Day 42: Got the car back
It's a rolling disaster.Got a voicemail today that the car was ready, and had been double-checked to see that it was operating within specs. I went to the dealer, where everyone was overly nice. I reviewed the paperwork, signed, turned in the loaner key, did a walk-around inspection of my car, and left.
Unfortunately, I missed a couple of things in my walk-around.
The first I noticed when I got out of the car at my next stop. At first it appeared to be a bit of dirt on the bumper (I specifically left DO NOT WASH instructions, which the service person had written in large print on the work order. In particular, I said clearly that I did NOT want ANY type of tyre dressing applied, since they had done it before when I didn't expect it.) Upon closer inspection, there is a scuff and scratch all the way through the paint on the left rear bumper. No, that will not '...buff right out...' as the saying goes.
The second thing I noticed later in the evening when I had the lights on and got out to open the garage door...
They had to remove the bumper cover at some point, and clearly neglected to plug in the passenger-side sidemarker bulb.
Furthermore, the engine compartment is filthy. From talking to the dealer on that day, oh so long ago, when I dropped it off, they had said that they would not clean up the melted rubber residue from the broken belt. OK, I expected that. On the other hand, the coolant stains and the fluorescent green dye stains from testing the A/C are just absolutely uncalled-for. Seriously - why would you go back to any shop that did sloppy, dirty work and couldn't be bothered to even wipe up afterwards?
The third thing I noticed was when I turned on the radio and was assaulted with overbearing, distorted bass. I thought 'Wow, this sounds like crap!', so I checked my audio setting (the 'TONE' button on the Concert II radio). My preferred settings are Bass +1, Mid +3, Treble +5. What I found was Bass +6, Mid 0, Treble +6. Seriously, when you're working on my car, LEAVE THE RADIO ALONE!!!
Remember how they weren't supposed to wash my car, or put any kind of shiny crap on the tyres? Well, what is this? On all 4 wheels?!?
Further investigation uncovered yet more nasty surprises:
If they can't pay attention to what's in their own TSBs, written on their own work orders, or at least clean up after their self-created mess, how can I trust that they did anything at all right?
To recap:
- 42 days
- Only had a loaner for the last 9 of those days
- Scratch on bumper
- Sidemarker light bulb not plugged in
- Radio settings screwed with
- Unwanted crap on tyres that I have to spend my time to scrub off, plus the brake dust that it attracts
- Engine compartment filthy
- Broken engine-cover mounting peg
- Pen left on the intake manifold (seriously - you've gotta be kidding...)
So, what kind of rating do you think I will be giving the service department?
Labels: A/C Compressor Failure
posted by Len @ 22:05
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