Guess what friends? A happy ending to my tale of woe. I fired off that irate letter (meticulously documented of course) to the tire store's corporate customer service address. 90 minutes later (on a Sunday no less) my phone rang with an apology and agreement per the letter to refund me for the front tires. (I can then buy new ones wherever I want, put those sucker on the new rims, & then my Xfi should be happy) and to refund me for the front end alignment charges incurred in the original store. They also agreed to pay my TPMS bill from the dealership if it's a sensor problem on one of the tires they worked on (vs. a central computer problem which should be covered under the warranty). No lawyers, no BBB, nor threats of same - just me contacting them and making my argument. I'm not saying the company name on here because I had reserved that (anti-advertising) for them if this didn't work out. This is amazing - a big hell yeah for consumer rights!!!