Tuesday 13 February 2018

An Alarming Incident!


It's half term and I have to say, it's started off with a wee bit more excitement than I had anticipated. More's the point, it has started with excitement, which, quite frankly, I could have done without. Let me start at the beginning though, because some excitement was expected.

On Friday, I waved goodbye to my eldest daughter. Actually, I didn't, the coaches that were taking herself and her cohorts to Paris hadn't arrived on time (for a change) and so, parents were politely asked to leave so that the teachers and school buses could access the car park. Anyway, back to the story, Miss. D was off to Paris for a French trip. One day in Paris and one day in Disneyland Paris. Jealous? Yes, me too! Back home Monday afternoon. I know she wasn't gone long, but Miss. L and I missed her and were really looking forward to her arriving home.


So feeling just a little excited, I set out to collect her from school. Um, it's fair to say, I didn't get far. I didn't get far at all. I probably covered about two feet before all hell let loose.


This is my car. I like my car. My car does everything I need my car to do. Best of all, it's bloody cheap to run! It may not be a prestige car, but it's mine and I love it. Well usually I love it. I did not feel quite so affectionate towards it last night.

I'd parked the other way round (just in case some bright spark thinks my choice of gear had something to do with the problem) so I had to reverse off the drive. Everything, was working as it should, I covered two feet or so, and all of a sudden the alarm went off. I swore, a lot, I think. Grabbed the owners manual and went indoors to find out how to turn it off. The ignition did nothing, nor did the door lock. The owners manual was as much use as a chocolate teapot!

Next port of call, the dealership I purchased the car from. They'll know what to do, right? Wrong! All they could do was give me the number to contact Renault. Now, the lady at Renault was very helpful and arranged to send out a patrol to look at it for me (under warranty), but it would be up to two hours before they arrived. I live on a new build estate, it was only a matter of time before the neighbours organised themselves into a lynch mob. Armed with this information she put me through to someone who tried to help me stop the alarm. It didn't work.

Enter a friendly neighbour, or two, or three. Yes, three fabulous neighbours came to my rescue. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. Given my recent poor mental health, this incident was testing my 'recovery' to the limits and I was on the verge of losing it big time! We got the bonnet open and located the problem, but we couldn't stop the noise. After an hour of the horn sounding we eventually stopped it by disconnecting the battery. It was a last resort, but honestly, needs must. I cannot remember how many times I thanked those wonderful gentlemen, but I have bought them cards to say a proper thank you. What I do know, is that they haven't got a clue just how much their help meant to me.

About half an hour later, Mr. RAC man arrived. He managed to disconnect the horn, which was still sounding continually if the battery was connected. It took him a while, as it is located in a bit of a fiddly to get to place, but thank goodness, he managed it. Once done, he reconnected the battery and gave the car a quick once over to make sure it was working properly.

I am pleased to report that the car is running just fine (so long as I don't need to use the horn, that is) and it is booked in with the dealer to be repaired and serviced. In the words of the lovely Chloe at Renault, who did the repair and service booking, 'It's going to be an interesting day when it goes in for repair.' You see, no one has come across this before. Not Mr. RAC man, not Dacia, not Renault. It's a very unique issue, but then again, this is my car and I'm pretty unique, so really, are we surprised? I'll leave you to mull that one over.


JakiJellz

Debs Random Writings
Lucy At Home

26 comments:

  1. Ohh my! What a lot of excitement. It sounds like your car is pretty unique. I am glad it's working again. Good luck with getting the horn fixed.

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    1. I feel sorry for the chaps who are going to be doing the work. Hope they have ear protectors!

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  2. Good Grief! What a thing to happen. My last name if Murphy and that is the type of thing that happens to me all the time.

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    1. Perhaps we should swap names, it happens to me all the time too x

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  3. That's quite a story! Hope you get your car sorted out. Thank goodness for nice neighbours.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog. #keepingitreal

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    1. It's all booked in for repair. Other than the horn it's running beautifully xx

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  4. Oh I can image how stressed you were. I had a car whose alarm kept going off once and it was so embarrassing. I hope they can solve the problem for you! #keepingitreal

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    1. It was mortifying! I'm sure it will be fine though, I hope so xx

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  5. Oh my goodness. I can't imagine how you must have felt with the alarm going off. Thank goodness for good neighbours and a helpful RAC person. Hope someone else was able to pick up your daughter. What a nightmare! #keepingitreal

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    1. Thankfully one of the other parents collected Miss D and brought her home for me, it's lucky because I couldn't get the child to answer her phone to let her know x

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  6. I've never heard of that happening before, thankfully your neighbours were helpful rather than lynching you :) It can be so stressful when your car plays up, we were on holiday one year and on the last day I could hear the fan on my car just going on and on and on. Of course when I came to start it up it had drained the battery. We had to call the AA who took forever to get it started, then I was so afraid it wouldn't start again we left the car running while we packed up and I didn't stop all the way home, never mind the protests of needing the loo!
    #keepingitreal

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    1. Oh my goodness Anne, I don't think I would have dared turn the engine off either! Short of knowing how to put air in the tyres and check oil etc, I'm pretty useless with cars.

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  7. Oh gosh, what an absolute nightmare. Occasionally ours goes off unexpectedly but a bit of pressing buttons usually sorts it. This must be horrendous. Glad you got it sorted in the end.
    Nat.x

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    1. It certainly was a relief when my neighbours disconnected that battery! x

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  8. I can't imagine how annoying that must have been for you! I hope you get it fixed. Thanks for sharing with #TriumphantTales, hope to see you again next week.

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    1. Hi Jaki. Well thankfully it's covered by the warranty, so I'm sure all will be fine x

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  9. Hi Lisa, you handled the whole episode far better than I would have! You would have found me in the darkest corner under the bed if that had been our car! It's times like this when you know who your good neighbours are. I hope you get to the bottom of it soon and I hope your daughter had the best time in France.

    Thank you for linking up with #keepingitreal.

    xx

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    1. Thanks, Debbie. She enjoyed France a lot and found the car incident quite amusing to come back to x

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  10. Oh my days Lisa! What a bloody nightmare. I think you handled it well, the air would have been blue if it was me hehe!
    Yay to helpful neighbours. I hope your daughter had an amazing time in France :)

    Thanks so much for linking up to #MMBC. Have a lovely weekend x

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    1. Thanks Jayne. Yes she loved France and discovered she quite likes snails. The car was an interesting evening and yes the air was a little blue xx

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  11. Oh gosh, i get really stressed out at loud noise, that would have sent me over the edge in minutes! Well done for handling it so well and I'm so pleased you were offered help by your kind neighbours #BlogCrush

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    1. I would definitely have been over the edge were it not for the neighbours ;-) x

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  12. My ears hurt just thinking about this! OMG! #triumphanttales xo

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    1. Honestly Lisa, you really did not want to be there ;-) x

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  13. Chris had a rare problem with his Ford Focus that took months to identify and sort out (and cost A LOT!) I'm jealous of the DLP trip...#triumphanttales

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  14. Oh gosh, I hope it's not as bad as the Focus. I am jealous of the DLP trip too. I think we need a bloggers trip xx

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