10:27
Remember my trip to my Chevy dealer on July 5th?
Sure you do….
So the reason there’s no followup is because there didn’t really need to be. I spoke to the person who scheduled me a few days later to schedule a new appointment after getting a voicemail very late. Honestly, I didn’t get the voicemail because I was expecting it on my Google Voice number and somehow it weaseled its way into my office voicemail which I don’t always check and no one I work with uses. My guess is that they called me in my office because it was a work day, assuming I was in that office on that day (I wasn’t). I calmed down about not being notified and chalked it up to a miscommunication between the dealership and I, but I left the video there. I still believe, to this day, that they had an obligation to get in touch with me in some way before that appointment. Not to leave a voicemail (What if I didn’t have my phone available? What if I was out of the country?) and hope I got it one time. That’s my gripe and that’s why the video is there. They didn’t notify me. They left a voicemail and never bothered to confirm I received it. Lest you pin it on me, there was another guy in front of me even more pissed than I was. I accepted part of the blame because I was being overly reasonable, not because I agreed.
Frankly, this wasn’t the first time a scheduling snafu happened with these folks.
The first time, the person scheduling me scheduled me without checking with me and assumed the day was fine. They never confirmed the appointment, either. Then I got a lecture the next time I spoke to them about keeping appointments. Nice, right?
So back to IT.tv 185. It was recorded on July 5th as I waited for a service department that was never open in the first place to get my Traverse fixed. Of course it never opened and I had traveled to Staten Island from the Bronx (an 84 mile round-trip) for nothing on a day off after being out late the night before.
Nice.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, I started getting comments from a person who created a YouTube account on July 22. Nasty stuff, too. Fine. I’m used to it, it’s YouTube. Interestingly, he knew about a voicemail that I never mentioned to anyone; the only person who would know about it was myself and the person who scheduled the appointment. To me, that screams that he works for the dealer, doesn’t it? I called him out, he slings more invectives, and then he’s gone.
This morning, a new batch of nastiness from another person whose account was created shortly before the insults started flying.
The most interesting part, of course, is that the only way to find this particular episode of IT.tv is to search in YouTube for Manfredi Chevrolet. The view count is very low on it, so it won’t appear next to higher-rated videos. The person who found this video probably saw it flash across Manfredi’s Facebook page or they’ve fully adopted a company like Reputation Defender to monitor the internet for anything about them.
How do I know it?
Look at the search terms used to find the video:
The second one, of course, is of particular interest. “Service closed Manfredi.” Unless you were told about this video and looking specifically for it, why in God’s name would you enter that into a search box?
Exactly.
This leads me to the likely conclusion that the folks leaving nasty comments on the video are actually in some way related to Manfredi. Can I prove it? Of course not, but the evidence is pretty good. When you find an obscure videoblogger’s video by searching exactly for the terms it contains, you’re not just randomly commenting on videos.
I can’t do much with this info, of course, but look it over. See if you agree with me. I tend to think my conclusion is pretty valid: someone is engaging in a comment smear campaign because they don’t like what I vlogged about Manfredi.
If you think I’m wrong, please tell me so.