Warranty Woes

Interspersed with making a living today I:

Took the car to the dealer because it is making a ticking sound on an increasingly more often basis. I’d researched on the Internet and found that it can be a precursor to a lifter problem.

It made the noise when I left home. At four this afternoon, I was told the service writer, the technician and the service manager couldn’t hear it; and, it could be the result of not using a “genuine Hyundai oil filter” which is not something that will lead to a lifter going bad. The technical bulletin I was given called the symptom of the after market filter an engine knock which I don’t have. I have a tick, not a knock. I know my ticks and knocks. As I left the lot, I could hear the tick. Oh well, my symptom is on record and there’s another 60K on the power train warranty.

This morning while waiting for a friend to pick me up at the dealership, my Google phone did what it is wont to do on a too often basis: calls don’t go out. This is the fourth time it’s happened since I’ve had it. The first time, the problem went away on its own. The second time, replacing the SIM card did the trick. The third time and today, doing a master reset of the phone brought it back; though doing this is no fun as you have to download all of your applications again and you lose all of your call, text and Email history.

So, after lunch I called T-Mobile and explained my problem and my frustration. The nice 611 lady sympathized with me and diagnosed that I had a hardware problem which she would solve by sending me a new phone. She rattled on, throwing in the middle that the replacement phone wouldn’t cost me anything, I just needed to pay $9.95 for shipping by T-Mobile of the HTC defective phone. I asked why I had to pay for T-Mobile to send me a phone to replace a defective phone. She repeated what she’d said before (from the script on her screen). I told her that I fully understood what she was telling me but that I wasn’t happy with what she was telling me. She then said the same thing in a slightly different way. I said that I was assuming that she couldn’t help me with the charge and asked if there was someone up the chain that could. She said she didn’t know but she would ask her supervisor. Less than a minute later, I had free shipping. I told her that I thought she was a very nice person.

She then read me another script about the exchange process that included the advice that if they didn’t get the bad phone back within seven days of receipt of the new phone that I would have to pay a $395 non-refundable fee. Since it was coming ground and it would take as many as “seven business days (not including weekends and holidays)” to get to me I asked what would happen if I sent it and UPS sent it astray. She then said as long as UPS scanned it in, they were on the hook, not me. Why not tell me that in the first place?

Polite and persistent wins the day, I think.