Today is Chris' birthday. Happy Birthday. Since November snuck up on me and now it's half over, I've lagged in the gift buying department. That's the problem with all these end-of-the-year birthdays.
Thanksgiving is coming up. Looking forward to eating lots and lots of stuffing and mashed potatoes (homemade w/ real butter), Coke ham and turkey, and yummy desserts! I love the holiday season. Lots of shopping. Lots of eating. Lots of gluttany everywhere! And in my older age (!) I enjoy the decorations more. When I was a youngun, it was all about the presents. Now I appreciate the decor and the Christmas lights always bring a smile to my face. Maybe that's why I refuse to take down the ones we have indoors. So festive! It's like Christmas every night!
OK, so I like the holiday season. And being that the weather has cooled off and is a bit soggy, I feel like our "winter" has finally come. I so wish it would get a tad nippier so I could wear a field coat or something, but I'll take anything as long as it isn't 85, hot and sunny.
And I'm glad it's already Saturday. Maybe I can start off a new week better than the last. Last Saturday my computer at home crashed. Boom. Gone. Don't know what happened. But if I didn't say it before, I'm saying it now....I don't know what I would do without Darin. If you have no clue what to do with a computer that goes kaput, who do you call? Where do you go? How long is it out of commission? I was downloading AOL's instant messenger (AIM) and who knows what happened. This is also the exact reason Darin hates (and that's a strong word) AOL. But nevermind that....
Anyway, I wanted to cry. Not that I couldn't check my email..which is a very sobering experience once you realize you have NO choice. My main concern was that I didn't lose all the data. All of Sofie's digital images are on this one damn computer and if they were gone, I'd be really really bummed out.
So Darin, being the superhero that he is (battlecry: I fix computers! LOL) retrieved all my data and got me up and running again. In addition, I asked that he change my operating system to something, anything other than Windows XP. For some reason, XP is not very compatable with both my digital camera and editing software. He loaded Windows 2000 and it's much better. Oh, plus XP slowed my internet feed to not much more than a snails pace. I swear, if I had a modem, I would've opted to dial up because that's how bad it was. Something about XP not working well through a network. ANYWAY, all those problems are over with, I have my data (yaaa) and I'm up and running again. Whew. Plus, Darin is relieved I have finally given in to getting a server. He reminded me that if my hard drive did die, we needn't be concerned about loss data. Merry Christmas, Darin!
As if that weren't enough to give me a coronary, what was supposed to be a simple trip to Costco on Monday turned into a nightmare. Darin had the day off so we decided to make a quick trip to Panasonic in Halawa Valley to pick up some a/c filters and then head over to Costco in Waipio and stock up on diapers. While he was getting back into the car at Panasonic, the driver's side door lock column slid right out. Security issue here. Since Tony VW is right next to Costco, Darin suggested we take the car there first and have them look at it. When we drove up to the service dept, the guy there said he could have it fixed in an hour. I was hesitant to leave it there at his suggestion since the last time (August) I brought it in for a minor repair, they said it would take two hours and it took six! He (David Hess) assured us that we didn't deal with him last time and he would take care of us this time. Since we needed to go to Costco anyway, we released the car into his care and he would give us a call in an hour. It was now 2:00.
Two hours later as we were sitting outside Costco with an overloaded cart and $200 in the hole, Darin decided to call since we hadn't heard anything. The woman he spoke with said the car was in the wash and he could come over and get it. We were a bit miffed that David Hess didn't call us, but at this point, whatever. Darin walked the 100 yards over to VW and returned 10 minutes later with NO CAR. He said the car was NOT in the wash as it was still in the servicing dept with the driver's door completely taken apart. There was no way in hell this is happening. I could already see that we were getting the raw end of the deal. And to top it off, they told him David Hess had GONE HOME for the day.
I wanted some answers and I wanted them now. I hightailed my okole over there to find out what was up. Apparently nothing was up. The service manager (Jerry) didn't know why David Hess quoted us an hour. I explained my situation to him and how we have a 2 month old with us and if we knew it would take this long, we would never have agreed to leave the car. Jerry just looked at me like I was an idiot and offered no sympathy. His apology was quite cold and I was shocked that this man is the manager who deals with the customers. I promptly asked for a loaner. He said there was none. I asked for my car then. He said the door parts were in pieces on the ground and I would have the car back in 45 minutes. I told him to get busy and help the mechanic reassemble it. He dragged his heels.
An hour later after the paperwork was processed I was told to wait outside and the car would be around "in a sec." Ten minutes later as I turned around to go back in to speak with a manager (not the servicing manager anymore), the customer service woman, who was very kind and apologetic the entire time, came out to tell me there was a problem with my car. What now?
It's 5:00. I'm tired, I'm hungry, it's windy and rainy and I have a cranky baby sitting at Costco. She walked me down to the garage where I got a wonderful view of my car with the door completely unassembled and the parts laying everywhere below it. What the F*#%? Jerry stood there with the mechanic as he continued to fumble with the door lock. This was so unacceptable. I had had it with the futsing around and wanted answers. I wanted a car and I wanted to go home. Basically I told Jerry off and was not nice about it. He continued to tell me there were no loaner cars available and I told him he has 5000 cars on the lot and to go find me one. He then got on the phone (with ??) and asked if there was a rental from Enterprise available. There was and he walked me back to customer service where the apologetic woman walked me over to Enterprise which also was on the premisis.
Come to find out, I now had to provide my license and a credit card so they could rent me a car. I was almost in tears. I just wanted my car and yo go home. The manager at Enterprise drove me across the street to Costco so I could fetch my wallet. The look I gave Darin cold have started some serious fires if it weren't raining. I was so upset with Tony VW that I could barely talk.
Anyway, at 6:15 I finally had a car, although not even my own, and picked up Darin and the baby. We were so worn out that we didn't even talk much on the ride home. All I kept thinking was how someone was gonna get an earful the next day when I retrieve my car.
This has turned into a novel....sorry!
Tuesday at 3pm, I leave work in my rented 2002 Black Honda Accord (which drives nicely and has plently of power) and head back out to Waipio. My parents made me promise to call them when it was over to offer details. Darin even suggested I "try not to kill someone" while there. I walked in the front door with my stroller (looks real mean, huh??), was met by a salesperson, and told him I wanted to speak with the General Manager. He said since it had to do with my car being serviced, I could speak with Jerry, the Servicing Manager. I said NOPE, I want to speak with either the G.M. or whoever's in charge, but not Jerry. Suddenly it was like a record scratched and the other salespeople cleared out of the showroom. While waiting, I received the paperwork and key for my car. They even tried to shove me off by saying the car was outside waiting and I could leave then. I said NOPE, I'm waiting for the G.M., or Mr Tony or whoever is in charge.
No sooner than a couple of minutes passed I was greeted by Mr Ruiz, a shorter Puerto Rican man who had a firm handshake and pleasant smile. I was very composed as I had done a fair amount of thinking in the last 20 hours. I started my complaint with voicing my disappointment in their servicing department and how I was treated, both this time AND the last time. I gave him a rundown of how we purchased our Passat from their dealer less than a year before and chose to do so inspite of another VW dealer much, much closer to our home. I gave him the rundown of my last experience that August where I was nine mos pregnant and still had to wait 6 hours at Costco while their department knew I was waiting. I moved onto the previous night's drama, how a loaner was not provided to me until I absolutely demanded one, and that their lack to please the customer was appaling. I ended with the following statement: If I wanted shitty service, I would have bought a shitty car.
Long story short since I know this has been one already, I will probably never take my car to Tony VW to be serviced, will never recommend the dealer to anyone I know, and will certainly never purchase a car from there again. (I know, never say never...) But, if I ever do choose to revisit that dealer for any reason, I will be treated like royalty. I will have them bending over backwards for me. And hopefully it will be without a certain David Hess on the payroll.
9:58 AM