'We’re Basically Giving Her A Tire For Free': Mechanic Tells Woman He Can’t Service Her Tire. Then She Calls The Secret Number

"I can’t rotate this tire."

Mechanic Tells Woman He Can’t Service Her Tire. Then She Calls The Secret Number

Photo by: teamallbusiness & Nilsson Masth

Mustafa Gatollari

By: Mustafa Gatollari

Apr 4, at 2:00pm ET

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Anyone who works in customer service is familiar with the entitlement that some people just inherently possess. Explaining that the price and rules apply to them is a necessary skill that often requires a mix of diplomacy and resolve.

Still, no matter how you try to break it to them, some people simply can’t or won’t understand that they are not the exception.

That’s the experience that one auto tech recently documented. He had a customer who insisted on getting her tires rotated even though one was visibly damaged and needed to be replaced. Nothing he said would convince her otherwise.

As creator All Business (@teamallbusiness) explains, however, her obstinacy worked in her favor. When he refused to rotate her tires, she called corporate and managed to get a free tire.

When Will A Mechanic Refuse To Work On Tires?

An auto repair shop can and sometimes will refuse to rotate tires. Ultimately, it boils down to liability. If the shop lets you drive off on unsafe tires, it could potentially be held liable if you get in a wreck.

As the woman learned in this case, they can base this decision on the condition of the tires. The mechanic most likely wanted to ensure he couldn’t be held liable if she got in a wreck.

While her tire was in particularly bad shape, TireGrades notes that many shops won’t perform rotations if tread depth is simply below a threshold, typically 4/32 of an inch or less.

A shop may also base its refusal to rotate or patch tires on their age. Multiple automakers recommend getting new tires at least every six years, so some simply won’t work on tires that are older than that.

What Was Wrong With The Woman's Tire?

In the clip, the mechanic shows that the rubber on one side of her tire is worn down to the point that the wires are jutting out.

“Alright this is the tire that I took off that you wanted me to rotate?” he says incredulously.

After the woman confirms that it is, he calmly explains that he isn’t putting that tire back on.

“You see these little steel things right here?” he says, adding, “I can’t rotate this tire.”

Commenters agreed that her tire was in awful shape. "Ain’t no tire left," one wrote.

Nevertheless, the woman herself didn't seem to understand that putting a clearly damaged wheel back on her car was a bad idea. “Why not?” she asks.

“Cause one, the reason why your car was running wild, you had no air in the tire. And if you got no air in the tire, it ain’t doing you no purpose driving like this,” he says.

Still, the woman insists that he rotate the tires anyway. He refuses.

In the end, however, she got something much better. The mechanic says she called corporate to complain about him refusing to rotate her tires.

“This customer called a 1-800 number cause I told her you can’t rotate these tires,” the mechanic says. “Look at this … we’re basically giving her a tire for free now cause she called the 1-800 number said we was trying to take advantage of her. Because we would not rotate her tires.”

“When she drove zero to 100, the car shakes like a salt shaker. And then she wonder why,” he adds.

People who commented on the post felt the woman successfully gamed the system. One opined that corporate decided that the cost of one free tire was less than the impact of the negative review she may have left if they refused. "She knew what she was doing plain and simple," agreed another.

What do you think?

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The experience clearly left a bad taste in the mechanic's mouth. In a caption on the post, he wrote, “I think today’s gonna be my last day on the job!”

Motor1 has reached out to All Business via TikTok direct message for further comment. We'll update this if they respond.

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