Well, today was an expensive day. Monday is my bestie’s bday so today she had a birthday brunch in NYC. I did something similar for my birthday last month, but I originally stole the idea from her! Dan and I were taking the train into the city, so on our way to the train station, we dropped off my volvo to get serviced. I was in desperate need of new front tires in addition to the usual oil change, etc. It was a beautiful day in NJ with a high of 75 degrees! I can’t believe just a few weeks ago we were buried in snow! Anyway, it was a gorgeous day in NYC and it seemed that everyone in NJ was heading into the city. Fortunately, our friend Alex saved us a spot on the train. Brunch was a blast but the city is always expensive. We went to a cute little place in Chelsea that opened up basically the whole front wall for this beautiful day so it was almost like we were eating outside. I ordered salmon benedict (like eggs benedict but with lox instead of ham, so good!) and may have had a couple of mimosas. I am a sucker for mimosas, but didn’t have too many because I still had to pick up my car. After brunch, we headed back to get my car before the shop closed and when I went in to pay they charged me twice as much as they quoted over the phone!! I was so upset because during brunch they called Dan and told him it would be about $400-500, so Dan checked with me and I said okay. When we got there they told me I owed almost $1200!!! I was so upset because I felt helpless in the situation. I had no clue if I was being ripped off or not, what a good price was, or what tires I should have asked for. I let Dan handle the entire situation and then I went in there and they charged me twice as much. Of course I got Dan and told them what I was told but they flat out denied it. So after arguing for a bit, I just paid it and then promptly called my Dad when I got in the car. He was furious and thought I was being taken advantage of and hopped in the car and started driving to the place. I tried to stop him but there was no talking him out of it. By the time he got there they were closed (and I was long gone because I had already made a bit of a scene) but he is not letting this one go. Dan feels bad and offered to pay for half, which I wouldn’t let him do. I know its not his fault, I just felt helpless in the situation because I wasn’t knowledgeable enough about what I needed to even argue with them. I don’t mind paying for a service and I wanted good tires, I was just caught completely off guard and I’m still confused if I got ripped off or if it was a misunderstanding. I feel bad because Dan took my car to the shop he usually goes to and I made a scene and argued with them. Oops.
Have you ever been taken advantage of in a similar situation? What did you do? What do you usually do if you need something you know nothing about?
Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. I will be back tomorrow with a running post. I’m hoping to run 10 miles tomorrow but my calves are killing me from the plyo class the other day. Good luck to Rick and anyone else running the NYC half marathon tomorrow!
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