My question is... when they TOTALLY failed to repair it whatsoever, and in fact spent $250 of my money doing it... do I have reason to ask for my money back, or for them to try another chip insertion gratis (because there's always the possibility they may have put a faulty new chip in, or damaged it when they were inserting it)?

Yeah, absolutely.

Nope, no Veteran's day off, but that's because it is all crazy all the time work trying to get ready for our fundraising convention/family holiday visit Thanksgiving trip. I am kinda not looking forward to it at all, except for the train ride bits.

Scheiss, a lot of spam is getting through my filter in the last couple days.

Go away!

Oh, I know, me too.

And look how talky I am all of a sudden. A sure sign I need to log off and get back to work. Avoidance, hello, how are you?

Thanks, Liese! I've never before been in a position where a repair place so completely whiffs on a repair.

I have Veteran's Day off! Well, technically, the schools are closed and so therefore my services as a substitute will not be needed.

I didn't get called today either, which I half hate because I need the money, and half love because I was up way past my bedtime reading and I would have been a veritable zombie for the first few periods.

Yeah, the only reason not to go back is if you find them completely disreputable and are willing to pay another shop to fix their mistake. If they were reasonably competent, but goofed up, it's totally on them to fix their problem to keep you as a customer. And furthermore, with error code lights, it could be something simple like, they forgot to reset it after they'd replaced whatever, etc.

We have perpetual service lights. The SO just finally said to me one day, "I think we have to accept the fact that we are people who have service engine lights on." We have valid ones sometimes, but mostly ours are altitude problems, or sensor that's not worth replacing that means that every time we go around a curve the car thinks our coolant is low stuff. I have a light now showing I should get an oil change. But it's because we just did get an oil change. So now I have to look up in the manual how to push the pedal to reset the counter or whatnot. Irritating.

But anyway, yes, assert your rights as a customer. You asked them to fix a problem, they said they didn't, you paid them for it, the problem persists. You deserve it to be right.

or have your mechanic search for a used one?

I don't think they'd search for me. When I suggested they ebay plastic bits for my interior (laughingly) he said I might want to give it a try. Hmmph. I don't want to do my own work.

How did I forget my new tumblr password already? At least I stacked up a day's worth of posts before I left home.

No Veteran's Day, or three day Turkey. Hmmph. I am...I am employed, so I can shut up.

I work Veteran's Day, and do get the day after Thanksgiving off. I forgot how spoiled I got at my last job, which gave us bonus days off around Christmas -- I'm glad the day we get off is Friday, so at least it's a long weekend....

I don't get Veteran's Day, but I get US Thanksgiving and the following Friday off.