Monthly Archives: August 2008

Absolutely Shitty Customer Service!

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Recently I bought 3 items from an online webstore for West Coast Favors. Not a huge order, total of about $60 in the end after taxes and shipping. 1 of those items was the reason for the whole order with the other 2 being just fun and useful, but added to justify the cost of shipping.

Guess which item I didn’t get. Yep – the one I wanted.

There was no email saying it was back ordered, no phone call, no indication on the invoice. Nothing. So I called to enquire as to the status. If it’s back ordered and just delayed, that’s fine. In the end it turns out it’s not listed any more. Out of stock, with no re-supply pending, but not discontinued. But that’s not the point.

The first rep I spoke to was asked “Do you not send emails about back orders or missing items?” Her reply was basically with 40,000 orders a day they can’t. To me that says there is a problem with the system. It should be automatic.

Here’s the kicker – she told me that sometimes email doesn’t go to Canada very well. HUH? I explained 2 basic facts to her. 1 – I deal with email and the internet all day. Emailing to Canada is no more difficult than emailing to Akron. 2 – My mail server is in Texas, not Canada. She said “I’m not going to have an argument with a client across an international border” and then she HUNG UP ON ME!

Rule 1 of customer service. NEVER HANG UP ON A CUSTOMER. There are exceptions to this rule, but I wasn’t being rude, abusive or swearing. Just pointing out the flaw in her EXCUSE. Had she just left it at “oops, sometimes we make mistakes” I would have been fine. But no. She tried to make EXCUSES.

Her supervisor was shocked and appalled, but couldn’t do anything since I didn’t get the reps name and since I hadn’t given her my order information, there was no tracking. Again, bad system.

BY CONTRAST!

To console myself (and acquire breakfast) I went to Starbucks. It’s my favorite Starbucks at the corner of Davie and Seymour in Vancouver. The staff there are almost all super nice, super friendly and having a good time. Ok, the lady who took my order could have been better, but I’ve never seen her before.

The barista and my 2 favorite staff were just awesome, laughing and joking. We had a good time. I recommend them in the morning. I never go later in the day so I can’t be sure what happens then.

When did that happen?

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I’m sitting here tonight (all night) working on some Baby Time Capsules for a West Coast Favors client and they are a lot of work. More than I had allowed for in the pricing.

So I start to feel tired. My eyes are droopy and unfocused, they hurt a little, and I start to think it must be getting pretty late and I’ve lost track of time.

11:11pm. WTF? Exactly when did I get so old that 11:11pm is late.

I blame the Red Bull. I used up extra energy then.

The wackiness of the world

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I’m torn, so this will be a 2-part blog (in 1 part, but with 2-parts or something).

Part 1

So my co-worker John, Rumble and I head out for a walk. I needed to get some dog food and other things. As we near the 7-Eleven at the end of the block by work, there’s a homeless person sleeping in the empty storefront next door. Not unusual. Pile of stuff under their head. Beside their head, the ubiquitous upside-down hat for donations while they sleep.

Someone had placed a donut from Tim Horton’s in the hat. How do I know? Empty Timmy’s party box up the street. All’s well, nice snack for when they wake up.

When we return 25 minutes later, there’s 6-10 pigeons feasting on the donut! Poor person is still sound asleep.

I head back 5 minutes later to get a drink from 7-Eleven and avoid the pigeon horde (I’m no Tippy Headron) but walk through them on the way back to the office. Yes, back and forth, back and forth. In doing so, I frighten them and they scatter. Except Elmer the special needs pigeon who flies SMACK in the back of the glass bus shelter. There was a LOUD smack and I kep thinking – “Broken pigeon” but he was fine, shook it off and flew away.

Part 2

My co-worker Gavin introduced me to the Rick-roll last year and it’s been a source of entertainment ever since. Today I found a classic way to USE the Rick-roll to one’s advantage. It is NOT a Rick-roll. I promise. Don’t click the link on that page though, cuz it is.

Click here

Classic. I love it!

Pure decadence

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Seriously. This is purely decadent with no other purpose.

New Mplayers Hit Japan, I’m Still Jealous – Homotron.net

A mouse shaped MP3 player studded with Swarovski crystals. Only $150 and only in Japan. Seriously who needs this.

“I’m classy enough to want Swarovski crystals, but grounded enough to love Disney and tacky enough to need a mouse-shaped MP3 player with no display.”

This one, in the ultimate tacky-move is called the “Ethnic.” Yep. They went there.

More designs at GearLog: http://www.gearlog.com/2008/08/iriver_launches_4th_edition_mp.php

Memories of Legoland fun!

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When my brother Brad and I were younger (even as adults) we LOVED Lego. We would spend hours working on elaborate layouts and buildings etc. Seldom really ‘playing’ with it like you would Matchbox cars or other toys, but really building things. Which is probably why our parents didn’t mind buying us Lego. They knew it was really buying them HOURS of uninterrupted time.

LEGO Blog: The Brothers Brick | LEGO news, custom creations, MOCs, set reviews, and more!

I keep finding sites like this on the internet and really wishing that I had the space, time and money to continue to work with Lego. It’s a therapeutic creative outlet. When Brad had his car accident and couldn’t work too much, and wasn’t able to do track anymore, he spent a lot of time in the crawlspace working with the Lego. Some of that may not have been super healthy, but he got really creative.

We built a whole city (with mono-rail), a football stadium complete with office tower and shops, shopping malls, vehicles and villages, even complex office towers to surround the support beams in the crawlspace.

Anyway, fond memories of Lego today.