Slamming Lenscrafters

A couple of weeks ago I went to the local Lenscrafters and went through the process of getting an exam and purchasing glasses. Never again will I try that. Their service quality was great when it came to helping me find frames while my eyes were dilated. It was fine throughout the process. What was not fine was the quality of the glasses. I put them on and immediately vision was impaired greater than without them. This is supposed to have the opposite effect. I was seeing a halo image around everything. I told the woman helping me and she at first took them back into their lab returning with a statement similar to this: The technician said they are correct and you may need to upgrade to a different lens with anti-reflective coatings.

Needless to say this did not sit too well for me. I said I was not upgrading to anything and they needed to make them right. A couple more trips back and forth to the lab resulted in a big nothing. At this point I was wanting my money ($186) back and said I would come back the next day to see the manager. Then she had the nerve to ask if I was going to take them home that night. I said no they can stay right here. No way was I taking them out of the store.

Well to their credit, my refund was handled in a timely manner. The manager wanted to re-measure the pupilary distance again and found that it was 2mm off. They measured the first time with their proprietary measuring device. The re-measure was done with the hand-held device everyone uses. I am glad about this too since I did order my glasses online later that night.

So I am slamming Lenscrafters for sloppy service when it comes to production of glasses. They could have done better.

The Blog of Helios: Pop....Thump Thump - Oh Cr*p

The Blog of Helios: Pop....Thump Thump - Oh Cr*p

This is certainly something I continually rave about. The Helios Project now Reglue has always been one of my favorite causes. It is in a nutshell all about the kids they help and they do it very well.

Today Ken is asking for help in grant writing. This is definitely not a strong point of mine but perhaps someone browsing this blog might be able to lend some time. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to getting computers in the hands of the Austin, Texas and surrounding area children and teens that would otherwise not be able to afford them. This is a project worthy of helping. Browse their blog and within you will find many wonderful deeds and pictures of the smiling faces that say it all.

If this is something you can lend a hand with please extend it to Ken at Reglue through their blog.

Big rave for all that they do everyday.

Quick Rave For Linux Mint

If you know me you know I love Linux more than I do Windows. For those who do not know what Linux is I will explain. Linux is an operating system for a computer just like Windows or Mac OSX. It is what you run everything on top of. Linux Mint is a version of Linux of which there are many.

This rave goes out to the team for Linux Mint. They continually put out such a quality product time after time. I really love not having to worry about the inner workings of my laptop and can focus on enjoying it. I just purchased a new Lenovo and you can read what I did to Windows here. Microsoft will not be getting a rave from me for Windows 8 anytime soon. :)

I think there are many Linux distributions that could earn the same praise but I have been a Mint user for a few years now and have not looked back. Thank you Clement Lefebvre and your whole team for the dedication to perfection and the end users.

Fry's Electronics Gets Rave

We bought one of our sons a laptop for his birthday. It was a Lenovo and we felt like it was a good deal. He loved it of course and it has been trouble free so far. But this is a story of how Fry's Electronics gets my vote for outstanding customer service.

Laptop clipart
from Clker.com

Several days later I was scanning their ads when I noticed the same laptop on sale. Well I had heard they had a policy for buyers who found a better price so I went to work researching it. Sure enough they did. On laptops you had 15 days to claim the difference in an advertised price. I thought cool and was about to go straight there only one problem. I could not find the receipt.

On day 12 after the purchase I decided to go anyway sans receipt. I walked in and waited my turn in the customer service line, mostly for returns, until it was my turn. A pleasant young gal was helping me and I was next in line from a real asshole type who was totally abusing her and everyone else. She could have met me coldly but she did not. She was pleasant as I stated earlier.

I started by saying I could not find my receipt and that I needed it for a rebate. Which I did by the way. She informed me after looking up the transaction and writing down the transaction number and an 800 number, that she could not print the receipt but this number could help me with that. Great I told her.

Now I also noticed the laptop on sale here for less money. Without saying a word or batting an eye she looked up the current price and looked at me asking if I wanted it returned to the card or cash. No fuss no arguing just service. I liked that and Fry's Electronics gets my rave.

Rave for Honesty

Last Sunday as Donna left work at the airport, she lost her phone. She tried all the usual places for lost and found, re-traced her steps and still nothing. At about 1:30 PM I received a call from her phone and I didn't get to it in time so naturally I called back only to get voice mail. At the time I didn't think much of it since it was slightly past her usual time to get home and I was guessing she was close.

Well she was but without her phone. Of course I called our service provider Verizon and temporarily suspended service. All of our current contracts are fairly new so this could have been expensive.

Around 9:30 PM I received another call and someone on the other line said is this bear? (my nickname) I said yes it is. The woman on the other end said we found Donna's phone. Can you pick it up? Of course I said sure but then they gave me the address to meet and 67th Avenue and Van Buren was a bit far to go after 9:30 PM from Chandler.

We arranged to meet her mother at 6:00 PM at a Burger King on the corner. She arrived and handed me the phone and all I could say to her was gracias, mucho gracias over and over. I pressed $20 in her palm and she tried to give it back but I insisted. Honesty should be rewarded and I pointed to her grandchildren in the back seat and said take them for pizza. She smiled and we parted ways.

It truly feels good to know some people are willing to go an extra mile to return something as important now a days as a cell phone. So here is a big rave for an honest grandma and her daughter.

Mucho gracias!