Rat thoughts

Last month I had lunch at Sizzler (the one near Oak View Mall in Omaha).  The total bill came to $15.89, which I put on my credit card.  I never, ever add a tip to the bill at Sizzler, since you have to pay before you get your food.  I always leave a cash tip on the table after the meal, that way I can give the wait staff an appropriate tip based on their level of service.

On this particular day, service was terrible.  We were pretty much ignored the whole time.  It took forever to get our food, my SO spent most of the meal with an empty glass, and my all-you-could-eat shrimp wasn't remotely all-I-could-eat, it was sit-around-wait-for-until-we-had-to-leave-to-catch-our-movie-before-I-could-get-another-helping shrimp.  I was so annoyed by the waiter, I left no tip whatsoever.

So today, I'm going through my credit card statement, reconciling it with Microsoft Money.  And the charge for Sizzler doesn't match what's in Money.  Money says I paid $15.89, while American Express says I paid $18.37, $15.89 plus a $2.48 tip.

The bastards added a tip to my bill!


I called American Express to contest the charges, and they were really great about it.  They credited my account with the $2.48 right away.  At ONE FREAKING AM, I was on the phone for under five minutes!  And I talked to someone who spoke clear and understandable English, not Apu Nahasapeemapetilon.  I really love this card.

A week or so ago, I complained to McDonald's about how their employees could only get my coffee order correct 25% of the time (they're up to 40% now).  Today I found in my mailbox a letter of apology and a bunch of coupons.   One free large sandwich, one free Dollar Menu item and 2 free medium "Extra Value" meals.

I guess if they're free, then they're an extra Extra Value.

The coupons have shiny color-shifting foil and a notice to the restaurant to verify the authenticity of the coupon with the foil seal.  I guess they had a problem with counterfeit coupons?

Continuing to look through the fine print, it says "Prices may vary".  I didn't know that the price of free could vary.

To celebrate their 10th aniversary, Opera is giving away free registration codes! http://my.opera.com/community/party/reg.dml

This is for a limited time only, so grab 'em while you can!

Just wanted to take the time to point out some of the Good Guys and the Bad Guys.


Good Guys:

Scripto-Tokai Corp. (I bought a Scripto lighter and had trouble with the child resistant "feature" on it. I wrote the company to complain, and they sent me 2 free lighters to replace it.)

Master Lock (A pair of supposedly rust-resistant padlocks rusted up. I mailed them back to the manufacturer, and they sent me four replacement locks!)

Yixing.com Teapots (The first teapot I ordered arrived with damage to the inside of the lid (the outside of the pot was fine). They sent me a new one and let me keep the first one, which still looked fine on the outside!)

GM Exclusive, Vista, CA (The mechanic has put my car up on the lift several times and has fixed my brakes, topped off the brake and transmission fluids, and checked the steering linkages for damage after I hit the mother of all potholes, all for free.)

Evans Tire Center, Vista, CA (Spent an hour working on my car trying to locate a rattling noise. They couldn't find the source of the noise, but they rotated my tires, tightened down the driver's seat, and checked the suspension and exhaust system. Despite all the time spent on it, they didn't charge me a thing.)

Carl's Jr (I wrote to complain about the poor service at one of their franchise restaurants and they sent me coupons for 2 free burgers.)

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Bad Guys:

Covad (Tried to pull a bait & switch selling me a very expensive T-1 when I tried to obtain a DSL line. They also tried to charge me $500 for services never provided. It took 4 months to get them to honor their own money-back guarantee.)

Toshiba (My PDA has been out of action 3 months out of the past year waiting for them to send a box to return the unit for repair. It's been sent in twice for the same problem, which appears to be endemic in that model. I'd previously purchased a Toshiba laptop that had to be replaced 3 times in 2 weeks before I finally returned it. They refuse to admit there was a problem with that model, even though all the store demo units had the same problem as well. That particular model was discontinued a mere month after introduction.)

Instant Internet Corp (a.k.a. InstaNet), Woodland Hills, CA (Ripped me off to the tune of $865 for service never provided. They have ignored my e-mails and phone calls.)

Len's Auto Body & Paint, Oceanside, CA (Took seventy-five days to repair the damage to my '93 Caprice caused by someone falling off a balcony onto the roof of the car. They did a horrible paint job that is starting to peel now, less than 5 years later. They left the interior of the car absolutely FILTHY, and they left the wiring harness for the rear view mirror just dangling.)

Mastertech, Inc., Oceanside, CA (Not only were they unable to repair my car, but they actually made things worse. Then they charged me $1000 for the work they (allegedly) did.)