A few months back I took my car in for a set of new front tyres. The previous set (at the rear) were worn out and were ready to go into their next life as a tyre swing for children or a potato planting mound or whatever they may have become. They moved my old front tyres to the back as they still had some good tread on them.
The place I went to is a Dunlop agent and the man I dealt with was a slightly older gentleman with a kind face and a pleasant attitude. While speaking with him, I learnt that he is the owner of the business and I could tell that he runs a neat ship. I explained that my one tyre had a leak and required frequent pumping at the service station. While I don't mind doing that, it was becoming worrisome that it could lead to a blowout while driving and cause an accident.
He got one of his team to check the tyre for me and couldn't find a puncture anywhere so they assumed it was a slow leak along the rim. They fixed it somehow and then moved it to the back. This was back in March.
Now a few months later and the tyre has been doing the same thing. It's annoying and worrying so I went tyre window shopping today. Their direct competition which happens to be a few shops down fits the tyres for quite a lot less money but they don't offer a warranty on the tyres - whereas Dunlop do. Is it worth it to have a warranty for 12 months? I think it is.
He suggested that instead of buying a brand new set, let his team check the tyre and see if there isn't maybe a puncture that can be plugged. I agreed even though I was quite ready to just pay for a new set just to make the regular inflating stop. They came back and said there was grit that had worked it's way between the tyre and the rim causing a leak, they resealed it and sent me on my way at no cost to me and a few minutes of their time and expertise at their cost.
What did it earn them? Client loyalty. Even though they could have just lied and told me that the tyre needs to be replaced and cannot be repaired, they chose to be honest and to help me get a bit more mileage out of the older tyres. I am the type of person that appreciates that kind of business integrity. It's the kind of place that I will recommend to people I know (and I have previously) because they went out of their way to provide me with a service at no cost as well as explaining their tyre warranty.
It's easy these days to get shafted by companies that are looking out for their profit margin above the customer retention aspects of their service industry. Today, that didn't happen and I'm really quite pleased. Eventually that set of tyres will be replaced and I already know who I'll be asking to do it.
Faith in humanity substantially restored today and that makes me happy. When last were you impressed by great service?
𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝑨𝑰 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆. 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏.
