Party Prep and Transmission Review

I spent most of today getting ready for our family feast tomorrow. Tonight they all went over to Wayne's house for a sleepover, and I've continued working on name tags and putting batteries in candles and stuff while Corey's been working at his computer upstairs. So this is kind of our anniversary night without kids I guess. I haven't had music on or podcasts or anything, we've just been in quiet. 

The kids have all been good help. They've done their chores and kept themselves busy. Owen has good habits and it's rubbing off a bit on Peter. This morning Peter woke up with him, and Owen said with a chipper voice "You ready to read scriptures?" And then they sat together to read Book of Mormon Scripture Stories.

Good kids. I woke up and drank my lemon cinnamon etc water at the window. I'm trying to establish good habits like Owen!

But yeah, most all of today has been spent in party prep. Corey and I did two other things too: we went climbing this morning in Midvale, and then.... we went by Tanner's Transmission to pick up Corey's car.

I waited outside for him, but it was taking a while, but I wasn't sure I should leave him, just in case there were problems with the car not working (we have been worried that they'd ruin it), so I went to Costco and got stuff for the dinner so I wasn't too far away. Corey's phone battery died while he was there, so after I was done at Costco I went back to check if he actually was still there. He wasn't. I watched for him on the side of the road. Before I got home, he called me and asked me to come pick him up from Burt Brothers. He drove his car straight there, because when he turned it on, there were 7 warning "system" problems that were all taking turns flashing. He was trying to take pics of them, and that's when his phone died. 

So, the good news is that after a mere 11 weeks it's not at Tanner's anymore. The nightmare is not over, but atleast it's not there anymore and we never want to take it there again. Before Corey left, he went in and told them about all the warning lights that were flashing, they said the could look at it sometime yada yada, but we have two weeks to file about any problems or something for their "guarantee" of work to be in effect, so Corey opted to take it to Burt Bros instead, cause we want it somewhere that we trust. Our Tanner's invoice is $4670, and we knew that was coming. There is good news in that the "transmission system problem" light is gone. As for the seven other "system error" codes that were flashing, I'll let Corey describe those via his google maps review that he posted today:

78 days ago, I took my car to Tanner Transmissions in Sandy. The Honda Pilot seemed to be working just fine, but an alert briefly appeared saying “Transmission System Problem”. $650 seemed like a lot of money just to see what was wrong, but I wanted to avoid bigger problems and understand my options, so I reluctantly agreed. It was not volunteered (my bad for not asking) that they could only understand what is wrong by taking apart the transmission and it would be another $1,800 to put the transmission back together without fixing anything; I learned this about a week later when I went to their Salt Lake location (where they sent the transmission) to figure out what was going on. I felt entrapped. However, it wasn’t clear at that point they had even started work on the transmission – although, even then, I had been told they were out shopping for parts…without disclosing what might be wrong.

For the next couple of months, I called at least once a week for info – Tanner Transmissions never called me a single time with an update – until a few days ago when they declared (after having to fire a technician, take out the transmission again, redo all the work, and shop for more parts) that it was at last ready to go. They somehow didn’t have my contact info on file but found it in the glove compartment. I asked for a few days before coming in and paying the $4,760.44 bill, but they insisted they needed the money ASAP to meet payroll and had already lost a lot of money having to redo all the work on my car.

Today after going over the invoice and warranty (I need to take back in within 2 weeks to be valid) I got in my car and felt relieved the ordeal was finally over. Fortunately, the “Transmission System Problem” error is no longer appearing. Instead, there are 7 new messages appearing in order: “Brake System Problem”, “All Wheel Drive System Problem”, “Power Steering Problem”, Anti-Lock Brake System Problem”, “Vehicle Stability Assistance Problem”, “Hill Start Assist Problem”, and “Trailer Stability Assist Problem”. Tanner Transmission said I could leave it with them to see what might be going on, but as the technician had already shrugged his shoulders and suggested maybe my bike rack or the lift system might have had something to do with it, I suggested next week would be a better time for them to look. I immediately took my car to a trusted mechanic (love you Burt Brothers!) that does not do transmissions, and I eagerly await news of what Tanner Transmissions has done to my car. Tanner Transmissions, if you’re reading this, I’m happy to modify or delete this review (as is my wife with her review) if you can make a reasonable effort to make this right.

So, yeah. It's been crazy how incompetent they've been. I'm not sure how they are able to still be in business with the poor customer service and lack of quality work they provide. And actually after they finished the car, Blaine was anxious for us to pay them so they could make payroll. Oh, NOW you're in a hurry?!? What if we treat you as nonchalantly as you've been for the past two plus months? Corey was nice and did make an initial payment, but as Corey said, they better make a reasonable effort to make things right. I agree with this comment Joseph made "They should not be allowed to be in business. Sounds like they left it worse than they found it, after almost 3 months of 'working' on it." Yep, horrible experience all around.

Back at home, we unloaded the groceries, then for party prep, Lily helped me figure out the table arrangement. Hyrum and Lily brought up the tables from the basement, Hyrum helped me bring in the benches from outside, and went with me over to the church to get a a few more folding chairs. Mel showed up and spilled the tea about her and her boyfriend, oooh!

Her sisters were giggling...

And so was I.

Christian will be joining us at the feast tomorrow! I have the door way to the kitchen blocked off with a sheet, so when they come home tomorrow I'm hoping it will keep them all out while we make the meal. Should be fun! I'm excited. Now it's well past midnight, Corey and I should have gone to bed earlier, doh! Church at 9:30, then meal prep, and dinner guests have been told to arrive around 3.