The End of The Affair . . . With My Car
My love affair with my car is over. It's nothing it did per se. It wasn't it, it was me. I couldn't take the relationship my car has with its service and repair location in Ramsey, and while my car can't live without a service and parts department, I can. It breaks my heart to type these words, as our relationship was love at first sight. From the moment I first saw that shapely G35 sporting my favorite hue of blue, I was a goner. The sales staff at the Peninsula Infiniti dealership was easy to work with and informative, so our introduction was a match made in heaven.
When we moved to the South San Francisco Bay, we were welcomed by the Frontier Infiniti dealership and our honeymoon was sublime. The staff and service departments at Frontier were the best we've experienced anywhere from coast-to-coast. I remember being a new mom sitting in the parts and service lobby at Frontier, and the staff was more than accommodating (and appropriately cooing over Baby Boo). They explained the details of what was wrong and causing the issue, told me what others in my situation did - not asking if I wanted to discuss it with my hubby or offering to call him to explain what was going on - but treating me with respect and the ability to understand and make a decision. (One of the worst offenses you can make with a female customer in a dealership, in my humble opinion. If I'm the one in your lobby, then I'M your customer.) Once in the Chicago 'burbs, we were fortunate and pleased again with the service we received. I told anyone who asked how much I adored my Infiniti. The affair began to unravel once we moved to New Jersey.
I'd been accustomed to receiving flawless service, so when I noticed a noise driving over 50 MPH on the highway last summer I immediately contacted the nearest dealership - Ramsey Infiniti. I took my three-year-old son along pulling his Thomas the Train backpack filled with books and travel toys to occupy him while we sat in the lobby. (I knew it was going to take more than CNN Headline News to entertain him for the hour or so we'd be sitting there.) After inspection, they informed me that the repair would cost $1100. I was completely shocked as I expected it to land in the $200-$400 range. My heart started racing and I tried to control my breath listening to the service consultant answer my questions in generic high-level terms, clipping the answers and rushing me out, "Well, that's what they found is making the noise, so what do you want to do?"
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati