Incredibly frustrating!

We had such a lovely time skiing in Vall de Nuria that we thought of having another sky day in Vallter 2000. We drove all the way up there. The next day was quite foggy. Skiing in the fog is not pleasant so we decide to drive down to Arbucies. Dora’s gear may have arrived today.

We arrive at Arbucies at lunchtime. Quim, the mechanic, sees us parking Dora and he shakes his head, the gear hasn’t arrived. His wife had been trying to call the breakers yard several times since he made the bank transfer but never got through. “From Asturias, it should have arrived by now” she says. She looks worried. Me too.

I ask if I can use their phone to call them. “Of course” she says. The line is engaged. I keep trying. Someone answered the phone, not Ivan, the guy I dealt with last time. “He is with another client. He will call you back” his colleague said. “No, I will wait. It has taken me ten minutes to get through”. My fear is he will never call me back.

Suddenly, Ivan picks up the phone:

“The gear has not been sent out yet. It will go out today with no delays, and it will be with you in the next three working days”

My face lit with anger:

“What?? You promised you would send the gear as soon as you got the money. We transfer you the money three days ago. I did my bit. You have to do yours. So do whatever it takes to get the gear here by tomorrow, no matter how much it costs you. It is your mistake, you pay for it”.

He tries to explain. “You must understand” . There is nothing to understand. His customer service has to improve. What these guys need is strong competition in their area. I bet they will soon go out of business.

I don’t trust him. The dealings have all been done on the phone. He’s got the money, he may not care. I am  sure he will eventually send it. But when? It would be so costly for us hanging around for a few more days. It would be so frustratingly painful trying to claim anything from him.

Angry and frustrating, we leave. We still have things we can do. One, looking for a kitchen sink tap for Dora (again, her) as it has been dripping for a while. Gary has tried to mend it but couldn’t undo the parts as they were ceased. We looked online and got a few directions of motorhome shops, all along the coast. So, we head off there.

We arrive at the aire of Feliux de Guixols, on the ‘Costa Brava’ at 19.00. Very good aire, with all the facilities for free but really packed with motorhomes. We squeeze Dora in the only spot available, quite lucky. We wouldn’t fancy looking for a place to stay at this time in the evening.

In the morning, when we are about to leave, Dora’s battery starts to play up again. Great! Gary jiggled the cables a bit, this to seems to have worked so far, although temporarily. We mustn’t forget to tell Quim to look at it tomorrow.

It is rainy and blustery, not a good day to drive along the coast. We stop in a few places, some of them are closed for the season. Not enough motorhomes around in winter to sustain the business. Others do not have the model tap suitable for Dora. We better leave it for where we get to France. There are more facilities in that country for motorhomes.

So, we decide to leave this area and drive back towards Arbucies. However, Dora’s battery fails again. Fine, we jiggle the cables. But this time, the solution doesn’t seem to work, no matter how many times we do it. Gary has an idea. We should undo all the cables and make them tighter. In the process, we drop the bolt and the washers and they fall through the engine. “F..ck!” we exclaim.

We look underneath Dora. No luck, they must still be caught somewhere in the engine. We grab a torch, we eventually see them. Gary gets a stick and tries to push them down. After a long and frustrating twenty minutes, in the rain, they fall on the ground. We tighten them back up and the battery starts. Hurraaaah!

The next day, we are back in Arbucies. The gear has not arrived yet. I call the breakers yard. “Yes, we sent it to be there in 24 hours. I will call SEUR (the transport company) and call you back”. They never did. We think we have lost €300 and have to start the whole process again. Plus the time I will have to spend trying to claim the money back from these guys. It seems we will never leave Spain.

Quim’s wife calls SEUR Girona. The parcel is there. We are now reassured it has been sent. It will be delivered today. “Why one day late?” “The distributor had an accident yesterday. Okay, but it is not our fault. We are expecting to get a refund from you for the transport costs.

The gear arrives after lunch. We don’t want to pay the guy. However, if we don’t pay him, he won’t leave the gear. Gary and him get into an argument. In the meantime, I ask Quim’s wife if she can get SEUR customer complaints’ number for us. We eventually pay the SEUR guy so Quim can fix Dora today and I submit a complaint to SEUR asking for a refund.

After three hours Dora’s gear, tyres and battery were sorted. “What was wrong with the battery?” We ask. Apparently, the battery circuit had this extra part added that acted as a security so you could easily disconnect the battery, useful for motorhomes. This wasn’t up to the job however and had partially melted, breaking the circuit and stopping Dora from starting.

So the mechanic takes it off, another problem solved. Not a problem for us as Dora is never in storage, maybe we will have to fit a new one when we get back.

Total repairs has cost us €600, still under budget. We have hardly spent any money on her after traveling for over six months. She has really been a good girl.

Quim and his team have been incredibly helpful. They have helped us so much trying to get the gear delivered as soon as possible. Besides they have had no issues of us using their phone and WI-FI when we needed them. We get them some wine and chocolates to express our gratitude and move on to our last and final destinations in Spain: Empuriabrava and Cadaques.

SM