DMV Phone Reps

Again, I am convinced that telephone representatives for some companies have no idea what they are talking about, as I mentioned earlier my experience with AT&T and my business phone line. This time it involves the State of Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles. I think when I ask questions they just make up answers to make it appear that they know something. I was going to conduct a transaction for someone else so I called to ask what forms I would need. She said I would need an H-something form to do that and I asked to have it mailed. The told me the 3 other forms, which I had. Waited 2 weeks for that form, instead she just went with me. When we got there it turned out that special H form is just a registration form, which I already had. I was also told that I didn't need 2 of the other forms the phone person told me I needed. Had she known what she was talking about I would have done the transaction 2 weeks ago!

World Wide Web Tax Refund

It's apparent that my threatening letter to World Wide Web Tax did the job. I told them if they didn't give me a full refund, I would report them to the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, and Department of Consumer Protection because of their deceptive business practices. I checked my credit card online yesterday and I was given a full refund, and even 4 days before the deadline I had given them! It feels great knowing that some of my complaints get results!

V-Tech Disney Teach'n Lights Phone

My 20 month old daughter got this toy as a Christmas gift. It is a V-Tech toy phone with Disney characters on each button. The numbers are set up like a real phone but the on/off button is in the place of the * button on a real phone. Every time she uses it every ten seconds she accidentally turns it off! She can't even get through one whole game with Winnie the Pooh asking her to call his friends! This is the stupidest place for an on/off switch on a baby's toy, it should be on the side or the back of the toy, like every other one.

World Wide Web Tax

I have a tax preparation business and a few months ago I started shopping around for tax preparation software. I thought I found the best deal with a company called World Wide Web Tax. I had never heard of them but the price sounded great so I purchased their product. I had made several phone calls to them to ask different questions before doing so. They charged my credit card on November 17th and a few days later they sent me an email with directions to download my software. Like an idiot, I didn't read the entire jargon and seemingly endless software license agreement, and all that mumbo jumbo that comes with it. I figured they must have told me all the important stuff before they sold me the product. NOT SO! Last week I received a phone call from a rep at Intuit. I had been in contact with him when I was shopping around. I told him which software I decided to buy and he informed me about some fees that they weren't making their customers aware of before buying. I called WWWebtax to confront them and they admitted that they do charge another $9.90 per return e-filed. They claim they told me that on the phone before I bought it but I know they didn't. If I had known I was going to be spending another grand per 100 returns I wouldn't have bought from them! I asked them to play back the recorded conversation where I agreed to something like that and they couldn't produce it. Needless to say I am not using their software this season. I purchased the Intuit product and am now in the process of fighting for my money back from WWWebtax. I am giving them a chance to refund my money on their own before I involve Richard Blumenthal, my state's Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, and the Department of Consumer Protection. I just want to make everyone aware of WWWebtax's deceptive practices!

Waiting in Lines #2

The next place I always seem to wait in a long line is at the bank. Don't get me wrong, I love People's Bank, but I hate waiting. A couple years ago they shut down the freestanding branch in the parking lot of Stop and Shop in Groton. All of those customers had to merge with the customers from the branch inside the Stop and Shop. Since they were going to be busier, they remodeled that branch. Do you think they added more teller stations? Of course not. They still have 3. Ridiculous! Especially on a Friday. And the thing that really gets me.... When I worked there there was a rule that the customers waiting in line came first. We were supposed to stop whatever we were doing to wait on those customers. Everything else could wait. Until closing if needed. I guess they have done away with that rule because countless times I have had to watch a teller do something other than customer service while I just stood there and watched. Some times I'm not even acknowledged. Other times the "greeter" (which is a teller or a manager taken off the line just to stand in the lobby) will say hello and apologize for the wait, which wouldn't be necessary if they would just stop "greeting" and process some transactions! Again, I love People's Bank, the hours, the tellers themselves, and the banking products, but it's time to put the customer who is there in person first again. The online shopping, talking on the phone, balancing the ATM or their drawer can wait!

Waiting in Lines

The weekend after Christmas I went to the mall to use my Victoria's Secret gift card. They were having an awesome sale on panties and it was the busiest store in the mall. It took me all of 5 minutes to pick out 15 pairs of thongs but I had to wait in line to pay for them for 30 minutes! Why, if they know they are going to be busy, do they not have enough cashiers to help the customers? They only have 2 registers in the store so there were 2 girls working at them, but they must have had another 10 employees walking around the store with headsets looking busy and important! This seems like very poor planning to me. If I ran the store I would at least double the number of checkouts. If that wasn't possible, I would have a couple of the busybodies helping to wrap and bag the items purchased. As if the girls there didn't take enough time scanning the merchandise and delicately placing it in nice piles, they also wrap each item in pretty pink paper before placing it slowly in the bag. I almost told the girl not to do anything fancy with my panties, just throw them in a bag, but I had already been there for 1/2 an hour, what was another 2 minutes? I won't be going back to Victoria's Secret anytime soon. And I certainly won't spend my own money there, only if I happen to get another gift card, then maybe I'll put myself through that waste of time again.

Beer at Mohegan Sun

On Friday night my fiancee, brother, and I went to the Kid Rock concert at the Mohegan Sun arena. The show was awesome and we weren't there for 1/2 an hour and some guy stopped us and gave us third row seats. Our original seats were halfway up in the top section. My complaint, though, is about the beer. They used to serve beer in the plastic bottles and way back when you could even get 2 at a time per person. Now they pour your beer into plastic cups! As if the plastic bottles weren't safe enough, now they are worried about people throwing them. Can I just tell you how difficult it is to climb up the steep stairs up to the top few rows with an open cup full of beer, brushing up against thousands of strangers, with a beer buzz, without spilling some! I think it is all a money making scheme so that you spill most of your beer and have to come back for another even sooner. I asked the server if she could please give me a lid and a straw so I didn't have spillage, but of course they don't have lids for the beer cups. How convenient for them. So I asked if she could put it in a soda cup with a lid. Of course not, they can only use beer cups. Therefore, a coffee cup with a lid was out of the question also. All I wanted was a spill proof container for my beer. Impossible. Mohegan must have made about $80 on my fiancee and I, half for beer we drank, and half for beer we spilled. Ridiculous!

AT&T Customer Service

I called AT&T a couple weeks ago to find out how much it is going to cost to put a phone line in my new office. The girl quoted me something like $25.98 a month. I thought, that's not bad. So a few days ago I called to get it hooked up but first I wanted to verify the price so I asked and this girl told me $49.99 a month. I told her what I was originally quoted and she was unsure why but her price was the right one for a commercial line. Why is a commercial line twice the price? The phone does the same thing no matter what kind of building it is in! Do they just assume that because you have a business you have plenty of money so you can afford to pay double what it's worth? Because I don't. I am still starting out in my business and I don't have extra. Anyway, the girl told me that I get a free yellow page listing with that so I thought it was a little more worth the price. But I still had to think about it. She said the deadline for getting in the new phone book for my area was the end of January '08. Yesterday the new phone books were delivered to my house. :( So it seems that the service reps at AT&T don't really know much about the products and prices they have or any details, at least the 2 I talked to. After Christmas I'll call again to get my phone hooked up and see what kind of incorrect info I get this time.

Hospital Follow Up

I had filled out a survey about our ER visit from November when the hospital had made a mistake with my daughter's diagnosis and prescription dose. Every patient recieves this follow up survey and I filled it out with exactly what happened. The assistant ER administrator called me today to apologize and let me know what they are doing to improve their practices. He said he was concerned about what happened and woul d have a talk with the doctor. Hope this does some good and other families won't have to go through what we experienced.

Pet Select Pooper Scooper

Here is a follow up from my post on Oct. 25 about the Pet Select Pooper Scooper. I purchased yet another one today since it is the only product of its kind that Wal Mart carries and I refuse to buy a more expensive one at a pet store only to have it break also.

I wrote this letter to the company today:

December 18, 2007
Pet Select
PO Box 828
Yorktown, VA 23692
Re: Item Number 91821
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing you to express my disappointment with your Allen’s Spring Action Pooper Scooper. I have purchased three of these products in just one year and every one of them has broken in the same place. Unfortunately this is the only product of it’s kind at my local Wal Mart, and I refuse to buy another kind at a pet store because it would probably cost 2 to 3 times as much and it may break also.
I have included an illustration of your current product and the problem it presents, and also an illustration of what you can do to improve the quality of the product. I urge you to share my disappointment with others in your company and make this right.
Also, because of the lack of contact information for your company; no phone number or web site; only an address to write to, I was forced to voice my complaint in my own personal blog to get my point across.
You may read the post about your company and product at:
http://tracyscomplaintspot.blogspot.com
There is also a product review at:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3635644#reviews
I thank you in advance for your prompt attention of this matter.

Hopefully this will get some attention. I also included an illustration of where the product is breaking every time and what they can do to improve it.

False Advertising, Product Misplacement, etc.

I had several problems with this today, it seems like this was the common problem everywhere I shopped today.

Last night I saw a Kohl's commercial advertising cashmere sweaters for $29.99 Friday and Saturday only during their "early bird" and "night owl" hours. I know the "early bird" hours start at 7am. I got to the store at 9am and after looking around for them for at least 10 minutes I finally found them (not a very big selection) and they were priced at $34.99. I asked a store clerk about it and told her the commercial I had seen. She said she was sorry but the "early bird hours were for Saturday only and the "night owl" hours were for today and that started at 3pm. I would have to come back then if I wanted the sale price. The commercial did not specify which hours were for which days, and after seeing it again tonight it is still unclear. I did end up making another trip to Kohl's this afternoon to get the sweaters at the advertised price but am still aggravated that I wasted a trip this morning.

My next issue was when I was shopping at Stop and Shop for tonight's dinner. I had planned to make crab meat fettucine and was in need of a white sauce for it. I settled on Knorr garlic and herb sauce and grabbed two packets. When I got home and started to prepare the meal I noticed that I had gotten one garlic and herb and one alfredo. The alfredo was in the wrong place behind the garlic and herb packets. Luckily the two sauces turned out to be good together but I could have mistakenly grabbed one that didn't go so well. This could have been a mistake made by a customer who picked it up and decided against it and put it back in the wrong spot. But after my next episode I decided to blame it on the store.

Last but not least, my final stop for the day before picking up my daughter from school, I went to Benny's. I needed to purchase a plastic table and a telephone for my new office. I had been told by a friend that 4 foot white banquet tables were on sale for $19.99. I went to that area of the store and found several different types and sizes of tables, none of which had a price marked on them or a sign indicating the cost. I tried my luck and grabbed the 4 foot one. Also I found a cordless phone with caller ID and digital answering machine. The sign taped to the shelf below it boasted a $19.99 sale price. When I got to the register the clerk tried to scan the table with no success. Apparently it had not been programmed in their system. I told her the price I thought it was supposed to be but she called a manager over. It ended up $29.99 and the manager told me it was the square card table that was that price. I went back to the display and did my best to guess which was the right table. Next the clerk scanned the phone. It came up $39.99. Again the manager had to assist. I showed her where I picked up the phone and pointed out the sign that was clearly indicating that phone's price. She said it was the wrong phone or wrong sign. I told her I wanted it at that price because that's what was advertised. With an attitude she said that there is a sign at all registers stating "all prices are subject to register verification". Because of this they are exempt from honoring a price if false advertising comes into play, which I think it totally unfair. At this point in the day I was so upset with stores that I gave the manager back the attitude I was given. I told her I was not buying anything at their screwed up store and wouldn't be back because they can't get their s*!@ straight and I stormed out.

I guess tomorrow I will go to Wal Mart to get the two items which will probably be less expensive, but I will have to wait in line forever because the "checkout experience percentage" that they have posted is never higher than 40%

:(

Tax Dollars for Road Work

I think some more of that money should also go to the towns to fix roads. Especially in New London. Since I bought a house in New London about 3 years ago, and then moved just over the town line to Waterford, I have been forced to drive through the town, no way around it. I used to avoid it. The roads are HORRIBLE, bumps, potholes, etc. everywhere. And I don't understand when the roads get torn up for water or sewer work why they don't require the company who did the digging and patching to come back a few months later when the asphalt settles and re patch it! Longview Street is especially bad, sections about 2 feet wide or more, stretching halfway across the street, need to be repaired. Every morning and afternoon I drive that road to bring my daughter to and from school. The last week or so I have noticed a creaking noise in the back end of my car in the suspension and I am sure it has to do with going over those spots several times a day. When the day comes that my car needs to be fixed I will send the bill to the City of New London!

Our Tax Dollars for Foxwoods

Today a story on the morning news upset me.. It is a story about how much money the State of CT gives to Foxwoods in grant money each year. Here is the link...

http://http://wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?s=7435518

While I do think maybe they are entitled to something because of the whole taking of the land thing, I'm not sure about $17 million per year. Especially for things like landscaping. I think they make plenty of money to pay for that themselves.

I've paid my taxes every year and I think tax dollars could be put to better use. For example, I am self employed, don't make a whole lot, and I can't afford health insurance for my daughter and I. Currently we have Husky coverage through the state but it is up for review. I know I am going to be told that I make too much and I will have to purchase my own (for a few hundred dollars a month). And winter is here, but I already know that I am not eligible for heating assistance. So there's another few hundred dollars a month for electricity to heat our home. These are things we really need but I can't afford.

Imagine what $17 million dollars a year could do... How many Connecticut residents would be able to have health coverage who would otherwise be uninsured? And how many median income families would be able to keep their homes a comfortable temperature without maxing out their credit cards or empyting their savings?

My New Swiffer

I used the coupons for free replacement products today from Swiffer. We will see how long this one lasts!

MORE Medical Mistakes

Unbelievable wrong side surgeries are occuring too close to home. Here is a link to a recent story on Good Morning America about the Rhode Island Hospital...

http://http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3925810&page=1

This is just a mere 60 miles from home. It could have happened here at L&M, a mere 2 miles from home, or anywhere for that matter.

As Chris Cuomo said, "this isn't (0r is) brain surgery" it's just a matter of knowing left from right! A client and I were discussing this story a couple days ago and she said the last time she went in for surgery she was surprised at how many people in the operating room had asked her 'which side?' Now it all makes sense to her. If you are having surgery don't be afraid to speak your mind and let the doctor, nurse, surgeon, etc. know where to operate.

When we made our last ER visit I did notice signs posted for the staff to 'pause' or wait 10 seconds before doing a procedure, just to clear their mind and think about what they are doing. I guess this small precaution should be implemented at every health care facility. Had those surgeons at Rhode Island Hospital taken the 10 seconds to clarify left or right, the 3 mistakes may not have been made!

Hospital Mistake

The day after my last post about my daughter having a week long cold, we had to bring her to the hospital. She had a fever for a couple days and she was miserable so I knew something more was wrong with her. After 4 hours in the emergency room, a breathing treatment, and chest x rays, the doctor finally came in and said she had an upper respiratory infection (a cold) and he could not give her any medicine. He said just go home and continue to do what I've been doing for her. When I left, I was pissed because I could tell she was sick. I got home and put her to bed and 10 minutes later the phone rang. It was the hospital. The nurse said the doctor failed to look at the xrays (that he had ordered) and another doctor saw them and diagnosed my baby with pneumonia. I needed to go back to the hospital and get a prescription for antibiotics. Well, that made me feel better because I just knew it! But then I wonder, what if that other doctor had not stumbled upon those x rays? My daughter would still be suffering and perhaps worse. Anyway, the next day I went to the pharmacy first thing in the morning to get the medicine. Turns out they had given the wrong dose. The pharmacist called the hospital and pointed out their mistake and got my baby the right dose. Thank goodness someone was paying attention to what was going on! She is better now but next time I will know to speak up and ask the doctor or nurse to double check their diagnosis and perhaps ask for a second opinion.

Little Colds

My little one has a cold and has had it for a week. I used to give her Little Colds for her cough and congestion but to my dismay they took all such medicines off the shelf. They say it's not proven to be effective or safe. I can tell you that it's effective, my doctor says so too. When my daughter doesn't take it she coughs all night and wakes up often, when she does take it, she doesn't. There you go, effective. The problem is giving too much but if you can read a dropper there's no excuse. There have been i think 20 something deaths in the last 40 years which is a very small portion. I am afraid that if parents don't have these medicines to help their children when sick they may give them medicine meant for older people, cutting the dose, which could be much more deadly. I am also worried about my own child of course. I worry about her feeling miserable, I know how I feel when sick, and not getting much needed rest because she is uncomfortable all night long. I really hope they re examine this decision and put it back on the shelves.

Tips

"I don't tip" is a famous quote from the movie Resorvior Dogs. Mr. Pink says "I don't tip because society says I have to. All right, if someone deserves a tip, if they really put forth an effort, I'll give them something a little something extra. But this tipping automatically, it's for the birds. As far as I'm concerned, they're just doing their job. " See the entire conversation here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/quotes . I, on the other hand, do tip at certain places. If I sit down and eat a meal and have a waitress, I will tip. I do not tip at fast food or coffee joints any more. I used to work at Dunkin Donuts and I relied on my tips every day. But when you actually think about it, why should they get tips and McDonalds or Subway employees don't? They are making the same hourly rate so why? I had stopped tipping a few months ago because they could never get my order right and then this thought occured to me so I never went back to tipping. Sometimes I feel like I get an attitude from them as they are handing back my change but why should I help support their kids when I have one of my own? All of my, and my fiancee's, coin change goes into my daughter's piggy bank and we cash it in once a month and transfer to her college fund. I think I am doing the right thing. Thanks for listening.

Daylight Savings Time

It is now 7:30 pm and I feel like it's bed time. It is for this reason that I despise Daylight Savings Time. Sure it's nice to know it's time for me to wake up when the sun rises, but I don't have to leave the house for another hour so I feel like that hour of sun light is wasted. Then at 4:30 when I pick up my daughter from daycare it's almost dark. Now we are eating dinner an hour earlier, at 5:30 instead of 6:30 just because it's dark and it seems like the right thing to do. Therefore, when I wake up with the sunrise in the morning I am hungrier than I was at this time last week. The worst part is I have to start my Christmas shopping soon and who wants to do that after work in the dark? I would much rather have that hour of sunlight in the afternoon as opposed to the morning. I think they should put the time back the way it was and leave it alone!

Seahorse Restaurant

My fiancee and I went to the Seahorse Restaurant last night for dinner. It was my first time there. Overall it was a good experience but I do have some complaints. Bread was given as an appetizer but it was burnt on the outside so we ate the insides and left the crust. Next came the salad which was just lettuce, bleu cheese crumbles, and a few croutons dressed with some funky mustardish sauce. I am not a fan of bleu cheese but my fiancee is so he ate mine. He did not like the dressing, his was drenched in it. Also, not knowing what exactly it was or what was in it, he was afraid to eat too much because he is allergic to eggs. I thought it was just ok, so I ate a few pieces of his lettuce. I think they should give you a plain garden salad with a choice of dressing, or something along those lines. When the entrees came though, we were impressed. He got stuffed sole with mashed potatoes and some strange broccoli type vegetable. Mine was baked shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta with cheese. Excellent! It was served in the dish it was baked in on a plate but the dish kept spinning around every time I took a bite, so I had to hold onto the hot dish the whole time. And last but not least, our waitress, who I guess has been there forever and is quite comfortable, only checked on us once to refill our wine. When we left she was outside by the front door smoking a cigarette. Now, I'm a smoker also, but I certainly wouldn't stand at the main entrance to advertise it to everyone. So only because of my spectacular scampi, we will be going back on our next date night. Mon, Tues, and Wed they have a special of 2 entrees and a bottle of wine for only $21.99.