Held Captive in Klamath Falls Oregon by Ontrac…

Well the Tuesday our new tire was due to arrive came and went. We were told it might take 3 days instead of 2 but we sure hoped for the two day delivery especially since the Fairground we were staying at technically has a 3 night maximum. Unfortunately the delivery service (Ontrac) doesn’t deliver to Klamath Falls until after 4:00 pm and by the time the shop closed at 5:30 there was still no tire so we were screwed (excuse the phase).

The first thing on Thursday morning I called Ontrac to find out where the heck my tire was and even after 30 minutes of hold time I was told the company didn’t know where it was and would call me back. Later when they called us back they simply explained it was accidentally mis-sorted and went to a warehouse in Reno instead of to Klamath Falls. Next I was told not to worry as another truck could deliver it on Monday. MONDAY!!!! What did they just say? That was four more days for this two day delivery!

Normally I would just go with the flow but here is the problem… remnants of tropical cyclone Songda was aiming straight for us and to stay until Monday meant we would have to endure the wrath of the cyclone with up to 70 mph wind gusts. I became a bit terse with the supervisor I asked to speak to and told her in no uncertain terms that the Monday delivery was unacceptable. I got cut off.. and after another 30 minute hold spoke with her again. Amazingly she told me she would arrange to have our tire on a truck for a Friday morning delivery.

Friday morning would work out perfectly since the storm was to arrive in Klamath Falls on Saturday morning and the Fairground was kind enough to let us stay given our situation. Finally things were looking up… That is until Friday morning came and went and I once again called Ontrack (insert another 30 minute hold) only to be promised that the tire would arrive by 3:00 pm or earlier if she could arrange it. This meant we had to move to another site on the other side of the Fairground because a dog agility show reserved all the spaces in the lot we were in.  Sigh…

Having little choice since we were being held hostage by Ontrac and their crappy delivery system we simply waited hoping for the best (have I mentioned how horrible their customer service is?) . Our new challenge was that after the tire would be  installed we would have to leave and drive after dark about 165 miles to beat the storm south. Then, the next morning ,we would have to wake up extra early and drive another 150 miles to stay ahead of the cyclone to be in an area I considered safe.

Well the tire finally showed up at 3:15 pm and was installed rather quickly so we left the facility at 4:25 pm. I really can’t thank Basin Tire enough for making our tire installation a priority thus allowing us to get on the road as quickly as possible. Unfortunately this meant we would be driving at night from Klamath on 139 to Susanville California over some mountains and down a skinny two lane road. We never drive at night but made this sacrifice and certainly after driving down that long winding steep hill into Susanville we admit we never want to do it again!!! Thanks a lot Ontrac…..sheesh!

To be continued…

NOTE: We are now in Hawthorne Nevada and glad to be here… These pictures were taken at the Link River Trail on our last nice day in Klamath Falls OR.