The continuing saga
Mar. 20th, 2006 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
judecorpI received a message on my cell phone from the car dealer. Customer Service Dude (CSD) said that they had located the problem - a broken fuel pump - and since it was not related to the earlier problem, we were responsible for the cost. The cost, by the way, was going to be $520. Say WHAT??!?!
So I called him back, and poor CSD got an earful and a half. I wanted to know how it was possible that a car was exhibiting the same symptoms on Wednesday and Saturday, but from two unrelated problems. And I wanted to know if he expected me to believe that /coincidentally/ the fuel pump just /happened/ to die right after taking the car in for $500 in repairs at the dealer. And I wanted to know how I was supposed to believe, if the problem was indeed the fuel pump, that the problem wasn't the fuel pump from the get-go and they misdiagnosed (and serviced) our car. I also demanded to know why we were having so many problems with a 3-year-old car.
He stammered a lot, and I suppose I didn't leave him much room to get a word in edgewise, so I told him more calmly that I knew this had nothing to do with him, that he wasn't even the CSD I worked with on Saturday (who doesn't work Mondays). But that I was tired of getting jerked around by Quirk Ford and that I would really love it if they would just put my car back together and I would be there to pick it up shortly; that I didn't want them to do any work on it and had no desire to have any business with them in the future aside from telling other people to stay far, far away. He said he needed to "yell at some people," and talk to a manager, and would call me back.
So he calls back after "looking over our notes" and sees where we had all of the spark plug/fuel line flush work done and that he's sorry, that this must be an unfortunate coincidence, but the two are not related. (LIES.) However, he feels bad that I am so upset at Quirk and can see from the history that we have been good customers who have spent considerable money at their establishment. So then he says, "You can come pick up the car now and pay the diagnostic fee of $99. But I talked to the manager and he's willing to write off the diagnostic and eat the cost of labor, give you a discount on the fuel pump, and fix the whole thing for a total cost of $90."
Umm... WHAT? From $520 to... $90? And this is to convince me that you're LEGIT businesspeople?
So of course I took them up on their offer and told them I'd really like to have the car done today, please. And I spoke very slowly and reiterated, "So you're telling me that you will fix the car... and the ONLY thing I will have to pay is $90? $90 TOTAL?" And he said yes. I told him that they should repair the car, then, and I appreciated his willingness to see the suckitude of the situation. (And the fact that there is NO WAY I was going to give them $1000 in one week to fix the same problem twice.)
I know they close at 6:00 and I haven't heard anything yet. At 5:00 I'm going to start ringing his phone again. I want my crappy car back, dang it! (And I'm sure I'll be blacklisted over there after this, heh.)
ETA: They apparently had the wrong fuel pump in stock; the car will supposedly now be ready by the end of the day tomorrow.
So I called him back, and poor CSD got an earful and a half. I wanted to know how it was possible that a car was exhibiting the same symptoms on Wednesday and Saturday, but from two unrelated problems. And I wanted to know if he expected me to believe that /coincidentally/ the fuel pump just /happened/ to die right after taking the car in for $500 in repairs at the dealer. And I wanted to know how I was supposed to believe, if the problem was indeed the fuel pump, that the problem wasn't the fuel pump from the get-go and they misdiagnosed (and serviced) our car. I also demanded to know why we were having so many problems with a 3-year-old car.
He stammered a lot, and I suppose I didn't leave him much room to get a word in edgewise, so I told him more calmly that I knew this had nothing to do with him, that he wasn't even the CSD I worked with on Saturday (who doesn't work Mondays). But that I was tired of getting jerked around by Quirk Ford and that I would really love it if they would just put my car back together and I would be there to pick it up shortly; that I didn't want them to do any work on it and had no desire to have any business with them in the future aside from telling other people to stay far, far away. He said he needed to "yell at some people," and talk to a manager, and would call me back.
So he calls back after "looking over our notes" and sees where we had all of the spark plug/fuel line flush work done and that he's sorry, that this must be an unfortunate coincidence, but the two are not related. (LIES.) However, he feels bad that I am so upset at Quirk and can see from the history that we have been good customers who have spent considerable money at their establishment. So then he says, "You can come pick up the car now and pay the diagnostic fee of $99. But I talked to the manager and he's willing to write off the diagnostic and eat the cost of labor, give you a discount on the fuel pump, and fix the whole thing for a total cost of $90."
Umm... WHAT? From $520 to... $90? And this is to convince me that you're LEGIT businesspeople?
So of course I took them up on their offer and told them I'd really like to have the car done today, please. And I spoke very slowly and reiterated, "So you're telling me that you will fix the car... and the ONLY thing I will have to pay is $90? $90 TOTAL?" And he said yes. I told him that they should repair the car, then, and I appreciated his willingness to see the suckitude of the situation. (And the fact that there is NO WAY I was going to give them $1000 in one week to fix the same problem twice.)
I know they close at 6:00 and I haven't heard anything yet. At 5:00 I'm going to start ringing his phone again. I want my crappy car back, dang it! (And I'm sure I'll be blacklisted over there after this, heh.)
ETA: They apparently had the wrong fuel pump in stock; the car will supposedly now be ready by the end of the day tomorrow.
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Date: 2006-03-21 05:41 am (UTC)Anyhow, they fix that, and after returning the car to me, it's not starting without a jump. These are the people who told me there was nothing wrong with the electrical system. So I took the car to Sears, where I got the battery 16 months ago (it had an 18 month warranty). They checked the battery, and found that the contact bolt to the positive terminal was stripped. The alternator wasn't charging the battery because the contact kept coming loose. So they replaced the bolts for me ($2 total), recharged the battery, and it wouldn't hold the charge, so they replaced it for free, and all I paid them was $15.14 for the bolts and for the battery test/charge.
And I have a boatload more maintenance and minor repair work that needs to be done. *tears hair out* At least I have a way to pay for it now.
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Date: 2006-03-24 02:32 am (UTC)Good luck with all of your car stuff. Car stuff sucks!