The Saga of the Spoiler

With so many negative blogs lately I was actually going to write something positive this time. Don't know what, but I was going to anyway.



However, this story is something that just needs to be told. See, it all started two Mondays ago when Him decided he was going to put a spoiler on the 380. He drove down to Lonsdale in search of the place who fits them for the dealer who services our car. After trying out a couple, he made his choice and booked it in for last 9.00 am Monday (June 30).



For those who don't know, Lonsdale is about 25 minutes drive down south. He leaves nice and early and heads off in peak hour traffic. Just as he was about to turn into the appointed street, the manager phones him. This fitter is of sick today. He will phone about 10.00 am and reschedule.



Ten comes and goes. About 11.00, Him phones the company upset that he is the one phoning them. "Oh, sorry! I will phone at 1.00 pm and arrange a time." Needless to say the appointed hour comes and goes. What ever happened to good old fashioned service?

Anyway, the next afternoon Him phones again and is told they will fit it at my work place on Thursday approx 1.00pm. So I sit around and wait. I have errands to run, but by 3.30 I give up and go run them anyway. Just as I am leaving the office Him phones to say that the fellow is going to phone me shortly. Now, I finish work at 4.30, and this errand was going to take me until after 4.00 pm. When the fellow does finally phone, I tell him as much. So he makes a time to come to the house at 5.00.

Five pm comes and goes, it grows dark and cold. Just after 6.00 pm he arrives. By this time Him is understandably upset. It takes over an hour and a half for the young lad to fit the spoiler, and when he does, it is not on straight. He has drilled 4 massive holes in the boot, filled the boot with filings, and used 4 different screws. And it is not straight. Plus, when Him is admonishing him about this, he notices the condition of the spoiler.

There are patches of paint run all over it, even patches where it has bubbled like it was touched when still wet. There are rub patches where someone has sanded it back and actually rubbed it back to black, and there is what looks like a burst bubble and the black is showing through. Now Him is virtually apoplectic! Not good enough he says and phones the boss. "What are you going to do about it????"

After much apologising the company decides to remove the spoiler the next morning and bring it back to the workshop for repainting, then Him said he wanted it refitted on Sunday. We don't work Sunday, says the boss. You do now, said Him. And, you will come here and do it. Why not remove it now I ask? Because he doesn't have any of the little stickers to put over the massive holes in the boot.

Next day comes and goes, and just as I am driving out the lane way behind work, he phones to say he is there to remove the spoiler. I shoot across the street and park behind him and he removes it in the middle of the street.

Imagine Him's reaction to all this! One of the things he said is "You said it would be taken off this morning so it could be painted and dry by Sunday. You don't want to be telling me that it wasn't dry so won't be ready!" He was reassured it would be okay. Along the line somewhere, he speaks to the big boss, who was supposed to be fitting it. He ends up telling him he will take it back to Lonsdale at 2.30 pm, so that he knows it will be fitted at that time and he is watching till it is done.

So at substantial financial loss to us, he takes Sunday off work. At about 2.00 pm when he was preparing to go to Lonsdale to fit it, he checked his phone. There it was. A message saying it wasn't ready to be fitted as it didn't dry (surprise, surprise!). Well, I can't repeat the conversation that took place after that, needless to say it wasn't pleasant. He did say, however, that he wanted his money back and a new boot fitted.

The big boss then phoned Him to say they would put it back in the heat room and it would be fitted at 4.30this afternoon. Just before 4 he gets another call. They damaged the paintwork taking it out of the heat room.

There have been two more calls since then. In the latest, it still wasn't ready, and they were trying to organise a time to fit it. Him mistakenly said the car was going to the crash repairer tomorrow, so it would be out of action, but it's not going till next week. His phone just rang a minute ago, so I am not sure what the latest developments are.

I'll keep you posted...