Restocking fee

Do you remember when it all started? During Super Bowl Weekend, it became common for some people to go purchase a new large screen TV to watch the big game, then return the "used" TV the next week for a full refund. Stores began to see a trend and decided because they had the added expense of reboxing, reinventory, and loss of revenue for "open box discount" they needed to charge a restocking fee (normally 15%).

I received an email earlier this week from an friend who purchased something of higher than normal price from Best Buy, paying cash, and then decided to upgrade to a different model. He had an interesting story which included a $45 restocking fee even tho'  he wanted to increase his purchase on a newer model; additionally, the local store could not refund his money as it was over $200 and he would receive a check from corporate in 2 - 3 weeks. He was somewhat upset and felt if he had used a credit card he could have canceled the transaction and not been charged 15% and the credit would be immediately back in his account.

This week Apple unveiled the 3G iPhone, something that was anticipated. Additional news included AT&T increasing the monthly charges for data billing and a change from Apple's business model for the phone. What I found interesting is that if you purchased an iPhone since May 27 you could return it for a new one, with a new handset charge and a restocking fee.

I understand that stores have some expense in returned merchandise and consumers may take advantage of their pricing policy. I wonder why in this circumstance the customer is assumed to be "ripping off" the business, particularly when an upgrade is involved. It would seem there should be a waiver of the fee if an additional purchase is involved.

I doubt this will change but be aware anytime you're working with a "corporate" environment, policy outweighs customer satisfaction. First I would recommend shopping locally where possible (even for national brands), use a credit card for large purchases (cheap insurance if there is any problem) [btw - pay the account off when you get the bill, it's easier to get behind on credit card payments than you think], and be aware of fees that will be charged if you're unsatisfied with your purchase.

need a vacation

Read one of those truisms the other day - no one needs a vacation nearly as bad as someone who has just finished one.

Miss the beach this morning!

One of life's lessons - a Murphy's Law Corollary

Never place a can of shaving cream in your luggage without a cap - something will find the button (and the can will empty).

vacation

Well, it's been some time since I've had something to say, or had time to say it.

I am on vacation in a motel room in New Braunfels Texas, watching my granddaughter watch TV and getting ready to head out for a "special" dinner.  As I have mentioned we have four grandchildren, 3 boys and a girl. The oldest will be 14 in December and the youngest will be 10 in July, so they're nicely spaced with a year in between.

When the oldest was 8 we opted that on our summer one-week vacation we would take one with us.  First we decided it would be nice to take them to a lake, teach them a little about fishing and driving a boat. In 2006 we completed the first round when the youngest turned eight and each year spent with them was a blast.

We wondered what to do next and decided that when they were 12, we would take them to one of our favorite destinations, Padre Island. This year it was the granddaughter's turn. We start with a ferry ride at aransas pass and then a ride down island to the el constante right on the beach.

We have an agenda but it is very loose and it's up to each grandchild to determine where we go and when we go. We make it a point to visit the texas state aquarium, the USS Lexington and the natural history museum. We try to teach them a little about history, both Texas and the US and some information about the natural world.

A lot of time is spent on the beach, looking for sea shells and playing in the surf. The real fun of the vacation is for us to watch the learning and playing processes that occur. We have gone to the island twice and have twice more to go, but the first thing we learned is they all have their special occasions. Last year, it was body surfing, this year it was playing in the pool. But they always enjoy the entire trip and learn a little in the process.

But for us it's the time spent with the grandchild individually and hopefully giving them memories for a lifetime. They have us!

what did you do today?

I heard on the local radio that on this day in 1959 Fidel Castro was washed out of the baseball league in the US because of his wild pitching (he had beaned someone). Makes you wonder what would have happened if that pitching coach had seen a potential and decided to work with a young Fidel to become a National League pitcher.

What little thing do you do that may effect the world in years to come?

Grandkids

I don't know if I have mentioned this but I have four grandkids, 3 boys and a girl. They are wonderful and give you a chance to relive a lot of times that you were too busy trying to make a living instead of enjoying your children. You should enjoy your children as they grow up, but I don't think anyone realizes how fleeting that time is.

Two of my grandsons live in the same town and come over every morning and have breakfast prior to going to school. It is always interesting to listen to them and wonder how their thought processes work.

This morning the younger one started stating random words, such as "icicle, chicken, orange" one right after another. His brother finally said "what?" and the younger looked at him and said "Haven't you played this game before? Now it's your turn." which completely confused everyone. He then explained the rules, you say random words, until someone says what, then it's their turn to say random words until someone else says "what."

It's interesting to see how their little minds work.

New Computers

As I have mentioned before I work for a quick printer and we are basically a Mac shop. I do have a couple of lame PCs running XP that I print from M$ but the real work is done on Macs using mostly Adobe programs. I will write more about that later, but the reason for this post is the two new Mac Pros I just installed: 4 gigs of ram and duo 2.66 gig processors both running Leopard. I have been a little hesitant about going to Leopard. I need things to work, customers don't understand why my computers need rebooted, and ppds aren't working, so it needs to be seamless.

First let me say the new Mac Pros are an excitement to behold and have blazing speed, but I seem to think that with every new computer. Leopard does have some great new bells and whistles that make it fun, particularly spaces and stacks. Learning a bit about Quick Look and hope to take advantage of Time Machine ( looking at a Drobo (http://drobo.com/products_demo.aspx) right now. Will let you know if that happens.

The trick this time has been the combination of Intel and Leopard. Several of my printer drivers (especially Xerox production systems) require special drivers. The wide format printers (510 and 721P) don't have a PPD for the Macs (even tho Xerox's newest toy is the Access Printing system for OSX - they can't seem to decide if they are going to support it or not?). But after a couple of days of install and reinstall I think I have all machines talking.

I have been running an Intel laptop for a few months now, using Tiger. As I mentioned I was hesitant to jump to Leopard, but with these new machines and the upgrade to .1 I think it's about time to take advantage of Apple's latest offer.