Dayely Thoughts by George Daye

Three Months and Counting

Nissan America is seriously dropping the customer service ball with, of all people, my MOM! If there is a patient person on the planet, it's her.  She'll wait... and wait... and WAIT until the last minute to confront someone about a problem.  I guess it's just in her nature.  Myself, I'll call you out and quick if I feel someone is taking advantage of me.

My mom purchased a new 2007 Nissan Versa about five months ago.  Shortly after the purchase, she ran over something on the highway that resulted in her car being in the shop. The shop reported that a fuel line, along with some other components had been damaged and that parts would need to be ordered.  Three months later, the fuel line part has STILL not come in.  My mom has made phone call after phone call after phone call to Nissan America to get the situation resolved, but her car remains in the shop.  So, logical reader, what's the solution?

If the part isn't available, shouldn't the dealer take a fuel line from an existing car in its inventory and fix my Mom's car?  Or shouldn't Nissan America pull a fuel line from the manufacturing facility and send it FedEx overnight to the shop? Logic dictates that one of these would happen, but have not yet.  If I were my Mom, I think I'd make call after call until I reached the Nissan America VP, or President, or whoever, and make some noise.  My mom is the type who will tell everyone she knows the entire story of her car and the 'mysterious, elusive fuel line".  Word of mouth is a powerful thing.

Choose Wisely. It's your right.

I took my family to the Statue of Liberty today where both my wife and son saw it for the first time.  I visited back in 2001, shortly before Sept. 11.  Pretty awe inspiring as I'm sure you know if you've been to see the statue before.  We're lucky, damn lucky to live where we live and how we live.  We're afforded the power of choice.  Take advantage of that power!  If you get treated poorly by a business, don't visit there again.  Spend your money somewhere else where you receive excellent customer service and where the ownership/management care about you as a customer.  Life is way too short to deal with the same BS time and time again.  And the reverse is true when you are treated well.  Go back and build a relationship with that business. Encourage them to keep it up because it's not easy being excellent.  -GD

Central Park on Labor Day

We spent the day in Central Park laying on a blanket and people watching.  This was a really cool experience, as we usually visit NYC during the Christmas season.  The weather was perfect, grass was green and soft and my wife and kiddo couldn't have been more fun to be with.  What more could a guy ask for?

The Friendly Skies... Right?

My wife and I have become 'those people'.  Don't know how it happened, well, yes actually I do but man it seems to have happened overnight.

We flew American Airlines two days ago from DFW to Indiana with our infant son.  Wow.  It never occurred to me that we'd be 'those people', you know, the ones back in seats 17B and 17C with the screaming kid.  That was us and it was stressful as anything I've experienced.  Our son cried... and cried and cried some more.  Unreal that his little lungs hold that much air.  Finally things calmed down and we made it to Indiana, albeit our nerves were shot.  Get to the point George... get to the point.

Our stewardess team on the flight was not happy with us.  And I'm sure many of the passengers weren't either.  But it's the stewardess' job to make sure everyone is comfortable and to take care of any needs, right?  So why the sour looks?  Why the impatience with my wife when she needed to go to the restroom to change a diaper before the seatbelt light had been turned off?  I just didn't understand it at all.  I felt real pressure and we were doing everything possible to calm our son and it would have helped to have some sympathy from the flight crew.

On the other hand, we received wonderful service from a stewardess on a shuttle flight from Indiana to NYC, where we are now.  She was great!  Sharing stories with us about her own grandkids and how she was there for us if we needed anything.  She even moved us to a different row because that particular row had infant flotation devices under the seat.  Wow.  Who does that anymore?  Such personal service. Were put at ease and I'm sure our son was as well  He must have been... he slept straight through the entire flight!  -GD