Adventures in Roadside Assistance or "What do you mean you lost my car?!" (1000 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.73 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Stephie<mourninglory.at.lycos.com> (View user info) at 2005-01-16 04:07:58 EST
My car died yesterday. My beautiful little car, a 98 Saturn SC2, he was green, stick shift, I named him Jeebus. It was fine on the way to work, but when I drove it home, it started to sound like a machine gun was under it's ass, and by the time I got to the toll booth, it turned itself off and sounded like it had no muffler.
I brought it to a gas station, threw five bucks in and started it up. It wouldn't move, it just cried in pain, moaned, shook and screamed.
Off to call Mobile Assist, a feature I have with my cell phone. They told me they'd be there in an hour, around 4am. I went back in and told the gas station attendants (who were very nice and brought me coffee to my car because I was outside in 13 degree weather) that someone should be coming between 4 and 4:30, and I was leaving my keys in the car, etc. No problem, they'd keep an eye on it, and eve adjusted one of their security cameras to constantly monitor it. Nice guys, really.
My roommate comes, and I go to bed worrying about this car bill but knowing that my car was in safe hands and I would have an answer in a few hours as to what was wrong with it.
I woke up at around noon, and called the mechanic it was supposed to be going to. They had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. I called the place they brought my roommates car a week ago. Nope, not there either. I called Mobile Assist, they looked into and said, "it turns out the tow company we called had a miscommunication between drivers and they haven't towed your car, but we're sending them now to get it." Okay, great. I'm peeved, but hey, shit happens, and it'll get there. The time is now 1 p.m.
An hour later a guy from a tow truck calls me. "Yeah, uh, this is the tow truck driver, and the car's not here." What the hell is this? "Well, can you go in and find out where it is?" "No, I have other calls." "Well, can you at least give me the number to the gas station so I can find out where they towed it?" "No, I have other calls, I have no time for this. Bye." Click. I call him back. "What's the number to your garage?"
He gives it to me, I call them, ABSOLUTELY steamed, they tell me it probably went to Farmington Service, and Farmington Service tells me it's $65 to get out of hock. Back to Mobile Assist. The time is 2 p.m.
I get a girl named Heather who, after a lot of haggling and yelling on my end, tells me her supervisor says they're not responsible for this, that they fulfilled their obligation. Then I called the tow company, who told me they weren't going to take care of it. Then I called my cousin, who's a lawyer, and she told me that it's Mobile Assist's legal obligation to pay for it, since they're my "towing advocates". So I call them again and tell them they've got a $12,000 piece of property of mine they've lost and they need to fix this problem, because I shouldn't even HAVE this problem in the first place. They tell me to call on Monday. I've now taken a day off work to fix this, and I can't keep waiting until Monday. I called my father to see if he could reason with them, who told me to just get it out of the impound lot. I try Mobile Assist again because, I must tell you, I'm a really good negotiator. They tell me there's nothing they can do about it, but they're going to try calling the tow company again and see what they're going to do about it.
The tow company comes back with, "well, we didn't know it was next to a gas pump (and I did tell them, I even told them it was next to pump number nine, you know, in case they couldn't find the green Saturn...), so it wasn't a priority of ours to get the information back, because we, uh, kinda lost it." EXCUSE ME?!?! I try to tell them that their PROFESSION, the whole reason they have jobs, the basis of their company is TO TOW PEOPLE. "That's what you do! I call you to tow my car and pay you to tow my car, you tow my car!!!" They hang up on me. It's now 4 pm, 13 hours after I initially contracted them to get my car in the first place.
Needless to say, I ended up paying to get my car out of impound and had to get another tow truck to take the car to my mechanic. I also have to take a few more days off work to get my car fixed, since I live an hour away from work and we only have two cars for three people in my house as it is. And I have to take these people to small claims court to get my money back, and I think I'm also going to include lost wages because this is taking two or three extra days to get taken care of, considering Monday is Martin Luther King Day. Oh, and I still have the car bill waiting for me, and, um, I think I blew the engine...
User Reviews
Submitted by MouRNIngLoRY (user info) at 2005-01-18 01:15:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
*sigh*
Turns out I blew my engine, and it's costing me over $1000 to fix. Thank God my roommate is letting me put it on his credit card, even though he's NOT happy about it AT ALL. But i live about 45 minutes from work, and it's either this and let me pay him back, or the rent is going to be unpaid by me, so...
I hate the fact that I had to ask him though. I asked my parents (which is something that almost KILLED me to do) and they said they would loan it to me but then said it was out of the question when I said I was going to replace the engine, but it's such a good car (besides this) and it's pretty AND it's, well, he's my baby!!!
Anyway, that's my update, thanks for all the kind words and wish me luck!!!
Submitted by screamfeeder (user info) at 2005-01-16 16:03:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
What you get for buying a Saturn!
kekekekeke
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2005-01-16 13:00:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good god.
That's one fucked up towing company...
Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.
Submitted by Shizae (user info) at 2005-01-16 12:19:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Oleannder (user info) at 2005-01-16 11:26:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
This was well written & I can feel your pain but I just can not +2 it for the reason that you were beyond being idiotic when you left the keys with the gas station attendants. What the hell were you thinking?
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2005-01-16 11:24:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I used to work for a roadside assistance call center. Those people are the devil.
How're you?
Submitted by Davros (user info) at 2005-01-16 11:16:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Have a +2, but only just.
The reasons are listed in the comments below.
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Submitted by Stin (user info) at 2005-01-16 06:00:58 (#)
Ranking: 2
I feel your pain.
I rolled a car of mine, and left it in the safe hands of the local police to have it removed from upside down in the middle of the road.
When I called the recovery company used to find out when I could come to collect my personal belongings out of the wreckage, they informed me that my car was now 300 miles away, where they had taken it WITHOUT MY AUTHORISATION, and if I wanted anything out of the car I would have to go down to St. Austell to collect it. Obviously I was without a car, so I had to persuade my dad to drive me down there and back, and I was never able to get any kind of apology or recompense out of the recovery firm.
Bastards.
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Seriously Stin, have you ever considered giving up driving?
Right now I am considering putting Dervel and Kracka in a "Dead-Pool" I am compiling for another site.
So glad I am making my own way to Derby.
-Dave
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2005-01-16 10:26:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
why would you not wait with your car? leave it trusting a gas station attendant? no.
you named you car?
not having AAA? it costs 24 dollars a year.
i wish i could -2 this, but i laughed. it sucks that you'll never get it right, because its not worth the time to take them to court.
Submitted by Obi-wan (user info) at 2005-01-16 10:19:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
If you cared that much about your car you should have waited with it for the tow truck and sorted out what was happening then. For an hour wait you would have saved money, time and effort.
Submitted by Adona (user info) at 2005-01-16 09:54:32 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm sorry.
Submitted by xxrachel (user info) at 2005-01-16 09:24:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
so sorry for you, own the bitches in court.
Submitted by ACIDTRIP (user info) at 2005-01-16 08:31:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I work for roadside assistance myself (GM), and totally understand what you went through. These mobile roadside assistance deals are a farse. Next time call the roadside assistance number in your owners manual instead of going thru your mobile program.
Submitted by FuckTheArmy (user info) at 2005-01-16 07:49:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Take the bastards for everything they own next time.
Submitted by Stin (user info) at 2005-01-16 06:00:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I feel your pain.
I rolled a car of mine, and left it in the safe hands of the local police to have it removed from upside down in the middle of the road.
When I called the recovery company used to find out when I could come to collect my personal belongings out of the wreckage, they informed me that my car was now 300 miles away, where they had taken it WITHOUT MY AUTHORISATION, and if I wanted anything out of the car I would have to go down to St. Austell to collect it. Obviously I was without a car, so I had to persuade my dad to drive me down there and back, and I was never able to get any kind of apology or recompense out of the recovery firm.
Bastards.
Submitted by Tigre (user info) at 2005-01-16 04:54:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
'Eeeeyyyyyyyy
Smoke a joint, chill, masturbate to steamy hardcore porn. It's all good maannn.
Submitted by Banga3386 (user info) at 2005-01-16 04:14:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Have a +2 on me. Go take a bubble bath, smoke a doob, and have some dip. You'll feel better after that.
Banga