Archive for the year 2009
A Lesson Learned the Hard Way
Posted on April 19, 2009 by Ching under Life.
I have experienced a tanking. Though unintentional, it was a tanking nonetheless.
Tanking is a reference from My Best Friend’s Girl
, a hilariously funny movie starring Dane Cook, Kate Hudson and Jason Biggs (of American Pie fame). Get the unrated version. It is funny.
But I digress… Tanking is when you go out on a horrible date with miserable jerk of guy and have the worst time of your life. As a result you realize how great you had it with your ex-boyfriend and come running back to him. I’m not sure if my explanation did it justice. Dane Cook has a much more eloquent way of saying it. You just have to watch the movie.
So anyway, I’m your typical fickle consumer. I am always looking out for the best deals. I have never really been loyal to anyone except Carrabba’s (You’re the best, Joe!) and Highlands (Shane is their resident stud muffin/Fabio – LOL!) and Patricia at Beau Monde (the spa with an incredibly long domain name). I have been with Patrica for almost ten years now, almost as long as Brian and I have been together.
I used to go to Healing Waters for waxings, but decided that their prices were too high so I started to check around for other places. A coworker had recommended her aesthetician Renee at Individually Yours. I was pleased with both the cost and quality so I said goodbye to occasional (because I couldn’t afford to go all the time) waxings Healing Waters began going to Individually Yours for waxings regularly. With the lower prices at Individually Yours, I was able to go more frequently and began to get accustomed to my new hairlessness.
I experienced Patricia for the first time when Renee went on maternity leave. Patricia was equally as good, if not better. Anyway, Renee decided against returning to work after her child was born so I have been with Patricia ever since. A couple of years ago, Patricia left Individually Yours and transferred to Beau Monde. As a loyal client, I naturally followed.
The move was good for Patricia, but it proved beneficial for me as well. Beau Monde is closer to our house, since it’s just at Comotara, and it is a full-fledged spa so I have access to more products and services there than at Individually Yours. About the only disadvantage that I’ve noticed is that the rates are higher. With inflation, the prices just keeping going up. I love being hairless and all, but I’m going to have to serious cost-benefit analysis on this soon because the visits sum up to significant amount at the end of the year.
So I began to wonder, how different can waxings be? What if I found a less expensive place with their very own Patricia? A couple of months ago, I received an email offer from another spa. They advertised “waxless waxing” and offered a 50% discount. I’m a sucker for deals, so I had to try it.
They use a Nufree “No-Wax” system, which I found was just like regular waxing except it is more organic or something like that. It wasn’t any less painful, at least not for me. The aesthetician was not as experienced as Patricia, who can complete my Brazillian in half a dozen strokes. She was very messy and had to go over the same spots several times, which is a no-no. Patricia never goes over the same spot more than twice, if at all. I felt like I was being tortured and the crazy part is I was paying for it, discounted or not.
The girl was very nice and, to her credit, did a good job on my facial (which I wouldn’t have scheduled there had I not been lured in by the 50% discount on the “waxless waxing” email). She is a wonderful person who I’m sure is a great aesthetician. She just happened to give me the worst bikini wax of my entire life. Maybe bikini waxings aren’t her forte (not everyone can be good at it), so I didn’t hold that against her. Brian and I left a decent tip: $20 for my aesthetician and $20 for his massage therapist. Yes, Brian ended up getting a massage out of this because I didn’t want him to be bored waiting for me to get done.
I didn’t go running back to Patricia or anything. I didn’t have to because I’m already in her books for the rest of the year (I usually pre-schedule all my waxing appointments in November for the following year). Sure we have to reschedule some appointments when she goes on vacation and stuff, but I find so much easier and less complicated having all my appointments pre-set because then after each visit all I have to do is ask when my next one is — I don’t have to spend a few minutes scheduling it. I’ve been doing it this way since Individually Yours and it has worked great so I continue to do it.
Anyway, I learned an important lesson that day: never cheat on your regular wax technician. You can cheat on your nail tech and you can cheat on your hair styles, but cheating on your waxer is a very, very bad idea. From now on, no one else but Patricia gets to wax my chacha.
P.S. I purposely left the name of that other spa off this post because their marketing person is really savvy. I noticed that she is always online scouring the web for business intelligence and ideas and stuff. She is probably the best marketing rep in Wichita. I think she is fabulous and I don’t want her to find this.
Also Brian and I have had massages at this place so we are in their book. They’ll know it’s us based on the services the services I mentioned and the time frame. We might go back for a massage there sometime in the near future so I don’t really want to make them mad.
And just for the record, it was only the waxing that I hated. The facial was good and they give great massage there. It is one of our favorite places to go (since it is also in NE Wichita and close by) for massages. It’s not as cheap as Innovative Bodyworks, though. Brian wasn’t as impressed with IB so he still likes this other place. I think he likes this other place better than Beau Monde for massages, but really there is only the one massage therapist we don’t like at BM. Everyone else is great.
P.P.S. My waxing with Patricia yesterday made me think of sharing this story. She did my face and Brazillian in 30 minutes (the other place wanted to spend almost three hours). Yes, she is THAT good!
Alright, that’s it. Don’t cheat on your waxer!
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Brian Wants a MUNNY for his Birthday
Posted on April 18, 2009 by Ching under Toys, Wishlist.
SHOW ME THE MUNNY!
Brian has decided he wants a MUNNY for his 35th birthday. I think he might be hitting second childhood early. LOL.
Kidding aside, these things are pretty cool actually. They are ideal for artist types like Brian because you can do whatever you want with them. You can draw and paint on MUNNY, using crayons, pencils, ketchup, or anything else you can think of…
You can make clothes for MUNNY. Make things to put in MUNNY’s hands. You can snuggle him, pierce him, drape him, cherish him. MUNNY is open to pretty much anything… or so it says on the web site.
Here’s some inspiration…
For even more inspiration, just go to the KidRobot MUNNY gallery or the MUNNY gallery at Vinyl Pulse or the MUNNY photos at Tates Comics or search for MUNNY on Flickr or Google MUNNY or check out some DIY videos on YouTube (there are some irrelevant hits, so just skip those). For information, check out MUNNY on Wikipedia. Amazing!
Brian wants a 7-inch Series 4 White Edition MUNNY DIY toy, but I doubt that he will turn his nose up at a 4-inch White Edition mini MUNNY. It seems like once you get started, you can never get enough of these things.
I’m sure he’d ask for the 18-inch White Edition MEGA MUNNY if he could, but then he couldn’t get a new cell phone. The MEGA MUNNY is expensive!
For other neat MUNNY stuff, go to the KidRobot web site. They’ve got tons of neat stuff.
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Nokia and Backorder Hell
Posted on April 17, 2009 by Brian under Blog, Life, Reviews, Wishlist.
If you have not been following my Tweets then let me fill you in.
On April 3rd I ordered a new phone through Nokia. I had some difficulties through their web site previously but through the assistance of the Nokia customer service center I was able to resolve the issue and get the phone ordered properly. However, Nokia failed to mention that I would be in backorder hell and would possibly never receive my phone. Below is a letter that I just send to there web site.
Let me start by saying that I have been a faithful user of Nokia for over 10 years. I have had just about every Nokia phone ever released. I know this probably does not amount to much since there are several people in this world that are just like me, but I thought I would say it anyway.
I recently attempted to purchase a Nokia E71. Due to some confusion on your web site my order was messed up and rejected. Despite this Nokia held almost $800 on my credit card for a week before releasing the held funds. The rep that I called (Rob) helped sort out the situation and assisted me in placing another order for the phone I wanted. He also offered me a free headset due to my phone being on back order (it was originally in stock when this whole mess started). Overall, I was pleased with the resolution and was advised that the phone would be in within 2 weeks and should ship shortly after that. This was the end of the good customer service. Things all down hill from here.
I had been following the web site waiting for the backorder flag to fall. Sure enough it fell off about 2 weeks later just as I was advised. However, I did not receive a shipping confirmation. In an attempt to find out why my phone did not ship I called customer service and spoke to another rep. This rep did not speak English very well and I had difficulty understanding everything that he was saying. I did not even get his name. I asked what was holding up my order and he advised that the phone was in but they could not ship my order because the headset was now on backorder. I was frustrated by this and asked what could be done. The only thing that he could do was apologize, nothing was offered to make amends for the error. Nothing was done to appease me for the inconvenience. Nothing was done at all. To make matters worse, the rep tried to tell me that I was offered a special deal by the previous rep. I had to immediately stop him and advise that the phone price is the same that is offered to every person that orders through the web site. I went on to advise that the headset offer was the one that is currently being promoted on the web site as well and that the free shipping is something that is offered through your company if you order anything over $200.00. I stated that nothing that I received was any more special and it was something that any other customer would have received if they had placed the same order. He then apologized, he did not say what for, I can only assume it was for trying to mislead me and getting caught.
I called again the following day and requested a supervisor. I received Jessica, a floor supervisor. I have worked in Call Centers before, I know that a floor supervisor is not a TRUE supervisor; their authority is limited (which I found throughout the conversation with her to be true). However, I gave her a chance. The only thing that she could offer was to remove the headset and then the phone would ship. I don’t see how this benefits me as a customer. I have to sacrifice something in order to get something. So now I am stuck in backorder hell. I am supposed to receive a phone with a headset but I cannot receive the phone because the headset is back ordered, then there is no guarantee that I will even receive the phone when the headset comes in because the phone may be on backorder again. The only option I seem to have is that I will have to sacrifice a portion of my order in order to get my phone, thus making my devise only partially useful in my opinion.
I have purchased many devices over the years from numerous companies and I have never had this much difficulty getting a device as I have through your company. I advised the supervisor that I would give it another week. I am sorry to say that if I do not see any progress from your company in this week I am going to cancel my order. I am also going to make sure that everyone that I speak to (Twitter, Facebook, blog, forums, text or e-mail including everyone I know in Wichita), is made aware of the trouble that I have had with your company and advise against ordering any Nokia products in the future. As it stands, my wife now refuses to purchase the 5800 Express. I had her convinced that this would be a viable replacement for her T-Mobile Wing and she was going to purchase it as soon as I had received my phone (she wanted to look at mine first before deciding) she now does not wish to purchase anything and suggested a week ago that I should cancel my order. I am trying to give your company the opportunity to correct its mistakes, but at the moment I do not see that you care to fix your error or even care about the customer at all. You seem to feel that a simple apology will suffice regardless of the situation or circumstances.
With the upcoming expiration of the contract between Apple and AT&T, the iPhone will soon be the most sought after phone on the market (more than it is currently) leaving companies like yours clamoring for business in the handset market. Exceptional Customer Service and customer loyalty are going to be the only things that will save a company in near future. At the moment my loyalty is fading by the day and if things do not improve I have no choice but to seek a new cell phone manufacturer.
I hope that this does not fall on deaf ears and I hope that someone takes and interest in the actions that took place.
After sending the letter I was shown the following message.
Your e-mail has been submitted. A Nokia Customer Care representative will respond promptly. Your questions and comments are important to us.
Since I am not satisfied with the service to begin with, I found it comical that the letter would go to the very people that I am complaining about. I guess my last little statement at the bottom is true after all. Some little CSR at Nokia will look at this and decide that its not a good thing for the rest of the CS group and can it. Which means I will most certainly cancel my order by Friday if nothing happens.
Lack of customer service and a decline in customer loyalty must be why Nokia’s earnings have declined by 90% in the last year according to Gizmodo. Looks like I will become one of the many iPhone Sheeple soon.
All hail the iPhone.
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Sandals St. Lucia Trip Pics
Posted on April 17, 2009 by Ching under Travel.
Our friends Cory, April, Jay and Becca just returned from vacationing in St. Lucia. They stayed at Sandals Grande, but it looks like they visited all three Sandals resorts. What a MEGA vacation! Check out their pictures below.
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What I Wanted vs. What I Got
Posted on April 16, 2009 by Ching under Wishlist.
I have been wanting this heart link jewelry at Tiffany & Co. for a while now. I just can’t bear to part with $750 for sterling silver jewelry (total for the earrings, bracelet and necklace). Here are some pictures of the jewelry that I wanted.
As you can see, the jewelry is just so pretty. It’s hard to resist. I would have been all over this stuff six years ago, just charging away. Fortunately, I have more self control now. I’m also a lot more resourceful. Everyone knows that if something is fabulous, someone else will copy it. There’s always knock offs. So guess what. I found them!
The knock offs I found are sold at Eve’s Addiction. Check them out.
The knock offs resemble the originals pretty well. From a distance, you can’t really tell they’re fake. So anyway, through sheer resourcefulness I managed to get all three pieces for under $100.
The downside is that the quality of the necklace is not that great. You get what you pay for, I suppose. The necklace is pretty flimsy and not as substantial as the original, which I have seen in person incidentally. The concierge at Courtyard Topeka was wearing it a couple of months ago when we stayed there. Hers are the real deal, gifted to her by her husband last Christmas.
I wish the necklace was half the quality of the bracelet. Though the design is the same, the bracelet is more substantial and heavier in weight. The chain it self was the same, but the little heart and open hearts of the bracelet were thicker than the necklace.
Of the three pieces, the earrings were the best. The earrings were thicker and heavier still. I would guess that the earrings are pretty close to how the real necklace and bracelet would feel. Although, I can’t really know for sure since I don’t have the real Tiffany jewelry here for comparison.
I was very pleased with the earrings and satisfied with the bracelet, but the necklace was a disappointment to be honest. I wish it was heavier/thicker. Oh, well. It is fake after all and only a fraction of the cost of its authentic counterpart. Maybe someone will buy the real necklace for me. ~hint~ ~hint~
He will have plenty of opportunity since we have our anniversary (August), my birthday (October), and Christmas (December) still to come this year. I hope he remembers. =P
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