Pleased with Yokohama tire customer service

In early October 2009, on a trip to Cape Cod, I got a flat on I95. It happened at night, naturally. The low tire pressure warning light illuminated on the dash panel for a few seconds, which was followed by a loud rumbling noise (I was going about 65 mph). I pulled over, called USAA road service, which dispatched a service vehicle promptly, and I was on my way in less than an hour. It was the left rear tire that went flat.
Next day I took the car to the Midas in Hyannis. The folks there took the flat from the trunk, removed the bad tire from the rim and said that it wasn’t repairable. The tire mechanic showed me a pencil eraser-sized piece of steel that he found inside the tire carcass, adding that he had not seen anything like it before. They had no tire in stock to replace the one that failed. When I asked the manager how much I owed him, he said “No charge.†Thank you Midas!
I then went to Hyannis Toyota. They did not have any Yokohama Avid S33 tires in stock ("too new to have in tock yet" said the person I dealt with), so they put on a Goodyear Integrity 195/65R15. Total damages came to $133.95.
I called Yokohama customer service to see if the failed tire was covered under warranty. The very pleasant person I spoke to said that, based on my description of the event, it probably was not. In any case, he said Yokohama would send a plastic bag to for me to use to return the tire (at their expense) for inspection by one of their technicians. I returned the tire to Yokohama and, even though they said it wasn’t covered under warranty, they sent a check for $54.50 (the cost of the replacement tire excluding other charges) to me.

Bottom line: it’s no fun to get a flat on an Interstate, but I’m pleased by the friendly attention and responsive service I received from Yokohama Tire (and from the nice people at Midas in Hyannis, MA).