I posted a few dumb-ass car owner stories on another thread and thought "hey, this could be a good thread!". So, here goes. Some of us have an advantage (?) since we work in "the biz" but I'm sure all of you have come across someone who just shouldn't drive a car. Basic auto knowledge should be part of getting a drivers license. Unfortunately it isn't and the rest of us suffer because of it...
Probably my all time worse experience was my episode last Summer when Connie, my son and myself were almost wiped out by an old woman who forgot which pedal was the brake and drove through an ice cream parlour, missing us by about 5-6 feet. Had this happend 30 seconds later you all would be saying "remember that Todd guy who had that Canadian Pontiac website?"
Ok, heres another-there was this great looking french Girl from Sturgen Falls living down here-dated her on and off 20 +years ago-she always called me for her car needs-one night she needs me to fix a flat-rather than me go over I thought she could stop by if it was just low I'd fill it-so I ask "how flat is it " she says "its only flat on the bottom" I'm not joking-this is a true storey-I must have laughed for hours.
This other young girl used to cruise us around in her Dad's Monarch-one time she tells us she can't use the car anymore because the tires are flat-"all four?" so we go check it out-they are getting bald. Ya I know not as dumb as the first one !
Another one: I had a customer a couple of months ago drop off her 98 Rav 4 for a detailing. The thing was a pig sty and full of her junk. She asked how long it would take and I said "Oh, about 4 hours". She dropped it off at 10. At 12:30 I get back from lunch and there is a voicemail from the customer. Apparently she had a change of plans and needed the vehicle asap. I took a walk out to the shop and asked our detailer how much longer he would be. He said he had just finished cleaning the inside (it was much worse once you got her junk out-stains everywhere). He still had the exterior wax etc to do. I called the customer and explained that it was going to take longer than expected. This is when we entered the Twilight Zone.
She said "Todd, you will have my car done by 2pm. You said 4 hours and we have a contract" "Pardon?" was my reply. I then reiterated how dirty the vehicle was and in order to do the job properly we needed more time. Knowing she was in a hurry I offered to give her the vehicle back now and not charge her for what we did. Her response: "Todd, I normally get up at 9am but today I had to get up at 8 to be there on time. YOU WILL FINISH MY RAV 4 AT 2!"
Plan B:
"How about I pay for a rental vehicle and you can run your errands and pick up your Rav 4 when you are finished?"
(Here's where you play the Twilight Zone music)
"TODDDDDDD...Are you going to rent me a 98 Rav 4???"
Me: "No, it will be a new vehicle"
Her: "Toddddd, I only drive a 98 Rav 4. There are babies on the road. Do you want me to kill the babies?".
Me: .................
Her: "Todddd, I CAN'T BELIEVE you would offer something so LUDICROUS! Your mother should have taught you some manners"
Since my parents are no longer alive, this struck a nerve. My pay scale isn't high enough to deal with these types of people so I promptly connected her with the boss. He was on the phone with her for 20 minutes. Since he is the boss, he got 4 of the techs to help clean it and still gave it to her for free-even though it was ready for 2! Our shuttle driver picked her up and she told him this:
She never makes left turns. Therefore it takes here well over an hour to get from our dealership to St.Thomas (should take 25 mins at best)
She doesn't drive on windy days as the wind may tip over her vehicle!
When I was a teen working at the gas station, one of our customers had a 62 Impala convertible 283 that was a bit of an oil burner. He loaned his girlfriend the car and told her that be for she used it she needed to make sure she filled up the oil.......
Yup, right to the top!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Oh, we also have a customer who wears mittens in the summer. If you aren't her favorite service advisor (thank God it isn't me!) she will roll up her window as you approach her. She is afraid of germs..
One of our customers crashed his 90 1/2 ton in the front and it needed new inner fenders on both sides. At that time the fenders from GM parts came in bare metal or galvanized, I forget exactly. He wanted black like his used to have. I told him we did not have an option, that was how they came. He went to my boss and demanded that Mark (my boss) make me keep ordering inner fenders until we got some black ones......
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Oh, we also have a customer who swears someone "switched" her 97 Tercel for another identicle 97 Tercel. Her favorite service advisor (Thank God it isn't me!) tried to reason with her (she even called the police..) by showing her the VIN and that it matched the VIN we have on file. "Someone switch those too!".
So, a few months later she has an e-test and the car fails. She said "SEE! If this was my REAL Tercel it would have passed!". Her favorite service advisor (Thank God it isn't me!) has had enough of hearing about the alledged switch-a-roo and says "Well, if you are so sure this isn't your car, why not trade it in on a new one?"
"Good idea" she replies and marches right into the showroom and buys a new Yaris!
We sold an 87 IROC Tuned Port 350 to a lady who had a male "friend" a lot younger than here. She gave him the car to drive. That was a story in itself!
Anyway, when he blew the tranny on the car and we told her that she gets a GM rebuilt trans as a warranty replacement, that was not acceptable because it did not have the same exterior finish on the case as the factory trans. She demanded we call GM and get them to pull one off the assembly line at the Camaro plant.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
We did a minor carb adjustment (about 1992 or 1993) on an 86 Grand Prix for a customer. To this day he still believes that we stole the drivers front floor mat out of his car.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
We have a customer who's son is a useless turd. So far he has done about 13 grand worth of damage to their 95 Matrix. Blown motor, crash damage you name it. The last time it was in he nailed a curb. He drove in (he isn't a kid either- maybe 25) and tossed me the keys and left. I noticed something on the drivers door handle. I couldn't make out what it was. I opened the door and sat in the car to get the odometer reading. I stunk inside. I looked at the door panel and it was covered in dried puke! I damn near puked as well! I got out of that car pretty damn fast and washed AND sanitized my hands. I asked one of our detailers if he'd even consider cleaning it. He said he would so I called this kids mother. I told her about the puke and said that we refuse to work on the car until it was cleaned. She paid for the cleaning as well as the 17" aluminum rim and tire...
A Buick Lesabre customer I had a few years ago after I told him that since he had over 100k he should look at doing more than just changing the oil:
"I've had cars for 43 years and I'll have you know that everyone want's my cars when I sell them and they say they are the best damn car they ever had"
In 1997, we sold a 30th anniversary Camaro 6 speed hardtop to a local boy. (I sure hope he doesn't read this! Nah, maybe I hope he DOES read this!!!)
He drives the crap out of his cars but maintains them to perfection. Anyway, he sprung for some extra SLP goodies on the car, exhaust, I think ram air, I forget what all. Goes out on the highway and his buddies stone stock 95 Z28 6 speed kicks his butt, every time they try it, any day of the week.
Customer shows up at our place mad at us. We did EVERYTHING to that car. Finally one day our service manager, customer and my boss are all in the boss's office together discussing the issue. Our SM suggests maybe it's the driver!!!! Customer is blazing mad, boss makes SM apologize to customer (even though the apology was not sincere!)
Customer sues our dealership (cause he knows he can't sue GM and win) an sure enough, wins a case for $5000!!!!
Icing on the cake???? My boss takes the customer out and buys him lunch after the court case.........
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Before his car arrived, he was constantly stopping in to see if the car had shown up yet. One day when he stopped (this is before I knew about his little "attitude") I said the car had arrived but we couldn't let him see it yet because we had road tested it and nobody had taken the time to wipe the rubber chunks off the quarter panels behind the back wheels!!!!!!!!!
NOT FUNNY!!!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
I'm working at the GM bodyshop up pulls an 87 full size caddy horn blowing-the guy won't get out-wants an estimate to fix the scratches-I do it panel by panel-he's pissed off sends his son out to scratch the rest of the car ! I write it again for a complete but of course the insurance charges betterment on the original paint/chips/rust etc.. he blames me-we do the job for the insurance price he pulls up gets out of the car to a wheel chair he's gotta be 500LBS-I jump in the car to pull the car in the bay-there is no cushion in the seat and the seat is soaked with sweat ( I hope it was sweat)
We had a new Cobalt SS towed into the GM store I worked at last summer. It had 23k on it and the clutch was toast. A young girl about 19 owned the car. Daddy bought it for her. It was also a pig sty inside. The front tires were bald and the rims were covered in brake dust. The front brake rotors were also destroyed. We pulled the trans and the bellhousing was full of clutch "hair". The flywheel was destroyed as well. Being a small town someone mentioned to me that they had seen the car being driven by her boyfriend "drifting" around corners. I called the girl with a quote (no warranty on this one). I got a bunch of attitude. Her big shot daddy called from Toronto demanding answers as to why I won't cover the repairs under warranty. I asked him if he had an email address. When I got it I emailed photos of the clutch, tires, rims, rotors and general condition of the car. Daddy called me back and apologized. He also gave me his VISA number to cover the repairs. Oh I was nice enough to cover the shifter knob that was busted under warranty!
We had a new Cobalt SS towed into the GM store I worked at last summer. It had 23k on it and the clutch was toast. A young girl about 19 owned the car. Daddy bought it for her. It was also a pig sty inside. The front tires were bald and the rims were covered in brake dust. The front brake rotors were also destroyed. We pulled the trans and the bellhousing was full of clutch "hair". The flywheel was destroyed as well. Being a small town someone mentioned to me that they had seen the car being driven by her boyfriend "drifting" around corners. I called the girl with a quote (no warranty on this one). I got a bunch of attitude. Her big shot daddy called from Toronto demanding answers as to why I won't cover the repairs under warranty. I asked him if he had an email address. When I got it I emailed photos of the clutch, tires, rims, rotors and general condition of the car. Daddy called me back and apologized. He also gave me his VISA number to cover the repairs. Oh I was nice enough to cover the shifter knob that was busted under warranty!
-- Edited by 69Laurentian at 22:50, 2009-01-10
Sure-you were just providing job security-she'll never buy GM again-straight to Toyota !
We had a new RAV 4 towed in a month or so ago for a "no start". The owner said his teenage daughter was driving it and it "just quit". Preliminary checks showed no fuel pressure. After hoisting the vehicle we knew why: The gas tank appeared to have been caved in by a giant rock! There was rock scrapes all over the place! Looks like daughter forgot to tell dad she was off roading!
Customer shows up at our place mad at us. We did EVERYTHING to that car. Finally one day our service manager, customer and my boss are all in the boss's office together discussing the issue. Our SM suggests maybe it's the driver!!!! Customer is blazing mad, boss makes SM apologize to customer (even though the apology was not sincere!)
Customer sues our dealership (cause he knows he can't sue GM and win) an sure enough, wins a case for $5000!!!!
This doesn't make sense to me, what was the cause of action? That someone said he wasn't the world's fastest driver? So what? What did he offer for proof of damages? That he was out racing on public roads and couldn't beat his buddy?
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Hillar
1970 LS4 (eventually an LS5) Laurentian 2dr hdtp -and a bunch of other muscle cars...
Last summer there was this electrician with a tuner car it was just a piece of crap . Anyways I asked him if he had nitrous on it and he said no but his buddy hap put some in his tires.We all had a pretty good laugh and told him it was nitrogen in his tires not nitrous
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1957 Pathfinder deluxe 4 door wagon 1961 Pontiac Parisienne bubble top Traded for a Harley sorry guys.
Customer shows up at our place mad at us. We did EVERYTHING to that car. Finally one day our service manager, customer and my boss are all in the boss's office together discussing the issue. Our SM suggests maybe it's the driver!!!! Customer is blazing mad, boss makes SM apologize to customer (even though the apology was not sincere!)
Customer sues our dealership (cause he knows he can't sue GM and win) an sure enough, wins a case for $5000!!!!
This doesn't make sense to me, what was the cause of action? That someone said he wasn't the world's fastest driver? So what? What did he offer for proof of damages? That he was out racing on public roads and couldn't beat his buddy?
I agree. I just laughed when I heard he was suing a dealer because his car was too slow. Oh, he and his friend both had chassis dynos done and the 95 did indeed outperform his by I think about 10 or 20 horsepower.
I thought it was hilarious till I heard the court ruled in favour of the owner. The judge was obviously an idiot. Oh, did I say that???
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
Todd !! I thought you were the winner, because you have the strangest customers I ever heard of... I thought it was because they were driving Toyota's ( I thought there must be drug inducing fumes in the Jap plastic, but Carl's wacko Camaro and your Cobalt SS are close.... I was in the tire business for 35 yeats, and my customers were wonderfull...
Speaking of the "Twilight Zone" Todd, I had a good one about six years ago.
We had an Astro van towed in for a no-start. The vehicle still had warranty on it, and we told the customer we could have it in the shop within minutes, and that we had a fuel pump in stock. (it was pretty obvious that the pump wasn't running) He went ballistic on us. He insisted that we just go out in the lot and "push the rest button." When we tried to explain to him that GM vehicles don't have a fuel pump kill-switch (I think Fords have them) he insisted that we quit lying to him. "Maybe GM wants to keep the switch a secret, but I know about it!" We had the pump installed and the vehicle running a little while later...good riddance, right?
Wrong.
A couple of days later we show up for work and there he is waiting in the parking lot. (he lives two hours away from us!) He wants us to look at a rattle that he now hears. We road test it, put it on the hoist, and find the rattle-a loose fuel tank retaining strap. We go to the waiting room to tell him we found the noise and we can have him on his way in a few minutes. So then he says "It's on the hoist? Good-I want to show you something." We go out to the van with him, and he points out the little steel counterweight welded to the rear of the driveshaft. "See this thing here? Well, when I heard the rattle underneath the van, I called 911 on my cell phone, and the "government mechanics" came out right away and inspected the van. They all said that little thing looked really suspicious and wanted to know why you guys put it there." We told him what it was, but I'm sure he knew it was really some sort of listening device we put there for GM..after all, he knows the fuel pump secret we've all been covering up.
We never saw him again....BUT....a few days later the dealership received a package from him...a dozen roses!
I had a customere my first month in buisness with a beat up old ford van. It was a no start turned out to be the fuel pump so I changed it and went to pick up the customere he wanted to see the old part. No problem so I give it to him he yells at me and tells me there is no way this is his fuel pump and dosen't want to pay so I tell him thats fine ill put it back in and he can pay me to change it back again. He doesn't want that so at this point im getting a little mad I tell him look buddy just pay the bill or the van can just sit out back. He calls his mechanic buddy and his buddy tells him he will inspect it to make shure that was the problem he paid and I never herd from him again. I shure was hacing second thoughts about opening a shop then. LOL that has bee the only real idiot so far.
Back in '75 a guy who had a shop had an Eldorado on the hoist with a customer fuming at him. He had put snow tires on the front and the customer called him an idiot. When he tried to explain it was a front wheel drive the guy lost it. Calling him lots of nasty names, and was going back to the Cadillac dealer for service from now on. As he was leaving Harold told him to read his owners manual, and was promptly told to go to hell and back. I seen the old guy around town after that, always with a scowl on his face, driving his Eldo. I wonder what he said to the service guys at the GM store when they told him it was FWD?
