If you follow me on Twitter... you know I am in the midst of an ear bud crisis...

part 1

part 2

part 3 and 4

So basically this morning I headed to CVS to get some new ear buds... I knew they had them because I have seen them in the case before. I arrived and pondered the case for a few minutes and found the ones I wanted. Headed to the register... and told the cashier that I would like some ear buds out of the case... she proceeded to tell me that the manager that had the key to that case would not be in until noon ( it was around 8:45am). WTH?!!? In this economy you are not going to have all of your merchandise available at all times... Too bad for you CVS ... lost sale!

Next up ... the gift shop at the Holiday Inn... no dice there either :(

Then a little convienence store .... nope... but I did discover they sell packaged goods ( aka beer and wine... for future train rides!!)

Next ... another gift shop near L'Enfant Plaza... nope... but the sales person did point me to some nice ear rings :D

I gave up and headed back to my office. Then I thought the Amtrak newsstand a New Carrollton shoudl definitely have them! Uh-uh.... They had full coverage earphones but no ear buds....

Guess I am going to Target this weekend!! YAY I finally have something to shop for!!!

Based on the results of the poll...and my desire to not do anymore research :) I gave Granite Transformations a second chance. I contacted them earlier in the week, and asked to set up an appointment for a date in early January (I need to decorate for the holidays... and don't have the room for holiday decorations and cleaned off countertops...). They agreed to the date so I asked for the earliest appointment available. They responded 11am. ( really?) So I responded and asked them to please confirm the requested appointment day and time (so I could add it to my calendar.

Almost 48 hours goes by....


No response. It's almost like they really don't want to commit. So I contacted them again, and told them to cancel.

So I am back to square one on my new kitchen countertops project :(.

So I've been wanting to upgrade my kitchen countertops ever since I painted my kitchen cabinets white... about a year and a half ago.

This past summer my my recommended a place she saw featured on the Today show ( and I then did some further research). Their big selling point is they do the entire job ... install and plumbing (to do the new sink and faucet) and no demo needed - new counters fit over old!. Lowes and every other place I checked will not do demo or plumbing... they want you to find your own plumber.

So last week I set up the appointment for Saturday at 11:30am. They called back a little later and asked if we could move it to 1pm. I agreed. Saturday morning arrived and I cleaned off all my counters. 1pm arrives. No sales guy. 1:30.... 2:30... 3pm Nothing. No phone call! So I gave up. I sent them this email:

Hello --

I spoke with Lisa on Tuesday and st up an appoint for an in home consultation for Saturday November 29 at 11:30am. She then called me back a bot tlater and asked if we could change the time as that would fit better with the salesperson's schedule. I agreed. Saturday arrived and I cleaned everything off my countertops. 1pm arrived and no Granite Transformations. 1::30, then 2:30 and then 4pm. Still no Granite Transformations, not even a phone call stating there was a problem. Is this common practice for your company? I am not sure at this point that I want to work with a company with such poor customer service.

I look forward to you explantion.

Hi Michelle - I apologize for your inconvenience - this is not the way we operate. I visited with the Design Specialist and he said he had car trouble in Virginia (where he was for Thanksgiving) and he tried to call but the number he had for you was incorrect. Again I apologize, we are very customer service oriented -- I would be happy to send you a list of customer refereneces. Also I will call to reschedule if you like.

Sincerely,

Lisa

This weekend I went to look at electric fireplaces. The battle is basically half way done, because I know the exact model that I want. I just need to find a dealer that sells it and will install it (because it will need to be mounted to the wall, and I want the electric outlet moved so that it will be behind the fireplace... no exposed wires!).

The first place I went to didn't have the model but stated that they would call manufacturers that they work with to see what they could find, so I left my contact info and went on my way. The next place... had the brand and model! So then I started asking questions about installation, they salesman looked at me like I had 2 heads... "Uh... we don't do that". So I thanked him for his time and left.

Is it wrong to expect (or at least have the option to pay for) full service including installation? This is why I no longer shop at Home Depot -- because when I went looking for above the stove microwave's they wouldn't do the installation - I eventually ordered from Lowes and had a handyman do the actual install).

I could ask my Dad or other friends to help with the install but I do not like doing that... I am happy to pay retailer to do the additional work, and you would think they would be happy to take my money... it's obvious now to me that the economy is in crisis... both places that I went to look had no one else in the store and I was waited on as soon as I walked in the door (this never happens...ohhh except when I have my Burberry bag and am shopping at Nordstrom :P).

If the first retailer doesn't come up with any options, I will probably order the fireplace online and have my handyman do the install... he is more than happy to take my money :)

So about 2 weeks ago I tweeted this (It was Sunday, I was cooking dinner, and was letting my DVR record BigBrother while I cooked, so I could start watching about 20 minutes into the show in order to FF thru all commericals... I had another channel on while it recorded... and noticed the feed from the cable box was frozen... so I went to Channel 9... all broken up... MTV ... same ... all channels frozen!) Then I went into another room and turned on a TV that I have hooked up directly to the cable outlet (no box) picture was grainy, but watchable) . So I missed about 20 minutes of BB... and my relaxing dinner/BB plan was scrapped). The cable eventually came back somtime after 9pm I think....

Then the next morning I noticed I had a direct reply from some person with Comcast in there user name, asking how he could help! I mentioned it to some co-workers, who are aware of my recent Twitter-addiction... and we all thought it was funny.

This morning I was reading this story from the Washington Post, where they mentioned that "Comcast scans Twitter for user gripes". I wonder which other companies are searching Twitter?

Read this first.