Y'all will not believe this one. Get comfy. I'll bare bones it but it still take a while.
DH had a very small fender bender in my van late January. By the time we got the insurance stuff all dealt with (statements given, estimates gotten, etc.) a series of hail storms had rolled through the area. There were a Heap of folks with hail damage which meant we couldn't get near a body shop for a while. That's fine. My van was drivable, just a little abused looking. We picked a shop that was "certified" by our insurance company as looked like it would cause less hassle all the way around. I called them and asked when I could bring it in. They said June 5. Ok. Since that was a Monday, I drove up there the Sunday night before hand with DH following me and left the van, put the keys in the drop....all the normal stuff. Called on Monday morning to get an estimate of when it would be finished. The guy told me Thursday. Cool. I could use DH's car in the meantime because he had a work car. No big deal.
LOL Now the fun begins.
Thursday no call from the body shop. I called them late afternoon. The van wasn't ready; will be ready tomorrow. Ok. Friday, no call from the body shop. I was busy all day with other things and didn't think to call till after 5. They're closed by then and all weekend too. *sigh* Still no real big deal right? Hubby is home all weekend and we had plans anyway. Monday morning I called. The secretary in the body shop asked me to call back that afternoon because my van "should be done by then." Did y'all notice an explosion last Monday??? I figured you did. I called back and talked to the general manager of the dealership got him trying to fix the problem (or at least figure out what it is since I'm getting Zero explanation.) Then called my insurance agent and updated him. He called the general manager. The GM called me back. He told the body shop guy to get the car done that day, in strong terms. But as a back up plan, they would send the rental car people to come get me (at their expense) if the car wasn't done by 4. Yeah, I'm still driving the rental.
Long story short. They have painted my van SIX (6) times and they paint is not setting. Now, how many times would you use paint that isn't setting??? I think I would have been on the phone to my paint vendor after the second time that it didn't work. I might have assumed the problem was me the first time. But six times????? Whatever. Every time I call (and they recognize my voice now ) the answer is "it should be ready tomorrow." Which is I guess an improvement after what they told me last Monday. Last Monday afternoon I was told the van would be ready "...after tomorrow." Don't know what the you-know-what that means, but that was the answer.
I called this morning and said if it's not done, don't do anything else till I get up there to look at it myself. Call me back and let me know if it's done or not and I will come up. Been waiting 2 hours now for a call one way or the other. *sigh* Going to have my agent meet me up there too. Best part....I told the body shop manager to figure out how much he would be taking off the estimate to compensate me for extended loss of use of My vehicle (the rental is fine, but a taurus isn't a comfy ride when all 4 of us need to go somewhere); the loss of time I've had to spend calling them when they don't call me; and the aggravation this has all caused. When I talked to him the day after I told him that, he said the GM said they would do "whatever will make you happy on a discount." Ok. Good.
Keep a good thought. I will try not to chew the faces off of them when I go up there. Thanks for letting me vent.
Sharon