3/8/2010 A Trip to Phoenix

This morning we got on the road a little after ten for a trip to Phoenix. The tires we ordered for the truck finally arrived.

Before we went to the tire place we stopped at the PhotoMark shop where I dropped my camera off to hopefully be repaired. I had contacted Canon and told them about the error message I was getting when I tried to take a close up picture or in some cases, just use the flash. I was told I could send it to them with a written description of the problem and they would get back to me with an estimate. The fellow on the phone said that with the error message i was getting it would probably cost me $180 - $200 dollars and it would take probably 10 – 14 days before my camera would be returned to me. Two weeks without my camera????? I don’t think so.

I googled Canon camera repair Phoenix, AZ and a list of repair shops and “send my camera away to” businesses came up. I called the first one in Phoenix and talked with Jay. I told him about the error code and he said there was a very good possibility he could fix it in the shop. I asked him for an estimate on the bill and he said, “If its what I think it is and I can do it in the shop,,,,,it will be $18.00.” Alrighty then! I’m likin’ the sound of this!

So we set Doris, our GPS, for McDowell Avenue and off we went. It was a pleasant, uneventful hours drive into the city. Doris took us right to the shop and I went in, camera in hand. I talked with Bob at the front desk and told him my concerns and that I had talked with Jay and told him I would leave the camera but would need to pick it up in the afternoon. He assured me that would be no problem as they would be able to determine the problem and fix it or let me know my options if they couldn’t repair it. We left.

We found the tire place with little trouble and went in to let them know we were there. I had called earlier, before we left, to make sure (a) the tires were there and (b) that they would in fact be able to put them on today. I was assured the tires were on the premises and that they were awaiting our arrival. So David, the guy I’ve been talking to all along comes out to greet us and says…….”You aren’t going to believe this”…..Bob and I looked at each other, waiting….. “all six tires were here this morning, I saw them, but somebody sold one of them.” He went on to say, “Now I’ve made arrangements for a truck to bring another one from the warehouse and it’s on its way, we’re just waiting for it to arrive.” Well, ok, that’s good, we’re glad to hear that, it works for us. So we waited. I had brought a book with me so I had no problem passing the time. Bob couldn’t find a magazine he was really interested in. He paced, he drank coffee, he paced some more, he walked outside, he paced some more. I’m glad I brought a book!

When we first started shopping for tires Bob went online and found what he wanted and started inquiring to area shops. We were hearing prices like $2600 for the six tires. That did not sit well with the Queen of Cheap. We had to open the search up to a large metro area like Phoenix or Tucson for better prices. I did my thing with Google and found the Redburn Tire Company in Phoenix. They quoted us a price of $1700 and change. A far cry from $2600! Since they weren’t in stock and would have to be ordered I told David, the tire guy, that I thought a discount should be in order since we had to wait. He agreed.

While we were waiting I had asked David about the tire disposal fee that the company charged and he said it was $5.00 per tire. That’s thirty bucks! I told him I thought that was too much since I had seen the investigative segment on the TV news the night before. It actually costs the tire stores seventy five cents to a dollar each to have the tires hauled away to the rubber recycler which is what they do in Arizona. Now the State of Arizona tacks on an automatic fee of $2.00 per tire plus the, for the sake of argument, the buck the store pays and anything over $3.00 is pure profit for the tire seller. Some places charge as much as $8.00 per tire to dispose of them. to me, that is just GREED! David agreed to waive the fee over the $2.00 state imposed fee. Wait to go David!

So the tires are on and its time to pay the bill. I reminded David that we had to wait for the tires and he just smiled and said, “I’ll take care of it.” What a pleasant surprise we got! Our final bill was $200 and change less than our original quote. Thank you David! You rock! We could not have been happier when we walked out of there.

All the way back to the camera store I was hoping Jay was able to work his magic and fix my camera. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in and Bob the counterman said, “We fixed it!” They also gave it a much needed cleaning and it looked like it did the day I took it out of the box. The problem? Dirt…..and quite possibly a drop or two of Pepsi which is sticky. Yeah, considering the camera is always with me I could see where a drop or two of Pepsi could have found its way……. But its all fixed now, its clean and works fine, all for eighteen dollars.

I am a happy Queen of Cheap today!