Not A Happy Camper

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Not a good afternoon. We spent the morning visiting agencias aduanales in Reynosa. We crossed around 10 a.m. parking our car on the U.S. side and walking as the agencies are on the first street. We got the information we wanted and we were prepared to pay. The tax is around 22%.

Walked back across without a hitch and decided to check out the U.S. office for one of the agencias aduanales to see if their trailer yard was secure enough for us to spend the night before doing the importation.

Guess what! The SUV came to a complete stop. The battery was dead. We got a jump from a car that was in a convenience store parking lot and we took off. The dashboard went crazy. Lights of all kinds came on and all the needles started going crazy. We crapped out again on a major highway, Military Ave. We got another jump that got us into the parking lot of a convenience store. All I can say at this point is, I love Mexico. No one would help us, no telephone directory, no idea of where or how to get a tow truck. Some people told us point blank they wouldn't give us a jump. It was a mess. Finally, I saw a guy looking at me getting gas. I walked over to his truck and he asked me what was wrong. He called a friend of his and he showed up in 30 minutes, diagnosed the problem and we started to work. BTW, both of these guys were Mexicans.

Turns out the mechanic who redid our connector did exactly what I asked him not to do the day before yesterday. He asked me, "You don't have trailer lights connected here?". I told him we did and that it worked great just the way it was wired and to replace same for same. Well, turns out he did just the opposite. He wired the brake lights on the truck to the connector and god knows what else. The battery was drained and it fried the alternator. So we had to replace the alternator and now we can't take the trailer home.

We need to have the truck checked by the rv store in Monterrey, Remolques Tavasi. We have decided to leave the trailer here at the park or in storage, take the truck home and get the wiring harness fixed the way it was, and then return to do the importation.

I am really pissed. Is this worthy of a small claims suit? All our expenses, the travel back and forth to Monterrey, the storage fees, etc.? What say you? I have posted a poll on the top right asking for a "yes" or a "no". Please take the time to answer it. Thanks.