Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Story of the Day- October 16, 2017- The Saga of the Car part 2



So, it is Monday morning, and we are back to the saga of the car battery and AAA.

My son called AAA, at 7:35, this morning, to arrange to have them come out and check his battery and replace it, if needed. And I had arranged to pick him up, at 7:40, so that we could drive over to the place they had towed the car to, and that would be open at 8.

By the time I arrived to get Aaron, AAA had called him to let him know that they would be where his car was, in about 15 minutes.
So, we headed out , per the map quest instructions...and proceeded to get lost.
The place to which they had towed the car was the wrong direction and a block past the street address. I am not joking.

I followed Aaron into the business and the receptionist told me that no one can find them.
We beat the beat the AAA truck there by about ten minutes, despite our delay. That is because he was also having trouble finding them.

Aaron asked the woman for the keys to his car and she reacted in a very confused manner.
He explained that the car had been towed to them, on Sunday, and that the key had been put in the drop box. He explained that his car was the 2009 Honda in their parking lot.
This didn’t seem to help .
You see, they do not have a drop box.

She suggested that we check and see if any of the neighboring businesses had a drop box where the key could have been left, by mistake….but there were none by the nearby businesses.

While we have an extra key for the car, I had left it at home.
Why bring it, if AAA insisted that we had to wait until this business opened up, and needed to get the key that had been left with them, anyhow?
Except that it hadn't been.

My son goes out to check his car, and it is unlocked.
He then checks the glove compartment, the coin compartment and the compartment between the seats, but there is no key.
There is also no key in the car’s trunk.

He does not have the number for the place that towed him.
Yes, he had called them on his phone, yesterday, to get the name and address to where they had towed his car, but he had deleted the call history, since then.
This is the same son who leaves his bank statements and Facebook account open on my computer, all the time……

The woman from the business ( we had gone back inside for the warmth and the quiet- as this was near a busy road) told him that , even if he deleted it, he can retrieve it from the net...which produced a very blank look from both of us.

I then had to explain to her that we are dinosaurs and do not have smart phones.

Also, I am wondering why my son deletes his call history.......but that is for another story.

Shortly after this, the AAA truck arrived. Don, the very nice older man driving the truck, said that eh had no way to figure out who had towed the car, but said he would look for the key.

A few minutes later, he holds it up. He found it under one of the floor mats.

Don then tests the battery. It is still under warranty. That is good.
But it is not the problem. It seems to be in fine shape. He then asks Aaron what the problem was. Aaron explains it, and Don says that it sounds like it might be the battery in the key fob.
We thank him, and drive home, where Aaron gets the other key.Then Don from AAA arrived. We explained the missing key problem, and asked if he could find out the number for the towing service that AAA had called. Instead, he starts going through the car and locates the key under the floor mat.

Great. So they left it unlocked and with the key in it, although well hidden- at least from us.

Turns out, the car's battery ( which I bought from AAA- since this is the car I drove until we passed it down to Aaron) was installed by AAA and under warranty...
but it isn't the problem.
Don said it is probably the battery in the key fob, and we are going to stop and home, so Aaron can get the other fob, before going to his dental appointment and then to work.

And I will take this one to have the battery changed.

Sigh.

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