I made an appointment for Saturday, 5 May 2018, at Southern Chrysler Jeep Greenbrier in Chesapeake to have a low beam replaced on my 2014 Jeep Cherokee. I was told, while making the appointment, to show up at 7 a.m., and they would get to it and get me out the door. I had another commitment on Saturday, so time was of the essence. (At this point, with this dealership, the thought “I should know better” crept into my mind)
I arrived at 6:45 a.m. and was the 4th car in line in the maintenance lane. The service advisor checked the Jeep in. I thought this was a straightforward job of changing out the low beam bulb on the right side. That is what I was here for, and that was all I wanted. A little over an hour later I was called to the service desk. The service advisor informed me that the low beam was expensive, around $70 (In fact, it was $55). I must have had a curious expression on my face. I needed the low beam, I was aware of the cost involved. What I did not understand was why the bulb was not already installed or why I was standing here. The job should have taken 15-20 minutes at the most.
The service representative then started telling me about the 23 point inspection completed on the car. Excuse me? I was here for a simple (I thought) bulb replacement. Why were they wasting my time doing a 23 point inspection? Was it just like the one they did on 21 April 2018 (2 weeks earlier) when I was in for an oil change and tire rotation? I had that report in my maintenance file, and there was nothing to cause concern. He then mumbled about brake fluid color and how much it would cost me to have the work done. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I came in for a BULB REPLACEMENT! Was I missing something? Southern Jeep seemingly was taking this opportunity to try to make a little more money off of me.
I asked how long it would take to change the bulb. I was told by the annoyed service rep who was failing to sell me on another service, that it would be another 30-45 minutes. And an hour for the brake fluid, one more attempt to up-sell me. After repeating that I did not want the brake fluid service, I asked the service desk to do only the work that I had scheduled. That work could have been completed by this point had they not wasted time on the inspection that I did not authorize.
Almost 40 minutes later I was called to the cashier to settle my bill and get my keys. The paperwork I was given did not include the inspection report. Next time it will be Autozone and a YouTube video. I will do it myself.
2001 Cherokee Sport
I have owned three Jeeps over the years. My first was a 1988 Cherokee. I had to give that up in 1994 when I transferred to Japan. My second was a 2001 Cherokee Sport that I put over 270,000 miles on before buying my current ride in 2014. The first two Jeeps ran reliably and only needed standard maintenance, brakes, and tires. I loved both of those Cherokees. In fact, I regret selling the 2001 Jeep after buying the 2014 version. My current Cherokee had 11 factory recalls in the first few years, ranging from computer updates to wiring harnesses. I also have had to replace a bad alternator and battery and had performance issues with the 9-speed automatic transmission. Compared to the performance of my first two Jeeps, it has been a disappointment I may have purchased my last Jeep product.
Southern Chrysler Jeep Greenbrier continues to set the customer service bar low and then fails to reach it.
When I arrive, you can almost sense that the cat is looking at me and thinking “Back for more, little man?”. She still presents herself to be petted. I always ignore her. She sometimes pays me back for the slight by nipping at me. While I am there, Jeanne will close the cat out of the bedrooms. Those rooms are Misty’s favorite place to sleep at night after napping all day. My nemesis does not appreciate the appropriation of sleeping spots by the interloper from Virginia.
On the last two trips, she has violated our truce by urinating first near and then on my shoes after I came back from walking the dog. A small rivulet creeping away from the stain on top of the slip-on and running along the grout in the front hall tile. Nearby, she sat on the stairs, cleaning her fur and occasionally glancing in my direction. I think she is throwing down the gauntlet. I have challenged Misty to a final battle in the marsh along the Herb River behind Jeanne’s house. It is still in doubt which one of us would emerge victorious after such a clash.
The hobby became possible May 2, 2000, when the government turned off “
snakes. Finally, you need to stick to the trail until you get within about 200 feet of the cache location. At the parking area, you will be about 1/3 of a mile from the target geocache. That is a straight line reading. You will not be able to do a straight line land navigation quickly. Stick to the trail. I know that switchbacks are a pain, but there are a few elevation changes and water obstacles to cross. Two of those water obstacles do not have bridges. They are not difficult to handle. If you stick to the trail you will come on a geocache, Eclipsed in the Forest (GC7B2ZG), about halfway to Modoc Stash. The hike to the old geocache is about 1.1 miles. One last point, I marked a waypoint where my Jeep was parked. While I used the trail markings, I like to know the distance to the car on the way out.
Mission 22
After circling the first and second levels for a few minutes, I finally found someone pulling out of a spot. Once in the parking space, I mindlessly pulled out my phone and snapped a photo of the closest location sign to where my Jeep sat waiting for me. I heard a small laugh behind me. When I turned around a woman, walking in the same direction as I, looked at me and smiled. I was busted getting my photographic waypoint before heading for my outpatient procedure. “That is actually a good idea,” she said. We chatted as we headed to the elevator about the joys of the times when we had not remembered where we parked. It is easy enough to do in some of the larger parking lots or multiple story parking structures that have become ubiquitous in modern life.
We boarded the van in front of the Marriott at 1 p.m. Our first location was the house on Dean Street in the Boerum Hill neighborhood that was the center of my mother’s family for generations. As we stopped along the street, we, noticed the door open and an arborist coming out of the venerable old brownstone with the owner of the home. My sister jumped out of the van and introduced herself to the owners, Bob and Carol. As it turns out, they had purchased it from my great-uncle in 
1989. To our surprise and delight, they invited us into the house for a quick look around. The house has been restored over the years, but the architectural details, many of the light fixtures and some remnants of my mother’s family remained. Our hosts talked to us for around 20 minutes. We were even invited up to the third floor where my great uncle’s study had been converted to closet space for the front and back bedrooms. It was in this room where my great-uncle had painted a map of a large section of Brooklyn with the Fire Department of New York firehouses, call boxes and equipment. When the closet renovation was done, the new owner could not bring himself to paint over the sections of the map that survived.
There was a social going on the in the yard next to the church when we pulled up. The front door was open, so we got out of the van and went inside. While we were inside the darkened church, a woman from the social came in and asked if she could assist us. I told her that my father’s family had been members of the parish and that he was an altar boy here in 1940. A smile came across her face, and she immediately offered to light up the church and illuminate the fresco behind the altar. Tears came to his eyes as he took in the sights of this grand old Gothic church. I am sure memories of both his parents’ families came to the forefront of his consciousness.
