On Wednesday, June 12, 2002, at 05:29 AM, Linnhoff, Eric wrote:
> It's for the same reason that the Tirerack doesn't carry them. There's
> something about Falken having a rather strict "no compete" clause for
> their
> distributors and both Discount Tire and the Tirerack sell competing
> brands
> in those markets.
Actually this is wrong. The real story is that a local NW tire store
chain, Les Schwab tires (275 locations), has exclusive rights to Falken
tires in WA-OR-ID so online and other retail tire locations in the NW
are not allowed to sell them. The unfortunate thing is that Les Schwab
does not carry the Azenis and cannot even order them so here in the NW
they are a "blackmarket" item.
You can get the Azenis if you jump through enough hoops but it is not
easy. I am told that a few Discount Tire dealers can get them by having
them shipped to an intermediary in Arizona and then re-shipped to
Washington (but not all as mine couldn't). This adds cost however so a
$52 Azenis ends up costing $69 mounted by the time you get it on your
car. I have also heard that Onlinetires may ship to Washington but I
have yet to try them as they charge a lot for shipping. A friend of mine
ended up having to deal with a fly-by-night place in Florida to get his
set because no one else would ship them here.
Yes I know the situation is crazy but there is not much that we can do.
A friend who works at Les Schwab has been lobbying them to start
carrying the Azenis or at least make it available for order but has not
had any luck yet. Until the situation changes we'll have to keep getting
our Falkens through the black market I guess.
- Alan Dahl
--------------
Alan Dahl home:
adahl@eskimo.com
Federal Way, WA, USA work: aland@bestnet.com
http://www.eskimo.com/~adahl ICQ 52688023
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