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We were invited to go to the Phoenix Zoo (thank you Hilary) as guests of our friend. We had a blast. It was pretty fun seeing Arabella react at seeing all of these animals she never usually gets a chance to see. Hilary also took time out of her day to stop by and talk with us for a bit. We didn’t catch much of Ara’s excitement on camera – but one thing we happened to catch was when she saw this duck walking along her path (see below). Silly girl. Anyway, it was a nice experience. We must do it again!
While I have been at work the wife has been watching over Mary’s kid (Claire) and Arabella is pretty fond of her at this point. She follows her around like a little duckling. Speaking of Arabella she has been getting some facetime with her Grampy – and to be honest, it has been pretty consistent with Grammy, Gramps, and Grams as well.
Tell me, the photo of her in the white had and her smiling – doesn’t it look like she was taking a selfie?! Ha. She wasn’t it was too good to pass up.
About our car… so after buying the car we really started to have buyer’s remorse. We didn’t want to be saddled with all of the debt and the high price tag that the car came with. We contacted the dealer who told us that unless we wanted them to repo the car, they would do nothing to work with us on making the payments lower. Due to this, we floated the idea of selling the car to my parents (who were also in the market for a Hybrid). They loved the car and were considering buying it from us.
Then we got a call from the dealership.
Things really changed after that call.
We didn’t answer when they called, so they left a voicemail. They let us know that there had been a HUGE mixup on the paperwork that we signed for the car. Get this: we did not sign valid paperwork because they had accidentally given us paperwork for the previous year. I guess there were some legal changes that were made and they were required to have the new paperwork instead. They asked if we could come in and sign the papers as soon as possible.
After getting this phone call I decided I would call Ford Motor Credit to find out what my legal options were. After explaining our situation and that we really wanted to return the car – the rep. for Ford let me know that I would be within my legal rights to do so. In fact, if I wanted to return the car the dealership could do absolutely nothing about it.
We went into Peoria Ford and let them know that we would be returning the car. They brought some executives out and pleaded with us to keep the car. Went as far as to say “What number would keep you in this car?” After getting by those hurdles we had to sign a document saying that we would not sue the dealership. Why? It turns out that they had already sold our car and would not be able to give us our old car back. What a mess!
If you are ever looking for a car, don’t go to Peoria Ford.
In the end, they gave us a little better value for our car that they had sold and eventually took the “new” car back. The new car now had several thousand miles on it and some wear.
Imagine if they would have worked with us from the start and how different this story would have played out.
They said we could use that car until we found another (again- with the agreement that we would not sue them). We eventually found another car (in California to be exact) after frantically looking for one. We still ended up in a Fusion but this time it wasn’t a Hybrid. Also, this time we paid it off in full and were feeling much better about the whole situation.
Above is a photo of the inside of the car with that beautiful red color accent throughout. Then we had to go to California. Why? To pick up our new-ish (it was new to us) car.
She isn’t totally new, but she doesn’t come with a bunch of debt and we were able to pay for this car outright. A much better situation. I’m not so sure there are very many people who can say that they fought the law and won. In this case, the law was on our side. I still wonder how many people can successfully get a new car, drive it for a month and then return it scot-free. The new car is also seen above (the black car).
Rounding out the month Arabella had some more play time with Claire at a park in our condo neighborhood. We also tried a bubble-making machine and it was a big hit (see Ara’s face). That smile is priceless.
Until next time
just Pray
note: this post was published on 10/02/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of April 2015 to keep chronological order.
