In a sue happy society I have

[Leaf]

I don't get it really. They are reasonable on their rates, get me in immediately, are nice, friendly and helpful.

So...

The last time I went there I had them put new windshield wipers on (and they fixed one that was lagging badly due to a loose nut) and they checked my oil since the light was on. I was low, they filled it and all together I was charged $20.

Fast forward several weeks - to today.

I got home and parked in front of the garage. It's trash day so I opened the garage door and noticed smoke coming out from under the hood of the car.

I know very little about cars but smoke isn't good.

I saw some "oil" spattered around and noticed a little tube with no cap on it. No problem, I ran it up to the shop.

I told Barry the problem and asked if he'd look under the hood or if he was taking it to the back. He said he'd look under the hood first so I followed him out so I could show him the little unplugged tube I saw... so if anything he could tell me what it was.

Well, my transmission fluid dipstick was there (red) but the oil dipstick was missing. That was the "tube" I saw...

As we stood there he asked when I last changed my fluids and I told him they had - BUT that didn't mean they had done wrong.

Keep in mind the last time I was there it was for oil and windshield wipers...

He said something about going to the back to see if they had a spare dipstick, right about the time I curled my fingers on the edge of the car - and I found a stick with a yellow looped handle.

That poor guy was stunned. He couldnt apologize enough, said it had to have been their fault and he went in to check the computer to see whn I was last there. He absolutely decided they were at fault and he wanted to know WHO worked on my car last.

I told him I didn't remember. Ok, so at that second I didn't but it dawned one me but I kept quiet. The guy who did the work is nice, respectful - his wife just had a miscarrage and the day he worked on the car he had a terrible head cold/sinus infection.

You know - we're all human. My car wasn't damaged. Barry sprayed some cleaner to wipe up the spilled oil from the manifold (and other things I cant name) - he filled my coolant, gave mea vocher for a free oil change, and oh my can he apologize!

I can see being mad if they blew up my car, wrecked it, had it stolen from their place but I just don't get it. Barry was so worried about me being mad.



Should I be? Should I have told the name of who worked on the car last, all things considered? I mean, if I start to have ongoing problems with errors there it'd be different but for now I'm pretty confident in the decision I made.

Maybe I'm just too "positive" by nauture (believe me, Im no pushover and I DO have a temper) but honestly I think sometimes people are entitled to honest mistakes and I really consider this to be one.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

You know - things could have been bad... if that stick went into the engine when it was running it could have damaged something else..... but it didn't..... they were nice and fixed it and the fact they gave you a free oil change...... that's ok. The guy had a bad day as you said.... I hate when people are always so negative about stuff they don't think about how human the employees are.

Now, if they were hateful and didn't care - I'd be mad! I've dealt with both kinds.

Just yesterday I got stuck in a construction backup but I was the first car. After about 5 minutes I asked him if it would be much longer cause I needed to get to the feed store and then to the fairgrounds....

He said "NAwww, it's just those stupid truck drivers getting in the way. They aren't supposed to be on this road right now but they do it and get stuck." He told me exactly where to turn when I got to go and apologized and all that...... we chatted about how nice it is out and finally I got to go....

It wasn't his fault.... stuff happens.

 

[Alexah]

I think you summed it up by saying that we're all humans. Being human, that means that we're likely to make mistakes. It happens - without mistakes no one would learn anything. How many mistakes did it take to finally get a vaccine for polio? Or how many mistakes was it before we had our first flight? Mistakes happen. And, unfortunately, a lot of the society today refuses to acknowledge that. And we're suffering because of it. But that's neither here nor there...

Yes, they made a mistake. But everything, in the end, thankfully, was okay. They were willing to see that they made a mistake and were willing to make right by it (and by you). I think you handled it beautifully. Should you have been angry? Not necessarily. You stayed cool, calm, and collected and they made up for what went wrong. Had they refused to see the err in their ways, that may have been different. I tend to like to give people the benefit of the doubt because that's how I'd hope to be treated. You did just that. And without being angry, threatening, or "sue-happy" everything was fixed and you were on your way.

Sadly, not everyone would be as kind as you were. But I bet they're real grateful. And I also bet they'll probably never make that mistake again .

 

[slavetoabunny]

I can remember having my tires rotated and bringing the car back because one of the tires was making a noise. "Oh, we just forgot to tighten the lug nuts":shock: No apology or anything. That could have been serious!