When it comes to business ideas, selling automobile tires is as mundane as anything, but Les Schwab created a company that engenders loyalty. He wrote his autobiography in 1986, and I am sad to say that I have not read it, but when we lived in Oregon, we were faithful customers. We were faithful to Les Schwab because when we had tire issues, the Les Schwab store provided fast service at a fair price. In several instances, they provided their service at no charge because we were regulars. I would drive a long distance for a Les Schwab, but probably not to Helena, Montana ... the closest store to Wisconsin.
These thoughts of Les Schwab came to mind yesterday when I needed to replace two worn tires on my Saturn. I decided to take my business to Sears Auto Center. My dad was a Sears man, and I figured that I could trust them to slap a few tires on my car without messing up. I was wrong. They replaced the old tires and did an alignment for $330. I drove to work and parked the car for several hours. When I returned, however, one of the tires was flat. Arrggh! A half hour later, I was on my way back to Sears with a slightly underinflated spare.
Once there, I patiently explained the problem to the Sears representative and told him that this was somewhat urgent, as I was on my way to the Brewers-Cubs game with my children. Putz, putz, putz. Fifteen minutes of paperwork! Ok, now let's get that car in the shop! After five more minutes of inactivity, I blew a gasket and told them that I was sick of waiting. They had messed up, and I wanted it fixed now! Not my finest hour, but it did manage to bring a mechanic from the back in double time. To his credit, he got the job done fairly quickly after that. The cause of the flat? He couldn't figure it out, but he guessed that it was a leaky stem valve.
Now, I am willing to concede that a leaky stem valve could happen to anyone, even Les Schwab, but the customer service at Sears was horrible. The manager attempted to explain that the mechanics had been busy unloading a supply truck when I arrived. I told her that I was not interested in excuses at that hour when her team's work had already put me in a time bind. The customer comes first if you want my business. That's the way Les Schwab ran things, and that's why I am pining for him.
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1. Posted by Gen Kanai on July 28, 2004 @ 8:37 | Permalink
Sears does not deserve your time/money. A leaky stem valve can be checked with a simple soapy water solution (bubbles would appear immediately) before the car is returned to the customer. A simple process taking a few seconds.
2. Posted by Jack Bogdanski on August 11, 2004 @ 10:33 | Permalink
Les Schwab stores are still going strong out here in the Northwest. What I love is when I show up at my neighborhood Schwab on my *bike* needing some air in my tires. Someone invariably drops what he's doing and fills me up. For free, of course. We wouldn't buy tires anywhere else.
3. Posted by Tom Huffman on July 14, 2005 @ 10:52 | Permalink
The local Les Schwab here in Corvallis (Oregon) had always been a great place to do business. However, they built a new buildling and changed over management - the result was unpleasant.
I took my car in for brakes, having received a $150 estimate for labor and parts. Even though I told them the year/make/model of my car, they waited 'til I brought it in to order the parts, so it had to sit there for four days before they could start on it.
When I went down to pick it up, the bill was $328!!! I couldn't believe it!! The brake drums had to be replaced, but I wasn't called about the additional money; in fact, there was no mention of the additional cost when I called about picking up the car.
I didn't have the extra money right then, so even though I was a long-time customer, I had to fill out a loan application and be approved before I could pick up my car.
So Les Schwab doesn't get any more of my business, period. It was an infuriating and humiliating experience, and a complete change from the service I had be receiving for many years.
4. Posted by Sal Parisi on November 17, 2005 @ 16:12 | Permalink
In August of 2003, I was driving a large passenger van to Young Life’s Oregon camp which is near the town known as “The Middle of Nowhere” (no offense to anyone in Central Oregon, but if you know where Wildhorse Canyon is, it really is in the middle of nowhere. The nearest town, Antelope – population 59, is about 16 miles away).
I was caravanning with another van. Now I always check the tires on any vehicle I am driving before leaving on a trip. However, my friend driving the other van, did not.
At that time, the last 13 miles to Wildhorse Canyon was a gravel road which also had these thorns that grew up under the road that the locals called “goats head”. They were notorious for shredding tires – especially ones that were practically bald.
So, it was a Friday evening at about 7:30PM. We were about 3 miles from the camp, on a gravel road with basically a cliff on one side, when I noticed the van in front of me appeared to losing air in one of the back tires. We had walkie-talkies so I told Chris that he had a leak and he pulled over. No problem – one bad tire and we had a spare.
Well, that tire went completely flat right after he pulled over. Then I heard a hissing sound coming from the other back tire. Then one of the front tires literally popped. The other front tire was so bald that it had a bubble. After realizing how fortunate Chris was not to be dead and thanking God for His loving mercy for his semi-dense sheep, we also realized we were completely and utterly hosed. Friday night, 7:30PM, middle of nowhere, 4 bad tires, gravel road, cliff on one side.
We left the van where it was and drove the other van into camp. I got on the phone and called Les Schwab in Madras Oregon fully expecting nobody to answer at that time of the evening on a Friday night, especially since they closed at 7:00PM – and even if someone was there, I was 100% certain that their was no way they were going to drive 48 miles on a Friday night to rescue us.
However, to my absolute surprise, I was wrong on both accounts.
I explained our quandary to the gentleman and his repetitive response was both “No problem” followed by the occasional “Not a problem”. After telling him that the van was a 15 passenger van and that I wanted a set of the 4 best tires he had, he recommended some 7 ply monsters that were perfect. We even got a good price on them.
Literally 1 hour and 15 minutes later, a Les Schwab tire truck pulls up in the middle of nowhere at 9:00PM, on the side of a mountain. 45 minutes later we’ve got 4 beautiful big meaty new tires on the van. He even checked the spare and put a few pounds of air in it for us as well.
I insisted on tipping him $25 for giving us service that was beyond anything I had ever seen. He said “No thank you” followed by occasional “Sir, it’s just my job”. Not only that, he wouldn’t even let us pay a service fee for coming all the way out there.
I have no personal ties to Les Schwab. This was just such an amazing experience that I wanted to share it.
I was a Les Schwab customer before, however, now I’m one of their greatest evangelists as well.
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