I dropped my car off at AAA Car Care Center Saturday, July 25 for JUST an oil change at around 10:30/11am. I received a call from them a little after 3:00p saying that the car was ready for pick up.By the time I got there, they were preparing to close for the day (they close at 4p). There was one guy working the front desk, took him forever to get myself and a few other people checked out. When i left it was 4:15p, they were closed. The guy who did my oil change, George, had pulled my car around the front of the building for me already and the door was already unlocked.
I leave AAA, turn on my a/c... Nothing but hot air. I brush it off thinking maybe it's just taking longer than usual for my a/c to cool because it was so hot Saturday. I also notice my emergency brake light in the dashboard didn't go off. I doubled checked to make sure nothing was underneath the emer. Brake that would make the light stay on... Nothing. Go to TJMaxx, which is in the same shopping center, get out of the car, hit my remote to lock my doors and it doesn't work... I thought, hmmm, maybe time for a new battery.By that time its getting darker outside and cooler. I had the a/c BLASTING and still nothing but hot air!
I had no problems with my car before 11am that day, everything worked perfect. It's just a little too strange that 4 hours later my keyless entry remote doesn't work, my a/c is broken, and the emergency light in the dash won't turn off... Then i start to wonder. The service center had already closed. The next day I called to see if they were open because I would have taken it in on Sunday but they were closed. First thing this morning I head up to AAA. I walk in, the guy at the front desk, Eric, remembered me from Saturday. They double check the car, the same guy, George, checks the car, brings it back out and says that I have "an electrical issue". Now, Saturday when i picked up my car, NONE of that was stated in the original maintenance inspection checklist. The only thing Eric went over with me was that i had a crack in my belt and needed new front tires. If the emergency brake light was on when they received it, you'd think that they would have noted it as that's like the first thing you see when you get in the car!!! If this was an issue BEFORE they would have said "oh by the way your brake light is on, that may be an electrical issue you might want to get checked out" or something! They didn't mention it because my car was fine when i brought it in! So i asked Eric at the front desk "now what? Am i responsible for that? Am I suppose to pay for that?" He said "Yea. We didn't do anything to your car but do an oil change." I shook my head no. He said "You can shake your head, but all we did was an oil change. George does about 25 oil changes per day so he's pretty good at it." I said "I'm not paying for that! My car was fine before i got an 'oil change'". He ignored me, picked up some papers for the next car and started keying stuff in the computer for the next person's car. I'm fuming at this point. I walk outside, talk to my dad because he knows a little about cars and he said they should be responsible. I walk back in, get the number to the corporate office to the Field Manager, Andre Sally. I called and left him a message, no call back. I get transferred to a Mr. Russell Lambert who is a Field Rep, he told me to go get a second opinion on whats wrong with the car and give him a call back. I was at the Norfolk location from 8:30a - 10:30a trying to get something done. Absolutely nothing was done! I took it to the Battlefield location and a tech name Shawn took a quick look at it for me. He was pleasant and was lots of help. He said someone definitely tampered with an electrical box that is under the steering wheel. He said it could be very possible that other things were linked to that power source. He said the box was cracked and that could very well be my problem.
With this new information I call both Andre Sally and Russell Lambert back several times and leave messages for both, no response.
I want my car fixed. I want my car in the condition that in was in prior to the drop off for an oil change at 11am Saturday morning. It doesn't make sense for me to break my own car. That's stupid and petty. Everything worked fine until it was dropped off on Saturday and I shouldn't be held responsible for it. I was late to work this morning, 4 hours to be exact, and this is ridiculous! Something has to be done!
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