I am not one who usually waxes poetic about companies or products, but I have to promote a company that consistently saves me money, Gateway Tires on S'port-Barksdale Hwy.
The story begins with dinner out on Friday night. I started driving home in the gloomy rain around 10pm, only to discover that I had no "dim" headlights. I had hi-beams and fog lights, but no "regular" lights. Scary, and I'm sure the oncoming traffic was confused, too.
This morning, being the first morning I had time to deal with this, I took my car down the road to a local garage and asked them if they could fix it. I left my car, walked home, and received a call about an hour later--no, they couldn't They'd have to take the entire front end off the car and the bulbs cost $145--EACH--and no one in town had them, I'd have to take the car to the dealer, yada, yada, yada. You get the idea. Sounded to me as though they really didn't want my business.
So, I called Gateway. I told the guy my problem and what the garage here said. He said, "Bring it here first. We can probably take care of it more cheaply than a dealer can."
The bad news--the bulbs from the dealer would cost $216--EACH--but Gateway could get them for $128--EACH. Gulp. Total with tax and labor would be about $328. And it would take an hour.
I graded papers; I re-read the stories for my Eng. 215 class. I tried not to panic. How soon could I get to the bank and transfer money from savings? Did I really need to go to the grocery store this week?
I'm ready to start a movement--before a dealer can sell you a car, he/she must tell you replacement costs for every part you might have to replace. Just about the time I had worked myself up into a full-blown crusade, Craig, one of the counter persons, came over to me and said, "We checked the part numbers for the bulbs, and we think we can use bulbs that cost about $10 or $15 each. Does that sound better?"
I offered to cook for him for a year, but, smart man, he turned me down.
Total cost for parts and labor? $84.47!
And that's why I will shamelessly promote Gateway Tires to anyone who asks me.
3 comments:
I would definitely endorse them too...how lucky! =)
An old boss of mine recommended them to me because he had been using them for years. I have had great service from them and I promote them wholeheartedly.
I feel that whenever you receive excellent customer service you should let others know. Thanks for the information. I know where I will be going the next time I have an issue with my car.
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