Being a Pain Pays
Ever since I’ve gotten my new car I’ve been bitchy in matters relating to my car. It all started with the process of agreeing on an amount for the car. They were giving TV’s away for FREE with all car purchases. Simply amazing, but I didn’t really want a $200 TV… So I said, “Give me the value of the tv off the price. I don’t want it.” They whod and hawd about it and said they couldn’t. Again I said, “Look, I can drive to Alberta and buy this car for less or you can give me the value of TV off the price of this car.” Sales guy goes to the manager and comes back with great news… they took $250 off the price of the car. Yay!
Two weeks later I’m about frustrated with the winter performance of my tires. I call around and get quotes on exceptionally good winter tires. Everyone is just over $1000 for nearly the best tires they can get. I decide to check out the dealership price on such things, and generally comment on how I was told what good all-season tires the car came with. Turns out I’m not the only one who thinks the stock, high performance tires on the car suck for winter. I just arrived when a lady had swinged a sweet deal on some very top of the line winter tires for her new car. When I inquired about getting some tires at the service desk they seem momentarily confused. One guy told me that the tires on my car are great for winter driving and he has them on his car, blah blah blah. I just happened to be in for a few minor adjustments as well, so while waiting I wandered over to “parts” and asked the guy how much some winters tires and rims would cost me. Turns out they have a secret deal for new car buyers in winter to get goodyear ultra grip ice tires for just under $150 a tire. Not bad, considering the cheapest I could find those in town was around $200. Anyways, amazingly the dealership price was fairly comparable to everyone else (actually it was the cheapest). It caused a bit of a confusion when the service guy was informed I was getting winter tires, but hey… I got winter tires and they are defiantly much better than my stock all-seasons.
Before I even got my car I called the condo building about parking. There was a small waiting list of about 5 people that I got my name added too. I was told that parking spots don’t free up very often and that I’d probably end up waiting until summer before I got one. Parking on the street at our building is particularly bad in winter. They don’t clear the snow properly because it’s the inside edge of a curved roadway. I actually got stuck in the snow a few times, which is part of why I bought snow tires (the other being no traction to move forward on a slippery incline). Anyways, the general point is that it sucks to park there in many ways. Being winter it was easy to watch the reserved parking spots and see which were not being used. Turns out about 5 of them around my building had not been parked in since it snowed (early December). I call the condo managers and ask if the condo supports people hording spots. She said they didn’t and would look into it. Turns out, 3 of those spots were not even being paid for… they were free. Thats right… we have spots free and a waiting list for them. I guess the paper record system they use doesn’t work so great for keep track of things.
Moral of my stories, be a pain in the ass and you may get something done.
