I have to laugh. This should really be a post written by Brady, as he was present and I was not, but I’m just going to relay the story as this is my blog 🙂
Last week, we had our van at a dealership for two days. They fussed with our original dealership and got everything in order for one day, and did the work the next. It was a huge hassle, but its over, and I don’t care anymore. No matter how good this Saskatoon dealership is, they are still a car dealership and felt the need to rip us off a bit. So they ended up charging us for a wheel alignment. Who knows whether it was necessary or not, but they wouldn’t pass us on the safety inspection without one, so we let it happen and didn’t complain too much. Such is life.
When we got the van back, we noticed a wobble. Seriously?! An alignment and no balance? Ridiculous. But believable. So we tried yesterday to get them balanced. Costco is insane this time of year, and our other place sort of leaves us stranded in a sketchy area of town. So this morning, Brady drove into the city and hit up Canadian Tire, of all places. Luckily, he got in pretty quick and didn’t wait as long as he would have anywhere else. We read reviews about the auto department of that particular Canadian Tire the night before, and they were pretty awful. But they were based on crappy service, not workmanship. So we tried it in desperation.
So Brady walked around Canadian Tire for about an hour and a half. He checked back regularly and finally saw the van off the lift and safely back on the ground. He then doddled and waited around for fifteen minutes before going to ask if it was ready. They were technically supposed to get in touch with him and call him when it was ready. I guess that would have been too easy. The man at the front desk went to check and said a mechanic should be pulling it out of the bay right away. Brady headed outside and waited for a few minutes. He was eventually met with the man from the desk backing it out. Seemed scattered. Either way, things were paid up and over $120 later (insane, right?) he was out of there.
About twenty minutes later, while stopped at a Timmy’s, Brady got a call from Canadian Tire. Brady was informed that the mechanics were now finished with his van. Rich, hey? He was also told the mechanic “strongly recommends” a wheel alignment, of all things. They’re really out for your money, I guess! Like, more than I thought!
Its good that they were speaking to Brady and not me. I probably would have been considerably less polite. For instance, Brady didn’t tell them he had the van for the last half hour. I would likely have been quite sarcastic, but I’d say that would be justified! He did mention that the wheels were aligned two days ago. “I’ll let the mechanic know” was all he got. Probably smart.
Brady brought home coffee and we had a good laugh about it all. What a mess.
Tomorrow, we’ll hopefully get the Bluetooth figured out, and then I’m sooo over all of this. No more. Done.