No one likes to make mistakes. Even as we grow more graceful in making them, they still sting. Even more so when it ends costing a lot of money.
Yesterday I took Vélo to the vet for vaccinations. I had to park a couple of blocks away. I walked with my hands full of receipts, coffee cups, and Vélo and made it home.
Later I was going to ride my bike somewhere. I went to grab my keys and noticed my car fob (i.e. remote key) was not there.
Shit.
I retraced my steps. Maybe I dropped it on the way.
I remembered that I’d thrown an old coffee cup into a trash can by the library. I dug through some trash. The cup was still on top, so I figured if the fob had fallen it should be there too. No sign of it. I looked all around the trash can.
Throughout the day I retraced my steps at least 10 times. A couple of times a kind stranger (not so much a stranger anymore: Steven from Toledo!) helped me too. I left my card with my number with a security guard at the library in case someone found it.
I called a locksmith who could come, give me a new key fob, and reprogram the car’s computer for it. They said they’d be there in 45 minutes. I called them after an hour asking a new ETA. Somewhere wires got crossed and it was going to be another hour. Then another 30 minutes
They finally arrived around 5:00. It was going to take an hour to get through the security stuff and reprogram it. I went home. I got a call awhile later. They weren’t going to be able to do it. The computer wasn’t responding. They were going to have to pull the whole dashboard to get to it directly.
I asked for another alternative, since I’d probably have to tow it to a dealer to take care of it. He made a call. They were going to do it the hard way, but the price was going to go up (from the quote of $295). I expressed my distaste for the price increase since they were so late and they knew the make and model of my car before arriving… “Just fix it.” I went back home.
Awhile later I went to see how it was going. They had the computer out, but they were going to have to take it to their shop in Tampa to reprogram it. Huzzah!
But at about 11:00 that night they returned and got it going again. I was appreciative of their persistence since this was obviously not a normal job.
I paid the $400 ($375 + tax), feeling a little better about the amount after all of the effort they had to go through to take care of it. I’ll be writing them a good review too.
Still feeling ashamed about losing the damn thing in the first place. It’s fortunate I didn’t have anywhere pressing to be yesterday, but I definitely felt the pressure of wanting to get it fixed quickly. I have a doctor appointment today in Tampa. I was running through five different ways to get to that appointment and back without paying even more money.
Short story: if you have one of those remote key fobs – DON’T LOSE IT!! Your bank account will be much sadder for it.