Yes, there is more to the key story (see previous entry..) You’d think things were already annoying enough but no… the saga gets better:

Car Keys:
Called Linnane Fiat dealership in Rathnew. They quoted me 200Euro (yes, you read it right) for two keys - and you have to buy them in twos, the word was. Convinced something was amiss, I called around to a few different places, and sussed that the keys cost 63.50eur apiece, incl VAT. I called Linnane again (theyre the closest) and asked them again, updating them with what I’d found out. Yes, they said, the price is correct, but the balance is labour for coding the keys, and no, we can’t do a better price than that. Again I hung up and did some further research, this time a la google. I couldnt get exact details, but it was becoming apparent that coding the keys was a relatively simple matter (I had the ‘only-use-in-absolute-emergency’ Red Master Key, which unlocks the ECU and apparently can do damage if you use it long enough. Thankfully I had this key left, otherwise a new ECU would have set me back more than the car cost me…). To be extra sure, I called a dealership in the UK (with no vested interest in my custom, for obvious reasons) and they confirmed how to code the keys. So, you wanna know what 75eur in labour will get you these days? ->

Put the Red key in, turn, put blue keys in consecutively, turning each, and put the red key in a the end and turn to finish the sequence. That’ll be 75 squids please.

So I took my 125eur worth of blank keys (still ouch), had them cut myself, and coded them in the carpark.
Moving on…

Postbox Keys
Aren’t absentee landlords and letting agents who don’t give a shite wonderful? We have been waiting 3 weeks now to get a replacement postbox key. As I explained previously, we cannot contact our landlord directly, because of the wonderful protection he currently gets from his duties by having the letting agency “handle” relations between us. Last week I was informed he is ‘out of the country’ (after badgering them for two weeks to get it sorted), and that his brother (who was left in charge, they say) ‘couldnt find’ the original key. On Saturday the agency texts us and tells us that they have the key, and when we call this morning they say not to call until ‘as late as possible’ today because they havent cut a copy yet.

I am… *cough* …more than annoyed….