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So.. winter is coming or is already here depending on where you're living. My fiancee and I both travel fairly far for work, she drives 2 hours and I drive 2.5. We are on opposite sides of the province. However, she just accepted a job offer in our city, so her drive is going to be 2 minutes (literally, we just live down the road from base) and I accepted a job offer 30 minutes out of the city. Needless to say we are both going to be saving some good money on gas.
We have some pretty shitty cars. A 1996 Honda Accord with 352, 000kms and a 2002 Sunfire with 230, 000kms. We are both part time and want to wait to get fulltime before we commit to having a monthly payment for a new vehicle. Anyway, back to what the story is to be about..
My fiancee drives the Sunfire, so yesterday we went to a Garage and they put the winter tires on her car. She asked them if it would be fine to go to work and back before having them re-checked and they said "yes, just stop in some time tomorrow when you're back". Well.. she almost didn't make it back. I was on my way to work as well and get a call from her, crying hysterically, I slammed on the brakes and turned around. Finally she calmed down and told me that the tire fell off the car on the highway. She was lucky she didn't roll it or was seriously injured or worse...
So she didn't know what to do, I said call 411 and find out where the nearest tow truck was. She did, the truck came and towed it to the nearest town, halfway between her work and our home. Right smack dab in the middle. They took the car to Canadian tire, after fixing the damage it totaled $300, could be worse I know, but we just did Christmas shopping and were not ready for this...
I was furious, I couldn't go in to the Garage where she got the tires changed because it was a Holiday and it was closed. So I just got back from there now. I had a nice little chat with the owner, first he wanted to give me $122, then $182, then he said "tires fall of all the time, its one of those things that happen. It happened to my wife not that long ago" to which I replied "Did she get them changed here?" I said "You're lucky she wasn't hurt, we are both Paramedics and see this shit happen all the time, its completely unacceptable". Finally, I got the full $300. He covered all the expenses. I thanked him and went on my way.
What a stressfull few days..
 
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Ouch, well at least she is fine.
It happens a few times, not all the time. I used to work at a shop and had that happen maybe once or twice in 5 years. It usually comes down to the mechanic being to busy and forgets to torque the bolts. Mostly it was due to hiring kids in or just out of highschool to do the easy stuff and being inexperienced(Not tires falling off, but mistakes like missing the oil cap, not filling the oil up after an oil change).
Owner is lucky you did not slap him with more expenses.
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at first i thought this was about  Grrrr...
but i'm happy your gal is safe and you got your money back form that garage. that's amazing that he would try to just blow it off saying they fall off all the time? what, no they don't. uhh people
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When I saw the thread I though it was going to be about Grrr... the BW player.
I'm glad to here she is ok, and that the guy gave you the $300.
I got angry just reading it.
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Well, to have it back to where it was, with the tires correctly installed, didn't cost me a dime. The store refunded everything. They are lucky, I just dont know what else I could have got from them. I mean, forgetting something like that is a pretty big deal, someone could have been killed.
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On November 13 2010 04:23 Binky1842 wrote:at first i thought this was about Grrrr...
Same.
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Yeah it's a good thing she wasn't seriously hurt, and it would have been retarded for them to not cover all the costs ... if anything I bet you could've gotten more out of him if you took legal action. Seems like a jackass trying to get away with only paying a portion of what you had to pay.
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On November 13 2010 04:24 Impervious wrote:Same.
Also thought this was about Grrrr... heh, but god damn 2 hours and 2.5 hour drives everyday thats insane!! Where are you guys living in canada and where were you commuting to?
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Sounds like the typical car garage owner type. I'm glad that your girl wasn't hurt and that things got worked out. Very lucky.
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On November 13 2010 04:27 AnodyneSea wrote:Show nested quote +On November 13 2010 04:24 Impervious wrote:On November 13 2010 04:23 Binky1842 wrote:at first i thought this was about Grrrr... Same. Also thought this was about Grrrr... heh, but god damn 2 hours and 2.5 hour drives everyday thats insane!! Where are you guys living in canada and where were you commuting to?
Sounds like Toronto. He said in the middle of no where though, so I am going to take a guess and say one of our Prairie provinces.
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Wow, I guess over a 2.5 hour drive the vibrations could loosen the lug nuts pretty easy. I'm wondering if there was any noticeable wobble, because if all the lugs came off there had to be some weird handling/tire wobble/weird sounds going on.
What kind of shitty tire shop owner can claim that "tires fall off all the time", its not really rocket science and for him to think that is normal is just mind blowing.
I'm glad to hear she's okay, but I definitely wouldn't go anywhere near that shop again.
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Hyrule19049 Posts
On November 13 2010 04:24 Impervious wrote:Same.
On November 13 2010 04:13 LonelyIslands wrote:
So.. winter is coming or is already here depending on where you're living. My fiancee and I both travel fairly far for work, she drives 2 hours and I drive 2.5. You're both nuts
On November 13 2010 04:13 LonelyIslands wrote:
We have some pretty shitty cars. A 1996 Honda Accord Me too!!
On November 13 2010 04:13 LonelyIslands wrote:Finally she calmed down and told me that the tire fell off the car on the highway. She was lucky she didn't roll it or was seriously injured or worse... !!!!!
On November 13 2010 04:13 LonelyIslands wrote:
then he said "tires fall of all the time, its one of those things that happen. It happened to my wife not that long ago" If that's true, I'm a red. *looks* Nope, not a red.
Seriously though....tires DON'T fall off all the time. That's the worst excuse I've ever heard. If I shot someone I wouldn't say "oh people get shot all the time so it's okay". That's the shittiest reasoning ever. I say move to America and sue the guy.
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We live in New Brunswick and I travel up the Eastern side of the province and she travels up the Western. It's shift work, so it's not everyday. Basically we had to take the positions we were offered because with them our hours would count towards seniority, people who got casual could work everyday and their hours don't do squat for them when they apply for another posting.
The guy was odd, I just don't see how a shop can tell me "tires fall off all the time".. It's not a normal thing to have happen, when I told him I was a Paramedic and I see this shit all the time and how bad it can be, he kind of changed his tune a little bit. I was terrified when all I heard was her crying on the phone, I never want to experience that again. 
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I just learned in a Stats class about how quality control for tires is so tight because of potential lawsuits. "Tires fall off all the time." What a joke.
TBH, I give you respect for not suing them. In my anger, that's probably what I would have done. I mean, not only was it the cost, but it was the time it took you to take care of all the problems, plus all of the psychological/emotional stuff you had to go through. I know everyone from outside the US is gonna make comments about how much we love litigation, and I would agree normally, but this is ridiculous.
Also, I couldn't understand what you were meaning with your resulting replies. I would have asked him to pay for damages resulted in the accident, the tow truck, to have new tires from somewhere else, and a little extra for all your time.
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Well money issues aside, I'm really happy your fiancee is alright. Having your tire fall off sounds really scary, especially on the highway!!
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If this was the US they would be sued in an instant.
Glad you and your fiancee are ok though 
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good to hear ur wife werent hurt especially when tires came off on a highway. i hate snow, since i started to drive.
i also thought it was about grrrr.... =/.
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Now I just took my other car to the garage and I have to give them $250 for an Oil Pan.. FML.
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tires(that are under 5 years old should NEVER fall off if installed correctly. That is not something that just happens.
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EPT
