Countryside Automotive in Baden / Kitchener, Ontario - Buyer Beware

I am writing this post because i feel like my power as a consumer has been taken away from me.

A few months ago, i wrote about the problems i encountered when i bought my new-used car.

I am writing this to inform others who are trying to gather some information on this company.

Here is the complaint i have filed with the BBB in it's entirety:

Countryside Automotive
Bob's home address (found on BBB website because mail was returned as undeliverable to work address):
153 Queen St P O Box 5114
Baden, ON N0B 1G0
519-634-5581

Bob's work address:
2951 Sandhills Rd. Box 5114
Baden , ON N3A 3B7
519 497-5644


Sunday November 2, 2008
* Test drove Escape. Vehicle ran smooth - no problems and was not misfiring
* Agreed to purchase - signed agreement and paid deposit by debit
* Agreed to pick up vehicle and pay balance one week later

Sunday November 9, 2008
* Picked up Escape
* Paid balance with certified cheque from bank
* Bob mentioned that the vehicle's check engine light was on but assured me that everything was fine
* As I drove the vehicle away, it started to misfire
* Called Bob immediately and returned vehicle
* Bob took vehicle away to his garage to work on it
* Bob retuned with vehicle and promised it was a "bad tank of gas" and said he put gas line antifreeze into it to dry up water. Bob promised the problem was fixed (said over and over it was just a "bad tank of gas").
* Bob promised problem was fixed and that if I encountered any problems he would "take care of you even if you're in Ottawa"
* Arrived in Oshawa (2hr drive) and vehicle was misfiring again (always at 2000 RPM)
* Called Bob and left several messages - no answer

Monday November 10, 2008
* Left vehicle in Oshawa and returned to Ottawa by other means as the Escape manual said that if the check engine light was flashing (which it was) that it could cause further damage if driven.
* My father, who lives in Oshawa, took the vehicle to a Ford Dealership. He was told by the Ford mechanic that a coil was cracked and that it was obvious that the coils had been sprayed with a drying agent to deter water from entering and prevent misfiring.
* Had vehicle repaired. Total cost was $380.57
* Called Bob again and got a hold of him
* Told him vehicle was left in Oshawa and was repaired @ Ford Dealership
* Bob said "no problem" and he will absolutely reimburse me for repairs and to please send him the bill.

Thursday November 13, 2008
* Emailed bill to Bob

Friday November 14, 2008
* Faxed bill to Bob

Friday December 5, 2008
* Cheque had not arrived
* Called Bob and left voicemail saying I hadn't received cheque and making sure he received the bill - no response

Monday December 8, 2008
* Cheque had not arrived.
* Called Bob and spoke to him - he said his wife was writing the cheque and would be sent shortly. Got cut off from phone call. Called back and got voicemail. Left Bob a message saying that if I didn't hear from him that I would assume he has everything he needs to proceed with sending the cheque and that I would expect the cheque by end of the week. No response from Bob.

Tuesday December 16, 2008
* Cheque had not arrived.
* Called Bob - Bob said cheque went out "today" and I should have it by Friday December 19.

Monday December 29, 2008
* Cheque had not arrived.
* Called Bob and left a voicemail. Said that I would wait until Monday January 12, 2009 for cheque and that I will not be trying to contact him from this point on. I said that if I did not receive the cheque by January 12 that I would pursue other means. Followed up with an email and attached delivery a receipt which confirmed delivery of email. Email reiterated same message as voicemail.

Monday January 12, 2009
* Cheque did not arrive.

Wednesday January 21, 2009
* Cheque has still not arrived


Consumer's Desired Resolution:
To be reimbursed for the $380.57 repairs that were done on the vehicle.


BUYER BEWARE of Countryside Automotive in Baden / Kitchener, Ontario.

Although there haven't been any other problems with the car, i have found other complaints / reviews on the internet about this company and Bob (owner/seller/president...)

Save yourself the stress and buy elsewhere.

Final Sale

Last weekend Mat and i were at the Mall. We didn't have much of a reason to be there except to return a duplicate Christmas gift i had received.

As we were walking around "window shopping" a cute outdoor mat caught my eye. It was 50% off because it was quite "seasonal" although it wasn't exactly Christmas-y. It was of a sweet little bird on a branch with a few snowflakes floating around and "welcome" written at the top.

Since it had a 50% off sticker on it, i couldn't resist buying it for only $10!

As i made my way up to the cash, the cashier asked if that would be all (yes) and proceeded to tell me my total after tax.

I gave her my debit card, paid, and as the cashier was putting the receipt in my bag and handing the bag to me she said "Here you go, just to let you know, this is a final sale".

I gave her an are you kidding me? look and said "You should tell people that BEFORE they buy it".

She looked at me with a blank stare and didnt' say anything - i'm not sure she understood what the problem was.

I probably wouldn't have returned the mat anyway, but if i DID want to, do you think i would have been able to seeing as she didn't tell me it was final sale until after i bought it? Probably not seeing as she stamped the receipt with a red "final sale" stamp.

Some people are kinda dumb, aren't they?

Emmy Rossum's Slow Me Down Video

Sarah, this is especially for you!

Emmy Rossum's video for Slow Me Down is now on You Tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0eGe-VV7I8

You can see my brother's name - Stuart Brawley - in the "About this Video" section on the right hand side. As i said in this post, he wrote and recorded the whole album.

I also thought you should know that my little sis works for Emmy and she was at the shoot for this video. I've *heard* that it was her idea for Emmy to come out of the water at the end of the video gasping for air - and they used her idea!

Yay... all of my siblings are so cool and have such cool jobs.

Jumping on the bandwagon

Ok, BIG SURPRISE!

i'm jumping on the de-lurker bandwagon because i'm a follower and she did, and she did, and i'm sure some of my other bloggy friends did, but my google reader can be slow to update sometimes and anyway, i want to be just like them as much as possible.

I have to say, i used to lurk around the blogosphere quite a bit myself. One person described how i felt perfectly: "I never thought bloggers thought much about comments from readers they don't know personally. I follow about 25 blogs daily and I don't think I've commented once on any of them. You guys seem so untouchable. Even smaller bloggers seem to know the blog celebrities in the real world. It's like you're all part of the cool club but you let us less cool people listen in on the fun. I guess thats why I've never delurked before. The less cool aren't supposed to interupt the club's conversations..." - "Becky"

That's exactly how i felt. But then i started to feel like i "knew" the blogger and i started leaving small comments like "cool pic" etc. etc. Now i try to comment as much as possible, but i try not to leave fluff. I like to be able to give my opionion or, if it's a really good bloggy friend, encouragement when they need it.

I'm not really putting the pressure on the few people who lurk here. Hell, i know Mat is one of them!! But it would be nice to "meet" you. Don't you want to be my bloggy friend?? No? ok, then *sob*. Just kidding...but i DID make it easier for you to comment. I opened it up to everyone - not just blogger / blogspot people! No excuses people, NO EXCUSES!

p.s. did you see the awesom-o button on my right side bar? isn't it perrrrrrty?

V is for Victory!

Warning: Fromage ahead....

Well, the drama is over. The images are down...thank GOD.

It feels great to know that we are surrounded by people - many of whom we have never met - who support each other and stand up for each other. There truly is a connection out there and i can't quite put my finger on it, but we must all have something in common. Something that's deeper and bigger than the fact that we all blog and that most of us are women and that most of you / us have kids. Something else...it's that uknown *thing* that makes people friends.

SAJ received over 140 comments from her post yesterday and it helped - both in getting the images removed and in keeping her strong. I'm very proud to be a part of this community of people who stand up for each other.

Shame shame, double shame.

Dear Adriana Calderon,

I can't believe what you did. You hurt my friend and you made tons of other people mad. You know what i'm talking about. You know what you stole.

Shame on you. What a poor, poor example you are setting for your children.

What makes you think that you can steal something that doesn't belong to you and then try to make money off of it?

Lame. Really lame.

Funny, how your "contact us" and "feedback and comments" links don't work today......

I wonder what you have to say for yourself? We'll probably never know because you are that flaky.

It hurts, it hurts!

What do you do, when someone asks you to do something that you KNOW is wrong?

You KNOW it's wrong, and it pains you to do it, but you feel you can't speak up or say anything about it?

Now, before you start thinking that someone has asked me to kill someone else for them, it is nothing like that. At all.

I am a coordinator. I plan events and do almost everything in between for an event. One of those things is building a syllabus or program guide for an event / conference. Most of the events i organize are conferences for the healthcare industry.

When i build a program guide or syllabus, i take the info someone gives me which usually comes in the form of a word document and i flash it up, take out extra spaces, make corrections etc. etc.

With this syllabus i'm currently working on, it had a lot of small errors like capitalizing Every Word In A Title Including The 'Thes' And 'Ands' And 'As' And 'Ins' etc. etc.

I corrected them so that only the appropriate words in the titles were capitalized.

I sent it back for review, and she sent it back to me with a ton of track changes and she changed back ALL of the words i had de-capitalized.

It looks stupid, and unprofessional and it pains me to go back and make every insignificant word start with a capital.

Should i say something or let it go? This isn't my conference, and techincally i just carry out their wishes and make happen what they want, and if they want their titles to be capitalized and incorrect, i guess i should let it be, right?

This person is older, and supposedly has done this before, but she's a nurse and so that tells me that she hasn't had to do a lot of writing and editing etc.

Thoughts?

p.s. i KNOW i'm horrible about things like that when i write here, but when i'm making something that goes to print, it's different....k?

Do you remember where you were?

It's one of those pieces of history that was so important that you recall exactly where you were and what you were doing at the moment that you heard the news.

I was 15.

I had a paper route.

I remember getting up at 5am to open the bundles of newspapers that had been dropped off on my front porch a few hours earlier.

I remember cutting them open and reading the huge headline that seemed to punch you in the face: "DI DEAD".

It seemed completely surreal to me at the time, and in some super-cheesy way, i felt that it was my duty to let the 100 people on my route know the sad, horrible news. I felt i was playing such an important part, delivering such news to people's doorsteps before they were even awake. Before they could know the outcome of the night before when she was still in hospital.

Obviously i didn't know Diana. I dont' think anyone did. And i suppose it was all of the attention the media still paid her even in her death, but i was glued to the tv for the entire week leading up to her funeral. Would it be a state funeral? Would the Queen have something to say? What would Charles be doing? And most importantly, what were her boys feeling? I tried to imagine myself in their shoes especially since my sister and i are the same age as the princes.

Like everyone else in the world, anything Diana interested me and got my attention. I went to the Diana exhibit at the ROM, i bought magazines with her picture on it. She was fascinating and so much like the rest of us, that it was hard not to want to know more about her.

As you all know, Diana loved fashion and always looked stunning no matter where she was or who she was with. My favorite image of Diana is of her in this dress. It is my favorite dress of all time and whenever i think of Diana, this is the image that pops into my head.

So, do you remember where you were when you heard the news exactly 10 years ago?

Apples 'n' Oranges

Warning: Product Promotion

This is long overdue *wink, but i would like to send a big CONGRATULATIONS to Lara and her business partner Vicky for the launch of their new online store, Apples 'n' Oranges.

Apples 'n' Oranges specializes in Canadian childrenswear for ages 0 - 5.

Now, i should let you know that by writing about Apples 'n' Oranges and putting their link in my sidebar, i have been entered into a contest....twice.

BUT this isn't a completely selfish blog.

First of all, Lara is my friend (right Lara??) and i really want to see her company get off the ground.

Second, all i read are "mom blogs" so i'm hoping those people visit my blog and find Apples 'n' Oranges fitting their need for unique clothes for their children.

Last, I am a huge supporter of small business as i once had my own small business. I feel that anyone who has the courage and willpower to start their own company and follow through with it is top-notch in my books, and for that, i support them.

So click on the button on my sidebar, and visit their site. If nothing else, at least you'll get to see some pictures of some really really cute kids!

SORRY Michelle

i'm going to "reply" to someone's comment on a comment that i left on another person's blog. I would like to post a comment right back on the blog, but that's not fair to the blogger.

I know this person who left a comment probably won't see this, but like i said, i don't want to start an argument on someone else's blog.

So here's the situation: You can read the original post here, but basically she wrote about how she found a small child left alone and locked inside a minivan on a hot day and how she confronted the parent.

To which i commented:

"oooo….that sort of thing makes me SO. MAD.!. argh. I’m mad just sitting here reading about it.I would have had a LOT more to say to that woman. Like “are you f#*%&^! kidding me???!!”But that’s just me…the kind of person who gives people dirty looks (and occasionally says something) when they park in a handicap spot when they are CLEARLY not handicapped!"

Anyway, i like to check the comments often to see what other people think and i find THIS:

"I just want to make a quick comment to Roz. Not all handicaps are visible and you shouldn’t assume that they don’t need to park there. As long as they have a sticker - assume they have it for a reason. That’s all."

"That's all" ???

Michelle, you don't know me. I don't know you. I'M SORRY that i didn't spell out every. single. word. and every. single. possible. situation.


First of all Michelle, i know aaalllllll about people with handicaps that aren't visible, i don't need a lecture from you about how not all handicaps are visible. My grandmother-in-law is legally blind and doesn't have a white cane, but does have a handicap sticker for her car thankyouverymuch.

Second of all, i was trying to express myself, don't take things so literally...sheesh.

Third of all, OBVIOUSLY if i saw a handicap sticker in someone's window, i would assume that they have it for a reason, and i wouldn't give them a dirty look. I kinda thought that was "assumed".

Lastly, i would like to say, that even when people do have stickers, it's not always for them, but for someone in their family who is disabled (am i even allowed to use that term? Probably not...) who isn't with them, but they figure since they have the sticker, that they can still use the spot.

Believe me. It happens. Yes....it does. I've witnessed it.

And the worst thing about these people is that they should be the FIRST ones not to use a handicap spot if they don't need to.


Let me ask you dear readers...who among you are tired of being so PC in every situation? Who is tired of wondering what someone might think of you as a person because you used an "incorrect term"? Does every comment or conversation or observation have to be 100% politically correct?