Service With A Smile, Eventually

I just got back from the car dealership a few minutes ago. The Highwayman's road racer has a minor problem. It has these two little storage areas just below the heater/air-conditioner switches and the bottom one won't stay closed. It's a new car, so it's a simple warranty thing, simple repair right? Nope. Don't be silly. This is modern America.

Today was the third time I went in for this 'one simple repair'. That's what they called it, 'a simple repair'. The first time, they had ordered the wrong color. Duh! The second time, the right color came in, but not all the pieces. Dur!

So yesterday I called and talked to a service guy and then a parts guy to try to get verification that everything was there and it was the right color. The service guy was helpful, but the parts guy was an idiot. He kept giving me the abba dabba that they think will keep customers calm and trusting. Well, they don't know me very well I guess.

So I looked up the e-mail address of the service manager, told him about the whole mess, told him I'm tired of wasting work time, gas, running up the mileage and my time on this 'simple repair'. Could someone verify that everything was good to go?

The guy calls me at work, checks out everything and guarantees me today will go smoothly. No hang-ups. Famous final words.

This morning they do replace the bad drawers. They are the right color. They work great. The trip is good and it didn't take too long. Here's the problem; all the plastic parts around the drawers, right and left side, look like they used a giant crow bar to pry the drawer assembly out. All the plastic dash area around the drawers is chewed up, scratched and has chunks missing. There is a 6" scratch on the right dash that runs all the way down over the glove compartment door. The drawers look good. The dash is trashed. Now I'm pissed.

I go back into the service area where there are about 20 people waiting and maybe 8-9 workers behind desks. The service guy sees me and says (innocently) "Is everything OK?" I try to restrain myself, failing only slightly and say in a very loud voice, "No, some idiot turned my new car's dash into something that looks like the moon's surface. The damn thing looks like a 20 year old piece of crap now. What, do you have little kids with crow bars working on our cars or something?" You could have heard a pin drop in that previously busy place. He comes out from the counter and asks if he can see it and I tell him that he's damn right he's going to see it and he will be fixing it too.

Sidebar: I noticed the looks on the other customers faces at my outbursts and somehow I was enjoying it. I guess I'm weird that way.

So, Mr. Service checks it out and mutters a few curse words. Then we go back inside and another service guy asks what was up and he tells him that someone has mangled my dash. I look over at Mr. Service #2 and say, real loud, "Did you hear that clearly enough? It's mangled!" To my surprise, #2 looks quickly down at his papers with a smile starting on his face. I guess I cracked him up.

To end this story, I will now be going back to the shop next week a fourth time for the dash parts to be replaced. I spent a half hour getting my ass kissed and hearing promises of 'getting it right next time', to which I only replied "Uh huh. We'll see." Today I'm getting in touch with the big cheese. They are forking over some gas or an oil change or something for this. Four trips for 'a simple repair.' Sheesh!

(I have more to tell about the people that were there, but that will have to wait for later. People are funny and I like watching them!)