Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Baby Shower and Rants About A Car Dealer

Today, Melanie and I drove to Ripley together for our niece's baby shower while the kids were with Mike and Mom. Jessie is due any day with baby number 2. Riley, her first child, turned one year old on January 27th. The shower was fun. We got to see family we haven't seen in a while and get our baby fix with Riley. After everyone left, Melanie and I spent time with Dad and Joan talking. It was nice getting to hang out with Melanie today. We had a good time talking, laughing and having a good time.

If you are looking for a car, I don't know if I would recommend the place where we recently purchased ours. The night we bought ours, the dealership was not prepared at all. The ad we looked at online said the name of the dealership and the location. It didn't say there were at least two locations and the place listed was not where the car was located. So, the salesman we spoke with at the first place followed us to the other lot. We beat the salesman there and waited about 15-20 minutes for him to show up. (It only takes about 15-20 minutes to go from one dealership to the other.) While out on the test drive, the salesman told us that he had only been on the job one week and wasn't familiar with the area. Luckily, I knew the area pretty well and was able to get us around the neighborhood. After making our decision to purchase the car, we waited another 10 minutes for the salesman. He wanted us to fill out all this paperwork for financing that we didn't need (Mike had gotten his own financing through the credit union). After another 10 minutes or more, we are told we have to move to the third building to complete the rest of the paperwork. When we walk over (it was on the same lot), we are directed to a dark waiting area and sit for another 15-20 minutes. While we are sitting in the finance office, the finance person is pulling the paperwork we need to sign instead of having it ready. (Now, have I mentioned that NO ONE was there except salesmen? NO ONE!! No other customers were there AT ALL!!) Mike and I then spent the next 30 minutes filling out paperwork. Form after form was completed saying we weren't purchasing this option and that warranty, etc. While all this is going on, Mom was keeping the kids and called wanting to know when we would be home because she was tired. When we finally get the car, the gas gauge is sitting on empty. We had just enough gas to get home. We arrived at the first car lot just after 6 p.m. We left the last lot about 8:45 p.m. Most of that time we played the waiting game.

Oh, Mike was also told to bring the car back in the next day or so to get a new drive out tag and to get it cleaned. The tag they put on the car was for another vehicle. Mike was also told the car manual and key card (for the keyless entry) was in the glove box. When Mike looked for it the next day, it was not there. When Mike called the dealership about the missing manual, the manager we spoke to the night before told Mike he would have to go to a Ford dealer (the car is a Ford Taurus) and purchase another key card and we would not be reimbursed. The manager said the key card would be about $60 but he wasn't sure. Luckily, Mike was able to download the manual off the internet onto his computer.

Mike took the car in to get it serviced and cleaned this past week. The people that cleaned it put the temporary plastic back in the floorboard wet underneath. They took the empty gum wrappers that were in the console and put them in the glove box instead of the trash. Yes, I said the glove box.

A few days after we purchased the car, we got a call from the salesman saying they needed a copy of Mike's driver's license because they forgot to get it while we were there. Then, they called a few days after that asking for a copy of my license. Mike called and spoke to the Finance Manager about the shoddy job the finance people were doing. Come to find out, the finance person had only been there about a month. The FM agreed to help out and took over the job himself to complete the paperwork. He came out to the house to get the Saturn's car tag, have me sign a paper, get a copy of my driver's license and get our tags taken care of (this is something the dealers do now for the owners. Not sure yet if I like this.) If you want to know the name of the dealer, just ask. I would be happy to tell and strongly advise you to find another one. The only good thing I have to say about them is that we got a good deal on the car. A really good deal.

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