 |
 |
Another Tank Of Gas And Back On The Road Again
Ran into my friend Karen at the annual Ukelele Fest last night, and she asked how things had turned out with my bus, which made me realize: a. of all) people actually do read this blog; and b. of all) at least one of them was curious to find out how the story ended.
So, in the event there are one or two more of you out there just dieing to know, here's a (brief, I promise) rundown of events since my last post on the subject:
Taking my father's advice, I wrote a sharp, pointed letter to the offending repair establishment demanding a reduction in my bill, and informing them that in the meantime I was placing a chargeback on my credit card until the matter could be amicably resolved, and further stating that if satisfaction was not forthcoming, I was fully prepared to take the matter to Small Claims Court (which, it turns out is ridiculously easy to do). Sent it off Certified Mail with Return Receipt.
Got the little green card back about four days later, signed by the assistant manager, and two days after that received a voice message from the manager, requesting I call him back. When we spoke on the phone, he turned out to be quite apologetic and completely open to settle the matter without fuss; all I needed to do was come back in to the shop to rebill the account.
When I got there that afternoon (this was on Friday), he was again very concilliatory, and took about five minutes to write up a new bill. He then reran the card, had me sign off on the paperwork, and within ten minutes I was out the door.
The only odd thing about the transaction, which didn't strike me until a few minutes after I had left, was that he had billed me for less than what I had demanded. In the letter I had explicitly stated that I wanted the bill reduced by $300, or the equivalent amount spent on labor by the second garage to fix the problems the first garage had not addressed or done incorrectly. But, the revised bill was made out for $300, roughly $50 less than what I was prepared to pay. So, not only are these guys lousy mechanics, but apparently they're not too good at reading and math comprehension either.
So, the end of the story is that I've got my bus back, she's runnin' like a champ (although the guy at garage #2 would like for me to bring it in sometime to replace all the hoses before I get a vacuum leak that overheats the engine - something that I completely agree is not an unreasonable request), and I saved myself $350 in the bargain by not letting a bunch of doofuses get away with shoddy workmanship.
End of story.
Riding off into the sunset (which we actually had one of today).
Fade to black.
Roll credits.
Posted byCOMTE
on 10:17 PM
|
|
