Air Conditioning Continued with Courtesy Chevrolet Wow!

We arrived at ACFree and found the mechanic had gone home because he didn’t have any business that day. There was the usual bunch of lackeys sitting around and they all jumped up to work on our car. I just sat down in front of the evaporative cooler and kept my mouth tightly shut. They pulled everything apart and put the plug in that we had bought at AutoZone and it didn’t work. After 2 hours in the heat, with everyone taking a turn looking at the car (including the guy with the same cloths on he had on the day before which included a t-shirt that used to be white and was big enough for my whole family to fit in—yuck), they put everything back together and told us to buy a different part.

I told Tarzan that I would take it to the dealer the next day.

The next day I drove to Courtesy Chevrolet and told them, “It’s not the compressor, it’s not the fuses, it may need some Freon, but that is not what is wrong with it. What is wrong is that there is no power coming to this little switch right here.” Anthony wrote that down on the work order and told me it cost $99 just to have them look at it. If they fixed it, that would be taken off the price to fix it. I went in to wait for a ride to work.

45 minutes later, I asked someone how long I had to wait for a ride. Anthony had not given them a slip of paper to take me to work. So, I got that taken care of and got a ride to work.

At 11:30 a.m. I got the sad call that my mother-in-law had passed away. That is for a whole different blog story, but is part of this story so I added it here.

I immediately called Tarzan, the family didn’t know his cell phone number so they had called me. He fell apart and I knew I needed to be with him. I called Courtesy Chevrolet and told them what had happened and asked how long before my car would be ready. There were 8 cars in front of me, they hadn’t even looked at it yet. I asked if they could move it up under the circumstances and Anthony said he would try.

I called back several times during the day always with the same conversation.

Finally, at 4:00 p.m. I got a call. The mechanic wanted another $99 to pull the dashboard off and continue looking for the problem. They still had not fixed it. I started to cry and said, “I just don’t need this right now. Put the car together and send someone to get me.”

I got my wits about me and called back.

“Before the mechanic leaves, find out exactly what he did to the car that was worth the $99 you are charging me.”

“He is gone for the day, I have already asked him. He checked the fuses and the ignition switch.”

“You have got to be kidding me. I told you the fuses were not the problem. I have already had those checked and I know that took all of 5 seconds to do. I also know that ‘dismantling’ the dash is no big deal, I could do it. I watched the other guys who checked it do it twice, it takes 5 minutes and a screw driver.”

“Mrs. Grandberry, I talked the mechanic down to $59 for what he did today.”

“Okay, that’s better, but it is still ridiculous.”

I called Tarzan at home and told him that I hated to bother him with this, but needed his advice. I wanted to know if I should talk to the manager or just let it go. His first reaction was to just let it go, but then he thought a minute and said, “You know you never get better action than when a mad woman talks to the manager. Go for it baby.”

My ride finally came and Walter and I had a great conversation about life, mothers and family (Walter took me to work in the morning, so we were already on a first name basis—he had knee surgery 12 years ago that keeps him from being able to exercise :-)). When I got to Courtesy Chevrolet, I just went up to the window to pay and ask to speak to a manager when I noticed a man sitting in an office right next to the cashier window.

I stepped into his office and said, “Are you a manger?” He was and I asked if I could talk to him. I started off by saying, “I quit coming to Courtesy Chevrolet years ago and today I remembered why.” I had his attention. First, I assured him that Anthony had been very nice and taken good care of me and then told him the whole story in a very calm manner. He said, “Mrs. Grandberry, I understand how this happened and I can fix it. The last thing you need is to be driving around in an un-air conditioned car and be charged too much for it. Let me get you an air conditioned car to drive for now and when you get back from the funeral come in and we will start over.”

Wow! They couldn’t find my work order, so he told the cashier, "It doesn’t matter, just give me a green slip so she can get out of the yard." He signed the green slip and off I went. Wow! I’ll go back there.

Air Conditioning and 113°

Monday, I had the day off. I was road weary from the travel over the 4th of July weekend, so I slept on and off all morning. In the afternoon I got up to run errands for Tarzan. After two or three errands, I stopped at the dry cleaners and when I got back in my car the air conditioner would NOT BLOW AT ALL. Not even hot air. I rolled down my window and thought I would simply go home and let Tarzan fix it.

As I drove toward the house I thought about how selfish that was, after all I had the day off, so I drove to a place I pass all the time with a sign that says ACFree. Winding around, down, up and through the yard, I came to a small Winnebago with an awning on the east side. There was a young man there with baggy pants who jumped right up to check my car. There was an old man, with only one tooth, sitting in a lawn chair in front of the evaporative cooler they had set up outside. He waxed poetic about what a good mechanic this young man was and that he would get me going. There was a woman inside the trailer cooking – today’s special--Hamburger $2.50, soda $1.00. She told me she comes at 10:00 in the morning and cooks all day fixing lunch and dinner for whoever stops by. She had 3 electric skillets to cook on.

I stood in the heat for about 30 minutes and then was told that all the fuses were good and everything was working except the air conditioning switch (you know the thing that makes it blow cold air—sheez, I already knew it wasn’t doing that). The solution was to send me to the JUNK YARD to buy a used one and then they would put it in the car for me. I panicked and asked if I would have to pull the part, it’s 113° and I am in no mood to go walking around a junk yard looking for a car that looks like mine and then try to get the part out. He assured me that I would not have to do that and gave me an address for a junk yard THAT DID NOT EXIST. I was determined, however, and after four tries, and once almost crying, I was told that I could get the part from a junk yard in MARICOPA, a 40 MINUTE DRIVE WITH NO AIR CONDITIONER. They said they would UPS it to me and I gave them my work address so I could have it on Tuesday. Cost $60

Tuesday, the part came. Tarzan and I went back to the ACFree place and they installed the switch. While I was waiting for them to get it installed I sat with a group of men in front of the evaporative cooler who were shooting craps. I didn’t understand the game, so they explained as they went along. 7 or 11 on your first roll you win and the shoot starts over, any other number on your first roll and you have to roll that same number again before you roll a 7 or 11 or you lose. There was something about the number 3 too, but I didn’t get it. One of them looked up at me and said, “Man, I’m glad you came along, these guys have cleaned up their language.” I watched as they won and lost $1.00 at a time. There was a little girl sitting next to me who kept saying “Daddy, you are losing all our money.” That took some of the fun out of watching these guys as they each had their own style, arguing over someone touching the dice when it wasn’t their turn and how it changed the dynamics of the game, making funny noises to encourage the dice, rolling with their eyes shut, rolling with their eyes open.

The part was installed and guess what--IT DIDN’T WORK. We were then told that “well, you know, this is a used part from a car the same age as yours so it’s probably worn out too.” DUH! I said, “If anyone had suggested I get a new part yesterday, I could have had this fixed by now.”

So, now I am hot and I am hungry and I am angry-not a good combination. Realizing they were not going to fix it, I stood real close to Tarzan and said, “You settle up with them, if I do, I am just going to piss everyone off.” (Sorry about the swear word.) He settled for $50 – hey I thought this was going to be a Free. Whatever.

Our next instruction was to find a dealership. I got on my cell phone and called 411 and got a dealer 30 miles away who told me (1) they didn’t sell Oldsmobiles at that dealership anymore and (2) they don’t make Oldsmobiles anymore and (3) I could go to any GM dealer for parts.

“Hey, look, I drive a gray car. I just happen to know it’s an Oldsmobile because I am looking for a part. Who would be a GM dealer?” They guy laughed and said any Chevy dealer. So, I started calling around and all the parts departments were closed. AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!

By now, a miscellaneous person who had been watching the crap game came over and started fiddling with the old switch which had now been placed back in the car. He jiggled it around and got the darn thing working. They all decided it was just one part of the switch and showed us on the one we got from the junk yard what part it was.

We went to AutoZone and they told us we would have to drive about 20 miles to another location to get the part we needed. We did so, and were grateful that we had a limping air conditioner. Cost $20. We drove back to the ACFree place and they had all gone home. We’ll see if the part works.