Tag: cars

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Five years back, my partner and I bought a Kia Sportage. It was a smart car — which means, in our case, it has an internal computer system that will tell you when something is wrong with the car. The sales man’s pitch was that the Kia computer network would also see any of these warnings and all we would have to do is take the car in and they could take care of it. Sold.

So a week or so back, our Sportage computer system told us that our front headlight was malfunctioning. Bob took a look and sure enough one of the lights was out. He made an appointment with the service department and this is where things get a little weird.

Keep in mind all that needs to be done is change the headlight. This is a task that in my younger days I could actually perform. Yes, a gay man without any interest in cars whatsoever, changed an automobile headlight. It wasn’t easy because nothing mechanical is easy for me. It took me a few minutes to figure it out, a mistake here and there, but I was able to do it in under an hours time.

Now days, I try not to waste my hours figuring shit out when I can pay someone to do it. They will probably take a few minutes as opposed to my hour. We gladly turned it over to the Kia Service Department.

Well, it wasn’t as quick a task as we thought. Indeed it was, at least, a two day process. First we had to bring the car in so that Kia’s mechanics could determine what the problem was. Wait. The computer system warned us. Bob visually confirmed it. Couldn’t a mechanic just do the same thing?

Apparently not. The mechanic had to inspect it first to see if the computer was right. OK. That makes sense, but once the inspection was completed, why do we have to come back another day. Because they would have to order the part. A headlight? Keep in mind this is a huge sales and service center that runs across two blocks and multiple buildings. If we were looking to replace say an engine, yes by all means, get the part, but a headlight why wouldn’t they have that in store or, at the least, call a Kia parts store in the city and get the headlight the same day. But no, we were assured it would definitely be a two day process.

Bob takes the car in and the mechanic confirms what Bob saw and the car’s internal computer system warned us about — the headlight was burned out. The mechanic also helpfully informed us of an array of other tasks that the service department might perform. None of them were particularly urgent and we didn’t ask him to investigate in the first place. Thanks but no thanks.

The mechanic would order the part and let us know when it came in. Wait, this should take 24 hours right? Not necessarily. There might not be a Kia headlight in all of San Diego county — the 8 largest metropolitan area in the United States sitting a short drive away from the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the United States. But OK, we will wait for the call.

Forty-eight hours later Bob had an appointment. Bright and early one morning, he took the car again and asked if he could just wait for them to fix because surely putting on a headlight is a pretty quick fix and would require very little time to implement. Bob was then informed that no it wouldn’t be a quick fix and he should return home because they would have to take off the bumper in order to replace the headlight.

What? Now this seems like a major technological faux pas. Why would you create a car where a relatively simple task like changing a headlamp requires the removal of a bumper? Particularly when the cars of yesteryear had already mastered this particular design. Why would you make something that was so easy to do in the 20th Century so difficult to do in the 21st Century? The technician, of course, didn’t design the car so, of course, Bob left the car and waited for his call.

And waited and waited and waited. It was mid-afternoon and Bob was getting concerned about the delay. He, called the technician to check on the delay. The mechanic informed him that the car wouldn’t be available until late afternoon at the earliest. Indeed the car still hadn’t been worked on. A headlight. We agreed to pick it up the next day.

The good news was the headlight was under warranty and we didn’t have to pay but this seems like a lot of hassle to replace something so basic as a headlight.

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We bought a car a couple years back with an extended warranty which meant, or so we were told, that any problem with the car in the next 6 years, the dealership would handle free of charge. ANY problem. It was even called a Platinum Plan in order to let us know it was the best warranty possible. First, before I go too far, we love the car. It has treated us well and the free oil changes and tune up services we bought have been welcome.

But all good things must come to an end. Bob noted a problem with one of the door seals. It was a little tattered. I was taking the car in for an oil change so I made an appointment for a tune up and noted the problem with the door seals hoping that this can be dealt with at the same time.

We also kept getting a recall notice about a trailer hitch. We don’t have a trailer hitch but they had to do something or rather in order to actually confirm that we didn’t have a trailer hitch. Mind you this is the dealership where we bought the car and I would assume that they would have a record. They did not so they would have to check the trailer hitch in order for us to stop getting the recall notices. I decided to take care of this while I was there.

I arrived on time for my 11AM appointment to a 6 lines of cars with approximately 5 cars in each line. This looked ominous. I waited patiently in the car for Sam, my service counsellor, to consult with me. After a few minutes, he arrived. I explained why I was I was here and that I had an appointment to get his service. Things got hairy pretty fast. Sam explained that it would take at least two hours for the oil change, the door seals and the trailer hitch recall, it might take an additional couple of hours.

But I have an appointment. Sam informed me that this was only an appointment to talk with him and not when the car would actually be serviced. The woman who made the appointment never told this. Why would I think an appointment for a conversation about servicing my car instead of actually servicing the car. The whole reason for getting an appointment was for me to schedule my time and wait at the garage for the matter to be handled. Sam gave me the look of someone who has had to answer this same question a million times, a shoulder shrug, a pitiful look and then silence.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Sam kindly offered to pay for Uber to take me home if I wanted to wait at home. I decided to take them up on this offer. The problem was I had to have Uber as an application and the dealership would give me a voucher as payment. I don’t use Uber because they treat their drivers horribly. I use Lyft who treat their drivers a little less horribly. In order to use the voucher, I had to put the Uber application on my phone.

So I began the arduous process of loading the Uber application, when Sam, as if this important piece information might have a bearing on my decision, informed me that he didn’t know if they had the door seals in stock or whether it was covered by the warranty.

I said of course it was covered by warranty. We bought the platinum warranty which was supposed to cover ANY repair for the next 5 years. Sam, again as polite and as beaten down person could be, explained that it would probably be covered but he would have to check with his boss.

I repeated the phrase Platinum Warranty as if this should ring a bell for him and make him understand the situation. It had absolutely no meaning for him whatsoever. Sam didn’t know what was covered on any warranty — be it Gold, Silver, Bronze or Platinum. It turned out I knew more about the Platinum Warranty than Sam. He still would have to ask his boss. He did say, as if to encourage me, that if I understood that they would repair anything that they would probably cover anything. I wasn’t encouraged.

After much pressing of keys and staring blankly at a computer screen, Sam determined that they did not have the door seals in stock and would have to special order them. Why did I drive all the way up here (OK it was all of 10 minutes but Sam didn’t know that) if the dealership didn’t have the part in the first place. More pitiful looks and shoulder shrugs. He didn’t make the rules. He didn’t understand the rules. He didn’t know anything about warranties. He was just here to see that my car was serviced and nothing else.

As I pondered my dilemma, Sam asked me if I still wanted to go ahead with the oil change. Of course, I don’t want to get the oil change if I have to wait here two to three hours and have to come back in a couple of days and wait another two to three hours to get door seal repair. Why would I want to waste two mornings getting my car serviced? Call me when the part is in and I will make a new appointment.

This is when Sam explained that I really didn’t need an appointment. I should just come first thing in the morning. The dealership takes everyone on a first come first serve basis. The earlier you got there, the faster you were served. Then why does the dealership advise making appointments? Sam had the pitiful looks and shoulder shrugs down.

Can I, at least, get the trailer hitch recall taken care of today? No I actually could not. But I don’t have a trailer hitch. Just put a little tick in the box saying the trailer hitch recall has been taken care. No, he couldn’t look at, he couldn’t take my word for it, the recall team would have to take a look at it and they would have to tick the box saying the trailer hitch recall was complete.

I drove home having failed to complete any of the tasks I set out to do and also none the wiser on what I should do next time. Why make an appointment if it has nothing to do with when I will get serviced? Why tell them what I need to do when they won’t have the part when I arrive for my appointment that I really don’t need in the first place? Will the trailer hitch recall team take a few seconds to see that I don’t need a trailer hitch repair because I don’t have a trailer hitch?

But, any way.