I am not one to rant too often. I try to live my life in as calm of a manner as possible. If there is something that riles me up I try to see all sides of the issue and not jump to conclusions. I live my life by giving others the benefit of the doubt. In other words I like to believe something good about someone, rather than something bad, when I have the possibility of doing either.
Recently I had some minor car issues. Minor to me but major to my husband. One Sunday we went to church and as usual went to our favorite local Chinese/Japanese restaurant (shout out to The Lantern) for lunch. Since I drove my car I hopped out and had fob in hand ready to lock her all up. My husband was not getting out of the car quickly enough for me and I just kind of looked at him like ” what’s going on?”
Upon closer investigation I realized that his door would not open. I reclicked the clicker to make sure it was unlocked. No luck. We had had this happen before and had the mechanism replaced as the door would open from the outside but not the inside. I circled around the car and proceeded to open the door for him from the outside.
Wrong. It would not open from either the inside OR the outside. After numerous tries I was convinced that it was not going to open with my superpowers so I encouraged him to climb across the console to come out the driver’s side. Not easy in a compact car for a 6 foot 2 man but I will spare you the details.
Fast forward to the next day . A call was made, car dropped off at dealership where we have had work done before. Actually the lock mechanism was replaced there only 6 months earlier. We always ask for an estimate before work is done. My husband texted me and told me he was going to come get me and we were going to go pick up the car. Could it be ready already???
Estimate was for $1600 because “they had to take the door panel off”. Chris refused and said we would seek other options. Another call made to another local business and they said they could fit us in during the week . Estimate given: $260.00 Actual final cost: $282.63
Door functions and a new car repair/service place is found.
I wrote a letter to the dealership and attached a copy of the actual invoice we paid. That was 4 weeks ago. No response received. Do I send a copy to the company officials to let them know of our experience or do I let it die at the local level? What would you do?
