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[jay-ell]

.... wake up to A BROKEN FURNACE FOR THE SECOND TIME IN A WEEK.

So instead of sleeping in as planned, I have been on the phone for an hour, yelling that I don't care if they have a lot of calls, THIS is the call from the person whose furnace you are supposed to have ALREADY FIXED.

I do not ever want to be on Wombat's bad side.

Pedro's car started misfiring last week, so we towed it to our mechanic (who we trust and who has never tried to sell us unnecessary repairs).

They said, "Busted spark plug wire, $500. You also have some other problems (leaking somesuch fluid, an aging whoodickey belt, etc) that will need to be fixed in the next 6 months or your car is going to fall apart and die. Those will cost another $1000."

We said, "Fix the spark plug wire and get it running, and we'll start making plans to trade it in and get a new car after Christmas."

They called back a few hours later and said, "We fixed the spark plug wire, but it was still misfiring. Turns out it's ALSO this other thing, which will be ANOTHER $500. Do you want us to fix that?"

Us: "No. Do we still owe you $500 for the first thing?"

Them: "Yes."

Us: "FUCK."

So now we're out $500 and still don't have a driveable car. Pedro has been riding the bus home from work, which doubles his commute and is particularly inconvenient this week on account of the fact that it's BALLS COLD outside. (We have 2 cars, but I need mine on Tu/Wed/Thurs to drop off/pick up the kids to/from school/therapy.) And at some point in the near future, we've got to come up with either cash or a loan to get a new car.

Pedro has a co-worker who is selling his 2005ish Volvo as soon as he can get a brand-spankin' new 2011 model of whatever-the-hell, and Dude said he'd sell it to use for $3K if we can wait for an indeterminate period of time until his new car is ready. We're weighing our options, but that looks like the only way we're going to be able to get a decent car without taking out a loan.

<sigh>

[AugustWest]

$500 for a spark plug wire?  Dang!

[wombat]

Fortunately at least I have forgotten how much money we are out and still don't have a working furnace. I need to remember to use the other checkbook when I pay him this time so I don't have to look at it. I am already angry enough.

Apparently the yelling did get me bumped up but the guy is on a call that was already confirmed the night before, like he was already at their house at 7 am. I guess this is reasonable. But I told them that if I ended up in a hotel tonight they were paying for it and she said "well for that you need to talk to a manager." Right. Thank you for confirming that if I yell enough you will pay for the hotel.

I just realized the really awful part of this is that I have no idea how they're going to replace the furnace if they need to. The people who owned the house before us made a finished room in the basement and left hardly any room to work around the furnace and water heater.  I wonder if they can even get the old one out. Do they make micro-miniaturized furnaces these days?

The bright side: At least this time if we have to stay in a hotel, we can drive to it, not like last time when there was two feet of snow and the Tech Staff was in Utah and I couldn't dig my car out.

[jaydub]

Hang in there people. Be a diesel engine.

Loud and stinky?

[pmcd9]

$500 for a spark plug wire?  That's excessive.

[jay-ell]

Apparently they had to replace more than just the wire, because the faulty wire was connected to some other problem that was causing it to misfire...I don't know shit about cars, all I know is the have proven themselves to be honest in the past (e.g. we took it in b/c they check engine light was on and they said "We can fix this for you for 2K, or you could take it to a dealer and see if it's related to this recall you didn't know anything about and get it done for free).

Also, Pedro expressed his unhappiness at the fact that we owe them $500 and the car is in essentially the same non-driveable condition it was in when we took it to them, and the initial response from the mechanic was "I'll talk to [owner] and we'll work with you on this." I'm not sure what that means, but Pedro is certainly going to pursue it.

[littlefallsmets]

Crabcakes would be a great nickname for a lover who is incredibly attractive but perpetually grumpy.

[Nabubrush]

...wonder if Smick knows this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbfD9OKwqBs

That's a couple blocks from my house. Actually, if the guy had been on the other side of the street, you would have seen the apartment of a really good friend of mine (doesn't unicycle, may play bagpipes).

[jay-ell]

Crabcakes would be a great nickname for a lover who is incredibly attractive but perpetually grumpy.

Pedro just got hisself a new nickname, and LFM just got hisself a new tiny can of DP.

That's Doctor Pepper, you sick bastards.

[Arachno-capitalist]

Today I'm going to L.A. Suck on that, northeast freeze-a-thon.

[miles]

new tiny can of DP.

That's Doctor Pepper, you sick bastards.

Ha! Somehow that subject came up at a Christmas party I attended over the weekend. I don't mean Dr Pepper.

[Lister]

Today I felt lucky to have found a good auto mechanic within walking distance of my office (bad ignition coil, as suspected).  It's very handy to not need rides anywhere.

Also tomorrow I begin my vacation that lasts until January.  Good times.

[Nabubrush]

Pedro just got hisself a new nickname, and LFM just got hisself a new tiny can of DP.

That's Doctor Pepper, you sick bastards.

I was going to say that you can't fit that in a tiny can, but I suppose it all depends on who you spend time with.

[miles]

Two girls, one can?

[greenkoolayd]

two cans, one girl.