Repair Fun

So 2 weeks ago we received the 2 parts to replace our washing machine-yay! My husband was astonished to find the belt a good 2 inches shorter than the one our washing machine had eaten. That and a new pulley had to be installed. After sweating and swearing for several minutes with both of us trying to stretch a measly half inch out of that very short belt, my husband was ready to throw in the towel and I slumped away, feeling yet again defeated by the bad luck cosmos.

However, once upstairs I heard a loud exclamation and bump and my husband came up and said, "It's done. It's fixed." Wow. I looked him over carefully, sure that when I'd left he must have turned green and hulked out in order to make that thing fit. But yay! It's done and that has been fixed.

Yesterday I picked up my car. I thought I'd be thrilled but I kept finding little things that just reminded me my baby was no longer brand new. The inside of the replaced door had a slight gap that wasn't there on the opposing door. There were dirty prints on the roof where I sat. The driver side mirror was fogged and once home I was unable to remove the film with any manner of cleaning agent. There were 2 scratches in the tint on the window of the replaced door-tint that was a Christmas gift from my husband and was only two months old!

I got home ornery and depressed. I felt like my car had been violated, held against her will for a month while she was beaten and bruised and then rinsed off and given back to me. And here's the kicker-they held it for so long and were so careful because I was related to one of the workers. However, that cousin told me that they weren't even going to look under the car which I'd told the other guy TWICE to check because the reflector was concave from driving over rocks the size of softballs when we were hit. My cousin had to tell them to do it. Apparently autobody shops cut a lot of corners in order to turn out like 40 cars a day, they need to beat the insurance rental coverage so they "hurry" things along. I'm not a car aficionado or anything but aside from the things mentioned, there were a couple other little things I noticed because knowing cars or not, I know MY things, as most women do. So, word of advice if you ever have to take your car in for repairs from an accident, know someone that works there, take someone with you that knows cars, or KNOW your car. The things I found will be fixed, as promised by the guy working there, but there we go, another day without my car when they had it for almost a month. Yikes! Imagine if I weren't related!