As we all should. After seeing what happens, I'm likely to move on until I find someone that does.
Van lifted improperly, damaged body
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Didn't want to talk about it- don't care, they're GONNA talk about it if they do it to my vehicle.
Still waiting for a response- I called and e-mailed the guy from Bridgestone and was told he was off for more than a week. The message I heard when it asked me to leave a message said he would be off from Dec 12-Dec 18, or something like that. Nice to see someone is detail-oriented........
Souns like you are being blown off until you lose interest. That is their hope anyway.
'93 Astro LT Ext w/ FE3 (RWD), 7 Passenger, Dutch Doors, Med Teal, 4.3 V6
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I'd like to hear how others deal with this tactic.
I just saw in your quote of my reply I missed the "D" in sounds. Oh well, it works. I'm not changing it😆
There is small claims court. It is usually less expensive to cover the repair or insurance claim from a business' standpoint, than it is to go through that, and will usally settle once the claim has been filed. Don't forget to include the filing fees in the settlement too if you have to do that.
There is small claims court. It is usually less expensive to cover the repair or insurance claim from a business' standpoint, than it is to go through that, and will usally settle once the claim has been filed. Don't forget to include the filing fees in the settlement too if you have to do that.
In the words of Bugs Bunny, "He don't know me vewy well".
As I told the guy at the counter (while the tech was standing nearby), I'm not actually blaming them because they were blindly following info provided by the company and, possibly, some third party. It's wrong. The guy who inspected it asked if the manual shows the lift points and I didn't have that, but the jack is unused and still has the rolled up plastic coated sheet with the jacking instructions, in several languages. It clearly shows that the jack is to be placed under the frame, not any part of the body- he photographed this, as well as the damage, viewed from the sides, underneath and included shots of the body, which show rust only at the rear wheel well edges.
I also told them that I know it's not a new van, has fairly high mileage and the value isn't extremely high, but also that I wasn't planning on replacing it anytime soon and that the damage has tanked any resale/trade-in value it had.
Before it goes as far as a legal case, I'll go over the head of the guy who isn't responding to my calls. I have no problem with that if someone doesn't provide good customer service but if the service is good, I do compliment them on it and if I speak with someone who's higher up the food chain, I tell them, too. I don't have any problem doing that because I have been in customer service and retail for a long time and with the abuse some people like to dish out/customer support training, I'm not a dik about things. They don't need it and it sucks being reamed when someone else fails to do their job.
One area where I have found that name-dropping helps- I have worked in audio/video/network sales and installation for a long time and two providers that have a long history of bad service are ATT and Time Warner/Spectrum. ATT is the hellhole of the planet, IMO and I would rather eat crushed glass and battery acid than deal with them, but when they didn't let me see the surveillance video after someone went to the store to pick up whatever they bought by using my credit card online, it was game on. I found the CEO's e-mail & phone number, then called and sent an e-mail. I got a response in only a few hours. Last year, I was doing some work for a customer, transferring them to Spectrum from TDS, which they had used at their office (they decided to stop renting an office and create one in the 3rd floor of their house). It was a terrible experience, but I had told them it wouldn't necessarily be painless, at the beginning. It was far from that- so bad that I found the CEO's name and started dropping it when a manager seemed uninterested in making things happen when the transfer reached the one month stage. I dropped the name and he immediately said "Hold please". When he returned, he told me that the next person would be able to fix the problem, and she did. Hearing that name must have put the fear of God in him.
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Just to make you feel better, you should look on the net and look at the truck frames bending, from slide in campers. Mostly Ford and Dodge. So far, in all cases, people "mis read" the gvwr, or "assume", because they saw it on the net, and the campers were way too heavy!!!! Needless to say, dealers did not pay, ends up being a customer created issue. But,the pictures are funny, if I run across one, will post.
I saw one on YouTube, where the guy put a big camper top on his pickup- shouldn't have had the crew cab.
When I told the counter guy it should be lifted using the frame, he told the tech not to do that because the van would fall forward off of the lift. That tells me this guy has no idea what he's dealing with. I might worry if he used the frame at the front and the body at the rear because it would be positioned on a downward angle, but if the frame is used, it can't fall forward.
WRT frames bending with a camper top- most people don't know or ignore weight distribution, too. It's much easier to load their stuff into the low end at the back than to concentrate the heaviest over the rear axle and move lighter things to the front. I would bet that if the weight were to be analyzed, the curve would look like the inverse of the bottom of the camper, with little at the front, more over the bed and a lot behind the tailgate.
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You can say it, we do- "people are stupid",lol.
The majority I have seen actually bend down in the middle, not up. This is also seen in the snow plow industry, people buy a 4 door, diesel, 4x4, then find out they don't have enough capacity to even carry a normal plow, much less with a sander in the bed. "Many trucks of today are nice cars"
I would imagine a lot of the plow trucks were used to ram what the driver thought was just a soft, fluffy pile of snow.
Have you seen this?
Looks like it was a Silver Maple.
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Plow trucks are rarely used to ram snow, especially nowadays. But does happen in rural settings. But heavy plows on too light of a truck can damage front ends, front frames, heck a lot of damage happens on these just by driving, hitting big bumps, all that weight extended out from the front end. Just like adding a cargo rack past your bumper, front or rear, can put a lot of stress on frames.
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