Although we live only seventy miles from Las Vegas, Charlie and I rarely go down there. Most everything we need we have in Mesquite. We even have three casinos in our small town, although we only go there for an occasional good meal.
Yesterday was the exception: I took Charlie to Las Vegas to rendezvous with her BFF from Southern California, Karin Pace and afterwards picked up our RV from National Indoor RV, where it had been getting serviced.
Charlie had a room for two Friday and Saturday nights at Caesar’s Palace so we went there first and checked her in. The place was very crowded, which surprised me because of the pandemic; however, everyone was wearing masks, and it is obvious that management is toing the line set by Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak.
What surprised me even more was the clientele in Caesars: extremely blue-collar and young, with most patrons looking to be 21 to 40 years old. We might have been the only geezers in the joint. The atmosphere was more like a frat party or rave. Interesting…because Caesar’s used to have an upscale clientele. Time’s are a’changin’, I guess.
We were hungry (it was lunchtime) and had a hard time finding anything to eat. Caesar’s has lots of food opportunities, but it seemed that many were closed or operating at 50 percent capacity, which meant that it was almost impossible to get a seat in a restaurant. We ended up in the Sports Book area where we were each able to snag a slice of peperoni pizza and a Diet Pepsi to share. The cost: $25.00!!!
Valet parking cost me another $25.00!!
It is apparent that management (and corporate ownership) intends to recover one year’s worth of lost profits in a couple of months. Caveat emptor, or “Whatever money comes to Vegas, stays in Vegas!”
I left Charlie at Caesar’s and headed up I-15 a few miles to National Indoor RV to pick up the rig, which had been there for repairs for about one month. I had checked twice in the past ten days to CONFIRM that it would be ready on Friday the 16th, since I had to take Charlie into Vegas for her 2-day whirl. “Yes, Mr. Manning”, I was told, “Your RV will be ready.”
It wasn’t.
Both the Service Host, and her Assistant, walked me out into the parking lot to my rig (which had a bunch of crap sprayed on the door area!) and then said, “Only two items remain to be done”.
WTF, I turned red and flew into a rage. “You’ve had it for a month, I’ve just driven 70 miles to pick it up, you promised it would be done today, and now you’re informing me that you’re not done!!! This is total bullshit!”, I screamed.
The Service Host said, “We have you down for pick-up on the 19th”. I said, “That’s not what your assistant told me ten days ago and four days ago! You idiots should be ashamed of yourselves!” (I think I used f’ing descriptor)
The two ladies then told me that the remaining items to be done were installing the new washer/dryer and the new Blue Ox towbar. “That should have been done three weeks ago…what have you guys been doing?” It appeared that the rig had sat in the parking lot for quite awhile.
The ladies disappeared into the building and I stewed for ten minutes. They then returned and told me that the two items would be done immediately and asked me to wait in the Customer Lounge.
I went there and fumed.
After a half hour, I dialed up the NIRV telephone number and asked to talk to the Service Manager. When he came to the line, I unloaded on the poor guy, trashed his Service Dept help, and threatened to put some nasty shit on social media about his joke of a service operation and NIRV. I told him that I could get better service at…a “frigging gas station”.
I informed the Service Manager that one of my major “to-do” items on the repair checklist was repair/replacement of the under chassis air suspension system, a major cost item (possibly $8,000). After having the rig for three weeks, his bungling staff had called me and told me that they wouldn’t be doing those repairs because they “couldn’t get parts”. (I mentioned to the Service Manager that, following that call, I’d checked with Temecula Valley RV in So Calif and Premier Trucking in Hurricane, Utah…and they both said, “No problem, bring it in.” So, his inept operation had screwed ownership out of a nice profit on those repairs.)
In a few moments, he (“Tino”) appeared in the lounge and fell all over himself, apologizing for his inept crew and promising to get things completed and my rig ready to go “in 20 minutes”.
He lied; it was more than an hour but, to his credit, Tino had five guys working like slaves in my rig, getting everything ship-shape and even washed the thing. Tino made sure that one of his guys demonstrated that the washer/dryer worked and also that the Norcold refrigerator would now shift to propane while on the road.
Now we’re talkin’.
Finally, three hours late, I paid the bill…which had, generously, been marked down $500 by Tino for my inconvenience and as a gesture of apology. Okay, I thought, at least they’re trying.
As I waited for the crew to ease my rig out of the cavernous building, I glanced at the itemized invoice for the work done. I noticed a peculiar item: replacement of a cabinet hinge (which we had requested) that was priced $13.50 for parts and $338.00 for labor.
Needless to say, I flew into another rage.
NIRV is an expensive place, for sure, with a labor shop rate of $169.00 per hour. That means that they charged me two hours of labor…for something that I’ve installed myself in five minutes with a screwdriver. C’mon, Man, what’s with the price gouging?!!
My Service Host, “Marsha”, and the Service Manager “Tino” caught more foul language tossed their way and scurried off to accounting to investigate the outrageous charge.
Ten minutes later, Marsha reappeared to explain that it was her error, that she had believed that the repair guy replaced all of the cabinet latches in the bedroom slide (which she had recommended to me initially, but what I had declined…three weeks ago). Her bad, she said, and added that I would be receiving a $253 credit on my Visa come Monday.
Needless to say, I’ve seen the last of NIRV. Good riddance.
So, now it’s five-thirty, it’s getting to be dusk, and I’ve got to drive 70 miles back to Mesquite.
Wouldn’t you know it: the desert winds kicked up, and I had to slalom up Interstate 15 while being punished by 40 mph wind gusts!!
That was probably God’s punishment for all of those four-letter words that I inflicted on those NIRV nincompoops. (Yeah, but it felt good at the time!)
Next week, I will take The Beast up to Hurricane, Utah (60 miles) for the under-chassis work…which (that Service Department claims) doesn’t even require an appointment.
I will believe that when it happens.