Certainly Crappy Tire has created this situation for themselves. Instead of having decent policies (like all the other major retailers do), they came up with their own, weird "return only" or "exchange only" policies.
That's bad enough, but then they keep avoiding the need to warn consumers about what they've done. So people don't realize how bad things really are over at the Red Triangle of Crap.
The soon-to-be-ex-customers only find out the real deal, when they show up at the Returns desk, expecting a refund. That's when they learn for the first time how different things have become at Crappy Tire.
Some consumers are very rule-abiding, and will suffer with the defective item, promising to never shop there again - the price of an education in Crappiness.
Other people will spot the loop-holes in time, and realize they can get satisfaction, but only if they are dishonest. They'll see it as "what's good for the goose is good for the gander": when the store springs a nasty surprise on them, they will decide it's time to play dirty, too.
You'd think Crappy Tire would just step up to the plate, clean up their own mess, and provide some decent policies, so they can stand behind what they sell.
But the really smart people will realize it's not worth it to shop there at all.
Because if you lie down with dogs, you might just get up with fleas.