Bad Customer Service from Michelin

[SueBrown]

We purchased tires for our Allego Bus through the Advantage program in May 2015.  All the tires had a January 2015 date stamp, and we received outstanding service from our local dealer.  We were very happy with the purchase through the Advantage program.

This April 2016 we found a bubble in the side wall of the rear passenger inside tire.  This was later determined to be a manufacturing defect.  We went to our local dealer, and they replaced the tire.  There appeared to be a "scooped out" area on the inside of the tire.  The Michelin rep came by the dealership, and the tire was immediately put on a truck from Arkansas to South Carolina for analysis.  We were told that they have seen this before, but it is very rare.  It seems to be an issue with the tire mold.  They couldn't explain why it was't caught in the X-ray process, except that X-rays are usually done while the tire is still warm and this particular problem may not fully develop until the tire cures.  Apparently they have traced it back to a facility in Canada.  

Michelin agreed to pay 95% of the cost to replace the tire.  We had the new tire mounted on May 2.  We sent the invoice in to Michelin, as instructed by Michelin, on May 10.  We received a confirmation email back that they had received the invoice, gave us a case number, and advised that it would take 4-6 weeks to process the invoice and get payment to us.  Yesterday, 5 1/2 weeks later, we had not heard anything.  I sent an email asking for an update on the status of the claim.  I didn't receive a response.  So today I called the number I was given in the May 10 email and asked about the status of the claim.  I was told that the invoice wasn't entered into their system until yesterday, June 15 (after my email with status inquiry) and that it would take about four weeks to receive payment.  

So my invoice went into a black hole for 5 1/2 weeks, until I sent an email asking about the status.  This is totally unacceptable.  My local dealer was outstanding.  I'm hoping that he will have another brand of tires we can purchase the next time we buy tires for our motorhome.