Trickle's Tire & Automotive

This is going to be long, so bear with me Just for background I am an ASE certified Master Technician, Advanced Engine Performance Specialist, Parts Specialist, etc., and have been working in the automotive field for years My father and grandfather are both automotive mechanics, and my father still currently owns and operates an automotive repair shop that was started by my grandfather I have been working on cars my whole life I currently live in Ames and work at a specialty drivetrain shop in the Ames area There are two things that I cannot do myself: mount and balance tires (no tire mounting and balancing machine), and do four wheel alignments (no alignment machine)
I keep two sets of wheels for my car, the stock alloy set and an aftermarket alloy set Last year I purchased a set of snow tires for the stock wheels because I they are in poor shape already and I care much less about them getting torn up in the winter The tires were pinned for studs, and I wanted to have them studded for maximum traction in poor weather conditions (this is my only vehicle at the moment) Trickle's is the only place in the Ames area that even offers this service I called them to find out about pricing to have them studded and they said $per tire, which really isn't bad I figured that I would have them mount and balance there them as well, just to keep me from having to take them somewhere else first I made the incorrect assumption that their mounting and balancing service would at least be priced competitively for the Ames area
When I came to pick up my tires I was shocked to find that my bill was $ I paid it quickly and left to avoid getting angry at a secretary who has no control over pricing After getting home I looked at the breakdown of my bill It was as follows:
Tire stud installation - $per tire
Valve stems - $per tire
Tire mounting - $per tire
Balancing - $per tire
Tire disposal - $per tire
Wheel cleaning - $for all four tires
Which means it cost me almost exactly $PER TIRE to have my tires mounted and balancedJust for reference, Walmart charges $per tire for the exact same thing, and $per tire if you keep your old tires instead of having them dispose of them for you As much as I hate dealing with Walmart, it would have saved me almost $to take them to Walmart to have them mounted This is unacceptable
I also realized that they charged me $per tire to dispose of my old tires For that price, I'll keep them One of them had less than 10,miles on it and who knows, I might need it if I have a really bad blowout I called Trickle's to see if I could get my old tires back and get refunded for the disposal charge I was told they had been thrown in their scrap tire trailer, but "If you want to come dig through it to find it you can." Are you kidding me? I was never asked if I wanted them disposed of, a courtesy that I know for a fact Walmart will give It isn't worth my time to come dig through YOUR used tire trailer and do YOUR job for you If I can compare a tire shop to Walmart and see Walmart as the better choice, then that shop is doing something very wrong
I sincerely hope from the bottom of my heart that honest mechanics put this shop out of business At any rate, avoid the highway robbery that I experienced and take your tires to some place like (I suppose) Walmart or (better choice) Big Tire in Nevada Whatever you do, avoid this shop at all cost