Tires Plus Total Car Care

So to start off with I brought my car in and dropped it off and walked to a nearby panera. After about three hours I finally decided to call and see if my rotation had been done or if I had more time to kill. Valerie Portalatin answered the phone and put me on hold. After about 5 minutes of classical music she picked up again and said that they just finished working on my vehicle and I could come to pick it up. When I got there an associate went to look for my paperwork. After a few minutes he came back to tell me that in fact my car was not ready, and that they haven’t even started working on it yet. Frustrated, but understanding, I sat down in their waiting room and waited another 40 minutes.

My car was finally done. And normally I would let this go, and continue about my day; however, just wait to hear what happens next.

I get in my car and start to drive off. I notice it feels a little strange. Like one of my wheels is bumpy, wobbly almost. But i thought maybe its just the road, and kept driving. I only live about 7 minutes away, and for that entire drive I tried to convince myself that my car was fine.

I get home and immediately start examining my wheels. Right away I see A WHOLE CHUNK OF RUBBER sticking up. 1. Ive never seen this before. 2. All I was thinking about was how I absolutely should have trusted my gut when I felt the car was off. After closer examination I see a prominent deep scratch on my rim right next to the rip in the rubber.

A little bit of context: My car is a 2017 Camry and I just got new wheels put on about 2 months ago.

I have had a bent rim before from driving over a curb and have had to get it replaced. The moment it happened, I knew instantly. And I absolutely 100% remember all of the curbs I hit. (Which hasn’t happened in years.)

So I immediately call tires plus lake mary. Valerie Portalatin answers and I inform her that I am on my way back to the store so they can see the damage. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that something happened during my tire rotation which damaged my wheel. She says okay and hangs up.

When I get into the store, it is completely empty, not a “sales teammate in sight”

Once the service manager sees me, Brandon Bailey, he comes out from the back and asked me what the issue is. I tell him that you just serviced my car and my wheel is damaged.

When we go outside to see my car, he starts speaking down to me like I am incompetent. He quickly states that I “must’ve hit a curb.” This rude, and sexist comment made me start shaking with anger. I repeatedly explained that a curb would not slice through a tire with a curve. Its simply not logical, nor plausible in my situation. Brandon Bailey continues to argue with me and states that the damage to my wheel is “impact damage”. And then he assumed I didnt know what a tire rotation was so he began acting out how it works. He mocked me as he gestured the removal and attachment of tires and then stated “You just don’t understand but a rotation wouldn’t cause that.”

WHICH 100% A normally conducted tire rotation would not cause that. Something I am fully aware of. However since there IS damage to my wheel, then CLEARLY someone made a mistake.

Regardless, after our dispute, he reluctantly said he would file a “claim” of some sort. He took 2 poor pictures on his personal phone of my wheel and then printed out another copy of my invoice and walked away. He probably trashed it later and never did anything with my “claim” I left angry and determined to get my wheel fixed.

I called corporate and filed a real claim.

I am getting the damages appraised and I will absolutely get compensation for the damages caused.

As for Brandon Bailey, I hope you learn how to act respectfully and professionally when interacting with customers. I believe the way you handled the situation was absolutely disgusting. You lied and were trying to manipulate me based off my appearance. You have completely underestimated me.

This shop is shady and takes advantage of women. You bring your car in for one thing and it always comes back with something else broken! They lie about what is wrong with your car and try to make you pay for things you do not want or need. Not only have I experienced this myself, but they also did it to my daughter and the last 3 times I have been in there I have heard a woman complaining about the same exact thing. They are giving your company a bad name. The manager is not helpful and does not take responsibility for anything his employees do and do not do. I spent over $1000 fixing the right side of my car, new tires, new rims, alignment, hubcaps which I said I couldn't afford but was charged for them anyway and the day I got it I heard a noise, brought it back and now I am told it needs a new part for my front left tire when there was nothing wrong with that side and the car is a brand new 2018. Now they want another 562 dollars! They are trying to take advantage of me again, someone else looked at the car and says different and way less!. I am done with your company and hope you do something at this locartion to change the way they do business.