Driving to Mum's in Manchester yesterday I somehow managed to get a slow puncture, by the time we arrived my tyre was as flat as a pancake. So while Mum chatted on her phone to someone I called on mine for the man with the big yellow van to come and change my wheel.
It's all so different these days, as soon as I called I was put through a series of phone tapping which resulted in them texting me a link, me clicking on the link so they could see my exact location and then with the entering of my registration number they told me what car I had. Then a different set of buttons to press and two minutes later my knight in a shining yellow transit van was booked.
AA man Jim came out and put on my emergency spare, which as it is a narrower than usual tyre cannot be driven on at more than 50 miles an hour. Now there is no way I could meander up the motorway at fifty, so I Googled the nearest Kwik-Fit and after a lovely long chatty visit with Mum and a doggy walk around the park across the road with Mum and Suky, I called to the said garage on the way home.
Technology is brilliant when it works and as soon as Kwik-Fit man Ryan entered my registration number on his computer, my car's and my companies whole Kwik-Fit history popped up on his screen. ' Ooh you're regular customers' he smiled, 'yes my husband likes to look after the cars' I responded.
He immediately put me next in line to be fixed, and me and Suky sat at a socially isolated distance from everyone else and watched while Kwik-Fit man Suki checked over my old tyre, discovered the irreparable problem and offered me a new tyre of similar style to my others.
My face must have looked a picture when he quoted me the price of £119 plus VAT, but the day was saved by Ryan popping out of the office and saying 'no they are regular customers it's just £80 all in'.
Fifteen minutes later I was pulling onto the M60 and heading back to the Van. Thanking my lucky stars that wherever we live we pick a good garage and stick to it loyally, and being very grateful that this time we had chosen Kwik-Fit.
It pays to be loyal ... in all areas of your life.
Sue xx
My word, that was a significant reduction! What a nuisance thing to happen though on a day out.
ReplyDeletexx
Most interesting Sue - you are right of course - it always pays to be loyal.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree about being loyal. I use my local branch of a nationwide carpet company and they always give me a substantial 'price match' discount without actually needing to prove anything because I'm a loyal customer. I've saved a few hundred pounds over the last few years doing up my house :-)
ReplyDeleteTouch wood I've not had a puncture or had to call out breakdown in all my years driving. I'm glad it all worked well for you and you got to your mums safely.
ReplyDeleteYou are right - it certainly does pay to be loyal. We find a good shop or person and stick with them and it always makes things easier. Was it just a coincidence that the repairman was named Suki? Or was Suky actually named after him?
ReplyDeleteIt was a total coincidence ... why would Suky be named after a random young man in Manchester?
DeleteSuky was named in honour of my late Mum in Law, who called all dogs that loved a cuddle 'sooky, sooky dogs' which I believe is a Scottish term. Suky was born the day after Jessie died in 2011 and so given that name. It coincidentally also means exactly the same as my name Susan, which I only found out a couple of years ago. So it's me and Suky who are namesakes. :-)
Suki and Suky how funny. I had to stop and think as the other day when I left a comment I mistakenly wrote Suki instead of Suky oh dear so sorry Suky:) We have used the same repair shop for over 20 years and they always look after our vehicles, as you say loyalty does pay.
ReplyDeleteHis version was short for Sukhmani. Don't worry about the spelling so many people do it, readers used to get Rosy's name wrong too and end it in 'ie'. We always give our animals their names to suit them and with special meanings attached.
DeleteQuite the difference in price. It sure does pay to be a loyal customer.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
That's a great reduction Sue! It certainly does pay to be loyal. We had to call the AA for the first time in probably 35 years yesterday. My husband dropped me home and there was a van over our garage, so we pulled into the only available place - up a neighbour's drive. He dashed in and out again, only to find he couldn't start the car again. Nothing. Nada. Dead. Immobile. PANIC! SO, we ring AA, who (like you) tell us what we're driving and come very promptly. Now, we're in our second car, a 9-10 year old tiny Nissan Micra, which we've had from new.... The AA man gets in, staked the steering wheel, AND STARTS THE CAR! We've had it all this time, and never realised that if it jams up, you rattle the steering wheel. Talk about EMBARRASSING !!!
ReplyDeleteThank God for the AA!!
Haha ... I'm sure he's been out to that kind of thing many times, they love a nice simple job in between all the oily puzzling ones. My son used to do call out work for a large truck recovery company and did jobs for the AA too. He got more chocolate bars, treats and grateful thanks from the people with simple little problems ... and a good call out fee from the AA too.
DeleteI remember buying my Mum and Dad's four year old Corsa off them when the trade-in price they were offered for a new one made it a better deal NOT to trade in a car, and Dad handing me the keys apologising that the central locking didn't control the boot as well and you had to use the key every time. All that had happened was when he FIRST went to open the boot when the car was new four years previously, he had used the key out of habit and altered it from the central locking. He didn't realise you only had to lock everything, open everything and then lock it again for it all to synchronise ... they also didn't know they had lovely cool air conditioning in the car!!
I don't drive but Jon's a huge Kwik Fit fan. With his fleet of vintage VWs he often has to pop in and ask about something and a lot of the time they'll fit something for him and refuse payment. He always returns with a crate of beer to keep them sweet. x
ReplyDelete