Really Home Depot has it come to this

Here I am trying to enjoy my vacation in wonderful Germany with my family, thinking that finally everything has been settled with my coutnertop from Home Depot and it should be waiting for me once I return. Right?
Wrong, although I mentioned several times in my meeting with Home Depot that I would not be able to accept delivery of my countertop because I would not be available, they have (well not home depot but their sub-contractor) attempted to deliver the countertop a few times already. I even received a phone message from the delivery guy that he was at the house and no one was there. Then I received another message from the delivery guy saying he was trying to deliver the countertop. First off this company has a habit of just showing up without calling before hand to deliver. On one occassion I was in a meeting and could not leave on the second occassion I had to take time off work to meet them at the house, only to find out the countertop was the wrong size.
So here we are, they are trying to deliver again without calling AND home depot obvisouly forgot to mention that I would not be able to take delivery until later on. It went even so far that Home Depot called me saying that this other company attempted to deliver the countertop but they couldn't reach me and they just wanted to let me know that they would be trying again on 9 June. Hello I will not be there.
I have even emailed Cliff (the Home Depot manager type) to remind him about the fact that I had told them in the meeting I would not be able to take deliver during specific dates. He has not yet emailed me back so I am not pleased.
This is not the type of thing I want to be thinking about on my vacation.
Ok that's it, I hope to not have to mention this issue again.

Amneville Zoo France

OK Let's start off with the fact that this is a pretty cool zoo BUT and this is a big BUT, it is, in my humble opinion, VERY expensive.
For ages 3 to 11 - 20 Euro
Anyone over 12 - 25 Euro

The main reason I mention the price is because you can't find it anywhere online. It's not on their website, www.zoo-amneville.com, nor anywhere else I tried to find it. It would have been nice to know before driving an hour and a half to get there.

So being that there for four of us, the grand total was 95 Euro, about $140.

We did get to see a lot of animals and we didn't even get around to the whole zoo. They list that they have 2000 animals. My favorites were:

Black panther

Cheetah

Penguins

Polar bears

Seals

White Kangaroo

The good part about the animals is they were almost always visible.

Home Depot Update

I had an appointment with Home Depot at 1100hrs to try to get this counter thing settled. Even when I wrote the email I knew it was confusing so this was no suprise that they wanted to see me in person in regards to this. I took in my paperwork that I orginially had taken when making the order so I could show it was their mistake not mine.
I spoke to Cliff and we had it settled even before the countertop person came in to work. They saw where the mistake was made, it was just a matter of not adding or specifiy that 25inches needed to be accounted for.
They are reordering it at no charge but I let them know I was not going to be able to accept the coutnertop for deliviery until the end of June. I also let them know how the delivery people from the company they use have a habit of just showing up or calling and saying we're about to deliver your countertop. Cliff agreed that was unprofessional. I hope all will work out.

The Home Depot situation

So way back in March, I did some renovations ( I didn't do them but had them done) to my kitchen and part of the renovation was a new counter top. So I decide to go to Lowe's first of course they are my place of choice and paid $35 to have someone come out and give an estimate. Well the installer called and after talking to Lowe's installer who said he would get as much money out of me as he could, I wasn't to pleased, and then I saw the price so I wasn't happy at all. Then I ask what it would cost just for the piece I needed and even that was pretty expensive. But Lowe's being Lowe's tried to help out and said they would talk to another installer and see if the price was different. They were taking to long to get back to me (which by the way they never).



Side note though, this is not my regular Lowe's so from now on I'll stick to the one that has giving me outstanding service every time, the one on Washington rd.



Back to the story, I decide to try out Home Depot which i haven't used since about 2004. Back then I had received horrible service and decided not to go back there again. I was hoping after 5 years this may have changed but NO, somethings never change.



I go in there and at first all is going well but that would not last. I received a great price for the counter top but didn't order it immediately. I came back the next day and order AND paid for it then left. I was told approximately two weeks. Not bad.

A week goes by and I get a phone call, sorry we charged you the wrong price you have to come in and pay an additional $168. Say WHAT. I think not. I tell them I will come in for my refund but by the time I do in I am not in the mood to start all over again so I think maybe I should try to negotiate the price because if you really think about it, they can't make me pay more. I already paid for the product in full and nowhere on the paperwork does it say the price can change (unless you are having an installation done). If you look at it this way, it would have been like me buying a BBQ at say $150 and telling them I will pick it up when it comes in. Then they call me back and say oops we charged you the wrong price, you need to pay another $168. They can't do that as it was paid in pull the first time.

To be nice I decide to see what can be done because when it comes to special order things, normal rules might now apply. After a lot of discussion, we agree I will pay an additional $50 and I do. So now I am told two weeks. Ok I guess. now we are looking at a delivery around 11 April. I don't hear anything from anyone well past the 11th so I go in on the 21 April and am told I should have it by Monday 27 April. Like I have a choice. Then comes Tuesday 28 April and I go in again and ask where is my counter top and after about an hour, the merchandising manager tells me, the company is having a hard time finding it and I should get it by 7 May. ARE YOU SERIOUS. I have been trying to get this thing since 19 March. Now I am a little upset and ask if there is any way we can negotiate a refund of the mandatory deliver fee of $60. Mr Songer (the merchandising manager) says to call him once I have received the counter top and he will see what he can do. I then said, the transaction will be done by then, how will that help me. He says to call Wednesday after 1500hrs to discuss.
This is where it stands, I still have no counter top and am hoping they will at least refund the delivery.

Been a while

And this wont be long either. I am very busy at work lately working on Thunder Over Augusta a big Armed Forces Day event as well as working on the usual quarterly awards ceremony plus all other requests that have been flooding in.
I do have to say that finally my hot tub is in it's right position and location and hopefully today an electrician will come by and let me know how much it will cost to get it hooked up. If I'm really lucky this will be up and running soon. I really hope so.
I also got my garden together. Had fertilizer delivered on Friday and then bought some top fertilizer and other garden necessities (ok not really necessities but not the point) from Lowe's of course. And on a side note, I hope to write about why it took me 5 years to return to Home depot and why it will take even longer before I consider doing it again.
I planted seeds in my new garden early Sunday morning because I couldn't sleep. It is highly unlikely very much will grow as I have no green thumb to speak off. I also over-planted and did not follow the spacing requirements on the seed packets.
One more thing before I sign off, I have my first acupuncture appointment today for my back, I really hope this works because something needs to. Of course there will be more to follow on this.

Another trip to ATL

This one was for a mini-ktown reunion (that would be Kaiserlsautern American High School '92) and it was actually pretty fun.



I was able to see my good friend Wendy who I almost never see. The last time was when we went to Chapel Hill to meet the basketball team back in 2007.



Well we didn't go Friday night like a lot of others as we headed out to see a Playhouse Disney show, so we rolled out Saturday monring and not as early as I would have liked. We get there around 1130hrs and head to the Aquarium to meet Wendy and her peoples. That place was way to crowded. Wendy had gotten there much early and was just about done but we did eat together and managed to walk around a bit together. Either we had fun and knew we would see each other later that evening anyway. I almost bought a membership to it but decided against it because a)it's in ATL b)if it's always this crowded I wont want to be there.

The hot tub is HERE

Yes in deed, it arrived safe and sound (I think I haven't unwrapped it yet).
The current problem is finding people strong enough to unwrapped and place it. I did not think about this before hand. It's ok though it's here and in the back yard and that's all that really matters. I finally asked the people who had done some lawn work for me and they came by and it took them about 5 minutes. Then of course came the electrician boy was that a nice chunk out of my pocket but all worth it. Now, it is finally up and running and I am loving it. Recently we have had some nice cool nights which have been perfect for a soak. Below is a quick picture of it in its current state.

I had to do it --Twitter

After all of the stories I have read on Twitter, I decided to go ahead and get an account. We shall see where this may lead or if I will even use it.
I have used it on and off and still haven't decided if I like it but now since we can no longer access facebook.com at work I may end up using it more. I haven't decided if I will use it as a work thing or personal thing yet so I have been flipping back and forth.

Hampton Inn Atlanta-Buckhead, GA - Watch your charges from them

Recently we went to Atlanta to see Cirque De Soleil. I had booked our hotel more than a month prior to the trip and pre-paid for the room. We decided to stay at the
Hampton Inn Atlanta-Buckhead
3398 Piedmont Rd., NE Atlanta,
GAUnited States, 30305
Tel: 404-233-5656
Fax: 404-237-4688

This was my first trip in a long time to Atlanta so I wasn't sure of the location of the hotel but it turned out not to be too bad and actually close to a mall and several other stores I wanted to visit. Also parking was free with this hotel which I have come to find out is pretty rare when you're talking Atlanta. Our check in went well. The room was nice with a refrigerator and microwave. The front desk person was pleasant. We had a nice breakfast the following morning which was included in the the price. Now to the issues I had while there. Before even leaving we had housekeeping knock on our door 3 times before check out time which I thought was inconsiderate. After the first time she should have waited until we checked out. Other than that things went well minus the major bit of snow that was coming down. We headed to the show, then home.
After returning Sunday, come Tuesday morning I see a post from the hotel in my account, charging me again for the room and causing overdraft fees now. This caused my account to be overdrawn and I incurred $35 overdraft fee. I called the hotel immediately and was told they would investigate and receive a call back later that day. I received no such call so I tried to call the hotel several times but could reach no one. I called the VIP hot line (as I am a diamond member) and they said they spoke to the manager at the local hotel and they are working on it. They told me I would be contacted. I was not contacted by the next day so I wrote an email on the website in regards to this issue,. In the meantime another purchase I had made before finding out about this charged posted, so I incurred another $35 overdraft fee. I finally received an email on 5 Mar from Kesha Holmes-Smith, a guest assistance specialist. I had not heard from anyone by the 7th of March so I emailed Ms Smith. I still had not heard by the 9th so I sent another email. I finally received a response on the 9th of March from Ms Smith saying the hotel had contacted me and issued a refund. This was not the case. I had also mention several times about the overdraft fees and asked how they would be handled. I never received a response. I emailed Ms Smith 2 more times in regards to the overdraft fees asking who I should send the letter from my bank that states they are responsible to. I still have not heard anything.

My warning to you is being very careful what card you use when booking with Hampton Inn Atlanta-Buckhead as you might end up with a nasty surprise.

I have since then contacted the better business bureau and Christopher ElliottBlogger/syndicated columnist/TV host ( http://www.elliott.org/ ) to try and help me with this issue.

This issue is still unresolved.

Yeah I ordered, finally

Have you guessed what it is yet? Well I decided to go ahead and buy something I thought I wasn't going to be able to . Technically I shouldn't but sometimes you have to just jump in, which is what I will be doing when my new hot tub I ordered this weekend gets to the house. It is not the one I originally planned on getting (I'm not that extravagant) but I think it will suffice. This one also only requires a standard plug instead of a 220v so that will save at least $400.


I can't wait until it arrives. I'll be in that almost daily. I'll let you know how the first soak goes. Stay tuned....