Having heard of them for many years and with good word-of-mouth feedback from friends, I turned to Fleet Farm when my newly-acquired 2011 Subaru Impreza Sti needed new tires. They offered a fair price on a set of four Cooper Zeon RS3-A tires, which was fine by me since I had several good experiences with the Cooper brand in the past.
On May 8th, 2015 I had the tires installed. The ride was terrific, with excellent handling and luxurious smoothness and comfort. When I went back to Fleet Farm for an oil change in October, I asked if they could have the tires rotated but they claimed they couldn't do it since they were too busy. No problem I thought, the tires had perhaps 8-9k miles on them. I'll bring the car back soon.
Shortly after the oil change I started to notice the car had a bit of a vibration at highway speeds (60-75mph), which steadily got worse in a very short period of time. Thinking perhaps one of the rims threw a weight off, I called to schedule a rotation and balance, which they graciously accommodated the same day (Nov 9th - I will give credit for this, despite the 15min wait on the phone).
After about 25 minutes at the auto service department I was asked to come take a look at something. Not good. The photos (if able to be attached to this review) aptly describe what was found; the rear tires had worn excessively to the inside - flirting with the point of imminent failure with the steel radial belts showing - in just 11,000 miles. Alignment, they rightfully said, and because of that the tires were not under warranty and no credit would be given for the short lifespan of these or the front two tires, which were in very good repair with at least 9/32" tread - perfectly fine and useable given the amount of use.
Let's pause for a moment and talk about alignment: I have owned over a dozen vehicles in the 23 years I've been driving and I've replaced many sets of tires on these vehicles. NOT ONCE in the past has a tire dealer ever executed a sales discussion or tire installation without mentioning to me the need to perform an alignment when replacing all four tires on a vehicle. In fact, on several occasions it was part of the full service package, the cost included into the package deal (never 'free', mind you, but the cost was rolled into the final price one way or another). As such I will admit I was on auto-pilot on the matter; I simply figured that Fleet Farm would have performed an alignment as part of a commitment to quality. Whoops.
Even without the above-mentioned thought, wouldn't you think their tire installation professional might have taken a look at the old tires being replaced, notice the wear pattern as they were pulled off, and think "Hey, something might be amiss here?" Funny me, I must be expecting too much!
To add insult to injury, when I moved beyond the abrasive "no warranty" stance and asked how much it would cost to replace the two tires, they adamantly stated "we cannot replace just the 2 tires, legally we must replace all 4 tires since your car is an all-wheel drive." I was incensed!! Here I am with essentially an un-driveable vehicle due to premature tire wear, and now they won't install two new tires nor offer any discount for lack of professional discretion. I have to buy a full set of 4 new tires. At full price.
NO DEAL. Thanks to social media and a wide array of valuable and knowledgeable friendships (several with ASE certification or significantly better) I was quickly well-informed on the matter. I called a tire dealer close to my home and made arrangements to have 2 new tires installed and a complete alignment which, by the way, this dealership checks on every tire installation and advises the customer before performing the work.
But hey, Fleet Farm, if you don't check alignment and the customer's car is out of alignment, you get to replace a lot more tires over time, don't you??? Funny how that works. More revenue for their professional malfeasance.
Thanks to Fleet Farm's stoic, immovable stance I was forced to limp my car 30.5 miles back home, at slow speed and on secondary routes only, risking tire failure and general safety. That alone should, in my professional opinion, warrant a full refund for services shoddily rendered.
Notice: This review and complaint is being disseminated to the Fleet Farm Facebook page, my private and professional page, Google review, Yelp and any other review site I may find which has the capacity for me to review your services. I'll gladly edit or remove any negative reviews upon successful closure of this grievance. Thank you. -Brian Voss
P.S. I rated as "Pricey" because - as you may deduct from this review - my tire replacement has now cost well over 50% full retail price. Pay now or pay later. read more