The $492 "Donut" Spare Story...

[Mystery Squid]

A little background...

A long, long time ago, last Wednesday, at a Toyota dealership far, far away...

I took delivery of my Prius. Well, the evening before, I haggled out the details through "aggressive negotiations" with the salesman and the Darth Sidious sales manager. It was relatively intense, I got up and started walking out three different times. Part of me was really hoping they couldn't reach my price point, simply because it sucked getting rid of my Ford F150AT-AT. Anyway, I could tell I rubbed this Star Wars Cantina tag team the wrong way, really, simply because I was undecided, and finally told them I was going to take a day to contact Jedi long dead for consultation, and sleep on it. I could tell they were relatively irritated, and it was at that point they moved the Death Star into firing position, and I got the, "What would it take to make this deal?" Anyway, I left that night owning my Prius-wing fighter, as I wanted one pretty bad, and I knew they tend to fly off the lot like tie fighters under attack by rebel forces...

So next day, eager to take delivery, I arrived, and upon inpection of my Prius-wing fighter, noticed the interior and mats had not been shampoo'ed by the cleaning droids, as was promised. Ok, no big deal, I can usually do a better job by using the force myself, besides, it would give me a chance to really go over it.

About a day or two later, back in Tatooine, I decide to get familiar with the spare donut tire/tire changing tools. To my slight irritation, I discover that not only is the tire flat, but it's worn to the point where you can see steel belts, and ON TOP OF THAT, there were actually HOLES in it. Yes, HOLES you could stick two or three fingers through. Even Watto would not have been amused...

Ok, so that's a bit much, and like Anakin upon finding out his mom died of torture and exhaustion in his arms because of the sand people, it would HAVE to be addressed.

So, I finally get around to going back to the dealership this afternoon (It's like 30 Parsecs up one of the most traffic ridden highways outside of the Boston Galaxy, and takes about close to an hour to get there when unable to use warp speed, needless to say, I'd rather get everything done at the same time...), as my registration had come in (in which when I got the call, I told the salesman about the spare, and he said, "Ok, we'll do something about that..."), and the State inspection was to be performed.

I pull in, go see him, he gives me my registration, and points me in the direction of the inspection bays. We had a little discussion, and the whole time I was waiting to see whether or not he would bring up the spare tire issue. So, as he waved me on out the door, it was clear he "forgot" about it ( ). So I say, "Oh yeah, and by the way..."

He stops and thinks about it for a moment, and tells me to bring it up to the guys at the service bay area as he didn't know if they had any because of the size and lug pattern. (BULLSHIT) Now this set me off, and I said with a bit of an edge, "Oh really, a Toyota dealership this size and not one spare around eh?" No reply.

Ok fine, I head over to the service bays...

I get out, state my main business, and tell some manager type dude who enters your info. at one of those standing computer desks about the spare, and he's absolutely surprised. Now here's where it gets interesting and annoying. I told him I just took delivery 6 days ago, to which he then starts asking me what the mileage on the car was when I got it, after checking out for himself what the mileage was, clearly defaulting to the theory that I was somehow trying to hustle them out of a spare . Then, some nearby service droid wanders over to check it out, nods his head a bit, and we all make our way to the computer terminal, where he proceeds to tell me/us the vehicle is "Certified Pre-Owned" (SEE, IT'S ON THE COMPUTER SCREEN IT MUST BE TRUE!) implying they must have surely inspected it. He then realizes the mileage checks out (as it's on the screen), and determines that it is, in fact, more likely than not, this spare was somehow overlooked (guilty until proven innocent I guess). He then tells me to go wait somewhere on Endor, as they're going to check this out, and see if they had any available.

Now it gets hilarious.

After about 20 minutes (car hasn't even entered the empty inspection bay mind you), he comes in, pulls out a piece of paper, and tells me a replacement will cost me $492 galactic credits. I just laughed, and said, "I DON'T THINK SO, NO WAY, NOT FOR A CAR I JUST BOUGHT SIX DAYS AGO!" He thinks for a moment, and tells me he will try and make contact with Darth Sidious about the whole situation... anyway, to wrap up this tirade a bit quicker, they ultimately end up "ordering" a spare, giving me a receipt of sorts, and telling me it would be in, in "about a week...",

THEN he adds the CLINCHER and says, "So how did you get a flat tire last week?"

In another time, another place, I would have EXPLODED on the guy, but I instantly realized just how idiotic the situation was, and for a moment, thought about my tie. :mrgreen: Was there something about it that gave him the impression I was a complete f'in idiot? Granted, it was a tie I really didn't like wearing because of what I consider odd stripes, but simply did so for variety. I simply smiled, and told him the same story he heard not more than 20 minutes ago, giving him the satisfaction that he was a pretty "slick" guy...


Yeah, so what happens if I get a flat in the interim? I didn't even bother, I knew the answer would be something amongst the lines of, "Call the 800...WONK WONK WONK WONK (Charlie Brown teacher voice)"

Well, at the very least, I keep getting calls asking about how their "service" was, and if I should think it anything less than "Excellent", I should call so and so...

Anyway, that's my tirade for the night...

May the force be with you all. :mrgreen:

[Frank Hudon]

really funny bed time story! thanks, nite.

[Bill Merchant]

[font=Comic Sans MS:d691f8408d]ROTFLMAO! May the farce be with you! Time to find a new dealer![/font:d691f8408d]

[Presto]

Stealership...

[mikepaul]

My 1995 Geo Metro was sold to me as used, but only when the door needed to be adjusted did anybody tell me it had been in an accident and had the transmission replaced. The dealer's comment: "Well, even if it was in an accident I wasn't required to tell you." They joys of South Carolina law...

[paul16451]

My 1995 Geo Metro was sold to me as used, but only when the door needed to be adjusted did anybody tell me it had been in an accident and had the transmission replaced. The dealer's comment: "Well, even if it was in an accident I wasn't required to tell you." They joys of South Carolina law...

Which is why carfax.com is so important...

[jayman]

Gee-zus!

I only have two words for you:

"Caveat Emptor:" Buyer Beware.

Here are some sad but true facts of life: Politicians lie all the time. Salescreatures lie all the time. Almost everybody around you will either lie to you or is thinking of lying to you.

Deal with it. Become suspicious of any transaction you hope to enter into, and go over everything in detail. I hope your State has appropriate Consumer Protection laws, otherwise since you signed off on this car, better chalk it up to one of life's little lessons.

It wouldn't hurt for you to walk into the middle of the service lounge and announce in a loud voice what a ripoff that dealer is. See if they lose anymore customers.

[jayman]

The dealer's comment: "Well, even if it was in an accident I wasn't required to tell you." They joys of South Carolina law...

WHACK!

"Oh I'm VERY sorry but I wasn't *required* to tell you I was about to plant my right hook into your jaw. You okey there? Try a little ice, Advil for cramps, Excedrin for migraines."

[Beacher]

A few years ago I bought a used Camry at the local high volume used car dealership. By the next morning one of the tires was about half way flat... obvious slow leak. I put some air in it and the next day stopped by the dealership after work and talked to my salesman. He said he would like to do something about it but the service area was closed. We were standing there amongst about 30 more used Camry's so I said, "Lets just grab one off one of these other cars." Incredibly, he actually agreed and we searched for a suitable tire on one of the other cars and swapped tires just using the tire changing tools in the trunk of the two cars. I wish I had a picture of him washing the grease off his hands with Goop back in the service bay when we were done.

It all worked out for him though. Six days later, my wife totaled the Camry. A couple of days later I went back into see him and said, "You know that Camry you sold me last week? I need another one just like it."

[MarinJohn]

Whilst sitting in a finely-tuned theater on Naboo only a modest stones' throw from Lucas Valley Road and Skywalker ranch wherein all Uncle George's creations are pre-screened, and awaiting the opening of Episode III, I was busily going over in my mind my upcoming 15,000 mile service when where did my mind stall? On that famous doughnut and how in the year and 1/2 that I have been racing around in my '04, I have not once checked the air pressure in said doughnut. "Must remember...". The last new Toyota I bought I was so dismayed at that poor excuse of a spare that I mailed the new doughnut COD back to Japan with a note explaining that after paying mucho dinero for one of their products the least they could do was provide a REAL spare. As we can all see, my mild protest did not reach proper ears. Anyhoo, III was good for sound effects, visuals and tying much together. May the farce be with you and our uncle who the local paper recently voted 'Best neighbor in the County'. Shoot, I coulda, woulda, shoulda had that title if MY income were in the hundreds of millions each year, leaving me time to put my fantasys on the big screen in the sky. Of course I'd still drive a Prius instead of a midnite blue BMW...