3 posts tagged “car repair”
AS THE WHEEL TURNS
Final Scene:
In an afternoon conversation, two people do not see eye to eye. One asserts herself for the first time ever...and wins.
J: "uh, yeah, um we got it back late from the body shop and the technician is at lunch, so um, I can ask him if it is going to be done today."
M: "I know it is going to be done today. I am coming there at 4:30 and it will be perfect."
J: "I, yeah, um I am not sure because we had a lot to do today..."
M: "Oh I am sure. I am coming there at 4:30 p.m. today and it will be done perfectly."
J: "But I am just saying that I need to check..."
M: "J, I don't think you are understanding me, I will be there today at 4:30 p.m. and my car will be perfect."
J: "Okay I'll tell him."
Me: "Thank you."
At 3 p.m. J. called M and said the car was ready. M picked it up at 4:25 p.m. and it was perfect.
The End
Okay...I am soooo tired of hearing myself talk about my drama with my car...BUT I must tell you what happened today.
When this latest saga started, my least favorite service advisor ever, J., told that me if I brought my car in on Monday they would be able to get it done by Thursday. And I believe that would be true if they had prioritized it at all...but since they are only fixing the items THEY damaged while "repairing" my car a month ago...why would they push my car to the front of the body shop line? But I am getting ahead of myself....
After leaving messages last night with the service manager I wish I had, S., my young friend finally called me back this morning. He began on the defensive telling me that he had no control over the body shop and that unfortunately they were very swamped and wouldn't get the car back to him at the dealership until late Friday afternoon. This aggravated me because we all know that if I was important at all they would have told the body shop to get mine done first, but what made me snap was not waiting another day or two, but that when I asked if they were going to fix the other items like the crooked dashboard when they got it back to the dealership...he acted like he didn't know what I was talking about. I could see the future and I thought "so help me if they don't fix all the things we discussed I am going to blow."
So when he made some snitty comment about having no control (again) I kinda freaked a little bit and began to raise my voice I said "my witch factor is going through the roof and I am so tired of this run around." He said that he knew I had been a good customer and had been patient with them but that he was taking care of all this for me, after all."
I said "you mean all the stuff you guys messed up?" (Is he kiddinig me???!! Doing me a favor?) I then said, "You know what? someone asked me the other day how I liked my car because he was looking to buy the new Toureg and I told him I had nothing good to say about the car or the service dept.and especially not the dealership, and that if he asked me in a week I might feel differently."
I was so irritated I couldn't talk. I got off the phone with him promising to call me back and tell me when they would be done. Then after about an hour I called the Service Manager, T., and left a message saying: remember me, I met you a month ago when you authorized J. to fix things that had been messed up and that I would like him to do me a favor and check on my account because I thought that J. and I were not communicating well and I was concerned that my case was taking a long time and we weren't on the same page. I told him I was frustrated, but I was calm and nice, really asking for a favor. I called at 12:30 p.m. and he never called me back.
It is a powerless feeling knowing that there is nothing you can do and that you have to trust people that have proved that they are untrustworthy to do right by you!
xxo
So, guess what I rode home in today? If you guessed a smoke belching yellow school bus, you were right! I am back to riding the bus (and then walking 2 miles home) until the VW dealer gets done fixing all the things they broke while "fixing" my car a month ago.
The walking is good and so is saving the gas, but what really gripes me is that this is the second time a repair service required me to bring the car back...for a mistake they made. Okay, so the first time was when when I took my car in to replace the battery and alternator...for nearly $1000. At the same time they replaced a recall item, some piece that kept the brake light from getting stuck on permanently. They used the with the wrong sized piece (I think the one meant for a Jetta) so of course it broke leaving the brake lights burning bright and I had to leave it for another day.
That was annoying, but try spending $1000 to repair a heating coil that died as well as the water pump and timing belt. Some of this was under warranty and I was totally freaking out because in 5 months I have had these two incidents plus needing new tires and a new set of brakes. Who can afford all this drama!!??? Anyway...on this repair visit which was a two weeks long they scratched the whole drivers side of my car, when they removed the dashboard to get to the heat coil they tore the cloth of the airbag piece at the windshield, they lost knobs off of the radio, they didn't get the dashboard on straight so the ashtray(cell phone jack) won't open...AND they left the window down ruining my Ken Follett book and soaking the passenger side carpet.
So the money is killing me and the attitude of the very young man who is my service advisor is out of control...his first question is always...are you sure that knob wasn't missing before you brought the car to us? Is he kidding me?
Needless to say, I am going to make the best out of my time on the bus, run this car into the ground and then I will never buy a VW again...frankly I miss leasing, but that is another story.
P.S. For those colleagues who may wonder why I don't just always ride the bus: I cannot get away with leaving that early every day and I really don't want to ride the late bus and get home closer to 7 p.m. Yuck!
xxo
