Getting faulty tyres replaced, am I being unreasonable?

[Hi]

I bought some 'all weather' tyres from a well known tyre company, although I purchased through their ebay account, 2 years ago. The tyres have been on the car for just over a year and have cracked badly around the shoulder of the tyre (still got 5mm tread).

I contacted the company to ask for replacements, they said they are happy to send replacements FOC, but a few things concerned me and I wanted to check whether I am being unreasonable or whether I should pursue what I deem to be fair.

Firstly they said they will send the old tyres back to the manufacturers to asses them, if the manufacturers decide that the cracking in the tyres is not their fault, then they will bill me for the replacement tyres. This sounds to me like they could just turn around and say that it's not their fault regardless of the problem and leaves me open to having to pay for a faulty set of tyres. (I have only used them on the road and always kept them at the correct pressures, so no neglect from my point of view)

Secondly, they said they will have to collect the old tyres before they arrange delivery of the replacements. What am I meant to do with my car if it has no tyres? It makes sense to me for them to deliver the new tyres (to a tyre garage) and pick up the old ones at the same time?! But they say they won't do that.

Thirdly, I was expecting them to pay the cost of having the tyres swapped over, as if there tyres hadn't cracked like this then I wouldn't be swapping any tyres, thus not incurring any costs. But again they say I have to pay for the tyres to be swapped over.

So over to you guys, am I being unreasonable or do you think I am correct to ask them to pay for the tyre swapping and to send the new tyres before or at the same time as collecting the old ones so as not to leave me without use of the car.

Any suggestions of how to proceed would be great.

[Hi]

I have found this webpage and read it, including the PDF documents linked at the bottom of the page, but I can't see anywhere that mentions about who should pay for the replacement tyres to be swapped over or whether it is reasonable to expect the replacement tyres to be delivered before/at the same time as the old ones are collected.

It does mention that if you disagree with the tyre manufacturers findings then you can appeal and involve an impartial tyre expert, but at your own cost. It doesn't appear this cost can be claimed back regardless of whether the appeal is successful or not.

[Hi]

Thanks for the replies, I thought that would be the case, hence my concern.

I think they said one option is they would refund me for the tyres (instead of sending replacements) and then after the 'investigation' they would re-bill me if they found no faults. That is probably preferable as I think it would be easier to argue against them billing me for tyres I don't have any more. Plus that option means I don't have to deal with such a dodgy company any more.