Thursday, May 19, 2011

Retail details

Yesterday started like any other day...well any other bad day, that is. During my second round of wake up calls, I noticed that the dog was standing next to the puddle he had just left on my new bedspread. Ugh! I debated shoving the comforter in the washing machine, but was intimidated by the "dry clean only tag" (why didn't I notice that sooner, as it might've been the deal breaker when I was trying to decide if I wanted to keep that purchase to begin with).

The good news was that I now had enough reason to finally go to the dry cleaners, as the small pile of cloths on the bedroom floor had not been significantly inspiring at any time over the past month. Despite the fact that all of my coupons had expired, I decided to try the one day dry cleaner very close to our house. I secretly held out hope that If I looked pathetic enough, they would provide me with some secret discount. Nope. After entering all of my information into the computer, the girl told me my things would be ready after 4:30 on Friday. Huh? It was 8:00 Wednesday morning. I asked if the one day service was extra, was told it was not. Then she asked if I wanted my stuff today, but I declined, for fear that there would be some secret fee. The name of the place include the words "one day dry cleaning", so it baffles me that they don't feature that service a bit better. However, they are very thorough when describing any issues and the dog owes me $25.


In an attempt to dispute a $2.00 fee on a bill, I went to the department store involved (hey every little bit helps). I had the April bill I had paid, in full, the day before it was due, in hand, as well as the May bill that had a mysterious $2.00 charge. I explained the issue to the cashier, and he told me that he was sorry to report that I would have to call customer service and navigate their prompt system. I told him that once I got home, all hope would be lost of a phone call getting made that required such patience. He used his phone to get someone on the line.

I explained the issue to the woman on the other end of the line. She was very concerned about explaining the late charge of $18.00 plus another $2.00 interest charge incurred for paying my March bill late...yeah, I owned that, no problem. I tried to explain again that I didn't understand where the new $2.00 fee came from on the May bill. We danced around each other's explanations of different issues for a few more minutes, until she announced that she had credited my account the $20.00...um, sure, let's go with that. I asked the gentleman at the register what he thought I was disputing, and he responded "$2.00". We both had a good chuckle when I told him the end result of the phone call.

Now if I can find three more dollars in loose change hanging around the house, I will break even from my trip to the cleaners. I will then consider putting an end to the dirty looks I have been giving the dog. The rest of the day swung more in my favor. I got some great deals at one of my favorite stores to browse in because the salesperson's supervisor was rude! Bonus, as the woman hadn't been rude enough to ruin my day, and the $20.00 off more than compensated me for my three minutes of trouble. AND I crossed some things off my list...or at least did some things I will add to the list, and then promptly scribble out!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

1 comment:

  1. Loved that, still laughing: the dog owes me $25.
    And yeah, I think they need to rename the place, "One Day Drycleaning, but You Can't Pick it Up Until Two Days Later, We're Funny Like That." Whaddya think?

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