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Evil Volvo dealer/stupid me
Aug. 1st, 2009 08:17 pmI've never regretted getting the Volvo V40 in 2000, but, as we approach its ninth year, things are beginning to show their age. For the most part, this hasn't been a problem, because we have an incredibly honest and inexpensive independent repair shop, Mission Viejo Motors, which I would recommend to anyone in a heartbeat. The problem is that anything involving electronics and security still has to be done at the dealership, Power Volvo of Irvine, and those guys are, if not evil incarnate... well, they don't rip infants from the breast and pitchfork them, but they make you pay dearly to get the repairs and parts you need, and they sometimes fix things that don't need fixing or get their repairs wrong. We've complained about them to Volvo North America, to no avail, and we're lucky we found Mission Viejo Motors; we haven't been to the dealer in five years.
Unfortunately, we need the dealer again, for a really stupid reason: our keyless remotes have disintegrated, and so has the plastic part on one of our keys that attaches it to the ring. When the latter happened to the other key, and I tried carrying it without the ring, I promptly lost it.*
How much do the fine people at Power Volvo of Irvine want to remedy this situation? Try $530, $300 of which is for "programming." I don't think they have to code anything, or even take the lock apart. My guess is that they just have to scan in barcodes that come with the keys and remotes, attach a cable to the car's computer, and press a button.
We can't afford this. I just finished a ball-busting job (which I was nonetheless grateful to have), and the proceeds are going to this worthy cause instead of helping us in other ways we need just as much. Life happens, but complaining is one of the privileges of having a personal blog.
*Why do we need remotes, when we have keys? Are we lazy? No. But it's been a few months since my remote disintegrated, and I've been using my key. The problem is that on a number of occasions, I've left my key in the trunk lock and walked away. I try to think about it, but today, I had a lot on my mind, it happened anyway, and it was one time too many. Someone could have easily driven the car away. If that had happened, we'd be out much more than the cost of keys and remotes. Using a remote to open the trunk is the only way for me to avoid this problem.
Unfortunately, we need the dealer again, for a really stupid reason: our keyless remotes have disintegrated, and so has the plastic part on one of our keys that attaches it to the ring. When the latter happened to the other key, and I tried carrying it without the ring, I promptly lost it.*
How much do the fine people at Power Volvo of Irvine want to remedy this situation? Try $530, $300 of which is for "programming." I don't think they have to code anything, or even take the lock apart. My guess is that they just have to scan in barcodes that come with the keys and remotes, attach a cable to the car's computer, and press a button.
We can't afford this. I just finished a ball-busting job (which I was nonetheless grateful to have), and the proceeds are going to this worthy cause instead of helping us in other ways we need just as much. Life happens, but complaining is one of the privileges of having a personal blog.
*Why do we need remotes, when we have keys? Are we lazy? No. But it's been a few months since my remote disintegrated, and I've been using my key. The problem is that on a number of occasions, I've left my key in the trunk lock and walked away. I try to think about it, but today, I had a lot on my mind, it happened anyway, and it was one time too many. Someone could have easily driven the car away. If that had happened, we'd be out much more than the cost of keys and remotes. Using a remote to open the trunk is the only way for me to avoid this problem.
