Uh, can I get that to go?

I’ve heard it said that revenge is a dish best served cold. And while ordinarily I’m inclined to agree with that statement, in this particular case I would have to say that revenge is a dish best served in the form of a really BIG check. I’ll explain…

About a year ago, my car (a 1999 Volkswagen Passat) experienced the equivalent of a massive coronary heart-attack: the timing belt blew–and took the rest of the engine with it. In sticking with the metaphor, my car underwent a heart transplant of sorts: I had to replace the timing belt and all the cylindar heads that had been bent when the belt blew. The cost of this very major repair? $4500, which was more than I had left to repay on my car loan. It was PAINFUL.

A few months later I received a notice in the mail of a class-action lawsuit that had been raised against Volkswagon because of this exact problem, what they were calling “Catastrophic Premature Timing Belt Failure”. I remember reading the notice and thinking, “Gee, they could add EPIC to that and it would pretty much sum things up for me…”. I’ve received various Class Action notices in the past and never before felt the need to put my name in the pot. I guess I always assumed that it wouldn’t be worth the $25 that I would probably get out of it. But THIS TIME, I decided it was worth the 10 minutes it would take to fill out the paperwork and the cost of a stamp. So I sent it in.

A moth later, I received news that the court would be convening in early December to pass judgement on the suit. In December, I received word again that the court had met and could not make a decision at that time. They gave me a web address where I could go to check up on the status of the suit, but otherwise notified me that I wouldn’t be hearing from them again unless judgement was passed in favor of the plaintiffs (namely: my constituents and I). I promptly shrugged and thought, “So much for THAT.”, and filed the paperwork away.

I hadn’t thought about it again until last night when I checked my mail. Inside was a letter which, I’ll admit, looked like a collection notice of some kind. It said “Important Settlement Notice” on it and I groaned at the thought that some creditor from my past had tracked me down and was trying to collect on a ten year old debt. I hesitantly opened the letter:

Inside was a check…made out to ME…for the entire cost of my repair…to the penny. $4500 and change.

Cue the “Hallelujah Chorus”. Cue the confetti and balloons. Cue the screaming and tears at the realization that this couldn’t have come at a better time. Cue me on my way to the bank today to cash that sucker. Before they change their minds.