I just bought 4 tires through alex at the tire rack. Here is my review of the experience:

**Warning** I am very wordy.

I went to the tire rack for the price, information and ease of transaction. In the past when I have bought tires I would go to two or three tire stores and talk to the "tire guy". Then I would go home and shop by phone to get a great price. In later years I would use the internet to see what a manufacturer says about there tire in comparison to others. I always get a great price, what can I say I'm cheap, no I mean frugal. I shopped the tire price from tire rack and they were rock bottom. In fact one store that I talked to said that they often order from there and mark it up. I can believe that.

Tires are the single most important thing on the car. Followed by the brakes. They are both also the most overlooked. Don't skimp on your tires they important. If you make a bad choice on tires you ride on them for 1-3 years. One time I bought yokos and after 3000 miles they were O'So noisy. But remember I'm also cheap so I had to burn them up. Make a bad choice on tires and you will do alot of unhappy miles. The user reviews are helpful. Although I take them with a grain of salt...lets face it most of the people making the reviews don't know anything about tires and the rest have an agenda. But I still find it quite helpful.

That takes us to ease of transaction. I spoke to alex 3 times, placing an order on the third call. He is not easy to get ahold of but he does return calls fairly promptly. I placed the order and arranged delivery to a tire rack suggested install center. Alex was kind enough to educate me on the importance of proper install hardware (Hunter TC3250 and Coats 7650). The order was placed and all I had to do was to wait till tues (6 days from order to delivery including thanksgiving) Monday I sent alex an email for a tracking number. He quickly sent me out an email that there was a problem. I called customer service and my tires had not shipped. They tried to call my "billing phone number" to confirm the charge. Problem this number is non functional since Hurricane Wilma (should finally be fixed tomorrow). They had my cell number but did not call me on that. I was fuming. I actually canceled the order and I was about to come here and flog Alex for not calling me on the cell. I took a deep breath (can we say anger issues) and called alex. He was wonderful and arranged for 2 day shipping so that they only arrived 1 day later than originally promised.

Here is the part that really drove me crazy. They called me 3 times, on my cell phone, to confirm the order. The third time they had to talk to cingular to find out if i had the cell phone for more than 3 months. Now I know there are alot of crooks out there and alot of credit card fraud and it was like $450 in product and they were not even shipping it to my address...but come on that level of security is very...very annoying. It was almost enough to send me elsewhere but I persevered.

Today I had 4 new tires installed. My recommendation yes use there website, order tires from them. The average person will not ever go to the trouble that i go to to buy tires shopping for the right tire, then the right price. How many people just go in and say "hey are these good tires", "yes", "OK I'll take 2", "you'll need 4", "OK I'll take 4"

Most people should buy from tire rack

1. for there great web site with reviews
2. for there great prices
3. for there great selection
4. to help you find a installer who has the 3250 or 7650.

Will I buy from Alex@tirerack again...YOU BET! Will I be annoyed at there telephone confirmation? Yep! Should you order from them? Yes.



A side note - the installer was clean, professional, polite, and did a good job...I guess...hey how would I know if he mucked it up anyway.

Say tuned for my PZero nero review coming soon. Yes its gonna be wordy.

 

????????????

I guess you are happy with tirerack?

 

My order was painless. I emailed Alex via the forum here. He answered my questions within hours. I called, got him and ordered. I bought tires and wheels, mounted and balanced. I think I paid a little extra for faster shipping. They were here a day early.

I had NO phone calls to check info. Some charge cards require a security check when the ship address is different than the billing address. That's probably what burned you. Also might be different if you order through the web vs. calling. I use web sites to pre shop, and but rarely order through them.

I'm a IT guy by trade and the idea of 'secure sites' makes me laugh, or cringe. I also like to be sure I can get someone on the phone in case theres a issue with the order. I figure if I can't get someone on the phone to take a order, I won't be able to in order to solve a probelm.

Amazon is a good example of this. Just try to find a phone number on their site... At least last year there wasn't one.

My ship and bill addresses were the same, and I'm careful that they know my middle intial appears on the card... Probably also varies with which card you use. My transaction was fast, painless, and I found Alex super helpful and knowledgable.

 

Overall Yes I was. It was only the authorization that had me bothered. And the fact that they did not contact me to tell me there was a problem. But note that Alex was great and I would buy from them again.



It could have been my card. It was a debit visa and its a small credit union. Humm now that you mention it damm card. I should have used my credit card.

 

A lot of times it's the credit card companies that require all of this security insanity. I recently ordered from a vendor (can't remember who), and once I was into the checkout area of their site, I was informed that first time orders had to be delivered to the billing address, meaning that it would have to sit outside my house all day instead of coming to my office. I ordered anyway, because I really wanted the item, but in the "extra comments" section I let them know what I thought of this policy. Within a couple of hours I had an apologetic e-mail from them, saying that it was indeed a dumb policy, but that their credit-handling company required it. Then they went ahead and changed the address to my office, anyway.

Long story short, as other have said, don't assume that it's the vendor's fault when shipping and billing get screwy. I recently ordered winter wheels and tires from Alex, and there was a minor goof with my order, but it was fixed quickly and easily. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again, especially since they had by the far the best price.

 

TireRack's verification policy is different from anyone else's that I've experienced. My billing and shipping address were the same but they still wanted phone verification. Their requirement was that they be able obtain a phone number from directory assistance and talk to me on that number. This was a bit of a problem because I work mostly from home and I have an unlisted home phone number. My order was delayed a couple of days until the next time I was in the office. Even then, they required calling the company's main number listed on directory assistance instead of my direct office line. I never had to do anything like this even when I ordered a $2500 laptop from IBM. That said, TireRack probably has their policy because they've had problems in the past.

Other than verification, I was happy with the order and with Alex's service, and I would use TireRack again. Once my order was verified, it immediately shipped out of their Reno warehouse and arrived just 2 days later in San Francisco, even with standard ground shipping.

 

Alex- did tirerack change buyer verification procedures this year?

 

Its very case specific. Proceures are streamined continoiusly. Alot has to do with provided data accuracy - If your order is shipping to a buisness or an installer that we can contact that helps verification. If your order is written as customer inforation, and its identcial to the credit card verification - my system can do automatic release of orders.

There are several other factors that mandate what and if how much verification is done. Typically based on the buyer's billing info - and the AGI of the address wer'e shipping to. There are certain high fraud areas we wach above I am not versed in verification as its not my roll, but I can tell you its specific and designed to protect the card holder.

As you can imagine there is more fruadulent buisness with "Chirzome dizubs" than most other companies, due to the client they appeal to.
Not that this applies in the case, but thats why we're so careful.

Alex