I'm sure that many of you have heard about the infamous camera stores who offer the lowest prices on cameras only to ship you a body with no battery, strap or any other factory-included accessory. While this post is not 100% photography related, it does describe what happened to me yesterday at the end of my bimonthly photo/family Orlando road trip.
While on our way back home I heard a thumping noise coming from one of the tires of my minivan. I pulled over into the nearest business parking lot and confirmed that I had a flat tire. No biggie I thought, I have changed plenty of flat tires during my lifetime. I won't bore you with the details of how complicated it was to get the spare tire out from under my minivan. Why on Earth would engineers design this vehicle with a spare tire underneath instead of in the trunk like most every other car on the planet?
Anyway, I placed the spare tire on and drove to a nearby Sam's Club on SR-192. After all, I had purchased all 4 tires from my local Sam's Club and I remember the salesperson telling me how these tires had a lifetime guarantee including punctures. Luckily I still kept the receipt in my glove compartment. I was sure they would repair or apply a pro-rated price toward the purchase of a new tire if needed. I would be covered no matter what or so I thought.
Boy was I wrong!! The moment I pulled into the tire bay the employee there began telling me how they don't cover punctures. I showed him my receipt and pointed toward the clause that included punctures. He walked away, huddled with his supervisor, then came back and informed me that further down in the fine print it stated that my "tires were covered for the life of the tire or 4 years, whichever comes first".
He further informed me that my warranty had expired two months ago and that I had to pay full price for a new tire, no pro-rated price, no discount.
I had no choice as I was 3.5 hours/200 miles away from home and Sam's Club was the only tire place open at the time. Of course they added the mandatory $15.00 installation charge which includes a "lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects and punctures". I laughed at the irony and pointed out that I was in no mood to pay for their obvious "lifetime warranty" scam.
I'm not bitter for having to pay full price for a new tire; I'm disappointed and angry that companies resort to tricking people and misleading us just to get our money. It's wrong. I feel that the original salesperson deceived me on purpose so that when I had a problem with a tire sometime down the road I would retun to Sam's under a false sense of security and end up spending more money there.
Like Sam's Club Tire Department, there are many companies who resort to grabbing your business under misleading promises only to fall back on their fine print when you need to make a claim. Why do companies do this? Why not be honest about what they sell and what they are willing to offer as a warranty?
Have you ever had a negative experience due to not having read or intensely studied the fine print of something you purchased?
While on our way back home I heard a thumping noise coming from one of the tires of my minivan. I pulled over into the nearest business parking lot and confirmed that I had a flat tire. No biggie I thought, I have changed plenty of flat tires during my lifetime. I won't bore you with the details of how complicated it was to get the spare tire out from under my minivan. Why on Earth would engineers design this vehicle with a spare tire underneath instead of in the trunk like most every other car on the planet?
Anyway, I placed the spare tire on and drove to a nearby Sam's Club on SR-192. After all, I had purchased all 4 tires from my local Sam's Club and I remember the salesperson telling me how these tires had a lifetime guarantee including punctures. Luckily I still kept the receipt in my glove compartment. I was sure they would repair or apply a pro-rated price toward the purchase of a new tire if needed. I would be covered no matter what or so I thought.
Boy was I wrong!! The moment I pulled into the tire bay the employee there began telling me how they don't cover punctures. I showed him my receipt and pointed toward the clause that included punctures. He walked away, huddled with his supervisor, then came back and informed me that further down in the fine print it stated that my "tires were covered for the life of the tire or 4 years, whichever comes first".
He further informed me that my warranty had expired two months ago and that I had to pay full price for a new tire, no pro-rated price, no discount. I had no choice as I was 3.5 hours/200 miles away from home and Sam's Club was the only tire place open at the time. Of course they added the mandatory $15.00 installation charge which includes a "lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects and punctures". I laughed at the irony and pointed out that I was in no mood to pay for their obvious "lifetime warranty" scam.
I'm not bitter for having to pay full price for a new tire; I'm disappointed and angry that companies resort to tricking people and misleading us just to get our money. It's wrong. I feel that the original salesperson deceived me on purpose so that when I had a problem with a tire sometime down the road I would retun to Sam's under a false sense of security and end up spending more money there.
Like Sam's Club Tire Department, there are many companies who resort to grabbing your business under misleading promises only to fall back on their fine print when you need to make a claim. Why do companies do this? Why not be honest about what they sell and what they are willing to offer as a warranty?
Have you ever had a negative experience due to not having read or intensely studied the fine print of something you purchased?
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