Live and Let Di

Rebates Suck!

Today I took $12.13 and threw it in the trash can next to my desk. I am not accustomed to throwing money away, although some may argue that the purchase of my Prada shoes was pretty impractical. But I defend that decision over two years ago to this day as they are still the most amazing shoes EVER. Did I digress? It's OK because it's a Prada digression, so it doesn't count!

Just to prove the foolish thing I did, here is photographic evidence:

It's not my fault!!! You see, when my son's cell phone contract came up for renewal, he was eligible for a free cell phone. Free my ass! It has now cost me $12.13. You see, it would be unthinkable for them to just give it to you free and send you on your way. No, they have to charge you $49.99 and then send you a rebate. Not just any rebate, a credit card. Not a check that you could just deposit in the bank. I didn't think much of it and used it the next time I was purchasing something, leaving a balance of $12.13 on the card.

I kept meaning to use it at Starbucks or somewhere that my balance would be such a small amount, but never got around to it. Then yesterday I decided to use it online only to find out that it expired December 31, 2008. It got me wondering just how much money AT&T is making on unused funds on rebate cards. I'm guessing it's no small amount. It sucks. It's bad customer service...but AT&T is the only company that supports my iPhone and we know we're not going THERE!

I think the reason this struck a cord with me was that this week I took my son to the eye doctor and he got new contacts. We had found that his monthly lenses bothered him when he played baseball, so the doctor suggested getting several sets of dailies that he would wear and dispose of just for baseball. Probably dust and stuff was getting on his contacts during baseball rendering them uncomfortable for the remainder of the month he was supposed to wear them. Sounds logical to me.

As I was leaving, the cashier handed me a rebate form...which I, of course, can't find for the life of me...for $100 back on the dailies!

I paid over $300 for the assorted contacts that we got and went on my way. But why can't they just take $100 off my bill? Why do they have to put me through this BS where I now have to take the ends off my son's contact boxes, fill out a form, mail it in...and probably get another fucking Visa card that I won't use to its fullest!!!

Rebates suck. They suck your money from you. They prey on your lack of motivation to fill the thing out, get the appropriate documentation required, mail it in and then spend the non-cash funds they send you.

Could somebody fix this? Thank you!

Di

Tired of Dealing with Morons?

I rage about the despicable quality of service in our country, oh, about every three weeks or so. I have often posited that if every organization in our country had the quality of service of Apple and Starbucks, it would be a MUCH better place...AND, who knows, maybe our economy wouldn't suck as bad as it does.

Finally, there is a somewhat passive-aggressive solution to my retail raging...trust me on this.

I'll Take a Case, Please

Would this face lie to you?

 

That's not me, by the way, but the person to whom I am linking you!

Di

The End of the World???

Amazon is down. I repeat, Amazon is down. I visit the Amazon web site pretty much hourly and have for the past several years and it is down. I am very concerned. In addition to the fact that I wanted to order a book to send to a friend NOW, that's where I get the ISBN numbers that let me add the thumbnail of the book to my blog. So I can't bookblog today. Could this be a harbinger of the end, the rapture (hmmm....I haven't been called up, go figure...has to be those times in high school when I went to Saturday night mass just to see what everyone was doing on Saturday night), the apocalypse (I love the smell of napalm in the morning).

Just so you know what's coming if Amazon ever returns, Amy inspired me with her comment about me doing the New York Times Crossword in an hour (maybe if I focused on it non-stop for an hour, but I haven't focused on anything non-stop for an hour since 1993 when Haley was born) so the next book will be Crossworld by Marc Romano.

So, instead I will post this picture.
It is Rory and Haley with their cousin Ashley. Ashley was a wee 7 year old when she was a flower girl in my wedding 15 years ago this Wednesday (which we will be celebrating by Hurley being on a business trip in Toronto). She is now a senior at UCF and has some misguided notion that UCF is going to beat Florida this year.

Again, like Jude she is not related to me by blood so just as I didn't get Jude's golf swing genetically, I don't get Ashley's tallness, thinness and prettiness genetically either! But she takes Haley shopping for me and even takes me shopping sometimes...and we love her!

Not much more to report until Amazon comes back except for the following observations, complaints, rants or whines:

1. Why would OPI (Amy, OPI is a nail polish company) discontinue an amazing color like Deer Valley Spice? I'm thinking of buying up all the bottles remaining on E-Bay.

2. I think I have nothing to read. Clearly the 12 books sitting at my bedside are not sufficient and my latest infusion of Amazon has yet to arrive. Did I mention that Amazon is down???

3. I got a new battery for my laptop...so now it's like a real laptop where I can sit anywhere and "work" on it and not have to be plugged in.

4. I'm going to Sports Authority to get sneakers for me and Rory. I will pick mine out in five minutes and they will cost less than $50. Rory will try on 10 pairs, end up asking for the first pair he tried on, they will cost over $75 and I will refuse on the grounds that he will outgrow them long before he wears them out, he will insist that no other sneakers fit/look good/feel good/are cool enough for school, I will give in as soon as my retailphobia kicks in and I find myself needing to go home and have a Valium. Maybe I should put the Valium in my purse...plan ahead.

5. To Amy who seems to think I wear make-up every day...if I do, it's usually because I haven't taken a shower since the last time I wore make-up and it's still hanging on, especially the so-five-minutes-from-now raccoon eyes look from the slept-in mascara.

If Amazon comes back, I'll be back. If not...good luck to all...hope you have stocked lots of canned goods. I'm so glad Peggy just got a generator!!!

Di