Pablo Averbuj

Keeping up the pace

I wanted to post before October ended to continue the unprecedented streak of updating my blog/page reasonably frequently.

On September 25 I was involved in an automobile collision which left me unscathed but without a car for a little over a month. Progressive has been impressive to deal with. There was a person who was responsible for my claim (Jenny) who was very helpful in explaining the process and the options. They towed my car from the accident to their service center, and handled all the repairs from there. They sent me a very detailed estimate of the damage including part numbers, part costs, labor costs, etc. The total was approximately $7000. Additionally they called me once or twice a week to let me know where my car was in the process and if the expected delivery date had changed. They offer lifetime guarantee on all the work they perform, and as an added bonus, they also asked me if I wanted some cosmetic damage that was not related to the accident to be repaired, and handled the billing for me. Overall, I’m pretty impressed.

Yesterday, (Friday) after having my car back two days, the engine started making a funny noise. I opened the hood and saw a hose that had seemingly popped off or broken. I asked my officemate who knows a bit about cars to take a look and he said somebody had done a very naughty thing and had “fixed” the hose with electrical tape.

This morning I called Jenny at Progressive and informed them of the issue, and as always they were helpful. They checked the estimate to see if any work with hoses had been done. Apparently, there was an A/C hose that was supposed to be replaced. They asked me to bring it back, they would give me a rental and take care of it.

This reminds me of a story I learned once in a business class in which a audio installer purposely improperly connects a wire such that a few days after the customer drives off, the radio fails to work. When the customer returns, they offer him a partial refund and give him the white glove treatment to make up for the oversight. Customer than leaves and tells all his friends how fantastic this car audio place was, giving the installer some great advertising.