No Celery Please

So the bitching I was going to do about the trip to Florida will now be much milder and less bitchy because the company that was responsible for me being annoyed has apologized and refunded the fee that caused me to be in such a snippy mood when I got home.

On Monday, I was quite prepared to say that I would never rent another car from Budget Rent a Car again in my life.

However, now… Yeah – I probably will.  Why?  Because they are the cheapest, that’s why.  And – since they did send me a very nice note and promise to credit my account for the ridiculous fee they tacked on to my final bill, I am feeling much better about them as an organization.

I do not have a problem with companies screwing up.  Everyone does that… it comes of being human.  But a nice apology and a refund will go a VERY LONG WAY with me… because then I feel like hey – next time I do business with this company, at least I know that if something goes wrong… they will try to make it right.

So – Good Job Budget Rent A Car of Gainesville , FL!  (eventually).

Oh… you want to know what happened?

Well…  We landed in Gainesville (only an hour and a half late – thanks, FAA, for the ridiculously unnecessary weather delay!)

We went to the Budget Rent A Car counter.  Said we had a reservation.  Got our keys and paperwork from the very nice girl working the counter.  Went outside, hopped in our Chevrolet Aveo (Hey – if I’m paying for my own travel – it’s economy all the way, baby!)

Out from the airport we went.  It’s only ten miles from the airport to where we were staying, so I figured… 15 minutes and there we’d be.

Hmmmm…. not so much, though.  We did not get to the hotel for another 2 1/2 hours.

Why is that, you ask?

Well.  About 7 miles into our 10 mile drive.  I asked the SB.. “does this car smell funny?   Or is that just Florida?”

He said… “what, that sulphery, burny smell?”

“Yes”

“Florida smells like that”  (which, is a little bit true, because Gainesville IS in a swamp).

However, it was soon apparant that the smell, was, in fact coming from the car.  The engine, in fact.  Which very soon stopped moving the car in a forwardal motion and made it quite clear that it was not going to be going to the hotel.

I want to be clear that I do not blame Budget Rent A Car for this breakdown.  I totally blame Chevrolet for this. The car had 1400 miles on it.  Brand New.  Still – the Aveo is a piece of crap that Chevrolet should not be foisting off on the consumer market.  Part of the problem with our breakdown was that the car was so underpowered, I really had a hard time figuring it out when the engine was dying… because I kinda thought it was just having a hard time on the slope we were on.

Anyway – so there we were in a parking lot with a car that wouldn’t go.

I called the Budget place back.  The nice girl who works there was very helpful and apologetic.  She arranged to have a tow truck bring us another car. 

I was fine with that…  cars break down sometimes.  They handled it well.  And it wasn’t their fault that the tow truck driver said he’d be there in ten minutes and then took another hour because he stopped to pick up another car.  They don’t own the tow truck company - nothing to be done about that.

Anyway… eventually we got our new car and were off.

At this point, I heard a lot of people say that we should have demanded a refund on the rental… but I didn’t think that was necessary.  After all – we got a new car, and they did their best getting us back on the road and all.  I used the service – I don’t mind paying.

Fast forward through the party to the next day (because nothing really eventful happened there).

So we head back to the airport… drop off the car… get on the plane… arrive home.

It’s then that I pulled out the car paperwork and looked at the final charge and notice that it’s $14 higher than it should be (which, at the prices budget charges for rental, was, like DOUBLE the bill.)

Wha?!  Huh!?

I examine the bill and there’s a charge on it… under 75 mile charge.

So I am being charged extra because I didn’t drive ENOUGH MILES?!

I was kinda ticked.

So I fumed about that for a while then decided to just let it go.

Then Monday came and I was still mad… so I wrote to the Budget people. 

I explained the whole trip – and how even though I didn’t blame them for the car breaking down… it was still kind of annoying, and then at the end of all that… when I didn’t even bitch and try to get a discount on the car… I ended up with some ridiculous fee added on to top off the whole thing!  Come On!

Anyway… today I got an answer back from the budget people… and an apology… and an explanation that the fee was added on by the computer because usually people who drive so little don’t fill the tank (which I had, by the way)… and they refunded it, and they were very sorry, and all of that.

So I am mollified.  And I will continue to do business with Budget.  Because at least I know this… if their cars DO happen to break down… I will not be stranded forever on the side of the road.  And if they charge me something that should not be charged… they will take it back off without trying to argue with me about it.

Sometimes a willingness to make it better is all you can ask for.

For just too damn much work to do.

Which is kind of a shame, because the trip to FL was full of good fodder for bitching.

Saturday

5:30 am – haul lazy ass out of bed and ride the exercise bike

6:30 am - fast shower and get ready routine

7:00 am – wake the SB, grab the dog and her overnight bag and take her to my Folks’

7:45 am – back to the house to grab SB and head to the airport

9:05 am – take off on tiny plane to Gainesville, FL… um, if the hurricane is gone, I suppose

10:15 or so depending on if the plane is on time – land, find rental car, find way to hotel

11:00 am – check into hotel

11:00 am to 5:00 pm – find something to do in Gainesville – good luck!

5:30 pm – 95th birthday party for Grandma

9:00 pm – dare I hope for 8:30 pm? – Back to the hotel.  Maybe get to swim in the ostensibly heated pool

10:00 pm – go to bed

Sunday

Midnight – wake up to find the SB bumping into the walls as he sleep-walks around the room (he ALWAYS sleepwalks in hotels – or so it seems).  Shove him in the general direction of the bathroom. Make sure he manages to find his way back to bed (yes – this WILL all happen while he is sound asleep).

2:00 am – drift back off to sleep (depending on whether the bed is adequate)

7:00 am – wake up and maybe hit the supposedly heated pool.  This would not be necessary if the hotel that CLAIMED ON THE WEBSITE TO HAVE A FITNESS CENTER actually had a fitness center and not, as I just found out, a “pass to a local fitness facility” – eh, I guess I can always walk/jog or something.

9:00 am – Breakfast – Waffles in the lobby!!

10:00 am – Back to the airport, drop off rental car, check in, wait for flight

12:30 pm – land, go pick up the dog, go home, sit down, pass out.

Monday

Crap – and now it’s time to go back to work.

So the Roller Derby Bout on Sunday was MUCH FUN!

I am definitely going to the meet and greet on 8/25 to see about joining.  I have no idea whether I am cut out to play roller derby… but I am going to check it out, at any rate.

Feelin’ pretty OK with that.

And going to the AWESOME Dragon buffet for lunch which usually has to be limited to ONE TRIP PER MONTH or else I’d be there every day.

But it’s my birthday… and I AM HAVING DIM SUM, dammit!

I am going to see the Charlotte Roller Girls do some Roller Derby on Sunday!

http://www.charlotterollergirls.com/bout.html

I saw a flyer for this in our break room, and my first thought was

“OH MY GOD!  I HAVE TO PLAY THAT!”

My second thought was.

“Hmmmm… maybe I’d better watch a bout first and see if I am up for that kind of thing.

So I mentioned it to the SB, and he seemed willing to humor me in attending a bout.  But I wasn’t all that fired up to pay $12 a ticket for something that I had NO IDEA if I would enjoy.

However, providence intervened this morning in the way of TWO FREE TICKETS! (courtesy of the person who put the flyers in the break room, who’s wife plays on the team).

I’m going to the roller derby!

I feel like all I am doing around here lately is whinging (or whining, depending on your spelling preference).

But I WANT TO GO OUTSIDE!

I want to run!  And Play!  And Hike!  And go out in the woods!  And the mountains!  And, well, just and!

But it’s hot with the heat and hotness.  And if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a sweaty, muggy, buggy trek through the woods. 

Come on, October!

But I just don’t care about the Olympics.

Not even a teeny, tiny bit.

Gah.

So the SB and I (OK, mostly the SB) dismantled the exercise bike to see if we could determine the problem.

And we did.

It was a round part that the belt goes around and it was slipping.

A tiny little bit of a thing, really, and I thought.. Great!  I’ll just order up little ol’ part 53 and off we go!

Alas… #53 was the only part not listed for slae on the web site.

There was #52… and after that, #54… but #53?  not so much.

So, finally, in an act of desperation, I broke down and actually CALLED the customer service people, who were very polite, and politely and helpfully informed me that I cannot buy part #53… it only comes as part of a larger package of stuff – #39, and has to be replaced as part of the whole package. (which seemed odd to me, because we managed to get down to part #53 when dismantling the bike).

So I foolishly inquired as to the cost of ordering parts package #39.

Well… that would be $140.

Ah, yes, well… $140 to buy a set of parts that are probably what’s wrong with the bike.  And here’s me with no real confidence or instructions on getting those parts back onto the bike once they arrive.

So yeah… for another $100 or so on top of that $140, I can get a BRAND NEW BIKE (and not from ICON Fitness, either, I’ll tell you that).

So I’m looking into a Schwinn 101, because as much as I like my elliptical machine to work out in the afternoon… it’s WAY too much coordination to ask of me at 6am for the morning workout.  The bike, she is NECESSARY, I tell you.

The problem with exercise equipment is that the manufacturers of such stuff assume that their product need only hold up for a couple of weeks, maybe a month, and then it just needs to be able to serve as a high-tech coat hanger.

So when home exercise equipment is confronted with ACTUAL USE, it craps out and falls apart.

I have had my Reebok 245 Exercise bike for about two years.  It was the best thing on the planet for about 2 weeks when I first got it.  Then, confronted with two weeks of a consumer actuall using the product on a regular basis, the “whisper quiet” operation gradually began to be less whispery and more like a lound converstion in the library that would cause disapproving librarians to hiss “SHHHHHHH” repeatedly until the patrons snuck out in shame to continue their lively discussion outside.

Over time, the seat has cracked and required liberal applications of duct tape to keep it together.

The belt started slipping and had to be tightened to keep the thing working.

And now… well, I am not 100% sure exactly what’s wrong in there, but it sounds for all the world like the little bearings and gears that allow the pedals to turn the crank are falling apart and rubbing against each other in an attempt to completely disintegrate themselves.  Either way, it means that the pedals will only sometimes actually catch and propel the flywheel as they are going around.

So.  I am faced with the option of buying a new exercise bike, or attempting to wrangle with this one, open the beast up, try and figure out the crank mechanism, and see if I can “repair” a machine that the manufacturers obviously expected to have been given to the Goodwill by now.

Sigh.

I was going to say… “Note to self: don’t ever buy anything from ICON fitness again”  But, who knows if any of the other brands out there are any better.  My Sole elliptical machine has been behaving wonderfully for the past couple of months… I hope it doesn’t get any ideas from the bike…