the Way of the Turtle

Oh Wonderful Internet!
Friday, January 23, 2009

Let's say someone takes his car in to the dealership where he purchased it used (not a dealership for the make of that car, like a Honda, say) have some work done - perhaps a timing belt replaced before the old one snaps and ruins the engine (gotta love interference engines!) And let's say that when he picks the car up - the power door locks only work when the car is running, the remotes for the locks do nothing, there's no power to the stereo, and none of the various warning chimes that remind him that his lights are on or the door is open with the key in the ignition or whatever are functioning. Perhaps it is reasonable for him to be aggravated, knowing that now he has to take the car back and hope they can find the problem and fix it, otherwise it's time to find a Honda dealership that's actually trustworthy and pay them to fix the problem.

And let's say that after spending an evening thoroughly aggravated and ticked off about it, he finally finds a description of almost exactly the same problem, notes the suggested solution, tries it, and - lo and behold - everything is working again.

How about a non-functioning car stereo because the security system locked it down when the car's battery was disconnected during the work, and the previous idiot owner of the car couldn't be bothered to write the security code in the owner's manual? Let's say that after banging his head against the car manufacturer's web-site, which includes a link for retrieving security codes but won't give him the one for his car because the previous owner's info is still on record as applying to the car, he finds a web-site where, for a small fee, he can get the code and, when entered, returns the stereo to normal operation.

At that point the Internet would have saved him a trip to one or more car dealerships and probably multiple phone calls to Honda's customer service line... I'd say that qualifies as a wonderful thing.

JMH