My wife, stepson, and I decided to go on a little getaway to the beach over the weekend. We left the car at the mechanics (CJ Smith Auto Body, Mohnton, PA) Friday night to be inspected over the weekend with the instructions to bill the CC and leave the car unlocked and keys under seat because we have only one set.
He ended up locking the keys in the car and left us a message around 12pm Sunday, but he did not follow up on correcting the situation. This is another story.
Me and my wife arrived there @ 1030 after a four hour drive back from vacation. Fortunately, we have AAA which provides contractors that possess devices to unlock doors (which our mechanic for sure had as well). When AAA got out to our car, they mentioned that they cannot unlock the door due to "policy". The policy is unlocking cars at auto body shops is not permitted outside the businesses normal hours of operation. The "policy"'s obvious intention is to avoid being held liable for assisting in theft (of the car, or theft of services rendered). This part is understandable.
Me and my wife had our identifications, credit cards, and the receipt mentioning that was in the car showing it was paid in full. Even better, the mechanic lives next door (never bothered waking him up, upon wife's insistence - but I should have) and the police station is across the street. We mentioned to the AAA's phone representative that the police officer AND mechanic could vouch for us if needed, but she still insisted that they cannot EVER break "policy".
AAA's spokesperson said that the policy cannot and will not be changed now or in the future. For a highly reputable company like this one to say that their policy WILL NOT be changed/bent, or exceptions made in a rare situation like this one "in the future" is deeply troubling to me. I know good companys DO bend policy to meet the rare circumstances. And this policy is not mentioned in any documenation that I have of the service that I have paid for for three years (and this is the first time I have used it in as many years).
Have we as a country become so litigious of a society that no one can do the right thing for fear of being sued or charged in a crime (in this case with police on the scene, I cannot amagine AAA could be held accountable)?
Well, you might ask, "Why not suck it up and take your wife to work the next day and get it figured out." I did, but with little sleep as she works over an hour out of the way (so 4 total hours driving time in addition to the time spend that night talking to AAA was wasted). Little problems only slow us down in life, and I am not crying the blues about this but had to do my civic duty and report this company's arrogance to never bend policy to hopefully sway people to join alternative auto services.
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