Let's get personal for a minute or two. I know if you've read some of my blogs in the past it may seem like a rant or raving. Sometimes it probably is. Or more like therapy. I usually feel better afterward so whatever it is works. So please let me do it again without judging me if you did in the past.
A fairly regular customer calls the shop last week to make an appointment. They wanted an oil change on their car before they go on a long trip south. "If I drop it off Sunday night can I get it first thing Monday morning? And can you look it over before the trip and do whatever it needs. I plan to leave 9:00 AM Monday morning." Do you get it? A whole hour to service and repair whatever the vehicle needs prior to a long trip. And this vehicle is no spring chicken. Its 15 years old with over 130,000 miles on the odemeter. Yes, we have take care of it and its in good mechanical condition but one thing I have learned in all my years of auto repair is I am not God and can't change the laws of physics. Repairs take time. So I replied accordingly. "Well an hour really doesn't leave us enough time on the chance that we do find something the car needs prior to the trip. Can you bring it in sooner?" "No, but that's ok, don't look to hard that way you won't find anything."
Reminds of the other person last week that asked if we could repair the air conditioning for the same price they were quoted by another shop but wanted us to do it because they (the other shop) weren't very good at repairing cars. Why get an estimate from them then I wondered to myself when I heard the story.
My point is auto repair is and has to be a logical and procedural event. Sure I understand its expensive and most people don't enjoy spending the money on repairing a car. But does it have to effect the logic's and thought process of people also? Trust me you will find most auto repair people will respond more favorably if you let them do their job, diagnose the problem from the start and allow them a reasonable amount of time to perform the service or repair. No one likes working with a gun to their head. Do they?
In a previous blog, “A Runners Wife” I spoke about my husband training for the NYC marathon. All I have to say is that the months of training all came together of an amazing race. Race day is a grueling day for runners, and the family. But a miracle happened...
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the senate judiciary committee and basically shrugged when asked if any other enemy combatant captured overseas had ever been brought to civilian criminal court to face justice. Talk about an incompetent boob, not to mention a disgrace.
Here is a list of wines all from Spain, and menus from restaurants in Brooklyn where a crew of us did a food / wine crawl through Carrol Gardens and Williamsburg recently
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