Sure, the staff fitting the tyres will not need degrees to do their job. Shame the management though aren't clued up enough at organising procedures to safeguard the actons of their employees.
True, LR won't want to distribute this type of info, cos it makes the cars look ****e.
Fair enough on the time delay, if they weren't playing ball something should have been organised sooner, but what you're saying would have cost $$$. The "proof" was only recongised after the event, understanding the tyres had been fitted wrongly and looking back at the service history - the IRD had gone bang by then.
So, if you don't know anything about tyres, where do you take your car to get tyres fitted? erm... A Tyre specialist!
Management do what they can, but that amounts to little more than checking wheel nuts are torqued properly*. There are just too many different variations of vehicles on the road for them to know everything. If they have access to the Autodata system for wheel alignment specs and so on, then perhaps they would know a little more about the cars, but from what I remember of Autodata, information like where the fit the new tyres is not on there. However. a minimum wage teenager doesnt care enough about stuff like that. New tyres on....wheels back on....out the door....next job. There is often no time for much else and all they are really bothered about is getting their paycheck at the end of the month. Stuff like customer satisfaction rarely enters their heads.
While it would have cost him at the time for proper legal advice and a vehicle inspection,
if he had done this in time, he
might have had a case, and
if he had won that case he would
probably have got his costs back.
I totally see what you mean about going to a tyre specialist though, but the sad truth is that the knowledge levels in most garages is appallingly low....not just fast fit places but many general garages too where staff are no longer mechanics, they are fitters.....fit a new part and see if that fixes it. In an ideal world, the staff would have said "ooh, a Freelander, need to fit these tyres to the rear" but that just isnt reality and unfortunately many people find themselves on the end of wrong advice and poor workmanship as a result. The only thing people can do to avoid this is research things themselves, find out their vehicles weak points and make sure work is done to their satisfaction. If the O.P. had done a little research after buying his car - hell if he had even read the owners manual, this could have been avoided - assuming that the ird wasnt just on the brink of failure anyway!!
*and when I say torqued properly, thats often a load of toss too. I fit my own tyres, but need to get them balanced at a garage. Last time I was in one I watched as the fitter working on some blokes car wanged the wheel nuts on with the impact wrench, then picked up a scabby looking torque wrench from the floor, which was already pre-set to some mystery value and he got another chap to watch as he leaned on the bar and it clicked on each wheel nut....as far as they were concerned the nuts were torqued correctly and witnessed - liability ends. Never mind the fact that they were almost certainly massively over-tightened and the torque wrench that probably never gets wound back to zero will be so hopelessly out of calibration as to be useless.
No initiative, no real knowledge of mechanical principals and a blind ability to follow instructions regardless of how relevant they might be..... thats the guy who is responsible for the safety of peoples cars on public roads!
