I hate being lied to
Published Wed, May 16 2007 5:36 PM
Technorati Tags: Transportation, Annoyances
A couple of days ago I posted about my car troubles. On Monday I took the car into a local shop to have them give me an estimate. Because I wasn't able to drive in to work on Monday I called in and took the day off. I expected them to call back within a couple of hours, but they didn't. So I called at just about closing time to find out what was up.
They gave me the estimate. It was a rather substantial amount of money ($1352.00). I expected that it would be fairly expensive, since the shop rate is typically around $75 per hour and we were talking about a 6 hour job to replace the radiator, the water pump and the timing belt. They told me it would probably be ready at the end of the next day, assuming they could get the parts.
On Tuesday morning I decided to telecommute, since I was still without a car. The shop didn't call me, so I called at around 1:00pm or so. They weren't done, but they had all the parts. They needed a special tool to pull the harmonic balancer from the engine so they could remove the timing cover. I was told at that time that they were replacing the radiator then and there so that that part of the job would be done while they were waiting for the tool.
They told me they'd call before they closed. The shop closes at 5:00pm. At a little after 5:00pm I called them since they never bothered to call me. They told me that they did not have the tool yet, but that my car would definitely be ready by Wednesday afternoon.
Today is Wednesday. This morning I rented a car so that I could drive to work. After I got to work I called the auto repair shop. They told me again that the car would be ready by 5:00pm, that they had the tool and that they were doing the work right then, and putting things back together.
After concluding that conversation with them, I called my wife. She was going to pick up the car after work. She wouldn't be able to be there until 5:30pm at least, and so I called the auto shop again. I told them that my wife would not be there at closing time, but that she could be there sometime between 5:30 and 5:45.
They assured me again that the car would be ready and that someone would stay after hours to let my wife pick up the car.
My wife arrived at about 5:30pm. The shop was closed. There were a couple of people outside the shop talking to a woman. They asked my wife if they could help her.
She told them she was there to pick up the car. They asked "What car?". She told them that she was there to pick up the blue PT Cruiser.
"Oh. That one's not done yet. We need another two hours to put the radiator back in."
My wife told them that the person I had talked to had told me that the car would be ready at 5:00. They told her that they had called me and told me otherwise. That was a lie, because they have NEVER ONCE called me. [Update: Apparently I misunderstood what my wife told me on the telephone. Instead of telling her that they had called me, they asked her "didn't they call him?" This doesn't change the other issues I have with them however.]
So my car will not be ready until sometime tomorrow. And I have to extend the rental car agreement for another day. And I'm further inconvenienced because on Friday, when I will have to turn the rental car in, I have no transportation back to my house to pick up my car.
All of this because the individual that I talked to at the auto repair shop lied to me. He lied to me on Tuesday. He lied to me this afternoon.
I wonder what else he's lied to me about? I wonder how they'd like the dishonesty of their employees exposed nationwide?
I've refrained from naming names so far. That might not remain the case if I don't have my car back tomorrow. Then I'll take the whole thing up with the Better Business Bureau, and if necessary with a lawyer.
[Update 2: I've got my car back. It's running about as well as it did before I took it in to the shop, but so far, no coolant leaks and no overheating. I think I'd like to put this whole episode behind me. I can't believe how irritated I got being put off day after day for what turned out to be a grand total of 6.5 hours of labor.
I won't be going back to that particular shop again. Hopefully that will be the end of it.]
Trackback URI for this post: http://perrinelson.com/track.aspx?postid=707
Permalink URI for this post: http://perrinelson.com/2007/5/16/707.aspx
Subscribe to this entry's
comment feed. (Atom)
Angel responded with:
 | ah Perri sorry to hear about this..I know its not life threatening but these things can be maddening!..stay calm my friend! :) |
Perri Nelson responded with:
 | Yet another update. I spoke with the shop today. It's now 11:24. They told me at around 10:00 that my car would be ready at noon. They told me that yes, they did install the radiator on Tuesday as they told me, but they had to take it back out to do the other work.
So perhaps they didn't lie to me on Tuesday. But they wasted their time on Tuesday performing a two hour job when they could have spent that two hours acquiring the tools they needed to do the rest of the job.
Four days to do a six hour job. I'm still rather irritated about it all. |
Perri Nelson responded with:
| Well, I'm told my car is ready. I'm off to pick up my wife from her work and to go get my car. |
Comments to this entry are closed.