Thursday, November 30, 2006

Gettin' Capped

The Friday before Thanksgiving, I took the truck to a tire place (a different one than before) for a patch job. They quickly informed me that, not only was that tire patched t'death, but I was apparently pimpin' three different-sized tires on that mugggg.

Grr. Yet another thing that should've been handled (or disclosed) before I got the vehicle.

They wanted to sell me a tire to match the one on the other side OR, if I were willing, they'd hook me up with four tires and a three "free" oil changes for a nice lil sum.

Deal.

So, I'm lovin' the way the Expo is handlin' and how much better it looks without the bootleg-ass Flintstone tires, right? Fast-forward to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I'm wiping down the freshly semi-cleaned exterior before travelling, the next morning. Guess what I find?

One of the caps to my rims is hanging off the vehicle. The folks who replaced my tires apparently broke the thing and never said a word to me about it. By the time I noticed it (which was only because I cleaned them by hand), the tire shop was closed and no one was answering the phones.

I couldn't repair it, so I took it off (so it didn't come off on the highway and damage someone's vehicle or worse).

When I got to Pensacola, Florida, I found a place that sold a replacement part. I bought one and they put it on for me. This pleased me greatly. I felt kinda incomplete without that part (a bit of obsessiveness on my part, perhaps).

After the holiday weekend passed, I headed back to Tallahassee and discovered, to my surprise, that the cap was gone. It had, apparently, come off on I-10.

So, at that point, I had to go to the tire place and show them the damaged cap so that they could make things right. They say they'll replace it, this week. We'll see.

But I also have to contact the shop in Pensacola, to tell them that they apparently didn't put the part on tightly enough, since it came back off. Hopefully, they'll just give me a refund because I shouldn't need a new cap by the time the local place provides (and installs) the replacement.

What a frickin' mess.

Now, I'm kinda wishin' I'd just waited until I got back to Tallahassee, to replace the part. But that deal was too good to pass up, at the time.

No comments: