A few years ago, our air conditioner in our Dodge Grand Caravan slowly stopped working and eventually began to blow hot air across our sweating faces.Being as car repair is extraordinarily expensive, this was a problem that we could live with until this summer when the province started to burn and we hit a heat wave that we haven't seen the likes of in decades (if ever). As we have had a busy, driving-all-over-the-whole-continent summer, we decided that it was time to stop being cheap and make the road trips more bearable and fix the A/C.
When I called a local company, I spoke to an older lady who assured me that A/Cs are easy to fix and that the last woman who came in only needed a $2 part and everything was good. This was my first mistake. I fell for a classic sales technique and put myself into that lady's shoes and I was expecting a cheap fix.
When I brought in our minivan, I explained to the mechanic that we were pretty sure the problem wasn't with the compressor or the fan but was likely a slow leak somewhere and please if they could fix it because we had a lot of driving to do this summer. The average temperature at this time was 30 C. The mechanic said he would take a look and fix it right up and they would call me to let me know how much the fix would be.
Instead, they called my husband to come and pick up the van because it was done. I go in to the office and the mechanic tells me (this was less than two hours later) that they did a nitrogen test and couldn't find anything and they refilled it and that would be $450, no guarantees. Wow, that's a bit steep, I thought to myself but it seemed to be working so okay, I guess that is how much is costs to fix an A/C.
Three weeks later, our A/C has been steadily blowing warmer air and we have been melting. I call the company again to say that I brought in my van three weeks ago to get the A/C fixed but not it's not working. They say bring it in and they will look at it.The odd thing about the phone call was that there was no surprise on their part that it was broken again, they didn't apologize or seem to care at all.
I bring it in and I talk to an older man who is, I think, the owner of this company and he doesn't care that it's broken so soon after it has been "fixed." He is treating me like I am a hysterical person and is offers me nothing - not even to look at the van for free before they identify what the problem could be. When I ask him if he has a wife, daughter or granddaughter, if he would like them being treated like he was treating me, he told me the following: "I have all three and they all have cars and they don't buy piece of shit vehicles."
Shocked, I say, "Excuse me?!" and he attempts to backtrack and says that he wasn't implying that I had a crappy vehicle. I told him that was exactly what he was implying and that I was never coming back. He never even saw my vehicle and treated me like I was a stupid girl and unworthy of basic human kindness and understanding. So now I'm out $450 and saddened by how I was treated. Also, my daughter cries every time I pick her up from daycare, yelling, "It's too hot mama!"
Thanks, jerky dude.
Thanks.
What I wanted to do was to have my husband, my brother or my dad go back in and yell at that old man on my behalf because he was a complete jerk to me. But that doesn't help.
I briefly thought about naming and shaming on their website or Facebook page (or even in this column) but I decided that was not the type of person that I wanted to be known for.I will instead invent a story that this man is running a struggling family business and has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour that makes him say horrible things.
He hates his life and his only joy comes from pretending to fix A/C units in minivans and stealing money from women. It's the little things in life....
In the meantime, I will go elsewhere to get my van fixed and hope that he will eventually get his comeuppance and his shop will close down. Jerk.
I have been thinking about this a lot over the last few hot days of summer and I wondered about what are we owed for service. When I pay $450, I expect something to stay fixed longer than three weeks. When I am buying something, part of my job as a customer is to be polite and thankful and pay my bills on time. There is an element of trust that consumers have to have in their service people otherwise the whole system breaks down.
I am not a mechanic so I hope that whichever mechanic I choose is honest and trustworthy and if they are not even polite or competent, I want there to be a consequence for them. There should be a tax on incompetence and I will be in charge of collecting it and redistributing it to the people who have been ripped off.
