Let me start by saying if you are in the Kenmore, Tonawanda area, and you need roadside assistance, call John at JT’s Roadside Service, 716/990-1872. He was fast and professional, and after almost five hours in a small car with a nine-year-old, a sight for sore eyes.
Yes. Saturday turned out to be a very...interesting...day.
We went to a basket raffle, won Three baskets!, and when we came out at 5:50 pm, the back passenger tire was flat as a pancake. I used my Onstar, told them I was alone with my child in the car, and they called GM Roadside Assistance for me. The next call I received was from GM Roadside. They were sending someone from Tracy's Towing to me, and my wait time was an hour and a half. Well, I figured, an hour and a half, that's not too bad, Ian and I will wait it out.
At 7:30 I used my Onstar button again and asked for a status update. We'd waited an hour and a half, and there was no assistance in sight. They called GM Roadside again, and told me that because the weather was bad in my area (news to me), it would be another half hour, 45 minutes. They gave me the number for Tracy's so I could call them directly if I needed to. Nothing to do but wait...
Fortunately, I had parked in front of a Chinese pizza place, so we got a small pizza and ate in the car. One of the baskets Ian won was full of toys, so we used the pizza box to set up the chess board, and we played chess and checkers for a while.
At 8:15, I called Tracy's directly. The man that answered the phone told me their tow truck broke down, they were getting another one to me, and it would be another 30 to 45 minutes.
At 9:00, I called Tracy's again, directly. The man that answered apologized again and told me he was on his way. It was snowing like crazy where he was, but he should be to me in another half hour, 45 minutes.
I didn't believe him, but what could I do?
We waited.
At 10:00, I used my Onstar button and vented. I had been sitting for four hours in my vehicle with my child. It wasn't snowing, the roads were wet, and as far as I could see, there was no reason we should still be sitting there.
The Onstar people put me on hold, and the next person on the line was GM Roadside Assistance. The gentleman apologized profusely. He canceled the call to Tracy's and placed a call to another company, JT’s Roadside Service , who would be at my vehicle in 20 to 30 minutes. He assured me a report was going to be made to his supervisor, and Tracy's would not be working for them anymore.
Ian and I resumed our game of chess, which I was losing badly.
At 10:35, a man knocked on Ian's window and scared the crap out of us both. It was John, the owner of JT's. He was horrified that we had been waiting that long. His trucks were out doing whatever trucks do, so he grabbed his mother-in-law's SUV, threw a jack in the back, and came to fix my flat himself. Within ten minutes, we were on our way home.
A side note. John asked me who left us stranded. I told him Tracy's Auto or Tracy's Towing, something like that. He said he'd never heard of them. I searched for them on the net. The Internet hasn't heard of them, either. After GM canceled the service call to them, the driver called me and asked if I still needed my tire changed. At the time, I was still sitting there, so I said yes, I was still stuck there with a flat. He told me he'd be there in another half hour or so. As far as I know, he probably still hasn't shown up.
I am thinking about returning to AAA. GM Roadside Assistance comes free with the car, but I'm thinking you get what you pay for. Would I have sat there for so long if I had AAA?
Hard to say...
Of course, I can hear Obiwan in the back of my head saying, "Would you have waited so long if you learned how to change a tire?"
Next on my agenda is to look into those adult courses through the school district and see if they have one on basic car stuff. As in, the stuff I should know. {heavy sigh}
