I use this space to get things off my chest from time to time. I try to alert readers that I’m going on a tear by adding “A Rant” to the title so you/they know what’s in store.
So it’s nice to have a reason to say a good word about a business this week.
As some of you know, my wife Evelyn and I bought a motor home last year. It hasn’t been the carefree experience we had hoped. Between the dealership not treating us well and the RV itself being stocked with one problem after another, we have second-guessed ourselves on occasion about the wisdom of making such a purchase.
However, once we were out from under the necessity of continuing our commitment to the dealership for warranty work, we moved our business to Alexander’s RV Sales in Clayton, DE. Kevin and Kenny Alexander’s parents are members of the Kenton United Methodist Church where we attend. We have found the sons — as well as their staff — to be impeccable in their dealings with us. We have every bit of confidence in them.
Case in point: on a recent trip I discovered that the RV’s driver’s side mirror was loose. It would rotate out of position by the vibrations of the moving motor home. This is not a good thing. It’s difficult to know when it’s safe to change lanes, for example, when you can’t see if there are any vehicles in the lane you wish to occupy because the mirror has taken it upon itself to shift to another position.
When we reached our destination I looked to see if there were a screw or other means of tightening the mirror. There was a rectangular cover underneath the arm of the mirror that I took off, but all I could see there were a number of wires, and I certainly didn’t want to go messing with them.
On the end of the arm was a small plastic button with a groove in it. I turned it with a screwdriver, but it didn’t tighten anything. In fact, it came out of the hole it was covering, and when I looked into the hole, all I could see was the end of what looked like a circular metal rod. It meant nothing to me. My solution was to duct-tape the mirror in place until I could take it back to Alexander’s. (White duct tape on a black mirror didn’t enhance the glamour.)
Cliff, the service manager at Alexander’s, agreed with me that the mirror would have to be replaced. Because of the complexity of having to re-attach the wires, etc., the job would set us back some $600.00. But, hey, you can’t drive a vehicle without a side-view mirror.
That was a few weeks ago. I went back to retrieve the RV so I could take a few days of vay-kay in one of our local state parks this week and to pay for the mirror repair. When I asked for the bill, Robbie, the front-desk guy, said we owed nothing! After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I asked how that could be. He said, “Come with me, and I’ll show you.”
We walked out to the RV, and he pointed to that metal “rod” I had seen before. He explained that the “rod” was actually the tightening screw and all he needed was an Allen wrench. Robbie did the repair himself and saved us a bundle. (I found out that Cliff hadn’t looked at the mirror before Robbie did, or he would have done the same thing.)
“I have a small collection of Allen wrenches,” I told him. I should be able to do that myself!
So there you have it. My “anti-rant” is this: a business that could have charged me $600.00 to replace a mirror that didn’t need replacing chose to treat me fairly by not only fixing the mirror with a wrench, but also by not charging me a cent.
Does anyone have any idea how refreshing it is to discover a business that actually treats its clientele fairly and with respect? There’s still hope ….