Damn The Man!

If I had to choose one motto that I live my life by (other than "don't pee into the wind") I think it would be "the less you have, the less you need."

I still use bunny ears for my television. I have had my good old reliable antenna for well over a decade now, packing them up with whatever TV I had at the moment and taking them with me. Paying an extra fifty bucks a month for cable so I can watch reruns of Tool Time just never seemed worth it to me. With my bunny ears I have pretty much gotten all the TV that I need - the News, the Simpsons, the Thursday and Sunday night line-ups, and movies on the weekend. And these days if there is anything special we want to watch, we just download it or watch it online.

But for the last few months, the airwaves have been increasingly inundated with warnings of the switch to digital. I was told countless times this summer that as of Aug 31st I would have to say goodbye to my loyal rabbit ears and finally buy in to what the cable companies have been aggressively trying to sell me if I wanted to watch any TV. at all. ever again! dun dun dun......

I am happy to say that the CRTC's scare compaign did not shake my good faith in my simple antenna. Or I didn't care enough to be bothered by it. Well, we turned the TV on when we got back from our trip, did a bit of jimmying and some minor adjusting, and lo and behold, we still had free television! 

The channels are different but they were easy enough to find. We don't get Access anymore but now we get OMNI which seems like a fair trade. CBC is gone but instead we get this weird channel that only plays old shows, so I get to revisit my youth by watching Alf again! And see The Waltons for my first time ever. So there's that. Still get City TV and Global so my line-ups are intact. And even one more channel, which I can't recall at the moment. The best part is the new channels are HD now or something because the sound and picture is fantastic!

So there, take that CRTC!

US Airways (aka The Crappiest Airline Ever)

This is the complaint letter I wrote to US Airways today. Like they even give a damn.

To whom it may concern:

My husband and I were booked to fly US Airways on our way home from our honeymoon this past weekend, and I now have the unfortunate responsibility of reporting our absolutely terrible experience and the extremely off-putting ‘customer service’ we received on our latest flight. I will not be naming names as I understand that these things happen and are sometimes out of one’s own control, but this situation needs to be addressed by your company.

We were scheduled to fly from Lihue to Phoenix on US Airways Flight Number 47, at 10 p.m. on Sunday September 4^th. We double-checked the flight status that afternoon and got to the check-in counter at the airport 7 p.m. after checking out of our resort and returning our rental car - only to find out from the desk agent that our flight that night had been cancelled. We had not been notified and had been standing in line for at least twenty minutes without any notification at the airport or by a US Airways agent. We therefore had absolutely no time to make alternative plans. We were offered another flight on Tuesday night, 48 hours later than our original return date. That would not do.

The counter attendants were unapologetic, as was the agent I immediately called on the phone, and entirely unenthusiastic, showing no initiative in helping us to find other arrangements. The desk agent told us we had to phone the customer service line, the customer service agent on the phone told us we had to get help from someone at the desk. Finally after much persuading, and confiding to the agent that I would probably lose my job if I did not get a flight that would get me back to the mainland by Tuesday, she found a Hawaiian Air flight out of Lihue at 9 p.m. Unfortunately, it took her until 8:45 (almost two hours on the phone with her) to find that flight and it had closed by that time. This was actually a blessing in disguise because we would have found ourselves stranded again - she had booked us on a return to Vancouver, when our final destination was supposed to be Calgary. We then had to call back and talk to another agent.

We were informed there was nothing that could be done. Apparently, according to the US agent, no airline had any flights out of Lihue, or Honolulu, or any of the other islands we could transfer to or from for at least 24 hours. As you can imagine I found this quite hard to believe. However, it was late and we were tired. We booked Flight # 47 for the following evening and were told we would be put up by the Marriot for the night and handed $5 meal vouchers.

I am not sure where the good folks at US Airways eat their meals, but five dollars will not get you a bottle of water in Kauai. Especially not at the Marriot. When I explained that we were newlyweds and did not have the money it would cost to stay for another 24 hours, at least, on the island and that five dollars is a coffee not a meal, again they shook their heads unapologetically and said that there was nothing they could do to help us out.

On the flight the following night, we were a bunch of haggard travelers sandwiched on to an old jalopy of a flight, I think this airplane was around before I was. We were all jammed on to a trans-oceanic flight without even room for our luggage much less our knees. We were still charged for baggage. The desk agent was belligerent and asked if we had paid for our baggage yesterday before our flight was cancelled. Of course we said no and were informed in a tone that we were still expected to pay the extra fees. We received beverage service once in six hours and garbage pick-up only at the end of the trip and there was no in-flight entertainment. The flight attendants were rude and snappy. Upon our exiting the plane she said and I quote, "Have a nice day… Or not..." Completely unacceptable. However, at this point I just wanted off the plane.

We stopped at the US Airways customer service desk in the terminal between transfers, bedraggled and weary, to ask for a band-aid. We could over-hear the agent there was obviously having a personal phone conversation and did not even put the phone down to answer us. She simply said no and continued on with her conversation.

At each turn, your staff showed no initiative, no accountability, no desire to provide adequate or even acceptable customer service, and no attempt to make it right. Myself, my husband, and our families are frequent travelers and we often choose US Airways. I hope that my concerns are taken into consideration and we are able to find some resolution to these issues. In these hard times one would think that a company would understand the value of retaining loyal customers.

Sincerely,

*Lethal Lizzie*

P.S. Out of your list of options on your complaint form (ex. desk agents, phone agents, amenities, baggage, canceled flight, flight attendants, international travel) I had to select "Other/ Miscellaneous" since you did not have an "All of the Above" option.

Do you smell burnt toast?

Frank Howard Clark said that the next best thing to solving a problem is finding some humour in it.

I'm heading off to finish planning, and then actually have, a wedding. I have encountered a lot of hiccups/family members/problems/obstacles/brickwalls along the way and I am sure I'll have a few doozies to tackle in the next few days. Not to mention another fifty or so years of marriage (and everything that means) ahead of me.

I think my toast will be "to finding the humour"

Wish me luck!

Yard Toilet

One of the annoying things about living in a house constantly "being renovated" is the half-assed contractors' tendencies to leave all their garbage behind after they leave. We've burnt it in the firepit, or chucked it in the nearest dumpster, or found some other creative means of disposal - even though we are promised repeatedly by these guys that it will be picked up and taken care of. This one we have no idea what to do with and frankly we don't want to touch it and so it has gradually become a part of the backyard.

Toilet - Winter

Toilet - Summer

You'll notice we moved it in order to mow the lawn. Someone suggested turning it into a planter to add to the dilapidated charm of our backyard. I think we're sending the bums that live in our garage mixed messages.

Getting Raped by Expedia (again...)

I'm losing it. 18 days till the Big Day and I'm just hoping I can make it; finding my melt-downs have increased in frequency and severity.

But the big kick in my taco was dealt by Expedia. I should have known. Blood-thirsty bastards. I'm not even going to go into how a $600 return trip booked to Ontario ended up costing a whopping $2400 when my granpa's health swiftly deteriorated and we ended up scrambling to make it to the funeral. Or how I basically ended up writing Expedia a check for $700 when my father-in-law suffered a heart attack and we had to change the date of our flights. I can dismiss a cold-blooded corporation for being what it is and suck it up because I want to be there for my family. I can also assume some responsibility because I did not factor the unexpected death of a family member into my summer vacation plans and therefore did not buy flight insurance. My bad.

This situation was entirely different. And I assumed, laughably of course, that Expedia would oblige. I realize how ludacris that sounds. In between running around like a freaking crazy person at work as per usual, I had to book three flights for the wedding. Fine. I had twenty minutes to sit down, and being the multi-tasking whiz that I am, I should be able to answer phones and check emails and book flights at the same time. Except on the last flight I had to book, which is the following Thursday from the other flights I booked, I accidently was on the wrong month. I know, stupid. I must have slid the flight calender over or something but slid too far or whatever cuz I ended up booking the flight for the last Thursday of September instead of the last Thursday of August. Yeah, thats bad.

I was on the phone with Expedia in 0.5 seconds flat, explaining how I had clicked the wrong button and it probably hadn't even gone through yet and could you please catch it and adjust it to the right date?

No dice.

She put me on hold for about fifteen minutes before she came back and pleasantly told me not to worry she could switch it for me, but it would cost $50 for the cancelling and re-booking fee.
"No no no (this is what I was afraid of) I'm not cancelling and re-booking, please I just clicked the wrong button and it wouldn't let me go back and if you could just go in there and correct that for me..." 

And yes, she was very sorry but no, there was nothing they could do. Except put me on hold for another fifteen minutes while I'm sure her and her collegues laughed maniacally. When she composed herself she got back on and asked me if I would like to re-book a flight. Which, of course I had to, for the last Thursday of August. She told me the flight was the same price so no worries and she just had to put me on hold while she booked that for me. TWENTY minutes later she comes back on and informs me that actually the flight is another $40, plus the $50 dollar re-booking fee and "is that alright ma'am?"
IS THAT ALRIGHT??! NO THAT'S NOT ALRIGHT, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU ASK ME IF THATS ALRIGHT. I'VE BEEN ON HOLD FOR AN HOUR SO THAT YOU COULD TELL ME A $270 FLIGHT HAS SOMEHOW MAGICALLY BECOME A $370 FLIGHT.
So I asked why the increase since she had previously told me the flights were the same price. "Well its a month earlier." So what. "So its more expensive." You knew that before when you told me it was the same price. "Well its actually more. Is that okay?"
IS THAT OKAY??! NO THAT'S NOT OKAY, WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU ASK ME IF THATS OKAY? YOU'RE JUST GOING TO PUT ME ON HOLD FOR ANOTHER HOUR AND THEN FORCE ME TO PAY WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT ME TO PAY!!!!!!!
Just book it. "Okay I apologize ma'am I'm just going to put you on hold for a few minutes while I book this flight for you."
I WILL COME OVER THERE SET YOUR CUBICLE ON FIRE AND CHOKE YOU WITH YOUR HEADSET WHILE I WATCH THE PICTURES OF YOU AND YOUR CAT 'MITTENS' BURN!!!!!!
Yeah, whatever, thanks.