Recalled and Appalled

I received a notice in Saturday's mail stating that my car had been recalled. I was really miffed for several reasons.

One: The letter was addressed to my old address. I specifically spent an entire week in February calling any and every business, friend, or contact we had ever made letting them know we had moved. The Chevy dealer made this list. I had provided them with our address, telephone number, account number and fucking blood type. There was no reason what so ever for this notice to be delayed in reaching me.

Two: I was just at the Chevy dealer last week. My airbag light was on and my temperature gauge was reading 36 degrees with ice. They had my car for the whole day. Michael had to drop it off and catch a ride to work . The courtesy shuttle won't take him to work because they only travel 10 miles. His work is 12.2 miles away. Fucking cock suckers. We have purchased 2 vehicles and persuaded our neighbor to buy there. Do you think they might give a rats ass about that? Do you think they might be able to travel the 2.2 miles and call it customer retention? Of course not.

Three: I opened it and it was a severe recall. "...a much higher than usual rate of fuel pressure regulator diaphragm leaks. A leak can allow fuel to enter the intake manifold through a vacuum line. In low battery conditions, if the engine does not start when cranked, the fuel from the leaking regulator and a mistimed spark can cause a backfire. The backfire can rupture the intake manifold, causing a loud bang. The rupture of the intake manifold can displace a fuel line, pulling an injector out of place, and causing a fuel leak. If there is an ignition source, a fire can result. Slow engine cranking could indicate low battery conditions,..." On a side note GM chose to bold type that there would be "no charge", instead of bold typing that my car could explode.

Four: The letter was dated June 2004. So apparently they really don't give a shit if I blow up as long as my car payments are on time. I called and asked why this was. I was told that they send recall letters out in accordance with part supplies. In other words, they don't want me to go to ma and pa's garage that has Chevy parts. They want to keep it all in the family, less money out of their pockets. Another note on this date issue, the first paragraph states, "This notice is sent to you in accordance with the requirements of the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Federal regulation requires that any vehicle lessor receiving this recall notice must forward a copy of this notice to the lessee within ten days." Fucking dick wads.

Five: The notice states that the repair will take approximately thirty minutes to complete. Sounds too good to be true right? It is. You can't even get a ten minute oil change here in less than thirty minutes. So I asked the guy while I had them on the phone. Just as I thought the repair will take between three to six hours, once they actually start work on the car. I usually drop it off at seven and they start working on it around one or two in the afternoon. Why do I even bother?

The really shitty thing is I really love my car. If the people that manufactured it, sold it, repaired it, and recalled it, just gave a flying shit about anything other than their wallets this might not be such a big ordeal. Machines sometimes have gliches. People sometimes miscalculate. It's the price we pay for the times we live in. If people could just be aware of the potential domino effect and have a little consideration that would be nice. It would have been no big deal.

Instead I have essentially paid large amounts of money to get treated like shit. What's so funny is my mountain bike is a fraction of the cost and yet I get treated like a CEO of Trek or some shit. I wish I could bike everywhere.

So fuck you GM! I'm reporting you to the feds for breaking regulations! Not like it going to make a bit of difference. I want out of this fishbowl I'm swimming in.