OK….so here’s the deal.

While trying to make a bad situation better, I broke the part on the car that made things bad….and in the end, only made things terrible.

Of course, “terrible” is relative.

“Terrible” is really when the shark has bitten off both of your arms and you can’t paddle your surfboard back in to the beautiful but deserted beach.

“Terrible” is when the flesh-eating bacteria has eaten most of you….most of you….before they find a cure.

“Terrible” is when you are trapped underground all by yourself while doing something that you didn’t tell anyone you were going to do…or where you were going to do it.

“Terrible” isn’t when you can’t drive your car for a while.

“Terrible” might be if the car had blown up while I was trying to fix it….that would be terrible.

I learned that you can’t trust what you read on the internet.

There are all sorts of goobs writing blogs out there…spreading misinformation about cars and a whole lot of other things.

You can’t trust them.

(I’m not talking about me, of course. Jenny just asked me if I was a goob. I’m not.)

Anyway….I ordered the part from the local Dodge dealer to expedite things…and when I went to pick it up this morning, the guy at the parts counter told me that the part for the order wasn’t ever picked down in Atlanta….and that it wasn’t on the truck.

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I was H.O.T.

With a capital “H”.

His response….instead of trying to help me by fixing their mistake…was to say, “It’s not our fault….we did all we could….there’s nothing we can do.”

LAME-O.

I hate that kind of attitude…..and that’s why I will never do business with Hendersonville Dodge again.

There’s too many other options out there to try and support a business that’s come up so short so consistently.

This isn’t the first time some weird outcome has been provided by these turds.

So….on the opposite end of “customer service”….the end with good and successful customer service, I called the dealership down in Spartanburg….they had the part in stock….they told me it was 101.00 instead of the 110.00 that I was quoted in Hendersonville….and that they’d hold it for me.

When Zoe and I got down there, the parts guy said, “I gave you a little break on the price….91.00 including the tax.”

So I ended up saving 40 dollars by getting the part in South Carolina.

(And here’s another mystery to ponder….why does a quoted 110.00 part end up costing 131.00 after tax at the Hendersonville dealer? What happened there? Was there some kind of mysterious butthead tax? Was there a service fee?)

So…I got the part to the mechanic and we should have the minivan back tomorrow.

But why does it have to be so hard?

Why does it have to be so consistently bad an experience at that Hendersonville dealership?

Spartanburg isn’t that far away.

I know where I’ll be going from now on.

(And this is a beautiful lesson for any future entrepreneur: Be the person who seeks solutions to a customer’s problems…even if they aren’t problems that you directly caused. People remember customer service that goes the extra mile…..and….they will never forget the guy who says, “it’s not our fault….we did all we could…there’s nothing more we can do…”)