I get a call from a couple of customers (husband and wife) about their grandson’s car. They bought it for him, brand new, and he’s now needing a third transmission and the car is a year old and has 29,000 miles on it. They’ve already had to pay out of pocket (non-warranty) for the two previous repairs so they can’t afford yet another repair. Also, the repair shop states the car is being raced and therefore they are refusing to cover the transmission--again--under warranty. The customer can have the transmission replaced outright—at their cost—or they can have the repair shop tear down the engine to see if issue is warranty or not which will add about $500 to the total cost. But everyone at the repair shop is 99.9% sure the car is being drag-raced and are advising the customers against the diagnostic because they really think it isn’t warranty. If it turns out to be a warranty issue though, the customers will not have to pay anything; otherwise they’re looking at $2500-$2900 repairs plus the $500 diagnostic fee.
Customers want us (on behalf of the manufacturer) to pay for it because their precious grandson (who’s 20 btw) would never race his car, besides there’s no race tracks anywhere in the county (what, like any straight stretch of road wouldn’t suffice?) This engine is defective and they want a replacement free of charge. They admit their grandson “drives hard” but they just don’t have the money.
Call ends with customer (wife, nearly in tears) repeatedly asking me to tell them what to do (read: whether to pay the $500 fee or not) I repeatedly answer with, “I can’t advise you on how to spend your money. This is your car, you are the only one who can make a decision.” Rinse, lather, repeat many, many, times.
I really felt bad during this call because the woman was obviously very distressed. What I really wanted to say was: “Okay ma’am, here’s what you should do. Make your grandson get a job and pay for the repair himself. I guarantee that you will not have this problem again.”
Customers want us (on behalf of the manufacturer) to pay for it because their precious grandson (who’s 20 btw) would never race his car, besides there’s no race tracks anywhere in the county (what, like any straight stretch of road wouldn’t suffice?) This engine is defective and they want a replacement free of charge. They admit their grandson “drives hard” but they just don’t have the money.
Call ends with customer (wife, nearly in tears) repeatedly asking me to tell them what to do (read: whether to pay the $500 fee or not) I repeatedly answer with, “I can’t advise you on how to spend your money. This is your car, you are the only one who can make a decision.” Rinse, lather, repeat many, many, times.
I really felt bad during this call because the woman was obviously very distressed. What I really wanted to say was: “Okay ma’am, here’s what you should do. Make your grandson get a job and pay for the repair himself. I guarantee that you will not have this problem again.”
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