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lydamorehouse Just to keep everyone up-to-date on the Turbo Tim's malarky, here's the latest:
If you are only just now tuning in, the tl:dr is: I got ripped off by my (former!) car mechanic.
Yesterday, I did not get around to blasting Tim's on social media, but I will. (Don't worry. I have a plan.) Instead, I spent most of my Tim Spoons, as we shall call them, writing up my complaint to the Better Business Bureau. If you've never visited their complaint page (which I had not), you actually have to chose what kind of complaint you're making. I started with what is essentially the option of "I just wanna complain," but then decided that, in fact, I want the BBB to persue a resolution/restitution.
Because the longer I thought about everything, the madder I got.
The "I want action" form allows you to upload pictures, etc., and so I gave the BBB all the things--a picture of Tim's bill showing the work they claimed to have done, Troy's bill showing the work they did, Tim's "back channel" notation claiming they only did the rear wheel bearins and that the "growling persisted," and, finally, images of Troy's work. This and my little write up of the issue must have impressed someone at the BBB, because I got a note by 5 pm the same day saying that they had assigned me a case number and were beginning the process by reaching out to Tim's.
The thing that I am having trouble letting go is the front guy (Sean)'s claim that, from the start, all they had promised to do were the rear wheel bearings. It wasn't until I was retelling this story for the third time that I realized that if you just look at Tim's line item on the bill, it says, and I quote, "wheel bearings [both sides.] " If you were just reading that bill and were someone who did not know anything about the story so far, would you not assume that meant ALL FOUR wheel bearings, actually? It does not say "rear wheel bearings [both sides]" or "front wheel bearings [both sides]," it says "wheel bearings [both sides.]"
Troy's bill, meanwhile says, "Front wheel bearing [left side.]"
And guess what? If you multiply what Troy charged us for the part by 4, you get what Tim's charged us (supposedly for two.) Like, EXACTLY, Troy charged us $300 for a singular wheel bearing. Tim's bill for "wheel bearings [both sides]" was $1.200. Last time I checked 3x4=12.
I am livid.
And, like, I am trying to let it go. But, you know how these things are, right?They flit around in your backbrain and then pop up at the weirdest times. I was just sitting around at dinner listening to a podcast and all of a sudden I say to Shawn, "And another thing! What kind of mechanic only replaces the rear wheel bearings, hears a horrible grinding noise, and then DOESN'T TELL THE CLIENT before she drives off???"
Tim's also always has these huge lists of things they recommend next that they attach to their bill. Guess what was NOT on our bill? Any notation that they thought further work on a wheel bearing was needed. No "grinding noise ought to be checked into."
/rant
I really need to stop obsessing on this because here's the thing: I know they ripped me off. I am just circling around further proof.
So what else has been happening? Well, after I used up all my Tim Spoons on my BBB complaint, I spent some time trying to get ko-fi to work for me. I do think that as I toldprofiterole_reads that the problem is that I'm currently unwilling to sign up for the secondary app, Stripe. I may be moved to change my opinion on this, but, as I noted in comments, my family is often very loathe to connect our bank account directly to various apps. Like, am also half-way signed up for Venmo, but got stalled out when they were like, "What's your routing number???" My brain just went "Absolutely none of your business, is what it is!" I feel icky enough that, long ago, I connected PayPal to my bank account. Like, Musk already owns PayPal so that doesn't feel great. But, a person does want Some Way to be able to accept payments for things, especially since I was, for a long time, doing manscript critique work for hire.
The good news/bad news is that someone else was able "buy me a coffee" on kofi, so I guess it does work if you're willing to use some other method other than credit card??? (I don't actually know how that person was able to get through, but I have to presume.)
I don't know. I should probably bite the bullet and just connect to Stripe. The thing is, ko-fi is what Kal1ban at the Mona Lisa Overpod directs people to, and I mean... it should probably work for the people who want to use it. Ugh. I'll sit down with Shawn this weekend (provided there isn't another snow emergency) and try to figure it all out.
Anyway.
Yeah, other than that I have the most "married" plans for Valentine's day, ever, which is that Friday night is already date night for Shawn and me. So, our big romantic plan for tonight is.... (wait for it!).... more of the same! We're going to order our usual pizza and watch some trash science fiction. Maybe we will bust out and watch two films and have some popcorn.
Hold me back!
How about you all? Any plans? Any non-plans?
If you are only just now tuning in, the tl:dr is: I got ripped off by my (former!) car mechanic.
Yesterday, I did not get around to blasting Tim's on social media, but I will. (Don't worry. I have a plan.) Instead, I spent most of my Tim Spoons, as we shall call them, writing up my complaint to the Better Business Bureau. If you've never visited their complaint page (which I had not), you actually have to chose what kind of complaint you're making. I started with what is essentially the option of "I just wanna complain," but then decided that, in fact, I want the BBB to persue a resolution/restitution.
Because the longer I thought about everything, the madder I got.
The "I want action" form allows you to upload pictures, etc., and so I gave the BBB all the things--a picture of Tim's bill showing the work they claimed to have done, Troy's bill showing the work they did, Tim's "back channel" notation claiming they only did the rear wheel bearins and that the "growling persisted," and, finally, images of Troy's work. This and my little write up of the issue must have impressed someone at the BBB, because I got a note by 5 pm the same day saying that they had assigned me a case number and were beginning the process by reaching out to Tim's.
The thing that I am having trouble letting go is the front guy (Sean)'s claim that, from the start, all they had promised to do were the rear wheel bearings. It wasn't until I was retelling this story for the third time that I realized that if you just look at Tim's line item on the bill, it says, and I quote, "wheel bearings [both sides.] " If you were just reading that bill and were someone who did not know anything about the story so far, would you not assume that meant ALL FOUR wheel bearings, actually? It does not say "rear wheel bearings [both sides]" or "front wheel bearings [both sides]," it says "wheel bearings [both sides.]"
Troy's bill, meanwhile says, "Front wheel bearing [left side.]"
And guess what? If you multiply what Troy charged us for the part by 4, you get what Tim's charged us (supposedly for two.) Like, EXACTLY, Troy charged us $300 for a singular wheel bearing. Tim's bill for "wheel bearings [both sides]" was $1.200. Last time I checked 3x4=12.
I am livid.
And, like, I am trying to let it go. But, you know how these things are, right?They flit around in your backbrain and then pop up at the weirdest times. I was just sitting around at dinner listening to a podcast and all of a sudden I say to Shawn, "And another thing! What kind of mechanic only replaces the rear wheel bearings, hears a horrible grinding noise, and then DOESN'T TELL THE CLIENT before she drives off???"
Tim's also always has these huge lists of things they recommend next that they attach to their bill. Guess what was NOT on our bill? Any notation that they thought further work on a wheel bearing was needed. No "grinding noise ought to be checked into."
/rant
I really need to stop obsessing on this because here's the thing: I know they ripped me off. I am just circling around further proof.
So what else has been happening? Well, after I used up all my Tim Spoons on my BBB complaint, I spent some time trying to get ko-fi to work for me. I do think that as I told
profiterole_reads that the problem is that I'm currently unwilling to sign up for the secondary app, Stripe. I may be moved to change my opinion on this, but, as I noted in comments, my family is often very loathe to connect our bank account directly to various apps. Like, am also half-way signed up for Venmo, but got stalled out when they were like, "What's your routing number???" My brain just went "Absolutely none of your business, is what it is!" I feel icky enough that, long ago, I connected PayPal to my bank account. Like, Musk already owns PayPal so that doesn't feel great. But, a person does want Some Way to be able to accept payments for things, especially since I was, for a long time, doing manscript critique work for hire. The good news/bad news is that someone else was able "buy me a coffee" on kofi, so I guess it does work if you're willing to use some other method other than credit card??? (I don't actually know how that person was able to get through, but I have to presume.)
I don't know. I should probably bite the bullet and just connect to Stripe. The thing is, ko-fi is what Kal1ban at the Mona Lisa Overpod directs people to, and I mean... it should probably work for the people who want to use it. Ugh. I'll sit down with Shawn this weekend (provided there isn't another snow emergency) and try to figure it all out.
Anyway.
Yeah, other than that I have the most "married" plans for Valentine's day, ever, which is that Friday night is already date night for Shawn and me. So, our big romantic plan for tonight is.... (wait for it!).... more of the same! We're going to order our usual pizza and watch some trash science fiction. Maybe we will bust out and watch two films and have some popcorn.
Hold me back!
How about you all? Any plans? Any non-plans?
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 06:00 pm (UTC)I can understand the reluctance re online money. I have paypal (signed up for it when it was the newfangled way to pay for shit without mailing money orders on ebay). I stalled out on all the other ones that popped up more recently because a, whats the point of having more than one, and b, all the others demand you use their app instead of just using the website.
I sent you some money via Kofi when I saw you post the link on facebook. Hope it doesn't take more frustration to cash that little gift out than it’s worth.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 07:18 pm (UTC)And thanks for the update re: PayPal. Weirdly makes me feel better about still hanging on to it!
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 07:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 09:38 pm (UTC)Patreon wanted me to sign up for Stripe in 2016, but it turned out that my bank was too small to be automatically signuppable and I would have had to CALL THEM AND ASK THEM TO DO IT MANUALLY. I don't call banks or anybody else like them unless all my money disappears or I'm afraid it's about to. So I defaulted to PayPal instead.
I just successfully bought you a coffee! No problem at all. Maybe everybody was having trouble and they fixed whatever it was?
P.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 10:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-15 12:46 am (UTC)Re: the bank account, would it be worth it to have a separate bank account just for third party payment access? I know up here we have a couple of online-only banks that offer accounts with no service charges.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-17 12:15 am (UTC)I too have a PayPal account, but I hate that it's connected directly to a bank account. (Fortunately, I have a spare one I hardly use, so the connection only inconvenienced me a little, when I had trouble like ten years ago.)
Note that Venmo lets you connect to a bank account, but that's not required to set up your Venmo account. It's merely an option. I have a Venmo account, and I have linked it to a bank account to transfer money, but I always delete the connection when that's done.