Work Winge of the Week 2 - rental firms, breakdown services ...

.... and Kwik-Fit.

I nearly wrote a winge yesterday after having a bad day, and am now glad I saved it, because today was worse .... well really just an extension of yesterday.

Yesterday I started the day in Northleach, but ended up back in Moreton again, starting from scratch again. So three quarters of the way round my delievery I notice the back tyre has gone soft, so I struggled for some time to get the spare off from underneath the van, only to find it is flat too! This is a rental we are using while ours is having repairs, so I was pretty p***** I can tell you. The breakdown service was most unhelpful, wanting the rental account number and the base where the vehicle had come from (neither of which I knew) before they would send anyone out to me. So I said not to bother and phoned the office instead. James came out with what we hoped might be a new tyre, but despite it being for a Citroen van it was non standard and did not fit. Then he was followed by both Brian and Simon, I went off in James' van to finish my delivery and they pumped up the tyre with a portable inflator and took it back to the office. On my return I spent quite some time negotiating with the breakdown service and then Kwik-Fit (who they insisted on transferring me to) and it was resolved that they would come out in the morning with two tyres and fit them.

So this morning I anticipated having to wait a while but things did not work out as planned. I chased up Kwik-Fit around 9am to find out when they were coming. I was told they had attempted to come the previous day and had been unable to access the vehicle and I was not scheduled for any assistance today, and suggested I contact the rental supplier. I finally left it in the hands of the boss, and went off and delivered the first part of the duty by bike. Around 10am the boss called to say the rental company were sending a replacement van from Gloucester, and it would be there in about half an hour. An hour later I texted to say I was still waiting and he called back to say it would be another hour. Finally at 11.45 the first of my colleagues returned from their delivery, so I got to go out and do mine. Tim did turn up and give me a hand later and the replacement van apparently finally arrived around 12.30. And by this time I was wishing I had not volunteered to work my day off.