The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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Lurking.

Before I got the job that had health insurance for my arthritic knee (thank the goddess for Cortisone!) I had a cane. I did start to refer to him as "Michael" but also dabbled with "Co", of course. but I ended up calling it an "enabler".

Merle

ow, i'd say ...cute

Lurking and stimming...

Walking sticks are awesome! Besides helping with the mobility thang, they're quite useful in other ways, too.

* Chastise insolent son who thinks he is out of reach
* Reach out and grab objects from far away, or off high shelves
* Turn light switches on and off
* Reach up, hook and pull down handle of garage roller door; no awkward straining

If you get one of those collapsible ones, you can entertain small children by folding it up, then with an insouciant flick of the wrist, impressively snap it out to full length. Great crowd-pleaser. And when you get really good, you can use the stick to silence an annoying alarm clock in the morning... ah, ça fait du bien.

I never gave mine a name. I should have, though.

Another weekend another foray into the Echoes dream-scape/sound-scape....

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFQZdliOZ4E[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa0sDk8yqGY[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhiynSgx09g[/youtube]

I think I ran up against a social situation that has me perplexed as to weither I am "doing it right".

Willard is back and posted today and I sent him a PM welcomeing him abck and asking if he would please help the mods by PMing us when he notices any more bullying. I hope that is OK ? I mostly wnated hi to know that I was glad he was back and I appreciate his posts but he never responded so I am now second guessing the appropriateness of my PM. I know I am always flustered by compliments and hope I didn't make him feel unconfortable.

Anywho...wanted to let everyone know that he is posting again for those that were concerned about him.

Just a little whine before I go to bed...(helps me sleep too, Merle ). I just spent $200 on a very bad filling in my front tooth and now I think it is abcessing and it will be another $600-800 to get the root canal and probaly will need a cap soon as well, (another $1,000). I still am paying off the last $500 my BF loaned me for the last root canal. I am so sick of every free penny going to fix my teeth, I don't smile enough for all expense.

End of whine... <---going to have this tattoed on my forhead so I can have all these damn teeth pulled .

ouchies on the teeth, krexie!! !!
on the social stuff - they may just not feel like it's necessary to answer?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rant:

Ok. UPS. My new nemesis.

We've had items delivered by UPS before...theoretically. They've said they were delivered but we never got them. Turns out they'd just left them on the porch in the middle of the day and driven away. Which, in our complex, is like putting a neon sign on the package saying "STEAL ME! STEAL ME!" or, supposedly, with neighbors. We have a regular turnover in neighbors, as most of those immediately around us are renters who are there for a few months and then someone else lives there. We don't know any of them, other than from a passing "hello" if we see them in the parking lot. I'm not even sure who belongs in which unit on sight, actually. Except for the two little boys whose father screams at them, and "Studly" and his howling girlfriend of the moment. And skateboarder boy, his sister who's hooking it in the parking lot now and then, and their father, who the police come looking for periodically when he's violated his restraining order. A few other units are now vacant - bank repos. (I regularly see packages piled up on their doorsteps, so I do check to see if ours is at their doors if anything is awol in shipping.)

Ok. So, after several bouts of "where's the package?" at Christmastime, we asked them to please flag our address in their system as a "do not leave package on porch or with neighbors if nobody is home" address. They said they'd done so.

Fast forward. Two weeks ago I ordered an item from an online merchant (QVC, with whom, thankfully, I've had a customer/vendor relationship for several years). I was expecting it to arrive on Wednesday. The Friday prior to that I checked the online shipping status. Surprise, surprise - it had been delivered. (NOT).

I checked the "where did we leave it" link and it said "Side Door". We haven't got a side door.

I phoned UPS and told them we live upstairs and don't have a side door, and was then told it was left on our balcony. I assume they mean our front porch, as one climbs a flight of stairs to get to the little landing outside our door. No package there - looked to see if they'd left it hidden behind the potted plants or something. Nope.

I called them back again. They said they'd left it with a neighbor. I asked which one and they couldn't tell me.

I asked them why they'd not taken it back to the distribution center and honored our supposedly on-file request for no drop-offs without personal signatures? UPS didn't know. They said there was nothing they could do, but that I should contact the merchant to have them put a trace on the package.

Called QVC and told them what had happened, and that we'd really like to have the item before we go on vacation in a few days. They said they'd ship one out "overnight, second day" with a signature request (which they had to pay extra for) on it. It was supposed to arrive tomorrow, Wednesday. I asked if they couldn't use some other shipper, due to our problems with UPS deliveries, and they said "no, we've got a contract with them". Oy.

Over the weekend, just to make sure, I phoned UPS. I asked them if having a signature request on it would mean they'd return it to the distribution center if I was not home to sign. They said "yes". I asked if they could just hold it at the distribution center without trying for delivery and I'd come pick it up there. They said no, they had to make one delivery attempt first and then they could hold it if I called with the info number off the notice they'd leave at my door. I reiterated that I did not want it left anywhere if I was not home, that I would come and pick it up. The UPS guy said that's what would happen.

Yesterday I came home to find a UPS "tried to deliver" sticker. I thought, "good, we can go pick it up at the distribution center". I looked online at the tracking number to find out which of our local centers they would have taken it back to, and found that it was listed as "delivered". (Oh, NO!)

Someone had signed for it at 2:00 in the afternoon, while both kid and I were at work. Now, knowing that the cats can't get the door unlocked and don't have the opposable thumbs required to hold a pen, we know that nobody in our household signed for it. I phoned UPS and got their electronic voicemail tree thingy again.

The voice system told me that someone named "Poge" signed for it. Additionally, the system listed two items from the same shipper (QVC) as having been signed for at the same time.

I know nobody named Poge. Looking at the notice again we made out what we think was the number "4". That would be downstairs. Of course, that person is never home when we are home during the week, so even though I went downstairs to check, she wasn't home. We did see her smoking her cigarettes in front of her unit over the weekend and she'd said nothing about any packages arriving last week.

After navigating the electronic voice system at UPS some more, I finally got a live body. I blew up at them, and asked them "what part of 'DO NOT LEAVE WITHOUT SIGNATURE' did they not understand"? They said someone HAD signed for it. I asked who the hell it was, then? and they said "somebody named Poge". I told them I have no freaking clue who "Poge" is and that I wanted to know where my package was. They told me to check with "Poge" and that if there was a problem with the delivery that the shipper needed to start a trace - that I couldn't do that myself. They also said they'd put my statement "in the system" and then asked "how do you spell "initiate" as in "initiate a trace?".... [Yes, I did spell it for him.]

I, being of sound mind, slammed the phone down and called QVC back. I told them the whole bloody story and they said they'd overnight another item to me (we're on the third one now). I told them that if they didn't lodge a complaint with UPS it was going to be left on my porch or, if the shipper for the second time paid for a signature, likely to go to somebody named "Poge" who was probably getting ready to open a shop of their own to sell these things.... I asked if there wasn't ANY way to use another shipper - anyone besides UPS, even the post office? I was told no, that QVC only dealt with UPS. They put me on hold for five minutes while they called UPS who patched them through to our local UPS place who told them that the drivers were all gone for the day and that they'd try to sort it out tomorrow (which is today, now).

At 9:00pm last night the downstairs neighbor, who happened to have to come home on her lunch break, came and knocked on our door with two boxes from QVC, one of which she had opened. She said the driver had asked her today when he brought the second box if she'd gotten the first box. She'd already opened and unpacked the first one, as she said she gets stuff from QVC all the time. She said she didn't know who we were or she'd have brought the stuff up, but had no idea who it belonged to (she had just overheard me ranting to the kid about it as she was unlocking her front door - we were sitting out on our steps).

SO, I called QVC back and told them the boxes that had been mis-delivered had finally arrived. I asked how to get the extra back to them. They said they were going to have to charge me shipping for it. After much arguing, I asked to speak to a supervisor, and they said they would NOT have to charge shipping to return the second item.

I gave the first item to the Kid (it was for her computer). She went in and in about 10 minutes came out and said "it doesn't work."

No. Really.

So I went in and it was hooked up ok, but it was not a "one size fits all" as was advertised. Kid's laptop has a slightly unusual battery casing that made it impossible to use this item.

It has to go back to QVC.

~Sigh~

So I called QVC and asked if I could put both items in the same box and was told no, and that I'd have to pay shipping for both. And that they had to go UPS, using the labels in the boxes.

I spoke to another supervisor, who said that I had to put them in separate boxes, but would only have return shipping for one debited out of my refund for the item.

I emailed and this morning got word that they both can go in the same box. I haven't sorted out the return shipping charges yet. None of which I think I should have to pay, as the item was not as described - it is not a "one size fits all", and as I'd already paid once to have it shipped TO me. Such as that shipping was.

But, at this point, they're both in the same box, I'm photocopying all the manifests, and I'll be dropping it off at a UPS shipping location later today. I'm home with another damned sinus headache now and don't want to deal with it.

I've lodged complaints with UPS, and with QVC, and it does no good at all. I told QVC that I'd have to stop doing business with them if they could not find an alternate shipping option, as these fiascos were taking up too much of my time and playing havoc with my schedule. They said, basically, "oh, gee, that'd be too bad."

Yeah. Well, they're both making money even with mis-directed, lost, and damaged merchandise, so I don't guess they really give a damn.

Arrrgh.

Then, of course, Kid had to take to slinking around like a beaten dog, all teary, saying "it's all my fault" even though I told her it most definitely wasn't her fault that UPS drivers are brain damaged. I had not aimed any of my anger with UPS at her, and was sure of that. Eventually I got tired of listening to her sniffle and told her to knock it off and grow up, that just because people get angry doesn't mean it's directed at her and that she'd damned well better get used to it in the world, because it's definitely there, and to stop acting like a freaking emotional prima donna, because that WAS annoying me.

She stopped. But damn. I'm tired of dealing with people.

Last edited by Nan on 03 Jun 2008, 11:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Brilliant rant, Nan.

I'd have to look up my somewhat similar experience with a pair of modems I ordered. The details don't matter that much, but the end of the story was that I finished up with the two modems I had ordered, two other modems and a copy of IBM ViaVoice, because the supplier told me it was to much bother to send back the wrong stuff.

Absolutley melt-down material Nan. I hate UPS. Wen I was ordering supplies for my craft store I was repeatedly given the "run around" from them. In my situation they would report that they tried to deliver a package but no one was home...when we were here,(BF doesn't work and rarely leaves the house). I found out that all the drivers have to do to "prove" that they tried to deliver was scan the package in the truck. Most of their drivers are "sub-contracters", so there is no accountablility . I think our driver would just drive the truck home and go out and scan a package every 30 min or so.

So even paying extra for signiture confirmation...we would end up having to drive 20 mins to their distribution center for a $5. package. Gas costs money....

I think we have found the broken link in the chain . One complaint wont work but one from a million people who stop buying from a company that delivers with UPS should. Considering how important on-line and QVC selling is to the economy, you would think the gvernment would even want to get involved but....no, people wont a smaller government so more bad companies can continue to make money by not soing their jobs.


I only ship through the USP now and pay for all the "extras". (Prices have gone up but it is still worth avoiding some of the headaches.)

As far as bad products...I have the same prblem with brick and morters but at least I can return them with less hassle.

Hello Krex: what you might want to do is open a UPS store account and rent a mail box from them....If of course there
is a UPS store where you live.



I can't believe this thread went almost 48 hours without a single post since my last one here.
I was beginning to think I killed the thread...(sniffs under armpits.. )

me = studying
course= computing law, or 'droit et éthique de l'informatique' in beautiful french

the prof writes in even so beautiful sentences, quite interesting and also slightly
unintelligible (words like préponderante, les ingérences de l'autorité, non attentatoire à la vie privée, etc)

I. too, have horror stories about UPS. But it seems to be across the board, the way customer service has gotten to be, and the shoddy, brainless way that things are handled nowadays. My most recent crappy customer service run in, was with a mail order company that sells household products. I ordered a computer desk, the kind you have to put together at home. With my health issues, it usually takes me a couple of weeks to put anything together.

First of all, the instructions are in pictures only, and lousy artwork, at that. I had to look at a picture of the finished desk in the catalog, to figure out how to assemble it. Then, there were no corresponding labels on the desk parts, so telling me to affix "A" to "F" was moot. Also, I had to find the holes for the screws by touch, because the pieces had been covered with contact paper. I called a friend to complain, and she offered to come over and help me with the desk. We were working on the keyboard shelf, when we noticed that the screws that were provided, were too short! Off we go to the store, to buy the proper screws. Next day, we tackle the desk again, only to find that there are not enough bolts to affix the next part. Off we go again, to buy bolts and a tool for tightening them, since a tool had not been provided in the kit. We come back, only to find that for the last piece, the manufacturer hadn't even bothered to drill holes at all! This was going to mean another trip to the store for a drill, or asking the neighbors if they had one I could borrow.

At this point, I was fairly angry. I called up the customer service department, and read them a list of the problems, and the subsequent inconveniences that they had caused; multiple trips to the store, (with gas prices being what they are) shoddy manufacturing, etc. The rep, who was apparently speaking to us from India, kept repeating by rote from his computer. Saying "Sorry for the inconvenience, if you want to return the merchandise, etc. He refused to put his supervisor on. My friend picked up the extension and we proceeded to wear this person down, until the supervisor came on. I demanded a refund of half the price of the desk, to make up for all the hassle. When I threatened to report them to the BBB, they agreed to the refund.

Nan and Hartz....good on you for your assertiveness. I tend to just role over and store the information in my already over stuffed file of "things that suck".

We live in a townhouse community (for a little longer - rent goes up at the end of this month, and it ain't worth it!), on 32nd Ave Ct S. One block over is 32nd Ave S, with all the address numbers being exactly the same.

For a while, Morgana was getting pull-up disposable pants delivered via UPS, from a company that was paid by Medicare. We gave that up about the third time the boxes were delivered to the address a block over. According to the records, Morgana signed for them - a neat trick, considering a) she's profoundly autistic, b) she's seven years old, c) she was in school at the time, and d) we're still working on getting her to write her name (she keeps looking away from the paper in the middle).

Iain's paternal grandmother - of sorts (that's a whole rant of its own) - said she'd sent Christmas and birthday presents for both children. Again, they were sent by UPS. Again, records indicate the packages were signed for.

No one ever answers the door there when we knock, of course. And the property management company couldn't care less.

FedEx and DHL never have any problem finding us, or telling one street from another...