Retail Woes....

So I found this cool new gadget today.... it's a HDTV Tuner that is USB Based made just for laptops and such.

After reading a couple of reviews and seeing good things about it I decided to purchase one...

I happened across a good deal (after rebate) for the gadget at a local big box electronics store.
The store website says it's in stock and that I can pick it up when ever I want.

So I make the purchase online. This store has the option to pick up what you order online in the store.. What the heck we live in a instant gratification society why not pick it up on the way home.

So on the way home from work this evening I stop by the big box store and am helped by a very nice person who goes to look for my order...

Well it seems that the store did not actually have the item in stock. Apparently the website was out of date with their inventory levels. The chain had a store up north in the next city that I could drive up and get it if I wanted. Or I could have a refund.... Well I don't really need to have this device tonight so I decided to get the refund and see if I can find it online a good deal without dealing with rebates.

So the nice person in customer service refunds my money to my credit card. Then she hands me a gift card for their store..... I'm like what's this? she says "we weren't able to fulfill your order in 24 minutes so we give you that as a store credit." and walks away to help the next customer.

I thanked her and went along on my way home.

New Camera

Cammie in the Snow

I got a new camera in the recent Black Friday sales.

I purchased a Nikon D50. So far I really like the camera and am looking forward to learning how to use it to take great pictures.

Windows Job is Complete.... Finally

Okay so I wrote in a previous post about my frustration with the window company that I paid to put in my new windows in my condo....

Tuesday at work I get a call from the Window company saying that they have the window ready to go again and they will come out when ever I want them to. I let them know that I am not willing to miss any more work for them to get the window installed. So the scheduler says Okay we'll come out after 5:30 on wednesday to install the glass... Great I say.

Well today (Wednesday) I get a call while I'm at work from the installer and he's almost at my place and wanted to know if I can get home and let him install the window now... Well this call came in at about 2:00 in the afternoon. I work until 4:00. I told him that there was no way I could get out of work early today and that he would have to wait until I could get home to install the window.

4:00 comes around and I head for home... The installer is sitting in the parking lot waiting for me... and has been here since 2:20. I proceed to let him know that he is not suppose to be at my place for another hour... He starts to tell me about his crappy day... I say I don't care just get the window installed please.

As he's taking the old (wrong) glass out he noticed that when one of the pane's was built at the factory it was put together backwords. the Low E coating was on the outside instead of on the inside where the gas is.

He get's the new privacy glass installed and FINALLY I can call my windows installed and done.

YAY!!!

Windows Vista Beta Testing

I have been given the opportunity to test the new version of Windows.

It's pretty cool but it looks like it still needs some work in the driver department.

I have a new Dell Laptop with a Intel 950GMA chipset video driver. Vista does not yet have good support for this newer laptop.

I might try it on one of my desktops this afternoon but im not sure.

As for the features it looks very nice and preforms well on my laptop even with the bad video drivers.

Frustration...

last month I had new windows installed in my condo by West Coast Vinyl.

When the install crew was scheduled to show up at on Friday July 28th at 9:00AM on the day for the install they didn't. Instead showing up at 11:30 without calling or anything.

And to top it off they only brought 4 of the 5 windows that I purchased.... Huh?

Yes they stated that they could not fit the sliding door into the truck and that they would have to come back another day to do that.... Okay.... umm...

Then as they started working on busting out the old windows and putting in the new ones I noticed that the bathroom window for the ground floor was incorrect. it was clear glass when it was suppose to be frosted.

The installers then said oh it's no problem we'll just come back and put in the correct glass.... Fine...

The installers finished up the work on installing all but the Sliding door. and left saying that they would be back on saturday morning with the sliding door on a different truck....

Saturday morning rolls around and the installers show up with the slider but in the same truck that they said they couldn't fit it in originally...... Huh?

The proceeded to install the slider and in a short time they left. Leaving behind some of the old aluminum frame. (I paid them to do total install and cleanup) . I asked the installer guys what's the status on when I should see the correct bathroom window. They stated it should only take a couple of days to get it made and I should hear from the company on Monday.....

Well Monday rolls around and I have no word from the company....

Wednesday rolls around and I start getting angry... I called the rep who sold the windows to me... He says he'll get right on it.....

Another couple days pass.... I decided to call down to West Coast Vinyl myself. I call down there about 4 different times and get either the answering service or nothing at all.

Apparently their answering service needs some work becuase they never seemed to pass along the message to the install or service departments that I wanted to get a call back.

So I decide to call when I was at work... On Monday 8/21 I get through to a live person and she is very nice and Oh we just happened to get your window finished yesterday... When would you like us to come out and install it for you.... I agreed to get off of work a little early on Wedneday the 23rd to meet the installer at my house to get the last window correctly installed.

Wednesday comes and at 4:30 I get a call from the "service" guy. He is in Kent and is not going to come up her to install the window. At this point im furious but I was very professional with the "service" guy and let him know of my frustration but agreed that it would be stupid for him to have to come up to my place because of poor planning on his scheulers part. So he said he would have the scheduler call me on Thursday and that they would work around my schedule to get the window installed. Thursday comes and I get the call from "Sherry" at West Coast Vinyl while I am at work.... I let her know how frustrated I am with the company and that I think they need to do something to help me out in this situation....

She said they will make it right and that they will have the window out to me on Friday afternoon.... Well Friday comes and I get a voicemail from "Sherry" saying that the window that they have made for me was "Damaged" when the service guy was loading some other peoples windows into his truck, and that they would not be able to come out and install it for me. I called into West Coast Vinyl as soon as I got this message but it was oh about 5 minutes after 4PM they had already closed and turned their phones over to their answering service.

Now I get to sit and wait until Monday to see when she is going to be able to get someone out to my place to get this last window in.....

Scott has a blog?

Just getting started with this blog stuff...