Valet at Gibson's. Careful

Hi all,

Yesterday morning I valet'd my Mas GT at Gibsons. When I dropped it off everything was fine and working great. However when I received it (it was in the front of the restaurant anyway), the turning and hazard lights weren't working.

Which is quite strange because the only factor that really changed was the valet driving my car. The lights were working just fine when I dropped it off...

So now I've to figure out what it is and hopefully it's just fuses.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up.

 

Why would you Valet a car like that?

 

Not in Chicago, but spent a few years of my youth as a valet. Suffice to say, I generally don't like to valet my car, especially any of my collector cars.

My daily driver is a Kia, so whatever. If you have something nicer, I'd be very careful. I'm loaded with stories, some that I am not so proud of.

 

Never had any negative experiences until now but I guess this will be the last time I valet.

Lesson learned... Although it still boggles my mind as to how does someone manage to mess up just the turning/hazard lights?

Yes, I've read many bad stories about valet.. I guess this will be a lesson learned from me... which is sad because I enjoy seeing my car parked in front of a restaurant. Anyways!

 

It could be the fuse and that would have nothing to do with the valet. It happened to my Alfa years ago when i lived in Paris and it was sudden as you can imagine.

Maybe find out what happened before blaming someone/company.

 

What could a valet have possibly done to "damage" hazard lights?

 

This...may just be coincidence.

 

Agreed, it is Italian after all Gibson's sees their fair share of higher end cars, I'd be more trusting of their valet service than most others.

 

The last time I was there, I was impressed that our waiter had a bark, 18k Gold, Rolex on his wrist. Great everything. Yes, I would bring any minuses up to the powers that be.

 

Working in the automotive industry I can't count the number of times my company has been blamed for something purely coincidental that unfortunately happened while in our possession. My favorite is when they return months, even years later and start with "Ever since you guys worked on it last..."

 

Mechanicals an be fixed. This......not so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pEhqiCD27E

 

So true. I have a thousand stories but this one still sticks in my head...

I had a particular customer who dropped his new purchase Aston off one morning. Then he picked the car up at lunch. My staff replaced a taillight unit (LED). Well... His NAV unit (the factory kind that pops out of the dash to show the screen ~ very gadget like) quit popping out. It immediately was our fault (guilt from association) but we assured him that it had nothing to do with our taillight replacement. BUT he swore he knew more about the cars then we did so HE HAD to be RIGHT.

Well.. Did he know that Aston's have a Volvo NAV unit? Did he know that these Volvo units have a small plastic gear that fails time after time? No. It did not matter. He was an expert car owner. He had JUST purchased this car, knew NOTHING about it. Had no idea if the screen had been showing a pattern of failure or previous issue. But he knew for fact that we did something. We HAD to have.

Anyhow, me being me & wanting to keep the customer I did not argue & I paid $1400 out of pocket to replace the NAV screen (Assuming I would have him back & recoup my losses slowly. Right?). Seems logical.

But no good deed goes unpunished - So this car owner expert just kept thinking it was us. He told his broken NAV story unfairly to a hundred people. Even though it cost him nothing. Several of the people who heard this fable knowing better contacted me to let me know this Dr. was unfairly accusing us (they all knew better ~ perhaps they were more car experts than he was). It was/is a shame. And I never saw that customer again.

So think twice before you say ANYTHING WAS an potential innocent parties fault. Guilt out of association is unfair.

And it was an Aston, of course it would break! (same as the Maser).

 

It was probably a fuse. I haven't had the time to check it out. If it was then it could had happened at anytime but it is odd that it happened when the valet was driving.

Anyways...

 

They ALWAYS have to blame someone, regardless of the facts.
Not only in car business, it happens in every other business too, guilt by association indeed.
Folks are very quick to accuse, have no qualms about ruining someone's reputation and don't ever apologize when confronted with facts.
The entitlement society we live nowadays in.
You made a mistake with that Aston a**hole, you spent the $$ for something you were not responsible for and only reinforced the idea of "your fault" in his stupid little brain.
You tried to treat him well and it only bit you in your behind anyway.

 

If they were all like you! I mean it. But in general the States are filled with people that live the entitlement role that you clearly referred to.

These are the cards we are dealt my friends. We will have to play them to the best of our ability.

 

Michael, next time something breaks in my Aston I would be more than happy to sing your praises if you pay for it out of your pocket

 

That reminds me of a Ferrari customer that I good willed some minor repair for... As he left he said without skipping a beat ~ "at those prices I will keep coming back!"

Ha!

 

I used to work at a large north sub Cadillac dealer ,customers used to come in with damage on the LF of their car [ins work] and tell me the damage that was on the RR from a year ago was from the same accident too