Unlike the Other Guys....

..These folks stand by their work!

Back in March I bought a used VW Jetta TDI.

Very used.

Ten years old with 375,000 km on it.

Having done my research on these cars I knew several things; they were reliable, great on fuel, and people who liked them, really liked them. Most of the people selling them were doing so because they had replaced them with a new VW.

A true testament to any car, repeat sales.

Anyway, I got a good deal because of the high mileage. (why don't we call it kilometerage?) The previous owner drove a regular route from Windsor to Montreal on less than a tank of diesel. 900 km.

The first thing I did was have the timing belt and water pump replaced. It was still within my budget, and left me worry free about that major cost.

Then it started.

The service.

It seems VW has a points program ala Air Miles. I received enough points on that first service for a free alignment.

An oil change at my local VW Dealer is about the same price as taking it to one of those in-and-out lube places. And I get a free car wash. I like these guys!

Given the age and usage of Otto (my Jetta's name), some blemishes were to be expected. The paint had peeled on a few spots, but there was no real rust. I fugured I'd just sand it down and spot paint the places.

That was until I found out about the warranty.

A colleague of mine has 4 VW's in her driveway. She told me that there was a 12 year warranty on the paint, and all I had to do was take it to VW to be fixed.

Yeah, right. Two of our previous vehicles had some parts with 'lifetime' warranties which to that manufacturer meant 10 years. A twelve year warranty on paint? For the second owner?

I say again; yeah, right.

So anyway, the next time I had Otto in for an oil change, I asked about the paint.

"Yes, we have a 12 year warranty," was the reply.

"No poop?" I was agog.

"No poop. Let the Service Manager have a look and we'll see what we can do."

So the S.M. comes out with a little gauge and looks at my car. A few spots had been painted before (that's what the little gauge did), and wouldn't be covered again. For the rest I had to have pictures taken, and submitted to head office for approval.

That was July.

So I fixed up the other spots myself, and waited to hear back from VW.

And waited.

And waited.

In late September I had given up on having my car fixed, and just a few days after M.D.B. mentioned that it didn't look like it was going to happen, the phone rang.

VW Canada approved the repairs.

No poop.

I had to arrange a convenient time with the body shop, and give them enough lead time to order parts.

"Parts?"

They weren't repainting the fenders, they were replacing them. 10 years old and almost 390,000 km and getting new fenders.

No poop.

I picked Otto up today. Not only did they replace his fenders, he got new door skins and new mirrors too!

No poop!

VW's warranty and service is awesome!

I have the feeling this wont be my last VW.

M.D.B is waiting for them to come out with a Touareg TDI

DJW

Unfortunately, they didn't accidentally paint my hood, which I messed up, and will have to do over.

This Blog Not Guaranteed

This Blog, as life, carries no guarantees.

Many things I buy, as you do too I'm sure, have guarantee's, warranties, certainties and other 'tees.

Earlier today, I asked M.D.B. to compose a list of items we purchased that failed while still under warranty.

It was longer than I thought it would be.

I asked her to compile this list as I was on the way out the door to replace our kitchen faucet. One of those ones that you buy for its looks, and buy it for life.

Yeah, that one.

Last year, a little piece in its pull out nozzle sprayer thingy broke. I took the nozzle sprayer thingy bit back to the store I bought it from to cash in on the lifetime guarantee and get a new part.

No dice.

I would have had to send the part to the manufacturer (rhymes with groan) for my replacement. I bought a replacement nozzle sprayer thingy that fit and carried on. This week it started to leak out of the top of the handle. I took the whole faucet with me to my local home improvement store, which just happened to be having a sale on a competitor's model. When I explained to the Helpful Associate what part I felt I needed, I got the same story as before, contact the manufacturer.

What am I supposed to do while I wait for a part? Use the garden hose? Can I get a loaner faucet? When I had warranty work done on my car I was given a loaner. I bought the competitors tap.

So, back to the list.

Most of our small appliances have broken under warranty and some have been repaired, some others we just bought new ones.

Microwaves (that's plural), Rice Cookers, Can Openers, multiple Coffee Makers (we now keep a spare) and the like.

One retailer we frequent offers an extended warranty on most small appliances for an extra charge. We usually bought it. We were glad we did when a high end Coffee Maker we purchased crapped out a few months after we bought it. It was replaced without question. When the second one quit while still within the 2 year period, it was not replaced. Only one replacement per unit. So when we bought the next brewer (not the same brand) we declined the extended warranty.

When a six month old T.V. quit a few years back, we contacted the manufacturer for warranty info. We were told that that model was exclusive to one retailer (rhymes with fall cart) and all we had to do was go back there and get a new one. When I wheeled the unit up to Customer Service I was met with the obvious question, "T.V. broke?" My reply:"Nope, I just hate to miss my shows." (I sent that one to Bill Engval) It seems they knew nothing of the warranty deal, and tried to get me to send it to the manufacturer. I told them that the manufacturer sent me to them. And the phone Olympics began. In the end, I got a new T.V., that night even. It just took a little work.

When our then 3 1/2 year old furnace broke a number of years ago, I sent a nastygram off to the manufacturer complaining about the repair cost on a basically new unit. They told me it had a 5 year warranty and I shouldn't have been charged. The repair guy told me to contact the installer, who told me to contact the retailer I bought it from, who told me to contact the manufacturer, who told me to contact the repair guy.

This is the song that never ends....

We never did get reimbursed. We also didn't replace it with that brand last year. We didn't want to get Rheem'd again.

Then there was the stove that quit 10 minutes after the warranty ran out.

And the washing machine that only lasted 7 years.

So my point is (at last, a point!) : what good is a warranty if it is next to impossible to collect on it?

I hope the toilet we bought with a lifetime warranty earlier this year never has to go in the shop.

If it does I hope we get a loaner.

DJW

Any warranties, written or implied, are at the sole discretion of the warrantor, and may be made null and void by actual use or misuse of the product described herein, and are not transferable to another owner, living or dead, and may not be used in your next life either, and any damages caused by the use, misuse or abuse of this product are the sole responsibility of the owner, not our fault, all yours, nyah nyah.
Void where prohibited by law.
And Quebec.

Small Town Hospitality?

I know its been a while.

Been a busy spring/summer here and 'honeydo' lists as long as yer arm.

And it's not like I have a deadline or anything.

So I have some catching up to do.

My first berate is about small town hospitality.

When I was young, I was taught the golden rule; 'Do unto others...' I have pretty much followed that. When I see someone in distress, I help out, do what I can, and if they offer payment, I tell them to just pass it on in kind.

Pay it forward, so to speak.

There, I got my digression out early.

Several weeks ago, M.D.B. and I were out on a tour of car lots on a Saturday evening. We were tire shopping or window kicking, your choice. The reason for this is because you don't get swarmed by salespeople when the lots are closed. (I hate that)

We were driving from Stratford towards Kitchener when Odie, our '98 Windstar, started acting up.

Electrical issues. And oh yeah, it started to rain. After a 3 week drought.

I pointed south aiming for home.

Lights out unless we needed them, no radio, A/C or anything that would use power.

We made it to Tavistock before it dies, and I armstrong steered, blind, into a lot beside a Timmy's.

Can't put the windows up, no power.

We went into Tim's, got a coffee, and called for the hook. Our friend owns a towing service, and we knew we could count on him. (The irony was that our CAA was just activated that day and didn't cover towing yet.)

The rain let up and we went back out. I popped the tailgate open and got out the lawnchairs for M.D.B. and myself, then I popped the hood to look around. Nothing I could do, so we sat, drank our coffee, and watched the traffic at Tim's

Hood up, watching cars.

Fun and games in Tavistock on a Saturday Night.

Many people drove in and out of Timmies, looked at us with our hood up, and said nothing. Not one local asked us us if we needed help or a boost or a phone.

Nothing.

Where I'm from, an open hood is a signal for help. Apparently in Tavistock, its amusement.

After a while, M.D.B. and I wanted to start throwing up score cards.

Much sooner than expected, Jay from Affordable Towing and Recovery showed up, and loaded up Odie for his last trip home.

So, are we that jaded now that we don't offer help to people obviously in distress?

Or does no one give a shit anymore?

Oh, and never go shopping for a new vehicle in the one you are replacing.

It hurts their feelings.

DJW

Odie has been replaced by Geri, a very gently used Rendezvous, and M.D.B. is very happy.

This Just In...

News item: the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana, has a problem.

The majority of people responding to a survey wish to name a new Government building after a former mayor, Harry Baals.

I don't make this stuff up!

I couldn't make this up!

Well, yeah I could, but I didn't!

Honest!

Full story here and video here.

DJW

Sometimes this stuff just writes itself.

Nuclear Shmooclear

Big hullabaloo in the news.

Bruce Nuclear in Ontario has 16 radioactive generators that need recycling.

The only place that does this kind of work (gotta admit, it's kind of specialized) is in Sweden, 1/2 a world away.

So lets load them on boats and send off to be reborn as glow in the dark Swiss watches, right?

Wrong, the Mayors of 70 some odd cities along the shipping route don't want them going past their towns.

Afraid of the danger.

The experts all say the amount of nuke is similar to a chest x-ray.

Well, are they offering solutions?

Nope.

How about loading them on trucks and driving them across the frozen tundra of the north next winter?

There could be a TV series: Ice Road Nukes.

Or maybe swarms of Pegasus's (Pegasii?) could carry them aloft to their final destination.

Oh, Oh! I got it!

Put the names of all the offended cities in a hat, draw out 16 names, and they get to store one each for perpetuity.

Bloody idiots.

DJW

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

False Remembrance

This is of course the time of year for remembrance.
With the end of WWII now 65 years past, and Korea 57 years gone, our aging Veterans are becoming ghosts.

Since Korea, over 200 Canadian Servicemen and Women have lost their lives in Peacekeeping roles and Afghanistan.

Since 1922, The Royal Canadian Legion's annual Poppy Campaign has raised funds to support disabled, and now aged, Veterans. That loose change that you contribute to buy a poppy (or if you're like most of us, several because you lose them) every year goes directly to Veterans in your community.

And we all know what the Poppy looks like. The familiar image at the right is what we are all used to.

I'm a frequent flier at Canada's most popular coffee and pastry chain, and I've noticed this week, that staff at many of the stores are wearing a stylized poppy on their tops and visors similar to the one below...

A closer look reveals its a sticker!

I was served by a Manager today and asked him what was up with the poppy stickers. He said that the poppy pin falls off a lot and gets lost, so Corporate set them up with sheets of these stickers for staff to wear.

They aren't even buying them from the Legion!

Cheaters.

And further, every one of the outlets I've been in this week has a box of poppies on the counter!

I put a quarter in the box and gave the Manager a poppy.

DJW

At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember Them.

Dang, Another Delay

It seems the end is not so near after all.

Yahoo News reports that there may have been a mistake in the Mayan Calendar, and the world may not end on December 21st, 2012. (Interestingly, my 21st Wedding Anniversary.)

It says that there may be an error of between 50 to 100 years.

So either the end has been delayed, or it's already happened.

I guess I'll have to keep up with my taxes after all.

DJW

Sign seen on a coin operated air pump, Air $1.00, HST included.
Yes, they have found a way to tax air.