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Blackcircles dispute and outcome.


Sgt Wilson

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The following is a letter I wrote to Blackcircles. It contains information you may find useful if you are considering using them for new tyres. :boxing:

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

Thank you for your reply. I infer from your offer that you are proposing to put right that which your fitters have damaged. Further, that you are offering a goodwill payment of £54 to cover my inconvenience. I am at pains to remind you that I have wasted 3 half days so far, not to mention the time to pursue this matter through phone calls and emails. I am now being asked to take further time out for you to put right that which should not have occurred in the first place.

 

Furthermore, so you are in no doubt as to the chain of events, allow me to illustrate why I cannot accept your offer.

 

I put an order through to Blackcircles on 6th February and travelled to Delamere Motors on the 8th February, waited a couple of hours only to be told that they would not risk scratching my alloys. I was grateful that they were concerned about the welfare of my car but ultimately disgruntled for being messed about. I was contacted by Blackcircles and offered apologies and an alternative date and venue. I was assured at the time that this would not happen again and that Delamere Motors could not fit the tyres due to having a machine with 2 arms rather than the required 3. Surely this should have been checked when my order was taken before making a 26 mile round trip?

 

I then visited Royale Garage on the 13th February to be told by the fitter that he'd have to wait for the Boss to arrive as he wasn't sure if he could fit the tyres without scratching the alloys. I waited and the Boss eventually confirmed that it was not worth the £10 that Blackcircles paid

him to fit the tyres and that he couldn't guarantee that my alloys wouldn't be scratched. I contacted Blackcircles and spoke to Mike who was effusive with apologies and did his best to find another venue for that day so as to limit my inconvenience. Unfortunately the next nearest garage was unable to fit me in until the next day. So, the assurance that this would not happen again was incorrect. Again, why wasn't this checked beforehand? I was given a number to ring and asked to contact Richard at Seamer Garage.

 

I expressed my concerns to 'Richard' at Seamer Garage and he cockily replied "I've been fitting tyres since 1979....your alloys won't get scratched". Only to be confronted by 4 scratched alloys and some implausible excuse that it's impossible to fit tyres to Nissan alloys without scratching them due to their design. If that was the case then all Nissans would have scratches as standard. You told me on the telephone that you may have to withdraw the fitting of tyres to the Nissan 350Z as it would be too costly to provide all your fitters with the correct tools to do the job. So why did you then offer me a 'special deal' on my next set of tyres?

 

As you are aware, I am a member of a 350Z forum (www.350z-uk.com) where you offer a generous 5% discount on tyres. I feel it my duty to inform my fellow members of the situation. This is not, as you accused me, a threat as I am obliged to do this regardless of the offers made to me. I post as 'Sgt Wilson' and will be happy for you to reply to any information I provide, as a matter of courtesy, fairness and balance.

 

I would like a mutually satisfactory conclusion without the involvement of other parties, which I have no doubt you will agree with in light of your previous email being headed 'Without Prejudice'.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

etc.

 

 

 

I have since been offered a full refurb for my alloys, which I have accepted. :thumbs:

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scratches... to what extent are we talking about here? you got any pics mate? just to put the whole thing into context :)

 

Some are worse than the others, one has a substantial chip out of the same area. I'll send you more if required.

 

 

You will shortly have PM regarding my sticker Val.

 

 

Nick

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That really sucks Nick.

 

This is why I watch the work people are doing on my car.

 

My last car was almost clamped two years ago. Clampers realised halfway through that I was in a few space. But the damage was done. Big gouge in the alloy. Nothing I could do.

 

Guy

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are they scratchs on the INSIDE of where the lug nuts go?

 

personally I find them impossible to avoid, I have my lug nut wrench wrapped in isolating tape and still get them mate... curious to see how these are avoided... :wacko:

 

 

Yes inside all 4. Should be interesting when they go back on then :scare:

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That really sucks Nick.

 

This is why I watch the work people are doing on my car.

 

My last car was almost clamped two years ago. Clampers realised halfway through that I was in a few space. But the damage was done. Big gouge in the alloy. Nothing I could do.

 

Guy

 

That's a bummer! Good tip for us all really, watch everything that's being done. :thumbs:

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are they scratchs on the INSIDE of where the lug nuts go?

 

personally I find them impossible to avoid, I have my lug nut wrench wrapped in isolating tape and still get them mate... curious to see how these are avoided... :wacko:

 

 

Yes inside all 4. Should be interesting when they go back on then :scare:

 

only way to avoid that damage is to take the wheels off yourself carefully, the grease monkeys at the tyre fitters just buzz the nuts off with an air ratchet :headhurt: To be honest they are bound to make that sort of marks , best if you ask them to use hand tools rather than the nut runners :thumbs:

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are they scratchs on the INSIDE of where the lug nuts go?

 

personally I find them impossible to avoid, I have my lug nut wrench wrapped in isolating tape and still get them mate... curious to see how these are avoided... :wacko:

 

My fitter managed to do them without scratching, I think it just takes some care & a fair bit of time - iirc was in there for about 3 hours :scare:

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A mate of mine has just had a nightmare where a young fitter was fitting tyres to his car and put the nut on the wrong thread before letting rip with his air ratchet, stripping the thread off the stud in the process. He's still trying to resolve the dispute. :thumbdown:

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I have my lug nut wrench wrapped in isolating tape

 

Me too, does help though :thumbs:

 

A bit of hassle you've gone through Sarge, must admit it is a big phobia of mine getting new tyres. I'd rather pay over the odds for the tyres with someone I trust fitting them. Guys that done my 19s were spot on, took time to protect the rims before fitting. :thumbs:

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I'm in the problematic situation of having gone the extra mile (or 40 odd) to have my rims fitted at Demon Tweeks in Wrexham where I trust them not to wreck the wheels as seen above, only to find that Envy didn't send me the correct spigot rings to fit the wheels. Fair play to Gaz, he's sent me what should be the correct ones but Wrexham's a long way to go and DT will no doubt want to charge me again to take the wheels on and off. I have some local places where I could get the job done but nothing above fills me with any confidence. I could really do with getting them fitted before Wales but I'm very short on time. DT did a great job BTW and they checked carefully before they sent me out that there were no vibrations or rattles without the rings. I don't really know whether I need them at all but the DT guy did suggest I got them done. Any thoughts?

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