OK, my daughter is three and even she knows that the people that work for Best Buy are a bunch of Monkeys. I went to Best Buy a few months ago to purchase two identical digital cameras. They were on sale and with each purchase you received a $10 gift card. I was going to purchase one for a gift and keep the other one and use BOTH of the gift cards to purchase a memory stick for my camera. So in one trip I wanted two cameras and one memory stick, and i wanted to two gift cards to pay for the $19.99 memory stick. I explained this to my "sales monkey" and the monkey said "OK, sure I can do that but i will have to ring it up as two seperate transactions." "No problem", I tell the monkey.
He proceeds to ring me up as I blindly hand the monkey my credit card. I am not paying too much attention at the time because my aformentioned 3 year old is requiring my attention at the time.
I sing the slip and grab my bag and drag my daughter out of the store and get her in her car seat as I review my receipt.
WRONG!!!!!!!!
I look in the bag and there are two cameras. a memory stick and two $10 gift cards.
UGH!!!! What happened?????
I drag my daughter back into the store with my bag and receipt and the gorilla at the door tells me to go right to customer service. The gal at the counter was dumb even for a monkey. I explained it tow her a few times and she just didn't get what I wanted to do. She was filled with excuses like, "Oh those cards aren't activated yet, it takes a few seconds for them to go through".
HUH????
I had to speak monkey to get through to her.
I said, "OK, forget everything I said to you just now. Ok, is it all gone yet? Good. I would like to return this memory stick I purchased, here is my receipt." She did and credited my credit card.
Next i said,,"Hey, do you have any memory sticks on sale for $19.99?"
She said, "Well, yeah the one you just returned was $19.99."
I said, "I'll take it!!!!"
"Do you want me to put the charge back on your credit card?" the monkey grunts.
"No, i would like to use these two $10 gift cards."
OOOOOOHHHH I get it now, the monkey said.
Finally i was on my way with my two cameras, one memory stick, and no more gift cards. This entire process took the better part of an hour, instead of 15 minutes or less.
Why do they think that placing a blue Best Buy shirt on a monkey is going to make them smart?
i would like to say I am never going back to Best Buy again, but I can't.
They still ar ethe best place in town for certain things that don't require customer service, like CDs or movies.
Still, the piss me off just the same.

Let's start with the most recent one since it is still VERY fresh in my head. I ordered 3 items from Lillian Vernon. A cat in the Hat Halloween costume for my three year old daughter, a ballet bag for her, and a cat flashlight that she could use during Trick-or-Treating. We placed the order on September 21st, and were told that it would arrive at our house no later than October 10th. On October 10th, we received a package from Lillian Vernon containing the flashlight, the ballet bag, and a set of bloody hands wondow clings????? Hmmmm Major problem, because we were having a Halloween PArty at our house on Saturday the 14th. We needed that costume in 4 DAYS!!!
Keep in mind, the fine people at Lillian Vernon located at 100 Lillian Vernon Drive
Virginia Beach, VA 23479-0001, have decided to have their customer service call center OUTSOURCED TO INDIA. Do they even have Halloween in India?
Anyway, my wife calls about the mistake and she is promptly told thatthey are sorry and they will process the order and send out a new costume. The item will be ready to ship out in a minimum of 4 to 5 business days. Naturally, I receive the phone call at work from the hormone filled very pregnant crying wife to see what I can do to FIX this problem. My daughter by the way is fighting back the tears in the background but is very angry with Lillian Vernon nonetheless.
I call and immediately ask to speak to a manager. I speak with a Miss Ryan Onz, who to the best of my understanding has attempted to expidite things and 2nd day air a package to me. Everyone at the call center is very difficult to understand.
I call back the next day and Miss Onz is unavailable. No one is able to provide me with a tracking number at that time, but if I give them my e-mail address, they will send me an e-mail with the tracking number for UPS in it. I give them my e-mail address and wait.
Thursday October 12 (Two days before the party) I call again because I still have not received an e-mail. Miss Onz is unavailable yet again so I speak with whoever is available. They call up my records and track the package for me and tell me that it is scheduled to arrive at my doorstep on Monday October 16. She actually seemed OK with that even though I wasn't. I replied with," I had made it abundantly clear that if the package wouldn't be able to be at my doorstep no later that Friday October 13th, to NOT SEND IT as I have no use for it. So Why did you still send the package?" I was informed that the package is no longer there and that there was nothing they could do about it. I asked, well what am I supposed to do now? I was then given the tracking number and the phone number for UPS and told to give them a call to see if there is anything they can do to hurry it up.
"WHAT?????"
Then I was asked if there was anything else that Lillian Vernon could assist me with. My reply was this,"Yes there is, you screwed this shipment up, you should be the one tracking down my package, calling UPS, and fixing the problem that YOU are responsible for. Not me! If I call UPS and ask them if they can speed thing up I am going to look like a complete idiot. This isn't UPS's fault, it is yours. You call them and explain yourself, and right this wrong!"

This is the best part.

They hung up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not heard from Lillian Vernon since. And they from now on, will never hear from me.

First of all any company that outsources their customer service department gets a HUGE black mark in my book. Secondly they treat you like a number on a screen not a person, not an indivual. Two failed attempts in my book is all they have made. It is now Friday October 13th, and I have no halloween costume (as of yet) for my three year old daughter and her halloween party at our house for tomorrow.

I suppose I will run out and buy her one locally tonight at the last minute.
But who knows, maybe I will get home from work and there will be a package at my doorstep.
Even if there is, after all this hassle, I still am NEVER DEALING WITH LILLIAN VERNON AGAIN!
Besides, with my luck, the box at my doorstep will contain another set of bloody hand window clings.

New found inspiration!
I haven't written in this blog for almost (or maybe it's over) a year, and I have just had a revelation to rid this writer's block. I now know what the purpose of this blog should be.
I will use it to bash the companies that have wronged me as a consumer throughout the years!
I have this mental list of companies that I just will NOT deal with anymore because they have screwed me over big time in a time of need and I will never forget it. I keep telling myself I need to actually write this down so I never forget. Well, this blog will be even better. Instead of a crumpled piece of paper in my wallet, this list will now be available for the entire planet to access.
Enjoy and feel free to add your comments as well!

HOLIDAY TRIBUTE PART II

OK, this is more for my benefit than anything, but ENJOY.
I am putting these here as a tribute to the holiday season.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!!!!
Well in the spirit of halloween I was doing a little looking around at costumes. And as I did not participating the the ritual dressings of the season this year I did find quite a lot of interesting ideas for next year. I did stumble upon one site that impressed the hell out of me. Granted these are costumes for the female persuassion, and don't do me a whole lot of good for next year, but they are still definately worth checking out. Dawn, Poison Ivy, Animae, and more, this woman really has an eye for costuming detail! I highly recommend checking out these photos and drawings. The artwork is fantastic. If I ever get around to creating a comic book character and i need an outfit idea for a female character I know who I am going to call first!
http://sickstarr.deviantart.com/

FUNNIEST THING I HAVE SEEN IN MONTHS!!
Ok, I am not even going to bother describing this because I don't want to ruin it for anyone. just take my word for it and visit the link below

http://ualuealuealeuale.ytmnd.com/

Web Comic!!
Year One by Mike Parkinson. You must definately check out this web comic. To give you a brief run down on the story line; it is about all your favorite comic book super heros if they all were together in first grade. Little spidey, little wolvie, and the villians are there as well. There is nothing funnier then having Little Dr. Doom have his plans foiled not by a super hero, not by justice, but by his teacher sending him to the principals office. The artwork is fantastic too. I actually went back and read all 127 strips that i had missed out on before I found out about this. I recommend you do the same.
Check it out!



http://yearone.spiderspawn.com/

MUSIC
Alright, you all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. Normally all we chat about in this blog is comics and art but what better topic to tackle next but Music. I would like the first music post to be about the band that I have been a fan of the longest and that is Johnny Socko from Bloomington Indiana. They may not be the most famous band, but damn it, they are definately the most entertaining. I have been watching these guys PERFORM for over a decade and each performance is better than the one before. What had started out as a ska band has evolved throughout the years into just a great rocking sound of a band. The music is wonderful, but if you have only heard them on CD (or vinyl in the case of Full Trucker Effect) then you are missing half the experience. OK, so they aren't playing out much anymore but if they ever start up again, i highly recommend you drop what you are doing and go see them LIVE. They are a mighty ball of endless energy from the first beat of the drum to the last blurt of the horn. If you get tired of waiting for the live performances to resurface, I would recommend picking up their LIVE album. If there are any left I would pick up the 3 disc set. Disc one has an entire night of live entertainment, discs 2 and 3 are full of the witty banter that kept fans coming back for more and more. If you like smart ass comments, a great horn section, powerful vocals, and a beat that just won't quit even if you beg, then check out any of the johnny socko albums.
Check them out at the link below.
http://www.johnnysocko.com