Minivacation of Doom

[eredien]

rax and I just paid a lot of $ to fix the car last month, and it had been working well, so I felt confident driving to NY.

Now I am stuck in the parking lot at the rest area because I stopped for a drink of water, came out, and car won't go. Even jumping it didn't seem to help. It has oil. I don't know what's wrong. I suspect the stupid "pigtail" part of the battery/alternator that they just replaced broke again somehow.

I'm 70 miles from where I am supposed to be and have no idea how to get our car back to my hometown or to Boston. It is 2 in the morning. My parents have to drive an hour here to get me and then we get to leave the car here and/or do car repair at 3 am and/or come back for it in the morning.

I was supposed to hang out with my parents this weekend and outline an essay for Readercon and try to relax. Instead I bet I will be spending a lot of time and money. I wonder if I will even be coming home the same way I got here.

This was definitely the wrong week to also buy photoshop.

At least they have the internet, so I can complain.

Update: I was driven home by my parents. I got to see one beautiful orange moon in a dark purple sky, one sunrise (we got home at about 5 am), and the problem was *not* the alternator! The problem is the shift thingy sticking such that the car thought it shouldn't start because it wasn't in park because the fail-safe wasn't closed all the way (even though it was in park). It can be fixed with a little bit of lubricant.

The vacation isn't ruined, actually. :)

Comments

[csbermack.livejournal.com]

Usually, if a car breaks with the same problem it had when you took it in (and not a completely unrelated problem), they'll fix it for free. I don't know if it's in the law, insurance rules, or whatever, but I know that the norm is they fix it. I don't know if the norm is that they tow it, too, but I think getting rax worked up into a holy snit to rip them a new one should get that covered, too. If your parents have a mechanic buddy who owes them a favor, they could try to get him out there to take a look at it and see if it's the same problem.

This is an appropriate time for a snit.

Also, for future reference, if you are not an AAA member, you can become one on the phone when you call them to come tow your butt. If the shop will do the repair free but won't tow it, it might be cheaper to join the platinum AAA membership to get the extra towing distance.

If they won't work with you to make it right, and it turns out to be the same problem, it's probably time for a BBB report.

Oh, and you might already be all over this, but you might want to call whoever it is who runs the rest stop. They might be aggressive about towing apparently abandoned cars.

I'm sorry to hear this happened to you, but I'm glad you were close enough to home to get a ride. It sucks but you're safe, and that's the important bit. I hope you manage to have a good weekend anyway!

[rax.livejournal.com]

"Put Cassandra on my AAA membership" was already on my tasklist but had lost the battle against grad school.

I'm perfectly happy to raise holy hell with them --- the car was working fine, they said it needed $1200 of work or it would stop working, we believed them, it's now had a problem with the thing they fixed twice. I don't really have much time either but I am good at yelling.

[eredien]

Just to be clear, it wasn't actually the shop's fault--it looks like the shift widget just needs some lubricant to move better.