I’ve returned my phone before. We signed up for the Geek Squad Black Tie Protection plan when we got our phones. Hey, I know us, and it’s been well worth the money. Last August I had to take my phone back because the entire screen popped out. The phone more or less worked, but I didn’t want to risk popping it back in and breaking it. So off we go, it takes an hour or so, but I walked out, as promised, with a new phone that day.

Not so much today. No, today it took about an hour and I walked out with a used, gabbed from a Rubbermaid bin from under the counter used loaner phone.

Back up a minute. Let’s address this. I don’t share hairbrushes, headphones, bluetooth head sets or hats. With anyone. Not even my kids, who came out of my body. What on god’s green earth makes you think I am going to share a phone that cannot be cleaned with who know how many people I don’t even know? Yah, exactly.

OK. So the service plan has suddenly changed, corporate has said from on high that phones must be sent out and loaner phones must be given out. My loaner phone, which I won’t even touch, has my SIM card, but none of my contacts. So my loaner phone has no information on it except my phone number which happens to be the only thing on my SIM card. OK. Moving on. My iPhone with either be repaired or replaced sometime in the next 2 – 4 weeks. OK. I am paying AT&T 30-some dollars for an internet service I am not using. I am paying AT&T 20-some dollars for unlimited texting I am not using. I am paying AT&T 80-some dollars for a phone line *gasp!* I am not using!* All because Best Buy suddenly changed their policy to not give me a new phone like they promised when I agreed to pay them 16$ a month to do just that. Did I mention the 16$ I just paid them for this month? For a phone I now don’t have in my possession.

*I have four phones on my account – I pay a total large enough that it’s ridiculous every month, but it is for four phones. Divided evenly I pay roughly 70$ per phone per month.

Side note: We bought two DSi’s in February. We paid 50$ each (so 100$ total) for the same “Black Tie Protection.” We were told the same thing – if it breaks, bring it in, walk out with a new one. I brought that up today and was told no, you get a loaner and we send it off. Ah, no. You give me a new one. You said so.

Back to my phone. So the guy pulls my SIM card, puts it in the loaner phone, and we asked to speak to a manager. I explained that I get that it isn’t his problem, he didn’t make the rules. We go through this song and dance with the manager and again, I explain that I get that it isn’t her problem. She offers to give us the number to Best Buy Corporate. It’s an 888 number. I borrowed Michael’s phone in the car and start. That was at maybe 12:00PM. We’ve been on the phone for an hour now. We’ve been hung up on twice. We’ve gotten the runaround. Michael finally got someone (I handed him the phone after the voice recognition started arguing with me) and they phoned our Best Buy. Michael is going to get a call from the mobile manager tomorrow who will likely tell us the same thing. There is nothing they can do, the phone’s been sent out (it will go out today) and we just have to wait. With a dirty, nasty phone. Gee, thanks Best Buy!

Here is where I am. Best Buy lied to us and I don’t have a new phone, I have a nasty loaner phone I don’t want to touch. The Best Buy manager lied to use and gave us a generic 888 number that did not lead to corporate. I don’t think I’ll be shopping at Best Buy anytime soon and I will likely be canceling my service plan. What a joke.

ETA 5/1/10: I received a refurbished replacement iPhone yesterday. It took hours to restore my backup (obviously not Best Buy’s problem, but a known problem with Apple/iTunes/backups). The WiFi will not work, so I need to find out if it’s a setting issue (doubtful) or a refurbished iPhone issue (possibly). I did get on the network briefly, but it keeps reverting back to 3G even though it’s been told to use the WiFi when available (and it’s always available in my home, right next to my router). I can’t sync Things and a few other apps with their desktop counterparts without being on the WiFi network, so I have a small, hopefully fixable, problem there.

Even though this was taken care of somewhat quickly, I am still beyond disappointed and angry at Best Buy for lying to me, not notifying me of a program change, whatever you want to call it. The mobile manager never phoned us the following day as promised, and when we went in on Friday to pick up the phone the mobile manager wasn’t working that day. Amazing the mobile manager is never working when we are in there or phone to speak to him/her.

Best Buy has lost my big ticket item business, and their over priced small ticket items never had my business. Sadly I am tied into a contract with them over the insurance on the phones, but I suspect I will be dealing with Apple or AT&T directly when it comes time to upgrade next year. Not that it seems Best Buy cares about me or my business.

Channukah is almost here! First of all, my yearly link Anyone else celebrating it? It’s early this year, Dec 11! My dad is going out of town the next day, for the weekend, so we’ll be doing it up big the first night I think.

Sara wants to make sufgoniyot (jelly doughnuts) this year, because you know we have to get fat to celebrate the miracle of finding oil

I need to make latkes – last year my uncle made some with spinach and feta and I think I might get his recipe this year. They sounded delish.

We’ll celebrate Yule this year as well, but I haven’t really thought about what we’re going to do just yet. Channukah looms large on the horizon Brisket, latkes, sufgonyot, latkes, latkes, latkes…. mmmm latkes.

Speaking of Channukah, we had adult Hebrew school this morning (the Rabbi runs it once a month while the kids are in) and today was… Channukah! Quelle Suprise! I always feel so smart when we leave, because I know what he is talking about We also spoke with another Rabbi and took care of HS tuition (which we can’t afford right now) and I was going to pull the kids out, but they will remain, and I will let them know when we have our feet back under us. I know I bitch about Chabad… I don’t feel like I belong there, like we are Jew-y “enough” to be there, and that we have to cover up (which I would do anyway, it’s the proper thing to do – I jsut resent *having* to do it) but those are *my* issues and they have never, never turned anyone away and I can get behind that. Recently a homeless Jewish man died in the community and they took up collection to bury him in the Jewish part of the local cemetary – his family wanted nothing to do with him. Things like that make me feel good about being connected to them. I might not be Jew enough in my own eyes, when compared to the ultra Orthodox there, but good people are good people regardless of faith. They are good people. I offered my graphic design skills in barter, but I know they have someone who does that already. I don’t really have any other skills to offer, so… I offered what I could.

If you are looking for someplace to donate to this season, and don’t care if it doesn’t match your faith, please consider donating to Chabad of Coral Springs (and please make your donation in memory of Phyllis Johnpoll). If your faith does matter, please consider Delrey School (please make it in Erin Johnpoll’s name) or UCP directly (this does not directly benefit Delrey school, again, please make your donation in Erin’s name). None of those make you feel good about yourself? Please pick any charity you desire and send them at least a few dollars. If you give back to the Universe, the Universe gives back to you.

In other news, I lost my shit with the kids yesterday. Their room is still a mess, as is the living room. They will be cleaning today before we do anything fun. Oh yes, they will. The dogs have fleas. I got Program tabs and Capstar tabs and once they arrive they will be administered, the house will be flea bombed and hopefully they will stay uninfested for a long while.

Today is a laundry day, joy! Not so much. I wish the mail came today. I am expecting a check. I need to give dad back 155$ (for the flea pills), set some aside for our dinner, buy Dorian some shirts, buy two new bike seats and two water bottle holders. I think it should stretch far enough to do that

I need to get back into writing every day.

Florida’s Turnpike to go cashless as it switches to electronic tolling

By February 2011, all cash collection on the turnpike’s southernmost stretch will end. Toll plazas between the Golden Glades and Interstate 595 will be converted the following year. Eventually, the turnpike will be free of toll booths.

Don’t fret if you don’t have SunPass. Drivers without transponders will be billed later.

Proponents cite three reasons behind the push to eliminate cash collection: improving safety, eliminating bottlenecks and reducing the actual cost of collecting tolls.

Obviously not the entire article – go take a peek. Basically, they are completely eliminating the cash option on the turnpike, which will also eliminate countless jobs. From my perspective, it will generate tons of trash (mailing out bills to non SunPass users, bill being mailed back to be paid), is costing 58 million dollars (plus, that 58mil was only for South Florida if I read correctly), and eliminating jobs. Did I mention it’s eliminating jobs? All because some assholes can’t be bothered to check and make sure the car in front of them is stopped, or is in the process of stopping. Our economy and unemployment rate is almost at an all time low (I think the unemployment rate is for SoFl) and the freaking TurnPike is eliminating hundreds of jobs. Way to go.

Most of them are from 12 – 7 and not conveniently located to me. Did I mention they are from 12 – 7? I am available in the mornings before 12. There are some Saturday hours, but Michael works on Saturday too. Fuckers.

There is one date, two weeks from today, relatively close by and from 4 – 8. Michael is going to head down there while I keep the kids home.

VPK saves us 25$ a week for PreK at the place we’re looking to send Shivie next year.

I am just so angry that we were at the fucking building and they couldn’t take ten minutes to take the goddamn paper that was already filled out and hand me the certificate.

Also, Michael was rear ended last week. He took his car in, but the effing insurance sent him to a body shop. We needed a mechanic. His check engine light is blinking on and off (which is a change from it just being on all the damn time) and the engine isn’t firing the right way. Our ins. was useless, and he’s left a message with the other ins. to call him back, he wants to see a mechanic.

We took the van in for an oil change and brake eval. 600$ later, I will have new brake pads, a new serpentine belt (I have been told that the serpentine belt is near impossible to break or wear down – I’ve replaced it in three different cars, methinks someone is lying to me about that fucking belt), brake fluid, and some other gobbledygook. As it turns out, we have the money this time and don’t have to beg, borrow or steal. Yay!

I am so sick of today already.

Eshiva & Malachai had 9 AM appointments at the dentist. Eshiva was getting a crown, and Mal was getting a quick look-see.

Malachai was finally seen at 10:10AM and was done by 10:30ish. Remember, our appointments were for 9? Yah. Anyway, he more or less cooperated with getting a quick check out, nothing else. He has an appointment for March 5 at 8AM and he will be given a liberal dose of Benadryl (by the dentist) and wrapped up in a papoose and will have his front two teeth removed. I need to talk to our ST about this today.

At 11AM I demanded a new appointment and told them we were leaving. The receptionist assured me we were next, but she had been assuring me of that since 9AM. There was another lady who had been there since 8. My kids hadn’t eaten yet and Michael had to get to work – we left. Eshiva has a new appointment for next week. If she isn’t seen within fifteen minutes we’ll be getting yet another new appointment.

The dentist was awesome today with Malachai, and usually we only have a 15 – 20 minute wait. Two hours, and they still had no clue of when we’d be seen? Why bother making an appointment at all?

Mal got a tee for being so awesome at the dentist (seriously, I can’t even get him through the door to the back area, let alone in the chair) and I don’t know what I’m going to do on the fifth. Well, I do know. Michael is taking him. Don’t judge – I take the other two back. I just have a soft spot for Mal.

The dog pulled down our new (used) PS2. Thank goodness it still works – I refuse to buy another one. We just bought that one to replace the one he broke.

I realized last night that the reason my “TANSTAAFL” didn’t look right when we tried to do it last is that I wanted to put “GROK” in that spot. “TANSTAAFL” will have to find a home on the other wrist. Which kicks “Be Remarkable. Do The Impossible.” out, but that can go elsewhere too. I am a Heinlein whore. Absolutely.

Today has not been a great day, and I was yell-y this morning. I am feeling better now.

I am, again, requesting a full refund. The items I ordered were not the items that were delivered. See below. I am ready to write about this as well as contact various raw food groups about your unsatisfactory products, customer service, and communication. I also see your DVD product is available via therawfoodworld.com  – I will also be contacting them to let them know about your business practice.

To recap, this is the package I was ordering, off of this page: http://www.pearmagazine.com/

Our Pear Online Holiday Gift eBasket makes a great Christmas gift that can ship as late as Christmas Eve, as it ships straight to your inbox for you to forward on to the person you are gifting!

The gift basket includes this gorgeous gift basket graphic with links to:

- Pear Magazine Online, Holiday Issue plus a year’s subscription!
- The Raw Vegan Holiday Survival Guide (eBook)
- Raw Vegan 5-course Holiday Feast Video Demonstration
- 365 Ways to Start Taking Care of Yourself Right Now! (eBook)
- Lovely acoustic harp and piano music downloads by Storm and Jinjee
- The 14 Garden Diet raw food eBooks
All for only $59.95 (a $180 value)
To order the Pear Holiday Gift eBasket direct to your inbox, click here

What I received is copied into the email quoted below. It included a request for my address, and a link to a page with links to 12 other web pages (not ebooks as described).

Begin forwarded message:

From: jennifer johnpoll <azxure@azxuredawn.com>
Date: January 7, 2009 8:33:48 AM EST
To: complaint-response@paypal.com
Cc: The Garden Diet <thegardendiet@gmail.com>
Subject: #PP-609-101-306

I last sent this identical email on 1/5 – I received an email this morning asking me to give feedback regarding PayPal’s dispute resolution process. Right now my feedback will be negative, as it has not been resolved. I am out tangible and digital goods. I have a seller who has not contacted me regarding sending said tangible goods or about the gross misrepresentation of the digital goods and I have PayPal, who claims to have a dispute system, but blew me off because of the digital goods, even though I was told “the claims process only applies to the shipment of goods” – so what about my tangible goods that were not shipped at the very least?

I am copying this email to The Garden Diet in the hopes my emails are being read and simply ignored. I am not giving up on a refund on these items from either the source or from PayPal.

My claim was closed [prematurely] and I cannot find any place to leave additional comments. I was told because there were no physical goods involved PayPal will not handle the complaint, however, there were physical, as well as digital, goods involved. Please see email below requesting my mailing address (which should have been provided via PayPal in the first place, now that I think of it) which was never replied to.

This item was also to include DVDs and other physical items. The email I got requesting my mailing address to send them to (see quoted below) was never replied to either. I am not only out digital items, but physical ones as well.

INITIAL AND ONLY EMAIL FROM SELLER:

Thank you for ordering our Pear Magazine Special!

Here is your link to Pear Magazine Online, the 12 raw food ebooks and music downloads:

http://www.thegardendiet.com/XXX (full URL removed as to not distribute their digital goods)

If you have trouble opening the link above try copying and pasting the below into your browser’s address bar:

www.thegardendiet.com/XXX (full URL removed as to not distribute their digital goods)

WE NEED AN ADDRESS TO SEND YOUR ITEMS TO.
PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH ONE.

We hope you enjoy the online magazine and ebooks meanwhile!

All the best of health and happiness,

Jinjee and Storm

http://www.thegardendiet.com

PS: If you have time, we’d love to hear how you found our site!
P.P.S.: Please also help influence children’s snack food choices by joining our “Take A Fruit Break” Campaign at http://www.takeafruitbreak.com

I am ready to pull my money away from BoA and keep it stuffed in my mattress. Yet again we have been assessed an overdraft because the computer thought we might overdraft, not because we did.

A restaurant put a hold that had to be (again) twice the amount of the bill on the card. Why? Because the charge including tax was 40$ and I had about 40$ left in the account when that charge went through.

BoA claims we “spent” the money because of the huge hold, and they also claim (and have been for months now) that online customers will be able to see said holds the same way they can in India, or wherever my call gets routed to when I call the 800 number.

I say we didn’t spend the money, obviously, because I didn’t *actually* overdraft. Michael is going down to the bank to take care of this… I had him call and I was pissed off from his side of the conversation. I won’t do well in public.

What’s kind of funny is that because of their overdraft fee, I will actually overdraft because I balance down to the dollar and my bills are about to all go to their respective places to be paid.

Can I toll you how much I hate the bank? Any bank.

Part of me thinks we should have stuck it out in WV, homesteaded, done for ourselves. We would have had few worries when what our nation has built in cards comes tumbling down on our heads.

The other part of me thinks we’ll be just fine where we are.

I dislike insomnia. I dislike waking up and having nothing to comfort my thoughts, and then my thoughts spiral out of control and turn into bigger worry.

What a way to start the new year. L’Shana Tova my friends.

I tell my husband to get up, we need to go to the bank. He asks me if I can just call. After some banter back and forth, I give up and call. I get a man on the phone who insists that if I kept a registry I wouldn’t overdraft (mind you, I keep track of my bank account via Quicken, multiple times a day. I’m kind of fanatic about it.) and it’s obviously my fault and that I can’t see what they can see, so I can’t see where I *might have* overdrafted.

Wait, back up. Might have? I might have overdrafted, so the bank too seventy of my dollars because I might have overdrafted? I handed the phone to my husband, whilst continuing to rant in the background. I was pissed. He wound up talking to the guy, getting the same story (in addition to being told to find out what anyplace is authorizing the card for… who tells you that information?) and hanging up. We went to the bank.

On the way to the bank out of my mouth comes “well, you might die today, so let me kill you and collect the insurance money.” He looks at me. I look at him. Well, isn’t that what the bank did? We might have overdrafted, so they took the money anyway. He asks me to keep my voice down in the bank. I offer to keep quiet all together.

We get to the bank, and Beverly, who we have worked with before, takes us back and fixes this in a matter of moments. She explains why it took the overdrafts (the computer saw them, probably due to a restaurant running/authorizing the card for more than it should have to account for a tip [many places do this, but the restaurant in question had to run it in excess of 200% of the bill to cause this mess] and while it didn’t clear for that amount, they issued the overdrafts based on the pending amount… which is fucked up in it’s own right.) and refunded them on the spot. Problem solved, until next time I guess.

So lesson learned: be careful using your debit card anyplace that secures a larger amount than the cost.