Sears almost brings me to Tears.

Here is a sample of the letter I plan on sending some big wig , when I find out who he or she is.

Dear Mr./Ms.________

I am writing to you with a deep sense of frustration. I feel as if my needs have not been heard and therefore not been met. I am the property manager for a Rental units and the Landlord has always turned to Sears for our servicing needs. It is with much regret that after this final repair, we will no longer be using your services. That also means that we will no longer be purchasing your appliances for personal or professional use.

On October 2 a phone call was made at around 9:30 am. Our Kenmore side by side fridge was not working. The customer service agent informed us they wouldn’t be able to get some one out to see it until monday. An appointment was made for Monday October 5.

On Monday October 5th a phone call was received stating that due to overbooking, our appointment was now being moved to the following day October 6th

On Tuesday October 6 the technician arrived in a timely manner and was able to diagnose the problem with in 22 min and quoted a charge for the compressor fix (part still under warranty) for ~$450. As I had to confirm with the landlord as to what he would like to do, the job was closed and the technician left. One half hour later I phone the 1-800-4 My home to set up an appointment because the Landlord agreed to have the fridge fixed because the part was under warranty. I was told the next available date was the 19th of September. I asked if there was any way she could move it up and after some discussion an appointment was made for the 9 of October.

On Friday October 9th I received a phone call that my technician would be coming between 12-4. 4 o’clock came and went so I called to find out what happened. I spent an hour on the phone being tossed from department to department. At around 5:20 pm I received a phone call from the technician saying he would arrive at 5:30 pm. He did, but he couldn’t do anything as there was no part ordered and he wasn’t able to fix it even if there was a part. He said he would do what ever needed to be done to get the process moving.

Thursday October 15, at 9:00 am I phoned to inquire as to the status of the job. I understand there was a holiday so I know things don’t get done right away. That is why I waited till thursday. I got passed to customer service and they informed that nothing had been done. They were going to call me back when they knew what was happening.

Today Friday October 16th, at 9:30 am I phoned to inquire about the status as I hadn’t heard anything. According to computer records I needed to be contacted to set up an appointment. The next available date was October 27th. The appointment has been made.

So these are my questions for you. Do you think 4 weeks is too long for a person to go without a fridge? Do you think that errors made by two of your employees leading to the delay are acceptable? Do you think that when a person is told they will be contacted, the Customer Service Agent should contact that person? What are you going to do to make this right?

I look forward to hearing your response and hope to receive it in a timely manner. I have been nothing but courteous and patient because I believe people deserve to be treated that way. I expect you will do the same.

Thank you,

Alyson **************

Please let me know if you would change anything.

Another Nod

I had plans. I had plans for my last post. I was going to talk about these two great gals who work hard for the money. But it didn’t flow so I could only do one. I’m a little sad because my Title was so good. One of the stores is called Wynken, Blynken and Nod, the other is Little Towheads Hence the name “A Nod to the Towheads”

So here I am, trying to make it right. Although my previous post did not work I am giving the next best thing, Another Nod.

I have wanted a crochet hat with a flower for a long time. There are a few on Etsy that I would go to visit at least once a month, but were a little beyond my budget, when you count exchange and shipping, so alas all I could do was visit.

A long came a girl that can crochet like nobody I know and I was able to commission a piece. She was professional, timely and reasonably priced. I like my hat and I wear it more often than I should. I really should invest in another hair implement so it can be done in the mornings before school, but now I got my beanie so I really don’t have too.

So hats off, I mean on, to Heather. Thanks again

A Nod to the Towheads

A little while back I decided I would try to buy homemade, hand made whenever possible. I had seen a blurb (I can’t find the right word) on the true cost of merchandise and realized I wasn’t paying for my stuff that sometimes overwhelmed my house and suffocated me. I also realized that a lot of stuff we purchase is given a shelf life of about a nano second so that we buy more of it.

Handmade tends to be better quality and keeps the funds in our economy. A great place to find some quality handmade items is ETSY.com.

Recently I won a T-shirt from little Towheads. I got to choose the size and colours. Being the geek that I am I chose the bio hazard symbol. I also thought it fitting for a house full of boys.

I’ve since had many opportunities to wash the T-shirt and the embroidery has held up well. The colours stay true and there is minimal shrinkage. Truth be known I didn’t notice any shrinkage but that could be because they weren’t my jeans and I wasn’t putting them on.

Thanks Dana.

Just so you know there are other shirts for us geeks out there. Like QT (symbol for pi). She has got a lot of choices. It was really hard to pin down what picture to put on it.

Don’t judge a book by its cover

The embedding has been disabled but for those of you who would like to take a look go to Youtube and look up Susan Boyle.

A Face Without Freckles is Like a Sky Without Stars (Something Like That Anyway)

I was talking with my sister about how as humans we seem to celebrate the baseness of our existence. In art if it isn’t edgy, it isn’t good (most of the time). That led to a discussion on what messages we are sending our children and how hard it is to find something both uplifting and good. Lets face it there is a lot of mediocre good out there. So when my sister came across Natasha’s new CD she was well pleased and we both thought the world (or at least you) should know. I asked her to review it for me as I have not heard it yet. So without further ado, here is my sister making her blogging debut with her review. Check it out.

So for the last couple of weeks I have been listening to Natasha Bedingfield’s new CD while driving in my car and I have to say, I am really enjoying it. For a change I can listen to something current, creative, and clean and I didn’t have to shop in the kid section for it. If you liked Natasha’s last CD you will like this one too. Her sound is very similar but I would have to say there may be more hits and fewer misses on this album. My favorite song is the first one. The lyrics start… “The original feeling never went away/ that’s why I’m standing here today/ ” and it just improves from there.

With Natasha, we seem to be able to count on getting quite a positive message without it being too sugary or trite. The music is very like her previously released songs. To me the melodies are pleasing but take unexpected twists and turns and the harmonies and counter melodies add layers and layers of sound. It is cool. If the character “donkey” from Shrek were here, he would say that the music of Natasha Bedingfield was like a parfait, a parfait has layers and who doesn’t like a parfait. All in all, I would give it 4/5 stars

Carrie

Pampered

A while back I wrote about pleasant customer service. My intent was just to spread the good news about a company. We were amid recalls, and I just thought it would be nice. A representative for the company’s competition thought it would be nice if I reviewed some of their product. So it was worked out and I received a sample of some much needed diapers and wipes, from Pampers, to try out. Isn’t it nice when everyone is being nice?

 

I must admit when I first opened the package I was a little skeptical as to their absorbency power for they were considerably thin when compared to the store brand I had been using at the time.

 

When I fist put them on my son I noticed that they were a bit roomier than the other size 3 diapers I had been using in the past. This was a good feature as my son is a bit more rounded in the belly and chubby in the thighs than my other two boys.

 

As the days passed my son did his best to beat the barriers of double gathers and absorbent padding. You know he does pee like a champ and had powerful poop. I was experiencing at least 3 leaks a week. He succeeded only once with a blowout. Otherwise the gathers held up remarkably well.

 

There was only one thing I disliked. It was the scent, but that is purely subjective. I know of others who like the scent.

 

As for the Pampers baby fresh wipes, they remained really moist and cleaned up quite well. The texture was a bit odd but I got used to it. Again the scent bothered me, but most scents do.

 

Since trying out the diapers I had gone back to a store brand and was so not impressed. I have already purchased a package of Pampers baby dry size 3, as they seem to fit my son better. With three boys at home anything that can make my life easier, and less laundry makes it easier, is worth getting.

Dead Skin Soup

I like to think of myself as a good cook. There are some meals that I am really good at and I can follow a recipe… or can I? The “soup” we were to have monday has all of the veggies I like and the smell was so good as it bubbled away in the slowcooker. Now in the recipe’s defence it said to cook in a stock pot and to use Savoy (green) cabbage, but Massimo (recipe inventor extrodinaire) said we could cook it in a crock pot and I took artistic licence by putting red cabbage in the soup instead.

Now my Husband is a man who does not like the brothy soup. He is more of a stew or chowder (nevr clam) kind of guy, but he will partake if there are noodles or crackers to “thicken” it up.

So there we were, a family, sitting at the table, Mr. Wondeful crackering his soup while rest of us were laughing at the purpleness of it. Then we took a bite. Gross!!. I don’t know what I could have done wrong but yuck!! Then Mr. Wondeful pointed out that his crackers, in absorbing the broth, had a purpley grey tinge to them that was not unlike the coulour of dead skin (or what we immagined it to be). I resorted to laughing at my miserable meal but made everyone eat because well, you know. Mr. Wonderful and I finished our bowls and the boys ate half. The rest was thrown out. Still hungry we commenced with our improptu second course: Ice Cream.

Now I can add Fall Harvest soup to the list of things I cannot and should not make.

A Big Hug From Huggies

So I got this package of diapers and by half way through the package I had 20 unusable diapers because the left tab was missing. I phoned their customer service line and they are sending me a coupon for a free package of diapers any size and a postage paid pre addressed envelope to send them back a sample. It is so great when a company backs up their products unlike Evenflo. Never ever buy anything from Evenflo, but Huggies(Kimberly Clark) is ok.

The answer is…

…Kenny Loggins contributed to all of the soundtracks. What is so great about Kenny Loggins? Well the is Highway to the danger zone, Footloose and Meet me half way to name a few but he also has the two best childrens CDs ever. I first got introduced to his “boy” CD about 12 years ago. If you do the calculations you will see that was before I had or even thought of having kids. A few years following he came out with his “girl” CD. I personally prefer the first one because I like the songs better.

Near the end of this last pregnancy I started to think of all the things that I hated about having small children. I don’t like watching kids shows, and I loath the annoying music that stays in my head long after it has stopped play (mares eat oats etc.) That particular song would even keep playing in my head while I was asleep. The thought of having to pull them out to soothe my new little on was making my ears bleed and nothing was playing.

Then the first night home where Tweedle 3 wanted to stay up ALL NIGHT, I was reminded of this CD by a post that Karen had that mentioned “The Last Unicorn”. Thanks to that CD all persons involved remained calm and were able to make it throught the next few nights. So should you be looking for music that both parent and child can stand check them out. If you don’t want to take my word for it check the reviews here or here. You can also listen to some samples at those sites.

A funny (interesting and maybe haha) aside: I was dating this guy shortly after I dicovered the CD and was going through his CDs. He had it and used it to go to sleep sometimes. He was able to re tape it for me as I had accidentally erased one side on the copy I had been given.

BabyTease

I saw this on city line and loved the cheekyness of there shirts etc. I really like the “Born Yesterday” hat and the “iPood” onesie in case anyone was wondering. The other stuff is great too.