Sophia, Part 2 - The End

I finally have my car back! Yay! And I'm not quite sure what the big deal was. The dealership accidentally put the ORIGINAL part back in, and it works just fine. So what was wrong with it? Dunno. I'm guessing it was a wire, though. I'm still glad I took it to Roper Automotive first because there were some other things that needed doing, and the dealership would have charged me a LOT more for those. They probably would still have tried to when I finally brought it in except that I was, by then, barely civil, and they most likely wanted me out of their hair. But I had to eat some humble pie when they were able to fix it in the end, the way they wanted to. So, I didn't get to say neener-neener. Sad.

Anyway, through this whole ordeal, I've learned some important life lessons:
1 - When your car is acting funny, take it to a mechanic you can trust.
2 - Any work he recommends for maintenance (like, hypothetically, replacing your timing belt 12,000 miles later than recommended), go ahead and have him do it, because he's the mechanic you trust to recommend only the necessary work.
3 - When he tells you that the other, more major work that needs to be done is covered under the extended warranty you wisely (it turns out) purchased, suck it up and take it to the dealership for the covered work. Especially with a VW. Even if you hate that dealership because you feel like you need to work the system in order to get anything done without being fleeced.
4 - Learn to work the system. When someone gives you an answer you don't like (like the warranty company telling you you're out of luck), politely (but perhaps with a slight edge) ask for his name, write it down, and then ask to speak to his supervisor. This makes you a squeaky wheel - and the squeaky wheel gets the grease. His supervisor has the authority to make happen what you want to happen, and he'll do it if he can.
5 - While I think it's important to be kind, sometime you have to be politely persistant. See #4 regarding the squeaky wheel.

Any other lessons anyone can think of? I spent the last few blog posts venting and saying unkind things. Usually I limit the number of people I vent to because it limits the number of people I have to go back to later and say, "Sorry, I was just flaming mad. He wasn't such a jerk after all." But since I publicly lambasted VW in Huntsville, I'll recant that with the caveat that you probably still need to know how to work the system. But I won't be as resistant to take my car there if I need to again. Though hopefully I can just get it through 2 more years...

Speaking of which, I need to fix the glove box. Who designs a glove box where when the LATCH breaks, you have to replace the entire door? Volkswagon, that's who. I found a tutorial on-line that shows how to fix it yourself without replacing the door. I figure it's worth the effort because at least if I end up ruining the door completely, I'm just back where I started - needing a new door. :)

This blog has taken a serious tangent from what it was intended to focus on - our adorable son. So, don't worry. We're working on putting the finishing touches on his room, and we're still taking tons of pics, even though I'm slow to post.

Tomorrow we're doing yard work if anyone wants to come help pull out bushes and shovel dirt? No? "Yeah, I didn't think so." (Props if you get the quote, as usual...)