4-2-12 Monday (Don’t PICC Me)

Saturday:

The Monro saga continues.  As you know we dropped off the Jeep on Friday evening.  Saturday has come and gone and not even a call from them.  I even bitched about that sorta thing to the District Manager during our conversation and it still happened again.

An update on my Mom reveals a probable e-coli infection.  Will she board the plane on Thursday?  Hmmmmm.

Jim and I went shopping.  Some great finds at Goodwill.  We also made donations.  We had a chandelier to donate but Goodwill said they didn’t take light fixtures.  A woman who was making donations, piped up and said she could use it so off it went.  Nothing all that exciting. 

We had lunch with a Living Social coupon at Bobbee O's Barbecue.  My review?  The baby back ribs were OK.  The BBQ sauce is very tangy.  The fries were overly seasoned and I didn’t care for them.  The baked beans weren’t all that great and they supplied me with a plain SLICE of bread.  Not Texas Toast, just plain bread.  Strange.  Jim’s was a pulled pork sandwich which he said was pretty good except the BBQ sauce was overly tangy for his taste.  His sweet potato fries were excellent. 

Later in the evening, Mike & Billy came over.  I made some fresh guacamole, we drank wine, ordered a pizza and then walked around the neighborhood looking at some new construction homes. 

Sunday:

Jim went shopping with Billy.  Mike stayed home to study.  Since I don’t really like shopping, I stayed home. 

Monro called at about 11am to say the Jeep needed calipers and brake hoses.  They were going to supply the brakes pads, and rotors and no charge.  The labor portion of this job is $150.  The total will be $520.  I asked if the calipers come “loaded”.  He said yes.  Well then, I’m really paying for the pads then.  I got them to credit me $70 more.   The new total is $450.  I don’t really feel comfortable with their pricing but I think we’re kind of stuck at this point.  The most I saw reman calipers at Napa or Advanced is $50 each.   Maybe $20 a hose.  That’s $140 in parts.  $450 the new total less $150 in labor means $300 of the total is parts.  I came up with $140 in parts so where’s the other $160 coming from?  They’ve just worn me down. 

I complained that I dropped it off on Friday, Saturday had passed and no one bothered to call me with an update.  The assistant manager apologized and blamed it on the store manager.  Go figure.

The last time we’ve been to Monro we asked them to check an oil leak.  They said there was no leak.  This visit we asked them to check again.  He said the rear main seal is leaking.  I remembered a large oil leak repair in the past but he said it was the valve cover gaskets.  Once I got home we checked the receipts and confirmed that on April of last year that work was done.

 

So once again, I called and left a message for the district manager.  The last time no leak, this time a leak? 

Come Monday I spoke with the store manager, Jeremy, at Monro.  He said that he didn’t see any leaks and would like me to come in so we can look at it together.  I suggested adding oil leak detection dye and returning a few days to a week later.  I also couldn’t guarantee that I can get back before the warranty officially runs out since my mom is going to be here during that time frame.  He assured me it would be fine.  Yeah, I feel like I should get something in writing too.

Monday:

Mom called and said she’s out of the hospital but has to delay her trip.  She’s got some sort of port (PICC line) still hooked up to her and requires low dose antibiotics be administered for 10 days through it.