carry a good plug kit. The key to telling the good ones from the bad ones... the more disgusting they look, the better they are.. Stay away from the neatly packaged ones. They dry out way to fast and don't stick to crap.
Probably because patching with a plug is illegal in most places.

I don't think I've ever been offered a plug repair by a tire shop.
 

AlcoC420

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Location
Southeast U.S.
TDI
.
So that I am clear on this, we have a 2010 JSW TDI. Does it use ABS (and not pressure sensors within the wheels) to signal the TPMS? Thank you.
 

Just Adam

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 7, 2012
Location
New Hampshire
TDI
2012 Golf (wife's)
The car industry is full of crooks. What do you think happened to the kids in school that never paid attention to anything except stealing went? Most aren't working at NASA.
That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with.
 

dieseldorf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 11, 2000
Location
MA
TDI
ex- 1996 wagon, ex-2000 Jetta
So that I am clear on this, we have a 2010 JSW TDI. Does it use ABS (and not pressure sensors within the wheels) to signal the TPMS? Thank you.
  • Rubber valve stems = sensor-less system :)
  • Metal valve stems = in-wheel, sensor-based system :(
 

MonsterTDI09

TDIClub Enthusiast, Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 3, 2009
Location
NoVa/NJ
TDI
2010 Jetta DSG/ up keep on 2009 Jetta DSG 2006 Jetta Pag 2 in North SEA Green
So that I am clear on this, we have a 2010 JSW TDI. Does it use ABS (and not pressure sensors within the wheels) to signal the TPMS? Thank you.
Yes you have pressure sensors. There is way to change it using VCDS to use the ABS system.I wish they would show the pressure readings for each tire that would be cool.
 

showdown 42

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2012
Location
naples,FL
TDI
2016 TDI touareg
The best approach is an informed consumer, like Sy Syms use to say. For those of you NEasterners. I have too many issues over the yrs to list them,but you need to build a list of trustworthy resources in all areas where you have to buy things. Buyer beware! JP
 

Cogen Man

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2011
Location
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2011 Golf TDI DSG.
So that I am clear on this, we have a 2010 JSW TDI. Does it use ABS (and not pressure sensors within the wheels) to signal the TPMS? Thank you.
It uses ABS. Called indirect TPMS.



  • Rubber valve stems = sensor-less system :)
  • Metal valve stems = in-wheel, sensor-based system :(
dieseldorf is correct.
An easy visual way to determine indirect or direct TPMS.
 

RomanL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2008
Location
Denver, CO
TDI
'10 GOLF TDI
just wondering, did you actually check the wheel that they patched by.:
by any chance did they install a brand new TPMS sensor???
who knows the tech could have thought that you were suppose to have it and installed it from their stock, in which case you got it a a discount :)
 

aja8888

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 25, 2007
Location
Texas..RETIRED 12/31/17
TDI
Out of TDI's
like a said, discount will usually do it for free. it's just a good business move. they aren't paying the kid by the job, he's getting paid whether he's fixing my flat or standing around. only thing it cost them is the patch kit. and out of it, i buy my tires there.
I've been buying all our tires at Discount Tire for 20 years, and we had 5 cars running most of the time (4 cars now). I got to know the Manager of the local store pretty well, we play golf together in local benefit tournaments. They have treated me well over the years and I will continue my relationship with them, even if Tire Rack and others are a bit lower in price, etc.

In this economy, it's a good idea to maintain good relationships with local businesses if you want consistently good service.
 
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