I recently had an exceptional experience at Firestone that I feel compelled to share. I was leaving my workplace in Minneapolis for the day, set to make a short trek up to Rochester to spend a day and a half visiting my boyfriend, when my tire pressure light went on. My tire pressure light sometimes goes on (randomly it seems), when nothing is actually wrong. It happened a few months prior, when the tire pressure light went on, I stopped by a gas station to fill up the culprit tire, and continued on my way with no ill aftereffects. I thought this was the same thing, and in my haste and excitement to visit my boyfriend, I continued onto Rochester without further inspection. By the time I got to Rochester, it was dark and I just went in. The next day I mostly stayed home, until we decided to go out for dinner. It was when we were driving, when my boyfriend asked me if I heard that funny noise (a repetitive noise between a clunk and soft swish), which I did. When we went to inspect it, my tire was completely and utterly flat. Amazingly, it was still drivable, and we quickly drove to the nearest Tires plus. We got there around 6:15pm, waited about 5 minutes for the customer in front of us to wrap up, and then were told that there was nothing they could do for me tonight since they close at 7pm.
I was in a bit of a rush, since I had planned on leaving Rochester at 6:00am the next morning to make it back to Minneapolis in time for work at 7:30am or so. Luckily there was a Firestone nearby so we went there next. We arrived at the Firestone around 6:25, and told them we were there for a tire repair/potential replacement. The man behind the counter, Justin, shook his head and said there wasn't anything he could do for me tonight. My boyfriend then made a short case about how I was from out of town and out of time. Surprisingly, it worked! Justin starting typing my information into the system, and said he would look at it, but that he wouldn't have enough time to do a replacement, only a repair. After about 25 minutes of waiting while watching Family Guy in the seating area, another man brings my tire in and there is a HUGE tear in it. He sort of scoops up tiny bits of gravel from inside the tire, that must have gotten in during my long drive up from Minneapolis, to further illustrate how bad the situation is. It is very obvious to all 4 of us that the tire is very much beyond repair. My face flushed in embarrassment and shame that I didn't notice how bad it was sooner.
Justin remarks that the exact make and model of my tire has been discontinued, but refers me to a very close match. I ask how much it is, and something in my face or voice must have reflected how.. awful or worried I felt. Justin was incredibly kind and compassionate. He says that he would hope to be treated well if he was in my situation, and offers me a 20% discount on the tire. Now, I have no idea how tire sales work, I had driven a company car for the last 6 or so years and never had to worry about car related costs before this year. However, I felt very comforted by Justin, and felt that he took care of me as a customer and as a fellow human being. I'm so appreciative that he took me in as a customer at the last hour, fixed my issue, offered me a discount, and was kind and compassionate throughout. I had an AMAZING experience at Firestone and will definitely make Firestone my auto care provider of choice. THANK YOU FIRESTONE! read more