On our trip to Michigan last month, we blew out a tire on the highway. Luckily we had the car manual and were able to figure out how to get to the spare tire and change it on the road. It set our trip back at least an hour and that was after getting on the road so late because we had so much to do that Saturday morning.
We drove on the doughnut longer and faster than you should but we made it. We got new tires for the minivan that Monday and it didn't cost as much as we thought, but it did consume the $500 gift card I got at work for a summer bonus.
The next day, Nightingale sprained her ankle thanks to Boris insisting she carries him at the Science Museum. She turned it going up some stairs.
On the morning of August 30th, around 3 am, we heard this sound. Our natural thought was one of the kids was getting a drink of water and perhaps fell off the step stool in the bathroom. But then we quickly ascertained that the kids were with us. Then we heard the sound again, only louder.
I reached for my gun and then realized, hey I don't own any of those, so I turned on the hallway light to see what was the cause. If it was a break-in perhaps the light would scare them away. Turns out it was just the plaster in our front hallway falling to the floor.
It took a few weeks to find someone because they people who do this are busy, busy, busy. Many either flat out told me to try someone else or said they couldn't even come to look at it for a month. I did end up finding someone who could start that week and I wish I had paid more attention to my initial gut reaction and kept looking.
For one thing, he was supposed to show up the Friday before Labor Day weekend to look at it. He called me the following Tuesday and said that he tried calling me twice around 5 pm. My missed call log only shows once. And no voice mail or text message. This in and of itself isn't unusual as my phone has been wonky since mid-August. But then he really pushed to start on Friday and asked if his crew could work on Saturday too.
He quoted me a price of $1100 and I wanted to get a few more quotes. I did get one that was higher and one that was lower, $830. So I figured it wasn't a bad deal especially since he could start sooner than the $830 guy and there was pressure to get this done well before the twins birthday as we would have people over.
Let me be clear, his crew did a solid job of fixing the hole. It's just the customer service experience left a lot to be desired. There was dust everywhere and it got to the upstairs bedrooms because we didn't think to close those doors and the crew didn't either, nor did they suggest it to us -- something I'd expect from people who do this for a living.
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