In the past four months, I have been blown away by the dishonesty, unwillingness to just simply do the right thing, and the lack of consideration for others. Our credit card was swiped and what was a 475 dollar pending charge, they tried to push through at 1854 and some change. Seriously. And while we did that credited back to us - it took A MONTH. How can these people sleep at night?
And then we bought a vehicle in 2014, and the local car dealership in our town, they have turned over management so many times, it's not even funny. From the beginning, it was one lie after another - too long of a story to recount, but I wrote a letter to the president of this automobile company. To be fair I also sent a copy of both letters (I wrote a second one when I did not get a phone call or response of any kind) to the management here. Finally after the second letter, I received a response, but still was left at a loss as to what to do because returning to the dealership in town was out of the question and at this point we had two recall items that needed to be fixed and a few items under warranty we needed to address. Finally, we found another dealership, but it was an hour one way. Definitely not ideal since we already drive SO much for doctor appointments alone, but we decided to give it a try.
At first this dealership was better. They were sponsors of a local Christian radio station, professed to be Christ followers themselves, and played Christian music in their lobby. I thought, wow, how neat is this...we won't ever have to worry about whether they are shooting straight with us, it will be SO much easier to work with them than it was with the other dealership. An hour drive is not ideal, but hey, if they are honest, and actually do the work you pay them to do, it may just be worth it.
About six months ago we took our vehicle in for an oil change and inspection, they discovered a steering wheel fluid leak, one of the plugs had disintegrated. They encouraged us to do the diagnostic, because there was a chance it would still be under warranty since we hadn't yet hit 60,000 miles (we were close, but not quite there). We paid them to do that for two reasons, 1) to find out if that part was covered under warranty and 2) so when we scheduled the maintenance they would have the part we needed ready and waiting...oh and a third reason - we needed to know an estimated cost. We get it done, the part (surprise, surprise) isn't under warranty, but it's like a six dollar part, however, the labor involved sent the cost up to 500 dollars. So we decided to just do it at the same point in time that we did our 60,000 mile check-up and save up the money. We did. I called and initially they said they could knock it out on Saturday morning. Which was awesome because we do not have a second vehicle, my husband and I share this one, and he'd be able to get it done without using paid time off. So three weeks before I wanted to schedule the appointment, I called and made the appointment, only to be told that it was going to take all day, I reminded them that they had told my husband that they could knock both out on a Saturday morning. They insisted that they had never said that, that no it would take all day. So my husband borrows my father in law's extra car, which does not fit my daughter's wheelchair, but would at least allow him to not have to sit there eight plus hours that day waiting.
So, he takes off of work, we drive there, and on the return drive they call saying they had ordered the wrong part. Seriously?!?!
So they say they are overnighting it and it would be there the very next day, they'd get it done and we could pick it up. I said, well my husband took off today (it was a Thursday), but he can't take off tomorrow too, so we will have to pick it up on Saturday morning. They assured us it would all be done by then and ready. I get a call late Friday saying, the part that was supposed to be overnighted? It got shipped to the wrong service department, and it would be into next week before they would have it. But good news, they went ahead and did our 60,000 mile check up. Seriously?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?! At this point I am FURIOUS. The guy I spoke to kept telling me what a headache it was for the people there, how hard this made his job - REALLY? A headache for them? I do not have a vehicle right now and we are canceling doctor appointments, but it's a headache for you? How about an 'I am so sorry, this should NEVER have happened since you guys paid to have the diagnostic done, we should have had the correct part here...etc;' But no, he kept saying how hard this made his job. He then tried to tell me they went ahead and did the steering flush (which is part of the cost of the seal switchout that they will have to redo when they do get that part in) so the charge is 130 dollars more than they quoted us when we dropped it off for the 60,000 miles. WHAT?!?! I am LIVID at this point.
We go in on Saturday and I went in to speak to the owner of the dealership. I HATE confrontations. But I had prayed over this and asked for God's help. The owner was super apologetic and offered when the part came in, to drive one of their shuttle vans down, drop it off with me, drive our vehicle back, and fix it. And then bring it back. Just the fact that she apologized and took ownership for what happened and admitted this should not have happened, that made me feel SO much better, but getting the van to borrow so we could keep our appointments, that made it a LOT better.
So, on Monday of this week, they show up, get our vehicle and drive back. (They did drop off their shuttle van, but it was basically out of gas, so we had to fill up, which wasn't a huge deal, but the night before they picked up ours we took it and filled it up so they would have plenty of gas). I hear nothing. It's getting close to five so I call and ask what the status is, and he said, "Well the driver is kinda slow, and he just didn't get back here in time to get it done today, we will get it knocked out early tomorrow though." So I am a little frustrated, but try to understand. The next morning comes and goes and we hear nothing, finally around lunch time the guy calls and says, "Hey when we took your steering wheel apart we found something else wrong, so we are going to have overnight this part (at no cost to you), so it won't be ready until tomorrow." I asked him if he was joking, because again, SERIOUSLY?!!?. But nope he wasn't joking.
So yesterday I wait all day for a phone call, finally around three I call and he is super reluctant, but says, "I am sorry to say that Fed Ex gave it a tracking number, but when they got here today your part wasn't here, I am really sorry. I have never known this to happen, and certainly not twice on the same car." I was like, "Ummm ok, so we paid for the diagnostic, we scheduled the appointment, WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!" He was admittedly really nice and I tried to be understanding. But I am SO frustrated.
The same guy I spoke to yesterday just called and said that actually Fed Ex did ship the part but without a tracking number and so it should (finger crossed he said) be there today. He'd call me around 11:30 to give me a status update. At this point, I am not holding my breath. But I am VERY, very angry. Seriously - SO frustrated.
