Category Archives: Services

Bad Experience at Hyundai Dealership in Maple Ridge

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So Sheepie has been wanting and looking for a Jeep Wrangler for an year now. So when he saw a decent offer at the Hyundai Dealership in Maple Ridge for a used one, we decided to go check it out. He was only planning to take a look at it, but he gave in and decided to buy it, lol.

It was a 2014 model, so fairly new with not a whole lot of mileage on it  (14,000 km), though compared to mine which was just short of 3000km after starting to drive my 2014 Yaris in Sept of that year, it seemed a lot to me.

The dealership had coffee and tea – which most places have, but this one had popcorn to indulge in as we waited during the different process! Hee hee~

When we started the financial phase, the sales guy kept talking about the monthly payments and such, never telling us the interest rate. We both asked about it a few times, and never got a number. The financial guy did the same thing. He kept dodging questions and replying with different wording that didn’t really clear up anything. It was not until the end when Sheepie was supposed to sign all the papers, that I noted to him that it was a whopping 7.2%. That meant that to take 7 years to pay it off, there would be over $9,000 of just interest!! Crazy! One could buy a smaller used car for that money!

There were additional costs that were not mentioned until the final papers – admin, delivery (when there isn’t any – it’s already at the lot) $2000 and the taxes that would not have been added if we had bought it from a private owner. There was this tire insurance thing for $600. I asked the financial guy TWICE if this was absolute mandatory/required, and he replied that “It’s done on all of our cars.” That did not answer the question! There was also this life insurance thing another $600. These 2 insurance things were never added when I bought my Yaris from Toyota. These came out to be an additional $8000!!!

Going into the insurance department wasn’t any better, in fact, it was worse. The lady was super grumpy as if it was detention camp. She never smiled once, or talk in a friendly way. Not a person you want to deal with when you are already dealing with insurance – something most of us don’t like nor can wrap their minds around, especially when you’re being bombarded with so much information just from the purchase of the vehicle.

We had arrived at the dealership around 2pm, but we ended up being there till closing at 6pm. Everything throughout was all wishy-washy until bam! The bill with hidden fees finally showed it’s ugly face. As Sheepie excitedly drove out of the dealership, he remembered that the ad on Craigslist had mentioned that it came with a soft top as well. We turned around and went back, just as the sales guy was leaving. “Oh, remember that I told you that there wasn’t the soft top because I had mistaken the bags in the trunk as the soft top…but they weren’t.” Sheepie was devastated. I do recall him saying something on that lines when we were busy cleaning out the old trade in car and putting everything into the wrangler. We were both preoccupied, so the quick notice didn’t register. For me, I didn’t understand what he was talking about at the time. He didn’t explain or take effort to make sure Sheepie understood. Soft tops are anywhere from $800-$2000.

So false advertising! AND, when we got home, I asked Sheepie if he’d received the second pair of keys (yes, it helps to have someone like me to stay focused and checkup…like a mother, lol). He called the sales guy, and they couriered him the keys. The sales guy and financial guy were nice, but I guess that’s what kept me on my toes. We felt like we have been deceived.

Sheepie has since called the sales guy many times only to be rerouted to his voicemail. Sheepie has gotten more impatient and left a message saying he would take further actions if needed. To that, he called back saying the soft top would come soon. It still hasn’t…Terrible! It’s been 7 weeks since buying the Wrangler…and nothing…Sheepie has been super disappointed (and somewhat traumatized) by the car buying experience. He says it’s better in Germany.

But for now with my new Yaris and Sheepie with his fairly new Wrangler, hopefully, we now wont have to buy any more new cars for a very, very long time!

Flight to Calgary with Air Canada

idearabbit-aircanada_calgary idearabbit-aircanada_calgary4After my disappointment with Aeroplan, I still decided to try again, this time to go to Calgary (read my previous post in trying to go to Las Vegas). I didn’t know that the promo had more conditions (don’t they all…), and since Sheepie wasn’t going to be able to take time off from work over the long weekend, I decided to go back to Calgary on my own.

I was told that for the promo to be valid, I needed another person to go. It was two free flights – not one, meaning you just couldn’t take one. So I asked a friend who also used to live in Calgary and her parents still lived in Calgary. As a matter of fact, they lived only a few blocks from my parents house…lol. So the drop off and pick up from the airport to home by my friend’s dad was easy.

The promo or any Aeroplan flight does not Include taxes. This time, the taxes and fees came out to $150 per person, which still is much better than the regular $400+ to Calgary.

The flight going there was freezing, and my friend asked the flight attendant to turn up the heat a bit. There was even a stranger who offered his jacket to her, until it got warmer.

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idearabbit-aircanada_calgary6On the flight back to Vancouver, I noticed that we were flying quite low and in the wrong direction after take off. We should usually see the Rockies come up fairly quickly, but I only saw the flat prairies ahead of us. The terrible intercom came on and the pilot said something like they were trying to take care of some technical difficulties…I watched the map on the little screen in front of me showing our plane was flying North.

After a while, the pilot came back on and told us the ‘malfunction’ was corrected and that we would return to flying our route to Vancouver. For a person who has extreme fears of flying, this was not something I wanted to hear…however, the rest of the flight went without a hitch, and arrived safely back to YVR. Phew!

I have heard numerous complaints about the staff, flight attendants, quality and now planes themselves from Air Canada. Their Aeroplan system has turned for the worse, and it’s so not worth accumulating little points. (going to Japan costs $700 for taxes and ‘fees’ even though you have to use 75,000 Aeroplan points) I’ve stopped carrying my card, or dealing with it anymore. Sure, the normal points you accumulate through their flights and at some retail stores are free, but if you have a credit card that allows you to get points, but then costs you over $100 annually, it doesn’t make sense. Sure it comes with some travel insurance, but I ended up having to buy a separate insurance to Europe because of certain conditions.

Thank you for the flight, but sorry Aeroplan, I’m abandoning the reward system. I’ve had better experiences with WestJet, going to Europe has always been with Air Transat, and now that there’s ANA (of JAL) to Japan, and that tells you something if I’d rather go elsewhere where they don’t have rewards.

Service/Quality on Plane: carrotcarrot   Cost/Return (Aeroplan): carrot  Call Centre Service: carrot

Toyota New Westminster Workshop

As a new owner of a Toyota vehicle, I was invited for an evening on learning more about the car. About a dozen or so people attended, which I think was beneficial for everyone.

I didn’t know that there was a jack under the driver’s seat! Or the child saftey lock for my rear doors, though I guess with no kids, it wasn’t too much of a concern for me. In fact, no one has yet sat in the rear seats since buying it three months ago. LOL.

idearabbit-toyota_newwestThere were donuts, coffee and tea at break, and we all got swag bags (or goodies bag) with 2 pens, a pressure gauge, mini medical kit with bandages, alcohol wipes, scissors and tape, a nice snow brush with scraper, travel mug, letter and a booklet. which were all branded with Toyota.

It was very informative though the speaker had a soft voice which was really hard to hear. I saw a few people lean in to pick out what he was saying as the Skytrains going by made it even more difficult to understand. But overall, it was very helpful, and I’m glad that I went. I must say that I was quite a bit younger than everyone else, though that wasn’t a problem. I just wondered if young people didn’t attend due to lack of interest? or time?

I’ve never been a car person, but since becoming more influenced by Sheepie who comes from Germany with a must-know-all-knowledge attitude, I have been increasingly eager to learn more on pretty much anything. And feeling like an idiot at car shops because I didn’t know anything about a car other than it drives you from point A and B was no longer. Of course I am faaaaar from becoming an expert, but knowing just a little helps.

Thanks Toyota New Westminster! I’m really glad I’ve bought my car from this dealer (no I don’t get sponsorship or deals on my car for this post- LOL). It’s on the complete other side of the city where I live, and definitely not efficient to bring in for repairs since I have a Toyota dealership/services few blocks from my home, but it has been a very positive experience from the first email I received from my inquiry. Great work!

To read my initial experience with Toyota New Westminster, read my Yelp review.
Or my decision to get rid of my old Corolla ’97 for a new 2014 Yaris, read here.