Thursday, August 20, 2009

Vent...AHOY!

There's nothing I want more than to vent about the experience I just had and name names. But a) I don't want to get involved in some crazy defamation lawsuit and b)I don't feel I should give them free press (even if it is bad). So, here is my experience with a certain car facility whose repair shop we use because it is part of our warranty.


I just spent 2 hours waiting for a car repair. 2 hours for something they told me would take 30-45 minutes. 2 hours of waiting for the lone technician to come back from lunch (a half hour after my appt time), take the 30 minutes to replace the damaged seatbelt, and then wait for our warranty's approval...and approval I ALREADY spent 2 hours waiting for a few weeks ago. So, for those keeping score, that's 4 hours invested in a repair that took all of 30 minutes.

I won't fault the technician. He was the only one into today (the other called off) and he had a repair that ran late, hence the late lunch. I've been in a similar situation at work before. Totally cool. But for Pete's sake, how hard is it for someone to make a quick phone call to me and say, "hey...we know you have a 1pm appointment, but here's what's going on." Give me the opportunity to reschedule.
No...the receptionist says, "I didn't know that the mechanic went on lunch until just now...[blah de blah explains the situation] so I don't expect him back until closer to 2pm." Did I mention I had been waiting for quite a bit at this point?

I am partly at fault for not voicing my anger at the wait the first time. Maybe they just didn't understand how upsetting it is to sit around a waiting room with a 1.5 year old to be told "yep, it's covered under the warranty. Let's get the part ordered and have you come back in."

Why, I ask, did I have to sit there to be told it was going to be approved? Doesn't anyone know how to use a telephone?!

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

A few weeks goes by, anger subsides. I am quickly reintroduced to Anger today when I am told (after noticing my car sitting in front of the window all by its lonesome - a good 30 minutes after I was told the technician would start working on it) the repair is done...but now they are waiting on an approval from the warranty company so they can close the ticket.

You have got to be kidding me.

I think my aura of Anger must have carried over to the other workers, because along comes Mr. Consultant...giving me an "update." I use that term loosely because not more than 5 minutes before I went to the receptionist myself to figure out why my car was sitting there and I couldn't take it home.

It is now nearing the 2 hour mark. I am about to raise a good deal of hell in this place. I've done all I can to entertain and feed the child, but there is no denying she is well overdue for a nap. I just want to pay and go home.

Finally, Mr. Consultant calls me over and says that he'll settle up my bill for me with a manual receipt...since, you know, I had been waiting there for so long and they had already received the approval once before.

Ok...hang on a second. You mean to tell me you could have done this manual receipt an HOUR ago?!

[I swear I felt steam shoot out of my ears]

Upon discussing my displeasure with this whole situation, Mr. Consultant tries to justify today's wait with "well, if we don't get the approval, the mechanic doesn't get paid."

YOU.ALREADY.GOT.THE.APPROVAL! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

* * * * *

OK.

I'm done.

I'm home, child is napping, and I'm listening to the soothing sounds of Joshua Radin.

Serenity NOW!

4 comments:

C. Beth said...

Oooh, that smoke would be coming out of my ears too....

Badass Geek said...

You are much more patient than I would have been.

Call Me Cate said...

And all with the little one along for the fun? I would've been SO steamed. I doubt I could've been as patient as you and I'd probably be writing letters and making calls today to follow-up on the situation. That's such poor customer service in a day (and economy) when we have other choices available for our future purchases. Not to mention recommendations to friends!

SurprisedMom said...

You have so much patience than I could have conjured up. I would have punched something or someone, maybe Mr. Consultant.
Car repair shops are all scams, wherever you go. Too bad cars are so complicated now that fixing them yourself is beyond most people.
I also hope you treated yourself to a nice glass of wine with the music. You certainly deserved it.