Bad experience at Active Green & Ross Pickering

[uber_uter]

I bought a set of all season tires from Active Green & Ross in Pickering because I had purchased 2 sets of winters and a set of all season for another car and had good dealings and pricing with them. So that's 4 sets in less than a 1 year period. My wife and I noticed a noise from the tires and she took it back to the shop to have them look it over. The mechanic took it for a spin and said he didn't notice any problems. Stupid me, I chalked it up to noisy tires (I never claimed to be a car expert and I have heard noisy tires on other cars, even a BMW and Audi).

I took the car in to another place that I trust for major repair work for a totally unrelated problem and that's when I got the shocking news. He asked where I got the tires from and proceeded to tell me that they are the wrong size and the rear tires were rubbing against the suspension. The inside shoulder of both tires were dangerously worn out.

I called up Active Green & Ross to explain all of this. The service adviser Rob wanted to discuss with his manager on how they would take care of it. I spoke to him later and he asked me to bring it in and they would replace the tires. He was very apologetic. He asked how far away the car was and suggested using the free road side assistance offered with the tire purchase to be on the safe side.

Long story short, I got the car there and Rob was understanding of my concerns and never tried to downplay the matter or deflect responsibility. He tried to make things right for me. I got a ride home and was fine about it.

I go in to pick it up today and was not planning to make a fuss about it until the manager, Ross, made it sound like they were doing me a favour by eating the cost of 4 tires and actually said I probably gave them the wrong size but they should have caught it regardless. That's when I started to get upset. I told him I did not give them the wrong size and was surprised the mechanic didn't notice the rear tires could not turn since they must've been pressed so hard against the suspension. The guy tells me that they just mount the tires and sets the car down with spinning them to check. Also says that tires with less meaty treads would not have had this problem. Wrong size is the wrong size. Then he tried to pass the blame on to the other shop for not catching it sooner and then making a big deal out of it now. I told him I haven't been there until this week since I got those tires. He actually had the nerve to say and I quote "so this noise has been going on all this time and you didn't think to bring it in?" I told him we brought it in and their mechanic said he didn't notice anything wrong.

I would've been content (and I suppose stupid) to go back in November for another set of winter tires because of my dealing with the service adviser but now I'm PO'd and will not take my car back for anything. I will pay someone else to have my tires changed over come winter. All the manager had to do was keep his mouth shut.

Lesson learned. I will keep a closer eye on the tires I buy from now on and not assume that someone who supposedly specializes in tires will do it correctly.

[ES_Revenge]

I bought a set of all season tires from Active Green & Ross

Mistake #1. Who buys all season tyres? LOL.

He actually had the nerve to say and I quote "so this noise has been going on all this time and you didn't think to bring it in?"

To be honest I'm saying the same thing, lol. While I would not say that if I were working at the store, I would be thinking it. I mean okay so you hear this noise and you never thought to look at the tyre size after having your tyres installed?

I understand the majority of people would not have checked, but then the majority of people should not be driving for this very type of reason.

Just my opinion though, the store personel should not have said that, though it is rather funny they did...

[JAGpilot]

Lodge a complaint with the BBB and Active Green/Ross head office.

[weales]

Mistake #1. Who buys all season tyres? LOL.

LOL! A lot of people buy all season tires.

As said, call the up the BBB.

[Whitedart]

Lodge a complaint with the BBB

And what can they do? Businesses pay a membership to join BBB, in that it will provide confidence to consumers.

BBB is just a marketing tool.
If the business is not a member, BBB is powerless to do anything.
If the business is a member, and they can't solve a dispute, BBB will cancel the membership. Big deal, as that does not help a consumer.

[vek]

That's pretty poor service from a business that specializes in tires. Thanks for posting.

I realize cars aren't everyone's interests, but I try to make a habit of doing a quick bit of web research before I buy. For example, the Tire Rack website has all the standard sizes based upon your car model and year, as well as consumer reviews.

Of course, this doesn't excuse the poor service on behalf of AGR.

[uber_uter]

First off, plenty of people buy all season tires in southern Ontario. Second, we did take the car back as I mentioned but their mechanic test drove it and said he didn't notice anything unusual. I thought perhaps that brand and model was on the noisy side and as I stated I have been in other people's cars where their tires made somewhat similar noises.

To be honest, the only thing I car about when it comes to cars is whether it can get me from point A to point B. That's why I pay to have it serviced by someone else who is supposed to be trained and knowledgeable. At least when it comes to tires, I will be more careful and pay closer attention from now on.

I can say for sure that I did check the size I needed and I even use Active Green & Ross' website to see what was available and at what price. Like all other sites, you select your make, model and year and it'll show you the options so I know it wasn't my mistake.

I'm not going to go to BBB about this because they didn't do anything fraudulent is misleading in my opinion. Their people made a stupid mistake and they didn't try to deny me replacements. The manager just didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

[KelticSlob]

LOL! A lot of people buy all season tires.

As said, call the up the BBB.

Tyres is a correct way of spelling in UK English, but nice attempt at acting superior.

[petaling108]

First off, plenty of people buy all season tires in southern Ontario. Second, we did take the car back as I mentioned but their mechanic test drove it and said he didn't notice anything unusual. I thought perhaps that brand and model was on the noisy side and as I stated I have been in other people's cars where their tires made somewhat similar noises.

To be honest, the only thing I car about when it comes to cars is whether it can get me from point A to point B. That's why I pay to have it serviced by someone else who is supposed to be trained and knowledgeable. At least when it comes to tires, I will be more careful and pay closer attention from now on.

I can say for sure that I did check the size I needed and I even use Active Green & Ross' website to see what was available and at what price. Like all other sites, you select your make, model and year and it'll show you the options so I know it wasn't my mistake.

I'm not going to go to BBB about this because they didn't do anything fraudulent is misleading in my opinion. Their people made a stupid mistake and they didn't try to deny me replacements. The manager just didn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

to help us understand your situation better,please post
size of tires that came with car and size given to you by A &G

[uber_uter]

The car takes 225/50/16 and they put on 225/60/16.

[boyoflondon]

Tyres is a correct way of spelling in UK English, but nice attempt at acting superior.

Sorry to break it to ya chap, but we are in Canada!

[KelticSlob]

Sorry to break it to ya chap, but we are in Canada!

...are you seriously this ignorant?

[Menace]

We can't do that anymore. We have to educate ourselves to be smart consumers in these days and age. For example, I know very little about LCD TVs and FutureShop folks should be able to help me out. That is why I pay extra for their expertise, right?

To be honest, the only thing I car about when it comes to cars is whether it can get me from point A to point B. That's why I pay to have it serviced by someone else who is supposed to be trained and knowledgeable. At least when it comes to tires, I will be more careful and pay closer attention from now on.

[hightech]

uber_uter,

I have been at this location of Green and Ross since I live reasonably close to them.

I think this goes to be a mutual mistake here. It is YOUR fault for not checking the tires before driving away. The few things I check before I drive off the lot are:

- Size of tires
- Brand of tires
- treadwear numbers (I have had a Goodyear dealer try to give me a tire with 300 treadwear, while others were 700)

After I drive off to the lot, I go the corner gas station, and set the air pressure accordingly (I never trust that a tire shop sets each tire at the correct pressure). Last, I then go to my Toyota Dealer to do a 4 wheel alignment to verify everything is just right.

I believe Active Green and Ross is also responsible for verifying that the tire size given by the customer is correct (as they are the experts in the eyes of the law), and that the proper size tires are mounted and professionally installed. Moreover, Green and Ross is negligent for not catching the error in size at both pre and post stages. Also, the manager was totally out of line for making the comment about "why didn't you bring it in earlier?"

The lesson learned from this is to be more diligent as a consumer, and as a qualified professional.

[sketchED]

I've been to Active green & Ross (the former Sears auto, at the Pickering Town Centre), We had a Good year Allegro's which we purchased @ Sears however when it came to fulfilling the warranty and maintenance (tire rotation, lifetime balancing & rotation) under the Sears agreement AGR did everything they could to try and tack extra fees and recommend things that did not need to be done using scare tactics.

IMHO, I think that they just looked @ the odometre and made suggestions based on KM's, for instance, we had just changed our tranny fluid and it was absolutely clean, however our odometre just past 100K and they recommended it, I don't even think they checked it....also when it came to tire rotation they did not do it, I know because I had marked the tires and they stayed in the same location.

DO NOT GO TO THE PICKERING Active Green & Ross location they are scammers !!!!

I have since purchased my new set @ Sams club in pickering and they are really good, they will rotate & balance tires