Dumb mechanic break my car and spite

[HotelMinion]

I have two unrelated stories to share. One happened to me personally and the other to CW.

Dumb Mechanic breaks my car!

I take my car to the dealership I bought it for service. Oil change, etc. I figure it's better to take it there than to a Carz R Us mechanic down the street because they (the dealership) specialize in the make of the car, while Carz R Us works on all different makes so they would know as much as dealership. Makes sense right?
Well.
I took my car to it for a scheduled oil change and it's done as usual. The mechanic says it's tires need changing so I'm like ifne whatever, do it. It's 5 years old now with 50000 miles on it so I figure it's time to do some major changes on it. So it takes a while and finally it's done.
I drive home and try to get out. THe door's STUCK. I call the dealer's service station.
"Well, bring it back in," they say. So I do.
They try to charge me $100 to take the door apart, and when I state that it was working fine before and it must've broke because of their mechanic, they waive it. Then they state that it's broken (duh) and they CAN'T fix it, bottom line.
WTF!
Angrily, I storm out. No I didn't scream curse or threaten, but I wanted to. I figure, ok...it'll be ok. I just have to roll down the window, stick my hand out, and open it from the outside. Nothing to it, just a little more slower getting out. And it's just the driver's door, the rest work fine.
So months pass and I do exactly that. It's kind of hard when it snows because the window is frozen shut. But I manage.
Then it's time for the state inspection. I decide to go to another dealership in a different city to get it inspected. No way am I going back to that one. So I do and it fails.
Reason? Door broken.
NOw I'm really panicking. I can't use my car because of the broken door and the cops are going to pull me over and give me a ticket and I have no money to pay to stupid ticket. The only other option is to take the bus but I have to work at night and there are weirdos around in the city and it's cold! AHHHH!
Phew.
THe guy is this one was really nice and he said he would order a part in the door that was needed to fix, and it would cost $300. WTF! I think I fainted.
I tried to look on the bright side. At least they could fix it. I hope. Now I have to borrow my bro's car to get to work and it's kind of an old clunker that feels like it's going to stop. Sigh. Hopefully in two days the stupid inspection will pass. Doors broken = fail? WHat stupid logic is that? I can understand if the car catches on fire and driver can't escape then it's a safety hazard. But really, how often does a car catch on fire? Probably one has more chance of getting struck of lightning, methinks.
I would take the first dealership to civil court, but I have no proof. I'll have to find the receipt, and who knows where it is


Now for my CW's story. He's an easygoing guy, and I never seens him get upset at some nasty customer. but I think this one really was a special kind of nasty. Basically, the customer was upset that the rooms weren't up to his standards (pin drop silent, diamond encrusted bathtub, silk toiletpaper). Our rooms, since we live in city were space is limited, are kind of cramped. Not tiny though. And very basic. But Mr. special yelled at CW and stormed off to a nearby hotel, where he'll have to pay twice as much but as least they wipe your ass for you.
So...when I got there, CW was frowning and not in his usual cheery mood, and when I asked what happened he told me. Since the customer left, I wanted to check him out and not charged him for the night. CW disagreed, saying that he should be charge because CW offered to change his room, but SC declined. I said that's not how it works, otherwise SC would complain. CW said that he didn't care if SC complained, and we should charge. Eventually I said I'd talk to the manager, and checked the SC out when CW left. I told the manager what I did and what happened and the manager agreed he should not be charge cuz he didn't stay.
I was sympathetic with CW, though. Many times there's been SCs who made me angry to the point where I wanted to do something financially out of spite, like run their cards a million times but I never have. I have learned that it's better to just hope they don't come again.

Bonus story: I'm having problems with my postal service again. This time, no mail has been delivered AT ALL. I asked my post office? "I dunno." with a shrug. Someone advised me to try to mail a letter to myself and see what happens. Nothing yet. All I can do is hope...did this ever happen to anyone else???

[Krivak]

As per postal service, do you have any dogs that free roam your yard, or any obstacles that would impede/make the mail person mad?

edit: Also, if you're home during the day, if you see the mail car on your street, go and talk to them. They cannot deliver the mail unless they go up to your house, but you can at least get a reason.

[LillFilly]

Could the guest be charged if he made a reservation and canceled after the cancelation window? If he had a reservation, you could charge him right?

[mathnerd]

The one and only time I have let a mechanic touch my car (apartment complex had rules about working on cars on the property and I was new to the area so I didn't have any friends yet to ask to use their driveways) he screwed it up. Badly. I didn't realize how badly until the next time I had to change my brakes. The guy who'd done it before had cross threaded the caliper bolts so badly that I had to use vice grips and pry tools to get the damned things out. The bolts were toast and I had to tap out the holes in the calipers because the inside threads were also destroyed beyond use. For even more fun, the bolts for my make and model are a little different. Honda did some experimenting that year and not only are they not interchangeable with other model years, they're not interchangeable with even that entire model year, so finding them in a junk yard became impossible. $9/each, new, backordered, plus the fee at the machine shop. Fun times.

[dalesys]

...the bolts for my make and model are a little different. Honda did some experimenting that year...

Lessee, We've got to have something new! Got it boss!

Down-hand thread, tesseraction thread form. And we cab patent it so it can't be copied!

[Deserted]

They cannot deliver the mail unless they go up to your house

...assuming the mailbox isn't on the street.

[Aethian]

Minion, is there any ways you can call the office your home mail comes out of between 8-9am?

If you can ask to speak to either your carrier personally or to the carrier supervisor, do not hang up with a promise of a call back.

Be nice...

Ask the carrier if there is anything making a problem for them not being able to deliver.


I have one that hasn't gotten mail since Jan 24. They gave a promise of a clear path for today. Still haven't gotten their mail because having to climb up a snow bank is not making a clear path.

[HotelMinion]

There is nothing wrong with my mailbox, I live in a condo and the doors to the mailboxes are always unlocked, and at first I thought it was the piles of snow but that has since melted. I tried to call the USPS customer service but that is endless holding. I figure ill try to send them an email, at least my Internet is working. As for the mail truck, I used to see it but haven't seen it in a while. Maybe he's sick? or maybe it's my stupid neighbors dog that barks that's scaring him off. It's outside behind a balcony and has a leash, but it's huge. Wouldn't be surprised if was it.
As for the angry guest, we have rules of 24hr before arrival that people break, then they call corporate and moan until corporate rewards them with free stays just to make them leave :/ So we're very lenient becuase we--corp and the hotel-- don't want to hear pple bitch and scream. It kind of makes it hard to put a happy face on.

[MoonCat]

At our old house, one year the postal carrier refused to deliver because there were hornets nesting nearby. We took care of that. Then they complained about rats. I couldn't do anything about that because the rats were next door in an abandoned house; we had already complained to the city and nothing was done. What made me see red was that the complaint also had this written on it: "Birds and squirrels are a hazard." I kid you not.

I explained that we hadn't fed the birds in two years, and we couldn't do anything about squirrels, and that was the first time I'd ever heard anyone claim that squirrels could be dangerous to a postal carrier, at least they weren't rats. Then came the statement that still stuns me to this day:

"Well, some people can't tell the difference."

When I told the supervisor that the carrier had said that to me, he hung up on me.

Sorry for thread jack. Unless you're living in a very warm place, I wouldn't think bees or hornets are a problem. Could there be rats around?

[Aethian]

I've had squirrels chase me down before...

[dalesys]

I've had squirrels chase me down before...

Whut! No nutz? We been cheated!

[otakuneko]

They try to charge me $100 to take the door apart, and when I state that it was working fine before and it must've broke because of their mechanic, they waive it. Then they state that it's broken (duh) and they CAN'T fix it, bottom line.

Aw, hell naw. This is not a case of "x happened days/weeks/months after y." This is "x happened immediately after y."

The Fear of God would have been put into this service manager, had it been my car. One way or another, I would have been leaving there with a car with a working door--mine, or theirs.

[KatherineB]

The Fear of God would have been put into this service manager, had it been my car. One way or another, I would have been leaving there with a car with a working door--mine, or theirs.

That reminds me of the wonderful scene in Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams. Dirk Gently's car has broken down through a series of highly improbable events and he has called out a tow-truck-driving mechanic to fix it:

[The mechanic] emitted a few intemperate barks of laughter at Dirk's predicament, then fumbled the bonnet of his car open and subjected him to all kinds of muttered talk about manifolds, pumps, alternators and starlings and resolutely would not be drawn on whether or not he was going to be able to get the thing going again that night.

Dirk was unable to get a meaningful answer, or at least an answer that meant anything to him, as to what was causing the rumpus in the alternator, what ailed the fuel pump, in what way the operation of the starter motor was being disrupted and why the timing was off.

He did at last understand that the mechanic was also claiming that a family of starlings has at some point in the past made their nest in a sensitive part of the engine's workings and had subsequently perished horribly, taking sensitive parts of the engine with them, an at that point Dirk began to cast about himself desperately for what to do.

He noticed that the mechanic's pick-up truck was standing nearby with its engine still running, and elected to make off with this instead. Being a slightly less slow and cumbersome runner than the mechanic he was able to put this plan into operation with a minimum of difficulty.

He swung out into the lane, drove off into the night and parked three miles down the road. He left the van's lights on, let down its tyres and hid himself behind a tree. After about ten minutes his Jaguar came hurtling round the corner, passed the van, hauled itself to an abrupt halt and reversed wildly back towards it. The mechanic threw open the door, leapt out and hurried over to reclaim his property, leaving Dirk with the opportunity he needed to leap from behind the tree and reclaim his own.

[TheCheerfulTreeRat]

I've had squirrels chase me down before...

We're vicious when riled...

[Jay 2K Winger]

Squirrels, man.

They are hardcore. If you start tossing nuts into the woods behind your house for the squirrels to have, don't miss a day.

Mom used to do that when we lived up in Maryland. Threw walnuts out back for them. Then one morning she forgot or otherwise didn't do it. And a squirrel leapt up on the screen window in front of the kitchen sink and STARED at her, as if to say "Wherrrre's my waaaalnutsssss?!"

The ones down here in Virginia are every bit as smart, but I think they think we're like gods or something. Mom would toss walnuts out in the backyard for the squirrels to have, and the next morning, we'd find pieces of the shells lined up on the railing of the back porch, like offerings.