[personal] Our CarMax experience

[jaylake]

I was being very grumpy about CarMax on Twitter this past Thursday. A lot of people wondered what was going on. As we were finally able to resolve the issue yesterday, I’ll lay it out now.

Lisa Costello and I are back in Maryland helping settle her parents’ affairs. Her 83-year-old father had a stroke about three weeks ago, and her 80-year-old

Comments

[garyomaha]

>>There’s also a sidebar issue specific to me personally about having to handle customer service problems through Internet escalation.<<

True, but if I may play devil's advocate a bit: You are in fact adding to your already-large legacy by forging a path through the brush as only you can. As you point out, not everyone has the footprint to do this. Your adventures are making various businesses aware of shortcomings, plus you're sharing valuable information with all of us. Yes, it's taking precious time from you but it's quite instructional. Perhaps these may be worth putting together into some sort of "how to cut red tape" book. So, thank you.

[willyumtx]

I agree with the first comment - your trials in this endeavor and subsequent resolution of the issue not only give your readers an outline of possible options for future conflicts, but also informs the company in question of problems in their business protocols. Way to go!

Glad you got it done.

I do have a question, though. If a copy of the POA was as valid as the original, why couldn't y'all have given CarMax the original and kept a copy for LC's future use?

[Note - I, myself, like keeping original documents and would be hesitant to surrender it unless I knew I could easily obtain another issuance.]

[jaylake]

Well, for one, while a copy is valid, presenting the original in order to substantiate the copy can be important. Also, lacking the original we would have trouble making more copies.

[kshandra]

Or does everyone who complains via Twitter or Facebook get this response?

I think it depends on how well-integrated their social media presence is. This ended well for me.

[dr_phil_physics]

I have heard of three cases outside yours, 2 of 3 being utilities, where complaining on Twitter or Facebook gets a response from an employee whose job is to search the Internet for any use of the company name. I don't know why all large corporations don't do this in 2013.

In the immortal words of Galaxy Quest, Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

Dr. Phil

[cathshaffer]

This is crazy. Power of attorney is very commonly used when a person is incapacitated and incapable of signing a legal document, particularly a new POA. The requirement to create a fresh, original, purpose-made power-of-attorney defeats the purpose of the POA to begin with. I believe it may actually be illegal for them to refuse to carry out the transaction, being as the document gave Lisa the legal right to make decisions and sign documents for her father. I wonder if a quick consult with the lawyer and a call from HIS office would have been more efficient. Ugh. Glad Carfax came through for you eventually. Stupid people suck.