miker2005

long story short......;

i love my rx-8, it is my favorite thing in my life (right next to my ktm and ski-doo of course!!!);

i treat my car like my child and as such i have never had any work done ever on this car, except by my mazda dealer where i bought the car; i have spend thousands on service there;

when i bought the rx-8 new in 2005, i paid 1100$ cdn for a set of steel wheels and dunlop graspic ds-2 tires for the winter from my dealer; i have used them 4 winters and they had about 12000 kms on them;

anyway, last spring i went in and had my winters taken off and my summers put on; at that time, i got my winter wheels and tires from the dealer and stored them in my basement....you can see where this is going;

two days ago, in preparation for a trip i was making for the next few weeks, i decided to put my winters on since i would be traveling in northern quebec and the weather can get messy there and i wanted to be safe rather than sorry; and i might as well beat the rush to have them put on right?;

so i got to pick my car up and right away i knew something was amiss; i get there and the service guy tells me i have badly warped rims, at least one; im like wtf???; then he goes "i was going to put a new one on but we dont have any in stock...." this is also strange, why didnt he call me to tell me this?; they never even called to tell me my car was ready which is also strange;

so normally they would just order the new wheels for me cause they know i spare no expense when it comes to my car but they didnt even suggest ordering any; so then he nervously tells me they are charging me 120$ (or should i say fleecing me) for an oil change and alignment and balancing (yes they charged me to balance a set of untrue rims); keep reading.....;

ok so at this point my head is spinning and i dont know what is going on; i figure i will get in the car and see how bad the wheels are, the dealer are probably overreacting right cause how can my wheels be that badly warped?; i take such good care of them and i rode them all last winter and they were perfect so clearly they are mistaken right?;

wrong, i felt like fred flintstone driving home!!!! as soon as the car hits 50kph, the wheel and car start shaking and it gets worse with speed; clearly these rims are total junk and this could not be as i rode these wheels all last year and they normally make my rx8 feel like a cadillac so i knew something was up;

anyway, at this point is am clueless as to what has happened but clearly i need to pony up and buy 4 new rims right?; but something was still not sitting right with me until i got home and looked at my tires and wheels and..... drumroll please..... they were not my wheels and tires!!!!!; obviously there was a "mix-up" last spring and somehow when i picked my car up last spring, after having put my summers on, they gave me back the wrong set of wheels and tires!!!!;

so this is where it gets annoying; at this point, i realize that there is a mix up; first off, my rims were not bent, my rims were in great shape and were a shiny black steel finish; the rims i got back were a black/grey/anodized/matte finish which seem to have an extra hole near the rest of the bolt holes; these rims say "made in brazil" "fumagalli" on them (lolol) and they are all rusted and dirty and are not even close to the quality of my original ones;

as for the tires, they also look different; while they seem to have lots of tread, the rubber b/t the treads looks all cracked and dried and doesnt look right; they are the same brand and make of tire; one question is have.... these tires still have thin yellow line down the middle of the tire and the smaller blue dashes on each side which can be seen in b/t the treads; how long does that last on a new tire?; what about the little rubber nipples (for use of a better term) on the sidewall of the tire?; my tires were 4 years old, these tires still have them would they not be worn off by now?; i am just trying to identify if these are my tires or not;

so obviously at this point i am upset; i call the dealer, they have no idea what i am talking about; they think i am trying to scam them or something i am sure but they are not saying that, they are just all playing like they dont know what is going on; so right away i get passed onto a more senior person and i speak to him and i tell him that i have been given the wrong wheels, he claims he doesnt know how that could happen; he asks me "didnt you check them when you got them in the spring?....."; anyway, i plead my case to him and i havent heard back form them in two days;

i would like to get your thoughts on this; what can/should i do?;

when i spoke to the service mgr, he said "no one had been in the shop for a week on either side of you with the same wheels" basically intimating that i have no idea what i am talking about and obviously these are my wheels; based on that, if i believe it, then clearly someone in their shop has purposely swapped tires and rims with me;

i was hoping i could brainstorm this situation with all you to see what i should do next;

any advice would be appreciated; thanks;

maskedferret

iTrader: (1)

ftfy. tl;dr

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Not likely going to be able to do much

Go and talk to the owner of the dealership and explain what happenned, how you are a long time customer...

Also ..look at the date on the tires...if they are really old...you can say...look there is no way I bought these in 200?..they were made in 200?

miker2005

where is the date located on the tires?;

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

Depending on the brand of tire it is molded into the sidewall

Do a search on the web for how to read them..if you can't find it PM me..I have it someplace

edit: Here's one http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=11

alfy28

Kaiser bun

iTrader: (2)

bahahaha alfy, possibly one of my fav of your photoshops.

Razz1

Your fuxed

Sorry..........

jasonrxeight

how could you not notice you had different wheels? especially they look different?

Texas RX8 R3

Sorry to hear about your issue.

I hope you can get it resolved with the higher manager/owner.

miker2005

thanks for the advice and the condolences everyone (and the laughs!!!);

the reason i didn't recognize the wheels were not mine was because they were bagged in plastic bags but the time i picked them up from the dealer; yes i should i have checked before i loaded them into my car but i didnt, obviously i wont make that mistake again;

i will let you guys know how it turns out; thanks;

DocBeech

iTrader: (1)

More than likely this will cost you and the dealer. You need to go up there and personally speak with a manager. Explain the situation in person and reasonably talk to them. Make sure you don't put them in defense mode or back them into an angry corner. This will just close them up and make things harder for you.