the weekly whinge

I need a new tyre (I think mine has a slow puncture) and I found these guys – tyre fit direct – who seemed to be offering the best deal for an on-site fitting (actually the best price at all – even cheaper than the remarkable black circles) for the Conti I wanted.

So I go through the order process, which seems all well and good: I get an email back telling me that most orders will, if placed before 10:30 (mine was around 9:33), be fulfilled the same working day.

I sit back and wait but, when lunchtime arrives and I’ve heard nothing I figure I should check to make sure that the order hasn’t just disappeared into the internet ether. One phone call to tyrefitdirect and “they’re trying to find a fitter nearby as their normal fitter’s van is broken”. Hmm.

At 13:57 I get a short phone message telling me that they’re cancelling the order; they’re not sure what’s wrong with the van and they don’t know when it will be fixed. I get the distinct impression that the van doesn’t actually exist.

There are two things wrong with this. First, their tagline is “Mobile Tyres Fitted Nationally”, not “Mobile Tyres Fitted Nationally (as long as you’re in one of our three delivery areas)”. Second, can it really take four and a half hours to figure out they won’t be able to fulfill the order?

For future reference, Mr TyreFitDirect, if you’re serious about “fitted nationally” the right thing to do is to send a non-local van to fit my tyre. It may cost you a bit more but it will pay in the long run because you won’t get bad publicity like, erm, this blog post.

Failing that, tell the customer up-front and don’t wait for him to call you.

You see, the problem is that the impression I now have is that tyrefitdirect.co.uk are just a bunch of cowboys who probably have a couple of fitters signed up and (if you’re lucky enough to live in the right area) will turn up with the wrong tyre and expect you to accept it because you’ve waited all day and you need the tyre to get home. So next time I shan’t even bother and I recommend that others don’t either.

So I’ve gone with the excellent e-tyres instead, who are a little more expensive (actually 10% more) but who have delivered on their promises and done an excellent job the last three times I’ve used them. I suppose “you get what you pay for” applies here as anywhere else.

Edit on 7th October: I spoke too soon – etyres have just called to say their systems were down overnight so now I have to wait another day. They are at least apologetic enough to send me a £10 voucher though, which is more than our friends at “Mobile Tyres Fitted Nationally” ever did, and at least they’re coming tomorrow (touch wood…).

Tags: online ordering, tyres.