Les Schwab

Les Schwab Testimonial
This web site is not affiliated with Les Schwab Tires

A few years ago I took a flat tire to a gas station to have it repaired. But the attendant would only "stick a plug in it for ten bucks". I had never heard of a plug before, but it sounded like a short-cut to me. That guy didn't care about quality. He just wanted as much money as he could get for as little work as possible. I was pretty persistent about having it repaired with a patch. But he was even more persistent. And when push came to shove it was take it or leave it. And since it was late at night I took it. But sure enough, the tire developed a slow leak over time.

After pumping it up every few days, I eventually got around to a permanent resolution -- a real patch. But when I went to a number of gas stations and tire dealers -- it was the same thing, "We don't do patches, but how about a front end alignment?" I passed, figuring they'd probably come up with a short-cut on that too. It was nearly impossible to find a place that would install a real patch. And this was in the middle of the day. I began to think the whole tire industry had become a bunch of lazy jerry riggers.

Eventually I ended up at the Les Schwab Tires store in Kent, Washington where they guy said, "Our company policy is to only install patches. We don't do plugs. Period!" So there I was standing at the cash register when a guy walked up and handed me the car keys. And when I asked how much he replied, "No charge". And I didn't have to listen to, "You didn't buy them here" either. Not only did Les Schwab do the right thing -- but they didn't even charge me for it. I thought to myself, "How are you going to beat that?" Then I found out.

When I arrived at my car there was another guy washing off my wheels and rims. And I thought maybe he had me confused with the Governor or something. So I said, "Holy cow, I really wasn't expecting you to wash the rims off." And his reply was, "Maybe you should."

I drove off in amazement. And I really can't begin to count the number of times since that day that I've thought to myself, "Maybe you should."

But as this teacher once told me, "Langenberg, you learn hard!"

A few years later I was preparing my travel trailer for a trip to the beach that weekend. It was a good thing I checked it out ahead of time too, because I noticed that it had a flat tire. So I dismounted the wheel from the trailer and took it to the nearest tire dealer. And yes, I shelled out another te-te-ten bucks for a pu-pu-plug. Actually I was doing guilt, and I didn't want to take advantage of Les Schwab.

Two days later I visited the trailer again. And you guessed it -- the same tire was flat. So I pulled the wheel off again. And as my Mom always used to say, "I put my pride in my pocket." This time I took the tire directly to Les Schwab. And I've never been anywhere else since.

Les Schwab in Renton, Washington dismounted the tire from the 10 year old rim -- like the other place should have. And they showed me that the inside of the rim was all rusted out -- especially near the stem. Of course the only reason they knew that was because they dismounted it in the first place. So I had them put on all brand new rims which they had in stock. It was $100 for all four -- installed. Problem solved. I have no idea about these things, but I would have expected to pay twice that much. And it wouldn't have surprised me if I would have had to wait a couple days for the rims to arrive. But Les Schwab took care of me in record time.

The guy told me to pull the trailer in again in 300-400 miles and they would re-torque the lug nuts. It seems that this is good procedure with new rims -- especially if they have paint on them. So before I took the trailer out again I pulled it out front of the store. They dropped what they were doing and re-torqued the nuts. I was on my way in minutes, and no appointment was necessary. My confidence level was high. And the tires on the travel trailer were the least of my concerns.

Unfortunately I did have a flat tire on the truck during my 800 mile journey to Eastern Oregon. It was clearly time for a new set of tires.

Now this is a real tough question; Where do you think I bought the tires? Answer; Les Schwab in Burns, Oregon. And where do you think I'm going to buy my next set? The tires said "Grand AM" on them -- which I had never heard of before. But the way I look at it, any company that has a policy of only installing patches, wouldn't sell cheap tires. So as far as I'm concerned they were Les Schwab tires.

The availability of Les Schwab service is a fringe benefit of living in the Northwest US. And the funny thing is, their prices are about the same as everywhere else.

I might have thought this was some sort of a fluke. But my experience with them has taken me to a number of different stores over the years. It's become pretty obvious to me that their fixation on customer service is company wide.

During the Oregon trip, a friend that I was caravanning with had slow leaks on two different tires. And the Burns, Oregon store charged him about $8 each to patch them. My friend stated that he was more than happy to pay the fee to "have it done right."

They have 300 stores in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, California, Alaska and Nevada. If you live in one of those states, I recommend that you check them out the next time you're in the market for a set of tires. And if somebody else starts giving you the run-around -- just remember, "Maybe you should" expect better service.

While I was in one of their stores I picked up a copy of Les's book, Pride In Performance. Read it and you'll learn how Les Schwab is able to get and keep the best people in the business. It might also have something to do with their old fashioned approach to closing shop on Sundays. But I'll bet they make more money in 6 days than their competitors do in 7. Les's book probably won't make the New York Times top ten list any time soon -- but I read it from cover to cover. It contains a lot of wisdom, some of which I use in my own business.

The pure genius of Les Schwab is that they won me over by simply doing what ought to be done -- but which their short sighted competitors are too busy and lazy to do.

Epilog: Since I created this web page in 1999, I've received feedback from a number of Les Schwab customers -- who probably linked here from a search engine. Most people wrote to tell me they agree Les Schwab is a first class operation. But a handful wanted to complain directly to the home office. And while Les Schwab's web site does have a store locator, that site does not publish the phone number or mailing address of the home office. So if a customer is unhappy at a local store, how would they know where to call or write? Here is a yellow pages lookup where you can find their corporate offices in Prineville, Oregon.

While Les Schwab may not walk on water, it's the only place I'll allow to touch my tires. I appreciate their policy of dismounting tires from the rim and permanently resolving any problems with real patches. Whether he sold them or not. This is the reason they earned the opportunity to serve me initially -- and now I never go anywhere else, I don't even shop.