service | Piss and Moan

Dealership sittin

When you are buying a car, assuming it isn’t a private sale, do you consider the service department? I have purchased a couple cars in the last five years and one thing I have become aware of, that I should have thought about when I bought them, is the service department.

Sure, buying a car is “fun” as you shop for the look, style, options, etc. that you want. You get to decide on the color and all that jazz. They promise oil changes for life and tire warranties and other “incentives” to get you to buy the car. But what they don’t sell you on is their service department.

After sitting in two different service departments and going through the trouble of trying to schedule said service, I am going to offer some tips you may want to consider when buying a car from a dealership.

Check the hours that the service department actually works. If they don’t work or have weekend appointments, you are in big trouble! Why? Because that means they only work during the hours you likely work, meaning you are going to likely have to take time off to make service appointments happen (whether it is just for dropping the car off or to pick it up afterwards). The other thing about only weekdays is that there are a limited number of service appointments. As such, you will be competing against other people to try to schedule for those appointments. Sure, you would have to do that on a Saturday too but if you have a little forethought in your scheduling you can easily get it done.
Is it easy to schedule an appointment? Do they have an ample number of service advisors or are you going to sit on hold on the phone for seemingly endless hours? Can you schedule online or on an app? Again, it is important to know because it takes your time and it is valuable.
Do they have a shuttle service? Better yet, do they have a considerable number of service loaners? Shuttles are great, but relying on someone else transporting you is a pain in the rear. Loaners are better because then you can go about your day as usual and not have to worry about trying to schedule things around the service appointment.
Department amenities. If you have to sit and wait at the dealership, what amenities do they have? Does it look and feel comfortable or does it look like someone threw some furniture together? Does it have good wi-fi? Do they have complimentary food and basic drinks (coffee, soda, water)? All of these aren’t really that big of a deal, but if you have to spend time there you should be able to do so without feeling like there isn’t a way for you to relax a little.

I am currently sitting in a service waiting room for a 60K mile service. It’s a longer service, so I had to take the day off to make this appointment happen. It took three phone calls to finally connect with someone to schedule it. There is a popcorn machine that isn’t on and hasn’t been run. There are two vending machines, both with sighs that say they are out of order. There is coffee, but it’s terrible. The chairs and couches are showing signs of being worn out. There is wi-fi, so I can type this blog entry.

All this to say, don’t just get caught up in the shiny new car. Ask questions. Check out the service area because it should be part of your buying decision.

Anything else you would add from your buying and ownership experience?

Customer chat

Posted on March 27 by backuphill

Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com

Don’t ya just love it when a major company won’t let you cancel a service without contacting them first? I fully expected to have to contact someone since I didn’t really want to cancel, but that is how you get movement. BUT, I found that when I tried to cancel online that their website magically had issues and you were forced to contact them.

The kicker here is that in the past you were able to go directly to a chat with a customer representative. This is apparently no longer a thing since there was nowhere on their website to access this help without getting the magical broken link.

When you get tot he information page for “additional help” there is a section that gives details about their chat feature and a button. Guess what? Button is greyed out (meaning not active) and unusable, even though the stated business hours are in full effect.

So, they actually force you to call them.

I was able to get what I want, but the fact that I have to go through this every year is stupid.

But, play the game I will.

Unusual recall

Posted on March 21 by backuphill

A bit of a curious solution to a vehicle recall.

A while back I got a recall notice for the Ram truck. The notice said that the tailgate could randomly open while traveling…obviously, that is an issue because you potentially could lose whatever you are transporting in the back of the truck (provided it isn’t secured properly). The repair was to have the latch replaced, free of charge, at the dealership.

OK.

Made the appointment and took it in yesterday. The guy scheduling the appointment said it took more time to do the paperwork than to do the recall. Curious statement.

I was at the dealership all of 15 minutes. They never even moved the truck from the parking spot I parked it in.

Apparently, the recall just meant they needed to check if something needed to be replaced. I was told they open and closed the tailgate several times and everything appeared to latch correctly so nothing was replaced.

Ummm, I wasted my time on that? I could have done that. They really needed to have a repair person check that?

Is it really a recall if you just open and close it and replace nothing?

Towel throwing

Posted on May 31, 2022 by backuphill

At what point do you just, “Throw in the towel?” Literally, if we throw the towel into the washing machine we don’t know if it will actually get cleaned or not.

At the beginning of March, we bought a Kenmore washing machine from Costco.com. It wasn’t the cheapest model, but it also wasn’t the most expensive. We decided that we didn’t really need something fancy, but one with “triple action” agitation without the agitator sounded good. We had it delivered, mostly because they would haul the old machine away at no charge and then I wouldn’t have to do it.

The new Kenmore washer didn’t work correctly from the very beginning. No matter what I did to it to try and “balance” it, it sounded like there was a body inside of the machine and that it was bouncing around inside the laudry room. When I finally did get it close to balanced it squeaked and squealed like a pig getting chased around it’s pen. It was taking two, sometimes three, “Drain & Spin” cycles to get a load dry enough to even put into the dryer.

I called the repair service. Mind you, this was a new washer and it was only two months into it.

The first guy came out and said it was the drive belt and clutch. Ordered parts. Service is covered by warranty.

Parts arrived. Second guy comes out and says the first guy didn’t actually diagnos the issue correctly and the parts that were ordered weren’t needed. Second guy dug into the machine and said, “I have been doing this a lot of years and I have never seen this part (can’t remember which one he said) in that color. I am going to replace it.” Luckily, he had several parts in his van that he said needed repaired. He left and it supposedly was repaired.

The very next load run through it again sounded like someone was in the machine. Stopped the load, tried to balance it out (which by appearances it looked fine), still banging. More loads. More banging and squealing.

So, today after work, I get to unhook the thing and haul it back to the local Costco.

I have no idea what the plan is to replace it.

Perhaps running water and some rocks in the backyard.

Clueless Chris

Posted on April 18, 2022 by backuphill

It’s interesting that there are people doing jobs for others and they have no actual idea what the person they are working for does. A while back I mentioned that I was having “retirement envy” and that I was starting to wonder how I was doing on progression towards that goal (an evaluation) and possibly planning for the future. I have an acquaintance/ friend that I have known for a long time and it was my understanding that he did financial planning, as well as insurance sales.

Well, I called and booked an appointment and talked with whomever was answering phones, a guy named Chris. He didn’t get a lot of info from me (didn’t even ask my last name) and didn’t really even ask what it was that I wanted to meet about. I let him know with the initial phone call I was looking at financial planning for retirement. He booked the appointment.

I got a call today to confirm the appointment and when I confirmed that I would be there, I again mentioned that I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to bring to the appointment. He said he would find out because he wasn’t sure. He called back and told me to bring documentation for insurance comparison. I let him know that isn’t what I was coming in for. That I wanted financial planning. I asked if I had misunderstood what services were being offered. Again, he didn’t know and was going to ask his boss.

Huh.

You would think that if you work there you would have some understanding of what your boss does and what services are offered.

Needless to say, the first impression of the office person isn’t a good one. Clueless Chris may be hurting the business if the communication is this clumsy about what services are offered by the office he works in.

I have a feeling the meeting this afternoon is going to get cancelled as I am not exactly looking for insurance (well, maybe some additional life insurance, but that isn’t high priority) at this point.

“Back order”

Posted on January 4, 2022 by backuphill

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Took my car in for service today. It was actually needed before the long drive over the holiday, but timing just didn’t work well. Before I left for vacation, I set up the appointment for when I got back. That works out to just about two weeks before the the appointment.

The appointment is the scheduled 45k mile checkup. This is the one recommended by the manufacturer. So I expected, given the lead time, that there would be no issues in completing the work needed for this appointment. As a business, I expected they would have all the stuff they needed for the appointment lined up before the appointment. That would be good customer service – so that it is all done in one trip.

I guess I expected too much.

They don’t have the air filter needed for my car. This is the dealership, mind you.

It’s the whole, “We’re having a hard time getting parts” and “Everything is back ordered” and “Come back another day and we can just slap that thing in” and “We’ll have it by 3:00 (later) today.”

So now I need to make a second trip over here because you didn’t check to see if you had all the parts needed for this very specific check up?

That’s not good customer service.

Good grief.

Anyone else experienced this whole “back order/supply chain” excuse lately? That seems to be a pretty standard answer when a business can’t delivery on the services they are selling. Is this REALLY that bad of an issue or are businesses just using it as crutch?

Kind of like the whole “national coin shortage”? There is’t one really. Business seems pretty normal to me.

Am I being unreasonable? Should I give grace for something like this when there was time to prepare or give me a head’s up before the appointment?

When it don’t

Posted on March 10, 2021 by backuphill

Yesterday. Yesterday was a challenge. Well, not the whole day, but a part of the day that mattered more than the rest, if that makes sense.

Like most people who are working from home these days, Zoom or Teams or whatever video conferencing platform you use is kind of an essential part of your job. Meeting with clients, meeting with your supervisors/teammates/co-workers, or meeting with potential clients is something that typically needs to be done several times throughout the day.

Yesterday, I was co-hosting a meeting (a training) with clients and the challenges of the day started shortly after the meeting began.

First, the video started to freeze and the sound was choppy. Then the internet just dropped altogether.

Gone. Kicked outta the meeting.

I frantically tried to reconnect, and within a minute or two I am back in the meeting. Apologies to my co-worker and clients.

15 minutes later I am dropped again.

This time, after waiting for over 5 minutes to get a signal back, I find there just is no internet at all. Damn. Wait several minutes, still no internet. Wait several more minutes, look to see if there is internet by staring at the router. It says there is WiFi, but of course that just means it is broadcasting not that there is data being transferred.

I tell my phone to stop using WiFi and then log into the Xfinity app. Sure enough, internet is down for maintenance in the area. Affected customers is between 51-500. “Expected restoration of services…” is an hour and a half. Seriously?

How about a little warning? Or, better yet, if this was an unexpected outage, how about a text message with info letting me know this info without me having to become a detective for the internet signal?

Thankfully the outage didn’t last as long as they estimated. The internet came back and I logged back into the meeting after 30 minutes. It appeared that I might get kicked from the meeting again after 20 minutes, but apparently they figured out something and I was able to co-host as expected.

The internet is obviously a necessity these days, especially when it comes to work.

But, when it don’t work, it don’t work. And neither do you.

Ongoing saga

Posted on November 5, 2020 by backuphill

Comcast/xFinity has some real nerve. Obviously, there is always an issue with the cost of their service. Too high for too little. That has never been in doubt. But, if you saw an earlier post (Thieving) about the issue I was having with their billing, well the saga continues…

So, brief catch-up if you haven’t read the other post. Comcast decided randomly that it wouldn’t accept payment from my bank. They have done so for years but suddenly have decided the payment last month wasn’t going to be accepted. Instead of notifying me of an issue, they just said I hadn’t made the payment and said my account was “past due.” My bank says and has proven the payment was made and accepted by Comcast (thus, money was deducted from my account.) Now you are caught up.

I have made several calls the Comcast and navigated their stupid automated system over and over to get to a live representatives, who quite frankly don’t know squat. I was told the first time I needed to get confirmation from my bank that the payment was made.

I did so. It wasn’t the “right” kind of verification.

So, I was finally able to get through to Comcast payment services who said that they did receive a payment couldn’t (read wouldn’t) apply it because they needed some kind of verification because it was paid by a “virtual credit card.” Say what? I am using the bill payer service from my bank and the payment is made electronically to their system. There has never been an issue before. They don’t me to contact my bill payer service at the bank to get the specific authorization they needed.

I contacted the bank. They did their research and communicated directly to Comcast with the information. Comcast’s response? The customer has to provide the proof.

#$%&#$$@!!!!

Listen, Comcast, I authorized the bank to pay you. You have an agreement with the bank to accept electronic funds payments. You have been accepting said payments for years. Now, you won’t accept the payment and want me to authorize a payment the bank made on my behalf?

What the F’n crack you smoking over there?

I haven’t yet sent the proof to Comcast yet, but I’ll let you know if need a couple of you to accompany me down the the office to voice my literal displeasure in doing business with them.

How about a peaceful protest involving some windows and flipped cars? I feel like burning something down.

Accountablity

Posted on August 27, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by bongkarn thanyakij on Pexels.com

What are your thoughts about holding someone accountable?

Situation: Someone tells you that they will do something (or have something done, like a service) but it will involve several people for it to be seen through to completion. As the agreed upon service is unfolding, it is clear that its going to get screwed up because there are multiple people involved with several different parts to coordinate to make it happen.

What do you do at this point?

Deal with the individual parts and let it play out, hoping it is done correctly.
Go straight to the person who set the whole thing in motion and make sure they are coordinating the various pieces so the outcome is successful.
Let it all go to crap and then hope it can clean it up after.

Being a planner, I think you know which way I would go here. But, I really want to know…what do you think is the best way to approach this?

Do you let the person who promised something hold on to that accountability, or do you take it on yourself?

Warranty Department

Posted on April 15, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by JÉSHOOTS on Pexels.com

Continuing the saga from yesterday…

With a phone number and instructions to have tools, batteries, and chargers on had when I call the number, I called this morning to make sure that I was calling during East coast hours.

The call was answered by a machine and the instructions were the same as I received in my call yesterday. Then it proceeded to read back my phone number and ask if I would like a call back when someone to handle my call was available, if so, press 1.

And now I wait? Until when? It’s been two hours so far. Am I just supposed to wait all day by the phone, in the garage, staring at the tool that doesn’t work?

So, the saga continues…