Shredder RIP-off

Every Evening, W runs down to the mail box and gets a bunch of stuff. It includes our magazines, credit card statements, Pre-Approved offers , dvds etc etc...These are then (eventually) sorted . The DVDs goes near the TV, all the subsciption renewals, offers, coupons into one pile and everything else to be shredded into another. We got out Shredder last Nov From STAPLES hoping to keep our sensitive junk mail in check. Imagine our dismay when one evening, while trying to shred some paper, it groaned and churned and finally came to a halt. We could still hear the motor (trying maybe) to turn but the sharp teeth were at its place. Hmmm..Lucky we got a Store brand product. Right.....? WRONG !!!

That weekend we head off to a staples store fairly confident that "customer satisfaction is the number 1 priority"...
We Enter with our head held high. We stand in line over the customer service counter with a smile on our face.

Staples Rep : "How can we help you Sir ? "

W : "We got this shredder last Nov ..It hasn't yet been a year and it just died on us..The motor still runs but the teeth don't turn."

Staples Rep: "Do you have an extended Service plan ?"

W : " For a 30$ Shredder from your store ? No !!"

Staples Rep: " Sorry Sir , we cannot do anything in the store. You have to call the 1800-Number, Wait in the Queue..Then ship your 30$ Shredder to them which would cost you more than 40$ to ship and they may consider "..

Ehmm, Ehmm,.. Well he really did not add all the other lines ..

W : "Sir, So you expect me to call the 1800 number, Wait in the Queue, Then ship the 30$ shredder which would cost more than the shredder so that they might consider ? "

The Rep : ...Repeats the same S*** ..

W : "Sir, We prefered to get this Shredder and pay the sales tax so that if things did get to this point, we would have someone to talk to, to help us out. "

The Rep : Sorry , We cannot do anything.

How Naive were we to think that every product has atleast a year's Warrenty.....Guess not Staples !! Every time they change the model, we cannot do anything without the reciept.


Fine.....We give up against this corporate mumbo jumbo....
Let us pick out another shredder and hope to get a discount..So we go and pick up a decent shredder worth 64$ on sale for 34$...

We go to the checkout and talk with the assistant manager...
We think maybe we should look at the Extended service plan so that if anything goes wrong with our shredder, we can get it replaced...(read : The only think the reps would even consider talking about )
Ha Ha Ha....Keep wishing...
The plan had nothing to do with "replacing the shredder" or taking responsibility of the product..If it does go bad, we will get back the $$ that we spent for the shredder....(Dumdfounded)..

These were the two options we were given :
(1) Take the 15$ worth of plan and we will get out 22$ back if the shredder decides to die
(2) Pay the full price...(with the same outcome after 1 yr...)

W : Lady you asking me to pay a 70% premium so that I can get my 22$ back..

Rep : Sorry the system does not allow us to do anything else..

I chime in : Can't you even write a comment describing the situation ?

Rep : Nope..

So off we go with our new shredder and the 15$ "warrenty"...Vowing to ourselves never to go back again..

If Staples keeps on this kind of service it would be next in lineto follow Circuit city.
From the store's standpoint, this model might be good...But unfortunately its not for the customers... Talk about total RIPoff .. Hmphhh....

The ideals.

You've got mail !!

Gears of thought started churning when I got (yet to be updated) mail from my Friend, and I started to ponder...

I looked up the meaning of ideal as the webster dictionary states.

1: existing as an archetypal idea
2 a: existing as a mental image or in fancy or imagination only ;
b.broadly : lacking practicality
c: relating to or constituting mental images, ideas, or conceptions

I liked 2b. the best.

“Ideal” though seemingly absolute, is hardly so. Especially when coupled with the word “wife” or “husband”. Over the years, generations , society and the media, have created a solid mold for an “ideal wife” and anything outside the mold is perceived to be non ideal, not necessary bad of course.

I believe, as the pieces of a jigsaw, no piece by themselves can have a label of perfection, but it’s the picture that they make together. That is the metaphor I use when describing a marriage. It is the couple that can make their marriage an ideal picture for themselves. “Compatibility is not overrated".

Would you call a wife ideal if she does not empty the dishwasher or load the washer/dryer as her husband loves to do it? ( you would sure call her lucky).

How about the husband, if he likes taking it slow when his wife is earning enough and willingly so?

Well, at least the dictionary tends to agree "its all in the mind" :)

ponder on !!