Block heater

You're probably right that I should ignore the guy Eric, but he has no such legitimate complaint. Sure, block heaters are normal *optional* equipment up there, but he purchased the car. It *is* an optional piece of equipment. He should have made sure he was ordering it. Wouldn't you make sure you were getting AC or a CD changer or some other piece of equipment? Frankly, a 2.5 hour wait is not an abuse of an individual. That's pretty good time all things considered. It's not the salesmen's jobs to run people around. Especially for such a short repair.

Geeze - ours has treated us great. We've been in for a bit of warranty work and I let them do some other non-warranty stuff after negotiating a rate that was only slightly higher than it would have cost me to do the work at home. Fast service, good service, what more could one ask for?

You haven't read too many of my posts have you Eric? Why do I get tired of the complaining like this guy did? Because of exactly what you said - they come here to complain. Lots of us here are willing to offer advice from experience working on lots of cars over lots of years. Those that want to come here to bitch... well... screw them. They can just as well listen to my bitching. There - good enough? Now take your own advice - plonk me and STFU.

Reply to
Mike Marlow
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Guess it's just my sweet disposition coming through.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

The Mike Marlow entity posted thusly:

Would you have ensured that you ordered tires? A heater? Headlights? A block heater, in a new car purchased in Saskatchewan does NOT have to be ordered, from any dealer, for ANY kind of car or truck.

Reply to
Oleg Lego

Ok - I will accept that. I'll take that statement one step further and blame the dealer for some form of oversight - neglect if one really wants to be aggressive in casting blame. That being the case I'd expect the dealer to do install asap, at no charge to me, since it appears to be something that virtually every car requires and no reasonable person would expect otherwise. I'd bet a tidy sum that one could even leverage that into something advantageous to them, since as you say, it's a must have option on all cars. Once could most likely have turned that into a deal for three or four free oil changes (complete), or something else of comparable value (to the customer). Oversights are a part of human nature and they can be dealt with in a lot of ways. One is to jump into slander mode, another is to get the responsible party to acknowledge the inconvenience to the owner, and come to some agreeable compensation. Everybody wins.

From what the OP posted though, it sounded like the dealer accommodated this pretty well. He didn't complain about paying for the work, about the car being tied up for a couple of days (as can often be the case with busy dealers), or a host of other potential problems. He got serviced in 2.5 hours on a Saturday. That's pretty doggoned reasonable for any service bay - dealer or independent.

What triggered me was the way he went off on the lack of a loaner car for such a short piece of work and having to wait 2.5 hours for the work. None of us likes to wait, but we all have to. People have to wait on us, and it's just a reality of life.

But... all of that is just my perspective.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

FWIW - heaters were optional until air conditioning became common. Some states required them but they were broken out as optional equipment. It used to be one of the problems with bringing those fine southern cars up north. Tires and headlights are univerally government mandated so they are not an option in the US or Canada. I do not know about other parts of the world. :-) From a little poking through Google it appears block heaters are common but probably not legally mandated by State, Federal or Provincial government. My guess is that it was a dealer installed option. I can think of several reasons why it might not have been installed. The first is that if you don't ask the dealer saves the cost as he figures you don't use it anyway.

Mike may jump quicker but several other folks would do it if he didn't. I'd like to know the rest of the story. Did fred beat every last nickle out of the dealer so he got what he deserverved or pay top buck with no serice in return? Why didn't his wife do some due diligence beforehand? It appears she snoozed and lost. Why didn't he go get her in his other car if he was so worried? My dealer will rent me a loaner for $10/day to cover gas and insurance. Did he get that offer and decline? Was he promised a quick turnaround or told they would try to squeeze it in? Why would anyone expect a salesman to give them a ride? He would then have to go get them. His job is selling cars not riding around. if folks want answers we are happy to try to help. If they want to whine they should be told to grow up.

Reply to
nothermark

nothermark wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

All I can add is that you probably know the old saying about opinions....

Reply to
Eric G.

That's the beauty of it all Eric. The statement is so universal that it immediately applies to the speaker as much as it does to the one being spoken to. It's also part of what makes usenet what it is - and I think that's in a good sense. It's a free forum wherein all of those opinions are likely to appear. It's interesting to watch from which corners come the statements such as STFU, versus those which are simple disagreeing opinions. Oh hell - we all do it to some degree or another, it's just an interesting thing to watch.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

"Mike Marlow" wrote in news:ccfc0$43fb167e$4528960b$ snipped-for-privacy@ALLTEL.NET:

I wasn't denying that it applies to all sides of the conversation :-) And to the STFU comment, you were telling the OP the same thing, albeit in slightly nicer verbiage.

And yes, it is interesting to watch...most of the time. I would even call it entertaining from time to time.

Eric

Reply to
Eric G.

Reply to
fred

The fred entity posted thusly:

Saskatoon? Regina? Other? Dealership?

Reply to
Oleg Lego

Reply to
Jody

After receiving an apology from the dealer I feel this discuusion can be closed. Sorry for going off topic but sometimes you need to rant.

Reply to
fred

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