This past weekend was lovely. Friday night I joined my parents are their friends’ home for a Robert Burns night. A Scottish poet, long dead, he brought us an excuse to read poems I couldn’t really understand, enjoy “haggis”, neeps and tatties along with Rob Roys to drink. It was a lovely time.
On Saturday, Harlow got a bath, the house got cleaned, and Meg arrived in the afternoon from the Berkshires. Ben and Sarah joined us for dinner, and the four of us walked over to Beth and Paul’s house a few blocks away where they were hosting a house concert. Paul is a musician and his band performed. It was so much fun. The music was great, and I regretted what I wore – thick socks, velvet pants and a sweater. I was entirely too warm for the evening.
On Sunday I loafed around until afternoon, at which point I picked up Dad and we drove into Boston for the Wynton Marsalis show I’d gifted him for Christmas. We attempted this a year ago with wildly disappointing results, and considering my luck with all things lately, I was very relieved to not get a call canceling the show earlier in the day.
As the show at Boston Symphony Hall started a voice came over the sound system, explaining upcoming shows, rules of the building, etc. I thought to myself that this presenter’s tone was especially hawty, at which point Dad leaned over and whispered “well, la-ti-DA-ti-da!” I guess I wasn’t wrong in my observation.
Following the concert which frankly I found very disappointing (Marsalis was basically just a member of the band, rather than leading them for this particular tribute concert to Max Roach), we enjoyed dinner at Highland Kitchen in Somerville.
Sadly, yesterday morning was the longest day ever, starting with a visit to the Woburn Municipal Court where I had to face the magistrate over the whole driving-a-revoked-car situation. It was stressful and unpleasant and brief. They asked me to explain, and I did in the shortest way possible. They cleared the criminal charges and sent me on my way with a “good luck with the lemon”.
A while back I’d connected with a lemon law attorney locally, who told me at the time that I didn’t have a case. Last week when I had to send the car back again, I touched base with the lawyer who then confirmed that I do in fact have a case now (or so I thought). Yesterday I got in touch with some questions.
In late November I’d called my escalated case manager about my frustration and she informed me that Kia has a buyback option which could be considered. It’s basically the same thing as a lemon law pre-claim, an effort to keep the situation out of court.
When got my Kia back two weeks ago after being “repaired”, the Escalated case manager asked me if I wanted to cancel that buy back offer process, which I’d heard no word on up to that point. I told her no. Who knows, maybe Kia will offer me more than I paid for it. ‘Turns out it was a very lucky thing I did NOT cancel that request, since the car went back to Kia after it sputtered and bucked at me on the way to work five days later.
My lawyer informed me that the buyback review is my best bet at this point as it’s basically the same thing as asking the lawyers to start a pre-claim lemon law review. If I asked her to file for me, the 6 weeks of “progress” with my buyback review request will start from scratch. Since Kia takes, on average, 3 or 4 months to make an offer, starting over by filing a pre-claim with the lawyer would be an unwise move.
She also told me that Kia could offer me a fraction of what I paid and that amount is likely the same amount that the lawyer could have gotten should she have gotten involved. “So if they offer me a fraction of what I paid for the car, or nothing at all, I have no recourse?” I said, internally panicking.
“No,” she said “Then we could file a claim for you”
Are you confused right now because I was too, and still am.
The point is, I have no choice but to wait at least another two months to hear back about Kia’s Buyback review/offer on my deathtrap shitbox. For the past week I’ve been trying to get confirmation from the accelerated case manager that the update about my car – that it has been returned AGAIN to the repair shop – has been added to my buyback review “evidence” paperwork. She has not responded to my calls or emails in a week, so that’s cool.
Meanwhile, I simply have no idea what I may get. The options are some money, no money, or an offer of another Kia. Not even sure what to do if they offer another Kia. It’s a hard pass for me. I’m heading back to Honda.
So yesterday I was feeling pretty helpless, and pissed off too, because I know there are people in this situation who do not have the luxury of being able to borrow someone else’s car like I can. The thought that another person’s only recourse would be to buy a $1000 POS car because they had to do something makes me very mad. The lack of urgency in these matters is mind boggling. It’s a wildly unjust situation.
BEAN'S BABBLETORIUM 