Before I go to small claims court, any advice on settling the matter?

Hey guys, before I go to the trouble of suing in small claims court, would appreciate any advice on how to resolve an issue on a defective product. Here's the details:

I purchased a new enclosed trailer from Trailers Plus of Marietta in 2009. After using it 5 times for approximately 6500 miles, I noticed the tires had very odd wear patterns and needed replacing.

I took the trailer to Pat Rogers Hitches, who Trailers Plus had referred me to previously for work. They inspected the trailer and found the shackle bolts had been installed too tight at the factory. This had frozen the suspension and prevented it from moving. This caused the premature tire wear. They repaired the trailer and now the suspension performs as designed. I contacted Trailers Plus at the local office and the corporate office number given to my by the local office. I left 2 voice mails for the corporate office, and none have been returned.

The local office called me back and said the corporate office declined my request. Stating normal tire wear is just 6500 miles, and would require the tires to be replaced anyway. I find this level of customer service unacceptable. No one would purchase a trailer knowing they had to replace the tires in just 6500 miles. Additionally, my life, my families lives and my passengers lives were all at risk due to the seriousness of this defect. As well as any surrounding occupants of other vehicles. We are lucky to have found the defects prior to a blow-out. I have asked them for a refund on the replacement tires and the service work, about $540 total.

Before I go to small claims court, are they are any other ways to complain about this company that might result in them reconsidering their position? I filed a complaint with the BBB and the Georgia Office of Consumer Protection. Would appreciate any other advice.

Thanks !
Randy

I have personally seen the following work with an auto dealership who sold a lemon and would not make it right.

Make several large signs that you can carry stating the company incorrectly manufactures their products and will not resolve customer issues. You and several friends stand in front of said business (not on their property) preferably on the sidewalk or city/county right-of-way displaying these signs. This gets the message out to passing motorists and will probably make the news given it is within Metro-Atlanta. More than likely the local office will pay you the $540 after a couple days of bad publicity. This is your first amendment right and as long as your are not blocking access to private property or impeding the use of the sidewalk you are good to go.

If you go the small claim route a judge may rule in your favor but it is still up to you to collect on the judgement.

The first question you will be asked in court is "what is your damage". Will you be able to answer that question ? Also, most trailer manufactuers are known for putting el-cheapo tires on as a cost cutting measure.

I would ask for the cost of the repair and for another set of the cheap tires they put on originally that are only good for 6,500 miles.

SGaither said:

I have personally seen the following work with an auto dealership who sold a lemon and would not make it right.

Make several large signs that you can carry stating the company incorrectly manufactures their products and will not resolve customer issues. You and several friends stand in front of said business (not on their property) preferably on the sidewalk or city/county right-of-way displaying these signs. This gets the message out to passing motorists and will probably make the news given it is within Metro-Atlanta. More than likely the local office will pay you the $540 after a couple days of bad publicity. This is your first amendment right and as long as your are not blocking access to private property or impeding the use of the sidewalk you are good to go.

If you go the small claim route a judge may rule in your favor but it is still up to you to collect on the judgement.

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this and you will also incur court cost rather you win or lose ...so sue for that as well ,and time missed from work to be there ...what ever money you missed out on while your trailer was being fixed as well , i would think

If you used your trailer only 5 times for a total of 6500 miles you did some serious highway driving. Your tires are worn uneven because they are cheap tires. Trailers don't come with good tires any more unless you wanna pay for them. I have a large fleet of trailers I repair in my business. I don't see how overtightend shackle bolts would cause uneven tire wear especially on the highway IMO. You didn't say what size trailer, how much your hauling or if it were a tandem axle trailer or not but...... if its a tandem axle trailer, be glad you got 6500 miles out of them. I am sorry to hear you feel the need to sue someone for $540. I bet money that if you have better tires now, your problems will be solved by that alone. Just my 2 cents.

I'd get online, see if you can find a contact name/number/address for the president of the company. Send him a letter, politely explaining the situation. If you can get a letter from the outfit that repaired the trailer stating the defect, all the better. Include a copy of the repair receipt. Ask that you be refunded the repair cost, and you'll cover the cost of new tires. It's always good to throw in that your future business, and that of many of your friends, will be based on how they resolve your issue.

dwhee87 said:

I'd get online, see if you can find a contact name/number/address for the president of the company. Send him a letter, politely explaining the situation. If you can get a letter from the outfit that repaired the trailer stating the defect, all the better. Include a copy of the repair receipt. Ask that you be refunded the repair cost, and you'll cover the cost of new tires. It's always good to throw in that your future business, and that of many of your friends, will be based on how they resolve your issue.

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This is definitely your best option IMHO. I also don't believe you can recover lost time from work for going to court in a civil matter. Is there paperwork expressing any specific warranty on the entire trailer or specifically the tires? Personally, I would never buy anything from that company again and let everyone I know why, post on any websites that the company is on with your experience with them.

JpEater said:

If you used your trailer only 5 times for a total of 6500 miles you did some serious highway driving. Your tires are worn uneven because they are cheap tires. Trailers don't come with good tires any more unless you wanna pay for them. I have a large fleet of trailers I repair in my business. I don't see how overtightend shackle bolts would cause uneven tire wear especially on the highway IMO. You didn't say what size trailer, how much your hauling or if it were a tandem axle trailer or not but...... if its a tandem axle trailer, be glad you got 6500 miles out of them. I am sorry to hear you feel the need to sue someone for $540. I bet money that if you have better tires now, your problems will be solved by that alone. Just my 2 cents.

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Thats right on the cheap tires. I bought a tandem axle enclosed trailer and got maybe 7000 miles out of the first set. Those tires are horrible. Now i put good tires on my trailer and that last like i think they should. If i were you i would just get some good tires and go about my buisness and learn to live with it.

Beside what folks have pointed out about cheap tires wearing out fast there are some other variables that will cause premature tire wear on a trailer.

Things like low tire pressure, overloading the trailer, uneven loading of trailer, improper loading, etc will cause tires to wear unevenly or wear out early.

That may or may not be what happened in your case but there are enough possible causes that I wouldn't consider taking it to court a slam dunk.

Another question which will be asked - why did you not contact the seller at first sign of problems? Oh, I just took it to my guy and he charges $250 an hour - just pay it.

Exaggerating to make the point......

Like JPEater,I can not see where over tightened shackles can cause uneven tire wear.Uneven tire wear is either out of balance or over loaded causing the tires to kick out and wear the insides.Low air pressure will also cause tires to wear out on the outside and inside prematurely.Too much air will cause the tires to wear out in the center.When farming we ran many different kinds of tires.I have never seen a tire that would wear out in 6500 miles,not even the sorriest of the sorry would run farther than that.

A guess is about all anyone can do since you didn't state what your load was and what the tire pressure was on the tires giving trouble.Did all four tires give trouble and if so where was the wear.

Thanks for all the info guys. I have been able to resolve it with the company I purchased the trailer from. It was a difficult process as they didn't feel responsible, even though they admitted they put cheapo tires on the trailer. I stood by the fact that I took it to the shop they recommended and they are the ones that told me what the problem was based on their inspection. The tires were always properly inflated, I'm a stickler for things like that because of what I'm hauling. It's a 8.5x24 ft trailer with 5200 lbs tandem axles hauling my pride and joy, a 69 Dodge Charger R/T. So, total trailer weight with luggage, tools, etc, probably not over 7-8k.

The first I noticed the tire wear was after 6500 miles and reported it then. Shame on me for not noticing earlier. I go to 2 car shows a year out of state and that's where I take the trailer. One show is in Columbus, OH. and the other in Carlisle, PA. The wear patterns were odd, not what you find in a over or under inflated situation. Even the tire company I took it to for replacement could not explain what was going on. I did upgrade to load range E radial tires from the bias ply D's. Probably overkill.

For me, it was a matter of principle in forcing the issue. I was sold a defective product regardless of whether the shackles caused the tires to wear prematurely or not. The manufacturer said that a frozen suspension typically caused springs to break and not tires to wear. Guess I got off lucky with just the tires wearing. Maybe that wasn't it. I won't know for sure until I track the wear on the new tires.

Interstate trailers offered to pay me the amount it would have cost them to replace the tires if the local dealer had done it. That amount was $247. They would not pay for the service work. Based on some of the information I learned from the posts above about filing a claim in court, I felt that taking the offer was the best course of action and moving on.

It sure would have been a better customer service experience if the local dealer would have replaced the tires back in July when I first brought this to his attention. I understand the need for due diligence to protect your company, but the mark of a great company is how they resolve problems.

From a customer perspective, I am still out about $280 and alot of time and aggravation on a trailer I'ved used 5 times and is only 2 years old. Shortly after I first bought the trailer, it had a roof leak. I took it back to the dealer to be fixed - twice. I bring that up to showcase the fact that this hasn't been a very positive experience on the whole as customer of Interstate Cargo. Going forward, I hope the frozen suspension was the problem, and there are no more issues.

Thanks for all the info guys !!

Glad to hear you got it figured out. Seems like a compromise that both parties were willing to accept.

With what you were hauling in the trailer and the help you got from folks on this board, maybe you can help this young man out.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=639991

Sounds like a beautiful car you got riding in that trailer.

Be glad to.