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UPDATE: Saturn contacted me and is towing my car back to me in St. Louis. I want to thank them for going above and beyond what I was asking when I pointed out to them the issues that I was having. I should have my car back this afternoon. See the comment below from Steve Janisse, Saturn Communications Manager to that effect as well.

I left this on Saturn’s website after being told (kindly and gently) to go f myself by their Customer Service folks. Apparently, the key is to never trust anything that any company tells you. Thank you, Saturn.

Basically, I have an issue with my 2007 Saturn Aura. The car was purchased in November and has 3,000 miles on it. It brokedown in Chicago over the weekend. I called Roadside Assistance, which towed the car to the nearest Saturn branch. Roadside Assistance told me the dealership was closed on Monday for the Dr. King holiday. So, I rented a car to get back to St. Louis with my 3 year old daughter so that I could go to work on Tuesday.

In actuality, the dealership was open on Monday and would have looked at the car had RA given them my information and what was wrong with the car. I would have stayed and waited for the car had I known the dealership was open. I was relying on RA to give me the correct information that the dealership was closed and I didn’t even try contacting the dealer until Tuesday. It turns out the car was just frozen up and no diagnostics came back on it.

Now, my car is sitting in Chicago and I’m in St. Louis. I’m already out a rental car and a day from work. I called my dealer and the dealer the car is at and neither said they could help me. I called Saturn’s Customer Service at 800-522-5000 and after four transfers and 20 minutes was told that they were very sorry that I was given the wrong information but that I was on my own for getting the car back to St. Louis.

Now, I’m not one to huff and puff and say I’m never buying a Saturn again if you don’t help me. I hate that behavior, but it seems like more and more companies make you do that to get help. I purchased a Saturn based on the advertising that it was a different kind of company and the reliability of other Saturn vehicles that people I knew owned. Now, I have a car with 3,000 miles on it that broke down away from home. I have Roadside Assistance giving me bad information that causes me to head for home in a rental car so that I don’t have to miss additional time at work. And I have Customer Service telling me (dismissively, I might add) that trip interruption isn’t part of my coverage and that I’m on my own for getting my brand new car back to St. Louis.

I guess it all comes down to the fact that Saturn got its sale. The advertising worked. But now that I’m left in a lurch (by relying on Saturn) I’m told there’s nothing that can be done and that I’m on my own.

I don’t want to say it, but this may well be the last Saturn I purchase. I don’t expect to be showered with gifts, I just want someone to help me get my brand new car back. I shouldn’t have to threaten to get a little help.

You know the joke about the difference between an audit and a colonoscopy? Well, Google apparently didn’t hear it. This post on Roth and Co. cracked me up (not the least because Des Moines is nowhere near Ottumwa).

BADLY MISLED BY GOOGLE

January 17, 2008

Note to whoever got to our site with the Google search “who performs colonoscopy near ottumwa, iowa?” — Sorry, I can’t help you.

Bwahahaha! I’d love to see the link that led to *that* Google result.

For those that have been following along, I passed all four parts of the CPA exam. I had one of my scores and realized I could look the other ones up online.

Woohoo! I can stop studying now.

(Photo by Nancy Shapiro via Exurban League)

On this day of giving thanks, it’s time for me to remind myself for all of the things I’m thankful for and sometimes forget in the day-to-day rush.

I’m thankful for my wife and daughter. They truly make my life worth living.

I’m thankful for my family and friends. For some reason they’re willing to put up with me.

I’m thankful for the fact that I live in a country that allows me to write as I do and criticize the government as often as I do.

I’m thankful for the men and women fighting on the front lines so I don’t have to (whether or not I agree with the reason they are there, I’m still thankful it’s not me sitting in that tank).

I’m thankful for the right to practice my religion as I see fit, without interference from the government.

I’m thankful for my job and the lifestyle that it affords me. I may not always like it, but it’s better than 99% of the other jobs out there and allows me to live better than 99% of the planet.

I’m thankful for the internet, which has made me smarter and dumber at the same time.

I’m thankful for my readers. Yes, both of you.

I’m thankful for all of the things not on this list that I can’t remember at this time.

So, what are you thankful for today?

Today is Veterans Day. Hug a vet and thank him or her for their service. If you are a vet, I sincerely thank you for allowing me the freedom to write these meaningless words.

Ever wonder why poppies are sold by your local VFW?

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

For the history of this poem see http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/flanders.htm

Of course, you should thank veterans every day but you really should make the effort the two days per year that we single them out (Memorial Day, for those that are wondering).

In today’s installment of no tolerance gone awry in our public schools, a Mascoutah, IL girl was given two days detention for violating what I’m sure is a very important rule. Her crime? Hugging her friend after school.

Yes, hugging can get you 2 days detention in the Mascoutah school district. It’s to prevent “unwanted affection” according to the Superintendent of schools in Mascoutah.

On a day when a Hazelwood East teen brought a gun to school, another Hazelwood elementary school received a bomb threat, and Hazelwood Central teachers were notified of a bomb threat earlier in the week that was not disclosed to teachers, I can imagine the one thing that we need to crack down on in our schools is hugging. And I’m glad that the Mascoutah school district is taking a hard stance on such an important issue.

This was one of those places that I drove by a hundred times and always said that I had to go there. Now, I’ll never have a chance! The Elvis is Alive museum in Wright City, Missouri, is closing its doors after 17 years.

According to the article that guy has conclusively proven that the person in Elvis’ coffin was not Elvis through DNA evidence that only he was able to gather (how?).

It looks like I have two weeks to get out there before the museum closes. Anyone up for a road trip?

As a parent, this story in the Chicago Sun-Times just absolutely broke my heart. The paper interviewed a 10 year old that was walking with his best friend when the friend (also 10) was shot several times by warring gang members further down the block. The kid wasn’t the target, but it appears that he is the only one that was hit.

I can’t imagine even trying to explain to a 10 year old that his friend got shot, much less trying to deal with the aftermath of the kid watching his best friend get murdered. The quotes from the kid, sitting on the porch of his friend’s house, were just devastating.

“I feel real sad,” the fourth-grader said. “I miss him. We would be playing baseball or something or walking around.”

“I would tell them they were wrong for shooting him,” the boy said. “[Arthur] didn’t have anything to do with it.”

An absolutely senseless crime that will now affect that kid for his entire life. How will his rage and sadness play out? Like many in that neighborhood, it may lead to either an earlier death or prison. How will his life change because of a trip to the market on a normal, sunny day with his best friend?

These questions are, of course, unanswerable because no one knows what would have happened anyway. But how many more 10 year old kids need to watch their best friend get murdered before something is done in neighborhoods where crime is so rampant that a gunfight breaks out during the day?

I don’t have the answers, but I can’t imagine that nobody does.

I apologize for the lack of posts lately (if you’ve noticed). I’m working way too much, so there’s no time for writing. I hope that it clears up in the next few days.

Thanks for your patience.