New Tires

VictoriaM, Sorry to hear about your experience! I'm not sure whether it makes me feel any better that you got shafted as well :-) The rescue guy I had actually helped me out a lot. I had an emergency spare in my boot so all he was really obliged to do was to help me change the wheel which would allow me to get to the nearest garage to get a replacement. He did this but, as it was a Friday, i) he wasn't sure what was open and ii) I also ran the risk of them not having stock. In hindsight, I think somewhere on beach road may have cost even more. Anyway, he mentioned this umm suqueim place he was aware of would definitely have what I needed - there is a big yellow sticker on my emergency wheel which said "maximum 80kmph" and the thought of me having to drive c. 30km at that speed wasn't the most appealing. So he actually put my car on the tow-truck and gave me a lift there before helping to negotiate. I actually joked with him that he should be getting commission from the the garage - he laughed and said 'if they pay me, you will pay more' and then went onto say that he had been offered kick-backs from other garages in the past. I smelled a rat when the manager (the guy who was doing the least work and mainly in the office) wouldn't allow me to pay before the whole job was complete. At the time, I thought that he wanted to make sure I was entirely happy with the job but it became obvious when they identified 'a alignment issue' which required more money, that this was always their plan. Under the circumstances whilst I knew I was getting screwed, I really just wanted to job done properly so coughed up the extra. But I think they all knew that I knew what they were doing. I paid - the invoice mentioned nothing about his 'extra issue' and I just left. They had me over a barrel........at least back home, you have transparency on all the costs (on computer). Ladies be warned - avoid Lord Land if at all possible!!