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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

I am trying

Long story, but... In a nutshell, today I returned my loan car to the Honda dealership. You read that right…my loan car. As was mentioned, it is a long story.

A service light flipped on February 13th. I took it in at the same time I picked up my plates and 2+ hours later, the car was returned and I was told the light was “recalibrated” and would not come back on. Three days later it reappeared. This time it was 3+ hours and the car was returned with the original factory wheels. Ya know, the ones I asked for when I originally purchased the thing. Well, they replaced the ghetto fab ones with factory because ghetto “is not compatible with the vehicle” (duh!) and reimbursed me $1000. Despite the fact that they owned me $1500, I just wanted the light/wheels taken care of and to get out of there.

Sunday the light comes on once again. THE THIRD TIME in less than three weeks!! I had been holding my proverbial shit together for too long. It started to get a little ugly, but went sour REAL fast when the “relations manager” got involved in the deal. She spoke with me Monday before anyone else at the dealership to understand the situation. She has no clue what has gone on in close to a dozen conversations with no less than 6 people.

When they give me the loan car that afternoon with the dealership name emblazoned across the back, I sign the paperwork and tell the service guy, “just so you know, I am not a good advertisement for your dealership right now.” That is when relations girl says, “you know Ms. Smith*, there are two options. You can choose to be angry about the situation or let us help you.” I flip! I point to her and tell her that she is new to this and has no idea how nice I have been about the deal. I tell her I have opted NOT to say anything during my 5+ hours there when customers have come into the sales offices. I tell her I have NOT told each and every person I work for to boycott them, and I stop short of telling her that I have NOT called a good friend who happens to be an anchor for a prominent news station.

Through it all, I never once dropped a curse word to anyone at the dealership, and never once raised my voice. I did speak pointedly and firmly as a parent would, but did my best to curb the inner girl from The Exorcist. For those of you who know me in real life, you would have been very proud.

I have contacted a lawyer for a Lemon Law case, but you have to have documentation, and conveniently, the dealership has none. That was today’s ordeal. Basically, I left in tears and had to pull over because I was crying too hard to drive. It all just reached the breaking point. I feel dooped. I feel stupid. I feel beyond angry.

*not my real name.

10 comments:

Lisa said...

Okay this totally sucks! I'm so sorry to hear that Honda is being so crappy about this and that you just have to deal with this when you thought you were getting a good hardly used car!! I hope that everything gets resolved.

Christy said...

I'm sorry. Want to feel better? Check the darkside. GRRRR..... describes my day pretty well too. But your day(s) totally sucked too. =( BOOOO.

The Blonde Duck said...

I'm so sorry. You were so excited about that car too.

Just say Julie said...

Awww. I 'm sooo sorry. And having seen you work your magic with U-Haul, I must say I am impressed that you hung in there this long without cussing them out. Sadness. If it makes you feel better, I have a TAKS test to give in 3 days.

Jen said...

Hello I am stopping by from SITS! Sorry about your car ordeal!! I HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!! I had a car that did the exact same thing!! I would take it to the dealer, they would tell me it was just a sensor, they would reset the light and boom it would come on again!! I remember it happening about 2 minutes after I pulled out of the dealership I was SO mad I turned around and took it back!! Unfortunately it never got resolved and the check engine light was STILL on years later when I traded it in on another car!! Hope your story doesn't end up like mine!!

Jen

jmt said...

Buttheads.
All of them.
(I'm sorry you got a bad Honda...mine is so good. :( I feel bad for suggesting one now!)

the letters i wish i'd written... said...

Never has the bird been flipped so stylishly, love it!

Call Me Cate said...

I am ridiculously late commenting but wanted to say that I'm really sorry to hear you're having so many problems with your car. I'm in shock, I've never heard of such a thing with Honda. I really hope you get it straightened out very soon!

Unknown said...

Hi! Stopping by from SITS! Wow! You handled that great...not so sure I would have. That chick might have had my hand-print on her somewhere! Naaah...I just would have thought about doing that...as I am sure you did! Virtual hugs! See you around the blogosphere

Unknown said...

Hey Colleen! (Jenny, from the Blogger thing on Saturday!) I am so sorry about the car :-( I found that there was one Honda dealership in town like this and another one not like this. Unfortunately, the one not like this is farther north than you and I live. Poo. Since our car is out of warranty now, we started just taking it to Christian Brothers Automotive to do all the work and have been avoiding the dealership. But, we are planning to buy another Honda in the next few years...what will we do then?!