So, I have this lovely 96 or 98 neon, named Dorie...after the flaky blue fish on Finding Nemo...so named because my Dorie is exactly that...flaky. Her instrument panel that is. And then it was her transmission, and now according to the firestone specialist she's just plain flaky...But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.
We have a tail light out, and therefore a blinker out, and therefore the car is technically "illegal." So to prevent tickets and points on licenses (further tickets, etc, that is) we decided to take the car to Firestone to have them make sure it was just the bulb that needed to be fixed along with a little reflective tape. Well, I had the bright idea to have them check a few other things, just to see what was wrong. Turns out two and a half hours AFTER I gave them my keys they STARTED looking at my car. An hour later they had a list. A very long list. A very long, expensive list. Having been there for three and a half hours already with my active and now grumpily hungry toddler I was ready to cry. To top it all off, my phone died, so I couldn't call David right away. They were very nice, showed me the underside of my car...an interesting view...along with all of the things that were wrong with the car. The wheel bearings Front passenger needed to be replaced. The transmission pan (?) was leaking transmission fluid. The head gaskets were leaking, the battery was completely dead and needed to be replaced, the rear cylinders were leaking and needed to be replaced. The car needed new tires. Of course the light thing (at this point it seemed the least of my worries) and oh yeah, the trunk wouldn't latch. Well, they fixed the trunk free of charge, which was really nice and then were pretty honest with what needed to be done NOW. The tranny problem and the wheel bearings and the battery. So, they ordered the parts, set an appointment for the bearings for today and I waited for the part to get there. Here's a little background on how the day went for me in their oh so comfy waiting room. We got there at about 1230. We had a late breakfast and I took some snacks, but didn't figure we'd be there long enough to need a packed meal. I was wrong. Finally at 6pm I left. I went to Walmart to get a battery. The wait for them to change the battery was an hour and a half to two hours. NO WAY!!! We bought the battery and went home. David had to meet me there, because they wouldn't take my card. We don't know why. So David changed the battery and fixed the light and I went about my evening plans. Today I got up early and got dressed and got the kiddo dressed so that we could make our appointment on time. Which we did. We got to Firestone, I gave them the keys and they told me they'd get me in as soon as they could...I had an appointment! About half hour into it they came and told me they'd started BUT that they'd been sent the wrong piece in the right box (does that make sense?) so they had to wait to get the right piece. More waiting. An hour and a half later they finished with my car.
I don't love my car as much as I used to...and while the people at Firestone were really nice, I don't want to go back there anytime soon. It was quite an adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment