National Tyres Ebay Fail!

Begs the question does doing something like this on ebay devalue the brand?

What I mean by that if a company like M&S started selling on ebay it would make it appear in a different light.

Can see they all appear to be "buy it now", I wonder if this much cheaper than buying from one of their outlets?

I suppose you have the security comfort factor from buying from a well known chain, especially when buying from something like ebay, plus the conveniance of popping into a local branch to take advantage of free fitting.

Its got to be a hard market to compete in, so I suppose it goes down to customer service, which is where independants shine.

I had to reboot my 4x4 last year, and used a mobile outfit which turned up at my house. Price wise was cheaper than the national chains, plus the added conveniance of them coming to me! First class service, and they then got multiple enquires from surrounding neighbours

U hate the big tyre companies especially kwik S*** sent my motor in recently for a mot 2 new boots and an interim service and it came out with load of problems caused by them. the car being in limp home mode being one of the them and what answer did I get from customer service "it must have been broken when you brought it in" phone down.


the Car went into HIQ last year for the opposite 2 boots they scrapped the bumper on the chalk walls and then parked the car in such a way i could not see the damage I drove off and guess what customer service had to say "it must have been broken when you brought it in you should have highlighted it to the garage manager" bunch of ****** the front of my car was still covered in the chalk dust from the garage wall.

Stavros's rant meter going off again

Must admit not bought tyres for a while although need to look soon, from previous experience always found a local store much cheaper than the Nationals.

Might look up to see if I have a mobile unit that can come to me in my time, getting lazy lol.

I think you make a good point however, in the last couple of years (particularly within the major chains) hi-street sales have plummited, mostly due to increased accessibility for consumers to purchase cheaper (less expensive, not allways lower quality) alternatives online though 'bedroom entrepreneur' par-sae via websites such as ebay. As hi street chains have such EPIC overheads in setting up outlets that quickly means the bedroom sellers have the edge, ie, they dont need a shop, pay rates, rent etc thus can sell at bare bones cost.

I spose this raises a dilemma for the major chains, keep your brand squeaky clean and continue to loose sales year on year to internet entrepreneur's or bite the bullet and try and claw some sales back, and hop on the bandwagon, stealing sales from small fries and pricing them out of their own ingenuity, THEFT!!!.

Clearly the chains are divided somewhat, as we have seen lately some buckling under the pressure, and some desperatly clinging to hi-street dominance. These really are developing times for both markets **wonders how it all ends**


This is so true, Ive heard it a million times, usually involving kwik-s**t, and VERY-rarely involving a small independant outlet.

I think some brands would be better of trading as another name for this type of offshoot business.