The only gripe I have with DT was that they were struggling to get the tires I needed. Yes, they had them in stock, but one here, another there, two more in another state. It would taken a few days, or close to a week as the person on the phone said, to get them all in, and they wanted a deposit before they started, which isn't completely unreasonable. When I called each of the locations that had the tires I needed I asked them to get the date codes so I could compare. Politely asked them to just call me back when they had a few minutes as I wasn't in that much of a hurry.
When I did get all of the date codes back the youngest tire was about a year old. The oldest (two at the same location) were about 2 1/2 years old. Didn't want to deal with that for longevity so I passed. Ended up getting all four from Tire Rack, had them drop-shipped to my location of choice, and had them mounted up and balanced that same day of delivery. All had the same date code and all were less than five months old. Yes, I know a year or so difference on A/S 45,000 mile car tires isn't a big deal. But coming from the two-wheeled world I'm very picky about getting/using dated tires, as it is way more critical. When you're traveling 170+ at the track you don't want to have "how old are my tires again?" going through your head when you're looking for you braking marker. You want the confidence knowing your $250-$300 tire is as fresh as you can get. It got so ingrained in me I passed it on to my car and truck tires.
From a cost perspective DT and TR were within a dollar of each other, so it wasn't a big deal. I do all the rotations myself and check the balance every 15,000 or so, so about once a year, or when I can feel something is off. Like stated previously, the shit roads in IL prevent you from really knowing if they out of balance. In my case with 40 series tires my wheels take the damage, which gets expensive to fix. But with two jack stands I can see whether or not the wheels are true before I take them in for repair or re-balancing. If I want to get really particular I bust out my run-out gauge to mark exactly where the dent is to save the repair guy some time. I have a local business do the work for me. Brought him enough business that a quick call or text and I'll have an appointment time that is within 24-48 hours and he stands by it, even if he has a lot of walk-ups.
On a somewhat pleasant note my g/f had some crappy Falken tires (Pro G4) on her car where every few months she'd have an impact (thanks IL roads!) and you get a sidewall bubble from the carcass being compromised. After the third one (all of which were prorated) I got tired of dealing with it. She took it to the DT by her work (Westmont) and had me talk to the counter guy. I had already done my research on which tires would be available in her size and how much they were. Since this was the third of fourth time she had been there for a replacement he did give her a fantastic deal on four new tires, different brand. That was at the beginning of summer and no issues so far, can't recall what we switched her to. Car rides a lot smoother and less road noise. So props to them on giving her the deal. It wasn't any mistake on their fault, just crap tires, so they really didn't have to "make things right" by any means. They got her in and out pretty quick too, and at the end of their business day. She seems happy when she has to go there.