Jeeps go 'beep! beep!' unless they don't start.... umm...

So, Monday, the kids last night of soccer and I have to miss it. Why?  Well we went to the hospital to simply pick up a prescription before heading home after school.  The pharmacy is in the hospital. Get what we need, and go to leave and nothing.  Jeep wont start... really?!  As if the purchasing of this Jeep wasn't a pain my ass to start with and all the issues it had in the first place that the dealership finally took care of, we get down here and after a tow truck ride, and about 14 hours later, the Firestone repair shop on post calls me and tells me its the starter and they found that the power steering pump was leaking.  SUPER DOOPER!

Monday night I asked the man at Firestone if they bill to extended warranties or service contracts, and he told me no.  So first thing Tuesday I called the service plan provider and they tell me that yes, in fact, Firestone is one of their national accounts.  They just have to send over the service invoice and they will issue them payment.  So, I call Firestone back and they said ok, let us call them and we will see what to do and call you back.  No call back.  So finally after a few hours and some dinner, I call back. The guy says that yes, they will take it and they have to order the parts and it will be done on Thursday.  OK, cool!  That means I have a $100.00 deductible and they said I have to pay the $79.99 for the diagnostic check, cool whatever.

Thursday comes and I called about 11am or so to find out how things were going.  Come to find out after a few rounds of phone tag, they wont have the part in because they had to special order it in and it wont be in till FRIDAY now.  Dude... you guys have had really since Tuesday morning to get this ordered and you are JUST now telling me that you have to special order a part that will be here in one more day, then lord knows how long to actually do the work.   We will call you as soon as your Jeep is ready ma'am, again, we are sorry for the inconvenience. (* um ok, sure don't sound like you are Raul*) Plus, on top of that, they told me that even IF I paid my deductible, they wouldn't release my Jeep to me because they need to receive payment first from the extended contract company.  They said they pay it with a Credit Card and that they still didn't get word back from them that they were even going to pay it.  All they had was a PO number. Well, Carlos called me and explained and yes in fact that they where going to let me have my Jeep when I paid my deductible because they had a PO number and thats how the national accounts work. OK, thanks for clarifying that, per his words, " hes new and didn't know how those work, I'm sorry.  I explained and showed Raul how those are done. Yes you can have your Jeep when its done. "

Friday comes.  My phone rings just about 12pm noon.  Its Ivan from Firestone telling me that my Jeep is ready to be picked up!  YES!!! FREEDOM AND GROCERY SHOPPING, COMMENCE! Lets face it, when you are a two vehicle household and one decides to stop working all together, its a bit stressful on everyone, kids included.  Early bedtime for extra early arousals because Dad has to be on Far East Ft Bliss for work extra bright and early for whatever reason. (* I dont pretend to understand why*)  Anyhow, back to what I was saying, I very excitedly call Adam and ask if hes coming home for lunch, he said he was parking in front of the house.. um, YIPPY!  Lets go get the Jeep!

So we walk into Firestone, We get to the cashier and he grabs the paperwork and tells  us we owe $100.00.  I have a confused look and say what about the $79.99 for the diagnostic check to see what was even wrong in the first place... he then says I don't know, but it shows that you only have to pay $100 because of the extended service contract. I say, ok thats fine. My husband tries to keep talking and ask but they told us... SHUT UP!  Dude, if it says $100.00, then keep quite. Really Adam... he has so much to learn, yet hes the cheapo of the two of us!  So we pay the money and go to leave, my interior digital control panel is not working.  Everything says zero and Adam has already gone to grab lunch aross the street.  So they take it for a drive, come to find out when your battery is unhooked for a longer period of maybe an hour or more, it resets everything on the thing.  Who knew... its fine now and reads all my pressures and everything the right way.  Phew!

I get back home, go in to take out the dogs, eat some lunch and go to leave to do some grocery getting, and I have a missed call.  Really?  FIRESTONE called me... WHY?  I listen to the voicemail and its Carlos asking me to call him back, so I do...

"You have GOT to be kidding me!!!" That was the first thing out of my mouth, and you really don't want to know what else came out.  He apologized first, and then told me that the employees had been written up and reprimanded for what they did, but that he was going to take care of everything for me.  WELL YOU BETTER, since they sent me home with a Jeep that had a new power steering pump put on, and when they placed it they noticed it was defective.  Instead of taking it off, they left it there and put a note on the ticket to "contact customer"  Well they contacted me, they told me it was finished and ok for pick up.  Can we say lack of communication?   Carlos told me that they will need me to bring my Jeep back into the shop the next day, Saturday and that its fine to drive, it wont affect anything.  Oh please! really dude, Im not that stupid.  he knew I was FURIOUS with the fact that this is now the 2nd vehicle that we have taken there and had major communication issues with the employees and he said that he recalled that and would personally see to it that it doesn't happen again.  He also offered for a rental vehicle for me to use while my Jeep was back in there.  Well let me tell you, thats great because I had plans.

So bright and early, of course, the kid wakes up, breakfast is had and I  shower and am off to Firestone.  I walk in and Carlos pretty much drops what hes doing and brings me up to the counter to exchange keys and tells me that the red pick up in the back is my rental.  When I hear red pick up, I imagined a little ranger or s-10.  Nope.  Full size four door Ford.  I couldn't even jump into the thing without using the steering wheel and that never happens!!! I mean, I know how to drive a truck that big, and I know how to get into a truck, I just guess Im used to people having step bars to step on.  This did not have them.  Oh boy.

They called like they said they would about 3 hours or so later.  Carlos when I got there was again, very apologetic and said that either the Jeep or the Subaru, the next oil change is on him and gave me his card.  He was nice, and everything, but seriously.... he knew I was beyond pissed.  I think he realized that I was not joking when I told him that I didn't have time for it especially when I had a child to get back and forth to school and medical errands plus, I've been without it since Monday afternoon... it was Saturday morning... I'm no rocket scientist but well, you do the math.  On top of that, they let me take a vehicle with a defective part that they put on when they knew, it shouldn't have left.

In closing, I will be taking the Jeep to a Jeep dealership here in town next time I am CERTAIN of that.  No place is 100% accurate, I know that, but at LEAST they might have less communications errors and some more well versed and trained employees, or at least one would hope.  Happy that this little nightmare is over and I have my Jeep back... thank you Jesus for nothing happening while I had that bad part on it!


Have you ever had a bad car repair experience? Total nightmare right, fill me in and vent about it! :)

~Heather