What do you really buy?

Yesterday on my way to work, in a heavy down pour my windshield wipers went out. Yup they just stopped working, I think my Dad would call this a "oh shit" moment. Well I got to Jen's work and had to switch cars with her. She waited until it stopped raining and quickly drove to pick up Dominic from school then over to the Hyundai Dealership. In fact this Dealership is where we bought the car about 6 years ago, meaning the warranty had just expired in April but due to the fact that is was a Pre-existing condition (happened back in October) they honored the warranty.

Now here is my beef with the most stupid service department in the world. Here my wife comes in with two kids in tow with an emergency problem, it is an emergency because A) you need windshield wipers and B) IT IS RAINING OUT SIDE!!!

Pretty sure this would constitute a unsafe environment, now lets be clear here Jen...Two young kids...Rain...4pm in the afternoon....No windshield wipers, clear? Oh and it they can't work on it until the next day.....Glad we are on the same page.

So Jen asks the all important question...Ready...."Do you guys have a loaner till tomorrow?"

Now I thought of this earlier and I said "Self, there is no way they would let a customer stranded without transportation on a warranty issue that happens in an emergency situation".....Well after she asked 5 times about what is she going to do and them shrugging their shoulders she called her dad to come and pick her up.

They had an unbelievable opportunity to take care of a customer, lock someone in for a long time based on service alone and they shit down their leg. Here is the kicker (in fact I have a couple) first, when one of your clients is in trouble and another person waiting for their car to be fixed offers her a ride, note to self we need to get better. Second, when to rent a car for twenty-four hours costs $25 bucks, you have to ask yourself are we willing to let $25 dollars stand in the way of making our long time customer happy?

So here is my math just so everyone out there doesn't think I am crazy or over reacting, if I buy a new car every 5 years for the next 45 years (yes I will be 80 at the time) and I average $20,000 per car that would be $200,000 I would spend. Ok this is being fun, now if I spend on average $1500 per year in service (this might be a low estimate between oil changes, transmissions, tires...You get the point) that would be an extra $67,500 I would spend just in service. This is not to mention that we would always buy two cars in the family so lets double this which would mean we will spend $535,000 over our life time in cars and service....But for $25 bucks (which actually it wouldn't cost them anything but throwing a dealer plate on the back of a lot car for 24 hours) they couldn't go a little above and beyond for my stranded wife with two kids in tow at 4pm in the evening needing a little help for a defective part on one of their cars.....$25 bucks....Or half a million in potential business

god I love capitalism.....

Just My Luck

We are having really weird weather around here lately, one minute it is sunny and 70 and next there are 50 mile an hour winds with a heavy down pour. Today I got caught in my own genius.

Last week I put an umbrella in the car, just in case I would happen to run into days just like today were we get sun then rain and back again. And today I got to revel in my own genius. I walked out of the house and it was sunny with a light breeze but by the time I got to work it was down pouring...And hard.

So I grabbed my umbrella, laughed at all the unprepared people and slowly walked into the building nice and dry. As I worked I smiled thinking how smart I was..Ha ha..Me so smart. After a couple of hours I had to go to another building on my works campus, as I walked outside the sun shown bright, not a cloud in the sky and I carried my umbrella next to me..A symbol to the rest of the world and you know what they were saying "damn that Paul is smart".

I went to work in the new building, heading down to the production floor still floating in my glee....Then it happened...Thunder...Not just any thunder but thunder that you can hear in a production facility over the loud noise of the machine...My heart sunk...See on my way to the other building I put my symbol of genius in the back seat of my car.

"well I will wait it out" I thought to myself...Hour after hour....I new I was going to be in trouble. I had some errands to run..And soon.

Then just before I left it stopped...HA, I AM STILL SO SMART

I walk down stairs, head for the back door and get stopped by a co-worker and I decided I had to tell them about my genius and I am sure they were thinking "damn that Paul is so smart"

My car though was in the farthest parking lot and as I was strolling to my vehicle I feel the winds pick up...."Shit" I thought..I picked up my pace but was still quite a ways away...Then it hit...Hard..It must have been someone in the heavens showing me just how smart I was..I was soaked..My keyless entry didn't work..More soaked...My window slightly open..Ass soaked...And I thought "damn I am smart, look at my genius".