(43-316) Thank you B.O.A!

It's been quite a while since I've mentioned anything about going to the gym; and there's a really good reason for that.... I haven't been going.  But there's NOT a really good reason for that - just excuses.  With that being said, I had very mixed feelings when my good friend (and gym buddy) Lesa G called today to tell me that our gym had closed down.

Lesa said that our friend Stefania had gone to the gym and there was a pad lock on the door, and a notice on the window stating that they hadn't paid their rent.  She and Lesa both tried calling but the phone just rang and rang, went straight to voice mail and said that the mailbox was full.  Lesa also said that they couldn't locate any corporate phone number or contact information for Fitness 19.

I was disappointed to learn that my gym had closed. OK and inappropriately relieved as well.  But I was also concerned that they would continue to charge my monthly fee to my debit card.  And since Lesa said that she and Stefania had both called their bank and found them to be less cooperative than they'd expected, I called Bank of America immediately.   

I explained to the customer service associate (that I got on the phone in record time), that my gym had closed down and I wanted to block them from debiting my account, since they were no longer providing me a service.  The associate told me that he could place a recurring stop payment on my account; at no cost to me.  He said that if a charge was to go through, Bank of America would refund it to me, and that if at some point in time, I want to pay Fitness 19 again, I would have to call the bank to let them know.  Fair enough, I thought. 

I concluded my call feeling very relieved and extremely satisfied.  Bank of America gave me peace of mind; and I am optimistic that Fitness 19 will not be able to charge me for a gym that's closed.  Since I waste no time to tell you when I've received poor or inferior service, I want to accentuate the positive and say a big ole THANK YOU to Bank of America for a job well done.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

(43-84) Say What?

Since my schedule is a bit turned around this week; due to dentist and doctor's appointments; parent / teacher conferences and early out on Thursday and Friday; I went into my office today, instead of my customary, Thursday.
On the one day a week that I go to my office, I usually get something for lunch with my friend Kathy; although we typically try to pick something that we have a coupon for or something that is inexpensive. Yesterday I reminded Kathy that I would be coming in to the office today; and I let her know that I had a coupon for Logan's, because sometimes we get their salad and baked sweet potato combo for $4.99

Early this morning I showed Kathy my coupon and we read all of the fine print to see what we couldn't use the coupon on. It reminded me of the scene in "The Jerk," where Navin (Steve Martin) is working in the weight guessing booth at the carnival and when someone asks what they could win if he didn't guess their weight; he mentioned everything that they couldn't get and finally concluded that the person could have anything within a very, small boxed area.

Ultimately, we decided not to use our Logan's coupon today and tried to decide on something else for lunch. Since we were trying to think of something inexpensive, I suggested that we get French Dip sandwiches from Arby's because I had seen a flyer that offered them 2 for $5.00Kathy and I went to Arby's but we didn't see anything that stated the 2 for $5 offer, so I asked the cashier if we needed a coupon; and what she said really threw me for a loop. The cashier told me that I needed a coupon; BUT they give it back to you. And when I said, "OK, I don't have a physical coupon with me, but I know about the offer, and since you would only be giving me the coupon back anyway; can't I get them 2 for $?" And she said "No." No, I couldn't believe it. I mean they don't even keep the coupon, so what sense does this make? I'd say that I was shocked, but then again, this IS Arby's. The same company that I advised of a typo in their advertisement a couple of months ago. Yes, I had a coupon sheet for Arby's only it wasn't called Arby's in their ad; they were Abry's. Ever so slight difference; but for a Nationwide company; this didn't look good. And neither does this coupon policy.

Now trust me; I'm not troubling myself AT ALL, over the stupidity of the coupon situation; this is not a problem by any means; just an annoyance. It's amazing to me that someone convinced a company do business this way; but then again, when we were at Mari's crop on Saturday night, we ordered Mexican food and Mari asked for chips and salsa (enough for the 6 people who were ordering food) and the order taker informed Mari that we would be given 1 complimentary bag of chips with salsa and we would have to pay $6 for an additional bag. Say what? If we were sitting in the restaurant, we all could have unlimited chips and salsa, but because we got it to go; we were only entitled to one small bag? This is starting to make Big Heng's fortune cookie policy, that I wrote about in "You Know You Have A Problem When...#6" sound sane.
Anyway, Mari asked the order taker, "If I ordered six separate orders would everyone get their own chips and salsa?" And the voice on the other end of the phone said "Yes." Mari said "OK then, I'm going to give you six separate names for this order; or do I have to hang up and call you back six times?" The order taker than begrudgingly took all six names; and when we went to pick up the food, we found a bag of chips and salsa accompanying each of our meals.
This company, chip policy made absolutely no sense to us. What ever happened to businesses wanting to accommodate their customers so that they would want to return. Why do some businesses cease to remember that without us they have no business; so they shouldn't piss us off with their ridiculous rules. It's not that I believe that the customer is always right, because honestly, sometimes we're not; but it does seem that the coupon at Arby's and the chips at the Mexican restaurant are two policies that need to be re-worked.
Queen of EVERYTHING