I ordered online and was charged on my credit card for 3 ""new"" Maxxis trailer tires. This charge, as listed on my credit card statement, was from Carolina Tire & Auto, Pineville, NC. The tires I received had a DOT manufacture date code of 4709 (November 2009). I called the customer service phone number listed on my invoice and spoke with several people at Carolina Tire & Auto to include the owner, Jim Seidel. Several emails were also exchanged. When I explained the situation with the tires being 2.5 years and not ""new"", I was told several stories about the tires like: the tires have a 6 year shelf life before installation, the tires are manufactured in Asia and therefore have a very long shipment time before arriving in the US, tires are at least 1 year old before we even see them, etc. Upon speaking with Maxxis Tire Corporate directly, it was relayed to me that their tires have a 5 year Warranty from the date of manufacture. They also stated that it only takes a few weeks for a production run of tires to reach the US. So the ""new"" tires as described and I thought I purchased are already halfway through their warranty period and the stories I was given by Carolina Tire & Auto are false. Mr Seidel offered to ""try to send me fresher tires"" but I had to pay the return shipping. I refused as it was requested by me in the original order to ship tires with a manufacture date of 2012 or at least later 2011 and secondly it is not my fault you shipped tires manufactured in November 2009. He stated he was truly sorry for my situation but they have thin margins and from their perspective they fulfilled their obligation in the transaction by shipping the tires ordered in a timely fashion. Wonderful customer service. So now I have filed complaints with my credit card company and also with the BBB against Carolina Tire & Auto. Note: Every tire sold in the US is required to have a DOT manufacture date code stamped into it on one side and usually installers put that side toward the inside. It will look like: DOT then some numbers and letters but at the end will be 4 distinct numbers like ""4709"" as in my case. The first 2 are the week the tire was made (47th week = Nov) and the last 2 numbers are the year (2009). You may want to start checking this date on ""new"" tires purchased so you dont end up in my situation. This review is a fair and completely accurate account of my experience with Carolina Tire & Auto. I can provide proof of every detail listed above if requested.
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