Category: Retail Experiences

Amazon.com’s sneaky super-saver shipping

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I’m a bit perturbed with Amazon.com at the moment. I ordered a few cds on October 28th and chose super saver shipping since I’m cheap like that. On November 1st I got an e-mail saying my item shipped, along with the USPS tracking #. Ever since then, when I would check the status, I’d just get that message saying the shipper has notified the post office to expect an item for shipping. The status didn’t change until today, which now says “Your item was processed and left our FOREST PARK, IL 60130 facility on November 7, 2008.”

Sneaky little shits. Clearly had they really shipped the item on November 1st like their e-mail indicated, I would have my items by now. That’s just wrong to tell a customer their item shipped when really it’s been sitting in their warehouse for a week. I realize the shipping is free, so it’s not like I expected to get my stuff in two days, but don’t lie and say it shipped when it really didn’t.

Kohl’s dressing room fun

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We ended up at Kohl’s not once, but twice this week.

I was in the dressing room during the first visit when the lady in the stall next to mine body-slammed the wall when she lost her balance. I had to cover my mouth to keep her from hearing me laughing.

A few days later I was once again in the dressing room when the woman in the stall next to me was complaining how all the pants are designed for woman who don’t have hips. “Barbie dolls” is what she called them. It took all my will power not to yell out, “I hear ya!” to her ranting, which was directed to her significant other standing outside the dressing room area. I’ve only been able to find properly fitted pants since I lost enough weight that my hips are more proportioned to my waist, although they are still larger and make finding pants that don’t leave a huge gap in the back challenging.

Oh and we stripped one of the mannequins on our second trip. I wanted to exchange a top for a larger size and the only one that was left in my size was on a model, so we left her shirtless and took off with the top. I was going to redress her with a different size but Joe thought it was funnier to leave her topless. I should have taken a picture.

Suck it, Newegg.com

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As you know, I ordered the Canon 40D kit from Newegg.com last week. On Friday, I got an e-mail saying they couldn’t fulfill my order because my billing and shipping addresses didn’t match. They said I needed to add my shipping address (which is my employer) to my Discover account. I did just that and tried to resubmit my order but it wouldn’t work. So I canceled the order and placed a new one thinking they’d call Discover, verify my shipping address, and that would be that.

I was wrong. Yesterday I got a voicemail from them saying they still didn’t have enough information to verify my order was legit and I had to call them back Mon-Fri. I was also told that my order would be canceled three days from the order date if I didn’t contact them in time. Well, considering I ordered on Friday but wasn’t able to contact anyone until Monday, that means they’d possibly cancel my order before I could set things straight.

At this point it was becoming too much of a hassle to deal with these people. I get that they want to protect themselves against fraud but come on already. I did what you told me to do and still it’s not good enough? How do you think that address got added to my Discovercard account if it wasn’t me? They ask you for three pieces of identifying information you know. So whatever.

I canceled my order last night and found the camera at Buydig.com for $10 cheaper plus a free 2GB compact flash card. So nah-nah, Newegg.com. You just lost a sale because you’re a big pain in my ass. I would have ordered from Buydig from the very beginning but the camera wasn’t on their site last week. I’m so glad I was able to get it from them, though, because it shipped out today from New Jersey and will likely arrive before Friday. That means Joe and I will be going on a photo excursion or two this weekend.

Escape

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So here it is. Our new Ford Escape.

Ford Escape

So yea, we bought a SUV. Hypocritical, isn’t it, considering how I hate SUVs and Ford? Or I guess I used to hate them. Ah well, what can I say? I changed my mind. I’m a woman so I’m entitled to it.

Our sales person was a great guy. Seriously. He was not seedy in any way like the guy we dealt with at the first dealership we visited. He was extremely helpful and friendly but not in a phony way. It was definitely a good car-buying experience.

And the “car” is a dream. Has tons of cool features and lots of storage space in the center console. I love it. And my iPod sounds fantastic with the sound system. Can’t wait to go driving around this weekend.

Don’t always believe the Sears sales person

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When we purchased our washing machine from Sears awhile back, the sales woman convinced us to get it delivered verses us picking one up because she said the $75 delivery fee would be rebated back, in addition to the 10% special they were running. I tried submitting the rebate online but it kept telling me we only qualified for the 10% rebate as the $75 delivery fee was only if you used your Sears card (which we do not have). We should have known better that she was full of it initially since the rebate form said you needed the Sears card to qualify, but she insisted that since the sign in the store did not say that, it superseded the rebate form.

We called Sears before submitting the rebate and were told we had to submit it and get rejected for the $75 before they could do anything. I ended up submitting it via regular mail just because the one online made me agree to only the 10% and I did not want to consent to not getting the $75 too.

Of course when we got our rebate check last week it only had the 10%. Joe spent the next few days trying to track down someone who could fix it for us. Finally I got hold of our original sales person and she said to bring the rebate check and our paperwork in and someone would take care of it. I asked if I could bring it in for her to handle personally and she lied to me and said she’d be gone for the day by the time we came in. Interesting considering the fact that when we got there we were told she was on lunch. Who goes on lunch right before they’re about to leave? How about being accountable for misleading us and rectifying the situation?

In any case, after going over the story with the salesman on duty, and him calling the rebate center to verify why we didn’t qualify for the rebate (which we already explained but he wasn’t paying attention), a shift manager ended up refunding our credit card $75 (plus tax since they couldn’t figure out how not to include it).

That’s one thing I will say for Sears – when they screw up, they make it right. Even if you have to jump through a few hoops first. I had a problem with them five years ago and they sent me gift cards.

Oh and then I spent 75% of that refund on these awesome shoes. :)