TOYOTA of Hollywood repaired my car in half a day. Japanese auto garages could learn a lot from them.
My car's engine check lamp began flashing on the way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Because it was right after I refilled gas in South Las Vegas, I though the gas might have been bad.
I called AIG road service, but it couldn't help us enough. The road service only offered to call the towing service which could cost up to $75. They told me that we should find a car repair shop and the best solution while repairing by ourselves. When we tried to find TOYOTA dealers in Las Vegas with Tomtom PND, there didn't seem to be any dealers.
I wanted to have a TOYOTA dealer check my car (TOYOTA Corolla) because it can check the ECU (Engine Control Unit = a computer on the car) with PC which can exactly detect what is wrong on the engine. Usually, I think, car repair shops without dealership can only adjust the tuning of the engine. So I needed a dealer shop.
Fortunately, my car seemed nothing wrong except for the lamp at the moment. My wife and I decided to go to Los Angeles where a TOYOTA dealer exists near the hotel whose reservation I had.
As soon as we arrived directly at the dealer shop TOYOTA of Hollywood, a service agent asked me what was wrong. When I explained the symptom (and our travel schedule) to him whose name is Alex, he could understand me well in spite of my bad English pronunciation. Because it was after 5 PM, he scheduled to check my car early morning the next day.
He said to me that he tried to call me 10 AM, but I got his phone call before 9 AM the next day. He explained the report of the diagnostics by phone, I couldn't understand him because I am not good at speaking English by phone. I had him wait for me by my arrival.
When I arrived at the shop 10 AM, he showed me the report. There were many things to be repaired.
The most important trouble was the electrical breakdown of the air flow sensor, which caused the engine check lamp. Additionally the engine belt got almost broken, and the drive shaft boots had a crack. They need have been replaced as soon as possible, but not immediately. He explained symptoms and costs to me very carefully, but he never forced me to repair all of them. It totally cost $1600 to repair all, and he said it must have been really expensive and depended on me.
However we decided to do according to him because we wanted to use the car without anxiety and we didn't want to have any troubles in the desert between states of the US.
The cost seemed to the same to in Japan. But what surprised us was the time to repair. He offered that he could return my car by 5 PM! At first I thought that it took at least 2 or 3 days to repair all, and I suppose it is usual in Japan. But he said the incredibly period. It didn't affect out travel schedule at all. I asked him immediately.
When I came to the dealer after 4 PM, my car was repaired completely. The engine check lamp was turned off. I wanted to thank him, however he was not there because he had back problem and had gone back to home already. I appreciate his quick repairing.
2009/01/20
I Successfully Upgraded My Room at a Las Vegas Hotel for $20. - Jan 18th 2009 22:08
I was able to get a better hotel room with the upgrade trick.
My friend told me about the trick. The way described in detail at http://www.thetwentydollartrick.com/FAQ/ and http://www.frontdesktip.com/ is to pass $20 with a credit card to the front desk and say "Do you have any complimentary upgrades available?".
I was worried about embarassing myself because my English pronounciation is bad. So I prepared a memo of the words in advance. And I passed it with my credit card saying "Do you mind if I say?". The front desk person received the tip, and he tried to find the best room for a few minutes. He offered two rooms, a room that had a nice view with a king size bed. I chose the king size bed one because he recommended it to me when I asked which is better. After all, I could stay two nights in front of the BELLAGIO fountain show.
By the way I have one tip and one question. The tip is that the longer the stay is the more effective the upgrade trick is. Though I stayed two nights, for 20$, the longer I stay, the better the benefit.
And my question is whether $20 was absolutely needed, or not. It's because the front desk person didn't check the amount of the bill and put it into the pocket of his pants. Wouldn't it have worked for $10?
My friend told me about the trick. The way described in detail at http://www.thetwentydollartrick.com/FAQ/ and http://www.frontdesktip.com/ is to pass $20 with a credit card to the front desk and say "Do you have any complimentary upgrades available?".
I was worried about embarassing myself because my English pronounciation is bad. So I prepared a memo of the words in advance. And I passed it with my credit card saying "Do you mind if I say?". The front desk person received the tip, and he tried to find the best room for a few minutes. He offered two rooms, a room that had a nice view with a king size bed. I chose the king size bed one because he recommended it to me when I asked which is better. After all, I could stay two nights in front of the BELLAGIO fountain show.
By the way I have one tip and one question. The tip is that the longer the stay is the more effective the upgrade trick is. Though I stayed two nights, for 20$, the longer I stay, the better the benefit.
And my question is whether $20 was absolutely needed, or not. It's because the front desk person didn't check the amount of the bill and put it into the pocket of his pants. Wouldn't it have worked for $10?
2009/01/08
Prepared for Las Vegas
Today I received the entrance ticket to the International CES (Consumer Electronics Show).
Although I wanted to see the exhibition, I couldn't go because I had a lot of work to do.
Now I'm at the west coast of the U.S. and I can go the CES if I wish. I submitted the entry to the CES by myself, not through the company I work for. I registered my university as my mailing address and organization. So my business associate indicated that the CES is restricted only to people related to the consumer electronics and that I could not enter the exhibition. Umm, maybe... But I'm still a worker of a consumer electronics company. Even though I am on a visiting scholar program sent by the company, I still have my own company business card. So my admission was denied, I will show it. If my admission ticket is not accepted, I will just go to casinos right away.
At the moment, I think there is no problem because my ticket arrived at my office at the university by mail.
By the way I don't know the reason CES is held at Las Vegas. Why does the place have to be Las Vegas? Is it because there are so many hotels? After all, I wonder that might be the reason because people attending there want only to play at casinos over the nights. That is my secret reason : to check it while playing together:).
Although I wanted to see the exhibition, I couldn't go because I had a lot of work to do.
Now I'm at the west coast of the U.S. and I can go the CES if I wish. I submitted the entry to the CES by myself, not through the company I work for. I registered my university as my mailing address and organization. So my business associate indicated that the CES is restricted only to people related to the consumer electronics and that I could not enter the exhibition. Umm, maybe... But I'm still a worker of a consumer electronics company. Even though I am on a visiting scholar program sent by the company, I still have my own company business card. So my admission was denied, I will show it. If my admission ticket is not accepted, I will just go to casinos right away.
At the moment, I think there is no problem because my ticket arrived at my office at the university by mail.
By the way I don't know the reason CES is held at Las Vegas. Why does the place have to be Las Vegas? Is it because there are so many hotels? After all, I wonder that might be the reason because people attending there want only to play at casinos over the nights. That is my secret reason : to check it while playing together:).
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