22 days – apparently that is what MANANA means to the Volkswagen dealership here in Puerto Vallarta!  And that was after Brandon the Key Guy’s 5 MANANAS.  27 Days to get a new key made to replace the one that is now ½ way to Hawaii.

I told you the story of losing the key and breaking into the house and finally getting the car towed to the dealership.  I thought that was the end of the story.  Just a couple more days.  But of course it was not.  Every day for the past 22 days we have called Raul or his manager Adrian to ask if our car is ready and every day there was another problem.    Another story.  Another manana.   They ordered a new part.  They took apart the dashboard to put in the new part.  Nope, didn’t work.  So they ordered all new keys.  Started over.  And finally the answer we had been waiting for.  Your car is ready.   What started as $1700 pesos and 3 hours turned into $12,000 pesos and 27 days.  Plus 3 weeks of a rental car.  But she was ready and we headed over to pick her up.

When we arrived Raul had some interesting info for us.  When we had purchased the car, (that’s another whole story – check it out here) some of the warning lights were on.  Of course, we said we would not buy it until those lights were checked and the problems repaired.  Yes Lady, Of course Lady, we’ll send it to our Electric guy and get it fixed for you.  When we returned the next day, the lights were indeed fixed – faulty sensors had been replaced they said.   Well now Raul told us that when they removed the dashboard and the instrument cluster they noticed that the warning lights had been painted over with dark nail polish.  Not repaired.  Not replaced.  Covered up.    Sigh.  Raul assured us that everything seemed to be running well and honestly, I just wanted to get out of there with my Canadian politeness intact.  They brought the car around, Grant left in the rental car and I climbed in ready to finally take Azulita home.  And then I saw it.  A large crack in the windshield.  Right in the driver’s sight line.  Not a chip.  Not a small crack.  A big, ugly, multi directional, crack.   So I called Raul over – “What is this? I am sure this wasn’t here when we brought it in”.  “Are you positive – if you’re positive I’ll take your word for it and we’ll repair it.”   Was I positive?  Grant drives most of the time and could I have I forgotten this?  We do drive on some pretty crappy roads.  He had driven away by this time so I told Raul that I would talk to Grant and call him right back.    So I met Grant at the Car Rental office and he gave me the answer before I asked the question. “What the !@#@#$!!#### is that on the windshield?”.  As promised,  I immediately called Raul – not even 15 minutes after we left the dealership – and his answer was “Well I talked to my manager and I don’t think it happened here and you really can’t prove it did so I don’t think we can really do anything”.    Aaaaargghhhhh.

Of course, the one thing Raul did not take into consideration is that I had taken photos – a lot of photos – because I have to share this crazy adventure on Facebook and on this blog – and I did indeed have proof that Azulita arrived at the dealership with NO CRACKS IN THE WINDSHIELD.   “You have pictures?  Really?  Okay, I’ll send you our email address and you can send them here”.  So we waited 2 days – you KNOW he did not send the email address.  Today we went to the dealership.  We stood outside the Service Manager’s office until he was free and we told him our story.  “I’m sure it didn’t happen here” – and then I did it.  I whipped out my phone.  I produced the BEFORE picture taken in their dealership, I zoomed in on the clean windshield.  I produced the AFTER picture.  I zoomed in on the cracked windshield.  I waited.  “Well maybe I’ll check the videos here in the shop and then we can make a deal.  We’ll have to fix it.  I guess.”  Call me manana.    And here we go again…….

BEFORE:

No crack…..

AFTER:

Yup… definite crack

Stay Tuned……