Hey everyone
I had bent my rim and I took it to Discount Tire to get it fixed. They sent it off to Cali to get re chromed and fixed. They told me it would take 2-3 weeks and told my husband 3-4 weeks. The job actually took 3 months, they gave me a discount on it and were really rude because they said that they lost money on it. Then they lost my center cap on the rim and they say that they gave it to me before they sent it off but they didn't give it to me. My rim is discontinued so I can't get a replacement center cap and they are refusing to do anything. They are denying losing it but they have no proof that they didn't have it except the word of the sales associate. On the invoice it says "tire put in trunk wheel will be shipped off" the center cap is a part of the wheel so that was what was shipped off. The place I bought the rims from says that if they lost the cap than they have to find me a replacement and if they can't than they will have to furnish me with all new rims. I need some legal advice on what I should do to make them cooperate with me and fix what they did.

Figure the value of your current rims, this is your actual loss,

Figure cost of a similar set of rims, this is the amount you would sue for.

It may well be under the limit for small claims court depending on your area.
You tell the judge your side of the story, show them the estimate for the new rims, and he will either rule
1. that they pay you nothing

2. They pay you only the value of the part that was lost

3. They pay you for the value of your old rims ( depreciated value)

4. They pay you for the value of new rims

5. He splits the differnce since it was your action, harming the rims, that was the cause of the action of sending them off.

Which will he do, can't tell you,don't now It will depend on how beleiveable you are.

Also very likely they will decide to give you new rims after you file, since they get them at wholesale and it would be cheaper most likely than to lose the court case.

Hello sugar:

Couple things. I wouldn't get my legal advice from a rim salesman. He should stick to rims.

Next, I gather the cap is necessary to the operation of the wheel. I think you can get beyond the "he said - she said" part by answering a simple question. In order for the wheel to look complete, did the cap need to be re-chromed too? If it did, and they didn't present it to you when you picked up the wheel, then it would appear that THEY lost it. If it doesn't, then they would have no reason to have kept it in the shop while waiting for the wheel, and it's reasonable to believe that they DID give it back.

In my view, if you can show that the cap needed to be rechromed along with the wheel, and they didn't give it to you, then I believe you can force their cooperation. You may need to hire an attorney, however.

If you can't prove that fact, then I don't think you'll get anything from them - at least voluntarily. You'll need to sue them. Small Claims Court is cheap and easy. And, who know, you certainly might win.

excon

I get what your saying but I had left everything in the box because I wasn't sure what all they needed to I didn't mess with it and I didn't take anything out but I don't think it needed fixing so I guess I don't have anything there. But if they had given it to me wouldn't they have documented that on the invoice. They wrote down that they put the tire in the trunk of my car but they didn't write that they gave me the center cap and if they did give it to me than I would have thought that he would have written that down too.