The phone rang when I was in the ladies' room. I had handed over my keys to the service advisor only moments earlier and then made a quick pit stop before settling into the waiting room for the 90 minutes they said my routine maintenance would take. "Um, hello?" My voice echoed off the tiles of the cavernous bathroom.
"This is blah blah from blah blah Subaru," said a chipper voice. "Do you have a minute to talk about trading up for a new Outback?"
"Hmm!" I replied. "I happen to be at your dealership right now."
"I know," she responded. "Where are you sitting?"
"I'm actually in the ladies' room," I told her.
"Oh." She paused momentarily. "Well, I'll come find you in a few minutes."
"I'm not going to trade in my car today," I said, "but thanks."
She found me a little while later anyway and offered me my personalized options for a new car. Once again, I politely declined, confident that no matter what the bill was today, it would be less than the car payment she was offering.
She went on her way, leaving me to stew a bit. I always have my maintenance and repairs done by the dealership. I know it costs a bit more, but until today it gave me peace of mind, because I assumed they would stand by their product.
But now I see that they may have competing interests. Rather than win-winning by getting my money, either for service or my next Subaru, it seems like they now prefer that I buy a new car, and that erodes my trust in them. Which is just one more thing to worry about.
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