Birthday Weekend - Part 1 - The Bad Part

As far as birthdays are concerned, this might have been one of my worst ever. Friday was my official birthday and I spent most of the day upset. Luckily the day did get better.

Starting on Wednesday and Thursday, my car had been making a noise. It wasa noise that I was familiar with. I talked to my dad and I made an appointment for my car for Friday morning. I arrive at the shop Friday morning at 7:00 am to drop off my car. I specfically tell the mechanic that I think it is a wheel bearing. I have had this done two times before and I know what this noise is. They immediately take my car out for a drive and bring it into the shop. My manager picked me up around 7:30 and no one had told me what was wrong with my car. Around 10:00, I still hadn't heard from them, so I call. They tell me that they have the noise narrowed down to two possibilities: my right front axle or my transmission. I had my dad call them. They assured him, they thought the problem was my axle and this was the cheaper fix anyway. Around noon, I get a call back from them telling me that the axle didn't fix the noise so the problem is in my transmission, which is something that they do not do.

My mother calls in pays for my services performed over the phone and orders a tow for my car to be taken from one shop to a transmission specialist. Mind you, this is the middle of the afternoon now, and I get off work at 5:00. I talked to my mother around 4:30 to determine what is going on and what it is that I needed to do (since I'm essentially stuck at work at this point). The transmission people found out what the problem is. You guessed it, the wheel bearing. Now this is a procedure that takes approximately 2 hours to fix and the transmission place doesn't have time on Friday afternoon to fix it. My car will not be ready until Monday at noon. Great. Now I am without a car for the weekend. My mom did allow me to get a rental on Sunday afternoon so that I can get to campus on monday for my tax review. So, for the time being, this is what I am driving.

Ok, well back to the mechanic. We have narrowed down what we believe is the problem and why they didn't listen to me when I said it was my wheel bearing. The first option is that they have a dumb mechanic who doesn't know anything about cars. I understand that I am a 23 year old girl who you think knows nothing, but I do know my car. We have been together for 5 years and I know when something isn't right and when I specifically tell you what is wrong, you should at least check it out. DUH!!! Common sense would tell you that.

For the second option, remember when I said this is a problem that has occurred for me two times before. My right one went out about a year and a half ago and was replaced by my favorite mechanic in Willow Springs. However, my left one went out and was replaced in October by the same mechanic my car was at Friday. The part from October was under a 1 year warranty. We assumed that they didn't want to warranty the part, so they lied about the entire deal, thinking that if we took the car to someone else and found out they lied that we wouldn't bring the car back for them to fix it.

And they are correct. We did not take it back to them to fix it so we have the warranty. However, dear Custom Complete Automotive, you have no idea who you are messing with when you pick on the Gabels. This charge for my axle on my mother's credit card . . . CANCELLED. You will also be getting a real lovely phone call from my dad tomorrow. You just don't mess with his baby daughter. We will also be expecting to get reimbursed for the part that you were supposed to have warrantied, my tow fees and my rental car fees.

If they do not want to play nice and give us what we want, things will get worse. You remember that I am a law student, now able to practice my own cases. You will not win. If I have to sue you, I will be asking for pain and suffering since you ruined my birthday!!!