Category: Retail Experiences

Annoyed

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Today has not gone at all as planned. I had trouble falling back to sleep after Joe’s alarm went off, but after taking a Xanax I was able to get almost two more hours of sleep. Once I got up I did a little decluttering and then called my old college buddy as we planned to catch up. Except she didn’t answer even though she asked me to call at that time. So I decided I’d do some deep cleaning in the kitchen in order to “earn” the ability to spend the rest of the day being lazy and streaming Hot Wives of Orlando (a funny Hulu original series) on Hulu Plus (turns out we get a free two-month subscription for buying the Google Chromecast).

But before that, I called the sleep clinic I’ve been working with to schedule an at-home sleep study to find out whether I have sleep apnea. Except they can’t schedule it until my doctor’s office sends them the information we’ve both been asking them to send since LAST Saturday.

Basically, my doctor initially gave me the order for a facility that kept putting me off and putting me off. I gave them all my info on December 2nd and scheduled an in-facility sleep study for December 18th. I explained to them I wanted to know what my out of pocket cost would be and they told me they’d know once I had my insurance info. So when I dropped it off I asked them again and was told they’d need to call the insurance and get back to me. But they didn’t. So I called the next week and they claimed, again, they’d get back to me. But they didn’t. So I called the Monday before my scheduled sleep study and was told the same thing once more. Finally I got pissed off and asked them exactly when they were planning to call me seeing as how my appointment was mere days away. They said the day before. Except when I called them that mourning they still couldn’t help me.

It wasn’t until 3 o’clock that afternoon they called me and guess what? They told me my insurance denied an in-facility study and I’d have to come down and pick up some equipment and do an at-home study.

At this point I was so annoyed that they took three weeks to figure this out that I decided to do the study through the facility tied to the hospital I see my physician through. I don’t even know why she tried sending me to the other place to begin with.

I spoke with the second facility on Friday December 19th and they told me what they needed from my doctor in ordrer to proceed. Since my doctor doesn’t have hours on Fridays, I sent them a fax explaining how I didn’t want to deal with the other place because they were less than helpful, and to please fax an at-home study order to the new facility along with the physical they were requesting. I called my doctor on Saturday to make sure they got my fax and they said yes.

On Monday I called the facility to see if they got everything, and they told me the doctor hadn’t faxed them anything. So I called my doctor and they claimed they did fax it but would do it again. In the meantime I received a call from the first facility because the idiot doctor sent them my fax where I basically said I didn’t like them; they wanted to know what was going on. So I just told them the other facility is easier to get to for me. I was so mad that my doctor would do something so stupid.

On Tuesday I called back the second facility and asked if they’ve gotten the info from my doctor yet, and they told me just the order, but not the physical. So they faxed my doctor asking for the physical.

As of this morning the doctor hasn’t sent it to them and I’m running out of time to get this done for only $50 as opposed to $300+ (thanks to Joe’s kids always going to the doctor the family deductible has been met this year and I’d only have to pay 15% of the cost whereas if I wait to have the study done next year I will have to pay for it out of pocket in full).

I’ve spent so much time on the phone going back and forth with this that I’m at the point I am going to be screaming at my doctor’s office tomorrow morning when they are back in. I don’t usually get like this but I’ve had it with the office manager (which happens to be my doctor’s husband). This isn’t the first time he has made things difficult for me. I guess I’m going to have to switch doctors after having the same one for over a decade because I’m ready to strangle this guy!

On top of that, I just had the worst experience with Petco. A friend alerted me to a deal they had online where for every $25 eGift card you buy, you get a bonus $5 eGift card. I figured I’d get $50 and a $10 bonus since I buy the rats’ litter from Petco, except when I placed my order I never got the bonus eGift card. When I called I was told that promotion expired at 3 am this morning even though it’s still appearing on their site. When I pointed this out, the guy said he could transfer me to customer service so they could do something to accommodate me, except the guy I spoke to was a total moron. He kept talking over me and not understanding anything I was trying to tell him. I will admit, I lost my patience at one point and yelled, “well maybe if you stopped interrupting me you’d get the confirmation #!” LOL But seriously, WTF? I spent a half hour on the phone with him and received no resolution. He claims someone has to call me back in 24-48 hours but I’m not holding my breath. If they weren’t so incompetent I’d just cancel the order, but I’m afraid they’d deactivate the gift card code but not refund my money. It has really left a sour taste in my mouth in regards to that place, though. Honestly, I’m a bigger fan of Petsmart, but the Petco brand paper paper litter has the best smell, texture, and price compared to Yesterday’s News so I always buy it.

Now I’m just so annoyed I can’t concentrate on the Hot Wives show so I guess I’ll go take a shower since I hadn’t gotten around to that yet today.

Skydogz & Costco

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Saturday I did a little cleaning around the house and spent a lot of time online trying to choose an iPhone case to no avail. Joe had to work a full day which is highly unusual and a huge bummer.

As a result, Sunday was quite busy! We started out our morning with a trip to Starbucks. I’m usually pretty good at filing away the deal emails I get from various companies but I wanted to check out Starbucks’ breakfast sandwiches since I’d get 50% off. Plus we had money on our Starbucks card thanks to a recent Groupon deal. I got bacon, egg, and cheese on a ciabatta roll and Joe got a vanilla latte and oatmeal. The total came to nearly $10 and Joe paid with our Discover because he’s silly. The sandwich was just ok and the oatmeal is what we can make at home so we won’t be doing that again.

Our next stop was our usual Sunday trip Target to grab some groceries. After coming home and putting the groceries away, I signed up for a Costco membership through Living Social and printed out the email so we could go redeem it. But before that, we headed over to the CSBarks Dog Festival to check out the Skydogz which we’ve seen at different festivals over the years.

Skydogz

I’m a bit disappointed in how my photos turned out because I had to take my filter off my lens as I’ve been a bit lazy lately and realized too late that it was filthy. It was super sunny out and while lots of light can help freeze the action, sometimes there’s too much of a good thing.

We also watching the dogs on the agility course, and this one in particular was cracking me up because he’s got the cutest expression.

Agility Course

He was a bit too focused on what his owner was doing, as you can see here.

Agility Course

He kept getting distracted because he wasn’t focused on the course. It was adorable.

By the time we left the festival we were feeling pretty hungry so we stopped at a place across the street called Bulldog Alehouse for cheap boneless wings. Their garlic Parmesan ones are the best, but we also ordered Caribbean jerk because we thought we liked those too (thought wrong, although Joe didn’t mind them as much as I did).

After lunch we finally made our way over to Costco to complete our membership. We had toured Costco once years ago but concluded it wasn’t worth it for us. This time around we figured we’d give it a shot since the $55 membership included a $20 Costco card and a free rotisserie chicken and pie which I believe is a total value of about $30. So as long as we save $25 or more we’re golden.

Of course no sooner than walking through the showroom were we seriously contemplating dropping $1800 on a TV. No ordinary TV, though, but a Samsung 55″ Ultra HD TV with a curved screen and the most beautifully realistic picture I’ve ever seen. The photos on their site can’t possibly do the TV justice. You have to see it in person.

We’ve been wanting a new TV for awhile now but keep putting it on the back-burner because it’s not like our current TV sucks or anything. In fact, even though it’s not full HD (it’s not even 780p but half that, believe it or not), it’s a plasma with a great picture and we’re pretty happy with it. Until we saw the Samsung that is. But being the responsible people we are we decided to do some research before making such a large purchase, and after about 10 minutes pull ourselves away from the TV to tour the rest of the store.

Incidentally, after checking the reviews for the TV at Amazon I’m not entirely sold on buying it. I get the feeling the picture only looks awesome on blue-ray movies and the like and regular TV might look crappy on it. Plus a reviewer remarked that if you turn on the up-scaling function for regular TV then the sound doesn’t work. If that’s true that’s a serious issue and I definitely don’t want to drop a ton of money on a TV until that is fixed.

Joe found some vodka and beer for a good price, as well as some granola bars. We also grabbed some oatmeal and bottled water. Most of the fresh foods weren’t a bargain for us because there’s no way we’d eat through the enormous portions before the food spoiled. I could see how great they’d be for a large family, though. Oh, and not everything was a bargain either, but I’m sure you’d find that at any store.

In total I estimate we saved between $10-$15 on our trip and our total was $80 before using the $20 card our new membership came with. And it’s a good thing we had that card because no one told us that Costco doesn’t take credit cards! We don’t have a debit card on our main checking account (too susceptible to theft) and Joe’s debit card on his small checking account wasn’t working for some reason. Luckily between the two of us we had just enough cash to pay for our purchase and avoid total embarrassment. We have money, I swear, LOL! Guess it’s a good thing we didn’t try and buy that TV after all. ;)

After that fiasco we tried to get Costco gas for my car but Joe’s debit card still wouldn’t work so we gave up and went to Speedway. If we want to continue shopping there we’re probably going to apply for their Costco credit card since neither of us carries much cash and we don’t want to attach a debit card to our main checking account.

By the time we made it home it was after 3 pm and I threw some chicken in the crockpot and started processing my photos from earlier in the day. Around 5-ish I realized we should start giving the rats their mite treatment in order to be done in time for the Bears game at 7:20. Joe had to help hold them while I applied the medicine. They are squirmy and do not like sitting still and you have to get the medicine on their skin which requires blowing on their fur to expose their skin. At the same time I had to bleach everything in their cages as well as the cages themselves, and remove all bedding and wash it to kill any possible mites and/or eggs which cannot be seen by the naked eye. Then we moved everything out of the room and I shampooed the carpeting too since mites could be hanging out there as well.

When all was said and done it was 8 pm, our loft was a mess (because that’s were all the cages and furniture were being temporarily stored) and we hadn’t even eaten dinner yet. I got to work on making some fried rice and by 8:30 pm we were finally eating.

Today I spent most of the day doing rat laundry (I had to wash even the clean fleece I had stored in the room in case it had mites on it) and cleaning the house in general. I also got the rat room back in order since the rug dried overnight. Now I’m pooped and it’s nearly 8 pm and Joe is still stuck at work. I’ll be really happy when things calm down at his work because I’m starting to feel like I’m single and I don’t like it. Even though yesterday was a busy day it was the best day I’ve had in over a week because I got to spend it with him.

Thanksgiving +4

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Another long weekend for yours truly and I’m totally not complaining! This time I get five days off (and Joe gets four).

Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents’ house with my brothers. I made the mistake of trying to get in on an online Black Friday deal at Dell.com and was rewarded with absolutely nothing for my effort. I understand the “doorbusters” are going to be limited quantity, but I was on the site 10 minutes ahead of time and clicked “Add to cart” immediately when the deal went live and all I got was error after error even when alternating between two items I would have been happy to snag. After fifteen minutes of this nonsense it all disappeared due to being sold out. I don’t know who actually got the opportunity to buy something because I sure didn’t, and now I am questioning whether I want to do business with Dell in the future. I always buy computers from them but that experience really irked me. It’s just one of the many reasons I don’t do Black Friday, but I thought online I’d be safe from such frustration. Silly me.

On the actual Black Friday we did not venture out of the house, nor did we end up buying anything online other than some coffee for Joe’s parents. I did keep an eye on the deals throughout the day, but nothing really caught my eye. I guess that’s a good thing, though, right?

Saturday Joe ordered himself a copy of Battlefield 4 for the PS3 since Gamestop was selling it only for only $25 which is half the retail price. We also made an early morning trip to Walmart to return a few items and then to Target to grab a few necessities, including bacon. The day before we were watching a bacon-themed food show and I got an idea to make homemade breakfast skillets. So far the only thing I’ve been using my new food processor for is to make homemade hash browns, and the skillet with hash browns, eggs, cheese and bacon came out delicious! It was better than most skillets I’ve had in restaurants, and cheaper too.

This morning we decided to head over to Starbucks to camp out for a bit since they sent a 50% off coupon and we were feeling a bit of cabin fever. We spent about an hour and a half surfing on our iPads while sipping a not-so-great vanilla latte. I even asked them to add another shot of the vanilla syrup since I wasn’t even tasting it but it still sucked. I don’t know what it is about that particular location, but I am never happy with the quality of drinks from there. I just tend to forget because I rarely drink Starbucks, and when I do I usually get it at the one in my local Target. Unfortunately they don’t accept the coupons there. My clothes now smell like burnt coffee too. WTF?

After Starbucks we went to Aldi to pick up a take-and-bake pizza for lunch during the Bears game which I just finished eating. We got the pepperoni which was ok for the price ($5.99). I’ve yet to find a frozen or take-and-bake pizza that really knocks my socks off. The closest I’ve found was DiGiorno’s thin crust four cheese pizza which is pretty food.

I have to admit, all the recent Black Friday (and upcoming) Cyber Monday madness is making me feel like I want to buy stuff. And I know that’s exactly what the retailers want. It takes a lot to break me down, but I’m starting to feel left out for not spending hundreds of dollars during the holidays like so many people. I know it’s not healthy, or financially responsible to do that, and I won’t do it, but I can feel the temptation. I think it’s especially strong this year because while we’ve always been frugal and whatnot, we really cut back on our discretionary spending due to my employment situation. For the most part I am totally fine with that, because I feel like we have so much as it is, but sometimes I miss the days where we could spend freely without too much thought. As it is, we agreed to spend between $50-$100 on one another so we lose nothing out of pocket as Joe’s parents gives us each $100 every year. And truth be told, I’d be hard-pressed to find much to ask Santa for anyway. Maybe some new nail polish and a camera lens, but that’s really it. Sure, there’s a lot of stuff I wouldn’t mind having, but none of it is necessary. I guess I just miss that Christmas thrill from when I was a kid. How does one get that feeling back without it being about spending money on gifts?

Luvvitt

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I love when a company offers stellar customer service, and Luvvitt really does. I was having trouble with the iPad back cover I had purchased earlier this year and decided to contact the manufacturer to see what they might do for me. The resulting exchange happened. Note the timing of the responses. Impressive!

On Apr 25, 2012, at 4:45 PM, I wrote:

In January I purchased your Luvvitt Dolce back cover for my iPad 2 from Amazon.com. I choose the “clear” one and I love the fit and function. The reason I’m writing to you today is because I’ve noticed the cover has started to turn yellow which is strange because I keep my iPad in my nightstand drawer when not in use and don’t take it outside the home except for a handful of times (since I have the Wi-Fi version). It’s really starting to bother me as it makes the iPad look dingy and dirty when it’s not. Could my case be defective? I bought it thanks to all the glowing reviews at Amazon and am happy other than this dis-coloring that has started to occur. I would expect it perhaps after a few years but not only four months into ownership. If you could offer a solution to this I’d be much appreciative.

On Apr 25, 2012, at 6:06 PM, Luvvitt Customer Service wrote:

Hi Nicole,

Thanks for writing to us. Your product is covered under Luvvitt Warranty so we would gladly send you a replacement unit immediately. Please advise your order number so we can process your shipment right away.

It’s a common issue with clear/transparent colored thermoplastic cases to loose it’s color with several months of use. There are several different elements such as smoke (from cigarettes), dirt on surface the case is placed, dirt from hands etc. All cases are the same however, clear ones show it much more than the colored ones. We use a special element in our production to prevent the yellowing however there isn’t always a 100% solution for this as it’s an inherent characteristic of thermoplastic. You are more than welcome to choose any other color if you like for your replacement.

Please let us know.

Best,
Luvvitt

On Apr 25, 2012, at 6:22 PM, I wrote:

I appreciate your quick reply. My order number at Amazon was __________.

I would prefer if you could send me the powder blue back cover so the yellowing, if it occurs again, won’t be as noticeable. I have the blue smart cover and I understand from the Amazon reviews that your back cover is the same shade of blue to match.

What other information do you require from me? I wasn’t sure whether I need to provide my address or if you get that from the order number.

On Apr 25, 2012, at 7:43 PM, Luvvitt Customer Service wrote:

Hi Nicole,

No other info is necessary. We have initiated a shipment order for your Illinois address.

Yes, we have matched the color in an accredited lab but please note that smart cover is a solid color and the back cover is transparent so the color match can be subjective however, we have received several positive feedbacks regarding the color match from our customers so far. If you don’t like the color you can return it for an exchange.

Best,
Luvvitt

The new case came in the mail that weekend, only a few days after the email exchange, and it’s beautiful. It matches the smart cover quite well. I wrote them back to let them know I received the replacement and was very impressed with their customer service and they responded back thanking me for my feedback. It was one of the most pleasant transactions I’ve had with a company and will definitely make me want to do business with them again in the future.

Philips Portable Speaker follow-up

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As a follow-up to this post, I wanted to document that I received the replacement speaker in the mail at the beginning of the week. That evening I switched the batteries from my current unit to the new one and was experiencing the same exact problem. At that point it occurred to me that maybe the batteries were to blame, so I switched them out for new ones and the speaker worked fine, which means the original speaker probably wasn’t broken to begin with (didn’t even think to put new batteries in that one to check). I’m surprised the person at Philips didn’t ask about this. Surely this isn’t the first time they’ve heard of such an issue.

I’m still going to ship back my original unit to them via FedEx (pre-paid postage was included), and despite how very accommodating they’ve been I don’t think I’d buy another portable speaker again due to how quickly it eats through batteries. I barely used my original unit before having issues so it doesn’t seem like a very cost-effective solution particularly because it uses AAA batteries and I only have a charger and rechargeable batteries in AA.