You can find just about anyone on there.
Guess who I ran across? My ex, Tom.
So then the question was…Do I contact him or not? Well, I did. I mean, over the years I have wondered what happened to him, so why not find out? I mean, it has been almost 15 years. (Sidenote: OMG! FIFTEEN YEARS!)
So we exchanged a few emails.
He is still in the navy, and is happily married with two kids and currently living in California.
You gotta love the internet.
Since I always seem to lose the list from year to year, I thought this year I would try posting it on my blog so I KNOW where it is. 🙂
The results of the random.org list generator for Christmas 2009 are:
Filipek buys for Coe
Schwalm buys for Hudson
Coe buys for Filipek
Hudson buys for Schwalm
Marie is elated because this means she FINALLY gets a calendar. 🙂
I loved the previous skin I was using, but in honor of moving to Michigan (and seeing as how it’s just about winter—although, knock on wood, today it got to 70) I thought I would change the skin to something a bit more wintery.
I do have a bit of tweaking to do, but for the most part, it will look like this until I’m sick of winter…so, maybe a month or two? XX(
😀
We just listed our house on Military By Owner. We probably could have done it before now, but honestly 1) I forgot about it and 2) we had hoped to have great luck and sell by now. 🙁
I need to start carrying tums with me at all times. XX(
Wow. I hate when a product has a .net and you don’t know it, so end up on a .com porn site. EEK. 88|
FYI: Luigi’s Real Italian Ice in NO way satisfies a craving for a DQ vanilla cone. 🙁
CVS is expensive! I just paid $6+ for my favorite Tums flavor when I got them in Michigan at Meijer for under $4. |-|
Mmmmm. I stupidly stuffed myself silly with the best fried chicken, hush puppies and baked beans…but it’s the last time we’ll be eating there before we leave.
Wednesday, May 21—I needed a new chair mat, and had a $25 off $75 coupon, so I picked a decent chair mat (that was on sale), plus two small things to push me over the $75. I ordered before 4pm so I should have had the items the next day.
Thursday, May 22—I got an email saying that “some or all of my items” were being delayed and delivery was rescheduled for 5/23.
Friday, May 23—I received the two small items but not the chair mat (which is what I really wanted). I figured maybe that was still delayed, so wanted to give them until Tuesday to see if it arrived (Monday was a holiday so no shipping).
Tuesday, May 27—No chair mat at work or at home. So I called Staples and explained that I still hadn’t received the mat. They apologized and said they would ship another one and it should be here Thursday or Friday.
Thursday, May 29—Well, something did arrive Thursday—but not the chair mat! I got a duplicate order of the piddly things! I called again, explaining, and they apologized and said “Yep, that was our error, I see the note here. We will send out the chair mat now and you should have it Monday.” And they were also sending someone to pick up the duplicate order. I wondered why it was going to take four days (not including weekends) but at that point, I just wanted my chair mat.
Friday, May 30—I swear they said that person who was picking up the duplicate order would also be delivering my chair mat, but they didn’t. >:XX They said UPS might be delivering it…so UPS came and went and still no chair mat. And no chair mat at home, either (I had changed delivery address, but thought they might have messed that up as well).
Monday, June 2—No chair mat today, and UPS delivered next door (at work) so I was not holding out hope. I figured if it didn’t show up at home, I would call and request a discount or something because this has been ridiculous.
Tuesday, June 3—Staples redeemed themselves somewhat. I still hadn’t received the chair mat, so I called to ask where it was and the rep said hmmm, it looks like you were credited for it on such and such date. Wait. What? Credited? Yes, apparently they didn’t resend it like they said they were going to, but rather just cancelled the order and credited my card. >:XX So after some discussion, the rep agreed to give me the $25 coupon on just the chair mat—so technically I got a percentage off on the few piddly things I had to order to meet the original coupon deal, and am now getting $25 off on the chairmat itself.
Thursday, June 4—It finally came! And OMG, it was in like a 6′ x 1′ box! I had to put my seat down to fit it in the car! And since it sat in my car all day in the hot temps (100+), when I got it home and brought it inside, it pretty much just unrolled and laid flat. YAY! Oh, and the box was overkill—it looks like they had to make the box from other boxes so it was just waaaay too big. Anyway, we will put it under my desk tomorrow! I am sooo excited!
This was one of the questions asked today on a board I frequent. I thought it a very interesting slice-of-life question. So I looked it up. And my first purchase was November 25, 1998, for three books (Dirk Pitt Revealed, Airframe, and Contagion). I remember making that purchase, and I think I still have those books.
Then I looked at 1999 purchases, of which there were only five. I picked up the pace considerably in 2000—with three pages of orders—and apparently never looked back! ;D
Apparently, MUCH harder than I originally anticipated.
Ready for a long story? 🙄
I have wanted a new keychain for just about forever now. I am still using a dorky Marine Federal Credit Union lanyard I think I found while working at Staples—which means I’ve had it for about six years.
I was sick and tired of being boring and utilitarian—that just doesn’t scream JEN, right? 😉 So I had taken to looking at keychains whenever we went somewhere, but nothing ever hit the spot. So, I decided to start a thread on my frequented-forums, asking for other people to show me their keychains so I could get some ideas. And one did actually hit the spot—I just thought it was cute and neat—and the owner gave it a glowing recommendation:
Hers was blue, but with some research, I found it was available in green! YAY! Of course, I also discovered they had cats and dogs which were totally adorable, but since I couldn’t decide between the cat or the dog, or which color, I went back to the green jumper. And then I thought about it. And thought about it some more. Because $16 + S/H is a lot of money for a silly keychain. But then I decided that I had been using a “freebie” for six years, so I could justify spending the money on a new one that I loved!
Well, the only place the green jumper was available was on the actual Troika website, so I created an account and ordered it. I thought it was a tad strange that the only way to pay was via PayPal (and not straight via credit card), but I have no problems with PayPal, and lots of businesses use PayPal, so it didn’t raise any flags. This was on April 15.
Right away I got a confirmation of my account creation, as well as the “initial notification” email from Troika, saying I had to finish via PayPal (which I actually already had by that point). Then I got the PayPal confirmation…which was a little strange: The order description was Troika USA and the Invoice ID was troika-usa_xx, but the Business Information contact was Suntime3, LLC. Again, a tad strange, since I thought Troika would have been the contact, but I figured maybe an outside company did the actual order processing…so honestly, nothing to really cause me any real misgivings.
Eight days later on April 24 I emailed Suntime3, LLC (via the email from the PayPal contact confirmation) asking for the status because 1) I hadn’t received any shipment confirmation and 2) I hadn’t received the item. They wrote back that:
That [contact information] should have been changed. The company handling that site now is called Pevazi and you can reach them at…
Nothing about refunding my money (which was obviously paid to them) or “Sorry there has been a mistake”—just simply “Here’s their number.” Now I started to worry. At that same time, I tried to login to my Troika account, and it didn’t recognize me OR my email. Uh oh.
So now it was about April 27, and I contacted Pevazi, and after a quick explanation, the girl took my order info and said she would call me back the next day. Nothing. I called about two days later, it was the same girl and she remembered me, and this time asked for me to email her ALL the information and emails I had received so she could look into it, as my name and/or order number matched NOTHING in their system. I compiled a huge email and sent it off. She replied she would “get to the bottom of this, ASAP” and that it might be the next day.
This morning, May 14, I got an email from her, asking if Suntime3 (the original company that apparently got my payment) had contacted me to resolve the issue. I told her that I hadn’t heard anything from anyone since I received her last email saying she would be working on this. Within 10 minutes, I received this response:
Ok, I don’t know what happened with this. The monies got paid to a different company and that company said they didn’t know anything about it and they would contact you. In the meantime, what product did you order? I am going to send you the product you purchased and will settle the rest with Suntime.
Now THAT is customer service. ❗
So I emailed her what I wanted and they are shipping it out ASAP. And they get to try to figure out how to get their money. So sometime in the near future, I will FINALLY get my keychain!
I certainly hope it’s worth all this trouble. |-|
Unfortunately, when one problem gets fixed, another pops up.
Now I am having problems uploading photos. Yes, they were there at one point (when I said the blogs were back up), but I have taken them down for the time being while I try to get the actual uploading problem figured out.
The new software is very cool, and I am sure it will all be worth it… it’s just getting it all tweaked.
The short story?
We’re back up but it was a pain in the ass.
The long story?
What should have literally taken an hour (just waiting for the files to upload) actually ended up taking a few days…because once I uploaded everything and ran the install program (mere minutes), I got errors galore. I could access the blogs—they were there, and you could read them—but I couldn’t access the backoffice, which is where you actually write the posts.
Luckily they have GREAT support forums, and AMAZING people helping out there. It took about a day for some poor soul to take pity on me, LOL, but EdB attacked my problem…and solved it quickly (Go Ed! Go Ed!) and easily.
Well, it was a stupid thing, really, but easy. For whatever reason, my FTP client (what I use to upload files to my website server) was not overwriting things with the correct date (well, something like that anyway—that was the gist of it) and was consequently corrupting my files, which was giving me the errors. All Ed actually had to do (after some other tweaking and fiddling around just to check things out) was to REupload a certain directory and it worked. YAY EDB!
So now I can post again.
But I still have lots of “backoffice” stuff to do—but that won’t affect readers for anything other than appearance. Meaning, this blue color on all four blogs? It’s GOT to go. It’s just NOT me. :))
I am not generally one to buy CDs. But I just watched Garth Brooks on Ellen (from a ways back) and decided I had to have his “pink edition” Ultimate Hits CD which benefits Susan G. Komen’s For the Cure.
I loves me some Garth, and I love supporting the search for the cure. ❗
So a friend on a message board was recently talking about a beverage they loved that they couldn’t find locally, and had to order from across the country (or possibly even out of the country)—and of course pay a premium to ship it.
It got me to thinking about a beverage I missed… Back in 2001-2002 when we lived in Stafford, Virginia, there was a little Asian grocery that had the most wonderful green grape beverage that came in 6oz cans (like half a soda can). It wasn’t carbonated, so I would guess it was juice, and it had actual bits of green grapes in it (that part I distinctly remember because they would get stuck in the drink hole).
I couldn’t remember the brand name, the drink name, or anything else—I just remembered that it was green grapes (although I think there was also a strawberry version).
I googled my heart out and the closest I found was something from a Taiwanese blog which was labeled “white grape juice with fruit jelly” which was close, but no cigar.
So I posted to the SOAK (Source Of All Knowledge) on a message board—the SOAK is known to be able to find anything you are ever trying to find. (The SOAK is actually just the collective knowledge and brain power of tens of thousands of members.)
And within 21 minutes, someone had found it!! 88|
Of course, it costs more than twice as much as the product itself to ship it (12 cans are $6.99 and it cost $13-something to ship)—but it about equals the price I paid in the store, so it’s all good. I am ordering some post haste!
WOOHOO!
I signed up for a 10-day trial of Gamefly, so hubby could test out some XBOX 360 games. And I went to cancel today and yep, we’re on day 11, so I’ve already been charged $22.95 and if I cancel, I lose the $22.95—and I can’t even downgrade because it doesn’t take effect until the next billing cycle, yet the downgraded plan wasn’t available (if I recall corretly) when I signed up. And it wouldn’t be that big of deal…if we were going to BE HERE. But we leave on vacation in a week, then will be gone two weeks.
No more trial period anythings, ever.
EVER.
Earlier tonight I talked to Tom. During our conversation he asked if he could call me at work and I said “Most certainly!!” I then continued and said “You can call me ANYTIME! But, really, don’t #$&@ call me at 3am if you can help it.” 😀
An hour or so later, I was talking to a friend (one we met at New Years in Raleigh), and we were talking about how we really enjoyed talking to one another and how he can always make me laugh…and he told me I can call him any time day or night—except, he said, “Don’t #$&@ call at like 3am.” :))
Of course, I had to tell him what I had said earlier and he got a big kick out of that. We are so much on the same wavelength sometimes it’s frightening.
So earlier tonight I was catching up on my message board posts, and I clicked on a thread from a recent meet where people were posting their pictures. As I scrolled down, I saw a photo of a group in a hot tub. At just that moment, my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number but picked it up anyway—and it was one of the people in the photo! The even stranger thing about it is that he had never once called me before that night. Bizarre.
So, I know I never talked about our New Year’s Eve that we spent in Raleigh with the group of friends I had met online (but had never met in person). Now so much time has passed that it seems silly to go back and write about it, so suffice it to say the weekend was probably in our top five weekends of all time! (Tom even agrees with me—he had that much fun! I think he was 100% surprised at how good a time he had.) We got along smashingly with everyone, had an absolute BLAST, and made some great new friends that we can’t wait to see more of.
That said, it was a great thing to do right before Tom left, as they all got to meet him and are now really excited about sending him (and his entire unit) packages. So far, we have about 35 volunteers (of which we have actually only met about 20) and they are COMPLETELY excited about it. There’s even an Excel spreadsheet involved in the planning!
In addition to that, they are all EXTREMELY supportive. I have had numerous offers to call anytime, night or day, home or work, etc. Of course, I am not big on calling people, but I know the offer is there and it means a lot. (I know my friends and family have offered that as well, but to have people I met for one weekend offer that? It really touches my heart.) I may even take some of them up on it sooner or later, you never know…
So, imagine my surprise when Thursday evening—the day Tom left—I got a phone call from one of them. He knew I said I wouldn’t want to talk to anyone, but he called anyway because he wanted to cheer me up. He kept me on the phone for over an hour, telling me great stories (about his life in general and stories about people I’d met) and keeping me laughing. Tonight, another one called…just to say hey and to let me know she was serious—I could call her (or her hubby) at any time, day or night, just to say hey or vent or whatever.
So, now, in addition to the great friends I have here locally, I also have great friends across the country. 😀
So, I found a new “diet” and got all excited about it—Oprah’s diet guru Bob Greene’s The Best Life Diet—and now I’m pissed.
Why?
On the show, I SWEAR Oprah said [something to the effect of] “Go to the [best life] site and sign up for free!” So today I ordered the book and just now I went to the website to sign up and…nope, not free. They want $20 a month or $150 a year for access to everything!
WHAT THE HELL?
Yes, I want to change my life, but I honestly wasn’t planning on forking out $150 up front—especially since that part was NOT mentioned on the show (I’m pretty damn sure I would remember that).
So, it either feels like “pony up the bucks to vastly improve my Diet experince and chance at success” or “I feel my health is not worth $4.50 a week.” >:(
I don’t even know where to start…so I will say that this past weekend had to be one of the best weekends of my life. Seriously. We both had so much fun it was crazy. (This morning wasn’t too fun…but at this point, I’m still recuperating…but it was well worth it.)
So, what happened this past weekend that was so great? RRNYE, that’s what!! And what exactly was RRNYE? A huge group of people I’ve “met” online that were all meeting in Raleigh for a big NYE bash (Rockin’ Raleigh New Year’s Eve)! People came from all across the country and we just had a complete blast!
To start, I was completely nervous about meeting everyone, and welcomed the chance to pick up someone at the airport, so I would have at least met one person in a calm setting! I recognized her immediately, and the meeting went well.
That said, walking into the bowling alley (the first meeting spot) was an entirely overwhelming (wait, OVERWHELMING) experience. Us three walked in, and immediately all heads turned toward us, then all I saw was a mass of people moving towards us in one big rush. There were introductions and hugs and I was trying to place names to faces and trying to remember to introduce Tom, as well.
At dinner that night (we broke off into groups and went to different places—we were dining on Italian), I was still feeling a bit overwhelmed, but it got easier. It took probably an hour or so before I finally started talking and being more myself. By the time the group lunch and trip to the fun park rolled around (mini golf, go karts, etc.) the next afternoon, we were having a great time and felt way more at ease! I even took a spin on the go-karts, which I haven’t done in probably 15 years!
By the big party, with more than a few drinks in me :)) it felt like I’d known everyone forever and we were having a blast! Everyone made me feel very welcome and I think Tom was surprised at how much fun he had with everyone. The food was great, I had a fun time being a bartender (with another girl who actually was a bartender in a past life), and we had a great White Elephant gift exchange, in which I ended up with a Christmas ornament (perfect!).
The funniest thing, I think, is how many people expressed their hesitance/reservations in meeting me. I’m not quite sure what they expected, but needless to say they were a bit unsure about me. But, apparently, from everything everyone told me (and what I heard from others), I fit right in and they needn’t have worried about me! Anyway, hearing that people’s worries were unfounded and that people actually liked me…well, that made me feel good, because of course I was sorta scared about the whole thing anyway.
The only bad thing was that we didn’t get to say goodbye to people! We sort of rushed out of the party because I wasn’t feeling well (too much to drink!) and honestly it was sort of a blur…and I was thinking we’d get to see them in the morning…but, alas, I was definitely NOT in any shape to go to the planned brunch, and Tom wasn’t much better.
Now, we can’t wait to go to more meets—we loved everyone and can’t wait to spend more time with them!
So I had THE BEST idea for Christmas gifts for the parents this year…
EXCEPT I didn’t make my mind up until too late that I was going to get it for everyone, so I only had one.
And of course, I wanted the same exact thing…
EXCEPT I couldn’t find it anywhere locally for the same price [I got for the first one] so looked at other similar things (to make life easier)…
EXCEPT the things just weren’t what I wanted so they got returned.
So then I decided to just order what I wanted online…
EXCEPT I found that three stores had it and had to make a decision: Do I shop at the store where I get the absolute cheapest price (but comes with a mail-in rebate)? Or do I shop at the store with a bit higher price, but where I earn almost enough points for a $25 gift certificate? Or do I shop at the store with a middle-of-the-road price that makes for easy returns (just in case)?
So I decided to go with the $25 gift certificate offer…
EXCEPT shipping was 5-10 business days at that store…which, if it happens to be more than 10 days…we’re screwed (since we’ll be on our way to Michigan) and then no one gets presents.
EXCEPT I decided to have it shipped to my office, on the off chance it doesn’t make it in time, they can reship it to me.
I never thought buying two additional presents would be so hard! :>>
An online board that I belong to did Secret Santas again this year, and I decided to participate since I actually have become move involved with the board since last Christmas. There was a whopping 115 people participating—including quite a few I didn’t really know—so chances were I’d have to do some “stalking” to do to find [what I hoped] was the perfect gift. (Now, by stalking, I mean researching past posts that person had written, seeing what their interests were, and deciding on a gift.) And on a board that is heavily participated in with subjects of all varieties, this could have been a very lengthy process indeed.
So everyone was excited and counting down the days until the names were drawn! I got someone I didn’t really know, but someone who I had at least heard of and posted semi-frequently! And the stalking began! And as luck would have it, I found a great hint within the first 10 minutes of searching! I kept stalking, however, in the hopes I would find something better, but it never happened—and I thought “Why waste any more time on this when I already have a great gift idea?!”
What was it, you ask? What was the perfect gift? Well, it was pre-Thanksgiving time and there had been a few posts about casseroles—actually, I had started one asking something about the typical green bean casserole…and then due to that thread, someone else started a thread about casseroles in general…to which my person had replied, simply:
Yum! Not only do I like eating them, I like making them.
And from that simple comment, it was off to Amazon! As I tried to decide which of the numerous casserole cookbooks to purchase, it turned out my additional stalking had come in handy—from his comments on Riedel wine glasses, new granite countertops, and a recent visit to a trendy and expensive restaurant, I gathered he had a sense of refinement about him…so I went with the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook Cover & Bake (which I then proceeded to put on my own wishlist!) and a 4-qt Pyrex casserole dish!!
We’re not supposed to open our gifts until December 22, but apparently he has about as much willpower as I do sometimes, and he already opened them and emailed me to thank me—and tell me I did an excellent job stalking!!
Phew!
Now I just have to wait to receive my gift….and wonder what my Secret Santa is learning about me from stalking!
Everything I wanted was available online, so I set the alarm for 5:55am and was at the computer by 6am placing orders! It sucked to get up this early—especially when Tom initially said he’d go to town to pick up anything I wanted…then renegged when I said we could do the shopping online (stinker!).
The only minor snafu is that I decided to add another DVD to one order at the last minute and assumed that since I chose “pick up” for the first DVD, it would automatically select “pick up” for the second DVD—which it didn’t, so I had to pay an extra $1.79 for delivery. 🙁 That’s what I get for trying to shop when I’m barely awake! (It’s still a decent deal, but I should have had both shipped or both picked up, just for ease.) I just kick myself for not paying attention!
So, how was YOUR Black Friday?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4
Yuu have to see this to believe it—I get the chills every time I watch it. He was also on a recent Oprah…
Juan Mann’s free hug campaign started two years ago when Juan went back to his hometown in Australia to find that his friends and family had moved away. “I was the only person I knew in my own hometown,” he says. “So I wanted to get out there and do something that spread a little bit of cheer and cheered me up, and this was the first thing that really came to mind.”
The first time he stood in public with his “Free Hugs” sign, Juan says it took an agonizing 15 minutes to receive his first hug. “This one lady came up and gave me a hug and it was really, really worth it,” Juan says. From that first hug a campaign was born! Thanks to a video on the website YouTube, Juan’s movement is spreading worldwide—he is even organizing a global hug day!
More information on the Free Hugs Campaign available on Wikipedia.
Make sure to click directly on the arrow to watch the video without leaving this page.
For those of you who might not know, I belong to a few online groups where I spend quite a bit of time (different than the ladies I met around the time of our wedding). Anyway, these groups have “meets” every now and again at places across the country, but even though we haven’t been able to make it to any (the major one was in Las Vegas for five days), I spend enough time chatting with these people that it feels like I know them.
So earlier tonight, I happened to read a thread where one of the members said he was at Camp Lejeune.
Huh? What?
I’ve never been shy or hesitant in sharing where I live, so I was very surprised that this guy didn’t know I lived here! Anyway, a few quick PMs and I was on my way to meet him! (Tom was on his way to bed, so he elected not to go.)
The whole thing was so surreal—I was meeting someone I’ve been chatting with for a year! Of course, I had brought my camera to fully document the occasion, so here you go—me and Mike:
Depending on his schedule, we will meet (all three of us) for dinner before he leaves. I really think the boys will get along well, as they apparently worked on the same technological systems in Iraq. Small world.
UPDATE (inserted here because it felt out of place on the actual date): We never did get to meet for dinner. 🙁
We have a $50 Dell Gift Card that came with a previous purchase. It doesn’t expire for another eight months and is branded by AmEx. I tried to use it online last week to purchase an APC surge protector, but there was no place to enter a gift card—only coupons. I tried entering it as a coupon, but it said it was invalid.
So I tried the website listed on the card and the site isn’t there.
So I call the 800 “call to order” number and… the rep can’t use the card, either (he only has a coupon entry spot and he also gets the invalid error). He has NO idea what to do and suggests I call the other 800 # on the card.
So I call the ‘other’ American Express 800 Customer service number, explain what happened, and the rep says something to the effect of “you need to talk to Dell regarding this card, here is the sales number.” She doesn’t care I was just talking to them and they sent me to her.
So I call the Dell 800 # she gave me and am routed to sales, where I get another Dell rep that has no clue. She suggests I call back again to hopefully get a rep who will know how to deal with it! Of course, each call requires me to go through the phone number/name/address confirmation.
So I call again and…you guessed it, another Dell rep that has no clue about the gift card (“Are you sure it’s not a coupon?”). This rep suggests I need to talk to Dell’s customer service and NOT sales. She forwards me.
So now I’m waiting to talk to customer service and I’m very irritated at this point. And guess what? The customer service person says I need to talk to Sales. NOOOOOO! I told her “I’ve been with sales (home and business) multiple times and they are clueless and gave me to you!” Okay, she says, let me put you on hold and I will get a new number for you to call. Fine, whatever. Minutes later, she calls and gives me the number… to the AmEx customer service line that I called in the beginning!
On Monday, I decided to try my luck ordering online again. Imagine my surprise when there was now a spot to enter a gift card! Interestingly, there was apparently $100 credit on my “$50” gift card (my purchase was approximately $90, giving me a $10 remaining balance). Because this paid for the entire order, I did not have to enter a credit card.
When my boss received the confirmation email, it showed we had ordered THREE Back-UPS units for a total of $290 (although the gift card was still listed as the only payment). Of course, this was one of the only times I hadn’t printed out the final order confirmation screen… so I had to call Dell and they say “Why yes you ordered three” and I say “I did not” and I was told that since they hadn’t been invoiced yet (or wherever we actually are in the ordering/billing/shipping process), it was possible to alter the order. By the end of the call, the rep said it was too late to alter the order so we would be receiving three items and we should send back two. She gave me a case number and said she would call to check up on the items’ arrival and return.
I then learned that someone from Dell called my boss last night to say the shipping address didn’t match the billing address… Interesting, since we didn’t technically have/use/need a billing address due to the gift card. But even so, we’ve ordered from Dell multiple times with the same shipping/billing information, so why the problem now? Anyway, the rep said something to the effect of “You have ordered three items for a total of $290” and my boss said “No, we didn’t, plus we used a gift card.” He said “Do you want to use your preferred account for this?” No, we wanted to use the gift card. So he was clueless and was supposed to call back, which he never did.
Then we get an email saying that “While processing your order, we were unable to obtain credit card authorization from your bank or credit card company for this purchase.” Well, it wasn’t a credit card transaction, but I called the CC processing center to try and fix it. Of course, since it wasn’t a CC transaction, she transfers me to the gift card section. Of course, the gift card rep can’t help me (since I apparently have to redo the order, only ordering ONE unit), so she transfers me to sales—except somehow I can’t get sales or get put on hold and I hear this (after 10 minutes):
We’re sorry, we cannot continue to process your call. Goodbye.
Of course, each transfer requires me to go through the name/address/billing information. And when I called the regular 800 number back to get sales, I had to go through everything again. I told the rep I wanted to change the order to one unit. Fine. I want to use the gift card. Fine. Except that—are you ready?—he can’t get the gift card to work. He tells me he can place the order, but I will have to call the gift card people to get it working/figured out, and then I will have to call him back. And he tried to give me a case number.
At that point, I lost it. I told him to cancel the entire order and I would not be ordering.
Is it too much to ask that Dell teach their customer service reps how to use gift cards? Or to ask that reps could handle all issues, instead of being transferred eight times—and still not getting a resolution? What is the point of handing out Dell Valued Customer gift cards if it’s impossible to use them online and no one knows how to use them?
My boss (whom I was trying to order from) loves Dell, but after this experience, we will no longer be ordering from Dell. We certainly don’t feel like a valued customer after this experience.
Either I wasn’t paying close attention, or they were not upfront…. I just joined YouTube (because I wanted to be able to vote on videos) and I saw where you could upload emails from your address book and I thought “Hey, that’s cool” so I did it and lo and behold—they send a freakin’ invite to everyone! WTF? I definitely would not have authorized that!!!
I hate that I had a momentary lapse of judgment. I hate that, for a brief moment, I thought it would be cool to be able to easily send links to videos right from the site.
I am usually much smarter than that.
Another entire day without the internet at work…it’s amazing how much we rely on computers! (And it’s amazing how little we can do around the office without the internet.)
Not only was our modem blown, but we discovered that the router was ruined with the power surge as well. Tom came in and reset everything (including buying the new router) and got us back up and running around 4pm. Then it was a mad rush to get some stuff done before the end of the day/the end of the week.
http://www.fotolia.com/id/816376/partner/94600
So for those of you who have visited Hudson Ink lately, you can see that I’m redesigning the site—and I have a new “eye” logo. Well, the site I purchased the photo from is Fotolia…and I also uploaded two of my own photos, just for the heck of it basically. I never expected anything to come of it…but I just got an email that someone purchased my photo! And it wasn’t even my favorite one! 😉
Today at work, I was updating our website, and before I knew it, it was 5:30. Whoa! I am always out the door at 4:59—I totally couldn’t believe it when I looked up and it was 5:25 (I thought it was 4:25!).
Then after dinner I started working on a client’s site and before I know it, about two hours have passed.
I really should have gone to bed then, when Tom did, but I thought “I really want to mess around with my new site a bit” and one little project leads to another and I’m just gonna fix this one last thing and oh wait, I see something else I can change quick and before you know it, it’s 1:29am and I’m still up!
OH MY GOD! I am going to be dead tomorrow!!
So Tom and I just tried to buy plane tickets to a friend’s wedding in Louisville for next month. (We had thought about driving, but it would have been like 11 hours one way and we just didn’t feel like attempting 22 hours in a short weekend.)
So we go to trusty old Orbitz and there are two flights (out of Raleigh) for $160 each (the only two cheap flights). We attempt to purchase the best one (time-wise) and… “Sorry, there is a problem with one of the flights you selected.” So meanwhile, Tom is on his computer at Travelocity and he sees more flights so we try one of those and…after filling in all the information…nope, sorry, that flight isn’t available!! So back to my computer and Orbitz, where I am finally able to get a flight. It’s not the times we wanted, but at least it was still the cheapest flight. (Just an FYI, to leave from Jacksonville, tickets were about $500 each.)
So it took us over an hour to book two stupid flights. And it should have taken five minutes.
GRRRRR.
So guess where we have a layover? Detroit. DETROIT! To fly 700 as-the-crow-flies-West miles, we have to fly about 700 crow miles to Detroit and then another 700 crow miles to Louisville. It’s such a pain living in a city with no real airport.
