Here is the update on my car.
I took it in for the corrosion on the battery issue last Friday. I received a call about 4:00pm that they would have to order a part and it would not be in until Monday. It turns out it wasn't just "naturally occurring" corrosion on my battery. There was a relay switch on the alarm/door locks that was causing a constant drain to the battery. They didn't have the part in stock, but it would be there Monday and they could get my car done.
Okay fine, at least this time they actually LOOKED at my car. I explained to the "professional" that I felt they needed to replace that part, the battery, and also put a new cable clamp on. The one that is currently on there is still covered in corrosion that has gotten down on the cable. They needed to clean the cable up and then steam clean the engine are and not leave corrosion particles all over my engine like last week.
I waited all day Monday for a call to come pick up my car. Finally at 4:30pm I called to see what was going on. My "professional" service advisor gets on the phone and says "Oh it isn't going to be ready today. Everything is done but we wont have a chance to test it until tomorrow." WHAT??? Why can't they test it as soon as they are done putting everything in? I mean they don't close for another 1 1/2 hours so that should be plenty of time to finish my car I would think. Too much to ask I guess.
Tuesday comes and I wait to hear from the dealership. I guess I am just impatient or something because about 1:00 I decide to call. My "service advisor" is at lunch and they could have him call me back. I ask the lady if she could just look and see if my car is done. She tells me "You need to speak with your service advisor." I tell her no, I need her to see if my car is done. It isn't like I am asking her to go out and fix it herself, or hand wax it. I just want to know if it is done. She puts me on hold, comes back and tells me that yes it has been done since last night.
(insert sound of hand hitting forehead)
I load up the family (we had some shopping to do) and head out. The invoice I get says that they replaced the battery, and the relay switch. It is all covered under warranty so I pack everyone up and we go to the store.
I know I should have checked everything at the dealership before we left, but I just wanted out of there. Have I mentioned I really hate dealership mechanics? So, we get home and I decide to check what they did. I open the hood and....well let's just say I was not surprised at all.
The first thing I noticed was the large amount of corrosion all over the clamp. It did appear that they replaced the battery. Oh yeah, they did steam clean the engine only they didn't bother to make sure it was all clean. There was water pooled up in every possible place and it looked like they used water right out of a sand pool. There was dirt all over the place.
So, I grabbed my handy battery cleaning brush and went to work on the clamp. It took me all of 10 minutes to have the clamp completely clean of any corrosion. If they had actually taken any amount of time to do their so called "professional" job, this would have been done. A customer brings you a car that wont start due to corrosion on the battery, you would think you would make sure there was no corrosion left to be a problem. Well, there isn't any now! Oh yeah, I also sprayed the terminal and clamp with the anti-corrosion spray which they said they did, but actually didn't.
I was so upset by their lack of quality in their work that Jayna picked up the phone and spoke with the service manager. Of course he was all "I am so sorry" and "we want you to be happy." You know what that translates into? Yeah, me bringing my car back in for him to "inspect" it.
After all this do you really think I want to bring my car back to you?
I am going to have to call him today and let him know I am not happy about the quality of their service tech. There are other Ford dealerships here where I can have warranty work done and in the future I will go to one of them.
I will post what he says after I call him.
Incomplete random visions held still in cyberspace to appear at specific locations yet to be discovered.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Battery included....well maybe
Two weekends ago we decided to do some running around advancing behavior (shopping). I went out to start my car (2007 Ford Fusion) and was surprised when it would not start. All the dash lights came on, radio, Ipod, with no dimming when turning the key. The sad part was the complete lack of motor turning over. The only sound to be heard was a click, click, click, click sound from the starter. It had a really nice beat to it. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate it a 7 for rhythm, but you really couldn't dance to it.
I called the dealership since it was still under warranty and of course they wanted me to bring it in. I called my roadside assistance and had them come out to pick it up. The driver popped the hood and pointed out my problem right away. Yes, the manly man that I pretend to be didn't think to pop the hood before calling the dealership. If I had I too would have been greeted by the beautiful sight of a severely corroded battery terminal.
So, one trip to the auto parts store to return with 1 terminal cleaning brush, a can of anti-corrosive spray, and a loss of $26 I returned to fix my car. I popped the clamp off and started brushing. I am sure if you were an ant under my car looking up it would have appeared that you had just walked into a blizzard from the amount of crap coming of my battery. It took about 15 minutes of scrubbing, putting the clamp back on, trying to start the car, rinse and repeat until I was finally able to get the car going.
I called the dealership back and let them know I still wanted to bring it in to have them clean this mess up "professionally". Two days later my car was in the shop. When I dropped the car off I talked to the "service rep" and let him know my issues. I told him that I felt that the best thing to do would be to replace the clamp and possibly the battery since it was already corroded again after 2 days. He said they would look at it and get it taken care of.
I went back that night to pick my car up. I picked it up and made my way to the bank to deposit a check. After parking I decided to pop the hood and felt an overwhelming urge to just bang my head against it. I was expecting to see a nice shiny clean battery terminal and clamp. I was going to fix my hair in it's brilliant shine, and possibly see if I had any food in my teeth. Boy let me tell you I was sadly mistaken.
Picture this. I clean the battery and terminal myself so I know what it looked like when I took it in to them. What I saw before me had a very strange resemblance to my handy work. So much in fact that I suddenly realized that it was possible that they didn't actually do anything to it. Well okay they did do something. The did spray red anti corrosive spray all over the battery. Right over the battery terminal, the clamp, AND the mounds of corrosion already there. Yup, they didn't bother to clean any of it off. Just sprayed it as is and sent me on my way.
Back to the dealer I go where I get this song and dance about "corrosion of a battery is perfectly normal". Sure it is. It is right up there on the natural scale like "natural sugar substitutes" and my foot is supposed to be up your ass. I have never owned a vehicle that had a battery with corrosion like this. My last car was a 1990 Honda Prelude which I purchased new in 1990. I sold said Honda the same week I purchased this new car. Doing the math here that would make that car what???? 17 years old. In 17 years I replaced the battery once and never had a corrosion problem. Not once. yet corrosion is "natural for all batteries?" I think not.
So we reschedule to have me bring it back in on the following Tuesday. Tuesday comes and the car has been running fine. My wife leaves for work and I decided to just hang at home with my son. Later that day I am getting ready for my hockey game and go out to pull my car out to let it warm up. Guess what happens? Yup, car wont start due to the "natural" corrosion I discover when I pop the hood.
I call the dealership the next morning since they were closed at this point. The soonest they can "fit me in" is Friday morning. So I am set to take my car in tomorrow morning and have them do some "professional" work to it. I think when I drop it off I am going to attach a copy of my good friend Webster's page with the definition of "professional" highlighted to my steering wheel. Just in case there might be a chance they could miss it if I put it under the hood on the battery.
Oh yeah, I did tell the "service rep" that this time they WERE going to replace the battery and the terminal due to the fact that they didn't do SHIT last time.
I think I know how that is going to work out.
I called the dealership since it was still under warranty and of course they wanted me to bring it in. I called my roadside assistance and had them come out to pick it up. The driver popped the hood and pointed out my problem right away. Yes, the manly man that I pretend to be didn't think to pop the hood before calling the dealership. If I had I too would have been greeted by the beautiful sight of a severely corroded battery terminal.
So, one trip to the auto parts store to return with 1 terminal cleaning brush, a can of anti-corrosive spray, and a loss of $26 I returned to fix my car. I popped the clamp off and started brushing. I am sure if you were an ant under my car looking up it would have appeared that you had just walked into a blizzard from the amount of crap coming of my battery. It took about 15 minutes of scrubbing, putting the clamp back on, trying to start the car, rinse and repeat until I was finally able to get the car going.
I called the dealership back and let them know I still wanted to bring it in to have them clean this mess up "professionally". Two days later my car was in the shop. When I dropped the car off I talked to the "service rep" and let him know my issues. I told him that I felt that the best thing to do would be to replace the clamp and possibly the battery since it was already corroded again after 2 days. He said they would look at it and get it taken care of.
I went back that night to pick my car up. I picked it up and made my way to the bank to deposit a check. After parking I decided to pop the hood and felt an overwhelming urge to just bang my head against it. I was expecting to see a nice shiny clean battery terminal and clamp. I was going to fix my hair in it's brilliant shine, and possibly see if I had any food in my teeth. Boy let me tell you I was sadly mistaken.
Picture this. I clean the battery and terminal myself so I know what it looked like when I took it in to them. What I saw before me had a very strange resemblance to my handy work. So much in fact that I suddenly realized that it was possible that they didn't actually do anything to it. Well okay they did do something. The did spray red anti corrosive spray all over the battery. Right over the battery terminal, the clamp, AND the mounds of corrosion already there. Yup, they didn't bother to clean any of it off. Just sprayed it as is and sent me on my way.
Back to the dealer I go where I get this song and dance about "corrosion of a battery is perfectly normal". Sure it is. It is right up there on the natural scale like "natural sugar substitutes" and my foot is supposed to be up your ass. I have never owned a vehicle that had a battery with corrosion like this. My last car was a 1990 Honda Prelude which I purchased new in 1990. I sold said Honda the same week I purchased this new car. Doing the math here that would make that car what???? 17 years old. In 17 years I replaced the battery once and never had a corrosion problem. Not once. yet corrosion is "natural for all batteries?" I think not.
So we reschedule to have me bring it back in on the following Tuesday. Tuesday comes and the car has been running fine. My wife leaves for work and I decided to just hang at home with my son. Later that day I am getting ready for my hockey game and go out to pull my car out to let it warm up. Guess what happens? Yup, car wont start due to the "natural" corrosion I discover when I pop the hood.
I call the dealership the next morning since they were closed at this point. The soonest they can "fit me in" is Friday morning. So I am set to take my car in tomorrow morning and have them do some "professional" work to it. I think when I drop it off I am going to attach a copy of my good friend Webster's page with the definition of "professional" highlighted to my steering wheel. Just in case there might be a chance they could miss it if I put it under the hood on the battery.
Oh yeah, I did tell the "service rep" that this time they WERE going to replace the battery and the terminal due to the fact that they didn't do SHIT last time.
I think I know how that is going to work out.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Pucks & Nets - Two things I can't make go together
I am sitting here at work having just finished my first of 2 hockey games today. We played at 10:00am today, and let's just say it didn't so much work out in our favor.
Final score? 7 to 1.
As I sit here pondering the complexity of the game I think I have figured something out. Our team is just not that good. Okay let me rephrase that. Every person on our team is actually a really good player. When we get on the ice, we are just 5 guys in matching uniforms. Actually now that I think about it we usually dont have matching uniforms. We just make sure we all have 1 dark and 1 light colored jersey. It's all about color coordination on the ice you know. We definately dont play as a TEAM. We pass. We have lines. We shoot. We just dont seem to click. That and putting the puck into the back of the net seems to be a major problem for us. Guess that makes it hard to win games doesnt it.
I watch the other teams when I am on the bench, and I see how they cycle the puck, use their points, and crash the net. These are all things we just dont seem to be able to do. Every one of us knows the game, the positions, the plays...yet we get on the ice and its like....well you know. It is like a bunch of guys standing around deep in conversation and beautiful woman walks buy in revealing clothing. Our brains just shut off. We cant help it. I think that is what happens to our team when we get on the ice. Instead of a beautiful woman wearing next to nothing, it is a little black solidified piece of vulcanized plastic. Okay I just confused myself. Puck.....half naked woman. Yeah, that makes sense.
I keep reminding myself that this all is supposed to be fun. Help me remember that!
The good thing is this was the last game of the season for this team. I play on another team that has its last game tonight. This team is doing a little better as far as win/loss goes.
I hope that beautiful half naked woman doesnt show up tonight. Or wait, was that a puck that flustered us.
(oh yeah, did I mention my back hurts, my legs are jello, and my arms are spent? Yup, old age sucks.)
I am also heading down to Las Vegas the 12th to the 16th of March for a hockey tournament. Sounds dangerous. A bunch of hockey players, in Vegas, renting a 3800 square foot house complete with hot tub, pool, game room, no wives (unless mine decides to go) lots of beer, strip clubs, gambling, and while we are there we might toss in a couple games since we paid for the tournament. I can hear a hang over coming.
I am just looking for a good night sleep tonight. That might be a challenge with Drew and Mazie around. I do think our new puppy is slowing starting to get the whole "Dont pee on my floor" thing down. What puppy you ask? Read my wife's blog as part of a weekly reading program and get up to speed. Otherwise, just work with me here.
Final score? 7 to 1.
As I sit here pondering the complexity of the game I think I have figured something out. Our team is just not that good. Okay let me rephrase that. Every person on our team is actually a really good player. When we get on the ice, we are just 5 guys in matching uniforms. Actually now that I think about it we usually dont have matching uniforms. We just make sure we all have 1 dark and 1 light colored jersey. It's all about color coordination on the ice you know. We definately dont play as a TEAM. We pass. We have lines. We shoot. We just dont seem to click. That and putting the puck into the back of the net seems to be a major problem for us. Guess that makes it hard to win games doesnt it.
I watch the other teams when I am on the bench, and I see how they cycle the puck, use their points, and crash the net. These are all things we just dont seem to be able to do. Every one of us knows the game, the positions, the plays...yet we get on the ice and its like....well you know. It is like a bunch of guys standing around deep in conversation and beautiful woman walks buy in revealing clothing. Our brains just shut off. We cant help it. I think that is what happens to our team when we get on the ice. Instead of a beautiful woman wearing next to nothing, it is a little black solidified piece of vulcanized plastic. Okay I just confused myself. Puck.....half naked woman. Yeah, that makes sense.
I keep reminding myself that this all is supposed to be fun. Help me remember that!
The good thing is this was the last game of the season for this team. I play on another team that has its last game tonight. This team is doing a little better as far as win/loss goes.
I hope that beautiful half naked woman doesnt show up tonight. Or wait, was that a puck that flustered us.
(oh yeah, did I mention my back hurts, my legs are jello, and my arms are spent? Yup, old age sucks.)
I am also heading down to Las Vegas the 12th to the 16th of March for a hockey tournament. Sounds dangerous. A bunch of hockey players, in Vegas, renting a 3800 square foot house complete with hot tub, pool, game room, no wives (unless mine decides to go) lots of beer, strip clubs, gambling, and while we are there we might toss in a couple games since we paid for the tournament. I can hear a hang over coming.
I am just looking for a good night sleep tonight. That might be a challenge with Drew and Mazie around. I do think our new puppy is slowing starting to get the whole "Dont pee on my floor" thing down. What puppy you ask? Read my wife's blog as part of a weekly reading program and get up to speed. Otherwise, just work with me here.
Friday, February 15, 2008
I've been cloned!
To begin the Clone Wars have.
Our story so far:
My son, Drew, left on Monday afternoon to head up to the cabin with his grandparents. He just got back last night, and that is when the realization of my cloning finally sunk in.
Here are the list of things that Drew is "in" to:
Transformers (it's all about Bumblebee and Optimus Prime)
Star Wars
Video Games (did I mention that his favorite games are...yup Transformers and Star Wars)
Ghost Hunters (yes he is 5 and thinks this is the greatest show to ever grace the television)
IPod (he has officially taken over my wife's Ipod as his now)
Skiing
Hockey
Here is a list of things that I was "in" to when I was a kid (and yes I can sorta remember that long ago thank you very much!):
Transformers (granted I was in high school when these were "in")
Star Wars
Video Games (go go Atari 2600 - PONG BABY!)
Ghost Stories (they didnt have cool shows about this stuff back then)
Walkmans (I was a bit older when these came out - but still long before the CD was even invented)
Skiing
Hockey
I know that everyone says your kids will be interested in the same things that you are, but come on. It isnt that he is just interested in them, he is OBSESSED with them. It is like watching a time portal replaying portions of my life as a child. Just like I did, he knows all the Transformers, what they transform into, which side they are on, and who defeats who and when. He knows all the Star Wars characters and even knows the lines from the movies. He has not gotten to the point where he puts on mini Star Wars reproduction plays in our living room, but he has managed to recreate the fight scenes with his lightsabers. Our cats are forever scared I am sure.
Dr. Evil has nothing on this Mini Me!
I have officially been cloned.
Our story so far:
My son, Drew, left on Monday afternoon to head up to the cabin with his grandparents. He just got back last night, and that is when the realization of my cloning finally sunk in.
Here are the list of things that Drew is "in" to:
Transformers (it's all about Bumblebee and Optimus Prime)
Star Wars
Video Games (did I mention that his favorite games are...yup Transformers and Star Wars)
Ghost Hunters (yes he is 5 and thinks this is the greatest show to ever grace the television)
IPod (he has officially taken over my wife's Ipod as his now)
Skiing
Hockey
Here is a list of things that I was "in" to when I was a kid (and yes I can sorta remember that long ago thank you very much!):
Transformers (granted I was in high school when these were "in")
Star Wars
Video Games (go go Atari 2600 - PONG BABY!)
Ghost Stories (they didnt have cool shows about this stuff back then)
Walkmans (I was a bit older when these came out - but still long before the CD was even invented)
Skiing
Hockey
I know that everyone says your kids will be interested in the same things that you are, but come on. It isnt that he is just interested in them, he is OBSESSED with them. It is like watching a time portal replaying portions of my life as a child. Just like I did, he knows all the Transformers, what they transform into, which side they are on, and who defeats who and when. He knows all the Star Wars characters and even knows the lines from the movies. He has not gotten to the point where he puts on mini Star Wars reproduction plays in our living room, but he has managed to recreate the fight scenes with his lightsabers. Our cats are forever scared I am sure.
Dr. Evil has nothing on this Mini Me!
I have officially been cloned.
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