The weather was miserable with an overcast sky, high winds and scattered rain but we weren't going to let that deter us. After an amazing day at Dover Castle enjoying a truly brilliant English Heritage site we were heading back to our Premier Inn to get changed and go for pizza when clunk the car made an odd noise at a busy roundabout and that was it, we weren't going anywhere!
Luckily for us we have cover with Club Toyota and one call to them set in motion our rescue from start to finish. First off an angel in yellow arrived, our AA man Wayne was the ultimate in efficiency and friendliness. Within moments he diagnosed our car with a broken drive shaft and set about getting it towed to the nearest Halfords who would be able to fix it for us.
I really cannot sing Wayne's praises highly enough, he was fabulous with our kids, he answered endless questions, was chatty to us and he got the whole crisis organised. He got us and our car to Halfords before it closed (and he only reached us at 4.45pm), he spoke to Enterprise to get a car hire arranged and when they could not supply until the next morning he ordered a large taxi to take us back to our hotel (charges taken care of).
As we stood at the roadside 70 miles from home before Wayne arrived my husband and I were musing quite how we might get this situation sorted. Neither of us realised our Club Toyota membership offered anything more than just AA cover. We knew it was a good price and that is why we had stuck with it (£7 a month in case you were wondering) but to learn it also included onward travel, car hire and a hotel room if we needed it, was brilliant.
As well as Club Toyta, the AA and Wayne I also want to give a shout out to Halfords. We've bought all our bikes from them previously and often purchased odd car parts but I had no idea they had service centres too. I've already found out my local one is in Eastbourne and I'll definitely be using it in the future for my service and MOT as well as ad-hoc repairs. When you consider that it was about 5.30pm when we turned up with the car and Wayne and they got a new drive shaft ordered straight away and by 11.30am the next morning our car was ready for us to collect.
Premier Inn also came up trumps. We were supposed to be checking out the next morning and moving on to another Premier Inn about 30 miles away but of course we had no idea if the car would be ready and we didn't want to have to leave at 12 noon and wait with all our luggage, so I booked an extra night at the hotel we were already at (Ramsgate, Manston Airport - very good by the way) and they cancelled the room at the onward hotel and refunded me the money. Elaine that I was speaking to via Facebook was super efficient.
What could have been an awful situation turned out to me a memorable one for all the right reasons. I do love it when people go out of their way to do a great job. Thanks again to you all.
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| The girls at Dover Castle. Standing on the Saluting Platform and getting into the spirit of it! |
Reasons to be Cheerful is being hosted over at Lakes Single Mum for the month of June, so head over and see Becky to link up. Don't forget to tweet with #R2BC and I'll be hosting again as of July.
Have a amazing weekend, Be blessed, Mich x
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