Murphy avoided

We spent a relaxing week watching the changing season colors and visiting with friends. The only downside was the lack of good internet and ability to spend any quality time online. The weather was terrific and there was lots of time for walks in the parks.

This past Monday we headed to our scheduled annual service appointment at the dealer where we purchased the motorhome. We always travel back to this country dealer, as they do quality work at a reasonable rate. Perhaps the most important trait is simply that we trust them to do what is needed to be done and suggest work that is not needed. This was planned to be a one day visit.

On our arrival, we gave them our short list of items beyond the regular motorhome service. After going over the list, we headed to some friend’s home nearby for lunch. Before, we even got to there; we had a call from the dealer saying that they had found a pinhole leak in an airbag. We certainly wanted that fixed, since a failure of an air bag could leave us stranded along the road. They thought that it could be rush delivered for installation the next day.

One of the minor items on our list was hopefully a repair to one of our freezer doors on the Norcold refrigerator. The latching hardware on this nearly 5K item is basically cheap plastic and had cracked and was sticking every time we tried to open the door. The tech thought he could fix it by replacing the whole bottom plastic bottom frame of the door.

When we returned from our visit with friends, we heard that the door could not be repaired in this way and that a new door was installed. Since this was the last item to be done on the motorhome, the young lady in front started working on the bill. There was only one thing left to be accomplished before we were on our way. We always have the base plate on the car inspected by the dealer since they installed it over five years ago. The horror stories of a car leaving the motorhome always concerned me, and this year, friends of ours on an Alaska trip driving a motorhome like ours and towing a car like ours completely lost the car along the road when the base plate pulled out from under the car.

As the bill was being worked up, the young lady sort of yelped in surprise at something. It seems that she was incredulous when she found that the price of the new refrig door was $470. Needless to say that was not warmly received at our end either. So she quickly checked with the tech, who said that he would make some kind of repair of our old door and get it back in the motorhome. Since that would certainly involve some gluing, it would have to set overnight. So it would seem that we would have to spend a second night at the dealer for a refrig door. But wait!

As this drama was drawing to a conclusion, I strolled into the work area to check on the car. The inspection is normally a five minute deal, and they do not even charge for it. Since the car was in the bay for nearly a half hour already, I was wondering what was up. As it turned out, nothing good. The head mechanic had found a broken bolt. We agreed that the car trim would have to be pulled and all the bolts checked and replaced, if necessary. So at least, we were not waiting for just a door.

I am glad to say that all was successfully completed early in the AM on Wednesday and we were able to be on our way. The way I look at this, it was all good. Two items that could have been easily overlooked and later cause significant damage or worse were caught and fixed. We also now have a working door on the refrigerator without spending nearly $500 for the privilege, thanks to the efforts of the dealer.

We have avoided at least a couple more attempts by Murphy to slow us down.