So, I’m writing this from my Aunt’s Mac. Yes, I won’t be coming home tonight as originally expected. If I could, I probably would, but as of right now it is physically impossible for me to drive home. Yes, that’s right kids, my car is kaput. So I drove the 4 hours up here, no problem. I happened to pull into my Aunts driveway right before her kids. Needless to say, we needed to swap cars so that they could get out in the morning. So, I’m pulling out, and I start to turn the wheel. I hear this thunk, so, thinking I just hit her curb, I start to pull forward. I hear this nice grinding sound, like I picked up something from backing up and was dragging it. I get out and look, it turns out that I didn’t pick up anything, but sure enough I was dragging something…my left side tire rod. Joy. I don’t think I can explain the joy I was feeling at that moment. Well, being that it was Sunday night at 7pm, I had to wait till this morning to call anybody.
This morning I call the car shop at 7:11am EST, 6am my time. I haven’t seen 6am in about forever. So, I tell them what’s going on and ask if they’ll be able to look at it today. I kinda needed it, so if they would’ve said no, I definitely would’ve called someone else. They said it wouldn’t be a problem, and that they’ll send a tow truck out in about an hour. I’m thinking to myself, sweet, maybe this won’t be that big of a deal, and I’ll be able to head home tonight still.
So, by 11:30 I hadn’t heard back from them yet, so my Aunt and I decided to drive by the house to see if the car was still there. Sure enough, still there. Joy. I give the shop a call again, and they tell me that the guy should be there in an hour.
I drive by again at 1. Guess, what? The car was still there. Screw calling them, I drove down there and went in and talked to them. They got on the phone with the tow company (a 3rd party company) and they were told there was a guy on his way right them. Ok, so I’m thinking they’ll at least be able to look at it, and potentially start working on it.
I haven’t heard from them by 4pm. What the hell? I give them a call, and yeah, they haven’t even started looking at it. M*ther F*cker. So, I drive myself down to the shop. Synopsis of conversation follows:
“Yeah, so I just called and found out that you haven’t even looked at my truck yet. I called at 7 this morning asking for you to look at it as quickly as possible because I’m from out of town and need to drive home. You told me it wouldn’t be a problem”
“Yeah, the tow company didn’t get around to getting your car till after 1. We called them multiple times about it.”
I’m thinking to myself, “Right…you called 2x, because that’s how many times I bitched at you.”
“Right, but I called you and you said you’d take care of it, which you didn’t.”
“This isn’t our problem, you could’ve had someone else tow your car.”
“No, I specifically called you at 7am, and you said you’d take care of it.”
“Right, but it was the tow company’s fault.”
“Ok, then you have beef with the tow company. I have beef with you. You told me at 7am that you would take care of it. After that point it was YOUR responsibility in my eyes. It’s not like I could’ve called a different tow company after you had said you were going to take care of it.”
“…”
“So, now that you’ve made me stay an extra day, what are you going to do for me?”
Guy #2…the guy with SOME customer skills, “What exactly do you mean?”
“Well, I don’t feel as if I should pay for the tow job, and you guys need to make this right in my eyes.”
“After we check it out we’ll see what we can do.”
So, I head back to the office, awaiting my phonecall before 5 (the time in which they close). At 4:55 I’m like this is pointless, if they thought I was pissed when I went in at 4, they haven’t seen anything yet. At 7am they are gonna have one pissed off customer in their lobby.
5:05 they call back. They told me the that left tire rod was busted (no shit) ($), and that the right tire rod was about ready to fall off to ($$). They then tell me that while they had the car apart, they checked the spark plugs, and stuff. Turns out that the electrode is actually coming out of the plug and there is significant charring on the end. They recommend replacing those ($$$). The belt that runs the alternator is severly cracked, and the rachet that autotightens it is broken ($$$$). The transmission, brack, and differential fluid is about as thick as mud ($$$$$). And, they saw the oil change sticker on my windshield that was over due ($$$$$$).
The damage…$1300. Joy. I tell them, might as well do all of it. They say it will most likely be ready by 5 tomorrow. Currently, I’m not holding my breath. Needless to say, tomorrow morning, I’m going to stop by and make sure that a) they didn’t charge me for the towing ($60), and b) that I’m getting some other deal because they seriously screwed me over. I’m sure I’ll get the same bs about it being the towing company’s fault, but once they said they’d take care of the tow, it became their problem. It’s there job to then bitch at the towing company as to why it didn’t happen. I just don’t see tomorrow going well, especially as well as it went earlier. Joy.