I've seen some pretty funny shit working there, here's what I can remember now.

Some guy called in last week asking if anyone in service knew where they put the stock CD changer in his '83 Z-28. We told him they didn't offer those then, but he rudely insisted that they did, and he wanted to know if they were in the dash board or in the trunk. We told him they didn't offer those until the mid '90s, but he told us we were wrong and he demanded to speak with the "Camaro Specialist". So I told him that our longtime "Camaro specialist" left our dealership for Merit Chevrolet (our main competitor) so I gave him their phone number and before he hung up I told him to cut his mullet and put his Loverboy CD's away.

Then a few months ago, someone came in with their rusty, 175k '85 Citation X-11 and wanted the 30,000 mile service. Now that may make sense to those that haven't worked in service, but when you've got a 22 year old car that's a POS at best, and you're still willing to spend $400.00 on service work that's declined by most people with NICE Chevrolets, it's funny and very, very abnormal. We went to do it and part of the 30k is a new fuel filter..well we went to take off the old (original one) and the damn fuel line rusted apart. So here we were, with a 22 year old car, we've got a hell of a time getting parts for it and it's an $800 repair bill....on a $200 car. Well lucky for us that customer said "to hell with this (Citation)" and bought a new Cobalt SS. There was a nice $160 spiff for the advisor with that ticket.

Then about a month ago, we had a customer bring in a '77 Corvette that hasn't been out of storage since '87 (been put away as long as I've been alive LOL). He wanted us to get it roadworthy. So it needed a lot...I can't remember it all, but I know it was a *complete* four wheel brake job...rotors, pads, calipers, some lines, etc etc. Radiator, plugs, wires, cap and rotor. For some reason, we had to cut a few more keys, and when he came to pick up his car (after we had it for a month), the bill was like $3730 or so, and he bitched about the two keys on there, they amounted to $17.50! He literally wanted to throw the keys away in disgust and have us take them off the bill because that's how angry he was about it. In the end, we "couponed" them off and gave him to him, angry. WTF is $17.50 on a thirty seven hundred dollar bill...it's like nothing.

On Saturdays, we run an 8-4 shift, with 5 mechanics and 2 writers, as opposed to the usual 24 mechanics and 5 writers. So we can't do as much on Saturdays, and it takes longer for anything to get done. Anyways, about a year ago, this lady comes in at 3:45 in the afternoon and demands that we change the oil on her Chrysler Concorde. We politely tell her that due to time constraints we cannot do it, but she could come back for it on Monday as soon as we open. Well she wouldn't have any of that. She gets mad and fast! She says she's 1,000 miles overdue for her oil change and she needs it NOW! We stick to our guns and say no. Well she can't handle that and goes inside and grabs the new car sales manager and we talk with him about it and he agrees that she's ****ing crazy. Needless to say she didn't get her oil changed that day, but it's not our fault you were already 1,000 miles overdue. Tough luck lady.

Working in service will make you lose your mind. Private Pyle wrote Service too, hence the mental breakdown.
http://www.fleen.com/uploads/2006/05/fmji9.jpeg

What's that ditzy broad doing bringing a Chrysler to a Chevrolet dealership for an oil change? It's not like there are plenty of Jiffy Lubes or Oil Can Henry's that are open after 4. Sheesh.

I could never work with the general public; I have a very low tolerance for stupidity and general jackassery.

[QUOTE=I~LUV~Caddys8792;1305225]I've seen some pretty funny shit working there, here's what I can remember now.


Then a few months ago, someone came in with their rusty, 175k '85 Citation X-11 and wanted the 30,000 mile service. Now that may make sense to those that haven't worked in service, but when you've got a 22 year old car that's a POS at best, and you're still willing to spend $400.00 on service work that's declined by most people with NICE Chevrolets, it's funny and very, very abnormal. We went to do it and part of the 30k is a new fuel filter..well we went to take off the old (original one) and the damn fuel line rusted apart. So here we were, with a 22 year old car, we've got a hell of a time getting parts for it and it's an $800 repair bill....on a $200 car. Well lucky for us that customer said "to hell with this (Citation)" and bought a new Cobalt SS. There was a nice $160 spiff for the advisor with that ticket.

I must say....I had an '83 Citation...not an X-11 just a base 2.8....but even though they are now POS's...it was a fast car for the time....I could take 3rd gear from 35mph to 80mph in a heat beat and never lost a race to a 3.8 equiped GM or any rice car at the time.

Didn't the Citations/Phoenixs (forgot the Buick and Olds versions) have some design flaw where the brakes would lock up while you were driving and the cars would spin out of control?

Gotta love it...:canttalk:

i like these stories


keep em coming

Didn't the Citations/Phoenixs (forgot the Buick and Olds versions) have some design flaw where the brakes would lock up while you were driving and the cars would spin out of control?

Gotta love it...:canttalk:


Not sure about that...but I do know that the turning radius was way! higher turning to the left than the right....early GM FWD tech!

Working in service will make you lose your mind.


I cut a service writer out of a car once. Was taking a customers car... hell I don't know.. out? (are you all allowed to do that?) Anyway, "lost control" and went across two lanes of traffic and hit a telephone pole. Bent the car in half. The damage was so bad I couldn't tell what kind of car it was when we first got there (found out it was a Chevy). Took out the windshield. Cut the pillars/door, rolled the dash, cut the steering wheel, and we got him out. He was lucky to be alive. He was screaming and yelling at us. I think he went nuts. Now after reading all of that... I think he went nuts before the crash...

A guy took his car to the local Chevy dealer for some work. The tech took it for a road test and totaled it. The guy come back for his car and they tell him it's been totaled but not to worry because even though the car loan had been way upside down they had paid it off for him and he wouldn't be paying for a dead horse. He stood there for a while and says, "Now I don't have a car. When I came in here I had a car and now I don't." They took pity on him and gave him a beater off the used car lot and it promptly blew up. He came back again and started to raise hell. The TV news took it up and featured the story. The dealer wound up searching the world over for a car just like he brought in and sold it to him for the original terms so the guy is back with a way upside down car deal.

never underestimate the sheer magnitude of stupidity

lol
the stories i could say man
the stories i could tell...

Well...?

Yeah come on, out with it! You cant sit there and tease us about having great stories to tell without sharing them!

He makes'em up as he goes along.

Alright, I've got another one, and it's fresh....happened today.

Saturdays are always a shitty day. All the morons seem to drag themselves in on Saturdays and demand that we work on their car, and they want it done practically yesterday and they want us to pay them to work on it, and it's also the day that all the idiots of the world seem to call in and ask for advice on repairs that they're doing at home, because they didn't want to take it TO US and have to shell out the cash. But now they're stuck, and we're their last hope....well looks like someone should have brought their vehicle to us in the first place.....tough shit cheapwad.

Anyways, we get this call from this lady at about 9 AM...we're all still tired and it's been a busy morning, so nobody's in a great mood. Well this dumb bitch calls in and tells us that we did a tire rotation on the 17th of November, and now her tire is flat, and it's our problem. But she's not nice about it, at all. When she calls in initially, she spoke with the receptionist, who is a very nice, easy going woman...and she's not even supposed to work on Saturdays...she's just coming in today to cover for someone. Well the receptionist picks up and she tells the receptionist that she wants to speak with service, and the receptionist asks if it's to schedule service or if it's for a question. Well no more than one second after she says "schedule service", the woman on the line starts screaming into her ear so badly that the receptionist literally has to hold the phone out so she doesn't go deaf.

Then she transfers the call back to us. I pick up. Woman: "Yeah, you guys did a tire rotation on my HHR on Thanksgiving (she was about a week off...I checked our records and it was on the 17th), and for the last week or so, I've been looking at my car and thinking to myself "gee, it looks like the car is lower....but I've got low profile tires, so maybe that's it" BUT NOW I'M STUCK ON THE SIDE OF THE FREEWAY WITH A FLAT TIRE!!!!! AND I'M GONNA BE LATE TO WORK, AND I'M GONNA LOSE MY JOB, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" So I want you to send someone out to put air in my tire!" I told her I cannot do this, I cannot send a mechanic out to that spot to put air in her tire. But I told her I'd call a tow company and see if they could do it...I also gave her their number too, so she could give her location, and she wanted us to pay for that. Well they couldn't go out there and do it because they didn't have any compressed air on their trucks. Now when I get nervous, which I do in situations like this, I start to talk reallyfast. She tells me that she cannot understand what I'm saying and that I need to slow the **** down. So at this point, I'm very inclined to help her. Rot in hell you ****ing crackwhore. Rest in peace.

Anyways, she calls back a minute later, to tell us what I already knew, that the tow company wouldn't go out there. She tells us that her husband has an old air compressor and he'd be out there to put air in it. Then she wants us to pay for that....I don't know how that's possible. I told her we couldn't, but if she wants to, she can bring her car in when she wants to and we'll check to see what was causing it to be low. I ****ing pray that we find a nail in that tire so I can tell her "HERE, YOU STUPID BITCH, HERE'S THE REASON YOUR TIRE WENT FLAT. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT'S YOUR GODDAMN FAULT...NOT OURS. NOW GET YOUR ****ING CAR OUT OF HERE AND NEVER COME BACK!

I hate the ignorant masses. :bigroll:

Ain't working with the public great? I personally am convinced that I do not belong on this planet, as the things I see people do make absolutely no sense to me at all. Either that or I'm really dead and this is my personal hell: to have to deal for eternity with people whom I cannot comprehend.

I'm seriously thinking about leaving this job (even though my coworkers and bosses are all excellent people) just so I can go work in a high end dealer, where people can actually afford to fix and maintain their car, or going into the fleet sector, so I don't ever have to deal with customers and their bullshit anymore.

If you want to be really disillusioned try working on general aviation airplanes. Practically every part of the machine can be a safety hazard to one degree or another but the owners bellyache about any and everything you do that costs a dime. Every problem you tell them about is internalized like you're criticizing their family. They take a report of a worn out part or fitting as an insult or an attempt to rob them. You can talk yourself silly trying to explain the situation and you still have to throw them out. What's kind of satisfying, however, is after he talks it over with his drinking buddies he comes back and apologizes and asks you to fix it. That's when you nail'em with a big bill.

What's that ditzy broad doing bringing a Chrysler to a Chevrolet dealership for an oil change? It's not like there are plenty of Jiffy Lubes or Oil Can Henry's that are open after 4. Sheesh.

I could never work with the general public; I have a very low tolerance for stupidity and general jackassery.

Except here on the forum.

I'm seriously thinking about leaving this job (even though my coworkers and bosses are all excellent people) just so I can go work in a high end dealer, where people can actually afford to fix and maintain their car, or going into the fleet sector, so I don't ever have to deal with customers and their bullshit anymore.

I have always pointed out how happy we would be if it weren't for our customers, bosses, and co-workers.

I've seen some pretty funny shit working there, here's what I can remember now.

Some guy called in last week asking if anyone in service knew where they put the stock CD changer in his '83 Z-28. We told him they didn't offer those then, but he rudely insisted that they did, and he wanted to know if they were in the dash board or in the trunk. We told him they didn't offer those until the mid '90s, but he told us we were wrong and he demanded to speak with the "Camaro Specialist". So I told him that our longtime "Camaro specialist" left our dealership for Merit Chevrolet (our main competitor) so I gave him their phone number and before he hung up I told him to cut his mullet and put his Loverboy CD's away.

Then a few months ago, someone came in with their rusty, 175k '85 Citation X-11 and wanted the 30,000 mile service. Now that may make sense to those that haven't worked in service, but when you've got a 22 year old car that's a POS at best, and you're still willing to spend $400.00 on service work that's declined by most people with NICE Chevrolets, it's funny and very, very abnormal. We went to do it and part of the 30k is a new fuel filter..well we went to take off the old (original one) and the damn fuel line rusted apart. So here we were, with a 22 year old car, we've got a hell of a time getting parts for it and it's an $800 repair bill....on a $200 car. Well lucky for us that customer said "to hell with this (Citation)" and bought a new Cobalt SS. There was a nice $160 spiff for the advisor with that ticket.

Then about a month ago, we had a customer bring in a '77 Corvette that hasn't been out of storage since '87 (been put away as long as I've been alive LOL). He wanted us to get it roadworthy. So it needed a lot...I can't remember it all, but I know it was a *complete* four wheel brake job...rotors, pads, calipers, some lines, etc etc. Radiator, plugs, wires, cap and rotor. For some reason, we had to cut a few more keys, and when he came to pick up his car (after we had it for a month), the bill was like $3730 or so, and he bitched about the two keys on there, they amounted to $17.50! He literally wanted to throw the keys away in disgust and have us take them off the bill because that's how angry he was about it. In the end, we "couponed" them off and gave him to him, angry. WTF is $17.50 on a thirty seven hundred dollar bill...it's like nothing.

On Saturdays, we run an 8-4 shift, with 5 mechanics and 2 writers, as opposed to the usual 24 mechanics and 5 writers. So we can't do as much on Saturdays, and it takes longer for anything to get done. Anyways, about a year ago, this lady comes in at 3:45 in the afternoon and demands that we change the oil on her Chrysler Concorde. We politely tell her that due to time constraints we cannot do it, but she could come back for it on Monday as soon as we open. Well she wouldn't have any of that. She gets mad and fast! She says she's 1,000 miles overdue for her oil change and she needs it NOW! We stick to our guns and say no. Well she can't handle that and goes inside and grabs the new car sales manager and we talk with him about it and he agrees that she's ****ing crazy. Needless to say she didn't get her oil changed that day, but it's not our fault you were already 1,000 miles overdue. Tough luck lady.

Working in service will make you lose your mind. Private Pyle wrote Service too, hence the mental breakdown.
http://www.fleen.com/uploads/2006/05/fmji9.jpeg

Bro, I use to work at a used car dealership (no service, just details and repairs for the lot cars) and man this business is like a f*****g zoo! There were some good times though...

I'm seriously thinking about leaving this job (even though my coworkers and bosses are all excellent people) just so I can go work in a high end dealer, where people can actually afford to fix and maintain their car, or going into the fleet sector, so I don't ever have to deal with customers and their bullshit anymore.
Warning: the more $$$$ they have, the more bitchy they are, AND, they don't necessarily take any better care of the cars. Also, as long as you're in business of any type, you'll deal with bonehead customers, whether internal or external. You want to get away from customers, get away from business. Of course, that either means 1) becoming independently wealthy or 2) joining a monastery. Somehow I can't see you going for option #2.....:bighead:

Craig

If you want to be really disillusioned try working on general aviation airplanes. Practically every part of the machine can be a safety hazard to one degree or another but the owners bellyache about any and everything you do that costs a dime. Every problem you tell them about is internalized like you're criticizing their family. They take a report of a worn out part or fitting as an insult or an attempt to rob them. You can talk yourself silly trying to explain the situation and you still have to throw them out. What's kind of satisfying, however, is after he talks it over with his drinking buddies he comes back and apologizes and asks you to fix it. That's when you nail'em with a big bill.

Good god man, I hope like hell that's not me. Although I have a feeling when I can afford my own A/C I'd do some of my own repairs.

Good god man, I hope like hell that's not me. Although I have a feeling when I can afford my own A/C I'd do some of my own repairs.
Somewhere in the FARs there's a list of stuff that it is legal for an airplane owner to do for himself without supervision by an A&E.

Somewhere in the FARs there's a list of stuff that it is legal for an airplane owner to do for himself without supervision by an A&E.

Interesting, I'd be interested in knowing the Part and section if you stumble on it. I figured there was probably a list of things that the FAA says "hands off" if your not an A&P. Insurance companies probably don't like it either.

Warning: the more $$$$ they have, the more bitchy they are, AND, they don't necessarily take any better care of the cars.

Actually, from what I've experienced so far, the more well off customers are often more laid back and easy going about the whole "dealership" process than the more down and out customers. We get a lot of different types of people in at the dealer I work for. Everything from the well-to-do people in their Tahoes, Suburbans, and Corvettes, to the very destitute in their Daewoos and older, smaller Chevys. For example, the well off will generally never argue or question the "$65-140 Diagnostic Charge" that we have with every R/O where we have to diagnose a problem. I'll tell them about that, and they're generally always cool about it. When we get a more "destitute" customer in, with their Daewoo or what have you, they'll always argue that or question that, and try not to have to pay it, because they don't have the money. They're the ones that want the work done for free, and they'll often turn bitter or angry when we tell them that can't be done.

The well off will never really bother us when they leave their cars for the work. It's very rare that I see a well off customer that will call 3x a day to see how their car is coming along. I can think of a few well to do customers that I've had, both with Suburbans, leave the car for a few days and let us take our time with it, completely unstressed and happy to work on it. Because a rushed mechanic is never a happy mechanic, especially when heavy diagnostic work is involved.

I've seen some of less well off, on the other hand, always calling us to see how their car is coming, and they're mad when we don't call them every 3 hours to let them know their progress. Then they're the ones that'll bitch if the bill is off by the smallest amount, and then they'll never thank you for the service we did them, they'll think that we ripped them off and are just here to take their money, and occasionally do our jobs.

I tried not to generalize at all, this is just what I've seen so far.

I like leaving my car at the dealer for work. Just means I get more time with the brand new Cadillac rental.

Speaking of which, my car is going to the dealer tomorrow or Tuesday to fix the oil leak and replace the seat heater elements. Fingers crossed for an '08 CTS rental!

Somewhere in the FARs there's a list of stuff that it is legal for an airplane owner to do for himself without supervision by an A&E.
The legal stuff is like oil and filter changes, mounting tires, and touching up paint. If you have a rag and bamboo plane you can patch small holes. You still have to have all the books and tools for that job just like you were a certified repair station.

I like leaving my car at the dealer for work. Just means I get more time with the brand new Cadillac rental.

Speaking of which, my car is going to the dealer tomorrow or Tuesday to fix the oil leak and replace the seat heater elements. Fingers crossed for an '08 CTS rental!


Treat your service consultant nicely!! We appreciate it!!! :) :)

The legal stuff is like oil and filter changes, mounting tires, and touching up paint. If you have a rag and bamboo plane you can patch small holes. You still have to have all the books and tools for that job just like you were a certified repair station.

One thing I've wondered is how you calculate the moment for an empty aircraft if you were to have something installed.

One thing I've wondered is how you calculate the moment for an empty aircraft if you were to have something installed.
It's all covered in AC43.13

I love the FAA library. Gonna check it now.

I love the FAA library. Gonna check it now.
If as a kid you could balance a see saw you're well on your way to understanding weight and balance.

Well I understand the Weight and Balance, it was more a question on my part what they actually use to have the aircraft pivot on to check the arm.

Hrm, I really need to build up some fundage. There's a nice little PA-28 they're renting out in town that's in pretty damn good condition for $80/hr wet rate. Not too bad seeing as the 152s I got my license in cost $72/hr

The reference point used to calculate the weight and balance is called the datum. It may even be out ahead of the nose. It's specified by the manufacturer of every aircraft. A very common point is the firewall. The location of the datum is always included in the cerification data.

Any "service" job SUCKS. Years ago I worked for the electric company. Talk about an eye-opener. Basically, people are morons. End of story.

When the customer diagnoses the problem he's wrong every time. It costs twice as much to fix the problem because you have to go far enough down the blind alley to convince him he's full of crap before you can start the real work.

I had an experience once with a service writer at a Pontiac dealer. The gf-at-the-time was having electrical issues on her 2000 Grand-Am which turned out to be nothing but a bad battery. He swore up and down that it was something different and I swore up and down that it was just that. He refused to test it, as simple as it was. Eventually he did test it, agreed with me, and said that it would be a hundred and twenty bucks to change it. Price of the battery plus a half hour of labor, which was their minimum charge for any work. I told him a few strategic choice words and said I'd just change it myself. He said not on their property. In the pouring-ass-down-rain I ended up pushing the car by hand out of the dealership and leaving it parked on the side of the road directly in front of the entrance for a couple of hours with the hood up while she came and got me in my car, I went to the parts store and got a new battery, went to lunch and went back to trade batteries and bring the thing home.

Yea, I was being an a-hole but in my defense, I was a dumb kid. Plus, to charge me seventy bucks in labor to change a battery was downright ridiculous. I figured having an obviously broke down pontiac sitting on the road in front of the pontiac dealer would make them look bad enough that I might feel a little better about wasting my time with it. :) Today, I'd be a little more tactful, I'm sure, but I still wouldn't pay labor on a battery change, especially not at a place where we'd spent a lot of money on repairs in the past.

And of course on the other side of the coin...I have had dealings with some service writers who were dumber than bricks and ten times as irritating. :pms: They're standing around scratching their privates and hee-hawing with some other morons while I stand there WAITING for assistance, getting steamier by the minute.

Any "service" job SUCKS. Years ago I worked for the electric company. Talk about an eye-opener. Basically, people are morons. End of story.As Ernestine the telephone operator famously said, "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company."

Just to try and put things in perspective... a long, long time ago I used to work part-time at a Harley dealer during college. While there was the rare exception, you want to talk about horrible customers.... the only thing that could have possibly outweighed their utter stupidity was their arrogance. The only thing worse than a stupid customer is a fanatical stupid customer. These people are unreal... most of them buy into the whole Harley culture, but they're nothing more than sheep. They all have this condescending attitude when they talk about their bikes even though they know next to nothing about them, and they're even worse when they talk about other manufacturers. At least you never had to deal with customers just stopping by for no particular reason - just because they were out for a ride. There was this one guy in particular who would stop by every other f-ing day just to get a free cup of coffee, to read the newspaper, and to bullshit. They ALL have a story about their bikes and they ALL want to tell it... to me... and I'm just like "I don't f-ing care." Then you get the ones who can't understand that different parts are for different bikes...

"Well why can't I get this one... it's cheaper?"

"Because that's for a Sportster... you have a Wide-Glide"

"But that one you gave me is more expensive"

"Well that's because you bought a more expensive bike to begin with dumbass"

And then there was always...

"I bought this part and it doesn't fit, I want to return it (just the part itself)."

"Do you have the packaging and the rest of the hardware?"

"Why would I keep the f-ing packaging... I bought it for my bike and it didn't fit, I can't use it, I want my money back"

"Okay... well where's the rest of the hardware sir?"

"It's at home... I was going to use it for something else...."

"Sir, if you return something you have to return the entire package... just not the parts you don't need."

"I don't want all that other stuff... just trade me the f-ing part I need for my bike... look... that right there... just give me that part."

"I'll see what I can do sir... do you have your receipt?"

"No... why would I keep that... I was told this was the part I needed... Do you all have any f-ing idea what you're doing?"

"I'm very sorry sir... I'll get this straightened out sir, do you remember who originally sold this to you?"

"It was some other guy... Bill I think"

"Sir, we don't have a Bill that works here."

"I didn't buy it here... I bought it at the dealer down the road."

"Sir just because it says 'H-D' on both our signs doesn't mean we're the same business... you have to take this back where you got it or pay full price for the part here... it's as simple as that."

"What the f! You don't know how to treat customers... you're never getting my business again..."

Well we never had your business in the first place you douche-bag...

Stuff like that happened all the time... I'm telling you, most Harley owners are f-ing idiots... idiots in general.. and even bigger idiots for paying way too much money for some overpriced, substandard bike for the sole purpose of trying to fit in with other idiots. They were no different when buying the bike, buying parts for the bike, or getting the bike serviced - which most of the time was because they tried fixing something themselves and ended up messing it up even more.

So really my friend... a car dealer is a cake walk... if you really want to appreciate your job, just go work at a Harley dealer for a month... you'll beg to go back!

Needless to say, there is no way in hell that I could handle working in retail/sales/service ever again.. I just can't handle the all-encompassing stupidity of the population at large.... as someone else said, I have zero-tolerance for morons.

As Ernestine the telephone operator famously said, "We don't care. We don't have to. We're the phone company."

I loved Ernestine!! :lol: Snort!

Just to try and put things in perspective... a long, long time ago I used to work part-time at a Harley dealer during college.

Heh, my buddy worked in parts for the Harley dealership in town, and my other buddy's dad owned said shop. It was also a Triumph and Kawasaki dealership, and I constantly heard stories about the Harley customers.

Heh, my buddy worked in parts for the Harley dealership in town, and my other buddy's dad owned said shop. It was also a Triumph and Kawasaki dealership, and I constantly heard stories about the Harley customers.

I don't doubt for one second that there are some genuinely thoughtful, intelligent Harley owners/riders out there, in fact I know for sure there are as I had the pleasure of dealing with them, they are the exception however. Most of them though, were absolutely ignorant, stupid, self-absorbed asses who cared more about a certain image then they did about a quality machine.

Even in recent years I've found it funny that the one decent model they manufacture - the V-Rod, gets no respect from the majority of Harley owners... because you know, it's only a real motorcycle if it's air-cooled, slow, can't take corners, and shakes itself to pieces after so many miles...

Idiots of the highest order...

As a Young Lad about 33 years ago I worked as a Mechanic for a Volkswagon Dealership. The Service Manager asked if I could run a car over to a Body shop that did work for our Dealership. I was to then pick up a Type 411 VW Station Wagon which was finished for a Customer after a rear end collision.

I drop off the car, and pick up the 411.

It was winter and cold, so about 1/2 mile down the road, I turn on the heater. This vehicle had an auxiliary gas heater in the rear which kicks in. Suddenly there is tremendous smoke coming out of the heater ducts. I stop the car, turn off the key, and get out to see what's happening.

The whole back end of the car is up in flames.

By the time the fire department gets there, the cars is really cooking.

Anyway the Dealer trys to say I did something wrong, and gets upset at me, all because some moron at the body shop did not check the heater, and connect the gas line correctly.

That's a tough break on the Customer, I guess.

Even without the gas heater, 411 VW's liked to go up in smoke. The fuel lines were rubber and fabric and didn't last.

Carrrrr B Que!!! :)

Another great story today.

I get a call around 12:45 this afternoon from a customer who had his Buick Regal in for service about a year ago. We replaced a brake rotor and now he was having issues with it again. So I go look up his name in the history, and he asks me if Norm (the service manager) is still working there. I tell him that he is, so this guy prompltly and assertively says "Well then, I'm certainly not bringing MY car back there!". Now this is very wierd for me, because Norm is very easy to get along with and usually goes well out of his way to please customers. By this time, I find his name and address in the system, but his Buick doesn't show up in there. I tell him this and he says "Well then, this must have been Norm's doing! Can you guys go in and delete vehicle history?!" (He's very angry by now) so I tell him "I dunno sir, I've never done it before, but I'd imagine there's a way he can." Then he asks to speak with a manager, so I ask him if he wants to speak with Norm again. Bad idea. He gets FURIOUS at this; "IS THIS SOME SORT OF A ****ING JOKE TO YOU?! AM I MAKING YOU LAUGH *******????!!!?". And for the first time in my life, I *YELL* at a customer over the phone. "NO SIR, I AM NOT MAKING A JOKE, I AM ASKING A LEGITIMATE QUESTION! DO YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO NORM OR SHOULD I TRANSFER YOU TO THE GENERAL MANAGER?". Yelling again, he says he has no desire to speak with Norm again and I transfer him to the General Manager. They talked for a few minutes and that's the last I heard.

And that's the maddest I've ever been at a customer.