My experience with the BBB

First, I apologize to my four readers that I haven't been posting in a LONG time. It's been mostly an uneventful period. A few minorly exciting things happened, but nothing noteworthy for the four of you (Unless you count getting a Jury Duty summons).

That being said, I had my first experience with the BBB!

Here's the story.

Back in December, I ordered something off one of the online deal sites I frequent. I used Paypal as my payment method as I had money there. It was a whopping $11.44. But, I never got an order number, nor did I get the item I ordered.

So, after 30 days, I emailed them. I got no response.

Then Snowpocalypse happened [oh yeah, something exciting DID happen.. We became Hothlanta!... here's some pictures!], and there was no mail (or deliveries of ANY kind as you can see), so I gave a few more days.

Then I tried several forms of contact and absolutely nothing.

I decided to do the resolution system in Paypal. But, alas, it was just over the 45-day limit, so they wouldn't refund me my money. Darn Snowpocalypse!

So, this past Saturday, I went to the BBB online. I registered the following complaint:

I placed an order with on Dec 10 at 10:13am via their PayPal checkout system. The PayPal transaction ID is . I have not received the item I ordered, and my numerous attempts to contact for an order status have gone unanswered.

I got a standard automated reply saying "We'll look into it, but it will take several days".

Monday at 3:07pm, I got the following email:

Dear Smply Unprdctble:

This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 1/29/2011 10:22:39 AM against . Your complaint was assigned ID .

Your complaint has been sent to the business for their response. The entire complaint process can take four to six weeks from the time we receive your complaint. Once they have responded to the BBB, we will contact you again. During the complaint process the company may try to contact you personally to clarify information or try to resolve the complaint. We encourage you to be open to their correspondence or attempt to resolve the claim. We ask that you advise us in writing by email, fax or mail if your claim is settled directly with the company.

Regards,

Person Named
The Better Business Bureau

Then, Monday at 3:51pm I got my $11.44 refunded!

This morning, I got the following from the BBB:

Dear Smply Unprdctble :

This message is in regard to your complaint submitted on 1/29/2011 10:22:39 AM against . Your complaint was assigned ID .

The business has sent the BBB a message regarding this complaint, and we are passing it on to you. The contents of this message are below or attached. Please respond to this message at your first convenience.

Regards,

Person Named
The Better Business Bureau

MESSAGE FROM BUSINESS:

I do apologize for this issue. I looked over all communication and could not locate any emails from Mr. Unprdctble. I also looked into his order and indeed there was a payment but a Paypal notification was never received so an order was never generated. I have issued a full refund back to his account and do apologize for the inconvenience.

I think it's pretty cool that it was resolved quickly. I didn't WANT to get the BBB involved, but I do have copies of several emails, including one that went through their site. If they can't find those communications, something's wrong.

That being said, I'm probably going to continue to make purchases through them. I may have to go back to the standard credit card order instead of going through Paypal (unless I remember to file a complaint within the 45 days).

I am so deliciously evil!

As you may or may not have heard (I'm told it made national news, so it HAD to be a slow news day), a zebra escaped from the circus last week.

That's not the awesome part about it. Before I start to read the massive tweets of a runaway zebra, I get a call from a coworker. She said "You're the only one I can tell this to who'll believe me... but a zebra escaped from the circus, and I was stopped over by the Mac-Donalds over by Five Points and it comes running at me and almost hits me!"

Yes, that's right -- a runaway zebra almost hit my coworker as she was leaving the office. Apparently there was like 20 police cars chasing after it and one officer on foot.

She became a pseudo-celebrity on Friday at work. Everyone wanted to hear the story of how she came face to snout almost literally with a zebra. The only thing I could imagine is the conversation had it hit her car: "Hello, State Farm? Yes, I need to file a claim. A zebra hit my car...... Yes, I live in Atlanta..... Yes, the incident happened downtown Atlanta..... No, I'm not on drugs...."

Of course, I enjoy finding the humor around me everyday. Not that what already happened wasn't funny, but I like making things better.

So, I went out Saturday and found a zebra.

The thing is zebras are apparently very difficult to find.

I couldn't find one at WalsMart. I couldn't find one at Target. I finally went to Toys R Us. I asked the poor guy and inquired, "do you have any zebras?" (pronounced "zeh-bras") -- dude looked at me and said "any what?" -- "Any zebras? Z-E-B-R-A" (pronouncing Z as Zed like every other english-speaking country does) -- he was all confused, but it was worth it.

Finally, we went to the stuffie area and found the following:

Granted, it's not the bestest zebra in the world, but it was gonna hafta do. (And for $5, it wasn't a bad deal)

This morning, I came into work and went up to her and said "Does this look familiar?" and tossed it at her. She jumped until she realized what it was and began laughing.

It's now on display in her cube (she's the one who took the pic), and she's having way too much fun with it!

I love being insane!

So, I sent the following email to a bunch of friends:

Yesterday I was buying a large bag of Purina One dog chow for Bradley, at Wal-Mart and was standing in line about to check out. A woman behind me asked if I had a dog. First thing I thought was 'where is your sign, lady', but decided to go with it...So...On impulse, I told her that no, I didn't have a dog, and that I was starting the Purina weight loss diet again.

I said I probably shouldn't, because I'd ended up in the hospital last time, but that I'd lost 50 pounds before I awakened in an intensive care ward with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is, you load your pants pockets with Purina nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry and that the food is nutritionally complete... so I was going to try it again.

I have to mention here that practically everyone in the line was by now enthralled with my story, to say the least.

Totally horrified, the lady asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her no; I had stepped off a curb to sniff an Irish Setter's ass and a car hit us both.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack, he was laughing so hard.

WAL-MART asked me not to shop there anymore.

Hilarious, eh?

I love the responses I got from my friends -- about me being too hysterical or how much they wish they could have been there to see it. One even said I was their hero because I got kicked out of WalMart (wouldn't be the first time).

The sad part is that story, alas, is not mine. But, apparently I'm insane enough that it really could have been me. And, who knows -- maybe I'll get the opportunity to do it one day!

I musta been a jew in a previous life

I thought I had a really awesome deal on my new washer and dryer. Until we went to Home Depot. After doing the math, I learned it was about $175 that HH Gregg needed to refund me (that included their 10% price match guarantee, but didn't include sales tax, so tack another 6% onto that!).

I went back to HH Gregg on a mission. In my initial purchase, I got extended warranties on the washer and fridge, but not the dryer (I was trying to keep costs down a little). So, I went in under the assumption the dryer extended warranty would be the same price as the washer, so I was going to do an even swap to get the extended warranty.

I walked in and the sales associate that I worked with saw me. He was like "ok, what's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing! I'm loving my fridge and washer and dryer. In fact, the washer and dryer SING to me! I'm extatic about that. I just don't like the fact you said you gave me the best deal in town and I found my washer and dryer for cheaper at Home Depot."

Showed him everything and they started the process of getting me my money back and getting me the extended warranty.

After all was said and done, They gave me the five year warranty AND $67 refunded back to me. I think I got an awesome deal.

...Now, if I can find my fridge for cheaper..... That would be awesome!

I always spend too much when shopping

So, as we all know, my refrigerator died. Now, I know in ancient days people survived without fridges, but I'm in modern days. I don't hunt my food and eat it the same day. And I enjoy my Fanta Zero Orange cold. So, the quest went on to find a fridge.

Side note: My really awesomely hot boyfriend said he thought he knew what the broken piece was and he'd fix my existing fridge. I decided there was no guarantee it would work, and this puts me with one less purchase when I redo my kitchen at some point in the future.

So, I went shopping around.

I've decided I hate shopping around. But, the first place on my list was HH Gregg. My chiropractor suggested I go there. Dude there was very friendly and "guaranteed" I wouldn't find a better price around. Of course, I never believe that line, so I still shopped around (besides, I didn't have the money in my account and I wasn't going to open another credit account). He also saw me eyeing the washers and dryers. I've wanted a new set for a while. Front loader -- simply because my comforter doesn't fit in my current washer. He said he'd give me an AWESOME deal if I bought all three.

Shopping around at Bestus Buyus and Sears proved mostly pointless. Neither had associates that really cared to help. Bestus Buyus had the best rates for delivery @ $30 (HH Gregg claims it must have been a special I stumbled upon). I laughed at Sears when they said $45 delivery -- then add $20 for weekend delivery -- then add $10 to take the broken fridge away. (For the record, HH Gregg was $70)

I decided to go to HH Gregg and make said purchase. And I went in with a budget that if dude could really meet, I would purchase all three with him, if not, it was just the fridge. He entered all the numbers in the system for Suggested Retail Price and I'm like "uh, dude, DEFINITELY no." -- then he made adjustments, basically giving me the extended warranties for free. Brought it down some. I was a little iffy, so I started moving things around. (I almost felt like one of those "find the ball" people shifting things around... I don't want this, I want this, there's a sign that says this...) -- in the end, I got the extended warranties (on all but the dryer, but I may go back and get that later), and the washer / dryer stands for free, and I got a nice chunk off the prices. I don't know how we came down to the number that ended up, but I'm not arguing! It was slightly over my budget, but I REALLY wanted the washer / dryer, so I went for it.

I get them delivered this afternoon. I'll be thrilled because my comforter REALLY needs to be washed. I had been planning on trying to get it to a laundromat, but kept running out of time. I can't wait, I'm excited!