BS: Amazing service

Subject: BS: Amazing service
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 06:47 PM

Get this. Took Mum to Waitrose in Holsworthy, Devon. Parked in blue badge bay. Blissfully did shopping, Loaded it into car, went back in and had cappuccinos with Mum and Mrs Steve in coffee shop.

12.30: Came back to car, loaded Mother in.

Car dead. Electrics all totally shot. Even remote entry key wouldn't work. Nuthin.

Rang AA (which I have with my TSB account).

25 minutes later, the AA man arrived. Took him two minutes to diagnose that my bloody alternator was shot. Bugger.

He towed us back to Bude, ten miles, with a tow bar. Well I've never been towed before. Lovely chap but he took no prisoners. Hurtling along at 40 on a narrow road, unable to see a damn thing, but obliged to steer and signal and apply brakes to order.

Arrived at his recommended garage in Bude. They promptly supplied us with a very nice courtesy car so that we could get Mother back to her home and get our shopping home. Told us they'd try to get the part and do the job as soon as they could.

5.20 pm, exactly five hours after I rung the AA, my car was fixed and ready. I charged back to the garage in the courtesy car and paid the bill. Total cost for new alternator, belt and labour, £230.

And my mum offered to pay!

What's missing from this account is the sheer friendliness of absolutely everyone involved. Great good humour at every juncture. I think everyone in this forum should seriously consider moving to north Devon/North Cornwall immediately!

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 07:32 PM

Everyone? There might be a few exceptions...

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 07:39 PM

Grr. You're right, of course. But even if "they" did move down yer, they wouldn't last long. The Cornish are the best in the world at detecting bullshit...

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: robomatic
Date: 25 Jan 19 - 08:32 PM

Are these the same Cornish whose hens are so game?

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Jan 19 - 03:57 AM

Funny thing, Steve. I had similar with a starter motor. Did not have Mother in tow but was going to see her in hospital. I get Green Flag cover through RBS. He fixed the starter with a big hammer and suggested a local garage that would lend me a car (For free! In Yorkshire!) until mine was properly fixed. All went as well as you described and it cost me similar to yours.

There are some good people about. Restores my faith in human nature :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: Senoufou
Date: 26 Jan 19 - 02:14 PM

We went to Morrisons this morning and decided to put our Fiesta in for a wash and interior valet. Like most of the Hand Wash places round here, it was a team of Eastern Europeans. They toil away in the cold and wet, and work incredibly fast.
We went for a cup of tea in Morrisons' cafe (I may have had a slice of their coffee-and-pecan cake as well) and did our shopping.
The lads had done an excellent job on our car, it was shining inside and out. And it only cost £15! I gave them £20, as we thought it was well worth it.
Such smiley jolly men, and they absolutely whizz about with their pressure washers and chamois leathers!
Husband was very pleased, as he finds it very chilly doing this during the winter months.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 26 Jan 19 - 08:24 PM

There are plenty of disadvantages to living in remote rural locales. Getting anywhere involves driving a long way, and fuel costs are higher here than anywhere else. It's an hour's drive to major shopping centres. Public transport is non-existent. The nearest railway station to us is 50 minutes' drive away. Major hospital an hour away. And so on. But when I go into Bude I've seen all the faces before. I know loads of people to talk to (can be a disaster if you're in a hurry!). I'm on first-name terms with all our doctors and teachers. There's amusing banter at the checkouts in every supermarket. I suppose there could be downsides: if ever I were to have an affair, for example (heaven forfend), I'd be the talk of the town within a week. On the other hand, it was never hard to find out what our kids were getting up to, poor buggers! But the overriding thing is the friendliness. And I can be walking on an amazing beach or over the cliffs five minutes after leaving the house. Can't see us ever moving back into a big town!

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: Senoufou
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 03:22 AM

That describes our life in rural Norfolk exactly Steve. We're an hour away from the hospital, station etc. We do spend quite a bit on petrol, as there are no buses from our village.
But we're known to so many people in all the supermarkets, shops etc. And the entire village knows our every move!

We're not that far from the coast, the Broads, the woods and rivers. But we have the whole of Norwich to meander round as well.

The wildlife here in the Wensum valley is wonderful. And for someone who isn't keen on hills or mountains, the flat landscapes and huge skies are a joy to behold.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: DMcG
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 07:03 AM

Let me say a word for the opposite! I was born in a large town (Middlesbrough), studied in a large town (Newcastle)., ... in fact, I have lived in a large town for my entire life. For me to move to the country would a moving to a fantasy to be honest: I have no experience of living that way.

But even in a town there is a richness that is easily missed. We are a few minutes walk from the river, a few minutes drive from the New Forest. There is a wealth of history and architecture here. And indeed wildlife.

When I visited the Galapagos islands I got talking to some locals and they were extolling the larger birds, the seals, the iguanas while simultaneously dismissing these little birds that were hopping on the table as "justly finches."

With open eyes, there is much to appreciate wherever you are. With eyes closed, all is drab.

Subject: RE: BS: Amazing service
From: Iains
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 08:27 AM

I have always found the AA to be extremely helpful. They have obtained and fitted an alternator in a motorway services for me. Another time they dragged my landrover and sheep trailer off the motorway when two rear trailer tyres puntured simultaneously. In the same incident they spent several hours finding and fitting one new wheel and two tyres for me.
I cannot sing their praises too highly.