Over the past few weeks, we have had trouble getting the key into our car’s ignition. Instead of going to our trusted mechanic, we thought it might be something simple with the keys, so we took the car to the dealership. We’ve already had trouble with this “rhymes with Maturn” dealership before (see this experience from March), but again, we hoped it could be something easy to fix. Not quite. You’ll have to excuse me since I’m not exactly a car person. If I get some terms wrong here, well you can make fun of me, but it’s not unexpected. The “Maturn” dealership said that the whole cylinder needed to be replaced. Approximate cost $500. They also found some type of water pump leak even though we asked them only to look at the ignition. When the dealership gave all of this news to us, we said no thank you. They even asked if we wanted an oil change. We said no thank you since the car just had an oil change and inspection last month from our dealership. Seems like the end of story.
Until the beginning of this paragraph! Around 3:30 this afternoon, I received a call from Maturn saying that they made the repairs. Apparently, they called my wife who told them to call me. I was a little shocked and wanted to make sure that they received the message earlier when we said that we didn’t want the repairs done. They apologized and said that due to their mistake, they would only charge us $500, half of the $1,000 overall cost for parts and labor. This was an interesting proposal seeing that it was $500 more than I expected to pay. I said I would call him back. After quickly venting to a co-worker, who fortunately had a stress ball, which I found very useful instead of throwing things or swearing at the Maturn guy, I called back. He suggested $279, which would only be $179 for the parts and labor and $100 for the initial work of looking through the car. I’m not sure if he expected me to jump at that offer, but after more silence and perhaps a little stuttering on my part trying to remain calm, I told him I would call him back again. As I talked to my wife about what we should do, the Maturn guy called me saying that he would eat the costs. He apologized again (I think I said “OK”), and we picked up the car. Oh, while they performed an oil change, they did not give the courtesy car wash as stated on the receipt.
Needless to write, we’re not going to the Maturn dealership again.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Do You Understand the Words That Are Coming Out of My Mouth
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3 comments:
Take it to Wayne Van Dine. Think of all the people they have tried to screw before. At the very least try the Better Business Bureau or someone. It is completely inexcusable that they do work not authorized and then continue to "bargain" thier way down to get something out of the deal. I would have thrown the "I'm going to call a lawyer" card before they even made the second proposal.
I've thought about whether or not I should contact the BBB. While they screwed up big time, they also did the right thing (eventually) by not charging anything. If they were firm about charging something, I would have definitely fought it and contacted anyone and everyone.
True that they did the right thing in the end, but what a bunch of sneaky bastages to begin with! Least they could have done was give you the free courtesy car wash on top of your free parts and labor ;)
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