To Whom It May Concern:
I write this to inform other Sam's Club members of the inconceivable treatment, which I received from the tire department in the Santa Fe, New Mexico, store in hopes that this will make other members aware of the despicable customer service I received from their tire department and one of the store managers. If it can happen to me, it can happen to any member. In addition, as a so-called valued Sam's Club member, I was not only unvalued; but also cheated. If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. Beware. By their actions, they are no doubt a company that puts profits over people and money over customer service. Here is my experience.
I have been a member of Sam's Club since its earliest moments in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Over the years, we have shopped there frequently, purchasing a wide variety of items, which we needed. This included tires, batteries wiper blades, etc. For most of this time, the tire department personnel were excellent. Not only were their products priced fair; but also the tire department personnel were customer friendly and customer-oriented. It was obvious that those associates were well-trained l in customer service and were concerned about Sam's Club's image. This even occurred well after the transaction was completed. When issues arose, I could count on Sam's Club to do the honorable thing and help me as needed.
By my own recent experience, this is no longer the case. As the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end. "Just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the attitude of tire department staff changed to where customer service was no longer a priority. This attitude continues to this day. It is a sad state of affairs. Whoever was in charge of changing this attitude has done a great disservice to Sam Club members and the corporation as a whole. The attitude of the tire department went from being customer friendly to customer unfriendly. In the store's phone-answering message, a woman's voice is heard saying, "We love having you as a part of the Sam's Club Family." This is a joke. The reality of this message is, "We love having you come here and spend your money, and look forward to your departure.
Here is what happened to me. After purchasing a set of tires for my 2006 Toyota Sienna, I had problems with road vibration. This was a new issue, which occurred after the purchase of new tires at the Santa Fe Sam's Club store. I decided that there was a problem, which may be linked to the new tires. I took the van back to the Sam's Club tire department for tire rebalancing in hopes of solving the problem. After the rebalancing of the tires, the issue continued. I even went to a mechanic for an alignment check. Still, the problem continued. This went on for months. I took it back several times to the Sam's Club tire department for rebalancing as well as had the alignment checked several times as well. It seemed to me that this was an issue that should have been easily and quickly remedied, but was not. Each time I brought the van in for tire rotation and rebalancing, I informed them each time of the road vibration. Once when I mentioned the road vibration issue to them the tire department after I had already taken it back there with the same issue a few different times, a technician stated that I should bring the van back for an additional tire rebalancing. Each time, the problem was not solved and the issue continued. Since we live busy lives and because the van was not one of our primary modes of transportation, we were only reminded of the problem when one of us used the van.
After finally being ready to address the road vibration issue on our van, I took the van to my regular mechanic to check for any potential mechanical issues. When the van was returned to me, I was informed that the van was in good order and that one of the tires was out of round. I then took the van back to Sam's Club and informed the tire department of the results of my mechanic's inspection. The department manager stated that he would replace the tire with the same brand and type. The tire was ordered, but after several months of waiting, it was never delivered to the store. At that point, I decided to order a different tire and purchased an additional tire as well. I did this because tires are to be replaced in sets of 2 or 4.
Next, I took the van in for an alignment and another inspection with a different mechanic. He put the car on the rack, pulled off the tires, and found that all four tires were out of round to a different degree. The out-of-roundness of the two older tires was obvious and the out-of-roundness of the two new tires was noticeable. No tire, in its life span should act this way, especially the new two new tires. Not only that; but the weights on the tires were not placed correctly. The weights were placed next to each other, which is never to be done. This is indicative that the tire technician did not k read more