I've been slummin'

So Dear Readers, yes, again I've been missing for longer than I should have been.. but I've got a good excuse.. really I do.. I've been slumming... That's right.. hanging out with and talking to the dregs of society... So... who is that you may ask... CINGULAR... AGAIN... with Car Salesmen thrown into the mix as well... Let's just say.. I've begun drinking to just make it thru the day... ok.. not really, but it did take a couple shots of Ginger Brandy before bed the other nite to insure myself a nite's sleep..

First up.. CINGULAR... If you've been reading along you know that Cingular was my very first Silver Toilet Paper award winner.. and frankly.. they've earned themselves a second silvery roll... this time it was replacement phones... our new phones are HORRENDOUS... Samsung X427M if your in the market yourself.. these phones are pitiful.. dropped calls left and right... no voice mail alerts... and when my husband calls me it says it's the Bank calling.. when I call him it says it's the Pizza House... *sigh.. So.. I initiated a return of my 3 pieces of crap for 3 new Motorola's... Well... the guy I talked with for some stupid reason only ordered me 2 new phones... just try and track down the same department again with these guys.. it took 3 sets of phone calls to accomplish this.. I got disconnected exactly EIGHT times and had to start all over cause NO ONE ever called me back... I talked with 15 different departments - having to explain my problem over again EACH TIME... I had people tell me that I had to pay $100 more than I paid 2 days before for the same freakin' phones and then wait for a rebate... then I had someone tell me I had to pay $200 more and wait for my credit once I returned the Samsung crap... UNACCEPTABLE... I was left on hold for 20 minutes for a department that wasn't even open yet... then I was left on hold for 30 minutes for that same department which again was CLOSED... I literally was on the phone for 3 FULL HOURS on Monday nite with nothing to show for my efforts... *sigh.. I should be shot... and frankly after about an hour or so of being on the phone with them I was begging to be shot and put out of my misery... Thanks so much CINGULAR! YOU SUCK!

And in the midst of all of this phone madness we've been new car shopping for the manchild... you know.. I wonder if Car Salesmen sit and wonder why people think they are lowest of the low or if they know full well why and just don't care... *sigh.. enter.. Bertera Suzuki... they have a little Silver Forenza that my son likes but frankly I'm not too impressed... so I WICKED low-balled them on the price.. 10,500 and they pay the tax, title, and registration... LOL I thought my son was gonna stroke out... so they went from 12.3 to 11,990.. I said no thanks and we left.. since then they have called me 5 times to ask "What can they do to get me into a Forenza".. HELLO... 10,500 and ok.. I'll pay tax, title and reg... OH.. I was nice about it.. said "I know you have to make your margins and if you can't do that price then I will fully understand, but that's the bottom line"... To be fair.. I even warned them that I was having the week from HELL and didn't trust myself to not just tell them to go do nasty things to themselves and hang up... I had a nice conversation with the salesmen, reinterated my terms, got denied, and said ok I understand, have a great day... not 3 minutes later the manager called me... this was my conversation with the Manager:

"so Laura - What do I have to do"....
"HELLO.. 10 5"
"I can show you the invoice... we need at least 11 6"
"UMM>> I SAID.. 10 FIVE"
"What's with this magic number of 10 5?" I don't under...."
"TALK TO YOUR SALESMAN.. I SAID 10 5 AND THAT'S IT"
"but.. what's with 10 5?"
"THAT'S IT... UNLESS YOUR CALLING ME TO ACCEPT 10 5 DO NOT EVER CALL ME AGAIN"...
CLICK...

Ok.. so I haven't heard from them... YET... but they know that they have till Monday before I pick up the new Ford Focus we have a deposit on... so there may still be more news on the Bertera front... maybe.. OH.. and for the record.. one of my office mates who heard this conversation had one thing to say "Damn... your mean"... LOL He really has NO idea! ;)

Now.. enter the Ford Focus... I found the perfect car on Baliseauto.com... A silver sx4.. with exactly the options we want.. Manual tranny, AC and power windows.. nothing else... so I filled out the internet form on Friday... I got an auto response saying Javier would contact us within 12 hours... Well.. 2 days later we hadn't heard from Javier so we decided to take a Sunday drive down there..

I checked the net before we left the house and printed up the window sticker from the site.. and off we went to Balise of Wilbraham.. We got there only to have the salesman tell us.. hhhmm.. funny.. that car isn't showing up as being on our lot.. yeah... ok.. so I'm thinkin'... bait and switch... so he initiated a search for a vehicle with just those options... OH my.. I'm sorry.. the only one that comes close is this one but it's also got a $625 power moon roof and $60 side moldings... we're not sure we can get it for you but if you give us a refundable deposit we'll try to get it and call you on Monday... so we said ok... so he starts filling out the paperwork and he writes Deposit: $500... HELLO.. where did you get that figure? "Oh.. I thought you said you wanted to deposit 500..." uummm.. NO... you want me to tie up 500 bucks for a car you may not even be able to get AND the wording on this actually says it's Balise's choice as to whether or not we get our deposit back... DICK! So we put down a hundred bucks... so... enter... Monday morning and Javier... here's the first line of the email I received..

Hi Laura,
Thank you for considering Balise Ford of Wilbraham for your vehicle purchase.
The vehicle you expressed interest in is still available.
Year: 2005
Make: Ford
Model: Focus ZX4 S
Stock #:
MSRP: $ 15,960
Our Internet Sale Price: $ 12,029.15 Ford Family Price

WHAT? STILL AVAILABLE?? So I grab my cheap ass Samsung phone and get Javier on the line...

"So.. Javier.. you mean the car online IS available..."
"yes.. yes it is..."
"REALLY.. your SURE about that..."
"uummm... well... those records are kept in the main office.. but if you wanna come down for a test drive I'm sure I can have the info for you by the time you get here..."

So.. Javier got an earful of "WHY is this car still showing up online (and btw here it is Tuesday and guess what.. the car is still listed on their website!)" and "That's confusingly DECEPTIVE... with the accent on DECEPTIVE..." and "OF COURSE the salesmen we talked to on Sunday could only find a MORE expensive car than what we actually wanted"... This was all followed up with me putting this in an email and sending it back to their 'home office'... So.. Javier took the info on what exactly we did want.. we told him the same thing... Standard, AC and power windows... LO and BEHOLD.. not a half hour later we get a call from another of their salesmen, the father of the kid that found the moon roof model for us.. saying.. "OH MY.. are you lucky!!! We found the EXACT car you wanted... it's even in your first color choice, it's not the one online but it's the same execpt it's the color you wanted!"...

OH FREAKIN' REALLY... so anyway... long story.. well.. LONG... unless Bertera dares to call me back we'll be getting the car we wanted in the first place...

Welcome to hell, please turn off your crappy-ass cell phone before entering...

Later...