Cabin Crafted

Category: Rants

  • Arghhh, shipping companies

    About 10 days ago, we found out that we were the victim of credit card fraud. Fortunately, our card holder is terrific and they caught it before we did, notified us and hubby had an extensive conversation with them to establish which transactions were ours and which weren’t. They had already refused the fraudulent charge attempts and cancelled the card. We were told to destroy the card and a new one would be priority shipped. In the course of the conversation, it appeared to be hubby’s card so we destroyed it. No new card arrived.

    Last Thursday, we took our German Shepherd to the vet to get her routine vaccinations and tried to use my card. It was denied, so a different card was used. Once home, I called the card company to find out why, only to discover it was my card that had been hacked, not hubby’s, so I had the card company send a new one to him. His arrived today, mine was still missing. Another call made to the card company. They said they would cancel the new card even though it had not been activated and would send another new card, and in the course of the conversation, I was told who the shipping company was, not the USPS. I asked them to not send the new card priority, just send it via USPS and explained that I had a history of missed deliveries by that shipping company.

    After being told how it was shipped and finishing my call, I decided to scour the front area of the house. I had not been given a delivery notification, did not have a tracking number. On our front porch is an old fashioned milk can with a collection of walking sticks in it. Folded in half and stuffed to the bottom of the can was the envelope containing the missing card. According to the delivery date on the envelope, it has been there for almost a week. No note on the door, no electronic delivery notice. I am not in the habit of checking the inside of that can for mail or packages.

    I’m not sure how that company stays in business.

  • Sounding ignorant – 1/12/2020

    Don’t young people realize that their language usage is often one of the first ways that others judge them? While sitting in a local restaurant, a trio of college women were sitting in the adjacent booth. Two with their back to us, but the one sitting across the table from them was facing us, and she wasn’t speaking quietly. In two sentences, she used “like” half a dozen times.

    Shortly after that, I was reading an interview with a young man who was identified as a journalist, and though he probably does not write the way he speaks, he also used “like” an inordinate number of times in just a few sentences.

    Reading a news article this evening on student debt, an interviewer asked college students how much debt they had, what they thought about proposals to forgive debt, and whether they would be willing to help pay the debt for others. This comment again caught my eye. “Cause like, I have to make my own money, so like, if I make my money, like, I kind of want to keep my money that, like, I make, and not have to, like, give it to my friends.”

    Does this young woman have any idea how that would sound in an interview? And when she isn’t hired, will she realize that her inability to put together a coherent sentence might have had an impact on her potential hiring?

    “Ya know, like, you know, you like sound like ignorant, when you like speak this way.”

  • Corporate Lack of Customer Concern – 1/8/2020

    In recent weeks, I have had to reach out to two major corporations concerning issues and their response has been apparent disinterest.

    First, our heating pad failed. It was only a few months old, but I had not kept the box or the receipt, it was a store brand, but the store would not deal with it. I purchased a name brand heating pad from a different store, kept the box and the receipt as it said it had a 3 year warranty. It lasted a month and failed. On the company website the contact was for an online chat. The chatter’s name and language usage suggested they were not in this country, but I followed all of the procedures including submitting photos of various codes located on the plug, the receipt, and the heating pad and the chat abruptly ended. More searching revealed an email route, so I went through the entire procedure again, including the photos. That was the end of the exchange. I have received no further instruction, no refund, no new heating pad. Needless to say, I won’t support that company again, though they make a good many products other than heating pads.

    Next, our primary grocer like so many others have a rewards program. This grocer’s rewards offer fuel points earned by purchases and some purchases have double up to 4 times value points. Before the holidays, they had two different rewards going. If you spent a certain amount during a several week period, you earned 20 to 40% off a general merchandise purchase. We needed new everyday glassware and chose to spend our 20% off on a set. When we got to the register, I asked if I had to do anything special to get the reward and was told no, it would come off automatically. It didn’t. Also before the holidays, purchasing gift cards earned you double fuel points. We purchased some cards as gifts. On Christmas eve, I realized we needed gas, but the grocer gas pumps were closed, so I stopped at a convenience store and purchased enough to await reopening after Christmas. On December 27, we went to fill the tank, the pump asked if I wanted to use the entire reward to which I prompted yes, but the price per gallon did not reduce and the pump wouldn’t let me cancel so I pumped gas, hoping that the points just didn’t come off but were still available. Making a grocery purchase after that, the receipt indicated that the points were gone. They got my benefit, I paid full price for my gas. An email to grocer’s Corporate explaining this produced no response and no refund of points.

    They both got their money and the customer’s satisfaction doesn’t seem to matter. We have one other grocery option in town, but I don’t like the store and don’t get fuel discounts with them. Stuck supporting an uncaring Corporation or shopping in a store I don’t like. Conundrum.

  • When funny is not funny – 1/3/2020

    I hate laugh tracks. I am not a television watcher. If I am home alone, it never gets turned on. If hubby is home, it is background noise even if he is reading, on his computer, or his smartphone. If it is on and I am in the same room, I either have on headphones listening to pod casts or music, or I am knitting, spinning, or weaving not paying much attention to it.

    For the past several years, I have noticed a hearing difficulty in noisy environments and in October, it was confirmed as fairly significant hearing loss in my right ear, slight loss at high frequencies in my left. The loss in my right ear was significant enough that we took the major budget hit to get me a single hearing aid. It has helped considerably though it is still not set to full functioning, that will occur Monday morning, but one difficulty I have noted is directionality of sound. I guess if we had been willing to fork up twice as much budget money, I would have more directional microphones, but I have what I have.

    Our house is a log home with heavy timber roofing system, so if I stand in the living room, the main support beam is way up in the air, well more than 20 feet. Behind the living room is an open kitchen and dining area, but it has an 8 foot ceiling and above that ceiling is the loft. The loft is our “den,” our sitting area where my craft tools are, where hubby’s flat screen TV is mounted, and where our comfy chairs are.

    Often when I am in the kitchen, below the loft and he is in the loft with the TV on, I hear the voice sounds, often not distinguishable as conversation, but the annoying laugh track comes through clearly. Some shows vary the track a little, others such as some older sitcom reruns use the same excessive, repetitive track until I want to run screaming from the house. If I am in the room with the TV, and a line is spoken that is funny, I will laugh, often a line is spoken that lacks any level of humor and the laugh track is played. I don’t need to be cued to laugh when something is funny, nor will I laugh just because of their cue if it is not. Fortunately, movies don’t have laugh tracks.

  • Facebook Rant – 11/6/2019

    For those of you who follow this blog on Facebook, you should take advantage of the subscription link on this page. As you know, I have a small from home craft shop with the registered name Cabin Crafted. This shop can be found on Etsy by going here Cabincraftedshop.com. In order to promote the shop, I decided to start a page on Facebook. I went through the entire process and when it posted, it posted with the name “1947.” I did not choose that,but I don’t know why Facebook came up with it. I had requested Cabin Crafted, obviously. I submitted a page name change and they instantly denied it. I appealed the request with the explanation that I did not choose that name, that my friends and customers knew Cabin Crafted, and the appeal was denied. I have tried one more time. If they again deny the name change, that page and my profile from Facebook will be deleted and you will only be able to get to my shop through this blog or Etsy or in person at events. You will only be able to read my blog by subscribing to it. You will still be able to reach me by commenting on the blog, by email, phone or text if you are a phone friend.

    I am about done with Facebook. I know that they have rules, many of which seem arbitrary or fueled by interest groups, but too many of my shepherd friends have be blocked from selling their fleeces because of the rules. A young relative posted a rant because she was not allowed to post a link to a legitimate medical site because of the rules. Yet offensive posts, political or otherwise pop up constantly.

    This may be the last post from this blog that appears on Facebook. I know I have said it before, but I think I can do without them in my life.

  • Big Brother is Watching – 10/2/2019

    I think I have blogged on this topic in the past, but this week has been extremely irritating with “Big Brother.” We have two very old, high mileage cars that we are struggling to keep on the road, but fearing that another major repair bill might be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back, so we have both been looking at reviews and stats on various options for replacement, hoping we won’t need one. At the same time, it is approaching time for us to have a vacation, so we started looking at winter cruises and other options. It took Facebook no time to start tossing up ads for new cars and cruise lines. We didn’t use Facebook to do the searches, but they obviously are watching our online activity, hopefully can’t see our online bill paying and banking.

    To add to this irritant, I had a medical appointment and an audiology test last week. The Doctor and the Hearing Clinic are separate but joined at the hip so to speak. I had hardly gotten in the car to come home until I received a text message asking for me to rate my visit. This was followed by an email asking for my opinion and when I didn’t offer it, I have been emailed two more times. Both from the doctor’s office and from the Hearing Clinic. Monday we had our HVAC system twice yearly servicing done and the technician did the invoice on a tablet. His truck wasn’t even turned around in our driveway before I got a text asking to rate his visit. Yesterday was errand day and a couple purchases were done with the debit card, and you guessed it. Emails asking how my visit with their establishment went.

    On the other hand, we visited a chain Asian fast food place for lunch yesterday and as seems to be the case more often than not, they lacked the entree I wanted and haven’t had black tea brewed or bottled but once in the past year. We didn’t even get a paper receipt so I could tell them what I think of their restaurant.

    I guess the only way to have privacy is to use cash and stay off the internet, but this morning’s news had an article that ATM usage fees may rise to $4 a transaction and it had become difficult to deposit cash, so I guess “they” don’t want a cash society.