Not so humane after all...

Anyone who knows me, knows of my deep love of animals. Just over 11 years ago, we got Deuce from the Toronto Humane Society. Our experience in getting him, and our joy in having him, led me to a decision to support the society on a monthly basis since then.

You can imagine my outrage and extreme sadness this weekend when I read about the conditions at the Humane Society and the treatment (or lack of same) of the animals in their care. I'll link to a few stories, but be warned, some of the things you are going to read are quite atrocious.

They can be found here, here and here.

The final straw was in Saturday's paper when it mentioned that the donations would be used to defend the 'accused' who were arrested on charges of animal cruelty.

I tried to call the Humane Society a few times this morning to cancel my monthly donation, but nobody would pick up the phone. I decided that I would call my credit card company, and wouldn't you know it, when they called someone picked up and discussed the cancellation of my donation. I hate to do it because I know the animals still need help, but who would have thought they would need the most protection from those who were supposed to care for them?

Happy Thanksgiving...

...to everyone south of the border.

Awesomely awesome...

Monday morning mew

When we used to live in the apartment, I came home from work one day, and the same thing happened to me.

As my usual pattern, I went into the kitchen to see if we had any calls on our answering machine. I picked up the phone and all I heard was weird slurping sounds. I didn't know, at first, what to make of it and I hung up. I waited a few seconds and picked the receiver up again, and the same thing happened. It started to freak me out, I thought we had an obscene caller.

I hung up the phone again, and started walking around the apartment. I picked up another receiver and the same thing occurred. Weird, slurping sounds...but this time it was followed by a very distinctive, very satisfied purr.

Apparently we have a talented kitty. He had lifted the receiver from the cradle and was licking the phone...

---

On another Deuce-related note, he had his rabies shot and a general check-up yesterday and they actually gave him a report card. Everything checked out *really* well, but they want him back in January for a dental cleaning and another urinalysis. All seems to be going really well. He was extra-super-sucky yesterday and wouldn't leave our side, nor would he stop mewing for attention. He's such a little bum. :)

Just one of those days...

Exciting new venture!

My very good friend Lisa has started her own business! Please take a few minutes, go here and peruse her items!

She's selling hairclips, bows, tutus, and much, much more!

She's also got a selection of items for the holidays. Go look! What are you waiting for?

38 months

Josh decided to add this charm to the bracelet because of his love of cooking. In case you can't tell, it's supposed to be a chef's hat.

Last night I thought we were heading into month 39, not 38. How much does it suck that we've been at this so long that I'm starting to forget how long we've been waiting? Bleh.

Quality, value, service, trust - Part 4

...and the hits just keep coming.

I found this comment on the blog today and I thought I would share it with all of you (it's posted in the comment section of Part 1)...

Dear Rhonda,

It is disappointing to read about the service that you have received from Sears. It is our goal at Sears to not only meet but exceed our customer’s expectations and at this point we have not done this for you. My name is David and I work for the Sears Cares executive team and we would appreciate the opportunity to right this situation. At your convenience please contact my office via email at searscares@searshc.com so we can assist you in resolving this issue. Please provide a contact and the phone number the mattress was purchased under (if different than the contact) and we will call you at your convenience. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Thank you,

David V.
Senior Case Manager
Sears Cares

Off to send an email! Wish me luck, everyone...

I'll let you all know what happens, after the phone call. ;)

Quality, value, service, trust - Part 3

Yesterday afternoon Josh and I decided to go into the store to talk to the manager, we figured she could always try to 'dodge' us if we simply called.

She told me that the salesman would be talked to and not to promise anything like this again. Ok, fine. We went through the whole story of everything that went wrong, and she basically shook us off like an annoying fly on the wall and told us to call up customer complaints in the morning and that she was forwarding all her notes there...

About to explode, I turned around and left.

I called customer complaints this morning and spoke to an agent. She asked for my name and particulars, which I gave to her. She then said 'nothing about your situation is on my screen.' I replied '...and this is yet another element of the lack of service we received this weekend.' (At this point, I don't care what I say...)

She then said that she found the note(s) and she was just reading them. She said that the store is doing all it is prepared to do about the situation and they are dealing with it at the store level, by talking to the salesman.

I told this person that this was unacceptable and that we've spent a considerable amount of money there, since we've moved into the house. (I was trying to tell her that we're repeat, mostly satisfied customers, but she didn't want to hear it.) I told her that we would not be returning to Sears as a customer, and all she said was 'I'm sorry to hear that.'

Now here's the kicker...

I asked to speak to her supervisor, since I wasn't getting anywhere with this lady. She told me, and I quote, "We all speak for the president, so it doesn't matter who you talk to, you would get the same response."

I was waiting for her to say "resistance is futile"...

This afternoon I got the name and address of the Divisional V.P. of the Corporate Call Centre. It looks like he and I are going to be corresponding very shortly.

I'm not going away quietly...correction, I'm not going away. ;)

Nighty night

Quality, value, service, trust - Part 2

When last I posted, it was just shortly past 1:00 and SO much has occurred since.

I was promised by one of the people at Sears that the second crew would be arriving sometime between 2:00 and 5:00, and was asked if it was alright if they arrived early. While still angry about the situation, I agreed that this would be fine...especially about the 'early' part.

Midway through the afternoon, probably around 2:30, I called the store and asked if they had an ETA on when the guys would arrive. She said that they hadn't gotten to the store, but she was calling them "right now" and would get back to me. I let that go, and waited...and waited...and waited some more.

She finally got back to me around 3:15 and said that I would be receiving a call from the second team 'momentarily'. I got a call at 4:30 saying that they just got to the store and would be coming right away. My question is, if they weren't arriving until 4:30, then how could they promise me that "someone would be here between 2:00 and 5:00"?

Apparently our ideas of 'right away' are off base. The second team called me and said that since our order was 'an add on', we would be the last one of the evening. They said that it would definitely be after 6:00, probably closer to 7:00.

I called the store back and said it was unacceptable, and the clerk said, that she would see what she could do.

A third gentleman called back, Shazam, and said that he would be out as soon as he was finished his job in East York (roughly 45 minutes away), and if the other guys arrived first, so be it, but certainly someone would be arriving this evening.

I called the store back, spoke to the manager, for the 324237th time, just to let her know what was going on and that I was livid by the whole situation. Delivery of a bed should not require this much work.

5:00 passed. 6:00 passed. Finally at 6:30 the second team arrived and went into the bedroom to attach the bed frame to the headboard. Hallelujah!

They walked into the room, realized that they would have to drill new holes, and even though they had a drill in their hands, told me that they COULD NOT drill new holes. Apparently they aren't allowed to do so, there's just one guy who could do it, so they turned around and LEFT. Yes, that's right. They left.

I called the store back, AGAIN, and told them what was going on, and the manager told me that she would put in a 'special call' to Shazam and that she would TRY to get him out tonight, but if not, would tomorrow be ok? Seriously?

Ques'que fuck?!

I told her again that the mattress was in our hallway and the boxsprings were leaning against the armoire and that we didn't have a bed tonight. At that, she said (are you sitting down for this?) "Can't you put the boxsprings on the frame and the mattress on top?"

Yes, of course we COULD, but that's not the point. It's the principle of the matter. We paid for service, and damn it, we were going to get it come hell or high water.

She sighed and said that she would call Shazam and 'see what she could do'.

No more than five minutes passed when Shazam called back and said that he would be arriving as soon as he left his job in East York.

7:15 rolled around and finally, by the grace of all things holy, Shazam walked through the door. He walked up to the bedroom and he couldn't believe all that we had been through. He asked why none of the other crews did their jobs, and honestly his guess is as good as mine.

He looked at the bedframe and said 'it's been put in backwards and you're missing the supports!' He looked in the box and found them, and said that the guys who originally put the frame together (around noon), totally screwed up and actually put the wheels on backwards as well. He looked at the shape of the frame and said that it was all askew. The top width measured 74 inches and the bottom was 76 inches. Yeah, I'd say that's askew.

Shazam and his sidekick, the boy wonder (AKA Kato), took apart the frame, put it together properly and drilled new holes in the frame and attached everything properly.

He turned to me and said 'how hard was that? Why didn't anyone do this properly the first time?' He had a few, more harsh words about Sears, but they're not quite fit for print. ;)

All in all, it was a REALLY stressful day. More stress than should be involved in a simple purchase and delivery of a mattress and boxspring.

On the last call to the manager of the store, I told her that I wanted to talk about doing something with the bill. She told me that "we'll talk about it tomorrow, after everything has been set up". I think she basically wants me to 'sleep on it' and cool off by morning. HA! She doesn't know me at all...

Believe me, I'm SO calling her in the morning...I'll let you know what happens.

So, all in all, our day and our sanity was saved...by Captain Marvel.

SHAZAM!

Quality, value, service, trust - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, Josh and I went into our local Sears store to buy a mattress, boxspring and frame. Pretty simple, right? We were told that because of health and safety regulations, that we would have to put the mattresses in bags (which they supplied). Not a big deal, or so we thought.

Well, this morning we knew everything would be delivered, so we woke up early to start packing things up. We unfolded the mattress bag and realized that it was too small. I asked Josh to call the store to make sure that they sent us the right bag. They confirmed that they did, but before sending him to the store, we measured the mattress, then the bag. He called the store, and after being transferred from person to person, he was told that our mattress was too big for the bag.

Umm, we've already established that.

They told Josh that since the boxsprings would fit in the bags, that we should package those up and if the deliverymen didn't take the unbagged mattress, that they would send out someone to take it. To me, that seems like an unncessary level of bureaucracy, but whatever.

Fast forward to noon.

The guys got here, took away the boxsprings and stared at the mattress and we had to go through the whole story with them about the mattress being too small for the bags. They decided to take the mattress, which was fine.

Then they saw that the frame was still attached to the headboard and told us that WE had to disassemble that as well. We told the deliverymen that we weren't told anything about the frame being disassembled. We also told them that the salesman said that the guys would attach the frame to the headboard.

We started disassembling the frame from the headboard, and the frame itself, when the deliverymen said that they would have to call dispatch. About five minutes later we got a call from their dispatch saying that the guys would have to move on to their next delivery.

Wow. Nice customer service.

I called up the store and complained. The woman I spoke to said that they would be sending someone out to attach the frame to the headboard later today. Great, but still just an extra level of stress and annoyance that we don't need.

We were almost finished disassembling everything at that point. I sent Josh outside to get the guys (before they drove off), and said that everything was taken apart. They came back up, put the frame together, put the new mattress in the hall and the new boxsprings in the bedroom...and left.

As soon as they left, I called up the store to complain about how we were treated (the guys were VERY rude as well). She said that she would be sending someone out A.S.A.P. to attach the headboard to the frame, and asked if sometime between 3:00pm and 6:00pm was ok. Fine, whatever.

As I was walking up the stairs, I noticed that there's a HUGE gash (26 inches...I measured), and called the store again. I was told by the person at customer service that "I'm with a customer right now, but I'll call you right back".

I totally lost my shit with her.

I replied "what am I? I'm a customer. I'm a very angry customer." I'm so pissed off right now about the whole situation.

I just got a call back from the store, and she apologized for what happened and replied "The service you get at Sears, you'll never get at any other store." She SO walked into that, and I went off again and said "I would hope I wouldn't get this service at another store, I would hope it's better."

Now I'm waiting for a call back from the store manager, I'll let you all know what happens next. ;)

(The title of the post refers to Sears slogan that's plastered all over our bill of sale. HA!)

Canadian, eh?

Happy 40th Sesame Street...

In honour of Sesame Street's 40th birthday, I thought I'd post this. I think I've done it before, but it's THAT good that it bears repeating.

Just so you know...

Congratulations!

Please go and congratulate Catherine and Hannah! She finally received her precious daughter this morning. We couldn't be happier for you, my friend!