New England B.S. Thread

And here I was thinking the people running out to grab the last year of the v6 were idiots

 

The closest Ford dealer to me has horrific service too, but their sales is good. I've had 3 incidents with them that each turned into sagas with lots of repeat visits because they're incompetent, so I stopped doing business with them. There's another dealer a little further away that has a really great service team, though.

The close dealer sold a friend a truck with a bad rear differential. They rode with him several times and refused to do anything saying it was just tire noise. He took it to the other dealer and they pulled the cover and said there were lots of metal shavings that appeared to be the result of water in the fluid, so they needed to rebuild it. He told the selling dealer and they said come on back and we'll rebuild it. He told them no way, you couldn't diagnose it so there's no way I can trust you to do a differential rebuild. He ended up negotiating with them to pay the other dealer to repair it.

He checked with the service manager when he picked it up to make sure the selling dealer paid the bill. The manager admitted the first one was complaining about the cost, arguing that replacing the ring and pinion wasn't necessary, just the bearings. They didn't want to put it back together with old parts that had been sitting in metal shavings, so they replaced everything. My friend told them he'd pay them the difference and he didn't want them to be out the money they deserve because of an unconventional arrangement. They said do not worry about it, they trade trucks and parts with the other dealer all the time and he knows they won't be willing to hold firm and ruin that relationship.

I have an AmEx Blue Cash Preferred and Prime, but I don't typically use it on Amazon because I have the Prime 5% back card as well. Where did you see it? I didn't see it in my AmEx offers.

I did have a decent $15 off $150 at Home Depot through AmEx that I used recently. I should keep a closer eye on those because I probably miss some good ones.

 

What a bargain.

 

Every ride in the taco... "Ughh these headrests...my neck..."
My wife reverses the headrest because it's angled so far forward that if you have someone behind you can can't put the seat back you're banging into it.

 

Ugh. Good luck with the surgery and rehab.

 

I looked and didn't see it either, they're not all the same for everyone.

When that Chewy one hit I scrambled and grabbed my wife's card too, we loaded up Chase and Amex are pretty good with their discounts/offers like that.

 

And people wonder why houses are so expensive...inflated values AND interest rates...shhhh...wrong thread...

 

Ya'll are getting me up on my Amex soapbox. tl;dr I am a Joyful Consumer of the Amex flavored instant beverage mix (contains 0% fruit juice).

Seriously, I fucking looooooooove my Amex. I'm on a discontinued cash rewards program and they desperately want me off it. Even if they rug pull me, I'd still have an Amex. The customer service is absolutely bananas (if you aren't familiar with how Amex works, they take GOOD care of their customers because their primary revenue is transaction fees, not interest on carried balance, so they want you to love it and use it everywhere you can. Amex's business model and their history is actually extremely fascinating if you're a certain kind of nerd) .

There have been a handful of times where I've been in some kind of real stout pickle, and have been able to call Amex and say "Hi, I'm staring right at this extremely large brined cucumber, is there any way at all you can..."

They always have, even when it's stuff that I wouldn't have even been upset at them not doing. I mean, they charge for it, but the fees have ALWAYS been worth the amount of time/money saved in paying it.

Example: I was on business in Eurostan once and the company plastic stopped working. The company was right on it, but we were kind of at the mercy of the banks - there was some kind of fuckaroo on their end in the Big Computer, even though the cards were supposed to be set up for international travel, and the cards also had a (again their bad) wrong billing address. Okay I'll cut the explanation short here and just put it this way: I had a lot of problems and the easiest solution was just a big wad of cash in my hand and I didn't even have plastic.

So I called Amex and said "Hello, I am your loyal customer of XX years with a high usage rate and bills always paid in full two weeks before close of billing. I am in a bad way, is there anyway you can somehow make my Amex work in a XXXXXX Bank ATM in City X in Eurostan to withdraw more than my credit limit in cash with a bunch of transactions in a row?"

Less than 10 minutes later after the call escalated twice in the background, the original CSR gets back on and says "We will be happy to help you. I need to bring XXXXX on the line to read mandatory disclosures and explain the terms of the agreement, do you have a few minutes?"

OUT. STANDING. Saved the day for sure and kept me from being stuck dozing in a cafe overnight with a pile of equipment, waiting for the regular plastic to turn back on.

Not to mention any time I've ever had to deal with fraud or a dispute, which has thankfully been rare, they make it extremely simple and have given me the benefit of the doubt on everything.

If you do a lot of travel, even just overnight stuff, you might really want to consider getting a Blue Cash Amex (the current equivalent of my grandfathered card) even with a low limit, and just use it for gas or whatever, set to pay automatically every month. They are a little picky about customers (i.e. credit score requirements) but if shit really hits the fan, they are if nothing else relatively cheap short term loans, like unexpected maintenance during travel, as long as you know how to use them. They're not QUITE as liquid as a straight up wad of cash, but depending on circumstances they are pretty close.

 

One last question sir....is...anyone...holding you hostage? This is an unusual request...

 

Yeah that's one drawback, they can't see the morse code blinking from a truck stop payphone.

 

Amex is amazing in one regard - if flights get cancelled etc etc eveyone's in line at the airport, calling the airline, etc. Call Amex, they'll get back to you in 10 minutes with a hotel room, a way to get there, and they'll tell you how much they'll cover for dinner for the night. They deal with the interaction with the airlines. I am with you - absolutely recommend always having an Amex.

The second thing I'll always have is a no foreign fees Visa/Mastercard, just because Amex isn't taken as everywhere, and their no forex cards have an annual fee behind them.

As an aside apparently some of the upper level travel cards are similar with customer service for travels as Amex is. I have a chase sapphire and haven't needed it yet but rumor has it, they're also outstanding.

 

I went through the same basic thing with my local dealer leased 2 trucks through them 1st truck they were awesome got a great deal though I had to go back and forth a couple of times to get it. But when the battery went a year in it was a no questions asked in and out thing, always had serviced at this location. so when i got my 2nd (current) truck the sales dept wouldn't budge on price and screwed up my contract and had to call me back the next day when the accounting dept caught that they overcharged me for the GAP insurance like $5 per month which is cool. But I took truck in for it's first service and the service manager comes out with 1 of my lugs in his hand and tried blaming me for stripping a big and stud and wanted me to pay $160 to fix it! He told me it wasn't covered under warranty and to call toyota corporate and make a claim, I did then realized everything is covered especially since he was claiming it coulda been a defect long story short I ended up going to a different dealer they did the job for $140 I paid cash and toyota corporate reimbursed me in full I haven't been back since. some dealers just think your a number and don't care if you come back or give negative reviews.

And can't believe Boch sold out to Nucar and it looks like their pricing has gone up a little!

 

Not to mention, their app is so nicely designed. It's better than even the really good competitors' ones. I have a Blue Cash Preferred and a high yield savings account with them. Had fraud once and they called me before I even knew it happened and overnighted a new card without me even asking. Every other bank would send it regular mail and it'd take a week.

I wish they'd add the 3% online shopping category to the Blue Cash Preferred - my fiancee has it on her regular Blue Cash Everyday. I like the preferred because it's 6% on groceries, 3% on gas - I come out well ahead of the regular one even with the annual fee considered.

It's also my highest credit limit by a significant margin - $35,000 if I remember right. I pay in full every time the statement cuts and have never gone above maybe 3000 in a cycle, but that outrageous number definitely helps my overall utilization rate.

 

I left a negative review after one of my experiences with them and the owner pulled me aside when they finally made things right in the third trip and said he didn't respond publicly because I was justified and asked if I could take it down and he'd do a full detail on him any time. Eh, I clean the inside of my truck probably every other week. The one I'm trading tomorrow has 76,000 miles and the interior looks 98% as good as a brand new truck, no exaggeration. A detail doesn't really have any value to me.

I did take it down, but that was the third significant issue I had with them so I never returned.

 

I had received an email asking me to activate the offer on the Amazon app. I wonder if it's not on the Blue cards. I have Blue and Gold and it was linked to my Gold card as it's tied to the MR points. I typically use my Blue for streaming, gas and groceries. It's all a game.

I use the Amazon card as well for 5%, but you can't beat the deal. I got $120 off between the two cards for things I'd buy otherwise.

 

That's possible. I don't have the other cards because I don't really travel - so cash back is my best bet.

I end up with over $1000/year in credit card rewards. It blows my mind that most people I know still use debit cards for everything. Rewards aside, the comparative fraud risk alone is enough for me to never ever use my debit card anywhere other than my own bank's ATMs.

 

Oh yea baby...Lookin' like a champ...no more rooster tails on my doors...
Picked up one of these


to put on these. Thanks @GarlicFarts

 

90° bit is a game changer, keep one in the tool bag at all times