I haven’t done an entry into my Customer Service Fails feature in a while so I figured I’d grace you all with this little ditty. This story goes waaaaaay back.
In the late 90’s I worked in the Tire and Lube Center of the first Wal-Mart ever in the Detroit metro area. As I was standing out in the shop with my supervisor one day talking about something so unimportant that I cannot remember it, one of our technicians got behind the wheel of a vehicle on which they had just completed an oil change to drive it out of the shop.
He turned the ignition switch and the engine roared to life. Literally. It was apparent right away that the RPM was rapidly increasing. The oblivious technician put the transmission into drive, and then the tires squealed as the vehicle shot out of the bay amid the cloud of smoke. A cloud of smoke which was the result of the tires spinning in place on the concrete. The technician was able to avoid hitting any cars in the parking lot and stopped the car, amazingly, perfectly into a parking spot. There were skid marks left on the bay floor where it had been parked.
My supervisor had watched this scene play out before us with his jaw on the floor. He slowly turned his gaze my way afterward, and, eyes wide with shock, said, “He knows he’s fired, right?”
Words failed me, so I said nothing. This was very unlike the technician to do something so stupid so I decided to reserve judgement until I heard what he had to say.
It turns out, the accelerator on this particular car stuck often, and the customer failed to notify anyone of that fact. Luckily, no one was hurt and no vehicles were damaged, but it was sure as shit funny after the fact.
EDIT: No, he didn’t get fired. Sorry I didn’t clarify that.
Your turn! Do you have any funny stories from an oil change shop? Or perhaps an auto repair shop?
Mental Defecation 
So if it wasn’t his fault, was he fired?
I try to avoid auto mechanics, my ex husband was one and still is. But mostly because they see a women, they think I’m dumb and know nothing. Worse, they see a women who looks like she doesn’t know Spanish (even though I do but have light skin and black hair) and think that they can comment on how much they want 5 minutes alone with me, to each other, in Spanish, and not know that I know perfectly well what they are saying.
Then, I turn to them and say in Spanish, they couldn’t take 1 second with me, and the whole shop gets quiet as you hear wrenchs and crowbars dropping to the ground.
True story. I got my oil change and brake pads for free and never returned there again.
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Ugh, this is why I get offended when people categorize me as a typical man.
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I wasn’t categorizing YOU. I was just stating a true story at a trip to an auto repair shop. Actually, the Spanish speaking thing happens to me alot not just in auto shops.
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I know you weren’t. I was saying that there are too many men out there like this and it pisses me off.
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Oh oh! You know, after re-reading that, I get what you mean and totally understand. I get frustrated when I’m put in the category of the Golddigging, “all she wants is my money for 18 years” ex wife. So I understand that kind of frustration.
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Good ol’ stereotypes…
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That’s seriously bad of the customer. Whenever I took the car for a service, I usually had a list of things that weren’t working, and would describe them in as best detail as I could, although my terminology was perhaps not accurate!
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Yeah. My favorites is when the driver’s side window doesn’t work properly. We always rolled the driver’s side window down so that the keys wouldn’t accidentally get locked in the car. Sometimes, though, the window wouldn’t roll back up.
The customers were always, “Why did you roll it down?” and we were always, “Why didn’t you tell us it didn’t work?” Good times.
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That reminds me of a story one of my friends told me about her old car. She knew the electric window on the driver’s side wasn’t working because she could tell from the sound of it, and when she took it to be repaired, none of the blokes working at the garage she went to understood what she was on about, because she described how the pitch of the sound went up and down the scale (like when you’re filling a glass of water, if you think I’m mad, go and fill a glass and listen carefully). It took the one female mechanic to understand, and then I have a feeling they fixed it with a carefully placed thump to the door of the car!
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Hahaha! I do think you’re mad, but not for that reason.
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Being a bit bonkers is much more fun.
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Oh, I agree. I love being goofy.
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Oh, the Disney-related jokes I could get in now! Could I re-name your Babies as Mickey, Donald and Pluto? 😉
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Ew. I dislike Mickey. Maybe Chip, Dale, and Donald? Those are the best.
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That would work!
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Okay!
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Oh boy, Twindaddy, I could fill a book with stories from an auto shop, since that’s where I’ve spent my working life for almost seven years now. I’ll be good, so as not to get myself in trouble, but I will share this. We have a showroom, service center, parts room and body shop, as we are a full service dealership (one of the Big Three). Every so often, I’ll pick up the phone, in my delightful way and say “Blankety Blank Motors, how can I help you” only to hear “Gimme your parts” or “I want your parts” on the other end. Sometimes, an invoice will go across my desk to be billed out simply stating the purchase as “body parts”. You just can’t make this shit up.
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Hahaha!
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I should write a book. 😉
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Indeed. A book of hilarious short stories would do well, I think.
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Shhhh…I’m looking for an agent.
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whispers okay.
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LOL.
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My break light wire had a problem and the result was that the break light always on – and my father had me take it to his friend/mechanic at K-mart (this is 1989)…and he told my father he’d take care of it ‘cheap’… so he CUT the wire. Gee -thanks.
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Wow. That sure took care of the problem.
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and it was cheap!
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Lol. Indeed.
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I usually try to get Hubby to do all the car maintenance shit, since I don’t care/don’t know/don’t wanna know what’s goin’ on in there. I’m sure there are feminists abound who are rightly appalled at my lack of ‘who gives a fuck’ but that’s it. As long as the vehicle has gas in it and I get to work on time, I’m good. Thanks for asking though. 🙂
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Yeah, I’m sure some feminists would have a problem with that attitude.
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I try and stay out of auto repair shops!!! This is a funny story, though. That guy is very lucky it has a happy ending.
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Yes, everyone was lucky no one ended up hurt. With the gas pedal stuck like that all kinds of tragedies could have occurred.
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Very funny. I cracked up at the image of the vehicle shooting out of the bay “amid a cloud of smoke.”
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Its was quite hilarious to witness.
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I had just finished expressing my displeasure to the body-shop guy who had not replaced the door of my VW that kept popping open, which is what I had paid him to do.
He put his finger in my face and said “That attitude, missy, is why you have no friends.”
“I guess you’re right,” I responded, “because I thought the guy who recommended this place was a friend.”
It’s so rare that I get to say the perfect retort at the right time instead of 10 minutes later.
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Ha! You go, Elyse!
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I took my car four times to a dealer to have my tail light repaired. Each time it worked for the first five minutes and then failed. My husband inquired about why it wasn’t fixed, and they lied and told him that I didn’t know which light was out. However, this doesn’t compare to your story.
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They’re all so honest…
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HA! I love the boss – so funny
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The look on his face was priceless.
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I know nothing about cars. I sometimes shudder to think about how badly I may be getting ripped off
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Its all a rip off. Thoes dudes charge almost $100 an hour now for labor. Really? Is their time worth that much?
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Well, considering I have no clue how to do any of it…maybe
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He’s fired!!
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Indeed!
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Oh customers! Things that should have been brought to his attention…YESTERDAY.
Funny story with a happy-ish ending!
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It’s funny how many things they forget to tell you about their broken cars.
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I don’t have any crazy stories about mechanics; now if you want to hear about running and bike rides, I’m your girl. Glad the guy didn’t get fired after all.
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Sure! Tell me a story!
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The first time I got on a bike as an adult I immediately crashed into my neighbour’s fence. Turns out you can forget how to ride a bike.
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Ha! I’m sorry…but ha! I haven’t ridden a bike in so long I would probably do the same thing.
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Scaaaary! Not whether he was fired — the stuck accelerator! Talk about an accident waiting to happen!!! Glad the technician was able to wrangle that car into a safe spot. I have some stories about mechanics, but they are stories I’d rather forget 🙂
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Ha! I have another one I’ll probably post soon. Good ol’ mechanics…
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Skid marks??? Ha!
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Yup.
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How do you not mention a stuck accelerator? I also think that if it was revving like that and I didn’t know why, I’d probably just turn off the car for fear I’d blow up or something. But then again, that’s why I’m not a mechanic. Funny story!
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I have no idea why you wouldn’t mention that unless you were hoping it got wrecked so they’d have to buy you a new car…
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I’m so glad he wasn’t fired! He gets big points for parking that baby!! LOL!
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Indeed. I don’t know how he did it. Mainly because of the cloud of smoke.
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Wow I am like way down here in the comments. You are one famous storm trooper. Anyway, this is why I’m glad my husband is a mechanic. I don’t have to deal with this stuff. Okay, so I deal with it lying all over my house and yard, but at least I don’t have to deal with going to a mechanic. He has told me all sorts of stories of the stupid stuff people do with their cars. Now he works for the police department garage, and they still don’t know what they’re doing. He does find some interesting stuff in those cars, though.
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I have no doubt.
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