FRY's Sucks dot com

I had my sister write this up….and I may edit this at some point, but I have a co-worker as a witness to the fact all this actually happened. It is why I will never shop at Fry’s again and instead use Tigerdirect.com for all my networking purposes. The premise is pretty simple….I have a sister who is not very computer literate and asked me to help her out with an external hard drive purchase so she can store her photos (she loves to “scrapbook” and needs tons of pictures to do so effectively). She asked me to help her get an external hard drive because she was getting a memory full error.

Today’s experience in customer service.

I leave for lunch at 12:15 and pick up my brother and his coworker who are in town from Seattle on business. Every time Nick is in town he knows to expect to be my tech support. This visit was no different….well …. Except for the experience at Fry’s.

We arrive at Fry’s about 12:30 and have a sandwich in their deli, do my shopping to pick up an external hard drive and some ink for my printer, and proceed to the check out counter….total time 45 – 50 minutes.

When I get to the check out counter (1:10 – 1:15) my external hard drive and ink cartridge were being rang up together when the clerk (Lani) said she can’t ring up the hard drive because it is a special order item. I let her know that I didn’t think it was a special order item because it is on sale in 3 different places in the store … one of those places being about 3 feet from us in the isle leading up to the registers. She replies that because it is special order she has to go get a tag for it from the hardware department. So off she goes. About 5 minutes later she comes back tag in hand and rings me up again and reads me my total for the two items…she them says … she can’t ring the items together because it was a special order and then proceeds to credit back my credit card for the hard drive and ring up only the ink cartridge which was then signed for, bagged, and my receipt handed to me. At this point Nick who was originally waiting by the door for me comes to see what the hold up is. Lani says she apologizes and is almost finished. Nick and I shrug our shoulders as there is nothing we can really do about it. It is now about 1:25 when Lani rings up the hard drive for the 3rd time and now can’t print my receipt because Fry’s is having a printer problem. At this point I am already getting a bit fidgety as I have been at her counter for 20 minutes to purchase 2 items. The supervisor (Sushma) comes over and ties to print the receipt, not luck so they move to another register and tell me they are going to try to ring it or print it from there….more minutes go by. I am now at the breaking point and ask for them to get a manager and at this point I want them to credit my credit card back because I just need to leave the store. They couldn’t do this either because why…. They didn’t have the original receipt! I now (politely of course) ask for the manager again because I need someone who can just get me out of the store. We are now walking to customer service where the manager should be able to issue a credit to my card and let us leave the store. But no … we (manager, supervisor, clerk, nick, and me) go back to the register where the manager (Christopher) tries to explain that even though they can’t print to the receipt printer they should be able to get all receipts from the register. The supervisor is just not getting it and the manager is also now getting upset. He literally had to tell her if Lani was going home for the day…what would you do.? She says close the register, the clerk say F8, and whallla it clicks. They close the register, all receipts print, and they now have my receipt number to credit my card. The register manager (Phuong) now walks up and Christopher explains to her that her people have no idea what they are doing….she took over and credited AGAIN and I finally saw a receipt with the credit on it. Phuong now wants to ring up the hard drive again, and I again explained I don’t want it now I have been her for 50 minutes, I’d rather just leave and she says but I need to ring you for the hard drive…Nick then say what didn’t you hear…she wants her receipt so we can go and I reiterated that I will not be buying anything from them since it took them 50 minutes to not sell me the product I came for and YES I left without the hard drive.

In comparison … After work I pulled into Best Buy, picked up an external hard drive, checked out with a price discrepancy, and was still out in no exaggeration 7 minutes!

One thing I will note....In the time it took her to write this out, she had all her pictures transferred the esternal hard drive she bought from Best buy. In the past year, both of us (mid to late 30's) have purchase dnew washers and dryers, computers, external hard drives, games, etc... We ARE the TARGET audience.

Total Geek-Dom

Up until now I only considered myself a marginal tech geek. But I just realized I am at the airport…. I'm sitting in the bar, waiting for my flight, using my phone as a modem and watching my location free TV...am I a tech gook or what?

 

Weekend Happenings

Saturday was a good day. Went to the bowling alley to pick up Marsha's new ball. The kids bowled a game and played some video games. We managed to get a sitter for Saturday night and did some shopping, saw the movie "knocked up" and had a bite to eat. The movie had some pretty funny parts, but overall not as good as the hype.

BTW, congrats to Tiger and his wife on their baby.

1st Grade Over

Today is a BIG day.

1. It’s my oldest son’s last day of the first grade. His first real year is over and he’s now a 2^nd grader! Wow.
2. I graduated from High School 19 years ago. Wow. I am getting extremely old.
3. It’s my 9^th anniversary. Happy Anniversary dear. It’s been quite a ride so far.
4. Our fence is getting finished today. So much for that last bonus check! LOL.

 

Father's Day

I had a great Father’s Day. MY Kids both made me cards that look great. I’m going to take them to my office tomorrow. Ryan made me a keychain that says “Dad” on it. I’ve already got it on my Key Ring. Marsha got me an Ipod Nano for my upcoming trip to Ireland. That was a perfect gift. I got to sit around the house and watch the U.S. Open golf tournament. Other than the rain which prevented us from going to the carnival, it was a great day. Much batter than Saturday when he took down our entire fence (269 linear feet) so the workers could start installing the new one today. That was fun.

Things in Sports that make you go hmmmm

We all know some players lie about their birthdays, but Jose Mesa’s birth date is listed on the Philadelphia Phillies web page (http://philadelphia.phillies.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=118986) as 05/22/1966

Which is fine except his Daughter's birth date is listed on the SAME PAGE as 1/15/74

So, Mesa was 7 years, 8 months old when his wife gave birth to his daughter.

 

 

The Colorado Rockies are charging more for tickets to see their upcoming home series against the Yankees than they do any other team.

A box-seat ticket along the first-base line that would have cost you $42 for an interleague game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays will go for $75 during the Yankees series, with similar increases spread over most of the ballpark.

 

 

Ian Snell (of the Pittsburgh Pirates) will not start tomorrow night against Seattle because of a blister on the index finger of his right hand.

The right-hander blistered his finger while cooking in his kitchen.

"I was cooking a chicken breast for a salad and burned my finger," Snell said. "I'm all right, but the salad wasn't too good."

 

 

The Oakland Raiders, a Team that has sucked intensely in recent years, canceled the final week of their off-season training program Friday after complaints from the NFL players' union about the intensity of the practices.

In a brief statement, coach Lane Kiffin said the players' union believes the Raiders' off-season program violated league rules on practice standards.

"The union has complained about the high level of intensity, player aggressiveness and fast pace of our practices and, as a result, has taken away the final week of our off-season program," said Kiffin, the NFL's youngest and least experienced head coach.

 

Meanwhile…….

 

A paintball shot in the groin left rookie LaRon Landry unable to practice when the Washington Redskins opened their minicamp Friday.

The No. 6 overall pick in this year's draft was injured during a team-building outing Wednesday, when coach Joe Gibbs allowed the players to leave early at the end of the voluntary spring workouts. Some players went bowling or had lunch together, while many of the defensive players went to play paintball.

"I didn't know paintball was that dangerous," linebacker Marcus Washington said. "I hope it wasn't friendly fire."

 

 

 

In an extremely curious move (or at least curious timing), the LA Dodgers fire Hall of Famer Eddie Murray as hitting coach after team gets 31 hits and scores 18 runs in a three game series while sweeping the NL East-leading NY Mets

 

Fence Saga

What a weekend. We’ve had a heck of a time with our Fence project. The first company that was supposed to do our fence showed up with everything to do the work but said “tear down” was not included on their bid. They wanted to add on $1300 to tear down my existing fence. I told them to pack sand. Every other bid was between $250-$500 for tear down and disposal.

I called a company called A-Z Construction in South Seattle These people were supposed to show up during the week for a job. I paid for the Lumber at the lumber company (name withheld because they have done NOTHING wrong).

A-Z TOLD ME they picked it up (I've since been told they never even picked up the lumber) and were supposed to come do my fence. Supposedly their truck broke down. A-Z said they would be here the next day, again a problem with the 2nd truck. Said they would be here on Saturday. Guess, what? A call in the morning to say they'd be here in the afternoon. No Show/No call.

I finally got a hold of them on Saturday evening after waiting around all day. Said they finally got truck working and would be here between 8 & 9 am on Sunday. I write this at 1:45 pm on Sunday and no show. They've shut off their cell phone and won't answer their home phone.

All I was looking for was a call back telling me what was going on. Nothing. Up until today, I didn't think I was being scammed. I believed these people...and understood sometimes things happen. But no show and no call and I am out over $2000 for lumber (update: The lumber place has refunded my money and been nothing but 100% professional. I have no gripes with them. They even offered me referrals for a decent fence builder)!

I've left 5 -6 messages now all throughout the day. Nothing.

Daniel FINALLY called me this morning and said he would have the lumber company refund my money and cancelled the fence job on me.

My family and I were supposed to go camping this weekend and we stayed home waiting around for this guy. The lumber he can refund, the time lost and wasted weekend waiting around for him, he can't. I just can't believe he didn't call. When I spoke to him Saturday night he said to me, "I can't believe you are being so cool about this, most people would be so upset." To which I told him, I understand things happen sometimes, just make sure you keep me informed so I know what is going on. Then he no shows/no calls all day Sunday.

Just to make it clear...the lumber company has done nothing wrong here. They have been 100% professional and refunded my money. I have no issue with them and they even offered to give me some referrals.

BTW, someone tipped me off that A-Z has been SUSPENDED by Labor & Industries. I looked it up and their license was suspended the DAY AFTER I contracted them to do work for me. I guess I should feel lucky I didn't get burned even worse. I did look them up prior to hiring them. But, like I said, their license was suspended after that.

Here's the link to the L&I WebSite...

https://fortress.wa.gov/lni/bbip/Detail.aspx?License=AZCONC*948lz

Ryan & the Dentist

Ryan had two of his back teeth pulled on Monday. His “adult” teeth were coming in and couldn’t break through the old ones so they had to yank them out. If you’ve never seen a 7 year old on Valium, I highly recommend it (come on…it is a joke!). Ryan at one time dropped a card he hand in his hand and picked it up and said….”whoa, it turned purple”. He was really quite funny and could barely walk he was so wobbly. Anyway, all is fine now.

 

We had a great weekend soaking up the 80 degree weather in the 86 degree pool. Logan had fun. Ryan really didn’t want to join us In the pool this time…he’s kind of hit or miss. We have an appointment on July 31 to see the neuron-developmental specialist and Children’s hospital to figure out once and for all if he has Asperger’s Syndrome or not. I can’t wait to find out. It will explain a lot of things and open some educational doors for him if he is officially diagnosed.