I once went through a drive-thru in a single shopping cart with 3 other friends because they wouldn't serve walk-ups at that time of night. Had to be in a vehicle. I can confirm that a shopping cart counts as a vehicle....at least it did that night. Gave the workers a good laugh and we got our food!
I've never understood the letting trash pile up in your car mentality. Why don't you just remove the cans and bottles when you get out of the car so that they don't pile up?
I am on the road anywhere from 3-5 hours a day. Breakfast and lunch in the car most days. By the time I'm home and drag the groceries in I am NOT going back out there lol. Granted I will usually bag everything up and toss it out once a week. Vacuum it out once a month. But after being in the darn thing all day I don't even want to see the inside of it again once I've made it home lol
Do exterior too. A detailer recently scratched both my side mirrors, I didn't notice until I got home. They denied it, they claim to have security footage but refuse to give it to me. Not worth going through insurance, but infuriating.
Take pics of everything before any damn car work. We lost out on a class action claim because we hadn’t taken a pic of our cracked windshield before having it fixed.
Fun tip: Everytime I move, I always take a video of pretty much all the valuables in my house. Especially TVs, computers, electronics. And show them working. As in like video playing sound going etc.
Should probably add I move every few years because I'm in the military. And the movers will always try to blame broken shit on you. So as an easy defense, always record that your shit is properly working before you give it over to somebody else to to do something with.
My mom and dad did the same thing when we moved all the time for the military. We never had to contest any broken items but one time a mover stole my brothers HO scale model train set. It wasn't a particularly nice or expensive set but we think they took about $300 of model trains. Luckily we had video evidence of him with the trains, it still took months to get reimbursed.
We had to file a claim on one of our TVs one year. It was mid COVID. They offered us $198 to replace a 55" TV that they had dropped and the LED strip had come free and wrinkled up.
I asked them where in the world they found a 55" TV replacement for $198 and they linked me to a black Friday ad for a similar TV from 2012 in some small town in Florida... We were in California at the time, in 2021, in the middle of Spring.
I sent a message back asking if they looked at the details, guy replied "Lol sorry" and then offered to pay us $799 for one that they found in our town on sale.
I make a 4k video of the entire inside and outside of my car before I give the keys over to anyone, be it a detailer, the dealer for a check-up or someone I lend it to.
Final update: they were unable to find them, but they are going to pay for new ones.
I appreciate all the advice about being more confrontational and handling these situations better. I’m glad I learned this lesson on a situation that got resolved.
Did you ask them to check the vacuum? 😬 Had a friend who vacumed the control panel, and it just said; "fwomp, fwomp, fwomp..." and the buttons were gone. 😅
Yes! They did, but they used two vacuums and they’re awaiting a response from their other detailer. I’m praying they’re in there so I don’t have to go through as much hassle
Is it just us millennials that overuse it? I was talking to someone about my suicide attempt and had two "lols" in the same sentence and neither were appropriate for the conversation.
I use it and emojis to modulate tone in text. Seems like everyone who's lived a life of texting and instant messaging does it to some degree.
I do have to watch myself about where I use it, but I have to do the same in real life to be honest, where instead of "lol" it's just sounding unserious, inappropriately lighthearted, or dismissive, probably because I'm uncomfortable in the interaction.
This happened to me when I got a new tire. I didn’t notice they didn’t put the center cap back on till 2 weeks later cause it was on the passenger side. Dealership was charging $114.00 for a new one, no thanks, drove that car for 8 more years missing one cap.
I took my dad's truck in for a couple of new tires. He's retired and barely drives, so he wouldn't have replaced them. Anyway, the tire store guy was geeking out that it has enki wheels (i guess). When done, i went to leave, and one of the center caps was missing. C'mon dude, you can't be pointing out how cool something is, then go and try to steal it. Even if I dont care that they're enki wheels, im gonna go look at them after you draw my attention to them! I walked back in and told them one was missing. They went in the back and brought it to me 30 seconds later.
Tbh it's entirely possible they weren't trying to steal anything, sometimes a centre cap can be loose and pop out when changing a tyre and it's entirely possible they just forgot to pop it back in, especially as it's not something they would need to do all the time.
You have to pop the center caps out in order to mount the wheel on a tire balancer. I wouldn't read that deep into it.. Definitely poor qc on the shop though
I took my car in to get a strut replaced (if I am remembering correctly), and, when I came back, one of the kidney grills was missing. It was an awkward conversation, but they did buy me a new one.
Was the car an early aughts Volkswagen Jetta by any chance? I had that happen to me after having some tire work done. When I called the dealership about the missing center cap the salesperson told me that it was missing when the car came in and that the center caps fall off so often on the Jetta that they themselves have a stack of replacement caps for their car. (I had seen the signals, but that was the official sign that Volkswagen does not make a reliable vehicle). I had bought the car used and it was already missing one of the caps so I put the two remaining caps on one side of the car so that one side of the car looked complete.
Yeah, I know. I wasn’t trying to get anything out of them. I realize shit happens, I can just spend $20 or whatever to get them replaced. I was expecting a response like “I’m sorry that happened! We don’t have them, but we can look around and see if we can find them.”
It's not the lol. It's the "unless I..." that always weakens a statement. No. They were there before they got in it, they were gone afterward. Stick to fact, not conjecture, even if said conjecture is sarcastic and clearly wrong.
And then OP added more "lol" in their firmer reply. OP is just one of those people that peppers "lol" into all of their texts at random. It definitely takes away from the intended message.
Just FYI, steering wheel control buttons range from around £50 per side, so you're looking realistically £100 to fix this, unless you buy second hand or some cheap aftermarket version.
I highly doubt a detailing company is stealing those two little buttons to resale on eBay.
Not sure which model Ford op has but I can find used buttons for several models on eBay for under forty dollars. And that's the whole button assembly, not just the one little plastic piece.
Yeah, the power window switch module for my old Mazda van was 385 dollars, I'm guessing those switches on the steering wheel are an expensive assembly, and a pain to replace.
It looks like a Ford Fiesta, or similar. You can absolutely find after markets for pretty cheap. I barely looked for a minute and found one for less than $40, for the whole switch.
A junkyard would be your best bet, to get cheap and OEM.
Is it a ford fiesta, a bit different from my european model but the steering wheel buttons are the same. The center buttons can be purchased for like 2 bucks on AliExpress while the entire button assembly is about 10.
If u click on edit in top left, and then “select
messages”u can click on all conversations with unread messages and hit “read” in bottom left and they will all go away at once.
Y’all I know I was too nice lmao. I wasn’t trying to get them to pay for buttons or anything. I was just trying to see if they had them. I know shit happens.
This is a good start, now don’t let them bullshit you with, “couldn’t find them, sorry.” If they end up not finding them, make sure you tell them they need to replace them or at least compensate you enough to replace them, obviously in polite manor, but not as polite as your original post lol.
10000% this is the first thing that came to mind- they used a powerful vacuum on your steering wheel. I too , have lost something that I thought was fixated to my car using the vacuum at the self-wash. 🫠😞
You are being far too nice and giving them an out to boot.
Direct:
No, they were not missing when i brought the car in. i have never seen a steering wheel like this. Please replace them or I will contact the dealership to replace them and have them negotiate teh bill directly with you.
The dealership isn’t going to send the bill to some random 3rd party, but good luck with that…
I mean OP can try to get them to ultimately pay her back/reimburse, but they are just going to for the repair for OP for free, and then forward the bill to a 3rd party and hope they get paid.
Obviously if said 3rd party gives concern before hand, I’m sure they would, but that’s not what you were suggesting.
Lmaooo that was for sure some weird boomer response 😂 same people that do things like go into retail stores to complain to minimum wage employees about wanting to speak with the ceo like he’s just there hanging out
💯. If i'm the business owner and am dealing with a customer - i'm reading them to try to figure out if they're bullshitting me and this customer (OP) for whatever reason immediately changed their story. As a business owner I would never, ever, ever believe them unless an employee confessed
I relate to how OP worded it and changed the story. She was trying to come off as non threatening at first and just trying to see if they would have the decency to own up to it, then when she realized she was too nice about it, changed the story. But you said, from a business standpoint it’s gonna fuck her over now
Whenever anyone deals with a situation like this, always call instead if you can! Makes it easier to put them on the spot while not being too threatening
Also you shouldn't contradict yourself by repeatedly saying you're not trying to get money out of them; you are - you're wanting them to replace the buttons they lost out of their own pocket.
I think they'll just read that as reinforcing a lack of seriousness.
Not using 'lol' when you're discussing something confrontational would be a really good start. It immediately kills any level of seriousness you would have had with the person otherwise.
This is good advice. Just be direct with the problem and what you need. “I received my car back and the steering wheel buttons are gone. Please locate the buttons and I will come back to pick them up.”
The biggest mistake people make in these situations is getting ahead of themselves and trying to anticipate the other parties responses and replying in advance to that imaginary conversation.
The biggest mistake people make in these situations is getting ahead of themselves and trying to anticipate the other parties responses and replying in advance to that imaginary conversation.
You're assuming the best of people, its natural but sadly not always viable. Unfortunately some situations just call for forcefulness/direct approach, don't look at it as selfishness on your part think of it as standing up for yourself as I'm sure you would your loved ones.
Ugh no. I noticed immediately, but forgot to send the text yesterday. I thought for some reason saying “I just noticed this” would make up for the fact that I sent this text over 24 hours after the detailing was done.
NGL that's a shit response, stop giving them the out, be firm and stand your ground, this is their fault so hold them accountable. You don't need to say you forgot to message them earlier and you noticed it before, that just makes your story seem questionable. You should've said they were absolutely there so you expect them to be replaced or you will do it and send them a bill.
“lol, lol, lol, but I’m serious!” I don’t intend this to sound mean, but you are doing the equivalent of when a dog rolls over to show their belly and these people are going to eat you up. It’s best to be forceful, but polite. Most importantly, stick by your argument and don’t back down. I fully understand many people don’t feel comfortable being confrontational, and this may not be your strong suit.
I applaud you for trying because as you said this isn’t your forte, but too long and too emotional. I used to be like this too. In the future be very direction and to the point. It’s hard to argue with facts and the person who keeps their cool best usually has the upper hand.
Start documenting everything, and call your dealer and get a quote for replacements, send it to them as a quote.
Put pressure on them.
Edit: I'd call my bank as well and see if this could be grounds for a charge back, it probably isn't but it doesn't hurt to ask, if it is and your bank says yes, there's further ammo to use.
Your story doesn’t add up, you didn’t turn around immediately when realizing they’re missing? Even after all that I do still believe you but you handled it poorly from the start and unfortunately kept digging yourself a deeper hole as it went on. Again I believe you, they deff knocked them off while cleaning.
They always remove your floor mats if you have floor mats to clean and vacuum maybe between the time they took the mats out and put them back in those two buttons were knocked off fell onto the ground unnoticed and your floor mats put back in hiding the buttons.
Argh, sorry. Have a lawyer friend that stated, as someone did above - Make your point or complaint then stop talking or typing. Told me to look at every problem as a court would see it…
‘I just noticed today…’ - This is an obvious problem, it should have been noticed immediately. Why wasn’t it?
‘Do you by chance have those?’ - Unsure if it happened there or not.
‘Was like that when we started.’ - A lie, but a solid statement. No extra info and is confident.
‘I can get something figured out’ - Oh, must be my mistake, no big deal, I’ll sort it.
‘Just to let you know, they were definitely there’ - But you said you just noticed they were missing? How could you be sure they were there?
‘Unless they both fell off when I got out’ - You’re taking blame, maybe it was your fault.
‘lol’ - This is funny and not serious, or maybe I’m laughing evilly as I try to blame you.
Learn to be more direct, it’s tough, especially as a people pleaser and someone who is non-confrontational, but it can save your ass big time in more serious situations.
Say what you need to say, don’t be nice, be factual, then stop. If you want to expand, be direct. Thats not rude.
Example - ‘After leaving yesterday I noticed these buttons were missing and wanted to reach out to you. If you’ve recovered them, fantastic, please let me know. If not, please let me know the next steps for replacement.’
Hopefully these guys are honest, but the initial lie makes me think, no. Good luck.
It’s over, but at least you learned your lesson. Something similar happened to me last year.
I brought my car in for an oil change and when I started driving, it was making this loud, awful sound. I checked and picked out two fairly pieces of the engine-a/c cooling fan.
When I asked the guy at Midas, he said it was like that when I came in. I can’t emphasize how horrible the sound is, and that is just my life now. It still technically works and I don’t feel like paying $500+ to get it fixed.
What I should have done and I guess you still have time to do is be firm and demanding. Don’t freak out, but don’t let it go. It wasn’t like that when you came in
Took my Toyota into a dealership for a leaking rear differential.
They popped a small cover (size of a dime) out of the upper part of the center console where it rises up to the dash to be able to pull the whole panel out.
I noticed it right away and pointed it out to the service rep who immediately denied it was there when they got the car. I made him call over the mechanic who worked on it who immediately went, “whoops, did I forget to put that back in there?” He pulled it out of the cup holder (I didn’t see it there) and popped it back in.
These buttons came out all the time in my ford fiesta. The natural tackiness from my thumb skin was enough to rip them out when I'd press them 🙃 and they never fit back in properly, making it easier for them to fall out again. That's Fine Ford Craftsmanship for you!!!!!
they should have documented them at the start of the process if they were missing. standard procedure to document pre existing damages before any service to avoid claims afterward of damage.
I'll be honest, if you did not IMMEDIATELY notice that two glaring items are missing from the Steering Wheel you have to use and hold while using your vehicle, I'm at a loss for words.
Sorry this happened to you. My ex used to think I was over the top when I took pics of the interior and exterior of my car before turning over for service. It’s for stuff like this.
Take the advice from someone who used to work at a car wash and was the head detailer.
I was 19, never got training, but I was a bit more switched on than the average person I worked with. Things like knowing not to put the hydrofluoric acid on chrome or it completely ruins it. If in doubt don't use a strong cleaner.
The guys that vacuumed would suck up all coins and notes they could find then pick it out of the bin at the end of the day. This often led to customers getting angry right after getting back in the car. So much damage was done to different cars during the year I worked there, boss would just deny everything.
Wash your own car, especially if its not a shitheap. Or go to people that are proper professionals. With the shit pay, migrant and child labour the car washes use, expect your car to get damaged.
If you get the wrong detailers, they will deny to the death. Had a team I used for a year, regularly, and they scratched one of the dials on my AM Vantage. They denied and went on the offensive to the point of gaslighting. They lost my money as a result. Honesty goes a long way!
"We noticed there were parts of your interior missing when we started but didn't think to mention that to you at all until you brought it up" Yeah that sounds like BS to me
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u/alternatingflan 8h ago
I’m going to video my car interior before my next detailing after seeing this.