Tire Rants: Yokohama Tire Company

by J
(Da Silva)

I very recently purchased brand new Yokohama S. Drive tires on May 12, 2009 from one of Yokohama's authorized dealers listed on the Yokohama web site:
TalonTire located at
2607 Diab,
Ville St-Laurent, Quebec, H4S 1E7.

I also registered my tires on the Yokohama website - DOT numbers supplied by dealer.

My odometer reading at the time of purchase on May 12,2009 was 71986KM (as evidenced by my invoice). To my horror, a friend noticed on May 16, 2009 that one of my tires had a bubble in it! - after only 4 days of driving!!! - although it may have been there since the installation?

Upon learning that my tire can blow-out at any moment and can kill me! I immediately put on my spare tire and have not driven the vehicle since!

I use the car to simply go back and forth from work and my route is the same everyday (as evidenced by my low kilometers - 72000KM since its purchase in fall of 2002).

I did not and do not hit any potholes or road hazards on my way to work everyday - as I know where they all are! I am a 32 year old woman and I do not drive aggressively or dangerously (as evidenced by my perfect driving record and insurance file).

I phoned my dealer and got very upset when he said "goodluck!" in trying to get my tire to be honored by Yokohama's warranty.

He told me to come and see him so that he can "take a look" and "see what he can do".

This was very upsetting as according to Yokohama – they have the “best warranties in the business” - and was a factor that influenced my buying decision.

Since then, it's been three weeks, Yokohama has refused to honor their warranty despite the dealer stating there is no rim damage so the tire should be covered under warranty.

I still didn't get my tire back that I had left with Yokohama to inspect almost two weeks ago. Their sales rep does not return any of my calls. Also, Yokohama customer service did not even respond to the letter I sent them.
Their customer service would not give me anyone's e-mail address so that I could make a complaint.

They have the worst customer service I have ever seen, heard of, read of, or experienced.

I am now going to take them to court.

I will never buy Yokohama tires ever again in this life or any future life I may have. They do not have a warranty on their tires. They tell you that they have a warranty but that's just lies.

I feel horrible!

If they would have replaced my 4 day old tire with a new one all would have been ok.