Principal versus Principle

No this isn't a dictionary lesson. Instead it's a life lesson.

I wrote several weeks ago about my issues with BCC and the issues with the way they dealt with our car issue. In a nutshell, they didn't. I was very frustrated and angry because they didn't seem to care about the issues. It's not just that they didn't care, it's that they seemed to be so obvious about it. I was convinced that their treatment of the issue was enough to keep me from buying a BCC car in the future. There is precedence for this with me (another car company, a pizza store, a bank, a retailer, and a few others that are close to making the list of companies that I won't shop from). This caused me a lot of angst because I was really looking forward to buying a particular model of BCC car.

I fought with myself quite a bit. I was rationalizing myself away from the car I really wanted -- the need to make a point by withholding my dollars, the embarrassment about "caving" after the big stink I raised, the need for a more fuel efficient model, that the technology in the car was more of a toy than a tool, etc. Then I'd swing back and say that I needed to protect my job (not just by buying a BCC car, but by not making waves my employer could notice), that I wouldn't be happy settling for something else, that the car would be "safer" in the BCC parking lots than a non-BCC car might be, etc.

Then I priced the alternatives.

The non-BCC cars would cost me $3-5000 more for a comparable vehicle. Now what? Are my principles worth more than the need to pay down my principals?

As much as a really feel the need to make a point, I don't think I can afford to do it by spending that much money right now.

I had already intended to write a letter to the BCC CEO, and Marketing and Dealer VPs to let them know about the issues I experienced. I have written an outline of the letter, but have not filled in the guts of it yet. I think I still need to send it (as my little form of protest), but know that they've already got me as far as buying another BCC car. I'm debating sending the letter and waiting a little while to see if they acknowledge the failure on their part to address the issues and see what they may do to keep me as a customer. Or do I just go ahead and buy the BCC car to show that as mad as I am, I'm still "loyal." In either case, the letter will definitely be politically correct (see above comment about losing my job), but I think that if I don't tell the appropriate people, it's my problem. If I tell them, and they don't do anything about it, it's their problem. That's the way I've addressed things like this (and the must more little infractions) in the past.

I need to do something quickly because it's affecting my attitude at work. I'm not some big ogre or anything, but I can tell I'm not as jovial as I otherwise would be.

Decisions, decisions...