Friday, September 02, 2005

An Aptly Named Waste of Money

This post isn't about video games!

Well, it's been three months, $200, and far too much nuisance, but I've finally got my new vanity plates (I ask that anyone who already knows what's on them keep it to themselves so as not to ruin the surprise). I'm sure they'll look really nice once I'm allowed to put them on my car. Why aren't they on now, you ask? Well, you see, Service New Brunswick hates me.

Rewind 3 months. I've just graduated, I've just bought my first new car, and my head is full of phantom employers knocking down the door in their efforts to obtains my services. What's this? I can get customized license plates for my sweet new ride for the low low price of $200? Sign me up!

The form that I then submitted claimed that there would be a 4-6 week wait for delivery. It was a little longer than I'd like, but if everything went as planned then many of my friends would see my new car for the first time with the new plates already on it. Eight weeks later, I called SNB to see why I didn't have them yet. Well, it turns out that, not only were they not ready, but there was absolutely no record of my ever having requested them. If I hadn't kept my receipt, I'd have been out $200.

*grumble*

*sigh*

Oh, well, after this much time and effort, I'm sure as hell not backing out now. It's not as if administrative adversity is something new to me. So, a quick trip to my local SNB office in Burton later (receipt in hand), and my order was made (again). I was promised this time that my order would be fast-tracked and that I might have them within a week. I think we all know where this is going.

Three more weeks after that, I call SNB again to see if my plates are ready. Apparently, noone's answering the phones, and they try to have my call forwarded to a call centre in the middle of nowhere (Dieppe, I think?). Well, I doubt they'd know at the call centre where my plates are, so I'll wait and try again. I made 14 calls that day. My call got forwarded every god damn time. The next day passed in a similar fashion. Frustrated, I recruited my mother to the cause, and had her make some calls in the morning (when I am usually asleep). She too got forwarded all day. Apparently they'd just stopped answering the phones at all. However, she did find the number for the place that actually printed the plates, and was told that they should be here already.

Now, my mother, she has a temper, and much less patience then I do. So, when she got home at 4:30, she immediate sped over to Burton intent on giving someone an earful. Unfortunately, the desk she was looking for was closed. She was told by a random passerby that she accosted that they had been quite busy for the last couple of days. I'm sorry, but if you're so busy that you can't spare one person to answer the damn phone at any given point during the day, then something is fundamentally flawed.

In any case, she called at precisely 8:30 the next morning and finally got an answer. Yes, the plates were ready. However, for some reason, instead of being delivered to Burton as they were supposed to, they were delivered the SNB office in downtown Fredericton. Perhaps sensing some frustration, the lady at SNB said that we would not have to stand in line, and that the plates would be ready and waiting at a side desk. For once, we were not lied to, and that night (this past Wednesday) I finally had my plates in hand.

However, as mentioned at the start of this post, it is now Thursday, and the plates still aren't on the car. Why, you ask? Well, you see, when she was told that we could pick up the plates, my mother asked specifically if we needed to bring anything, like, for instance, my old plates, and was told "no." True enough, I suppose. However, while we did not need anything to pick up the plates, we did need several things before we could legally put the curs-ed things on the car.

So, someone needs to go back to SNB with my license, registration, and old plates. However, it can't be me, unless I feel like stripping the old plates off downtown and then putting the new ones on when I get back to my car. Unfortunately, I need my car tomorrow, so it looks like I'll need to wait at least another weekend before I can finally enjoy them.

So, in the end, I suspect that this is all a cleverly devised scheme to punish people for their vanity.

[Note: In an effort to not post too often, I saved a draft of this message yesterday. I have since jumped through the last hoop (well, my father did, at any rate, since the plates were on the car when I woke up) and finally gotten the plates on my car. I am now statistically more likely to have my car vandalized and to be stopped by police. Yay!]

3 Comments:

Blogger Requiem said...

Well at least the plates were nice and clean. Well until your first time you drove at night.

Monday, September 05, 2005 1:14:00 PM  
Blogger Jordan said...

Umm, is night dirtier or something? In any case, my previous plates were also clean-- plates generally stay pretty clean unless you're driving off-road, as they are located on the most sheltered area of the car's exterior.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005 3:33:00 PM  
Blogger Requiem said...

well when i drove at night i got bug splatters all over the front of my car. But then i was living in the woods.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005 4:39:00 AM  

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