God I hate my car. It’s always breaking down, but I can’t afford a new one at the moment so I just end up shovelling bad money in getting it repaired.
On Tuesday evening, driving home from work, I noticed my car was making a very strange noise, and then just as I was pulling into my car park in front of my flat, I heard an almighty bang, followed by a sound of metal dragging on the ground.
Oh fuck, the exhaust pipe.
I parked the car and jumped out to check out the damage. It was broken roughly in the middle, but nearer the front and it was dragging on the ground. Fuck, fuck fuck, I hate this car and above all I hate having to deal with getting it repaired – asking people to pick you up from the garage, to ferry you around, to explain to my boss that I’m gonna be late, that I need to leave early etc. The whole thing just pisses me off. And all that for a piece of shit car in the first place.
So it was 5:30pm, and I had a broken down car which could start but which couldn’t/shouldn’t be driven. All the garages would be closing soon and I had to get to work next day. Bollocks !!
I locked the car up and went up to my flat and fired up Google maps on my PC. Walking time to/from work was 40 minutes. Ouch, it’s doable for just 3 mornings until the weekend and I’ll be able to ask for a lift at least some of the way in the evenings. I then called around a few garages and managed to find one open on Saturdays. The mechanic said they were open, but their suppliers of parts wasn’t so if they didn’t have the part, they wouldn’t be able to fix it Saturday.
“But if I bring my car in, you will be able to at least keep it locked up over the weekend and fix it Monday or Tuesday?”
“Yeah, sure, no problem, bring it in”
So that was my plan. To make do without the car til the weekend and then on Saturday to call my breakdown recovery service (covered by my car insurance) and instruct them to tow it to this garage.
So Saturday morning, I call up my insurance company and explain. They said no problem, the recovery truck thing will be there within 45 minutes (this is the maximum wait time as defined by my insurance policy).
Over an hour later, I was still waiting and it was getting close to lunchtime. This wasn’t so much a problem about me getting hungry, but for those that know France and the French, well lunchtime is sacred over here and the whole country grinds to a halt between midday and 2pm, and it kinda goes into slow motion for the 30 minutes leading up to it and the 30 mintes after it. So not wanting to turn up at the garage at peak eating time, I called my insurance company to find out where the hell the recovery truck was and to tell them to get a move on because it was soon gonna be lunchtime. The girl at the other end of the line contacted them directly for me and came back to me to say ok, they are on their way.
2 minutes later, my mobile phone rings:
“Hi this is the breakdown guy, I am told you want your car taking to a garage. Which garage is it ?”
So I tell him the name and address of the garage. (one of these quick repair places, similar to kwik fit etc in the UK)
“Well for starters, that’s not a proper garage. Make sure the car is ready when I get there to save time.”
“Everything is ready. I am just waiting for……..YOU”
What a dick ! Seriously. The guy is clearly pissed off that he’s being told to hurry up by my insurance company. “not a proper garage!” WTF does it have to do with him anyway where I’m taking it ?! His job is to take me and my car to where I request to get it fixed. Not a garage ?! Well wtf is it ? A hotel? A restaurant ? A zoo ? It’s a place to get my fucking car fixed, NOW HURRY UP.
So 5 minutes later, he turns up and parks his truck and I immediately drive my car up behind it so he could drive it on to the back of the truck. He does all this and then makes sure it is all secured, which takes about 10 minutes. Bear in mind he still hasn’t said hello or even acknowledged my presence yet. He then signals to me to jump in the passenger seat next to him for the drive to the “garage” Hmmm, this is gonna be fun.
So I jump in and off we go and within 2 minutes, he was already laying in to me about the insurance company hurrying him up. FUCK ME this guy is tilting me. My insurance company is probably his biggest client. The contract I have with my insurance company is that they have to get a recovery vehicule to me WITHIN 45 minutes. I pay them a lot of money for this service. Some years go by where I don’t need it, but when I DO actually need it, I think I am well within my rights to make sure I am getting what I am paying for. And FFS, if this guy’s company can’t handle the 45 minute condition, then that’s HIS FUCKING PROBLEM, not mine.
But I tell you what, if I was running a business and I had a customer who made up probably >50% of my revenue (my insurance company is HUUUGE), then you know what, I would make sure I met all their requirements and treat them with a bit of respect and decent customer service.
So I basically told this guy that the contract I had with my insurers was for a 45 minute wait, and not an hour and a half and if he didn’t like it, then that’s not my problem. Cue frosty silence for the rest of the drive to garage.
When we got there, he took care of taking the car down of the truck while I went to the garage reception area to organize getting the car checked out. I was in the middle of discussing this with the guy from the garage when the recovery driver guy hands me his paperwork and just as he was about to leave he turns to the garage mechanic and said (so i could hear him) ” The whole length of the exhaust pipe is damaged. You’ll need to change the whole thing IMO” and then he drives off !!
FUCK YOU !! Your job was to pick my vehicule up withing 45 minutes and take it where I want. THAT’S IT !! NO MORE NO LESS. You were incapable of doing that, so STFU with sticking your nose in to what needs doing on my car.
Obviously this guy was just trying to get the garage to screw me over for what needed doing on my car, but no way did the whole thing need changing.
Anyway, the garage gave me a quote. – It was “just” the catalyzer part of the exhaust that needed changing for which they quoted me 400 euros
Ouch, no choice really and they knew it so I said ok through gritted teeth. They said it will be ready in an hour and a half, so I gave them my mobile phone number and asked them to call me once it was fixed as I was going to grab something to eat while waiting. “No problem sir, we’ll call once it’s fixed”
So off I went to have a bite to eat and do some shopping at the shopping centre next door. An hour and a half went by. No call. There was air conditioning in the shopping centre so I’d rather wait there than in the hot garage. Another 30 minutes went by, still no call. Worried there might be a problem, I decided to go back to the garage.
“Oh yes, we finished your car 30 minutes ago”
FUCK ME, HOW ABOUT CALLING ME THEN FFS ! I’m paying you 400 euros for 30 minutes work. Any chance of a bit of customer service. So I pay and go and pick up my car, which still has all the plastic sheets inside, is still on the “ramps” (so it is up to me to drive it off them) and the ignition key was in the “ON” position and so the battery was being worn down (on purpose ? Is this some “coy” plan to wear down customer’s batteries ?!! WTF)
Seriously, I hate cars, and I hate the whole repair thing. BASTARDS !