joyful2beeblogs

First horror tale for the road. I went to a car repair business, I think it was to change the oil. They seemed nice enough. So I released my car to them for 30 minutes. As I was leaving I heard a strange, consistent rattling from under the hood. I drove about five miles or more and the sound persisted. So I pulled off in a parking lot and lifted the hood.

I found two things that were potentially dangerous. One was a spray can of belt dressing on the car’s right side, sitting on a belt of some kind. The can had been riding the belt since I left the shop. The paint was rubbed off of the can where heat or friction had rubbed the paint off in a band around the dressing can. The can was very hot to the touch.

I looked in the trunk of my car and found a canvas bag which I used to pick up the can with and put it aside to cool off. Boy was I upset! The can, could have exploded!

Then I noticed the oil dipstick handle was broken off! The handle had been placed or dropped in the dimple at the top of the oil reservoir and the handle was just poked in the opening of the oil reservoir! Now I was really upset!!

I drove my car back and said some very angry things concerning their inefficient, dangerous, untrustworthy service. They apologized and told me they didn’t have another dipstick but would replace the one they had broken off. I took the liberty of telling them that I would never come back again after the sloppy work and someone breaking my dipstick and then just leaving it and not apologizing for shoddy work! I had to sit and wait 30 minutes for the dipstick to be delivered. Thankfully, I didn’t have to go anywhere that day.

Another “fun” experience was when I smelled gasoline in the passenger compartment of the Beetle, I used to own. I knew it should be fixed as quickly as possible, since the smell of gas was still not very strong and the gasoline odor in the passenger compartment could be dangerous to me. So I took the car to the nearest reputable garage. After explaining what the problem was, the manager said they would need some large amount of money so they could order a gas tank to be delivered, in case they needed to replace the one I had. I thought that sounded kind of strange. So I called my “go-to car guy, my brother” and explained the situation to him. His reply was to get in my car; open the windows wide and drive to the Volkswagen dealership and ask them to fix it. So I did. The mechanics found some part of the gas line had become damaged or loose. They fixed it and I paid them and thanked them and my brother profusely.

A more potentially dangerous situation arose when I brought my car in for a wheel balance and realignment. I sat in the waiting area while they did the work. After twenty or thirty minutes, my car was returned and I paid the bill. I got in my car and drove down the four lane highway towards home. Suddenly my steering wheel jerked hard to the left, towards the lane beside me. I thought maybe the car was kind of settling in. But the steering wheel jerked two or three more times. I knew there was something wrong.

So I pulled into an empty lot and called the assistant manager and described what was happening. In a dismissive tone of voice, he glibly informed me that sometimes there were uneven places on the road and they made the steering wheel jerk to the left. I replied, telling him that I was more intelligent than to think a small uneven spot in the road could cause a steering wheel to jerk repeatedly. If it happened again, I told him I would be back immediately.

So, sure enough the wheel jerked to the left, so I turned around to head back to them. Thankfully I made it there with only a few hard jerks from the steering wheel. I walked into the waiting area and thankfully the assistant manager was gone. I explained the situation to the manager and let him know firmly that I was quite disappointed in their treatment of me and my car. Then I asked the manager what happened to make my car jerk like that. He told me that when an alignment was done there were three mirrors viewing the camber, castor and toe angle and a camera on each wheel that had to be re-calibrated between each car that was to be aligned and balanced. The mechanic had not re-calibrated the mirrors and cameras from the last car, so my car had been re-calibrated to totally incorrect measurements. The manager apologized to me after the measurements had been corrected. I drove home thankful that nothing serious had happened to me or the car.

Ask questions if something doesn’t feel right!!!