Suck my non-existent trouser snake.
My poor dad is going through hell right now because of them. My last week my brother got a burr up his butt and decided to move his family from Idaho down here to Oregon. And he decided he was going to do that this week. So my dad flew up there to help by driving the moving van while my brother drove his own car. Apparently my brother got an ‘awesome’ deal on a truck. Unlimited miles for $125 or something.
The trip from his place, here to Oregon usually takes about 8 hours. So, Wednesday morning, they pack up the van and set out on the road. They hit Spokane and the van starts flashing brakes/engine lights and just quits working. A call to the company gets a repair man out to them. Four hours later, the van is supposedly ‘fixed’. Back on the road. Make it as far as about an hour out of Portland (about 4 hours from our town) and the van does it again. By this point, it’s nearly 8pm and there’s no repairmen available. So my dad and brother and his family have to get a hotel room. This morning, they get a hold of Budget again who tells them “no matter what, we’re getting you on the road by 1”. Cue more waiting. One o’clock and the repair guy’s still not there. At this point, my dad just tells my brother to just go on ahead and he’ll catch up. Since there’s 3 kids involved, my brother agrees and continues on. My dad waits and waits. Finally at like 3, the repairman shows up. He very quickly comes to the conclusion that the van is not fixable and that they’re going to have to get a tow truck from Portland to tow the van all the way to the destination. My dad gets told that they’ll probably get him on the road by 5. Our last update from him was at 8:30 and the word was there was no sign of a tow truck. He’s stuck in the truck, no hotels or anything really around him and at this point it looks like he’s going to have to sleep in it overnight. So, overnight in a moving van, in freezing temperatures and he doesn’t have anything other than his coat to keep him warm.
Needless to say, we’re all pretty pissed off. My brother called Budget and they agreed to waive the rental fee and to pay for my brother’s hotel room but are refusing to pay for my dad’s room from last night. I can’t believe how horribly shitty this is turning out to be. My dad’s 62. He’s too old for the shit. I’m pretty close to calling up Budget myself and forcing them to do something but since I’m not on the contract, I probably won’t accomplish anything.