Friday, August 17, 2007

The worst car care town in America

I'm pretty sure that Madison is the worst place to try to get a Volvo worked on in the USA. Or any car for that matter. I was driving home from a missed dentist appointment yesterday morning (I showed up a day late for a 7:00am appointment) and drove past a tire store. I had noticed that I have a really slow leak in one of my tires, and the place was open, so I decided to stop. They couldn't fit me in immediately, but I could come back at 10am. Fine. As I left the tire store I drove past the Jiffy Lube from a previous post where the moron there though I was driving a Saab ("Saab, Volvo--They're the same thing!") and they had a sign out front readin "Qualified Technicians Wanted." Indeed.
So anyway, after giving my friend Amy a jump-start in her P.O.S. 1990-something Isuzu Trooper/Nissan Pathfinder crappy old SUV I drove over to West Town Monona Tire. I re-affirmed my request that they find the leak and repair it, and then also rotate the tires. I've had the tires for maybe 6000 miles, and they should have been rotated already. The fronts are showing a fair bit of wear at the shoulders. They said that there would be no problem!
So I went into the cramped waiting room which smelled of old coffee and old people and started reading a two-day-old copy of the Wisconsin State Journal. Not much of a paper, but the best there is around here.
So after a little bit more than half-an-hour, they come and get me from the waiting room and tell me I'm free to go, as the guy is processing my payment, he confirms that they have patched a hole in the tire which was from a screw in the tread, and he confirmed they had rotated the tires. $48.00 or so.
So I left the West Town Monona Tire and went to see my friend the Octopus. It had been a long time since I'd had the Volvo washed (I would wash it myself, but I don't have a place to do it.) So $10 to the Octopus and I get home and look at the car, and I'll be switched if the tires with the balding shoulders aren't still on the front!! So I look closer, and yep, the good ones are on the back. Damn.
So I head back out to West Town Monona Tire and walk into the shop and ask them how they normally rotate the tires. I know how you should do it, but maybe they "rotated" them side to side or some crap like that. Nope. It should have been swapping the fronts and rears with the fronts switching sides. "Oh, well let me ask Teddy if he rotated them or not." Walks out. Walks back in. "Uh, no, he didn't rotate them. We'll, uh, rotate them right now. Do you have your keys? I'll pull it in right now. So I paced back and forth in the lobby for another 15 minutes while they actually rotated the tires.
I'm not sure if they did it on purpose, (most Camry drivers wouldn't notice probably) or if they just "forgot" to do half of the service I asked for. They certainly didn't forget to charge me for it.
Don't go to West Town Monona Tire.

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