My wife's car (BMW i3) picked up a puncture and since I've never known a tyre shop be willing to repair one, I went onto the web to get a new tyre fitted.
Wow! I had no idea that even specifying the brand, name and size there were still a huge number of variants. Why a manufacturer would produce the same tyre rated at different speeds is beyond me. Surely making them all for the fastest rated speed would simplify things for everybody?
As I wanted the tyres on each side to match, I checked the current tyres only to find that due to a previous puncture replacement the two rear tyres were slightly different. One is an 89Q and the other is an 85Q. What's more, neither tyre was as specified on the printed sticker inside the door frame (which said 85Q XL), and one of them was factory fitted!
On the web, the variation in price for the same tyre was £94 to over £150 but not all suppliers provided the full spec details. Eventually found an exact match on the Asda Tyres site fitted by my local tyre shop. Just out of interest I called the tyre shop for a quote, which came in at £37 more. When I mentioned the Adsa quote for the same tyre that would be fitted by them, they said it must be "old stock".
Anyway, Asda seemed the best deal so I started the online ordering process and when it asked me to accept their terms and conditions, for once I thought I'd read them, or at least the clauses relating to what Asda are supplying. I was stunned to read the following -
3.4 Asda Tyres reserves the right to change the Goods or any relative specifications (whether such specifications have been submitted by the Customer in the Customer's order or otherwise) and designs at any time, without notice, as a result of changes in the law or at the sole discretion of Asda Tyres.
As I read it, this means that even if I order a specific tyre, Asda can supply anything they like! I'm not sure who would be liable (Asda or the fitting company) if the tyre fitted resulted in an accident. I emailed Asda asking if they considered this a reasonable condition of sale, but I haven't had a reply yet.
To be fair to Asda, I looked at a number of other sites T's & C's and found them to be the same. In fact identical, with just the name changed, so I suspect that they all use the same back-end with just the user interface bespoked to their brand.
Anybody had a similar experience with tyres or other products?
Wow! I had no idea that even specifying the brand, name and size there were still a huge number of variants. Why a manufacturer would produce the same tyre rated at different speeds is beyond me. Surely making them all for the fastest rated speed would simplify things for everybody?
As I wanted the tyres on each side to match, I checked the current tyres only to find that due to a previous puncture replacement the two rear tyres were slightly different. One is an 89Q and the other is an 85Q. What's more, neither tyre was as specified on the printed sticker inside the door frame (which said 85Q XL), and one of them was factory fitted!
On the web, the variation in price for the same tyre was £94 to over £150 but not all suppliers provided the full spec details. Eventually found an exact match on the Asda Tyres site fitted by my local tyre shop. Just out of interest I called the tyre shop for a quote, which came in at £37 more. When I mentioned the Adsa quote for the same tyre that would be fitted by them, they said it must be "old stock".
Anyway, Asda seemed the best deal so I started the online ordering process and when it asked me to accept their terms and conditions, for once I thought I'd read them, or at least the clauses relating to what Asda are supplying. I was stunned to read the following -
3.4 Asda Tyres reserves the right to change the Goods or any relative specifications (whether such specifications have been submitted by the Customer in the Customer's order or otherwise) and designs at any time, without notice, as a result of changes in the law or at the sole discretion of Asda Tyres.
As I read it, this means that even if I order a specific tyre, Asda can supply anything they like! I'm not sure who would be liable (Asda or the fitting company) if the tyre fitted resulted in an accident. I emailed Asda asking if they considered this a reasonable condition of sale, but I haven't had a reply yet.
To be fair to Asda, I looked at a number of other sites T's & C's and found them to be the same. In fact identical, with just the name changed, so I suspect that they all use the same back-end with just the user interface bespoked to their brand.
Anybody had a similar experience with tyres or other products?
