We were able to travel 100 miles without any truck problems today, then the air conditioning in the UHaul truck went out. When we arrived in Edmonton, AB 50 miles later we stopped and I opened the hood to find a wobbling air conditioner pulley and what sounded like gravel scraping around in the air conditioner pump. By now I pretty much have them on speed dial so I placed the call.
At first they were very prompt and had a mechanic on site within two hours, but since they don't have parts we were forced to again stay the night in order for the truck to be repaired. I had to coordinate with UHaul again about the logistics of this and they changed the plans and instructed us to turn the truck in and have a "trans-load" done. They gave me a number for a local shop and told me they were fully briefed on my situation. Once called, they had no idea what the "trans-load" was and changed the shop location. When I called that shop, it automatically forwarded me to a reservation call center in Phoenix, AZ. I called UHaul Road Assistance back and they again changed the plan and instructed me to call the Edmonton UHaul repair shop in the morning for repair, and the "trans-load" idea was scrapped. I still don't exactly know what that is.
I've had way too many idle hours during this trip. I've created a recent mathematical breakthrough, a calculation for the UHaul Repair Factor:
URF = E x H
URF= UHaul Repair Factor
E= UHaul employees you need to speak with in order to get the equipment running
H= Hours it takes from breakdown until repair
Breakdown 1: 5 employees, 26 hours, URF of 130
Breakdown 2: 3 employees, 6 hours, URF of 18
Breakdown 3: 9 employees, 22 hours (est.), URF of 198
All of you are invited to Stockholm when I receive my Nobel Prize for Economics.
3 comments:
Told you you should have invited the Reality TV people to tag along.
Mom here: The reality TV residual $$ would help pay for your parents' retirement.
I gave up on Uhaul a looong time ago...Penske!
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