Firestone Store not too bad.

So Rob's looking for tires for the Vanagon. Last week I went and hit the Firestone store and came up with the following:
1. It matters who you talk to when buying tires. On day one, the sales guy wanted to just sell me a set of tires that fit. On day two, knowing that the day one guy wasn't familiar with the delicacies of a VW bus and the extra weight it carries and he wasn't my prefered salesperson. On day two, my knowledgeable saleslady knew the needs of a bus and had a heck of a time finding the tires I wanted. When it was all said & done she had a set but was very appologetic that the price was somewhere like $150 more than the tires alone would cost me. (mark this point for future reference, what the tires would cost me...) I told her it wasn't a terrible price and it probably was better than anyone else in town would do for me. Boy was I right on that.
2. It matters what you know when you go to buy tires. I went into the store with a list of eight or ten tires on a list that would be anywhere from barely passable to the best I could get. Salesman went way below the needs, saleslady was spot on as to what I needed. Going in, I also knew what tires would cost me thru the internet, but I did not make any overtures to salespeople that I wanted these prices. I know there's an anger in the industry that a person can get tires for half what they cost in the tire store, I only had the info to list available choices. I looked at web sites and groups to find info. This helped in several other places this week as I'll tell in posts to follow.
Long story short, Firestone tried. They were half & half on informed. They cared, but they had to mark-up and somewhere in the estimates there was $40-$50 for balancing parts. Hmmmm, they wanted that much for a few lead weights? Yup, the valve stems were priced seperately. Firestone loses points for hidden higher prices.
I still like them, but I don't like the extra prices. Next.