Unfortunate dealer incident

[tintin]

Rule #1, E-brakes are for keeping one's car from rolling away.

While waiting in line for service at the dealer today, there was a guy getting all the overnight drop cars ready to go. I was parked behind one of them.

Guy gets in the car in front of me, leaves the door open and starts the car. Car is rolling backward. He gets out (not noticing the ground moving under his feet) shuts the door and walks away.

I scramble, turn my car on and lay on the horn. Too late.

There was damage to my rubstrip (part of it is loose and partly popped out)and I'll get the call from the service manager this afternoon about fixing it. The whole thing was fortunately witnessed as the guy next to me noticed when I layed on the horn.


UPDATE:

Service: "There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It will withstand an impact of 8km/h. Did you know your bumper had been repainted before?"

C.J.: "What about the trim piece?"

Service: "It is back in place, you can come look at it tonight. You just have some bugs on your bumper, there is no damage."

I'll see how it looks tonight. It wasn't enough impact to be too damaging so as long as the trim is ok, I'm cool.

[Canadian Turbo]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

Thats crappy, but lets hope they deal with it well.

[tintin]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

My fingers are crossed. I'm not horribly angry as it was a simple enough mistake and I have every confidence they'll deal with it well. Watching your car get hit, however, is not fun (nor is the bill for my 64K service!).

[VAG_Tech]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

What dealer was it at?

[tintin]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

I was at Fifth Ave Dave.

I tried to book an appt. for service at SCFC and no one returned my call.

[albertaTDI]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

Hey man I talked to you this morning (black tee shirt ad blue jeans) that was the first time I have taken my car to 5th ave I usually support Dave at SSFC but I needed an oil change and 5th ave is like 2 blocks from my office. are they fixing it for free?

[bart]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

ya with these 10mph bumper laws or whatever they are pretty tough, trust me i hit things a bit harder. anyway, i bet nothing is broken or anything like that, just make sure the paint isn't spiderwebbed.

[tintin]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

So far they aren't fixing anything. Thomas said it wasn't damaged. The trim is looser on one side now and comes out a bit (aka, I can push it in a bit when I put pressure on the corner). Maybe they just popped it back in. It was minor, but still, I'd expect a little more apology other than the driver saying, "oops, sorry about that".

Bart: thanks for the caution on the spiderwebbing. I'll look for that. I'd hate for this to mean a new paintjob on my bumper, however, I'll push if need be. (actually, what would be involved if there was spiderwebbing?) I'd like to see the car in the light though, it was dark on the lot.

Good to meet you AlbertaTDI!

[Stonewall]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

In my opinion they should be kissen your @$$ for not only hitting your parked car but then having the gull to tell you that it is just bugs on your bumper. You have ever right to inform your insurance company what happened and let them take care of it if that is the way they want to treat you.

[kuhli]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

Agreed ^ ^ ^. I would not leave without the car being in equal condition...there simply is no reason to accept anything else. Not to mention that the repair costs them 1/2 of what it would you and that they are entirely responsible.

No ifs ands or buts accepted...

[tintin]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

I will take a very close look at it tonight when I pick it up.

Good point about insurance. I certainly hope, and don't expect it will come to that.

I have the name and number of the gentleman who witnessed the hit and he said I could call him if I was getting any grief at all.

[zero10]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

Once I took my 86 944 to a local shop for some minor work (front shocks), upon arriving to pick it up, I watch the guy driving my car out of the bay back it into the side of the building. Now, it was only at ~3km/h, and it has rubber bumperettes to prevent damage from such things, but I at least got an immediate apology, and they offered me a free oil change (Mobil 1) in exchange for their mistake. People make mistakes, that's what customer service is for, and in this case, they excelled. Not saying that's what they should do, just an example of what has been done in a similar situation.

[tintin]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

Update:

After taking a close look at the car, I can say there is no damage that I can see at all. Thomas and I went out and looked at the car together and everything is a-ok with it.

I would have liked a bit more of an apology and a little less defensiveness, but the bottom line is the car is ok.

[Cordialtea]

Re: Unfortunate dealer incident

In my opinion they should be kissen your @$$ for not only hitting your parked car but then having the gull to tell you that it is just bugs on your bumper. You have ever right to inform your insurance company what happened and let them take care of it if that is the way they want to treat you.

I agree With Brent they should be Kissing your @$$ Big time!

Cordialtea