Yesterday, we had an appointment for a tech from a garage door company. This company had worked at our house once before and we liked the tech. We asked for him specifically.
The appointment window was from 1 PM to 6 PM. At 3:30, halfway through the window, I called the company to see if I could get an ETA. I was then told that the tech we requested was not available, but that another tech was. I said that was fine as long as the tech had the right supplies on his truck, although I would have liked a call letting me know the situation. The so-called dispatch manager said he would check and get back to me ASAP.
To me ASAP means 5-15 minutes. When I did not hear anything by 4 PM, I called the company again and was told the “different” tech was finishing up a job, had the right supplies and was about 40 minutes driving distance from our house.
5 PM passed, then 5:30 and by 6 PM, no one had showed. I called the company to find out what had happened. “Oh, we can’t get a tech to your house today. The one you requested is not available.” When I said I had given the company permission to send another employee, I was put on hold for 10-15 minutes.
When a company employee came back on the line, she apologized for the mix-up and said she could send the tech we requested first thing the next morning. I told her not to bother and to cancel our membership in the company “club” that is supposed to get members a discount on service.
I was so aggravated that I paced around the house for about 15 minutes afterward. When I was working, if I told my boss/my client that I would have a report finished by 6 PM on a given date, you can be damn sure the report would have been completed on time.
Most American companies have become beyond incompetent. People are more apathetic about their jobs than ever before and companies don’t fire or discipline bad workers for fear of being even more understaffed or for fear of lawsuits. Sorry, but a bad employee is not better than no employee.
I did call another garage door company and someone is supposed to be here Monday morning. We’ll see how that goes. Sadly, the only option American consumers have when they’re dissatisfied with service is to change vendors and to hope the next company is better.
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No, I still don’t have the Maserati. I did receive a call late yesterday afternoon, in the middle of the garage door fiasco, that repairs were complete and the “Check Engine” light was not on, but they wanted to keep the car overnight and test it the next morning (this morning) just to make sure everything was OK.
We’ll see if this shop sticks to its pledge that I would only be charged for the thermostat and the labor to install it and not for coolant or for new radiator hoses. I think it’s 50-50.
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Hagerty polled its readers about their opinions on what are the best sleeper cars of all time? Most of the vehicles are of no interest to me (seriously, a turbocharged PT Cruiser?! I’d rather ride on/in Edd China’s motorized sofa).
One choice in which I would have some interest is 3.8-liter turbo Buicks/Pontiacs from the 1980s. From Mecum via the Hagerty piece are relevant photos.
I don’t think the Buick GNX (shown in the top photo) is a sleeper, but those turbo Regals are very desirable, in my opinion. One aspect of the piece with which I didn’t agree was the inclusion of modified cars, such as Volvos that have had a V-8 installed. That makes the category meaningless. “Yes, I can ride a bicycle across the Atlantic as long as it’s housed in a steel hull with diesel-engine powered propellers.”
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Another dirty little secret about electric vehicles is that if they catch on fire, that fire can be virtually impossible to extinguish. This CNBC article, give them credit for publishing a piece not flattering to EVs, is titled, “Ford F-150 Lightning fire video highlights a growing EV risk.” From the piece:
“The previously unreleased footage, which CNBC obtained through Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act from the Dearborn Police Department, shows smoke billowing from three tightly packed electric pickups in a Ford Motor holding lot in Dearborn, Michigan.
Moments later, flames shoot several feet above the vehicles, which were unoccupied. It wasn’t clear based on public documents and police video how long the fires burned. Experts say EV fires can take hours, rather than minutes, to extinguish.”
Remember that in late 2021, General Motors/Chevrolet advised Chevrolet Bolt owners not to park their cars inside or within 50 feet of other cars in case of fire. EVs are NOT the answer and are certainly not the ONLY answer. #DeathBeforeEV
#LandOfTheLazyHomeOfTheCoddled
#SleeperCars
#EVFires
#DeathBeforeEV
#somanyCARSjustonelife
#disaffectedmusings
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Disaffected Musings 
You are absolutely right when you say that companies don’t fire incompetent employees anymore.
They prefer to have low efficiency and to deal with upset customers than to let a bad employee go.
I just don’t understand that.
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I don’t completely understand it, either, but I think a fear of litigation plays a role.
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EV fires generally result from the lithium ion batteries going into a state called thermal runaway as a result of damage, incorrect manufacturing or incorrect charging. From the Wikipedia article on the element Lithium:
“Lithium will ignite and burn in oxygen when exposed to water or water vapor.”
The push to inundate us and force us to use electric vehicles will overwhelm us with a whole series of problems and unintended consequences. There needs to be a serious slowdown on the push until the safety aspects of the increased use of lithium-ion batteries is addressed.
The safety issues related to lithium are serious but pale in comparison to the tremendous environmental impact of the huge increase in lithium production to build the batteries and then disposal of the spent batteries after they are removed.
Service companies are reluctant to fire employees because of the shortage of trained labor. I do what you do when the service company fails in its commitment. Find somebody else.
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Thanks, Philip. Actually, I find it difficult to believe that most of the labor in this country is trained. Sure doesn’t seem like it…
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