Full Circle II

Greetings
Fellow bloggers, sponsored reviews websites, Best Buy Corporate Headquarters and Best Buy.com “review” sites, Whirlpool Corporation by e-mail and via-US Postal Service and whirlpool_customerexperience@whirlpool.com, Consumer fraud division-County Attorney’s Office, State of Arizona, All Arizona Newspapers, Better Business Bureau, friends and family

BestBuy.com Online: HORROR Story
June 6, 2008
You are going to want to read this

Like I have all the time in the world to write a story BUT this one, I can’t let go. I bought a new Washer and Dryer at BestBuy.com and here’s the resulting pain and suffering.
One Friday May 16th I spent 7 hours online (research and ordering) and going to an actual store to do some research in order to make an informed decision on which product I should purchase. I decide on a set by Whirlpool (my old set was Whirlpool which, I was told by a sales person at my local store, Whirlpool bought Maytag Corp.)
Why did it take 7 hours? Have you bought a washer and dryer lately? Well I haven’t in 16 years. But the old set was on its last legs. Figured I better see what’s out there.
If you want a matching set-WATCH OUT-Online BestBuy.com website doesn’t have detailed pictures. BestBuy.com sales department (one of 7 people I talked to says, “These folks can help you with the details about the best features, capacity, appearance for matching, etc”) NOT!
If you want certain features, believe me, there are hundreds. Did you know you pay more for a knob that tells you your water level or temperature choice? Otherwise (without the knob to choose) the cycle you choose does that for you. In other words, if you want a hot water wash, you’ll get a “heavy duty” cycle that provides a high agitation and a beat to death your garments type of agitation (delicate whites that need hot water gets pummeled). This is just a small taste of the time consuming research on buying a new washer and dryer. Well, if you want certain features and your concerned about your budget.
You haven’t heard the horror story yet,
the preceding was to give you some advice and help. Help, that I hope, keeps you from ordering on BESTBUY.COM
So, on Friday May 16, I get very friendly service, a delivery date and all runs smoothly. I am impressed. Saturday May 24, 2008 the washer and dryer are delivered and the deliver is on-time and I am impressed. One hour after they leave, I put in a heavy load (one that my old washer and dryer easily handled).
The load, almost 10 seconds into the spin cycle, clunks and clanks the sounds of an unbalanced load. I go reset all the clothes and it happens again. I am pulling heavy wet sheets and towels out one by one-and that load becomes 2 loads. Later, I try another load (medium) and my husband and I nearly jump out of our chairs in fright as the washer clunks loudly announcing it has stopped washing and is going to fill up for the rinse. When the load is done, I see fabric softener drooling down the agitator. The last load I washed, same problems. BUT the dryer is fine. Yes, I am very upset. For details on which washer I am talking about, go to BESTBUY.com-Washers-Whirlpool-reviews-, most of this is in there. SO I call Best buy the following Friday May 30th 2008 to ask for some help and what can be done. All parties I spoke with remarked that I indeed had a defective washer. There is no question about that fact.
Would love to detail and give names here but this is about BESTBUY.COM’s policy. Eight (8) hours on Friday May 30th, I talked to 9 people. Four were those that “route you to the appropriate representative or department”. Why four (4) people? I was routed wrongly twice and hung up on twice by a young lady that first said “I’ll get you to my supervisor “and after 20 minutes the phone went dead. The second time I called back, I happened to get this same young lady and she said, “My supervisor is going to tell you the same thing I just did, hold on”. I held on for 10 minutes (just to see how long it would take) and the phone went dead again. I was disconnected. What did she tell me?
Oh Yeah before I tell you what the “policy” is, the other five people, in this total of nine, was (never a supervisor, by the way. Best buy apparently doesn’t want that to happen).
 2 that did route me correctly to the “appropriate department”
ï‚· A nice young man that was most helpful (see below)
 A “sales” department person that basically was no help at all and I trained her with what I learned in my research
Just for fun, let’s not forget the 3 sales people (in 3 separate trips) at my local Best Buy store, the 2 delivery persons (nice job guys) and who knows how many others I will have to deal with till this is over.
I was told that BESTBUY.Com policy is that “we will pick up your defective washer and within a few days we’ll credit your bill and then replace the washer”. I say, “In other words, you will have my washer and my money for who knows how long? You say a few days, but I am uncomfortable with this. What if something just happens to go wrong in the “few days” between your taking the washer and I receive the credit? At this point I am imagining all kinds of scenarios. Mainly, I have a washer and several hundred of dollars on my bill and no way to get either AND I have no washer to wash my clothes. What I am hearing is that I need to trust that BESTBUY.com won’t make any mistakes.
So, we go round and round about my discomfort. She keeps repeating that this is BestBuy.Com policy. This young lady has a thick accent on top of everything else. I can’t get to her supervisor, I have spent 4 hours on the phone dialing and calling back and being on hold. I go take a break for about an hour.
Finally, I get a nice young man (see above in the count of 9). He is very apologetic and is determined to help. “There just has to be a way to help you”. (Thanks Brad you were and still are the only truely considerate help I have received to date). He takes my story and we strategize. He documents my case (gives me a case number which didn’t happen until now) and my concerns. Eventually, he says, “this goes to the credit department. They are the ones authorized to credit your account and they will get the picking up of the old washer and the delivery of the replacement settled. They will call you within 48 hours (this is Friday, May 30th).
Wednesday morning June 4th @ 7:30 am my time the credit department calls. I am on my way out the door to work. We arrange a better time to handle this. We synchronize or clocks. We decide on Friday morning, June 6 @ 10:00 am my time and 1:00 pm her time. I have to re-arrange all kinds of schedules to accommodate this call. “1:00 pm? – Where are you?” I ask. I am in Canada, credit dept lady says. She finishes by saying she will call me.
At 10:10 my time, credit has not called. I call credit 1-800-922-4171. JP takes a message and says, “I see she’s not at her desk”. He takes a message and my case number. It is 2 hours later (12:10) my time and I sit here writing this, waiting on a call to finally get some relief. I am thinking, How rude, my time is not valuable? If I leave or miss her call to go to other appointments and errands, it will be another week before this gets settled and that will be near the 30 day mark when BestBuy.com is off the hook.
All I know is this.
I am going into around 30 hours (not including the 2 spent writing this letter) of my time spent on this. Granted, some of this was my own research and ordering time but I still have:
ï‚· No resolution or hopes of a working washer in this house any time in the near future
ï‚· A credit card bill where I have to make a payment within 10 days on a washer that is not working
ï‚· Piles of laundry to be done
ï‚· Once they get your money, WATCH OUT
ï‚· I WILL NEVER order online again, not for a major expense and definitely not at BESTBUY.com even if they do change their policy.
 Why can’t there be an even exchange? In these days and times, BEST BUY would rather use up the gas to pick up a defective washer and another trip to deliver the replacement?
 Why do I have to trust them? (between pick up of old and delivery of replacement)They have my money. Why can’t they put a hold on my account until all this is resolved?
 I could potentially have a defective washer and only a dryer in this house AND be out some hundreds of dollars at the same time (until of course, the defective washer gets credited to my account). Days? Weeks? I don’t know.
ï‚· I do know I am NOT allowing that washer out of my site until I see a replacement here. D
 AND—they have my old set that still operated perfectly. Which by the way, upon ordering the representative had no idea what happens to the old set turned in? Did I get a trade offer for the old set? NO! She finds out that 1) we will either throw them away or 2) refurbish them and sell them, 3) or given them to charity. This means: 1) throw them away? WHERE?-She assures me “not in some dump somewhere” 2) Best Buy makes more money off of me by selling my refurbished set, and 3 ) I don’t get the deduction, if they truly went to charity.
PS—I am shocked I just cut and pasted this into Best Buy’s website customer service, e-mail box and it actually let me put all this (3 hard copy pages) into the box—but WAIT—I haven’t “SUBMITTED” it yet. Let’s see how long it takes for customer service to call me or respond to this e-mail. Update you all soon.
I can’t wait for “credit” to return my call (now been 2 hours and 31 minutes), I need to go
Credit called: One hour later (1:00)-“If I don’t call you back today, I’ll be back in the office on Sunday and call you then”
Update on “credit” calling me
Sunday June 8th, 2008
No call from credit@ 12:30 pm Arizona time (3:30 pm Canada time)

I’ll be back to update you all later.

I have mailed a copies/blogged all of this to:
Update
 Anyone want to take odds that I’ll get a response from BestBuy with the US Postal mail letter before I get one from the e-mail submitted?

June 6, 2008 12:40 pm, Arizona time
 3 ½ pages did submit nicely into the Best Buy.com’s customer service e-mail and they say:
“Thank you! Your e-mail has been sent to Best Buy. We’ll send you a response shortly.”What’s “shortly” mean—This is too funny they also say: “Phone is much faster than e-mail”. I say, “it may be faster but good luck getting anything resolved”.

Customer Service Inquiries
Best Buy
Corporate Customer Care
P.O. Box 949
Minneapolis, MN 55440
1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289)

Web Site Inquiries
BestBuy.com
Customer Care
P.O. Box 949
Minneapolis, MN 55440

Store Inquiries
Best Buy
Corporate Customer Care
P.O. Box 9312
Minneapolis, MN 55440

Media Inquiries
Best Buy Public Relations Department
NewsCenter@bestbuy.com
Phone: 612-292-NEWS (6397)
After Hours Pager: 612-618-6703

Best Buy Co., Inc.
Corporate Headquarters
P.O. Box 9312
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312
612-291-1000

Corporate Campus
7601 Penn Avenue South
Richfield MN 55423

Additionally, this letter has been sent to:
Sent June 6, 2008 @ 12:50 Arizona time:
1)Whirlpool-Contact Us Dept at Whirlpool.com website
Response: Thank you! for your interest in Whirlpool.
We will respond to your email within 3 business days.
AND
2)Whirlpool Corporate Headquarters by Letter-US Post Office
2000 N. M-63
Benton Harbor, Michigan 49022-2692
United States

AND
3) whirlpoolcustomerexperience@whirlpool.com additional e-mail

---

June 6, 2008 @ 1:24 pm Arizona time
4) BestBuy.com customer review of the washer I purchased
Response: “Thank you! You have successfully submitted your review for this product. Please note that it may take up to 72 hours for your review to appear”.June 6, 2008 @ 1:50 pm Arizona time

5) The BBB that will handle your complaint is:
BBB of Metropolitan Dallas
(Dallas, TX)
1601 Elm, Suite 3838
Dallas, TX 75201
Phone: (214)220-2000
Fax: (214)740-0321
Email: info@dallas.bbb.org
Web: http://www.dallas.bbb.org

RESPONSE from BBB: “This case will be reviewed by a complaint specialist at the Better Business Bureau, and then forwarded to the business for their response. It is our policy to allow the business 30 working days to respond to your complaint. You will be notified when the business has responded.

30 days??????

UPDATE
June 8th, 2008
Blogging copies placed at: http:frankslog.com,

http://jfrfullcircle.seo-blog.org/wp-admin/post-new.php

THREE DOORS DOWN “CITIZEN SOLDIER”

CLICK ABOVE LINK TO ACCESS VIDEO

copyright 1998 by Linda Ellis

I read of a reverend
who stood to speak
at the funeral
of a friend.
He referred to the dates
on her tombstone
from the beginning…
to the end.

He noted that first
came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date
with tears.
But he said what mattered
most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents
all the time
that she spent alive on earth.
And now only those who loved her
know what that little line
is worth.

For it matters not
how much we own;
the cars…the house…
the cash.
What matters is
how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard.
Are there things
you’d like to change?
For you never know
how much time is left.
You could be at dash mid-range.

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what’s true and real
and always try
to understand
the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger
and show appreciation more
and love the people in our lives
like we’ve never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect
and more often wear a smile…
remembering that
this special dash
might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read
with your life’s actions to rehash,
would you be proud
of the things they say
about how you spent
your dash?

We had a great time on Halloween. Handing out candy to the cute little tykes is always a real event at our house we took pictures of each and every one. They came out really good. Here are a few; To see them all, get on over to http://frankslog.com (FULL CIRCLE I)

Once in a blue moon, I still get strapped for cash. That is when I turn to my online cash advance friends to get my payday loans. Honestly, these folks really come through for me time and time again. There are only three requirements for obtaining a payday loan from http://www.cashadvance1500.com/:
Being Employed for at least 3 consecutive months.
Earning at least $1,000 per month in income.
Having a valid checking account open for at least 3 months.
In addition, there are some lenders working through this site that may need current bank statements and paycheck stubs, but hey, that’s no big deal. Some also need the frequency of NSF’s (non sufficient fund) charges you may have incurred in the past 30 days, and the number of current outstanding online payday loans you already have. You can get a loan with no credit, poor credit or even a bankruptcy.
You can get your payday loans anonymously and from the comfort of your own home. They have provided the best possible service to me and to my business as well. Whenever I see the black turning to red on the books, I just apply for one of their cash advance loans and everything is cool again.

This is definitely cool! I was looking online for bedding for teenagers and I came across some awesome colorful and artsy designs. As I read on a little further, I came to the realization that these were unique and high quality bedding that teens as well as adults love. Just like each individual, and each individual’s taste, this bedding was also unique and exciting. There were designs that made me think the possibilities were endless. Some of the teen bedding really caught my eye. They were obvious one-of-a-kind designs because they were designed with photos from the customers themselves. This new site has a wonderful array of interactive creativity and personalization for bedspreads, duvet covers, throw pillows, pillow shams, blankets, wall murals and more! You can choose between established bedding for teens and other popular designs for children, kids and pets. You can even use your own photo or a combination of photos to design your own unique bedding. You can do all this online, so you will know what your photo bedding will look like even before it is made. The real kicker for me was the price! I could not believe they could make unique bedding at such a low cost. Man, I wish they had this stuff when I was a teen.

In a world where we are constantly bombarded with marketing about products and services, it’s hard to know how to separate the hype from the facts. The hype being the sales pitch that either borders on truth or is completely false, versus the facts that are based entirely on truth. Sure, we can read reviews on products in the blogoshere and make decisions about whether or not to try these products based on bloggers opinions, but do we really know who to trust? I tried this hairloss product based on blogger rants and found that it worked. It is commonly known as provillus. I also found many products based on blogger rants that failed to perform as advertised. The ratio of hype to truth in my online study has been about three to one so far. Based on this ratio, I believe only about 25% of what I read online if it has to do with the promotion of some product. My wife has had a similar experience with online promotion. In the last several months, she has purchased 8 different products online and only recommends 2 of those 8. She has found an effective remedy for hot flashes and a cellulite cream that worked wonderfully. Of the remaining 6 products she purchased, they either were not effective at all, or had some claim attached to their marketing hype that was completely false.

This is a sponsored review written by JF Roberts for trustsource.org

A Cause and Effect Essay

When I think about the writer I have become, I must think about the literary influences of my youth. I loved to read mystery and science fiction novels. I would submerge my entire existence into reading and would become unaware of the happenings around me. It could best be likened to a hypnotic trance. The events described in great detail on the pages before me played out in my mind as if I were a participant in the story, or perhaps an observer at close range. The more outlandish and fantastic the plot, the further I became from my sometimes dismal, sometimes threatening existence.
The general theme of the science fiction stories that specifically influenced my writing style was that knowledge is power. In almost every plot, a character would solve some life-or-death dilemma with his or her power of knowledge. Descriptive scenarios of the impossible inspired me to expand my thinking from its taught, narrow origins. In a new universe of freedom, I could be anyone, anywhere, and anything could happen. I also developed an attraction to certain styles of science fiction writing that enabled me to learn new things and thus, feel empowered by the new knowledge.
Among the science fiction writers who influenced and empowered me were Arthur Clarke, Theodore Sturgeon and Isaac Asimov. I was exposed to these writers at a very early age, perhaps seven or eight years old. I don’t recall having any sort of writing style prior to this period. I was just learning what writing was about, and I adopted their styles of writing. In the novel I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, one of the main characters makes use of simple chemistry to not only solve the problem of robots running amuck, but to also save his and his colleagues life. He had deduced that “carbon monoxide plus iron gives the volatile iron carbonyl. And a robot is essentially iron,” Upon reading this, I wondered how the character knew of such things? Is this based on true science? Is this common knowledge I had yet to be exposed to? I found shortly after that such was the case. My style of writing became analytical because that’s where I saw the power in science fiction. I can recall writing science fiction stories at a young age in imitation of these writers. I wrote stories about robots wanting to be humans, humans who wanted to be androids, distant worlds of fantastic adventure and mystery. Central to the plot was always some fact based on science that was key in the theme of the story. I wrote of darkness and evil, of great conflicts, destruction and death. These story lines came from rage.
Rage was my motivation. Powerlessness caused my attraction to knowledge. It was a way of empowering myself, and I needed a survival instinct such as this to cope with my life. My father was an alcoholic and a physically abusive man. My mother was an enabler and practiced strong denial of the problem. The beatings came regularly, my self-esteem was driven to lower and lower levels. My escape was not to be found in the real world, only in the fantasy of reading and writing.
Mystery novels and stories also got my attention at a young age. I read many “Hardy Boys” books and would try to guess what would happen next in the plot, or how the story would end. Mostly, I was trying to solve the mystery that the story presented. Once I became familiar with the writer’s style, I got pretty good at guessing. I even tried my own hand at writing a few simple mystery stories.
My interest in mystery stories developed as another coping mechanism that could be used in my life for survival. If I got real good at guessing outcomes, I might be on guard for the next attack. I became hyper-aware of my environment (when I wasn’t reading). I developed keen survival instincts that served to protect me well.
At about age twelve I developed a strong interest in the Bible. It was, after all, much like science fiction and mystery to me. I became interested as a result of my early religious education. The Baptist Church taught from fear and punishment, two things that, by now, I knew a lot about because of the abuse I received. I reveled at the possibility of my parents’ punishment by God’s hand. What they did to me surely was a sin, and I took comfort in the belief that they would pay for it someday. I would spend hours trying to unravel the meanings of the symbolism in Daniel and Revelations, such as the breaking of the seven seals and the seven heads and ten horns of the dragon.
I believe this early influence expanded my mind to interests of a spiritual and philosophical nature later in life, and ultimately, thus far, the relationships between philosophy and science. I became interested in the writings of Plato, Heraclitus, Democritus, and more recently, Nietzsche, Pythagoras and Einstein. Philosophy seemed a more systematic approach to answer the eternal questions of the meaning of life and the cause of our existence, than did the Bible.
Searching for the answers about existence and God, I stay on the edge of my seat, waiting for an expected epic disclosure from deep understanding of these writings. It has not come in this expected way. I have come to view knowledge as a kind of difficult slog toward truth, inching so very slowly forward, and sometimes even backward. Seeking
knowledge is personal. It is, in philosophical terms, theoretical and subjective. The very existence of truth and knowledge comes into question, right along with cause and effect.
I see my writing style as analytical, yet the words seem insufficient to convey clear meaning and impact. Its evolvement is too little, its descriptive details and examples lacking. My writing style is born out of great inspiration. Thus far, it has fallen far short of my perceived standard. Perhaps I feel this way because my literary influences were my images of greatness for my own potential. They were powerful. They gave me a way to survive in a hostile world, where as nothing else could. They produced magic results that transformed and healed my life. To imitate this literature seems almost an impossible task, as the cause is elevated infinitely by the effect.

Nice to be here at Seo-blog.org. This is my first post.