Simply Norma

Crisp autumn days have finally convinced us to start a fire in our fireplace.

After months of gearing up for this event (the first time we’ve owned a house with a wood fireplace) we are finally enjoying the fruit of our labors.

It’s pretty. And warm. The roaring fire seems fitted for a house that sits on a treed lot. Nature makes its way indoors.

The sun is slowly going down. This day has been good. And I feel thankful.

Angry Birds is a game where you launch cartoon birds at green pigs. It’s very popular and recently surpassed the 500,000 download mark on cell phones, iPads, etc.

People are playing this game a LOT. A recent quote in the IT World Magazine really astounded me:

“Angry Birds Fans around the world have so far played a total of 200,000 years of Angry Birds, with 300 million minutes of playing time daily. Moreover, more than 266 billion levels of Angry Birds have been played, with 400 billion birds launched into action, and over 44 billion Stars collected in the process.”

I remember when I first encountered the game — my family was playing it on their cell phones. I started to play it but the redundancy of the game and the constant “need” to reach the next level made me quit. Thankfully!

I can’t imagine that all these people have so much time to, uh, waste? Entertainment is one thing — addiction is something else.

To add to the “fun,” there are now plush toys, games, etc. for additional enjoyment.

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After purchasing a queen bed frame and mattresses from Macy’s in Roseville, MN, I received a flyer in the mail letting me know that the matching nightstand was now $150 off. A great buy at $199.00.

I decided to head to the store and take another look at it. While there, I asked the salesman if he thought the nightstand would fit in my car. No problem, he said. “Don’t you need to measure or find out the size of the box?” No, he assured me. It will fit just fine.

After filling out the paperwork to purchase the nightstand, I found out that there is a $25 charge for them to deliver it to the loading dock where I would pick it up — still better than their $75 delivery fee, I thought.

I received a call when the nightstand arrived and went a week later to pick it up.

When I arrived, the loader brought it out on a dolly. The box looked big but I was hopeful. I opened the trunk to my car and the young man proceeded to try to fit it in. It did not fit. He then tried fitting it in the back seat then the front seat — the box was too big.

At this point the young man looked at me and said “It doesn’t fit.” My response was “Well, the salesman said it would.” He then proceeded to take the nightstand out of the box and try to fit it in the trunk, the front seat and finally the back seat. Finally! It fit in the back seat.

I was thankful and drove home. After pulling into my garage, I proceeded to take the unboxed nightstand out of the back seat. As soon as I pulled it out, I saw that the edges of the front were scraped. I was afraid something like this might happen as the loading man went from one location in the car to another to try to have it fit in the car.

I took the nightstand inside and set it in my family room and took pictures of it. I called my husband and thought I would wait to have him look at it. I didn’t think there was anything we could do since the nightstand is not real wood but a veneer wood.

When my husband got home, he confirmed what I had suspected. It was not repairable by us. Since it was late Friday, I decided to call on Sunday regarding the problem since Saturday is the Sabbath for us. When I called the customer service number the recording told me that they were closed until Monday.

So, early Monday I called and spoke with a woman. I explained the problem and how the nightstand had to be taken out of the box in order for it to fit. The woman assured me it would be no problem. They would send someone out to see if they could repair it and if not, they would replace it with free delivery. I told her that I was pretty sure it was not repairable as the piece is veneer. She suggested I email pictures to the company they contract with who would be coming out to look at it. I did as she suggested.

I was happy that it would be this simple but my happiness would soon turn to frustration.

On Friday the contractor came out. He looked at the nightstand and said “boy, they really messed that up when they delivered it” or something to that effect. He told me it would be replaced and called the customer service desk, told them they needed to exchange it, then handed the phone to me so they could make arrangements for the exchange.

I explained to the contractor, before taking the phone, that the piece had been loaded into my car at the loading dock. He nodded and left.

When I spoke to the customer service desk, the woman said “Wait, this was not delivered.” I told her “No, I explained that to the person when I called on Monday and to your contractor.” The woman put me on hold, came back on the line and said “I’m sorry but you’re supposed to check the merchandise before you leave the loading dock so it’s your responsibility.”

I then told her that I couldn’t check for damage once the nightstand was loaded into the car. Her response was “It’s not a manufacturing defect so it’s your fault.”

Whoa! After going back and forth with her I requested to speak with a supervisor who reiterated the same jargon back to me.

Then the supervisor told me I should have called immediately. I told her I called Sunday but they were closed. “Would it have mattered if I called on the Friday I picked it up?” I asked. “No,” she said. “So why are you arguing that point with me?” We finally ended the discussion as it was going no where.

Okay, I thought — I’ll go at this another way since Macy’s has always been fair about exchanges.

On October 3rd I wrote a letter, per the online instructions, to the customer service office. To date, no response.

I keep getting Macy’s regular emails offering me free shipping and 10-20% off of this or that. I was getting rather irritated and finally responded to one of the 20% off offers with “I don’t plan on purchasing anything at Macy’s until my problem is resolved.” A few days later, I received an email from customer service saying:

“I am so sorry to hear that you have an unresolved issue regarding an
exchange. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.
Please be assured that this is definitely not the typical Macy’s
experience.

Please respond to this email with the specifics of your issue, or you
can chose to contact us at the number listed below and a Macy’s
representative will be happy to assist you.”

In other words, I have to start again. My next letter will be sent registered and to both customer service and the corporate office.

Since purchasing our new house in Minnesota, I have been to Macy’s many times to make purchases and have never had a problem. For all the “almost everyday” offers they send me, the $199 problem could have been resolved.

Oh well … I shall learn perseverance from this.

On a trip through Little Falls, Minnesota (south of Brainerd), I stopped at The Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Memorial Museum.

The location of this museum is perfect. It has a beautiful garden area in the back and a view of the Mississipi River can be seen from the gazebo.

Visitors can search the county’s past by looking at the resources and documents that are inside the museum.

The museum was named for lumberman, Charles A. Weyerhaeuser, who played a large part in this area’s history. It is open year-round and admission is free although donations are accepted.

The current exhibit was The Apron: Body Armour or Bling. Many aprons of different varieties were hanging throughout this section of the museum. There were many other displays of clothing, tools, etc.

This is a nice place to stop to get a feel for the history of this area.