Free and found the mechanic had gone home because he didn’t have any business that day. There was the usual bunch of lackeys sitting around and they all jumped up to work on our car. I just sat down in front of the evaporative cooler and kept my mouth tightly shut. They pulled everything apart and put the plug in that we had bought at AutoZone and it didn’t work. After 2 hours in the heat, with everyone taking a turn looking at the car (including the guy with the same cloths on he had on the day before which included a t-shirt that used to be white and was big enough for my whole family to fit in—yuck), they put everything back together and told us to buy a different part.I told Tarzan that I would take it to the dealer the next day.
The next day I drove to Courtesy Chevrolet and told them, “It’s not the compressor, it’s not the fuses, it may need some Freon, but that is not what is wrong with it. What is wrong is that there is no power coming to this little switch right here.” Anthony wrote that down on the work order and told me it cost $99 just to have them look at it. If they fixed it, that would be taken off the price to fix it. I went in to wait for a ride to work.
45 minutes later, I asked someone how long I had to wait for a ride. Anthony had not given them a slip of paper to take me to work. So, I got that taken care of and got a ride to work.
At 11:30 a.m. I got the sad call that my mother-in-law had passed away. That is for a whole different blog story, but is part of this story so I added it here.
I immediately called Tarzan, the family didn’t know his cell phone number so they had called me. He fell apart and I knew I needed to be with him. I called Courtesy Chevrolet and told them what had happened and asked how long before my car would be ready. There were 8 cars in front of me, they hadn’t even looked at it yet. I asked if they could move it up under the circumstances and Anthony said he would try.
I called back several times during the day always with the same conversation.
Finally, at 4:00 p.m. I got a call. The mechanic wanted another $99 to pull the dashboard off and continue looking for the problem. They still had not fixed it. I started to cry and said, “I just don’t need this right now. Put the car together and send someone to get me.”
I got my wits about me and called back.
“Before the mechanic leaves, find out exactly what he did to the car that was worth the $99 you are charging me.”
“He is gone for the day, I have already asked him. He checked the fuses and the ignition switch.”
“You have got to be kidding me. I told you the fuses were not the problem. I have already had those checked and I know that took all of 5 seconds to do. I also know that ‘dismantling’ the dash is no big deal, I could do it. I watched the other guys who checked it do it twice, it takes 5 minutes and a screw driver.”
“Mrs. Grandberry, I talked the mechanic down to $59 for what he did today.”
“Okay, that’s better, but it is still ridiculous.”
I called Tarzan at home and told him that I hated to bother him with this, but needed his advice. I wanted to know if I should talk to the manager or just let it go. His first reaction was to just let it go, but then he thought a minute and said, “You know you never get better action than when a mad woman talks to the manager. Go for it baby.”
My ride finally came and Walter and I had a great conversation about life, mothers and family (Walter took me to work in the morning, so we were already on a first name basis—he had knee surgery 12 years ago that keeps him from being able to exercise :-)). When I got to Courtesy Chevrolet, I just went up to the window to pay and ask to speak to a manager when I noticed a man sitting in an office right next to the cashier window.
I stepped into his office and said, “Are you a manger?” He was and I asked if I could talk to him. I started off by saying, “I quit coming to Courtesy Chevrolet years ago and today I remembered why.” I had his attention. First, I assured him that Anthony had been very nice and taken good care of me and then told him the whole story in a very calm manner. He said, “Mrs. Grandberry, I understand how this happened and I can fix it. The last thing you need is to be driving around in an un-air conditioned car and be charged too much for it. Let me get you an air conditioned car to drive for now and when you get back from the funeral come in and we will start over.”
Wow! They couldn’t find my work order, so he told the cashier, "It doesn’t matter, just give me a green slip so she can get out of the yard." He signed the green slip and off I went. Wow! I’ll go back there.
