Yes I understand COVID and the concerns that go with it. Those concerns doesn't give a business…read moreowner the right to be an ass.
Junkyards or salvage yards are notoriously busy on the phones. The shear number of items (broken down) at a yard is immense yet drastically different than any other yard. This makes calling to check availability the crux and cause of that need to be on a phone tirelessly.
So on a Monday night I was doing some looking around on Car-Part.com. I do this a couple times a week to see if any yards within 50-75 miles may have gotten in a vehicle that I need parts off of. On this particular Monday, I notice that Pollards Salvage Yard in Greenwood SC had a car that they didn't have the previous week. They had a motor that I was very interested in. I did a bit more research and found other parts for the same car. This lead me to believe that the car was still intact. And the engine was probably still in the car. All of this I researched online in an effort not to add to the burden that is the phone bank of a salvage yard. Tuesday Morning I decide to go ahead and drive the 45 miles or so to Pollards. I did not call Gary at all.
The engine I wanted is pretty popular, so I just headed there. I knew that there was no way I was coming home with the engine that day if my research was correct and it was still in the car. I had two goals that morning.
1. To confirm that the motor was in fact made the same year as the car(this single year had different heads on the motor). It is not uncommon to find a correct year car with a motor that came from a different year.
2. If all looked correct with the engine, I had ample cash to pay for it and thus keep it from being sold to another person.
I arrive at Pollards and there is a sign on a closed gate that states something like "due to COVID you must phone the pollards office, tell them what you want, and they will bring it to the gate. Gary and Pollards decided that is how they were going to do business in the COVID-age, and I had no problem with the way they decide to conduct THEIR BUSINESS.
Remember my two goals? Well there was no reason to suspect that even under their version of doing COVID business, I couldn't accomplish my two goals, so on my cell, I called. Exactly like I expected, Gary answered. He did so with a tone and cadence that made it clear he was already up to his eyeballs on the phone LINES. I tried to match that cadence by dispensing with any polite statements such as "how are you." I went straight to it. Told him that I knew he had a new car the year I wanted an engine from. That I would like to just peak at it and confirm the year of the engine, and if all was good, I'd pay for it or leave a deposit.
He first words were that the engine was in the car, and it would be two days after I paid for it until I could get it. Fine, I responded, but before I pay that amount I would like to just peak at the 20+ year old car and confirm the pedigree and the year of the engine. He said the car is immaculate except where it was hit. I took that as his belief that the car had the original motor. Sound good but can I just look at the car, because if engine is any other year it's not worth half of that. That's when he repeated that the car was immaculate and said, I have to go and hung up on me. Mind you the entire conversation was well less than a minute but probably around 30 seconds.
Picture this if you are still reading. This is a salvage yard, with the emphasis on Yard. It is a rather substantial place that I could not begin to guess how many acres are on his platt. Social distancing would be no problem. There is probably five acre as to every employee, and I did not need an employee. After that 30 second conversation and dealing with the sheer superiority above all others that King Gary lives by, I didn't call back, I didn't decide to email him. I've done business with Gary since he bought the place two handful of years ago. I've dealt with his pompous and frankly arrogant attitude each time. However this time the arrogance, mixed with the COVID mixed with his 30 second dismissal of me and the 1500 dollars I had in my pocket, and I simply decided that if Gary was giving away Mercedes Gullwings, I would not ever again darken his door. He does not deserve any of my money, nor does he deserve that of anyone else that I've seen him deal with. Gary thanks for the parts in the past, but you need not stress over me, because we have seen the last of one another. Perhaps you should take a vacation and get your attitude back to where your arrogance is tolerable to the people who only deal with it because they need something. Good luck.
