To quote Rhett & Link “You know what day it is.  It’s Thursday, and Thursday means…”

…my window still isn’t fixed.

After the delay at the shop from the tornado knocking the computer systems offline, I rescheduled my repair for 2:15 yesterday afternoon.  We had come up with a more durable and convenient solution to bagging the window.  My boyfriend bought some clear plastic sheeting and black duct tape and I made a temporary window we could see through so we wouldn’t have to remove it while driving.  It was okay, but going over 30 was very loud.  Still, it was nice to be able to get around without rain and rebagging at every stop.

After work, I took the Jeep into the shop and setup camp in their lounge.  At 3:45, the desk clerk walks in, face down twiddling my key ring.  “Ok, we’re going to have to see you back again…”

That’s not something you want to hear.  Was the window shattered?  Will I have to buy that too?  Did they find something else wrong and take the liberty (no pun intended) to fix it first before asking if I could afford it? Continue.

“Well, first, let me apologize…”

Oh hell, they broke something.  Yes?

“The good news is we got your window up.  The bad news is when we took the new part out of the box to install it, it was broken.  That little piece of plastic that holds it in place.”

“Wow, it can’t even withstand shipping!” I remarked and he looked embarrassed.

“I’m sorry about this.  We could get another one in tomorrow morning.  If you can bring it back?  Do you have work tomorrow?”

“Yeah.  Same time?”

“Same time is fine.  I’m sorry.”

I was relieved to have the window closed and hopeful that it would last the night, but the paper tape gave up its hold in the humidity and the window sunk back into the door.  I’d been urged to request a discount for all the delays, and had the tape held I might not have, but since I got up early to make a new window in preparation for our fourth rainy day, I’m feeling mighty inconvenienced right now.  Delay because of the tornado is totally reasonable.  Delay because the part I’m having replaced is so flimsy it breaks before it’s even out of the box, not so good, guys.  They can charge the discount to Chrysler for continuing to manufacture crappy parts instead of solving the simple issue with the plastic bracket.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very satisfied with the Jeep otherwise.  It’s a great ride.  They just never bothered to do anything for these 2005 window regulators.  The 2006 and 2007 models are covered by the recall, but the lawsuit on the 2005 model has been bounced around for years without resolution.

If you have this vehicle and run into the same problem, you can fix it yourself for about half the price of any repair shop.  I’ve practically memorized the how-to video.  Granted, the videos always make these things look easier than they are, but the guys at the shop do this for a living, and this video is just over 8 minutes long.  Even with the sped up parts, there’s no way it takes an hour and a half for a trained pro to do this.  Hopefully, if this happens to you, you have a garage to hide in during bad weather.