Already Tired Of This Bag Baggage

I’ve taken my car to a popular chain shop famous for “stay in your car” service to have my summer tires swapped on. The service goes smoothly, and I get home to put my winter tires away.

When I take them out, I notice that three of the four of my nice fabric tire bags have the seams completely blown out. They were fine when I put my tires into the car this morning, so it must have happened at the shop. I call them.

Me: “Hi. I was just at your shop to have my tires swapped, and I noticed when I got home that three of my tire bags have been ripped.”

The employee is immediately defensive and accusatory.

Employee: “Yeah, I remember your wheels. The bags are too small. Didn’t you hear me fighting with them?”

Me: “No, I didn’t, and the size listed on them clearly states it fits my wheels. Besides, I’ve had them for a couple of years and—”

Employee: “You’ve had them for two years? Then they’re old! That’s why they ripped!”

Me: “Nobody else prior has had an issue with getting them on and off my tires. However, it happened that they were ripped by one of your employees, and I wasn’t told about it when I was there. How can we fix this?”

Employee: “Well, you can bring them in and I can see about fixing them, but you have to be reasonable!”

I rolled my eyes and finished the call. I got in touch with their corporate customer service and was able to come to an arrangement with them: a free service in the future, a note in my customer profile to be careful with my tire bags going forward — I’m not sure why this needed to be an extra note; care should be standard — and assurance that someone spoke to the staff at that location.

Things happen; I get that. Just be honest and don’t blame the customer for it. Is that really unreasonable?