A Customer in Need is a Need Indeed

Be wary of the services that are offered through a program when purchasing a vehicle. . At the time of purchase I thought that it was a GREAT idea that I received a complimentary card in case of car trouble would arise. My initial thought was that this is too good to be true but I accepted it.
About 2 months after having the vehicle it continuously stopped. I thought that it was due to shortage of gas but then I noticed that when I turned the air conditioner on it would stop with a full tank of gas so then that led me to believe that the problem was deeper than the gas. I called my dealer’s service department and made an appointment. They could not get me in for 3 days. In the meantime the car stopped on me completely and I had to call on my pastor for assistance.

The following morning I made phone calls to get the vehicle in, as it could not wait the other two days. I called the FREE roadside assistance program. I thought that this could not be as bad as I thought that it would be. The man that answered the phone was not helpful. He asked questions concerning my vehicle such as the year and make of the car, the purchase date and the nature of the problem. I answered all the questions accordingly and then he told me that someone would be on the way in about 30-45 minutes. I asked for a reference number, as I know from experience to always ask for a number. After 20 minutes had elapsed I called the again and gave the operator the reference number and was told that the order was incorrectly entered. The operator had written the ticket up as if I was not affiliated with the roadside assistance program and went to an outside contractor to take the tow, which is why it is taking longer as they cannot guarantee the time length with an outside contractor. Apparently the operator dispatched an outside contractor but gave me the rules and guidelines of a program participant. I took a deep breath and just asked the second operator when someone would be able to assist me. She told me that she would put my tow as a priority and it should be soon.

From this I learned two things. Everyone makes mistakes and that it is okay to say you don’t know. The second operator handled the situation more professionally, in my opinion because she gave me the explanation of what went wrong and she gave me an answer that made me feel that she was honest. Although the answer was “I don’t know” she did not say resort to an unprofessional criticism of the first operator.