Category: Retail Experiences

Following up on my original post regarding Wilson Insulation, I spoke with Jack – the fellow responsible for the work crew – and he arranged to have them come out with instructions to “do whatever is needed to make the customer happy”.

That’s pretty damn impressive.

They came over on the scheduled day (last Tuesday – January 5) and spent a couple of hours addressing the lighting fixture (turns out an obsolete pipe left over from my hot water heater relocation was resting against the newly installed protector around one of my recessed lighting cans), installed the missing baffles that protect the soffit vents and evened out the blown insulation. The only omission was that the need for the attic hatch access dam was not communicated so they did not have it with them to install.

Yesterday – January 7 – I received a message from the installers, they were actually at my house to do that dam install (I was working in the office that day) so we had to reschedule. It’s too bad but I didn’t know they were coming.

Next Tuesday should see the installation of that final piece.

Based on the weather these past few days (especially today with the frozen roads!) I’m really happy to have that insulation up there.

Final chapter to be written shortly! 🙂

A few months ago I solicited some estimates to get my attic insulated. My house was built in the early ’70’s and I doubt if anything has ever been added to the original fiberglass that was up there when the place was built.

I chose Wilson Insulation because the Better Business Bureau offered an A+ rating for them and because the estimate they provided was in line with what I felt the job should cost given the options that I had decided upon.

My expectation was that the job involved placing caps over all of my recessed lighting fixtures (about 24 in total), that there would be baffles extended along the soffit edges of the roof, there would be dams around the attic access hatch and that the insulation in the attic would be brought to R49. Which, at an R-value of around 2.7 – 4 for blown fiberglass insulation should result in a total of about 12 – 18 inches total including the existing fiberglass.

The workers showed up a week ago last Tuesday (December 22) at around 9:30 or so to do the work and were finished a little before 1 pm. When they were done the access hatch had not been attended to. So they added some batts to the hatch cover and put some weatherstripping around it but told me that they did not have a dam that would be small enough for the hatch.

Dan (the rep from Wilson Insulation) came over later that day to inspect the hatch and the work generally and indicated that he was surprised that they did not have the dam but that he was waiting for a call back from their boss to figure out what could be done.

He also indicated that they were pretty skeletonized due to the season. I’m not a particularly impatient person so I allowed that this could be deferred until Monday (December 28) and we can finally sort it out.

Interestingly one of my recessed fixtures in the living room is now pushing out of the ceiling on one side by about an inch. I can’t push it back from inside the house so it will have to be addressed from within the attic.

I did popped up into the attic check to see if the baffles had been installed – and found that there were exactly none present. I also see that there appears to be between about 11 and 15 total inches of insulation up there. It’s kind of rolling so it’s hard to determine a good average. Does anybody know what a reasonable R-value is to use for blown fiberglass? The range above is a bit broad.

I spoke with Dan on Monday. He told me they’d be calling later to set up an appointment to come by and correct anything that was not done correctly.

When I hadn’t heard from Wilson Insulation by Wednesday, I gave them a call and spoke with Jack. He seemed congenial and we set up an appointment for Tuesday at 10 am. I’ll let you know how it goes.

All the pizza delivery companies are now charging a “delivery” fee. Pizza Hut charges $2.50 in my area. I typically give  a minimum $3.00 tip or 20% whichever is greater for delivery. But now I find myself trying to figure out how much the delivery guy makes. I asked a co-worker who is close to the industry and he *thinks* the driver gets the lion’s share of that but he really can’t be sure. I know I’d feel kind of chintzy giving only 50 cents on top of the bill so I end up giving a couple of bucks on top as I think the drivers have a hard job.

Does anybody know what the situation is? Is this just a cash grab by the pizza companies or is this how the drivers are being compensated these days?

I know I prefer to be in charge of the tip as that guarantees that poor service can be tipped poorly. Maybe too many people tip poorly?

We have 3 major pizza players around here. I prefer to use the internet to order my pizza because it seems to eliminate a LOT of confusion.

Basically I use one pizza provider until they tick me off and then I move to another one.  A while ago, probably a few years now I switched away from Pizza Hut because they seemed to have forgotten how to actually cook the pizza, the dough would be all gooey and, while modestly edible it really wasn’t a treat. The second time it happened I called and had them replace the pizza and the replacement was the same, undercooked. So I switched away.

Anyway, the time came to try Pizza Hut again – I really like their pan pizza when it’s, you know, cooked.  On Monday I sent in an order and they indicated it should take about an hour to arrive. I’m still surprised that the 30 minutes timeline they all used to strive for has gone by the wayside but no matter, an hour I would wait.

After about 90+ minutes I gave the store a call and they didn’t know where the pizza was as it had left over 20 minutes ago. The guy on the phone apologized for the inconvenience but didn’t have much to add to the conversation.  I told him to just cancel the pizza and we’d figure out something else for dinner.

Another 20 minutes later, the pizza guy shows up and I told him to forget it. He was unaware of my calling the store to cancel.

I should note that my house is *maybe* 10 minutes from  the pizza hut location from which the pizzas need to be delivered.

So I’ve just removed Pizza Hut from my list of pizza providers and I won’t be using them any more. Am I being unreasonable?

I was reviewing my recent WallyPark receipt from my trip up to Toronto at the end August and could not at all figure out why I didn’t have enough points to cover this trip’s stay.

So I’ve sent them this email. I’m posting this in case anybody else uses them. Take a close look at your receipts. If you’re a member of their “WallyClub” (I know, I know – sounds like a Chevy Chase movie) you have access to every receipt that you’ve paid for their services. Check them out and see if you can make heads or tails of it.

Hi,

My name is Marc Bourassa, I travel only occasionally and have been using your services since you acquired the Atlanta location from Airpark.

Recently, after a 5 day stay I was surprised that I had only 10 points available to me to apply against my balance. So they applied 7 points and I paid the rest.

In reviewing my receipts I can see that, for some reason I *always* seem to have 10 points available to me, no more ever seem to get applied to my balance regardless of my stays.

I’m also having trouble determining why my 3 day & 3 hr stay on 5/4/09 cost me $43.

Why I’m writing:

What I’d like is a review of my charges and point accruals / debits to date – this shouldn’t be that difficult as I have only a dozen transactions.

I’d also recommend that your site be updated to maintain a proper running balance of points. As it is it’s not very user friendly.

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with WallyPark’s services. The shuttles are always available when I’m headed to the airport and I have seldom had to wait for a shuttle when returning from the airport. But I also like to understand what I am going to pay and like to feel that I’m being treated fairly even with incentive plans. Please help me understand where I may be in error or work with me to correct any mistakes that may have been made.

Thanks for looking into this,

Marc

I purchased my new Samsung TV set back in January from Amazon.com.
It had associated with it a rebate that is mediated through CheckMyRebate.com. Fortunately I do not factor rebates into my purchasing decisions as that would be a frustrating practice indeed. But this one was for $200 at NFLshop.com and, well, $200 is $200.

So I sent off the rebate and put a note in my “tickler file” to remind me to check up on it.

A few weeks ago (at about the 10 week mark – the outside limit for which I should have to wait according to the form) I checked on the web site and it indicated that all was well but that it is still pending a final audit.

Rebate Details

Tracking No:	20784649
Date Posted:	2/6/2009 10:30:00 AM
Date Processed:	2/16/2009
Date Shipped:

Your JANUARY NFLSHOP.COM OFFER offer was received on 2/6/2009 , processed on 2/16/2009 and is pending Final Audit.

I just checked again today and can see nothing has changed so I sent them the following note through their “Contact Us” form.

Hi,

I sent my rebate for the “Samsung NFL Shop Offer” on January 19, 2009.

I can see that it has been received and has been “Pending final audit” for nearly two months now (nearly 3 months from when I sent in the rebate).
Can you please review this case and expedite it?

Thanks,

Marc

I’ll post the results. I’m posting this blog entry just so that others will have something to find and can see what works and what doesn’t in trying to reclaim money promised by manufacturers and retailers who use these awful rebates as incentives.

Dear Marc

We have received your rebate on

2-6 it can take 8-10 weeks from that date

Thanks

Jenn

By my math that would mean I’d receive the rebate by… tomorrow (4/17).

Hi Jenn,

Just checked and I still don’t see any movement on the rebate, it’s now been 11 weeks since the rebate was recorded in the system and 14 weeks (over 1/4 of a year now) since I actually mailed it in.

Marc