Strange Days At The Dealership

Mostly non-poker content

Okay, so I was going to make my next post sort of a run-through of last night's tournament win in the Bodog $5 rebuy*. Well, today's car service events were too surreal to ignore, and probably more interesting to write about, anyway.

I don't know whether I've blogged on this subject before, but I drive a pretty sweet Infiniti G35x sedan, which is pretty great, except that I now live in Colorado -- a state with only three Infiniti dealers in the entire state, none of them within 50 miles of my home. So, I try to get things such as today's routine 7500 mile service/tire rotation done during an extended lunch hour, at an Infiniti dealer at the south end of the Denver metro area.

I should have known things would not be routine today when, instead of having to go inside and wait 10 minutes before a service advisor writes up the order -- the advisor (a new guy, at least from the last time I was there) meets me outside and just takes my keys and service book. He was a bit excited and in a rush, which turned out to be a bad omen that I should have read.

Well, a few minutes later, I'm inside reading news on their lounge computer, when this service advisor (let's call him Mark, since that's his name), tells me he needs to get me a courtesy car. Why, you may ask? Because he was in such a hurry that he ran my car into another customer's SUV, and now both vehicles have to go to a body shop. Fuck me. The damage isn't severe (the SUV got it a fair bit worse, actually), but it's real damage nonetheless, with lots of paint transfers on my right rear door, quarterpanel, etc.

So Mark says he's going to make me whole. Okay, fine. I'm irritated, but I get my courtesy car, detour three times to get back to the office, because of three separate intersection-closing accidents (how ironic). An hour later, I get a call from Mark, who tells me my $100 service also needs a $550 brake job, complete with new front rotors and pads. Now I'm pissed. I'm not surprised, because my car's been abusive on pads, the rotors have already been turned, and my brakes squeal. but that's sorta beside the point, by now.

In my mind, I'm thinking you've crashed my car, and now on top of that, you've added $550 to a routine service bill? WTF? And you're gonna make me whole? Yeah, we'll see. The body work will end up showing up in a Carfax report, undoubtedly, so you're gonna have to go beyond just paying for the damage you caused when you crashed my car -- that's what I'm thinking, at this point. They're gonna have to pay at least 1/2 of my service and brake repair bill, for me to feel made whole, at least to make up for the inevitable lessened value of the car for the need for body work. I mean, you shouldn't have to tell me you're going to fix the damage you caused, the question is, what are you going to do to satisfy a customer who's been bringing his car to you for ALL service for the last three years, and who has referred new vehicle customers to your dealership who ended up purchasing vehicles?

But I wasn't ready to spring this on Mark just yet. Why? Funny you should ask.

A few months or so ago, I helped convince one of the partners I work for, into buying a 2008 Infiniti G35x from the very same dealer. Oddly enough, he had his car in for routine service and a door ding fix today, as well. Very ironic, but so perfect. His service advisor was also Mark. Well, Mark called to let him know his car was ready, when the partner asked him whether he was crashing any cars today. Hahahahaha, brilliant. It eventually came out that I work for him, and that it was his paralegal's car that the service advisor crashed.

Even better -- when the partner was dropping off his car, during random small talk, Mark learned that we work in automotive franchise litigation. That is, disputes between automotive manufacturers and their dealers. As such, we know a lot about the internal practices of automotive dealerships, as dealership day-to-day operations are occasionally significant to some of our litigations.

Well, they're gonna make me whole next week, that's for sure. Because they're going to know if they don't, I'm going to submit a service survey to the manufacturer that's going to go a good ways towards costing the dealer part of a monthly bonus they should normally be in the running for, for achieving a certain composite service satisfaction score.

Infiniti's not a client of ours, and I don't know the rules of any particular survey score bonus program they have with their dealers. But if it's at all similar to the programs our clients do have, and I'm certainly within rights to give you a zero satisfaction score (after all, you crashed my car!), why should I not submit a poor survey? I'm the absolute opposite of satisfied at this point.

Anyway, the car won't be ready until Tuesday now, so we'll see what happens next week.

Oh yeah, the tourney.

As for the tourney, after my initial buy-in/rebuy got river 3-outed, and sticking around because of a very soft table, I ended up the rebuy hour at just above average chips. At final two tables, a caught a miracle river 4-outer to fill a boat, when smal blind slow played his flopped nut flush, and I shoved his CR on turn with bottom two pair -- yeah I was a donk, but I put him on a draw, and frankly, I've been due a 4-outer of my own:



Got to final table 4th in chips (8-handed final table, because 9th got knocked out as we were breaking table), knocked out a couple shorties, went to HU with a 5:3 chiplead, HU lasted about 20 hands, and that was that.