AIG

What the fuck??!!??

Rant #3 Organic Foods

This isn't really a complaint about any company in particular, it's just my view about the concept of organic food. I know that organic foods are suppose to be healthier for you because they don't use pesticides and preservatives. But you know what? I like pesticides and preservatives. Why? Because they kill pests and preserve my food! I am all for healthy, but it does me no good if the food only last as long as the car ride home from the market! People who eat only organic are constantly circling the grocery store the same way folks who drive those big gas-guzzling SUVs constantly circle the petro station. And they pay a premium for the privilege of doing so.

Now if you eat only organic, please don't send me any hate mail. I don't advocate that you stop. I am just saying for me, I will just stick with the conventional. I have been eating preservatives my entire life, and I seem to be ok. Besides, I have never known anyone to drop dead from eating really red tomatoes..........

I Hate Ganley Volkswagen: UPDATE

The other day, much to my surprise, I received a form letter from a Ms. Joy Pablo, Service Customer Manager and Loaner Coordinator at Ganley Volkswagen of Bedford. In part, the letter reads:

Dear Yolanda Medina, (that's not how you spell my name)

I would like to personally thank you for your recent visit to our Service Department.

We want to be certain that your experience has been satisfactory. We strive to ensure that the worked performed on your VW has clearly been explained to you. As you develop confidence in us, we hope that you will recommend Ganley VW of Bedford for all your service and sales needs.

It is very important to us to be aware of any areas that may require attention regarding your service experience. If at any time you cannot give us score of Very Satisfied, please be sure to call me at 440-439-3444 or email me at jpablo@ganleyauto.com. I will be glad to work with you to resolve any concerns or questions you may have. This information enables us to improve our performance thereby satisfying your service needs. "Complete Satisfaction" for all of our customers is our goal..........................

Since she was kind enough to invite me to email her, this was my response:

Ms. Pablo,

My name is Yalanda Medina, and I received your letter in which you personally wanted to thank me for my recent visit to your service department. Why exactly you sent me this letter I do not know seeing as how I have never heard of you, or from you, in the 5+ weeks my car was at your dealership. My experience with your "service" department was nothing short of a nightmare and at no time was I ever contacted by you on anyone else from Ganley who fancied themselves concerned about my complete satisfaction.

Since you obviously have no idea of the situation, let me bring you up to speed. I host a weekly consumer advocate blog dedicated to exposing the rapid decline of customer service. Below is an excerpt from that blog detailing my experience with Ganley...................................

That was 4 days ago. Guess what? She hasn't written me back.

Rant #2 Edy's No Sugar Added, Low Fat, Coffee Flavored Ice Cream

As a former fat ass (or fatter ass), I have an unnatural obsession with the foods that I consume. I am constantly calculating calories, fat (both saturated and unsaturated), sugar, salt, good carbs, bad carbs, the glycemic index, whole foods, processed foods, organic foods, etc. This is both time consuming and mentally exhausting.

Needless to say, a low fat, low carb, no sugar added, reduced sodium diet is also low in taste. (There are only 3 things that make food taste good: salt, fat, and sugar,....... so you see my dilemma). Given this, when I find something that fits the above criteria and still has some taste, I consider this a major accomplishment.

Which brings me to Edy's No Sugar Added, Low Fat, Coffee Flavored Ice Cream. I am sure without adding sugar and fat it's not really ice cream, but what ever it is, for what it is, it tastes great. It was one of the few food pleasures I could enjoy in my quest to fulfill all of the beauty standards set forth by balding white men on Madison Avenue.

As I was shopping at my local grocery store, I took notice that Edy's had reduced the container of ice cream from 1.75 quarts to 1.5 quarts, but the price was exactly the same! Now this is not a new practice. Many companies reduce amounts and it is very, very sneaky and underhanded. (the biggest offenders are ice cream, pasta sauces, and cereal). Companies count on consumers not noticing because the reductions are so small, and unless you read the label, most people don't notice. But because of my obsession, I read labels all the time. But I didn't even have to read the label on Edy's because my local grocer was kind enough to put the old packaging and the new packaging side by side to make it very easy for the customer to see they were being screwed out of .25 quarts of ice cream!

It goes without saying that I was livid. Why, you might ask, am I so upset now when this practice has been going on for so long and it involves so many other products? Frankly, it's because I don't eat those other products! I very rarely buy prepackaged foods, and I really don't think farmers are conspiring to secretly shrink the size of an ear of corn or acorn squash.

I complained to everyone who would listen. I went on about it so much that I got a call from CBS Marketwatch to do an interview! Finally, my day had come! I was to go on national television and get the folks over at Edy's told once and for all!! (did I mention this was national television? prime time baby!) I was going to expose their little scam and shame them into giving me back my .25 quarts of coffee ice cream and make them apologize to the public for their deceit.

And so I give my seething interview chastising Edy's, but it was overshadowed by John McCain suspending his campaign and running back to Washington to solve our financial crisis.. (I wonder how that turned out...). I never heard from Edy's. I suspect they didn't give a damn. They didn't even send me a lousy coupon. I admit, I still eat Edy's coffee ice cream, but now I only buy it if it is on sale and I have a coupon, therefore I eat it way less often than I use to, which is actually a good thing for both me and the boys on Madison Ave.

Rant #1: I Hate Ganley Volkswagen

I hate Ganley Volkswagen of Bedford. More specifically, I hate the service department at Ganley Volkswagen of Bedford. The fact that such a large Confederacy of dunces inhabit such a small space is nothing short of impressive.

This is a LONG story, so I am going to shorten it as much as possible so that you can understand why I hate them so much. On Jan 24th, I was driving along in my 2004 VW Passat when all of a sudden the car cut off in the middle of the street. On Jan. 26th, I had the car towed to Ganley VW and thus begins my 5 week nightmare with the Ganley Service dept.

Week 1: My husband and I were informed that my car needed a new engine because of an excessive amount oil sludge. Also they told us it was our fault because we didn't get all of our oil changes and we would have to pay (a $6000 to $8000 repair). We told them of course we had all of our oil changes and there was no way a 4.5 year old car should need a new engine. Their response was that there was nothing they could do. This is lie no. 1.

Week 2: My husband, who drive an Audi A4 had this exact same problem, but less severe. If you don't know, the Passat and the A4 are EXACTLY the same car. Same parts, same engine, just a different body. (We took the car into Fred Baker Audi for service, and as soon as they saw the problem, they fixed it right away, no cost to us. One week, start to finish). Armed with this knowledge, we contacted Volkswagen USA customer service who promptly informed us that the 1998 thru 2004 models have well known oil sludge problems and that there is an extended warranty just for this, and as long as we have our receipts proving we had regular oil changes, then VW will pay for the repair. Ganely was fully aware of this warranty and purposely did not inform us even after we told them how the same thing happened with our Audi. So VW USA contacted Ganley and suddenly they remembered.

Now the Chief Idiot at Ganley, let's call him Pete, (mostly because that is his name) said he looked in my glove compartment and he could not find any receipts for oil changes. This is lie #2. Believing him, I ran around town in a snow storm getting duplicate receipts and paperwork showing that the car had regular oil changes.

Week 3: I submitted the paperwork, and then, nothing. I call Ganley over and over again, but no one ever answers the phone. Finally after 3 days of calling, I reach Chief Idiot Pete, who puts me on hold, which somehow goes to speaker phone, and I listen to him and another idiot talk for 12 minutes about buying new furniture. No kidding. When he returns to the phone, he tells me that they need my proof of purchase to verify the number of miles on the car when I purchased it. I told him its in the glove compartment. He said he would take a look. This is lie #3. Two days later, I call and he tells me he could not find it. This is lie #4. In disbelief, I go up there to look for myself. Now if you remember in the above paragraph I mentioned we had a big snow storm. When I get to the dealership, my car is surrounded by 2.5 feet of virgin snow. Now, unless he was airlifted through the sunroof, there was no way Chief Idiot Pete looked in my glove compartment. So one of the technicians was nice enough to get a shovel and remove enough snow so I could open the door, and lo and behold there were my oil receipts and my proof of purchase.

Of course I hear nothing. I call VW USA who tells us that all is a go on their end. I call and call Ganley. No answer. Finally, a couple of days later, we get a call saying that the repair was approved and they were ordering an engine. this was on a Thursday. They told us that the engine would be here the following Wednesday and I should have my car by Fri. or Monday. Another lie. Incidentally, I asked about a rental car or a loaner, and Ganley told me that they could not give me either because........well, they actually didn't have a reason, but they said it was not covered under the warranty. Do you think that is a lie?

Week 4: The engine arrives that Wednesday. I call on Friday. I get Chief Idiot Pete on the phone, who again, puts me on hold with the speaker phone for 18 minutes. I listen to him talk with someone in the background about everything except my car. The person he is talking to asks if the speaker is on, then he hangs up on me! I am so furious I had to invent new curse words because the ones currently in existence are not enough. Needless to say I go up there and go off. Chief Idiot Pete could not even look me in the face. They tell me that the work has started on my car ( a lie) but the technician who is working on my car is out sick and should be back the following week (he really was sick). I asked them why they thought I gave a damn about a sick technician? I was sorry that he was sick, but what was your contingency plan? They had no plan. The plan was to let my car sit in perpetuity until the guy came back or died. In actually, no one had begun work on my car. It was still sitting and waiting. I call VW USA screaming at the top of my lungs and even they couldn't believe what was (or wasn't) happening. My car has been there a month and no one has offered a rental car. Well, VW USA sent out a regional manger to find out was the hell was going on and to get to the bottom of things. Also VW USA agreed to reimburse me for my rental car expenses, but this is bullshit. Who has $25 a day for 4 weeks to pay for a car upfront? And moreover, VW USA should not be paying for it, Ganley should pay for it or give me a loaner.

Week 5: The following Monday (after the visit from the regional manager), I get a call from VW USA who tells me that they just discovered my turbo was also damaged and they were ordering a new one, and my car should be ready by Friday. Ganley told me they had been working on my car since the engine came in, so you mean to tell me that you have been working on my engine for a week and just discovered the turbo was bad. That's a lie, no one even touched my car until they sent out the regional manager. That Friday, March 6th, I get a call from Chief Idiot Pete at 7:45am telling me my car would be ready that afternoon and he would call me when it was. He never called again. At 2:00pm, I get a call from VW USA. They tell me that they spoke with Ganley and Chief Idiot Pete said he called me to pick up my car. A lie. If VW USA had not called, I would have never known it was ready. So I go to pick up my car finally, and this idiot tells me I need a new battery. Are you kidding me? My car has been sitting for more than 5 weeks because of you assholes, of course the battery doesn't work.

So I ask Chief Idiot about the warranty on the repair. He fumbles and stumbles because he doesn't know the answer. He goes to some VW guide book for extended warranties and tells me that the warranty is for 8 years. I ask him could I have a copy for my records. He gives me a copy and it is the guidelines from VW USA detailing the oil sludge problems and the extended warranty associated with it. But if you remember, when I originally spoke with them they claimed to know nothing about it oil sludge problems. Yet they were stupid enough to actually give me a copy of the guidelines they never heard of.

Let me say that VW USA was great. Anne, who is the regional customer service manager, did everything she could to solve these problems. She was thoughtful, polite, did excactly what she said she would do when she said she would do it, and always followed up. It is only becuase of her that I would even condsider buying another VW. If I do buy another VW, you can make book on the fact that it will not be from Ganley. I don't have any experience with their sales department, but on the slightest chance that the same people who hires the sales team hires the service team, I wouldn't go near them on a bet--even if it is the dreaded Double Dog Dare!

As long as this story is, I have only written half of it here. The moral of the story is DO NOT TAKE YOUR CAR TO GANLEY VOLKSWAGEN OF BEDFORD.

Yet Another Blog

Welcome to my blog. Why, you ask, would I institute yet another blog when there are already a billion blogs online as it is? Because I need to get a few things off my chest. Instead of standing on the corner screaming like a crazy person, this is a much safer outlet for me to bitch, and, unlike the corner, I am not subject to changing weather patterns. Just like Twisted Sister, I am mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!

Basically I am sick to death of the complete lack of customer service in this country. As a consumer, I expect a certain level of service and consideration. The level of service I expect is proportionate to the expense of the goods or services. (for example, I don't expect the same level of service from McDonald's that I do from, say, The Russian Tea Room). I expect corporate accountability, and also some customer loyalty.

Let me also mention here that I do not subscribe to the school of thought that the customer is always right. Contrary to popular lore, the customer is almost never right. (This is because although individuals can be smart, people are stupid. But that is another rant for another time). However, when the customer IS RIGHT, I expect the company to respond accordingly.

Nothing pisses me off more than after having worked to earn money, I have to work to spend it, or even worse, to be taken advantage of and then made to feel as if getting screwed was actually a favor to me. I have plenty of examples, as I am sure you do too. (Feel free to share you consumer nightmares.) If the most powerful advertisement is word of mouth, then the opposite is certainly true, and if I can save just one person from being f+^*ed over by corporate America, then my work here is done.