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What a DAY!

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:32 pm
by renpeg
#-o Anyone going North 405 tonight around rush hour? About Exit 26??? See the Guy loading up the Jimmy on the trailer? Yeah that was me!!!


****** Long day fiiinnaally over.
Headed to Bothell to take mark to school. Jimmy's fuel pump goes tits up..
On the freeway right before exit 26. Luckily wide shoulder!! Dad comes gets me so we could take mark to school and mine and Sharece's appointments.

Go to uhaul get a car dolly. So Kirkland to about Bothell where the Jimmy is.
I get flagged down.
yeah the trailer turns out missing a chain and bolt that holds the tire strap and ratchet in.. because of this the ratchet is being dragged bouncing and now broken. missing chain and deck bent. So now trailer is broken and Im on the side of the freeway. Yeah for WIIIDE shoulders!
Call up uhaul. Explain what Happened.
To put it "nicley" I got the run around for an hour and then some!!! After the back and forth. They finally understand Its their fault. Someone at UHAUL Failed to fasten the bolt that hold the chain that also stops the ratchet from sliding off.
They tell me that they dont have a service truck in the area. They want me to haul the broken trailer back down to Kirkland. (Not going to happen! )
Finally I just say where is the nearest one to Bothell. She tries to give me the run around about how I cant just switch it.. Something about it being a computer blaw blaw blaw in town blaw blaw....

Finally get her to just switch it. Tells me to go to a uhaul in Bothell almost Mill Creek.! gave me the address/ told me the new one would be ready to go she would tell the guys whats going on.

So I strap the Trailer together so its safe to go down the road. Get to the Uhaul. The guy has no clue whats going on nothing!!!! Nothing at all!!!. He got no calls,email,fax, Text. NOTHING!!!! So hour plus there trying to figure things out. hes trying to talk to the people at Uhaul corporate. Hes getting the run around.

Turns out they gave us the Wrong address!!! :( So Now Im supposed to haul the trailer to Kenmore! (after we already unhooked the thing!) So more time wasted. The guy (Alex) at the wrong Uhaul (3rd party subcontractor). fought with the corporate and other store. So I could leave the broken trailer with him its not safe to take trailer anywhere else.. Even said that he will be calling the hire ups at Uhaul Because He could not believe how I was treated and how rude the lady on the phone was to me. (He had handed the phone to me at one point, I had to hand it back because the lady was being soo rude.)

Leave trailer.
So more time wasted.
Get mark from the bus.
Go to The Kenmore Uhaul. Hey they have the trailer ready to go!!
So Now its Dark and we are finally back to the jimmy On the side of the freeway...

Get ready to Start ratchet winching jimmy onto dolly.. Brand new Winch broken... :(
second winch working!!! Never mind wont release. jam screw driver in get it released. Finally Jimmy loaded. Strapped in. double check everything. and start heading home.

Trip home very good, uneven-full. People being very kind and courteous. (Just one person cut in front of use) Good Brakes on the Yukon! But other than that very good trip home. Unloaded the Jimmy at the park n ride. (safest way to unload flat.) Have to tow strap it the few blocks home Tuesday.

So 12 Plus hours later. .Tomorrow will be another fun day of fighting with uhaul over all their ****** for their lack of oversight on maintenance and very rude call center person.... Oh and I still have to fix the jimmy. New fuel Pump $300+... And 2 hands and arms that dont work so well... Yeap still dealing with that **** as well...

OK going to go breath and look on the bright side. umm.....

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:04 pm
by kzoo
Wow! Sorry to hear your misfortune. Definitely "one of those days". At least for the bright side, you got home safe.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:46 pm
by natetreat
HAhahaha! I saw you there, coming back from the river. You caused a bit of a slow down for a while! That's why I have towing on my insurance, all I have to do is call my state farm agent, tell 'em where I'm at and they take care of everything. I think it's like 5 bucks extra or something on our policy. Well worth it. U haul sounds like a PIA! Better give them a yelp or something to the BBB for that garbage. If it were my wife, she'd be on the phone until that lady got fired. But that's my wife. She's not fun to mess with.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:47 pm
by renpeg
Safe at home and it wasn't raining during the ordeal.. Always a good day!
Found out my brother in-law also had a crummy day. Hes a truck driver Currently delivering the road salt for the dot. He had his semi break down right at the reservoir going over snoqualmie. So Snowing, wet and freezing cold from having to throw chains.(he had forgotten his extra clothes at the shop) stuck in one of the east bound lanes. Dot pulled him off he road. Then he had to wait 2 hours for the mechanic. No heat because the truck wont start. Yeah. Im looking on the bright side!!

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:58 pm
by renpeg
Nate funny you say that. We thought we had tow. Nope everything But!! live and learn!!!
But Hey sense I was on the phone with them anyway I IM getting the windshield replaced on Friday they took care of everything.. :)
Love State Farm! You call, a real LIVE person answers!! They even Know who you are and have your info already in front them ready to help! Very friendly, easy to use and they get their **** done!

Only had one problem with them. WE made a claim on the home owners insure, after our vehicles got broken into in the driveway. 30+ years only one claim. Claim amount $600. The company wanted to raise our rates after the claim.
. Our Rep Stepped in and told the company NO. They weren't going to do this to such good loyal customers. Rates stayed the same. Love having a real person to talk to.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 12:20 am
by natetreat
Absolutely! I know for a fact good people work for State Farm, my wife is my agent ;) Yea, if underwriting makes a mistake, your agent will be on top of that. Appreciate your business! Or at least my wife does heheheh. I'd definitely give your agent a call to get towing on the policy, I've found that's probably the best thing on my policy aside from uninsured motorist coverage. Trust me, you don't want to hear that story...

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 7:48 am
by gfakkema
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Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:18 am
by Bodofish
Sounds about right for a trailer rental from anyone. Towing insurance is cheap or a AAA membership. Call a tow truck, call for a ride, done. Sorry about the hassles, been there and don't want to go back.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 8:56 am
by Racer
Had that same nonsense happen afew times with my cars. I finally broke down and got AAA and have used it three times since with no problems. Best thing I ever got.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:35 am
by racfish
Boy o' boy . and I thought my day was bad. Your bad day made mine look good.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 9:48 am
by mtngrizz
Been with AAA road service over 40 years, best way for me, no cash out of pocket if out of town for initial tow. Maps etc are secondary to their on road assistance. My breakdown in 1968 caused a problem similar to yours. Never again. Sorry for your inconvenience. Today will be better.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 10:38 am
by goodtimesfishing
Was the lady on the phone named Roxanne???
If so I know what you had to deal with!!
To make a super long story short, that...well I won't call names. But she made my move last aug. a nightmare. Had reservation for truck along with confirmation number. No truck Person where truck was suppose to be, knew nothing about the reservation and even told me that given all the situation I should get a truck for free. That Roxanne lady tries to make it out like you did something wrong and that just because you reserved a truck does not mean you are going to get one!! Hello what is a reservation for??? Ended up not having to pay milage because using the smaller truck had to make 2 trips and I had ordered the big truck. With the cost of gas and making 2 trips it didn't save me any money. Alway said I was going to contact hire ups at uhaul and never did.
If it was that same lady.....she should be fired and never work with the public again!!!

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 11:49 am
by racfish
Im with Grizz. Ive had AAA all my driving life . I actually have AAA Plus which gives me a free tow for like 150 miles I think it is. Ive had dead batteries ,locked my keys in the car while fishing. AAA is always there.They even pulled me out of the old Reiter mud pits. :cheers:

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 1:41 pm
by Gringo Pescador
Sorry to hear of your crap day, I must have passed that area before your ordeal started. I am pretty sure I have towing on my insurance, but because of your ordeal I will be checking to make sure. We do have AAA, my wife had it before me were married and just added me ot the plan. I fought it at 1st but she insisted so I caved. In the end I am so glad I did! Nothing like your ordeal but when I had my Dakota the keyfob quit working to lock the door, so being cheap I never got it fixed and got into the habit of just hitting the lock button on the door as I exited the vehicle. Fast forward, it's 5am and I am giving my mom a ride to the airport. I offer to park and go inside with her but she insists I just drop her at the curb. So I pull up to the departures, open door, hit lock as I jump out and close the door. Unload mom, go to get back in the truck and Uh Oh #-o locked out, WITH THE RIG RUNNING. It took AAA an hour to show, which was spent explaining to the port police why I cannot move my running vehicle and beggin them to not tow it (they laughed at me but were pretty cool about it really). Got the keyfob replaced the next day.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:39 pm
by Steelheadin360
DANG!!! sounds like a bad one.

I have AAA and have used it quite a few times, great investment.

and it might have caused a back up but the day i blew the rearend out of the truck on the boat ramp.... wanna talk about some mad people!!

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:49 pm
by Amx
Image


Had I been there I could have towed you up to the parking area. Unless it was locked up. Even then my truck could probably pull most standard sized trucks. I did that years ago with a BIG boat and the truck when his roller thing on the trailer flipped over and he couldn't pull up or back.


Last year my truck quit as soon as I put it in gear. Wouldn't even crank over. The boat had just been offloaded.

Took me awhile, 20 minutes?, to figure out what to do. Got the electics back fed, and I then left the launch ramp, and parked the rig and went fishing anyway. It was about 4am.

Now the wires are still there for next time. Had to use the wires a couple more times over the past year. I did find the short 2 days ago, waiting on parts now.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:36 am
by Steelheadin360
i sheared the pinion off and it went and sat between the ring gear and the case, took me about 20 min to unhook the trailer and pull out the rear driveline. just put it in 4 and drug it out.thank god i had a buddy there with a truck. 900 ft lbs of tourqe isnt always fun haha

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:56 pm
by renpeg
Well Though I would update this post.
By the time everything was said and done with U-haul I ended up getting 6 free trailer rentals. which I ended up using to help other people move and made a good amount of money. Soo Im way ahead But that day still sucked!!!

Took everyone advice and got tow put on all the cars. it was only $4.50 for 6 months!!!!!!!!! #-o Live and learn
first 10 miles free, if your out in the Boones they will tow you to the nearest shop for free no matter distance.
they will bring you gas or tire or tire repair free but you have to pay for the gas and tire or tire repair. =D>

Fixed my Jimmy, After preforming diagnostics figure out it was actually the Ignition Coil. (knew I should have replaced that months ago when I started having hard starts. #-o
l
Ok, so now the update all done.
well I got to use my NEW "FREE" Tow on monday..... :-({|=

Monday stopped to get coffee turned off engine and then wouldn't turn back on.Pushed the car to the side so we were no longer blocking Bigfoot Javas drive through. ran to over to oreillys borrowed some tools to test to see what was going on or not going on......... Yeah yep mmmmmhh NOW The fuel pump failed!! LOL!!!!

SO I have to say the Tow was FANTASTIC!!! did I mention it was fantastic!!???
I Called the first question they asked was " am I and my car in a safe location" Yes....
the drive through at bigfoot Java... lol. They wanted to find me by the gps on my phone but I turned that off. SO told them where I was. I was quoted 45-hour for them to show up. I was text the name and number of the company that was coming to get me. Not even a minute later the tow guy was calling me on his way. Very nice guy, good conversation. turns out he is a vet just got back from Iraq 4 months ago has been tow driving for 2 months. And in less than an hour!!!!! he was rolling my Jimmy off the truck right into my driveway. I thanked him for helping me as well as his service to our country. He was off and I was inside enjoying Not being outside in the rain squall.
Tested the fuel pump yep after 115,000 it went tits up! ordered a new one off the net and waiting for it to come in the mail. Hopefully Wensday.

So yep I will defiantly say TOW SERVICE WOOOOOOOOORTH IT!!! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: [thumbsup]

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 4:10 am
by Bodofish
Sorry about the fuel pump, hope it's not an in the tank model..... Glad the rest worked out and yeah towing is worth every penny. AAA is even better, had to have my rig and boat towed once........ ouch! Glad it was insured or I'd still be puckering from the trip to the Skagit.

Re: What a DAY!

Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2013 8:27 am
by natetreat
renpeg wrote:Well Though I would update this post.
By the time everything was said and done with U-haul I ended up getting 6 free trailer rentals. which I ended up using to help other people move and made a good amount of money. Soo Im way ahead But that day still sucked!!!

Took everyone advice and got tow put on all the cars. it was only $4.50 for 6 months!!!!!!!!! #-o Live and learn
first 10 miles free, if your out in the Boones they will tow you to the nearest shop for free no matter distance.
they will bring you gas or tire or tire repair free but you have to pay for the gas and tire or tire repair. =D>

Fixed my Jimmy, After preforming diagnostics figure out it was actually the Ignition Coil. (knew I should have replaced that months ago when I started having hard starts. #-o
l
Ok, so now the update all done.
well I got to use my NEW "FREE" Tow on monday..... :-({|=

Monday stopped to get coffee turned off engine and then wouldn't turn back on.Pushed the car to the side so we were no longer blocking Bigfoot Javas drive through. ran to over to oreillys borrowed some tools to test to see what was going on or not going on......... Yeah yep mmmmmhh NOW The fuel pump failed!! LOL!!!!

SO I have to say the Tow was FANTASTIC!!! did I mention it was fantastic!!???
I Called the first question they asked was " am I and my car in a safe location" Yes....
the drive through at bigfoot Java... lol. They wanted to find me by the gps on my phone but I turned that off. SO told them where I was. I was quoted 45-hour for them to show up. I was text the name and number of the company that was coming to get me. Not even a minute later the tow guy was calling me on his way. Very nice guy, good conversation. turns out he is a vet just got back from Iraq 4 months ago has been tow driving for 2 months. And in less than an hour!!!!! he was rolling my Jimmy off the truck right into my driveway. I thanked him for helping me as well as his service to our country. He was off and I was inside enjoying Not being outside in the rain squall.
Tested the fuel pump yep after 115,000 it went tits up! ordered a new one off the net and waiting for it to come in the mail. Hopefully Wensday.

So yep I will defiantly say TOW SERVICE WOOOOOOOOORTH IT!!! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: [thumbsup]
It's by far the best investment you can make as far as car insurance goes. I'm glad you had it stuck on there. Especially when we're out in the middle of nowhere, it comes in really handy. Getting a locksmith out to Baker Lake is spendy! Or a dead battery all the way up the Hoh River, like what happened to me recently.