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I will try to make this story brief but in short I went shopping for a new chair as I have to get four cervical vertebra fused in a couple weeks and I wanted to get a better chair in case I couldn't sleep in bed and I wanted one that supported my head and neck better then what we had. That in itself is a long story and I will simply say that is the context of my story.
So, Memorial day Monday I went wit the kids to pick out a chair as they were on sale. I drive a 2000 Ford Expedition and it is getting old with 136,xxx miles but hey it is paid for and as long as it is not costing me big bucks to keep it on the road I am going to enjoy not having the car payment. I also have a 6x12 single axle trailer that weighs well under 3000 pounds max (loaded) and I will guess that with the chair and bikes that I had in there the trailer weighed no more then 2000 pounds.
Well, we drove about 45-miles with the trailer in tow to the furniture place bought the chair and got everything loaded up. We were about 5-miles from home and I noticed the shifter "Overdrive Off" light started flashing so I asked my 15-year old daughter to look in the car manual to see what that meant. Well, the manual said that this was an indication of a transmission issue and that I needed to have the transmission looked at soon or damage could occur. Well, we went to pull off the highway and when I slowed down as we approached a read light at the off ramp lots of white smoke came up from under the hood. I jumped out and popped the hood to see fire on the passenger side of the engine so I closed the hood (and felt like an idiot for not having a fire extinguisher) and got the kids out of the truck and called 911.
Well, by the time the police and fire arrived the fire burned itself out and the fire really only lasted a few minutes. The police called AAA for me and we had the truck towed to some of the BIGGEST idiots I have ever had the displeasure of having to meet in my life (Hondru Dodge Chrysler Jeep of Elizabethtown). In short, the tow truck driver towed my ford to a Dodge dealer telling me they would be able to fix the truck as they have a ford dealership locally and I was a long way from home. I was lucky that my brother was close bye and he came down and hooked on the trailer with his truck and we let the Expedition with the Dodge dealership.
I called my insurance early the next day (remind me I need to find someone new - I have suddenly grown to hate State Farm too). They indicate that I should not have the dealership touch the truck until one of their inspectors looks at the truck. No problem, so this gets communicated to the dealer. Well, this is Tuesday and I do not hear anything from State Farm for Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Finally Thursday afternoon I call again and ask what is happening. Well, my agent has no idea and they say they will make another call and I am to call back if I don't hear from anyone in the next day.
Friday comes and goes so I call Monday morning and by this time I am getting a bit annoyed and I indicate again I have not heard anything. The agent makes some more calls and Tuesday morning I get my first call from the adjuster who it seems was on vacation the week prior and nobody seemed to know as they assigned him this case even though he was somewhere other then work. He says he will have his inspector get in touch with the dealer and get the truck wrapped up as soon as possible. Well, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday come and go and still no news. This time I call up the Adjuster himself and it was like I was talking to him for the first time again and he wanted to know what the dealer said was wrong with the truck. Well gee, they don't know as you idiots said they should not touch the truck until YOUR inspector looks at it
The claims adjuster then decides we should call the dealership on a conference call. On the call the adjuster asked them to look for damage and to get us a quote for any repairs. The dealer at the time said they don’t see any damage and I confirmed that it was leaking transmission fluid or oil on the road and that there had been a fire on the passenger side of the engine.
Well, last Friday I got a call in the morning that the truck is good to go and that I can pick it up at any time. I drove out to get the truck and on the invoice I find this statement…
I saw this and asked the dealer if this was a complete invoice (the above was $48.76 for Firefighter Jr. to advise he couldn’t see flames or fire damage) The person that took care of billing knew nothing and called out the shop manager. The manager proceeds to inform me that all they did was look for fire damage and they did not see any. So, I gave him a screwed up face and said, OK, but what caused the truck to catch fire and leak fluids down the road? Well, shop manager says, “I don’t know, we were not asked to look at that but we can schedule you for this coming week and take a look at it.”
THIS WAS AFTER THEY HAD THE TRUCK FOR TWO WEEK ALREADY! I was beyond livid and paid the invoice and boy they broke me off that place in a hurry and I will certainly never go in there again!
Now, to add insult to injury I get in the truck and no more then 3-miles down the road the Service Engine Soon light comes on in the truck. Needless to say I didn’t go back to the idiot Dodge dealer so my truck is now at a Ford Dealer and I shared the story with him. So, to wrap up my story for now, my truck is still at the Ford Dealer and with some luck they will be able to figure out what is going on. The truck has a towing package and a big V8 so that trailer was no challenge for the truck. It’s just a fine example of my never ending bad luck and wow could I share some stories of my luck of the past couple years!
Visual aid for Frank
So, Memorial day Monday I went wit the kids to pick out a chair as they were on sale. I drive a 2000 Ford Expedition and it is getting old with 136,xxx miles but hey it is paid for and as long as it is not costing me big bucks to keep it on the road I am going to enjoy not having the car payment. I also have a 6x12 single axle trailer that weighs well under 3000 pounds max (loaded) and I will guess that with the chair and bikes that I had in there the trailer weighed no more then 2000 pounds.
Well, we drove about 45-miles with the trailer in tow to the furniture place bought the chair and got everything loaded up. We were about 5-miles from home and I noticed the shifter "Overdrive Off" light started flashing so I asked my 15-year old daughter to look in the car manual to see what that meant. Well, the manual said that this was an indication of a transmission issue and that I needed to have the transmission looked at soon or damage could occur. Well, we went to pull off the highway and when I slowed down as we approached a read light at the off ramp lots of white smoke came up from under the hood. I jumped out and popped the hood to see fire on the passenger side of the engine so I closed the hood (and felt like an idiot for not having a fire extinguisher) and got the kids out of the truck and called 911.
Well, by the time the police and fire arrived the fire burned itself out and the fire really only lasted a few minutes. The police called AAA for me and we had the truck towed to some of the BIGGEST idiots I have ever had the displeasure of having to meet in my life (Hondru Dodge Chrysler Jeep of Elizabethtown). In short, the tow truck driver towed my ford to a Dodge dealer telling me they would be able to fix the truck as they have a ford dealership locally and I was a long way from home. I was lucky that my brother was close bye and he came down and hooked on the trailer with his truck and we let the Expedition with the Dodge dealership.
I called my insurance early the next day (remind me I need to find someone new - I have suddenly grown to hate State Farm too). They indicate that I should not have the dealership touch the truck until one of their inspectors looks at the truck. No problem, so this gets communicated to the dealer. Well, this is Tuesday and I do not hear anything from State Farm for Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. Finally Thursday afternoon I call again and ask what is happening. Well, my agent has no idea and they say they will make another call and I am to call back if I don't hear from anyone in the next day.
Friday comes and goes so I call Monday morning and by this time I am getting a bit annoyed and I indicate again I have not heard anything. The agent makes some more calls and Tuesday morning I get my first call from the adjuster who it seems was on vacation the week prior and nobody seemed to know as they assigned him this case even though he was somewhere other then work. He says he will have his inspector get in touch with the dealer and get the truck wrapped up as soon as possible. Well, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday come and go and still no news. This time I call up the Adjuster himself and it was like I was talking to him for the first time again and he wanted to know what the dealer said was wrong with the truck. Well gee, they don't know as you idiots said they should not touch the truck until YOUR inspector looks at it
The claims adjuster then decides we should call the dealership on a conference call. On the call the adjuster asked them to look for damage and to get us a quote for any repairs. The dealer at the time said they don’t see any damage and I confirmed that it was leaking transmission fluid or oil on the road and that there had been a fire on the passenger side of the engine.
Well, last Friday I got a call in the morning that the truck is good to go and that I can pick it up at any time. I drove out to get the truck and on the invoice I find this statement…
Technician performed a visual inspection to find no trace of any type of flame or fire. Transmission fluid level is OK. No further action taken at this time.
THIS WAS AFTER THEY HAD THE TRUCK FOR TWO WEEK ALREADY! I was beyond livid and paid the invoice and boy they broke me off that place in a hurry and I will certainly never go in there again!
Now, to add insult to injury I get in the truck and no more then 3-miles down the road the Service Engine Soon light comes on in the truck. Needless to say I didn’t go back to the idiot Dodge dealer so my truck is now at a Ford Dealer and I shared the story with him. So, to wrap up my story for now, my truck is still at the Ford Dealer and with some luck they will be able to figure out what is going on. The truck has a towing package and a big V8 so that trailer was no challenge for the truck. It’s just a fine example of my never ending bad luck and wow could I share some stories of my luck of the past couple years!
Visual aid for Frank
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