The old cowboy ethic or law is not dead and buried. I know we all thought it was, but check this out.
For starters I got a phone call yesterday afternoon, that my dealer where I bought my new 2013 Buick Verano, had claimed the $700.00 I was cashing in on my old GM Visa Card, but had not factored in the amount on the Bill of Sale, hence I had paid $700.00 too much, and they needed me to come by change everything up, restore my money to me, and initial all the changes. The Old GM Card is now obsolete but the money in the account is still alive for a couple of more years. I had taken advantage of the allowed amount when I bought the car.
There are a lot of places that would have said to themselves, hell, I didn’t make a lot on that sale, we will just pocket the money, but not these folks. That is not how they operate. As I have pointed out in previous blogs, Southgate Chevrolet is a great place to do business, whether you are buying new, used, having mechanical work done or you need some crash repairs done. The have great people, with a lot of knowledge, and they are there to help you with all your transportation needs. I have created a link at the bottom of the blog that will take you to the Southgate webpage. You will be taken directly to their web page.
The second issue I wish to bring up, is related to our purchase of toilets when we built the townhouse we live in. We moved in the fall of 1998, after building our place to the specifications we wanted when we built. One thing we wanted was a quality toilet, and we selected 3 American Standard toilets one for each bathroom. After about 14 years, and after listening to the Water Wise city ads on CTV for what seems like the past 100 years, we checked and sure enough the little flush valve that dumps the water from the tank into the bowl was leaking. The message in the city ads was that one simply buys a new flapper and simply replace the old one. It sounds simple, and it is simple. These valves are a kind of expendable item that eventually wears out and needs replacement.
So I hiked over to my local hardware store that shall go unnamed and bought 3 replacement valves. I was able with my reduced capacity able to replace them without help. Cool. Well, it seems that the new flappers were a different size than the old ones. Looked the same, but were about an eighth of an inch longer than the original, so that before the valve could seat, and seal, it would rub against the valve seat and not close. One of my favourite remedies, silicone, came to the rescue, and permitted everything to slide together pretty well, and we had a seal. Not for long though. The silicone wears off and we are back leaking.
I played with these, bought new ones from another unnamed location, but the same thing happened, but I had now introduced the amazing rusty chain! I think the chains were created in China, from the old Lada car fenders. These were Russian made cars that seemed to self destruct on the ship coming to Canada and the USA. One would hit the flush lever, and nothing happened. When the lid on the tank was lifted off, there was the chain rusted off and lying useless in the tank.
There was a bit more but by now you have the idea of what was going on about once a week with one toilet or the other.
I looked up American Standard on the Web, checked for and found a “contact us” link. I filled in the form on line describing in brief my problem, and asking where I could possibly get new valves that didn’t rust, and that would fit and seal properly. I did this yesterday afternoon. I got an email reply back almost immediately that I would be contacted shortly.
When I got back from my visit this morning to Southgate, the phone rang as I was taking off my coat. It was a young lady calling from American Standard, who wish some detail as to the model of toilet I had, and she proceeded to look through her database for the part I needed, and when done, she said that she would order 3 of the proper valves, and send them out within 7 to 10 business days. I said “Great” and she THEN said, “there will be no charge!”
How is that for customer service! These are pieces that while they are not expensive, and part of basic toilet maintenance, they had long outlived their usefulness. These toilets are made in Canada and the USA, obviously by people who are proud of the product they build. Almost 15 years gone by and they will look after a customer who needs a replacement expendable item after that. How is that for integrity, and customer satisfaction!!
I will likely never need to buy another toilet for as long as we live here. I do know however that American Standard is a company that is proud of what they build and stand behind them, even when all reasonable times have elapsed. It is nice to know there are some great companies out there that we can deal with and get an honest shake or ones that go way beyond the norm for their clients. These are US, and Canadian companies, making or selling their products to Canadians in this case. Gives me a case of the warm fuzzies to have done business with American Standard and Southgate Chevrolet, Buick, GMC.
Ross
