Two members of the ConEquip Parts team flew down to Lexington, Tennessee for a special project. Media Marketing Specialist Steve Krentz and ConEquip Parts co-owner Ben Krentz set out on a mission to get video of the installation of a swing bearing on a Caterpillar 311B purchased by one of our faithful customers. By the time the trip was over, Ben and Steve got a whole lot more than they bargained for.
The trip started out with plenty of drama. First, Ben discovered the night before his trip that he needed to get his driver's licensed renewed at the DMV before flying out. He was flying out the day before his birthday. In New York State, you need a new photo taken after eight years and yes, it had been exactly eight years since Ben had his photo taken for his license. As a result, Ben had to go into the DMV in person instead of renewing his license online. Because the flight was scheduled for 10:30am Monday morning, Ben made sure to be at the DMV before they opened in an effort to get in and out quickly.
Everything was going smoothly at the DMV, that is until the photo machine went down. DMV workers had to reboot the machines a few times before they could get it to work. Fortunately, Ben got his photo taken with just enough time to get to the airport.
After blasting through a couple red lights, Steve and Ben arrived at the airport with a little time to grab a quick bite to eat. Unfortunately, after getting back to the gate, Ben realized the cafe overcharged him for a sandwich. Ten dollars is nothing to sneeze at so, with the boarding process started, Ben went back to the cafe to get his money back. Slowly passengers boarded the plane, including Steve who couldn't wait for Ben any longer. With the gate about to close and the overcharge still unresolved, Ben ran through the terminal to board the plane. Handing his ticket to the agent he got an unexpected response.
"You've already boarded the flight, sir."
Looking at the ticket agent with disbelief, Ben assured the nice woman he certainly had not yet boarded the plane. After a little convincing, Ben was granted access to the flight.
After the hectic morning, Ben and Steve first flew into Charlotte without any trouble where they caught a connecting flight to Memphis. Once in Memphis, they rented a car for a two hour drive to Lexington, Tennessee.
When they reached their destination, Ben and Steve checked into their hotel, a Days Inn which had a four out of five star rating. But when they got there, it didn't have a four star feel. The hotel was more like a motel, with the room doors outside on a balcony. Ben reserved a non-smoking room for three nights. A sweet elderly woman checked them in but once Ben and Steve got to their room and opened the door they realized the room was anything but non-smoking as they were immediately hit in the face with stale cigarette smoke.
Once Ben and Steve settled in, they were able to relax and plan the next day's video shoot. Ben got in contact with Donald the customer and confirmed a start time of 8:30am the next day.
Once at the shop, Steve and Ben met Donald and his crew of two, Jimmy and Jacob. Steve got the cameras set up and started capturing video of the swing bearing installation process. Once they got the cab lifted off the tracks and safely secured, the old swing bearing was removed. The turn table was cleaned and prepared for the new swing bearing. The magical moment was upon us.
Before the new swing bearing was moved into place to be installed, Ben wanted to say a few things on camera about how ConEquip Parts tries to be extra careful to make sure the part is right based on the machine serial number.
"I asked Donald how he felt when he got the wrong part. He said he wanted to punch the sales guy in the face and make him come down to help put the right part in," Ben said.
Eight minutes later, when putting the new swing bearing in, Donald realized it was the wrong part.
"Ben, remember what I said a few minutes ago?"
Yes, ConEquip Parts had the wrong swing bearing for the excavator Donald was working on.
Donald was actually very understanding.
"This happens every day in this business," he said.
Immediately, Ben got on the horn with his supplier Todd in California. After some investigation, it appeared as if the warehouse simply sent the wrong part by mistake. Fortunately, Todd had one more swing bearing in stock for the CAT 311B. It was truly the last one here in the U.S.A. The only problem, it was also located in California. Without hesitation, Ben set up an overnight air freight shipment of the correct swing bearing to Tennessee. 24 hours and $1,600 later, the right swing bearing would be at Donald's shop.
In the meantime, Steve and Ben had some time to regroup. They wanted a cup of coffee and so they proceeded to drive all over Lexington looking for a place to get a cup of brew. That was no simple task as finding a place that served coffee proved to be a challenge. As a result, they stumbled upon a nice little resort settled on a lake inside a state park called Pin Oak Lodge. The place was serene and very inviting. To Ben and Steve's dismay, the room were actually less per night than the Days Inn. Unfortunately, they did not have coffee but they did have plenty of rooms available. In fact, they didn't have any rooms booked!
Steve and Ben got back to the Days Inn and decided to get dinner. Not feeling too comfortable about the type of guests at the hotel, many of whom were outside on the balcony smoking and drinking beer, Steve decided it would be wise not to leave the camera equipment inside the hotel room when they went out. Instead, he thought it would be better to bring the equipment with them and leave it in the rental car.
"No, you can leave it here," Ben assured Steve.
"No, I think we should bring it."
Ben insisted, "Don't worry, it will be fine here."
At that very moment there was a knock on the hotel door. Ben looked at Steve, Steve looked at Ben. Neither knew anyone in Tennessee. Who could this be? Ben opened the door to find a strange looking man peering into the room.
"Is Shannon in there?" The stranger asked.
Now, this could have been an innocent question from a hotel guest who perhaps was a little lost, had it not been for the fact he was standing in his underwear.
"Ah, no," Ben told the stranger and quickly slammed the door shut. He then turned to Steve.
"Bring the camera equipment."
Things only got stranger from there. Outside the stranger asked Steve a peculiar question.
"What is your SVI number?"
"I'm sorry, what?" Steve asked.
"Your SVI number, what is it?"
Puzzled, looking back at the stranger, who was still in his underwear, Steve responded the only way he could.
"Ah, four?"
With obvious disgust, the stranger waved Steve off.
After grabbing a bite to eat, and looking up what an SVI number is in the urban dictionary, Steve and Ben decided it would be a good idea to check out of the hotel and book a room at the Pin Oak Lodge even though they were unable to get out of paying for one of the nights at the Days Inn.
The next day, Steve and Ben headed off to Donald's shop to get video of what would hopefully be a successful swing bearing installation. This time around, the swing bearing was right and the job was a success. The excavator swing was nice and tight again.
The rest of the trip went without any surprises and the flight back to Buffalo was uneventful. The entire trip came to an end with some great memories - expensive memories - but memories none-the-less! It was great getting to know Donald and his crew. They were great about everything.
