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This morning, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mechanchaos called Oakwood promptly at 8:30 to reiterate that we needed the car by 2pm and to let us know by noon if there are any changes.
Not quite noon, we get a call saying that it won't be done by 2...mechanchaos set the phone down and came to let me know before finishing the conversation off.
I advocate a policy of too much information in cases like that. Flood them with the millions of minute reasons why we need the car ready at two, and hope that they get the bitcher.. I mean the picture. Somechanchaos gets back on the phone to try to convince them of our urgency. My nerves were up, so in the backrground, I loudly expounded on our situation: "We live out of town... We have more than an hour's drive to get home... mechanchaos has to work night shift tech support tonight there rather than here... have lots of kittens back home that need to be checked up on... mechanchaos might lose his job if he isn't there this evening since the bloody bastards cut personal time and require a doctor's note for any absence... if mechanchaos loses his job on account of being dicked around by the repair shop, we won't be able to pay for the repairs...Our only ride to the shop is about 2pm, and she needs to go to a singing competition this weekend that would leave us stranded if they are any later on the car... They said the thing would be donw by 5:30 the day before so we're already here an extra day..."
Fifteen minutes later they called back saying they had two folks working on it, pushing back the "standard" lunchtime so that it would be ready to roll.
Having felt taken thus far in the deal, it was nice to feel like *something* we were doing had an effect that would help us get back here in time formechanchaos to work.
The call after 1:30 stated that the only thing left was the inspection, that it ought to be ready to go by the time we got there.
The car was out front when we arrived. We went into the office whilemechanchaos's mom switched Aidan from her car to ours. We waited, nervously bracing for the worst in terms of cost. Then the fellow at the counter stated that it cost a bit less than the estimate.
I did a double take...
Yes, after all the stress and worry, the cringing at the quotes on the phone last evening, the final cost would be less than $700 after tax.
***sighs***
And in the drive home, it was most definitely a smoother and safer ride. So, we ended up coming out somewhere in the middle. It wasn't as inexpensive and routine as we'd thought, but it wasn't as crappy as they had made it out to be. We still got dicked around some, but we managed to assert ourselves enough today to communicate our situation to them.
So now, we're back. I know we've both missed everyone. When we realized the car appointment was this week, we were dismayed to think we'd be away from our friends for so long.
***big hugs***
mechanchaos called Oakwood promptly at 8:30 to reiterate that we needed the car by 2pm and to let us know by noon if there are any changes. Not quite noon, we get a call saying that it won't be done by 2...
mechanchaos set the phone down and came to let me know before finishing the conversation off. I advocate a policy of too much information in cases like that. Flood them with the millions of minute reasons why we need the car ready at two, and hope that they get the bitcher.. I mean the picture. So
mechanchaos gets back on the phone to try to convince them of our urgency. My nerves were up, so in the backrground, I loudly expounded on our situation: "We live out of town... We have more than an hour's drive to get home... mechanchaos has to work night shift tech support tonight there rather than here... have lots of kittens back home that need to be checked up on... mechanchaos might lose his job if he isn't there this evening since the bloody bastards cut personal time and require a doctor's note for any absence... if mechanchaos loses his job on account of being dicked around by the repair shop, we won't be able to pay for the repairs...Our only ride to the shop is about 2pm, and she needs to go to a singing competition this weekend that would leave us stranded if they are any later on the car... They said the thing would be donw by 5:30 the day before so we're already here an extra day..." Fifteen minutes later they called back saying they had two folks working on it, pushing back the "standard" lunchtime so that it would be ready to roll.
Having felt taken thus far in the deal, it was nice to feel like *something* we were doing had an effect that would help us get back here in time for
mechanchaos to work. The call after 1:30 stated that the only thing left was the inspection, that it ought to be ready to go by the time we got there.
The car was out front when we arrived. We went into the office while
mechanchaos's mom switched Aidan from her car to ours. We waited, nervously bracing for the worst in terms of cost. Then the fellow at the counter stated that it cost a bit less than the estimate. I did a double take...
Yes, after all the stress and worry, the cringing at the quotes on the phone last evening, the final cost would be less than $700 after tax.
***sighs***
And in the drive home, it was most definitely a smoother and safer ride. So, we ended up coming out somewhere in the middle. It wasn't as inexpensive and routine as we'd thought, but it wasn't as crappy as they had made it out to be. We still got dicked around some, but we managed to assert ourselves enough today to communicate our situation to them.
So now, we're back. I know we've both missed everyone. When we realized the car appointment was this week, we were dismayed to think we'd be away from our friends for so long.
***big hugs***
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Glad things ended up better than they could have.
*huuuuuuuuuugs tight*