Omissions piss me off

When I call and ask if you carry a replacement battery for my car, and then inquire how late you're open after you've answered my price and warranty questions, I expect you to mention that your battery tester is out getting fixed.

I felt so suckered when I walked in and said, "Hi, I'd like to get my battery tested," and you said, "We can't do that. Our battery tester was acting up, so we sent it out. We can replace your battery for you, but we can't test it."

Tk, tk, tk, tk, tk, tk. That's the sound my car's been making lately when I try to start it. I felt lucky it started at all today without a jump; I wasn't sure it'd start again if I decided to go somewhere else. Besides, Walmart still had better battery prices than Sears and AAA.

"Is something wrong with yours?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so." It is not at all my nature to fix something without diagnosing the problem first, but I agreed to let them replace my battery because I felt stuck.

Aside from the battery tester omission-- technically, I hadn't asked about getting my battery tested because it said on their website they do that for free-- her service was very good. After she entered my info, she gave me a bar code "passport" that I could scan at any price checker in the store to check on my car's progress. Very cool.

My car started with no problem with the new battery, so (fingers crossed) that's the end of it.

Of course within minutes of getting back on the road, I hit the worst two potholes I have all season because I was still preoccupied with feeling suckered and some asshole dude in a minivan was riding up my ass. No sooner than you fix one thing, you unintentionally do something horrible to your car. At least I hadn't just had my tires realigned.