We had to get up early today so I could get the turd over to Rout 66 RV & Truck Repair. My wife and I rousted the kids out of bed and we all drove over to the garage, located less than a mile from the RV Park where we stayed the night before. When we arrived I could not believe that there was actually a business operating out of this shack. I got out of the RV and headed over to the office where I was met buy a Hispanic male who was working on an engine block. I explained my situation and that I needed my fuel filter replaced. He said OK and followed me out to the RV. Getting down on his back, he rolled around on the ground, looking under the rig as he began muttering quietly to himself in Spanish. He said that he couldn’t find the fuel filter and that he would have to call his boss for advice as to where to look. As he made a beeline for the office, another older man drove over to me in one of the garage’s red emergency pick up trucks. This guy was a character to say the least diving back and forth to my RV from the garage (a distance of less than 100 feet). He said that he could replace the fuel filter, but the problem sounded like a fuel pump issue. Then he got down on his back, rolled around on the ground, looked under the rig and then began to mutter quietly to himself in Spanish. He got up and said that he could not find the fuel filter either. I told the guy that I would call Workhorse directly and ask them where the fuel filter was, at which point he nodded in agreement, muttered something unintelligible and promptly left to go work on another vehicle. I got a young lady on the phone at Workhorse who helped the older guy who I’ll call Poppy, locate the mysterious fuel filter. After a few minutes on his back, Poppy removed the old filter from my vehicle, a five minute procedure, and said that he was going to have to order a new one. He also kept telling me that it was the fuel pump and that no one in Albuquerque worked on more Workhorse chassis than Rout 66 RV & Truck Repair. Now mind you that this was the same guy that could not find a simple in-line fuel filter and had to have a lady in Michigan walk him thru it. “I am going to order the filter” Poppy said in thickly accented English. “But I am sure that you need a fuel pump and that could take days”. Now everyone I spoke with who knows anything about RV’s said it is NOT the fuel pump so at this point I become even more skeptical. “Do you do warrantee work” I asked Poppy. “I don’t know” he said, “You are going have to speak to the boss”. “Ok, when will he be here?” I asked. “20 to 30 minutes, he is picking up your fuel filter” he replied with an annoyed look. “You haven’t called it in yet” I said pointing the old filter still sitting on the ground next to the turd. “He will be here and you can talk to him” Poppy quipped as he was climbing back in his truck for the 100 foot drive back to the garage. “Can I call him” I asked? “Sure, I guess…but he is going to tell you the same thing” he said. “Same thing as what?” I asked, “You haven’t told me a damn thing yourself”. “I want to know how much this is going to cost, what is involved and are you authorized to do the warrantee work; you know common sense questions anyone would ask before they let you work on their $100,000 vehicle.” I continued, but clearly getting aggravated. “Good point” Poppy said, “but you are going to have to speak to the boss when he gets here because I don’t know anything about that stuff”.
At this point I call my warrantee company, explained the situation to them and asked if there were any approved garages they work with in the Albuquerque area. She gave me a list and I began calling. The last one on the list was RV World or something like that. They are a national chain of RV superstores and had quite an impressive facility located less than a mile from our current location. Of course I had already asked Ranger Bob at the RV park the day before if this place did repair work on RV’s to which he said no. So I called them and sure enough they didn’t do that kind of work there; but they did recommend someone who did. So I called Stratkus Engine Repair and they said that they do service Workhorse chassis and they do have the parts in stock. The owner Jim Stratkus was a good guy who said on the phone that there was a slight chance that it could be a fuel pump issue but he doubted it. He said it that it was more likely an electrical issue like a relay or something, and to bring it in at 8:00am the next day. While I was talking to Stratkus on the phone, Poppy climbed back under the RV and replaced the fuel filter. I went over to the office where “the boss” had finally gotten back from his shopping errands and was sitting at his desk. “I just spoke with my warrantee company, and before you are authorized to do any work they will have to approve it” I said. “How do they pay” he asked? “I don’t know” I said, “but I we both would feel more comfortable having a specialist do the work as your man Poppy has already admitted to me that he wasn’t sure that you guys could do the work and hell he couldn’t even find the fuel filter”. So I told the guy I’d like to settle up for the work already done. He said OK and proceeded to write out an invoice for $360. Upon receiving the invoice I asked the Frito Bandito if he was out of his frigging mind. He said, “no, we always charge a one time diagnostic fee which is here, the part cost $100 and that is listed here and 2 hours labor is listed here” he pointed out with a big smile. “First of all there was no diagnostic” I said. “I drove in here and asked to have my fuel filter replaced, which by the way two of your guys couldn’t find without the help of Workhorse, who I had to call on my personal cell phone”. “As for the 2 hours labor, that’s a bigger crock than the diagnostic, given that it was a 15 minute job once he found the filter and he spent all of the intervening time working on someone else’s truck”. “The only diagnostic that needs to be done is on your head, if you think that this is going to stand” I said. “You can sue me if you want, but that is going to take up a lot of time and money” he said, looking more and more like the Frito Bandito. At this point the conversation became pretty heated and Mr. Bandito’s compadres began walking up to the office door. The whole scene was intense and I felt that continuing along this track could prove dangerous for me and perhaps my family, who were all still waiting in the RV. So I paid the invoice, just wanting to get my wife and kids out of there. We went back to the RV Park and set up camp for an additional night. We took the kids swimming and to Petroglyph National Monument. We also took a short ride down Old Rout 66, which proved to be much better than any stretch of the highway we had previously seen. I wasn’t looking forward to fighting rush hour traffic in the turd, but I was comfortable that Stratkus would be able to help us with the problem. So after making tacos and going for a short walk around the park, we all turned in relatively early knowing tomorrow could be another interesting day.
At this point I call my warrantee company, explained the situation to them and asked if there were any approved garages they work with in the Albuquerque area. She gave me a list and I began calling. The last one on the list was RV World or something like that. They are a national chain of RV superstores and had quite an impressive facility located less than a mile from our current location. Of course I had already asked Ranger Bob at the RV park the day before if this place did repair work on RV’s to which he said no. So I called them and sure enough they didn’t do that kind of work there; but they did recommend someone who did. So I called Stratkus Engine Repair and they said that they do service Workhorse chassis and they do have the parts in stock. The owner Jim Stratkus was a good guy who said on the phone that there was a slight chance that it could be a fuel pump issue but he doubted it. He said it that it was more likely an electrical issue like a relay or something, and to bring it in at 8:00am the next day. While I was talking to Stratkus on the phone, Poppy climbed back under the RV and replaced the fuel filter. I went over to the office where “the boss” had finally gotten back from his shopping errands and was sitting at his desk. “I just spoke with my warrantee company, and before you are authorized to do any work they will have to approve it” I said. “How do they pay” he asked? “I don’t know” I said, “but I we both would feel more comfortable having a specialist do the work as your man Poppy has already admitted to me that he wasn’t sure that you guys could do the work and hell he couldn’t even find the fuel filter”. So I told the guy I’d like to settle up for the work already done. He said OK and proceeded to write out an invoice for $360. Upon receiving the invoice I asked the Frito Bandito if he was out of his frigging mind. He said, “no, we always charge a one time diagnostic fee which is here, the part cost $100 and that is listed here and 2 hours labor is listed here” he pointed out with a big smile. “First of all there was no diagnostic” I said. “I drove in here and asked to have my fuel filter replaced, which by the way two of your guys couldn’t find without the help of Workhorse, who I had to call on my personal cell phone”. “As for the 2 hours labor, that’s a bigger crock than the diagnostic, given that it was a 15 minute job once he found the filter and he spent all of the intervening time working on someone else’s truck”. “The only diagnostic that needs to be done is on your head, if you think that this is going to stand” I said. “You can sue me if you want, but that is going to take up a lot of time and money” he said, looking more and more like the Frito Bandito. At this point the conversation became pretty heated and Mr. Bandito’s compadres began walking up to the office door. The whole scene was intense and I felt that continuing along this track could prove dangerous for me and perhaps my family, who were all still waiting in the RV. So I paid the invoice, just wanting to get my wife and kids out of there. We went back to the RV Park and set up camp for an additional night. We took the kids swimming and to Petroglyph National Monument. We also took a short ride down Old Rout 66, which proved to be much better than any stretch of the highway we had previously seen. I wasn’t looking forward to fighting rush hour traffic in the turd, but I was comfortable that Stratkus would be able to help us with the problem. So after making tacos and going for a short walk around the park, we all turned in relatively early knowing tomorrow could be another interesting day.
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