The wrong question to ask me

[Minimor]

I called the local Ford dealership this morning (Tuesday) just to get a quote on the cost of replacing the power steering hose in my '83 F-150. The fellow told me he didn't know, he'd have to look it up...um, well, yes, I figured so, but whenever I book an appointment for something like that I always ask approximately what it will cost. The guys always look at their little book for the labor estimate on the repair, add the price of the part & have an amount for me.

So then this guy asks me, which hose? I said the main power steering hose....now maybe if I had said pressure hose I'd have gotten a better response, but I've owned this truck since it was new & this is the 3rd time in 24 years that I've replaced the power steering hose, and never before have I been asked "which hose?" The only other hose is the return hose, which in 24 years I've never had to replace, so I'm thinking that when people refer to the PS hose they are most likely meaning the pressure hose.

That's when the guy screwed up. He sounded very doubtful when he asked "did someone TELL you that it needs to be replaced?" SNARL. Wanna bet that if it had been a man calling him he wouldn't have asked that question?? I informed him that I'm not so stupid that I cannot tell for myself when the power steering hose is leaking & needs to be replaced, then I told him to just never mind, I will fix it myself. And hung up on him when he started to stammer something.

I tried to get the service manager on the phone but didn't catch up to him, so I will stop around the dealership & speak to him in person tomorrow. I want to suggest to him that perhaps his employees should try to be careful not to talk down to customers just because they are women. Come on, the power steering suddenly starts making noises when I turn the wheel, there's fluid all over, the hose is all wet, the reservoir is empty--where do you suppose the first clue is that the power steering hose sprung a leak???

The auto parts store two blocks from my office brought the part in from Winnipeg, I picked it up at 3 this afternoon, and it's now in place on the truck....and it's not leaking & the steering is quiet again. And I didn't have to pay labor charges to some overpriced mechanic. :bgrin

I was talking to a neighbor this evening & he said that when his wife was car shopping awhile back, one salesman at one dealership asked her "does your husband know you're looking at cars?" She walked out & didn't go back to that dealership.

 

[nootka]

Oh, yes, our local dealership gave me a hard time when I took my '92 (in '92) Ford F150 in for a "rough run/dieseling up hills (gas engine), also decreased fuel mileage". The manager himself said to me, in a very condescending tone, "It isn't a car, it's a truck, so they run rougher."

I just left and made my husband take it back.

Turns out one of the spark plug wires had burned up and needed to be replaced...ALSO, they discovered that the transmission was insecure on its mounts and had to be repaired/replaced. SO, the first thing was pretty much responsible for most of what I was feeling, as well the second thing could have, too.

I do most of the driving in my family and I know my trucks fairly well. I hate it when I can't get anything done right b/c some assume I am not as intelligent or even capable of understanding fairly simple concepts.

Duh!

Grrrr.

Sorry you had a crappy time, I really don't relish dealing with our dealership. I usually have someone run interference for me so they know not to mess with me and treat me fairly. I hate that I even have to do that.

Liz

 

[dangerranger]

the only way they will ever understand is if you tell that deelership owner what has happened and that you took your money elsewhere and why.

 

[Jill]

Urgh !!!

That would really tick me off. I honestly wouldn't have a clue to know what you knew to say about a hose anything (count me impressed). Anytime something has to be done w/ one of our cars, H takes care of it specifically because I think as a woman, I'd get taken advantage of (and I know nothing really about cars / trucks).

Some men have a problem with women who know too much. He's probably an insecure ______. Since he's the one who's got to live w/ the problem, try and not let it bring you down.

 

[Charlene]

years ago, when inspections were required for pick up trucks, i got shafted big time. took my recently purchased used pick up for inspection. guy had me wait out front while they took it to the back. it was supposed to cost $7 or so. he came out after a few minutes and asked if i had flags and flares. i said "whaaat??"

also needed to replace my back up lights, one of them didn't work. close to $70+ later, i found out i could have bought flags and flares at walmart for a fraction of what the dealership charged me and back up lights were NOT required to pass inspection.

they saw the last of me. i was livid to think a bunch of guys standing around in the back snickering about taking me for everything they possibly could.

 

[RobinRTrueJoy]

things like that happen to me all the time. Treated like I am stupid because of chromosomes!

One time I was shopping for a truck.... MY truck, not for my husband. He came along for the ride. The salesman kept directing the conversation to my husband ,ignoring me. I tolfd him he lost a sale because of it and walked out. Plenty of dealerships around. Any salesman should know that MOST of the pick ups in this country are driven by women.

Also, when people come to look at horses, they try to talk to my husband. Now I don't let him come out with me when I show them to buyers. Heck, he can't tell one from the other, let alone bloodlines, prices, conformation etc.

 

[Triggy&Blue&Daisy Too]

Whenever I run into a patronizing male I don't get offended but do like to have a litte fun with them. I've worked in male dominated environments for as long as I can remember and really do think most really don't have a clue what they are doing and don't do it intentionally. Nor have they probably encountered many women who are interested in "guy" things let alone competent in them. I really don't blame them unless they are blatantly rude about it.

Just last weekend I arrived at a barn to transport a horse. It was a very tight area with little room to turn a large horse trailer around but I pulled in the yard and proceeded to locate someone so I could pick up the horse and be on my way.

A gentleman came out of the barn and after some chat about the horse, he said well I'll turn your truck and trailer around for you since it's so tight and I know how to do this after moving fishing boats one summer, blah, blah, blah. I said, Oh, thanks but if I find I can't turn around I'd be happy to have your help. He looked at me blankly and shook his head with a stupid grin on his face. So I got in my truck and blind sided the trailer into a small slot between some trees, pulled down the drive and backed back up the driveway in one fell swoop. I loved the look of amazement on his face, made my day. I loaded up the horse, thanked him but before I left he admitted he'd never seen anyone handle a truck and trailer like that, man or woman. Sometimes showing them is the only way to change their perceptions.

:

 

[Charlene]

oh i LOVE that!!! i was trail riding at a state park years ago. pulled into the horse camping area and proceeded to back my truck and 3 horse bumper pull trailer into my usual spot which happened to be between a couple of trees that were pretty close together but i always liked that spot because it was the shadiest place in the area.

i whipped my trailer in there, got out of the truck to unload my horse and saw that i had an audience of 4 or 5 men. they were laughing, i said what's so funny?? one guy asked if i would be interested in a job. driving a big rig. :bgrin

 

[Just Us N Texas]

Whenever there is car trouble, usually Jerry takes care of it, but if he can't, he has to take it in. I have been treated badly more than once by car repair "jocks". Once, while I was a widow, I was planning on driving my car a pretty long distance, heard a noise I didn't like, pulled it in to the local brake, tire, etc., maintenance store, and had them look at it. The "jock" that looked at it told me I needed new brakes all around. They had just been replaced about three months prior. I didn't let him do anything, and cancelled my trip. Went home, caught a nephew and asked him to check my brakes and told him what the mechanic said. He checked everything, and said all was fine, but I did have some dust in one brake and that caused the noise. Said it would go away. Can you imagine how much it would have cost if I had all new brakes all way around? I've had that happen to me more than once, so I no longer try to deal with mechanical "jocks." When I do find one that is honest, I keep trying to get back to them!

I have had men in appliance stores walk to other customers (couples) and leave me standing. I asked one why he had done that, and he said "everyone knows women can't buy unless their husbands are with them to give their okay." That was in a Sears Store, and I no longer will go to Sears.

Even though we are supposed to be in the "enlightened" generation, some men still don't believe women are first class citizens!

 

[Fred]

As my living is out of my truck I deal with this all the time. Believe me I have become a flaming B@$#% when this is pulled on me and that usually stops it right then and there. I had a dodge that red lined and I knew the oil pump was going to blow and as I was towing at the time I stopped and had it towed. Went in and asked to have the oil pump replaced and was greeted with. "How do you know its the oil pump." I told him because it red lined and I knew the pump was bad. His reply was "Well my wife would'nt know that". I wanted to smack him as I am NOT his wife and I DO know my truck. [Plus the ex-husband was an automotive machinist so that means you know I had to fix my own vehicles.] On the plus side it CAN be funny as one time I went to buy a chain saw for my husband, was about eight months pregnant and had a 2 and ahalf year old in tow. They tried to sell me a little yuppie saw and I told them NO I knew what was needed and purchased what I wanted. The guy took the saw out to the truck and said "Wow your husband has a nice truck" where I replied "No thats MY work truck". HIs expression was priceless.

 

[Birdmomjb]

I have the same problem with a brother in law.

I told him one day that I was going to weld the joints where my cattle panels meet as the little horses rubbing on the fence is breaking the hog ring connectors off and allowing the panels to seperate. I have a small 110 wire welder which should do the job nicely. (notice tha I have a welder not dh)

He asked me if I was going to weld them where they were?

I told him, Of course how in the world would you weld 1400 feet of panel and then put it up?

He snickered and told me how I didn't understand amps and such and could not run an extension cord that far.

To which I replied I have a generator no cords involved.

What an butt!!!

 

[AppyLover2]

Had a well drilled and had to call them back a couple days later because of a problem with the pump. Told the guy who had put the pump in exactly what was happening, he said something to the effect that it wasn't possible for it to be doing that. Next door neighbor (a man who I had discussed the problem with) came over....I asked him to tell the pump man what was happening; he told him exactly the same thing I had said, and the guy said "oh, ok, guess I need to put in a new pump". Just one of a long list of the 'women don't know *#%#' attitude some men have.

Oh...and something else that irritates the devil out of me. When a man shakes your hand like it's sloppy wet dishrag or just holds my fingers. grrrrrr I don't them to crush my hand but I do expect a firm handshake.

 

[runamuk]

Look at this way, due to that persons ignorance you saved some money :bgrin :bgrin and he lost some pay.

My husband seems to get a kick out of taking me shopping for anything traditionally "man stuff" power tools, cars, lawnmowers, weed eaters, etc......he in fact will play dumb and force salesmen/repairmen to deal with me and if the mood strikes me I must admit I have a little fun at the poor young enough to be my son salesmen who seem to have a pre rehearsed sales pitch. They often will go directly into a speel about airbags, saftey etc...at which point I blow them off and want to look under the hood at the engine, where they show me the ease of reaching the oil dipstick...ummm yeah ok dude.....I want to know about the engine, gas mileage, longevity, gear ratio's, pulling capacity, load capacity..............usually they do not have a clue especially if it is something other than a truck

:

: and I am not by any stretch of the imagination a gear head :bgrin :bgrin

 

[Minimor]

Well, today I left a message with the service manager at the dealership; he did finally call him back, and when I told him of my conversation with his employee the previous day he was very apologetic, said he shouldn't have talked to anyone that way, and he would speak to the guy & make sure it didn't happen again. I told him I appreciated that.

Now if I go back there for an oil change I'll be reading name tags & if Josh is working on my truck I'll have to sit there & watch like a hawk to make sure he doesn't sabotage it.

:

 

[Pepipony]

Back in the late '80s I was a service advisor for a large dealership, the only female. Once the mechanics learned that I wasnt a ditz everything was fine, with them at least. The customers were another story. They men tried to talk over my head and couldnt so of course they didnt like me much. But the women were tickled pink to have a woman to talk to who understood 'my car goes whoshdie' and how to get the mechanics to understand :bgrin

A few years back I brought my truck to the dealership and waited for repairs. The SA actually called my husband and asked him something, knowing full well I was sitting , waiting. Hubby got ticked and probably said a few choice words. SA then came to me. A bit later he came back stating that my air filter was used up, I asked to see it and the mechanic pulled one out of the trash that wasnt even for my truck. I told him so and he asked how I would know anyhow.

:

I cant believe that in 2 decades, men are still just as ignorant as ever. Well, least I know that us women are getting smarter :aktion033:

 

[frekles93]

[SIZE=14pt]Im blessed with knowing a little about motors and such....Of course I grew up with my Daddy being a weekend shade tree mechanic. My mecanic I use knows better then to try to pull a fast one.... he tells me it staight. It also helps he lets me go in and I ask him a million questions about what ever he is working on at the time. Most of the tie it is MINE I am asking ???? about LOL. Why is this thing this way and so on....[/SIZE]

April

 

[stormo41]

I'm going to go car shopping soon and I'm intimated to do so at dealerships because of the sterotypes with women protraing to cars/trucks. My dad got a 67 mustang coupe last summer and i have been helping him doing little fixes and putting in new parts and i enjoy it. Once i even took notice that he put a part back in backwards and saved the day

: Anyway i go to the classic car shows with him alot in the spring and summer and the other "car guys" always talk to my dad but never to me until my dad tells them that i help fix the car and clean the wires and then all of a sudden they all want to "barrow me" to clean their engines so i really can't win either way I'm either just a teenage girl who knows nothing about cars or i'm the girl who likes to clean cars

 

[Boinky]

One winter when i believe i was a senior in High School i went on a 2 hour one way road trip to a mountain skiing by myself. It ended up snowing like CRAZY that day. On the way home i did about five consecutive 360's and crashed into a very large rather icy snowbank. Course no real damage was done but my car wouldn't start! at first i panicked then i was like "ok wait..i KNOW what's wrong with this". I believe it was a ford.. but anyhow we had another car that did the same thing a winter or two before when we hit a very large frost heave. If you hit a bump or anything too hard the fuel line had an emergency shut off switch that would kick off in an "accident". Well i looked everywhere i could think of to find the stupid switch and couldn't find it ... course every fricken car has them in differnt places! so i called a mechanic to come out. I was trying to explain what it was (didn't know the technical terms) but he was like "no there's no such thing" i kept trying to tell him..took him about 30 minutes of us standing out in a snow storm before he was like OHHH i know what your talking about..

if i recall he had to call into his homebase to have it looked up to find out where the stupid switch was too. it ended up being in the "trunk" in a queer location under some sort of pannel. honestly i'd never have found it in a million years on my own but I KNEW what i was talking about and he thought just because i was a young girl it couldnt' POSSIBLY be the problem...what the heck do i know (granted i really don't know that much about cars..but i had had it happen before in different circumstances).

 

[JO~*]

What seems to work well for me is to go into say a service department of an auto dealer and tell them what I want or ask them what they think may be wrong after I describe something. Then I tell them I am getting quotes from different places and ask how much it would cost worst-case scenarios. After I get my quote, I just say thank you and leave. Since I don't know anything about cars I try not to talk too much. Sometimes I find its better to not let on what you do or do not know about any given repair problem. I think they are afraid that you will go to the next repair shop and say --well so and so said I needed this or that and if its something that you really did not need it will make them look like they are stupid. After I do this at a few places, I usually call one of them back and make an appointment. Now if I knew cars and someone tried to trick me then I would blow up, but since I don’t know cars I find my way works well for me. Only once did a mechanic try to take me (and my husband) said we need and oil pump when we didn’t.

I do have to give Pep Boys in Sacramento a plug, when I was down there last week my blinkers stopped working so I went into the store and told them what it was doing and they sold me a bulb for $5.00 and put it in for free and I was on my way. I was in a strange town with no tools and they could have took me for a ride real easy. I know changing a bulb would have been easy but I didn’t know that’s all it was.

 

[whitney]

Sorry I don't have that problem I only do business with WOMEN. Doctors, mechanics, salespeople. No PROBLEM. And the BEST way to fix it.