{Here it is, folks. I finally got it here. Actually, this will be it’s second post. First one went to my old blog. NO – I won’t tell you it’s name! This was actually written at least 2 weeks ago. It’s been so long I’ve forgotten!}

I’ve been nursing a slow leaking tire all winter. During the frigid, frigid cold, I was putting air in it twice a week. The regular cold of winter just necessitated air once a week, and once it started to warm up, every other week was fine. Until last week…

Friday, after work, I stopped to get air because it had been awhile. It was down to 12 pounds of pressure when it should be at 32. That’s not good. So, the wonderful guys at Discount Tire, where I go, filled things up all around and I was on my way. I stopped to shop at Aldi on the way home and when I got out of the car, I heard it. There was a hissing sound and the tire was visibly lowering. I grabbed my few items and beats feet for home. The tire was completely flat before I got there, but I nursed it to my neighbor’s house.

My neighbor, Rich, and his son Josh, rebuild cars. They have a fully outfitted garage. They had my tire changed in a jiffy. They have helped me out with other things as well. Rich is a great neighbor. So, here I was with a little donut spare tire on my car and at least 40 miles to drive before I had opportunity to get back to Discount Tire. I drove cautiously and carefully, and made it back to Discount Tire on Saturday after work. Then the fun began!

It was a beautiful day, and very busy at Discount Tire. Everyone and their brother decided it was time to get things fixed because it was so nice out. I waited patiently in line while those ahead of me were taken care of. Finally, my turn came and I explained the tale of repeated fillings which culminated in the total flat the day before. We went out to my car and took the offending tire out of the trunk. While Rich and Josh checked the usual places, finding nothing, assumed that it just lost it’s seal and would simply need to be re-mounted. NOT SO! On the back side of the tire there was a tear, nearly an inch long in the sidewall of the tire. I don’t know, but I’m atributing it to the MASSIVE dip in the road in an area of construction that simply caused it to pop on my last trip over. (I know that sounds weird, but I know what I really mean. It’s really more involved and complicated than that.) But, what it boiled down to is I needed to replace the tire.

The young man who was taking care of me told me that to replace the tire with a similar type and quality would cost about $140. Since I’m looking for a new car now, I really don’t want to put money into this car is I don’t need to. I explained all of this to him and told him I would be okay with a used tire or a re-tread or anything else that wouldn’t cost me $140. He said, “Let me go check some things.” He was gone for about 5 minutes, then came out to the waiting room and started typing on the computer. He typed, I struggled to keep my mouth shut, thinking that he was typing an invoice for something that I wasn’t sure I wanted because I didn’t know how much it would cost. Then he printed it out, and I still struggled, but managed to keep my mouth closed. He brought the invoice around the counter to me and I looked at it. And I looked. And my eyebrows furrowed and I looked again, trying to find the bottom line number in all the stuff that was printed on the page. He finally circled the number for me because I couldn’t find it.

Folks, in case you hadn’t figured out yet that I love Discount Tire, I’ll tell you now, straight out, I LOVE DISCOUNT TIRE!! I had to do a double take when I looked at the circled number. It was $00.00 That’s right, I got a different tire, mounted, balanced and put on my car for nothing! I have had 2 flats fixed, air checks and fills for the last year, and now a new to me tire and I have yet to pay them a single penny. These guys have done incredible things for me. One of the days in the winter, when I woke up to a nearly flat tire, I went to the shop. They don’t open until 8am. I had to be to work at 8am. They opened up the door and filled my tire early so I could get on my way. They are forthright, appear to be honest and above board, clean cut, hard working, all the right things in a company. I “almost” can’t wait until I need tires so I can buy them there.

Just wanted to put this little tidbit out there to let you know that there are still places that believe in treating their customers right. If they keep treating me like this, they have a customer for life!!