Thursday, January 19, 2006

The one where the saga continues….

So, “Woody” from the service center called me with some repair estimates.

Woody: Soooo, yer oil pan seals’s aleakin’ real bad, so yer lookin’ at $ (Godawful Amount of Money) for us to fix it, and we got all the supplies ‘n’ such right here so it ain’t no big thing. Then yer left CV boot’s gonna cost ya $ (Another Godawful Amount of Money), but the right one’s real old and run down, but it ain’t cracked yet. Best to do ‘em at the same time, so that’s another $ (Godawful Amount Identical to the Previous Amount).
Another Heather: Right, and what’s going on with my battery?
Woody: Well, uh, it’s got a full charge.
AH: Uh hunh, so did you find out if something could be draining that charge?
Woody: Well, Ma’am, did you maybe leave the lights on or yer door open or somethin’? Cause it’s got a full charge….
AH: Can you look again and see if ANYTHING is going on there? Because I don’t think the lights would have killed a 3 month old battery after 4 hours.
Woody: (Long pause) Sure, and we’ll go ahead and get those boots and that oil pan seal fixed right up for ya.
AH: No, no you won’t. For now just find out what is going on with the battery and then call me back.
Woody: Weeeeelll, we’ll see what we can do.

He didn’t even say anything about the airbag light. So far they’re saying nearly $1000 in repairs (at the dealership anyway, like I’d get that work done there), and that’s not even with what’s going on in battery-land. So, I’ve decided to get a new car. I called Woody back about 2 hours later, and he said, “Oh right, uhhhh, are you sure we haven’t started those repairs yet?” And I said, “I sure do hope not since I expressly told you not to do anything.”

I don’t want to sound like all repairmen are dishonest, because I have known some good ones. But just treating me like a dumb woman is NOT going to make me happy. This is one of the hazards of being Another Heather: people get the assumption that you are an ex cheerleader/remedial math student/stripper who isn’t all that bright. (Okay, again if you are a cheerleader or a stripper, no offense intended.)

This weekend marks the beginning of the Great Car Hunt. What oh what shall I end up with? Tune in next time for another riveting episode….

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