Recommendation: Kal Tire

[triver525]

It's not often that I will actually go out of my way to recommend a shop but this Kal Tire has absolutely fantastic service.

I took my car there yesterday to have an alignment done and the guy took my car with little or no advance booking and it was done within 3 hours of me dropping it off. Super convenient for downtowners because the C-train station is like 2 blocks away. Anyway, I got the car back and they noticed that the tires were worn close to the warrantee limit and he offered to replace them (pro-rated of course) under the terms of the warantee. The service I received up to this point, in my opinion, was above average even up to the point of me picking up the car but I am even more impressed now.

When I got my car home I noticed that the antenna mast was broken and the top of the car was scratched like it got run under the overhead door. When I called the manager about it he didn't even try to give me the regular BS "it could have been done anytime after you left our shop." He just said, get it fixed and send me the bill. It seems rare to experience this level of integrity in a auto shop these days; hence my recommendation.

[bennyhanna]

So Basically

The did what they are suppose to.

I think the bigger question is, Why did the scratch and the broken antenna happen in the first place.

[boxer23]

wow they didnt even qusetion u thats aweosme...next time i will think about them

[Akagi Redsuns]

No thanks, I rather take my car to a shop that doesn't damage my car in the 1st place.

Don't get me wrong, it's great that that the shop is taking ownership and picking up the tab to fix the damage which is VERY rare these days......but it will still cost extra time to get the damage fixed, and damage that should have never occurred.

[triver525]

Your right, the damage should never have occured. But the integrity that the shop showed to take ownership of their mistakes is highly commendible. I'd go back to a shop that admits they make mistakes before I went to a place that says they don't make any. Right there that says to me that the policy is "it wasn't our fault."

[98brg2d]

It would have been more commendable for them to tell you about the damage when you picked up the car and offer to take it for repairs themselves (and maybe give you a rental while it is gone.) It is one thing to admit fault when questioned but a totally different thing to bring the issue forward. I would consider what they did a lie by omission. Atleast they are paying for the damages.

[Loose]

Kal Tire gouged the shit of my wheel doing a flat tire repair. They paid to fix it, but i say fuck Kal tire, and BRIAN

[Mckenzie]

Those guys are great in there. They have taken my car three times now without notice for a flat repair and not charged me a cent!

Seeing that and from my own experiences I would not hesitate to buy tires from them...Kirt is great.

People have to realize that stuff happens some times...they did not purposely break his property but the fact that they fessed up and did not put up a fuss about paying for damages is very encouraging. It is hard to find a place that takes care of customers in this manner.

[Isaiah]

Originally posted by triver525
Your right, the damage should never have occured. But the integrity that the shop showed to take ownership of their mistakes is highly commendible. I'd go back to a shop that admits they make mistakes before I went to a place that says they don't make any. Right there that says to me that the policy is "it wasn't our fault."

I agree. Perhaps the tech that worked on the car didn't want to get in trouble and didn't mention the damage to anyone.

[Loose]

The tech that gouged my rim must have been a total douche. Who the fuck gouges a polished aluminum Racing Dynamics wheel 3/4 around the lip, and has the audacity to just put it on the car and not say anything.

[cocoabrova]

Originally posted by Loose
The tech that gouged my rim must have been a total douche. Who the fuck gouges a polished aluminum Racing Dynamics wheel 3/4 around the lip, and has the audacity to just put it on the car and not say anything.

That's funny, the Kal Tire that I went to did the same thing to not 1, but ALL 4 of my high-polish iForged Aeros that were on my E36 I had. You see, I had gone to this Kal Tire many X's before, and yes they had done 3 free-of-charge flat repairs, and yes they accepted responsibility and paid my wheel-polishing bill, which incidentally was about $800...But the point is that it shouldn't have happened in the first place, and they should've informed me about it, instead of passing it off.
Now I've dealt with ALOT of different shops in town, and have NUMEROUS horror stories to tell you kids, but the bottom line is that there will never be a shop that will give you perfect service all the time, every time. Some will come close, but there's just too many circumstances that could negatively reflect on a shop's rep i.e. parts shortages/backorders, sub-standard quality parts, broken/broken-down tools and/or equipment, employee error/stupidity/having a shitty sex life....I guess the only thing consumers can do is to hope that everytime their vehicle(s) go in for service, that they come back to them in the same or better condition, for the quoted $$.....

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Originally posted by cocoabrova


That's funny, the Kal Tire that I went to did the same thing to not 1, but ALL 4 of my high-polish iForged Aeros that were on my E36 I had. You see, I had gone to this Kal Tire many X's before, and yes they had done 3 free-of-charge flat repairs, and yes they accepted responsibility and paid my wheel-polishing bill, which incidentally was about $800...But the point is that it shouldn't have happened in the first place, and they should've informed me about it, instead of passing it off.
Now I've dealt with ALOT of different shops in town, and have NUMEROUS horror stories to tell you kids, but the bottom line is that there will never be a shop that will give you perfect service all the time, every time. Some will come close, but there's just too many circumstances that could negatively reflect on a shop's rep i.e. parts shortages/backorders, sub-standard quality parts, broken/broken-down tools and/or equipment, employee error/stupidity/having a shitty sex life....I guess the only thing consumers can do is to hope that everytime their vehicle(s) go in for service, that they come back to them in the same or better condition, for the quoted $$.....

I wanna hear some horror stories, that way when something else bad happens to me, I can come back to this thread and not feel so bad

[cocoabrova]

Originally posted by LilDrunkenSmurf


I wanna hear some horror stories, that way when something else bad happens to me, I can come back to this thread and not feel so bad

Haha, maybe one day I'll compose a small book with all the stories that I can remember

[GTS Jeff]

Yeah, I like Kaltire too. The one in Edmonton southside really does seem to go the extra mile to provide good customer service. They made the mistake of putting the wrong sized tires on my car, but as soon as I pointed it out, they apologized and took $50 off the price for making me wait an extra 20 minutes.

Mistakes happen, but good customer service is no mistake.

[Cooked Rice]

i only let CMS touch my wheels. bob is a great guy A centre cap off my new rims had fallen off the day I got them installed. I called up bob the next morning, and had one shipped out to me overnight free of charge.

[SR240SX]

Kal tire FTW! lol i work there and yea we do have to get things done fast when "waiters" come in..i find it pretty amazing myself how good the service is lol

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by triver525
He just said, get it fixed and send me the bill. It seems rare to experience this level of integrity in a auto shop these days; hence my recommendation.

If I were you, I would have started this thread AFTER you have the money in your hands. I've heard the "send me the bill and we will reimburse you" thing before. And take a guess what happens, you go to get some money from them and they say "We never agreed to that".


As for Kal-Tire, I'll never go there again, save for warranty stuff on my tires if applicable. I had new tires put on, and the tire and wheel FELL OFF completely while going 120 km/h. The studs had sheared right off, with the nuts still on the half that broke off. They used the air impact gun on it to tighten them. I had torqued them myself before the incident, but the wrench clicked off right away since they were overtorqued to begin with. That was the Lethbridge location.

Now in Edmonton, I brought it in for free tire rotation. I waited in line to give my keys, and the 2 people in front of me were there to complain about shoddy work done. One guy got scammed on the brakes (charged for new pads, never changed them). So they finally wheel the truck in, and I watch them rotate. The kid putting them back on didn't even rotate them correctly. Just did back to front, not side to side as well. He also reefed on the torque wrench really hard when torquing them. That's a no no. You turn lightly until it clicks. You don't raise yourself off the ground then slam yourself down onto the wrench, thinking the torque you just applied is close to the setting.

Needless to say, I took it back to work, took off the nuts and re-tourqed them myself. It's tires for crying out loud, how hard is it to find someone capable of simple work these days.

[GTS Jeff]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101
The kid putting them back on didn't even rotate them correctly. Just did back to front, not side to side as well.

On directional tires, you cannot rotate tires from side to side or else the tread would point the wrong way.

[GTS Jeff]

Oh yeah, another good thing about Kal-tire...the people there will open the door for you and greet you in a friendly manner when they see you walking towards the front door. It's a small gesture, yes, but I welcome it after always dealing with the mainlanders at Wendy's that refuse to make eye contact with their customers and can't give their full attention to the customer in front of them for even 20 seconds, because it's just so damned important for them to yell at another mainlander in the back in poo-toong-wah.

[DRKM]

I love customers who know it all!

On most cars Radial Tires should not be cross rotated. The word comes down from the Manufacturer. Also I learned it in school too... So....


About tourquing, at most shops you puts tires on with tourque sticks. Also to shear the stud the poor guy must have gone way over board! haha That sucks....