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Because it's long.
We needed to have the tires replace on our car; now, there are only a couple places we know of to go for this kind of car service: the Autoport on base, the shop on the NATO base, or some place out in two that we can't find.
My husband opted to take the car to the Autoport, which is independently operated (not military) and charges way too much for bad service, but is convenient. Mistake #1.
The car has a lug nut on each wheel that actually locks, so you need a key to get it off. My husband lost said key. Mistake #2.
The autoport decides, hell, they're going to weld a tool onto the locked lug nuts and force them off so they can change the tires!
Of course, they don't have replacement lug nuts on hand, so try to follow this timeline with me:
Day 1: Tires are changed. Autoport tells us to come back at 5:00, they'll have the new parts from town and it'll be good to go. We come back at 5:00, they tell us they don't have the parts, and to just drive with four nuts on each tire. Come back on Day 4, they'll have the part; they'll install it for free.
Day 4: No part. They tell us to call back tomorrow.
Day 5: No part. Call back on Day 7.
Skip ahead to Day 10: We call them. They finally have the part. We ask how much it will be. They tell us to call back in an hour.
One hour later: They don't have the part. Call back in fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes later: They DO have the part. We ask the cost. They tell us they'll call US back in 15.
15 minutes later: No phone call.
30 minutes later: We call them. They DON'T have the part. They put us on hold for ten minutes. Oh, they DO have the part. We ask how much. They tell us to call back.
You're probably asking why we didn't just go in and do this in person at this point; we live about an hour away and didn't want to go down there on four lug nuts per tire if we weren't going to get the part.
15 minutes later: THEY call us. They have the part. It'll be free. WOO!
We go in to get the nuts put on and he tells us it will be two hours. (WTF? For lug nuts?) I tell him, we need to be out of here at 2:00. No problem.
We come back two hours later. No lug nuts. It is now 1:50. Autoport guy tells us to hold on, serves three customers, then pops his head outside to get one of them in AHEAD of us.
We wait. And wait. 2:30, I finally got up, went to the counter, with my husband trying to distract me so I don't leap across and STRANGLE the guy, and demanded the damn lug nuts because I can put them on myself (they didn't want to let us do it for some legal/safety/BS reason).
The guy looks at me strangely and says, "Oh, they're already on. We did it half an hour ago."
Me: "WHEN was you going to tell us?"
Him: "I dunno."
So yeah. This is pretty much typical of this place, unless you know someone.
Edit to add: Yes, we could have ordered the lug nuts online, but it would've taken about three months for them to ship to us.
We needed to have the tires replace on our car; now, there are only a couple places we know of to go for this kind of car service: the Autoport on base, the shop on the NATO base, or some place out in two that we can't find.
My husband opted to take the car to the Autoport, which is independently operated (not military) and charges way too much for bad service, but is convenient. Mistake #1.
The car has a lug nut on each wheel that actually locks, so you need a key to get it off. My husband lost said key. Mistake #2.
The autoport decides, hell, they're going to weld a tool onto the locked lug nuts and force them off so they can change the tires!
Of course, they don't have replacement lug nuts on hand, so try to follow this timeline with me:
Day 1: Tires are changed. Autoport tells us to come back at 5:00, they'll have the new parts from town and it'll be good to go. We come back at 5:00, they tell us they don't have the parts, and to just drive with four nuts on each tire. Come back on Day 4, they'll have the part; they'll install it for free.
Day 4: No part. They tell us to call back tomorrow.
Day 5: No part. Call back on Day 7.
Skip ahead to Day 10: We call them. They finally have the part. We ask how much it will be. They tell us to call back in an hour.
One hour later: They don't have the part. Call back in fifteen minutes.
Fifteen minutes later: They DO have the part. We ask the cost. They tell us they'll call US back in 15.
15 minutes later: No phone call.
30 minutes later: We call them. They DON'T have the part. They put us on hold for ten minutes. Oh, they DO have the part. We ask how much. They tell us to call back.
You're probably asking why we didn't just go in and do this in person at this point; we live about an hour away and didn't want to go down there on four lug nuts per tire if we weren't going to get the part.
15 minutes later: THEY call us. They have the part. It'll be free. WOO!
We go in to get the nuts put on and he tells us it will be two hours. (WTF? For lug nuts?) I tell him, we need to be out of here at 2:00. No problem.
We come back two hours later. No lug nuts. It is now 1:50. Autoport guy tells us to hold on, serves three customers, then pops his head outside to get one of them in AHEAD of us.
We wait. And wait. 2:30, I finally got up, went to the counter, with my husband trying to distract me so I don't leap across and STRANGLE the guy, and demanded the damn lug nuts because I can put them on myself (they didn't want to let us do it for some legal/safety/BS reason).
The guy looks at me strangely and says, "Oh, they're already on. We did it half an hour ago."
Me: "WHEN was you going to tell us?"
Him: "I dunno."
So yeah. This is pretty much typical of this place, unless you know someone.
Edit to add: Yes, we could have ordered the lug nuts online, but it would've taken about three months for them to ship to us.
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