Divemedic

Rip off update

I blogged recently about my in-laws being sold a vehicle while the dealer deliberately hid the fact that it was a demo. In an attempt to resolve the issue, my in-laws returned to the dealer the following morning and were offered a different, comparable vehicle at a slight (less than $500) reduction in price.

They took the deal and drove the vehicle home. After arriving home, they discovered that the paperwork has the wrong VIN on it. I pointed out that they need to get this fixed ASAP, because if they get pulled over, the VIN not matching the registration could cause them issues, especially if the dealer notices that the vehicle they have is still showing as being in inventory but is no longer on the lot and decides to report it stolen. At the very least, they are in possession of an unregistered and uninsured vehicle. My mother in law told me that this was “far-fetched” and I was being ridiculous. She said that they had the paperwork to show they recently bought the car, and just because the VIN was incorrect made it a simple paperwork issue and this was not a big deal.

At this point, I am backing out of helping them.

By Divemedic, ago

Amazon looks better

With all of the stores telling me that they don’t want my business if I am armed, while at the same time doing nothing REAL to prevent shootings or crime, I appreciate Amazon more and more. I can buy almost anything without having to be near the proverbial watering hole.

Yet another reason why online retailers like Amazon are putting traditional retail out of business.

By Divemedic, ago

Rip off

My in-laws asked me to find them a good price on a 2019 Nissan Pathfinder. I used True Car, which usually gives us great prices. I found them the car they wanted for about $8K less than MSRP at a dealer about 40 miles from here. This was about the same discount that True Car has gotten us before. 

The in-laws asked us if we could go with them to purchase the car that afternoon, but we were not able to go that day, because of prior commitments. We told them that we would be able to go the next day if they would wait, but they were not willing to. They insisted that we were not needed because they had bought many cars before. 
They went to get the car and still had to argue in order to get the True Car price. That seemed very unusual to me, because one of the great advantages to True Car is that the dealer agrees to abide by the True Car price so there is no haggling. 
Then they told us that the car had damage to the hood, and the dealer had offered to repaint it, so they would have to take the car back to the dealer this week for that to happen. That was a red flag, so we went over to their house and noticed that the car had over 5,000 miles already on the odometer. The paperwork stated that the car had 28 miles at delivery. The dealer hid it from my in-laws by leaving the odometer set on the “trip” odometer in order to hide the true mileage of the car. 
I called the dealer and they said to bring the car in, and they would fix it by simply correcting the paperwork. I told them that this was unacceptable, and I wanted them to reverse the sale, or I would be contacting an attorney. They said that since I mentioned attorney, they would no longer speak to me. He also pointed out that the contract has an arbitration clause and I can’t sue them anyway. 
We called the cops, and they told us that it was a civil matter and stated that cops don’t get involved in civil matters. Like most cops, he is lazy. It is a felony in the state of Florida to misrepresent the mileage of a car on the odometer disclosure at sale. 
The dealer called us an hour later and apologized. They said that they would contact the finance manager to see if the sale can be reversed. We will see. 
By Divemedic, ago

Typical

I have posted about poor writing skills before. A good number of my students were using cell phones instead of paying attention, so I gave the class a writing assignment. The topic was “Why cell phones are a distraction in class.”

This is what I got from one 11th grade student. I cropped the name off for student privacy reasons.

The rest of the paper is continued on the back: “are a teacher. you give respet you earn respect.” (sic)

By Divemedic, ago

18 years ago

It was a Tuesday and I was on shift. That day, I was assigned to Engine 12. The day began like most other shifts: we had checked trucks and equipment and then headed out to test hydrants. We were behind the Winn Dixie about 2 miles from the station when the Battalion Chief called us, directed us to return to quarters and turn on the television. We got there just in time to see the second plane hit the towers. Shortly after, the reports came in that the Pentagon had been hit. That was when I knew that we were at war.
When the first tower came down, I remember one of the guys saying something like “There are thousands who work there, I bet 2 thousand people just died.” I remember how large of a number that was, and how impossible that seemed. It was then that I said “There were hundreds of firefighters in there.”
The next few weeks were unreal. Everywhere we went, firefighters got love and cheers. People paid for our meals. Still, there was this overwhelming sense that we as Americans had a target on our backs. As a firefighter, I wondered what it felt like to enter that second tower knowing that it would eventually come down, and wondered if I would have had the same guts that they did. Still, every fire I went to, I still went in.
Things were different for me after that.

By Divemedic, ago

Much ado about nothing

So the press is in an uproar about a Trump tweet, and the left will not let it go. The President sent out a tweet claiming that Alabama was one of the states that would be affected by Hurricane Dorian. The press is roasting him for being wrong. But was he?

Here is a link to the NHC forecast from 0300 UTC on August 28. This forecast is a list of the odds of selected cities seeing Tropical Storm force winds withing the following 5 days. Note the line which says:

MONTGOMERY AL  34  X   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   4( 4)

Meaning that Montgomery Alabama had a 4 percent chance of seeing 34 knot winds. Now you might say that 4 percent is not very high, but note that Myrtle Beach was seen in the same forecast as only a 5 percent chance of seeing tropical storm force winds.

MYRTLE BEACH   34  X   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   X( X)   1( 1)   5( 6)

From the same advisory, the graphic of projected windfield looked like this:

I don’t think that it is unreasonable for anyone to think that Alabama is in danger here. CNN, who is leading the charge on this ridiculousness, has no room to talk. CNN doesn’t even know where Alabama is:

By Divemedic, ago