I spoke to Bill Casey at Volvo yesterday, and he asked me not to drive my car until they can check it out. So, yesterday afternoon, a flat bed tow truck pulled up and took my car away. This time they brought it to Volvo of LA (16 miles away), not Rusnak Volvo in Pasadena (3.5 miles away). Apparently, the field engineer from Volvo is tied up at Volvo of LA for a few weeks, and since he wants to do the work, the car had to come to him. I am eagerly awaiting his diagnosis.

How long has it been? I got my Volvo back on January 27th, so that is 26 days all together. Sigh! To recap: 3 month ordeal of getting my car repaired resulted in:
- new long block
- new valve body (rebuilt transmission)
- new radiator
- resealed angle gear
- new front right axle.
Volvo Cars of North America & Rusnak Volvo has sunk about an estimated $15,000 ($9,000 for parts + my guestimate on labor of about $6,000) into my car to get it up and running as it should. I have paid about $1,000 + $500 for rental car out of my own pocket.

This afternoon when I drove home from work, the CHECK ENGINE light came on, and the car is smelling like something is baking under the hood… not sure what it is, but it ain’t no croissants. I have also noticed spots on my drive way lately indicating that something is leaking from the engine compartment.

I’ve emailed Bill Casey at Volvo asking how I should proceed at this point.

It’s been three months since this all started and I finally have my Volvo back. And it is running like new. Life is good, I tell you.

Poor Amy is having trouble with her VW. Amy, email me and we can share war-stories. Thanks for the mention, Ben Popken.

Apparently, Rusnak is finalizing the work on my car today. If they find no error codes or leaks they will release the car. Oh, mother of all creatures… Could it be true? It’s been a while since I drove in my own car. It feels like being on a really long business trip and longing for your own bed. No offense, KIA, it’s been fun, but I really would like to get my old ride back. Here are some things that I learned along the way:

- Assume everyone is your equal, and expect others to treat you the same. If they aren’t, find someone who is.
- If you can’t get anywhere, assume you are falling through the cracks — get yourself out of there.
- Light, continuous poking with a smile will get you much farther than yelling with your fists clinched.
- Having friends that encourage you is worth at least 10 Volvos.
- Crowd sourcing is the the new Village.
- Have fun, whatever you do.

Nuisance Freewaya

I started this consumer activism campaign on October 30. The day after that Halloween rolled around, and it was nothing less than obvious that I was going to dress up as the Viking Goddess Freya. I rummaged through the house to find items for my costume — a sheep skin here, a helmet there, some old jewelry from the hay-days of the 80’s (sigh!) from the back of my closet, and a wooden sword from my son’s toy box. However, to complete my outfit I was determined to find a cat, as Freya is known in Norse mythology to ride a chariot pulled by two cats. In a house where my kids’ toys sometime overpower my sanity, I was baffled by the fact that I was unable to locate one single fluffy, cuddly, stuffed cat toy. I ran through the house  yelling: “I need a cat! Find me a cat!” No luck. I had to settle for a stuffed Lynx. Whatever.

One week later, I was driving through downtown LA on the 110 freeway, lugging my kids from one early Saturday soccer game to another, when traffic came to a screeching halt. All of a sudden I felt a paralyzing and bone-chilling horror, as I see a tiny little kitten — joyful and oblivious — skipping out from between the tires of a large RV right in front of me. Without really thinking, my motherly instincts kicked in faster than you could say schfifty-five, and I stepped out among the cars and grabbed the kitten with fierce authority and determination. There I was, standing in the middle of traffic (albeit at a stand-still), with a tiny cat in my arms. All I can say is, be careful what you ask for.

As for the kitten, I’d be a bit anxious if I were her. My chariot is planned to return home soon, and that’s when pulling-practice will start.

Phiew! Where did last month go? Family from overseas flooded my home for weeks, a myriad of holidays came & went, and a new decade slipped in while I wasn’t looking — all this while still driving a KIA. I survived, and there is indeed good news to report. Here is what has gone down:

As I mentioned in my last post, Volvo sent over a release back in December that very generously offered to repair my car for a fabulous amount of almost $9K + labor covered by Rusnak. However it came bundled with the request of having me remove all “disparaging comments” from my blog, website and other forms of communication. Since this didn’t seem at all right to me, I decided to trust my network of friends to help me out.

After shooting an email to some Friends of Freya, I got in touch with a couple of (extremely prestigious) legal resources that gave me some insightful suggestions on how to approach my situation. Basically, I was encouraged to let Volvo know that I would not remove any comments from anywhere, since that’s not really how the internet works (love it!) — ”you can’t really un-ring the bell once the bell has been rung”.

I had a lengthy conversation with Bill Casey at Volvo about by positioning. I let him know that I was under no circumstances willing to take anything down: neither the documentation of my experience dealing with Volvo and Rusnak; nor the numerous comments and stories from all of you who have contributed along the way. All I have done is documenting my experience and I will ask no one’s permission to do so.

Without hesitation Volvo sent over a new and revised release with all requests to remove “disparaging remarks” omitted from the agreement. Fabulous! Signed!

We are now apparently in the midst of the repair of my Volvo. I received an email update from Bill yesterday letting me know that my car is “almost ready”. Hopefully, it will be done later this week or early next. The repairs to the engine, radiator and axle are done. There are just a few things left. In addition, I received confirmation that the rental car (yay, KIA!) is still being covered by Rusnak. I have to say I was getting a little anxious when the rental car company called and wanted to check in on who was covering the bill…

So, here we are. Getting closer to a resolution. I still think about what would have happened if I sat down and shut my mouth back in October. I would have paid $5,100 for a new transmission I apparently did not need. Then what, I wonder…!?

I just got off the phone with Bill Casey at Volvo Cars North America, who updated me about the findings and recommendation that have transpired from the extensive investigation of my 2001 Volvo XC70:

1) Transmission – There is nothing wrong with my Transmission. (This took me by surprise.) The Field Engineer test drove the car for about an hour and determined that the transmission is, in fact, intact.
2) However, the Valve Body needs to be replaced. This is the cause of the car running uneven.
3) In addition, the Long Block needs to be replaced. This is a result of when the car overheated back in August 2008, resulting in the cylinder head having to be replaced. Apparently the Long Block was damaged as well, but it was not caught. There is no hairline crack in the cylinder head.
4) The Radiator needs to be replaced — it has an external leak. This is what is causing my coolant leak. The Engineer performed a glycol test and determined there was no leaking of coolant into the Transmission. (There is still no sign of external puddles under the car, so we don’t know where the coolant is going.)
5) Also, the Right Axle needs to be replaced. (A new find).
6) And finally the Angle Gear needs to be resealed. (Originally resealed in June 2005.)

The recommendation from Volvo is following:
1) Replace the Long Block – since this was part of an issue when the car was in warranty, Volvo will cover this cost ($7,337.82)
2) Replace the Valve Body – this is also tied to the 2008 incidence and Volvo will cover this as well ($1,247.62)
3) Replace the Radiator. Rusnak will pick up the cost of labor. I will have to pay for the part ($386.66)
4) Reseal the Angle Gear. Again, Rusnak will pick up the cost of labor. I will have to pay for the part ($250.97)
5) Replace the Front Right Axle. Again, Rusnak will pick up the cost of labor. I will have to pay for the part ($409.47)

So to sum it up:
- Volvo will cover repairs worth $8,585.44.
- Rusnak is covering labor (and giving Volvo a deal on the repairs performed “under warranty”).
- I will pay of parts adding up to $1,047.10.

Caveat:
This offer has been agreed to by all levels of Volvo Cars North America (Hi Doug Speck. Nice to hear from you, albeit indirectly!) and Rusnak (Mr. Yohan Haddad included). However, for this to go in effect, Volvo has asked me to sign a legal agreement where I agree to close down RusmackedVolvo and “all communication” regarding this case. Before that happens, I hope I can do a follow-up post with some clear next steps from Volvo Car of North America and Rusnak Auto Group on what systems or measures they plan on putting in place to ensure that the experience I had will not be happening again, to other customers. I’ll keep you updated on my decision on how to go forward.

My car has now been inspected by Volvo’s field engineer. He spent the entire day yesterday investigating pretty much the entire car from top to bottom, as least the mechanical parts (the scratch on my bumper was probably ignored). The engineer issued a report that he has sent to and discussed with Bill in customer care at Volvo Cars, North America (VCNA). According to Bill, “all my concerns have been validated” — they confirmed the transmission problem, problems in the “engine area” and possibly a leaking radiator that may be the cause of the coolant leak. They also found a few other issues with the car. Bill is now compiling a complete dossier of the 10 year history of my car. He is getting notes, service records and repair orders from the extended warranty company, from the field engineer, and of course from Rusnak Volvo, and I am also sending him the receipts of the two repairs that was performed at Independent, to complete the picture. Bill will then send this complete dossier to the Engineers in Sweden for review. After this dossier has been reviewed Bill will get back to me and get me up to speed on all their findings. I will be getting a copy of the report as well. Bill informed me I am his top priority, and that his company’s mission is to “do the right thing”. (Sounds good to me.) We are scheduled to speak again on Tuesday, when he will give me a complete picture of the issues with my car.

Although Ernie Murillo, the Service Manager at Rusnak Volvo, Pasadena, left me a message stating short and sweet that my car was “ready for pickup”, Volvo made the recommendation that the car stays at Rusnak and that I stay in my rental car until further notice. So, here I am sailing my KIA warrior ship for now, at least until Tuesday.

P.S. Worth noting:
Despite confirmation from Volvo, that I was going to get a rental car as a replacement upon drop-off at Rusnak Volvo on Dec 9, I had to wait for about an hour before Rusnak agreed to cover the cost. They stated they “knew nothing about it”.

In this episode, I am waiting for December 9th, when Volvo’s engineer will come to Pasadena to look at my car & service records. To make the time pass, I go to visit my favorite Customer Greater, Nils, at IKEA.