It’s things like this that drive me to consider – seriously – selling the RV and vacationing in hotels from now on.
Evelyn and I are in a lovely campsite at Lum’s Pond State Park, one of Delaware’s nicer offerings. Our site is spacious and visually attractive. In fact, the groundskeepers were out in full force mowing the grass all over the park yesterday. We have trees that afford some shade during the day. The rain hasn’t dampened our enjoyment of simply being away.
We arrived on Sunday and got everything set up. There was not much to set up outside other than connecting the utilities. Inside I hung the privacy curtain that separates the cab (driver’s and passenger’s seats, etc.) from the living space.
On Monday we were having lunch when we heard a sudden loud crashing noise that sounded like something had fallen off a shelf and broken. I looked around and could see nothing, but had to wonder what in the world would have made such a startling noise.
A few minutes later that I heard another sound like broken pieces of something falling on the floor. This time I raised the privacy curtain and saw it: the driver’s side window was completely shattered! There was glass all over the seat, the floor, in Kianna’s dog bed, and outside on the running board and ground. Not only was it a shock, but it was a royal mess.
I immediately went down to the camp store where I had already been two or three times to make some purchases. Erin and Emily, the two young women who work there, were already getting to recognize me. They smiled as I walked in, but I wasn’t in a good mood. Erin was the one in charge (Emily was apparently in training), so I asked to speak to her (Erin) privately. One of the park’s grounds staff was also in the store, and when I started to tell Erin about the broken window, the man asked me which site I was in. I told him, and he said he mowed the grass at that site (what are the chances? Chalk up another one to a “God-incidence”). He initially presented the idea that it could not have been his mower because he had the chute facing away from our RV, but he still wanted to see the damage.
He met me back at the camper and saw the shattered window. He looked around on the ground and actually found the rock – now in two pieces – that had done the damage (he then told me that he had retired from a local police force and knew how to look for things like that). It was virtually undeniable that the rock was responsible for the damage. He then allowed that sometimes things fly out from under the mowers and not always through the chute. I agreed that accidents happen. I had already taken pictures, but he also took some and said that I should go ahead and have the repair made; the park should reimburse us. I called the service department of the camper facility where we store the RV, but the manager had already left for the day. They left a message for him to call me today. I found a piece of clear plastic large enough to cover the window and duct-taped it in place. (Good thing, since it rained later.)
This morning (Tuesday, shortly before writing this blog) I called Safelite to see if they might possibly be able to come to the park and do the repair before we left on Thursday. I didn’t really want to drive with a piece of plastic over the window if I didn’t have to. The ads make it look so easy – you call, they come out, they do the repair on the spot, they wave away your offer to pay because your insurance will cover it, and you’re good to go.
Don’t. You. Believe. It.
I called. The robo-voice convinced me that it would be faster to schedule the appointment online. So, I went online. Within five minutes I had been led by the nose all around Robin Hood’s barn and back again without making one bit of progress. I filled out the information on our RV (make, model, year, yada, yada, yada), entered the ZIP Code for Lum’s Pond, even clicked the link to send a photo of the damage, and … nothing! I clicked “Continue” several times, but it took me nowhere.
So, I called back. Even if it took longer to make the appointment, at least I could talk to somebody who would ask me all the right questions and get this repair on their docket. When given the options for why I was calling, I said, “Schedule a new repair.” That’s when the robo-voice informed me that all new repair appointments were now being made exclusively online!!
These people really don’t want to do business with us, do they? How much harder could they possibly make it?
I decided to check my email. Safelite sent me a request to finish my online appointment, so I gave it one more try. Under the question, “What do you need repaired?” they gave one option, and one option only: “Windshield.” I don’t need a windshield replaced or repaired. So that was the end of that.
Now I’ll be waiting for my camper service man to call and see where we go from there. With our luck, he’ll tell me that they don’t do those repairs on site, but have another shop that they outsource to, and they won’t be able to fit me in for another two weeks. If it weren’t for the fact that we’ll be taking the RV to New Jersey on Friday for this coming weekend, that might not be such an issue. But my crystal ball is showing me driving with a sheet of plastic over the window for the next week.
What a pain in the glass.