Block heater

You're probably right that I should ignore the guy Eric, but he has no such
legitimate complaint. Sure, block heaters are normal *optional* equipment
up there, but he purchased the car. It *is* an optional piece of equipment.
He should have made sure he was ordering it. Wouldn't you make sure you
were getting AC or a CD changer or some other piece of equipment? Frankly,
a 2.5 hour wait is not an abuse of an individual. That's pretty good time
all things considered. It's not the salesmen's jobs to run people around.
Especially for such a short repair.

Geeze - ours has treated us great. We've been in for a bit of warranty work
and I let them do some other non-warranty stuff after negotiating a rate
that was only slightly higher than it would have cost me to do the work at
home. Fast service, good service, what more could one ask for?

You haven't read too many of my posts have you Eric? Why do I get tired of
the complaining like this guy did? Because of exactly what you said - they
come here to complain. Lots of us here are willing to offer advice from
experience working on lots of cars over lots of years. Those that want to
come here to bitch... well... screw them. They can just as well listen to
my bitching. There - good enough? Now take your own advice - plonk me and
STFU.

 

The term "optional" is a piss poor use of the word IMHO. It's as
"optional" a piece of equipment as a rear defroster is im my part of the
world. I guess so many people got screwed over by dealers here that they
actually had to pass a LAW to make the damned things required equipment.
And while I agree that 2.5 hours is not totally unreasonable of a wait
time, if the salesmen want a repeat customer, it IS their job to run people
around if not busy with other customers. Personally, I wouldn't buy
another car at that dealer if they treated me like that.

You have been extremely lucky. In all honesty, so have I. My dealer is
great, but I have purchased six cars from him now. The only problem I have
with them is that the parts department is extremely pricey on their OEM
stuff.

I have seen probably all of your posts. Anytime someone complains about
something you jump right down their throat. As far as I can tell, this
group is about Hyundai's and everything about them. Not just about what
Mike wants to read and help with.

With that said, I wish we could all emulate HyundaiTech. If he doesn't
have something constructive to add to a conversation, he just doesn't add
anything at all. I wish I had that restraint too. Maybe it's the cop in
me that tries to help out anyone I can by defending them to people like
you. I don't know. But one thing I do know is that I don't add people to
my killfile unless they post kiddie porn or something like that.

I just can't understand why you can't be happy just letting the whiners
whine, and helping those that you feel worthy of helping.

Eric

 

Guess it's just my sweet disposition coming through.

 

The Mike Marlow entity posted thusly:

Would you have ensured that you ordered tires? A heater? Headlights?
A block heater, in a new car purchased in Saskatchewan does NOT have
to be ordered, from any dealer, for ANY kind of car or truck.

 

Ok - I will accept that. I'll take that statement one step further and
blame the dealer for some form of oversight - neglect if one really wants to
be aggressive in casting blame. That being the case I'd expect the dealer
to do install asap, at no charge to me, since it appears to be something
that virtually every car requires and no reasonable person would expect
otherwise. I'd bet a tidy sum that one could even leverage that into
something advantageous to them, since as you say, it's a must have option on
all cars. Once could most likely have turned that into a deal for three or
four free oil changes (complete), or something else of comparable value (to
the customer). Oversights are a part of human nature and they can be dealt
with in a lot of ways. One is to jump into slander mode, another is to get
the responsible party to acknowledge the inconvenience to the owner, and
come to some agreeable compensation. Everybody wins.

From what the OP posted though, it sounded like the dealer accommodated this
pretty well. He didn't complain about paying for the work, about the car
being tied up for a couple of days (as can often be the case with busy
dealers), or a host of other potential problems. He got serviced in 2.5
hours on a Saturday. That's pretty doggoned reasonable for any service
bay - dealer or independent.

What triggered me was the way he went off on the lack of a loaner car for
such a short piece of work and having to wait 2.5 hours for the work. None
of us likes to wait, but we all have to. People have to wait on us, and
it's just a reality of life.

But... all of that is just my perspective.

 

FWIW - heaters were optional until air conditioning became common.
Some states required them but they were broken out as optional
equipment. It used to be one of the problems with bringing those fine
southern cars up north. Tires and headlights are univerally
government mandated so they are not an option in the US or Canada. I
do not know about other parts of the world. From a little poking
through Google it appears block heaters are common but probably not
legally mandated by State, Federal or Provincial government. My guess
is that it was a dealer installed option. I can think of several
reasons why it might not have been installed. The first is that if
you don't ask the dealer saves the cost as he figures you don't use it
anyway.

Mike may jump quicker but several other folks would do it if he
didn't. I'd like to know the rest of the story. Did fred beat every
last nickle out of the dealer so he got what he deserverved or pay top
buck with no serice in return? Why didn't his wife do some due
diligence beforehand? It appears she snoozed and lost. Why didn't he
go get her in his other car if he was so worried? My dealer will rent
me a loaner for $10/day to cover gas and insurance. Did he get that
offer and decline? Was he promised a quick turnaround or told they
would try to squeeze it in? Why would anyone expect a salesman to
give them a ride? He would then have to go get them. His job is
selling cars not riding around. if folks want answers we are happy to
try to help. If they want to whine they should be told to grow up.

 

All I can add is that you probably know the old saying about
opinions....

 

That's the beauty of it all Eric. The statement is so universal that it
immediately applies to the speaker as much as it does to the one being
spoken to. It's also part of what makes usenet what it is - and I think
that's in a good sense. It's a free forum wherein all of those opinions are
likely to appear. It's interesting to watch from which corners come the
statements such as STFU, versus those which are simple disagreeing opinions.
Oh hell - we all do it to some degree or another, it's just an interesting
thing to watch.

 

I wasn't denying that it applies to all sides of the conversation And
to the STFU comment, you were telling the OP the same thing, albeit in
slightly nicer verbiage.

And yes, it is interesting to watch...most of the time. I would even call
it entertaining from time to time.

Eric

 

Perhaps I could add more to the story as it seems to have taken a life of
it's own.
For starters, I had an apoinment booked for 9:00 AM. and when my wife
arrived and they refused her a ride because "she was told she was first and
it would only take 45 mins. The car sat outside for 20 minutes while people
stood around the TV and watched the hockey game.It was -30C outside and our
other car was not plugged in so starting it was out the question.If we had
been informed there was no courtesy ride then we could have plugged it in.
Also no loaner was offered. The real kicker was after she had been waiting
for 1.5 hrs the service rep approached her and said the car would be ready
in10 minutes "would you like a ride?", he asked. Now all of a sudden a ride
was available but the car would be ready in 10 mins.(turned out to be 20).
Why suddenly the offer of a ride -oh I forgot the hockey game was over.
So before the "your a whiner" starts all over again maybe you need to know
the facts. And regarding the comments about salesmen running people
around-isn't it funny when we were buying the car the GM told us "your
salesmen is a great guy and if he can do anything for you he will". He went
as far as to say if we ever left town on vacation he would drive us to the
airport. How things change after you sign on the dotted line.

 

The fred entity posted thusly:

Saskatoon? Regina? Other? Dealership?

 

funny, our accent will start at even -40c not plugged in...
happened few times, forgot to flip switch =-P

 

After receiving an apology from the dealer I feel this discuusion can be
closed. Sorry for going off topic but sometimes you need to rant.