August 29, 2008

Many of you will appreciate this. We have been trying for two weeks to get our truck ready to make the trip to Choluteca with the medical/dental team. One of the most important things we needed to get done was an alignment. So a couple of weeks ago we took it to get an alignment. They started the process and then tell us they can't do it because there are some parts that need to be replaced on the suspension before they can align it.

These parts were replaced at the beginning of this year by our local mechanic. So we take the truck back to our local mechanic. They look at the truck, tighteedn a few things and tell us the truck is ok. We take the truck to another place to get the alignment (our local mechanic doesn't do alignments) and they also tell us the parts are no good and they need to be replaced before they can align it. Hum, what should we do?

The truck also needed the mechanism replaced on the back window to roll it up and down because presently it is held up by duct tape. We take the truck back to our local mechanic to get the oil changed and window repaired. As we talk with them about the alignment they tell us they will take it to Villenueva (a town about 20 minutes from us) and get it aligned. Great! Sounds good to us. It's late in the afternoon and we prefer not to leave it overnight (if we can help it) so we agree to bring it back early the next morning and they assure us we can get it back that afternoon. Sounds Great again.

Well, we get a call that afternoon and our local mechanic is calling us from the alignment place telling us he has taken the vehicle to two different places for the alignment and both of these shops have told him they can't align it because our truck needs four new tires. The tires probably do need to be replace since we have to drive on some pretty bad roads but we've never heard of not being able to do an alignment because the tires are good enough. So, we pick up our truck that afternoon to find out the only thing they did was change the oil and filter. No alignment and no window repaired.

We take our truck to PriceSmart (similar) to a Sam's Club to get four new tires. Problem is they don't do alignments. We still need the alignment.

We decide to take the truck to the Nissan dealer. We get to the dealer early Monday morning to find out you need an appointment. We think they feel sorry for the gringos so they come out and look at our truck to see what needs to be done. We explain we need the parts replaced on the suspension and then an alignment, the window mechanism repaired, and a fan replaced for the a/c. They don't have the part for the window but it will be there Tuesday or Wednesday and they will call us.

Wednesday comes and goes and no phone call. We go back to the dealer early Thursday morning and ask about our truck. They tell us the part will be there at noon today and they can fix the window, repair the suspension, do the alignment, and we can pick up our truck Friday at 5:00 pm. We've decided to tackle the a/c fan another time. Great again.

Friday afternoon the dealer calls us and gives us a quote for the suspension and the alignment. Hum? Why are they doing this? We already talked about doing all this. Understand, all our conversations have been in Spanish. Brad tells the guy to do the work but we do need the truck by this afternoon because we are going to Choluteca. The man at the dealer seems a little confused (not by Brad's Spanish, which is rare, but by needing the truck by 5:00 this afternoon). But, he assures us we can have it by 5:00.

We show up at 5:00 to pick up our truck only to find out the ONLY thing that has been done is the window repaired. When we ask why the other work wasn't done they tell us they need the vehicle for an entire day to repair the suspension and align it. We reply, "You've had it two full days." They respond "But we need it for a full day to do the other work." We reply "But you've had it for two full days." They respond "But we need it for a full day." This continues for a few minutes and then they get someone who speaks English and we have this same conversation in English which leads nowhere. We're not upset, we're just trying to figure out what we need to do to get the work done. Finally they make us an appointment to bring the vehicle back so they can look at it and see what needs to be done. We thought this had already been done since they gave us a quote for the work - but if this will get it done then great.

After two weeks of trying to just get an alignment we have succeeded in getting the oil changed, four new tires, and the window repaired. But no alignment. Anybody want us to take their vehicle in for some minor maintenance?