Big internet, small world
I stopped in to see what was up with the scooter today, and I walked into a bad scene. Now, I don't pretend to be a journalist, and I never would have assumed that people beyond a handful of friends would bother to read my blog, but apparently I was wrong.
Make that WRONG. On a lot of levels.
In my jackassery, I never considered that my flippant remarks would be taken personally by anyone, and that was wrong of me.
And while I can't retract what I've actually experienced this last year in my purchase and subsequent waiting period, and the frustration that it's caused me, what I can do is apologize to the people who were affected, offended, and disgusted by my not-so-nice remarks.
They're right. It was shitty of me to express my frustration in a way that they felt reflected on them personally, and I'm sorry for that. That was certainly not my intent. I was trying to make light of a crazy situation. I'm sure, were the tables reversed I wouldn't like it. Hell, if I'd been a fly on the wall when this blog was first discovered by the people I've upset, I wouldn't love what they had to say about me. I'm sure "bitch" was the nicest thing I'd have heard. Fair enough. Malign away, you get a free pass.
And I certainly never meant to imply that the mechanics were not capable, if I ever thought for a moment that they'd do a bad job of course I'd never have accepted the offer of another scooter from them. That'd just be stupid on my part. But the fact that I trusted them to use their judgement and build a new engine should speak volumes. I mean, I'm not retarded. Ok, that's debatable at this point.
And so, while I wasn't asked directly to take down the posts about my experiences over the past year, I offered to do so in the spirit of moving forward.
I've grown up and taken into consideration the fact that not everyone finds me funny. As in REALLY not funny. As in "don't quit your day job, as a matter of fact, get another day job and take some lessons in what funny really is" unfunny. I've also learned the painful difference between what you write for yourself in your mopey old "dear diary", and what you allow to be published online.
I have to mention that despite all this, the guys were professional and fair. They didn't have to be that way. They could have just shoved a refund at me and picked me up by my collar and belt a la Andy Capp, and hoofed me out the door. They didn't. I genuinely respect that (for what it's worth) despite this experience, they're still committed to getting my scooter done, and getting me out the door happy.
And again, that's what I want. I know they're all decent guys - I've always maintained that to friends - hell, I've even recommended the shop because I liked them. We're just all trying to make the best of a not-so-great situation that got out of hand. I'm sure that in the future, I'll have nothing but glowing remarks.
And hey, I'm still just as happy to take a refund. I certainly don't want to be seen as an opportunist who's trying to get something for nothing. They've got two choices to make me happy - they can't lose!
posted by Unknown @ 11:15 PM
7 Comments:
Wow... that was effusive. But it doesn't change how long you've been waiting for service. Please post how this all works out, for it will affect whether or not I want to do business with these guys!
Trust me, when they deliver on their promise, you won't be able to shut me up, I'll be so overjoyed.
ouchee. how awkward. that makes me cringe to think of it. having said that...maybe they should have gotten their act together.
Good luck with the goods.
I'm just going to say this one clear time because I've been getting questions outside the blog.
No one bullied me into taking down the posts. I offered to. I really don't think these guys are trying to supress my freedom of speech. There were just some misunderstandings.
To try and get a grasp on some of the anger coming my way, I tried to find reference to some of the things they said I wrote about them, but I think I missed it - for example I never, ever said the owner didn't have the balls to face me. Ever. He's actually one guy who has dealt with me in a straight up way, and that's not something I would have said about him. Big balls.
And any reference to specific mechanics came out of what I was told about them by another person, rather than one on one contact. Lots of blame for stuff was inappropriately heaped on Shelby, and I'm sorry that I took that at face value. I should have considered the source.
And add the irony of my posting with such hubris. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I'm not the fire-breathing ultimatum giver I played at being in this blog. Quite the opposite. That's the joke. Yes I got frustrated, but I'm hoping that the guys will be able to see someday that even though I wrote with the tone of someone who is shaking their fists at the sky in anger, there was a tongue in cheek element to it. I told them what I wanted, deferred to their experience and opinions, and I always walked out of the shop with a smile on my face. If I really was such a hard-ass, would I have let this go on for so long? C'mon!
So that should answer that.
My decision. I don't want people thinking that the guys at the shop "made" me remove my blog. They didn't.
God, you're patient. There's no way I'd wait a year for service without suing somebody.
Tab - Here's the bottom line. They can complain all they want. You've had that scooter OVER a year, it has NEVER worked right, and they STILL haven't fixed it correctly. NOT ONCE!! You've been unable to ride it more than you've ridden it. I think you've had one total month of riding over your ownership.
They sold you a lemon, and despite EVERY promise given you, have delivered exacly squat.
So, by any measure of competency and good business, Scooters on Front are neither competent at giving you a working scooter in any reasonable amount of time, nor good business people, in that they should have bent over backwards...at MINIMUM, you deserved a "loaner" scooter.
Sorry, SOF, if your feeling are hurt, but here's how you'd sound if you were, say, surgeons:
Tab: "My heart condition keeps getting worse, every time you operate".
SOF: "Oh, really? Well, as soon as we give ourselves new boob jobs and lipo, we'll get right on that."
Tab: "Seriously guys, I'm in real trouble here. I can't feel my left arm."
SOF: "Oh, sorry about that, here, give us your heart, and we'll rebuild it in a month or so."
Tab: "What'll I do about circulation in the interim? My brain needs oxygen occasionally!"
SOF: "Sorry, we're a little backed up right now."
To be fair, the guy who kept promising me I was "next" and telling me that work was going to start on my scooter "tomorrow" is no longer there.
And its not that they kept doing a bad job at fixing it, they just never got around to it (aside from replacing a cable last year). Early on in the season, I tried to figure out what was wrong with it myself, so I could better describe the problem when I brought it in, and what I found out was that it was probably the flywheel. The mechanics said it was most likely the cruciform, so I figured they knew better and dropped the flywheel theory, and since I couldn't actually identify what a flywheel was, it was considered insulting that I ever made mention of it, like I'd discovered the real problem, and that they couldn't figure it out.
Hardly. I was just trying to learn.
I've been told that my experience is abnormal, and this is not typical of how they do business. I think people should take what I went through with a grain of salt, and make thier own decisions based on their own personal impressions.
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