Sorry to dig up an old thread, but pretty much the same thing just happened to me. Here's the story:
I have 18" Monza IIs on my GTI and my current tyres (Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3) are getting on a bit but, more importantly, I got a puncture on the n/s/f tyre so popped down to my local Humphries Tyre & Exhaust Centre (3-5 Caversham Bridge, Caversham, Reading RG4 8AA). Turns out my front tyres were on the wear limiters and my rear tyres had tread but were worn unevenly (on the inside edge) and were quite badly perished both on the tyre shoulders and in the grip groves. The tyre shop recommended four new tyres and to check the tracking which, to be honest, is fair enough. Things start to go downhill from here though.
The guy on the desk asked me whet tyres I currently had on the vehicle and I clearly told him they were Goodyear Eagle F1s. He said OK and then came back with a quote of £555.95inc including the tracking. I said I would make some calls. I called my usual tyre place (Bracknell Tyre and Battery) who came back with a price of £484 for a set of F1 Asymmetrics fitted and balanced, but no tracking as they don't do it. I asked they guy behind the desk if he would price match that quote and specifically told him it was for F1 Asymmetrics. He said yes, so the total cost went down to £513.95 including the tracking.
When they were finished I saw the car but I didn't recognise the tyrewall logo and asked them if they were F1s. "Oh no sir, they're the new Efficientgrips, they replaced the the Eagle F1s which have now been discontinued, these are much better" I then explained that Bracknell Tyre and Battery had given me a quote on a set of F1 Asymmetrics and that I had specifically asked him to price match their quote on those tyres "Ah, yeah, I know those lot, they buy in bulk and have 100s of tyre on the shelf, that's old stock they're trying to sell you there, these have the new tread pattern and are much better, you are really better off with these latest tyres". Foolishly I believed him and parted with my hard earned cash.
Upon getting home, reading this old thread and doing some other research I now know I have been totally mis-sold these tyres and I'm hopping mad about it. I contacted Goodyear Tyre tech who sent me an email explaining that the GSD3s have been replaced with the F1 Asymmetric and newer Asymmetric 2 tyres and that these are the appropriate replacement. I then called the tyre shop an the guy was really quite rude about the whole think, cheekily accusing me of being "irate" whilst telling me that they had done nothing wrong and that they've never heard anything like this sort of complaint, they went on to patronise me by explaining speed ratings which was silly as it allowed me to point out they had replaced a set of Y rated tyres with W rated ones but even that didn't phase them, apparently that "is appropriate for the vehicle". Maybe, but it's not what I asked for, nor is it what you told me you had quoted me for. H edid say he would call me back though and he did. He was still pretty funny with me but he told me he had phoned head office and their tyre selector team and had been told that he had fitted the correct tyre for the vehicle. I continued to argue that these were not the tyres I had asked him to quote me on, were not the tyres I had asked him to price match, at no time during the sales process did he tell me he was fitting tyres that were different to the ones I had requested and that he had lied about them replacing the Eagle F1s, lied about F1s being discontinued and lied about a competitor holding "old stock". He gave me a number to call at head office, which I did.
They were much better, but apparently there is a specific person I need to speak to, my details and the nature of my complaint has been passed on and right now I am waiting for a call back from their head office. I am so furious about this as I only had a short window to get this done (as I'm going to be out of the country on business for the next couple of weeks) now I'm left with a GTI sat on 1.4L tyres and no clear resolution in sight and the prospect of trying to sort all of this out whilst in California which will just be a nightmare.
Any ideas on what to do next?
