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long memory at VW

eleven years ago i mailed this letter:


7/28/95

Charley Hardman
P.O. Box 573
White Plains, MD 20695

Attn: Sxxxx xxxxxx
Southern Volkswagen
P.O. Box 445
Waldorf, MD 20604

Mx. xxxxxxx:

I’ve said it before and here it is again: The people at the Southern VW parts counter are WAY cool.

For those of us who work on our cars, the most important ingredient is a friend at the parts store. During the years (over 5 now) of buying from Southern VW, I’ve been impressed over and over with the knowledge and friendly service of the parts crew. Authentic VW parts can be pretty expensive but they help make it worth it.

It must be pretty annoying for them to hear for the 400th time about someone struggling with the “third frombulator from the left next to that whateveryoucallit”. I come up against new situations every year even though I’ve owned Rabbits since 1984, and every person behind the counter has been patient, respectful, and accurate.

Been to other VW dealers; the Southern VW Parts Dept. has them all beat. End of story.

Charley Hardman

though i’ll never buy another VW again, my current has been so reliable, i’ve done almost nothing to it requiring regular visits to the VW parts joint. have probably been in there 10 times in the last 8 years.

today, i needed a couple of special pieces, and went again to southern VW (whose service department i wouldn’t trust to do squat, BTW; they screwed my vehicle royally during a “preventive maintenance” scam years ago when i was too busy working to handle my own repairs). so this dude i don’t recall seeing before does a great job hipping me to what’s needed, what i have to look out for, yadda. i get his name and then ask for the parts manager. he showed up, and i told him that i appreciated the great service from the dude, and how it was good that he wasn’t hesitant to give me advice, though of course i’m liable for whatever advice i follow.

he said, “yeah, you wrote us a letter, didn’t you?”

can you believe that shit? eleven years ago, and he nails my sorry ass. laugh i recognized the guy, but thought there wasn’t a chance he’d remember me — definitely not associate me with a letter i’d forgotten about. i know how this works, having run a recording studio for years; much easier to place people when you went to their business, instead of the other way around. i’d be wheeling around the beltway, 30 miles from home, and some dude would drive by, “charley! what’s up, motherfucker!”

me, clueless about faces and names as usual: “duuuuuuuude! how’s it goin’?”

same thing at the mall, restaurants, wherever. never did master the art/mistake of memorizing names i didn’t need to know.

Posted 20060721 17:21 under Uncategorized. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are closed.

2 Responses to “long memory at VW”

  1. Jon Payne Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 20:13

    Wish I had such good things to say about Southern’s service department. I just had a window that came off track [due to freezing conditions]and once they ‘fixed’ it the after market tint I had on it was horribly scratched. It was under warranty so there was no charge for labor, however taking a car to a VW dealership should not mean that I receive the car in worse condition than when I brought it in. Southern was unwilling to take care of the damage they caused or discount me the cost difference [from my next major service] for having the tint fixed. The treatment I received was less than professional. I will soon be seeking justice through the local legal system.

  2. saltypig Says:
    December 10th, 2007 at 21:05

    i hear ya. like i said, i’m still, 7 or 8 years later, lazily trying to diagnose how the service department utterly screwed my idle during a feel-good “maintenance” splooge. far too often vehicles come out worse than when they went in, at so many “service” centers. almost never happens when i work on the vehicle myself; i’ve just been too pissed and bummed out to deal with this sniggly crap.

    from talking to a guy who owns a car repair joint (in waldorf), it seems there’s tons of pressure on the mechanics for turnover of the vehicles, almost regardless of the comeback rate. utterly retarded. saw the same when i worked at beretta USA (where the gunsmith repairs were good, but order processing a joke); rarely is the down side of all those screwups calculated and assessed correctly. very little craftsmanship. morons and shysters all around.

    good luck at the la plata courthouse, where incompetence knows no bounds. spent many a miserable day there dealing with power-mad incompetent twats.