A much appreciated apology received from Ryan Barwell, BMW Sandton Auto. Process back on track.

It's 2.44pm. I just got off the phone. Ryan Barwell phoned me to apologise for his behaviour at BMW Sandton Auto this morning. He sounded a LOT friendlier. Matched my first impression of him when I saw him in his office.

Basically, it's as simple as his having had a sleepless weekend due to a newborn baby. And to his being genuinely curious as to why Jennifer would bring the car back time and again if it wasn't getting fixed.

I took his question as a disingenuous attempt to evade responsibility, and it escalated.

I understand these things.

It was really big of Ryan to call and apologise. And he also asked me to tell him why I wanted to see him this morning in the first place. So he's looking into the history of the vehicle. He's checking into why his service rep didn't call Jennifer when he promised he would. He's looking into why and how the water problem which has recurred over and over again hasn't yet been solved. And he's offered us parts at cost and some goodwill discount on the job.

Thanks very much to Johan Conradie and Guy Kilfoil at BMW Head Office for dealing with this matter. And thanks to Ryan Barwell for his apology, and for making it right. Thanks also to everyone on Twitter and Google+ and Facebook for your support and astonishment at how this situation came about.

We're all human. And sometimes we have shit days.

Best thing about my phone conversation with Ryan is that he called me 'sir' a few times, and I called him 'bru' a few times, and we both laughed a bit. It feels WAY better being friendly.