Red Roof Out

Sometimes we end up staying in hotels we are not very familiar with, especially because we travel with our dog, and this limits our options.

We recently stayed in a Red Roof Inn, and found ourselves perplexed by their fee structure.  They are an expensive hotel for us, a step in cost above the La Quintas we frequent.  But, we were left with few options in the Albany area, so we went in knowing we'd be paying a bit more.

Maybe we expected to get a bit more too.


We were disappointed.  In addition to giving us a room that was poorly cleaned, when we left they tacked on a charge for having a safe in our room, even though we never used the safe.  It's little hthings like this which push us over.  We don't mind paying more for quality.  We mind paying more for less.


If we land in the Albany area again, we'll seek different accommodations. 

Pah-Pow!

Mr. Steinhafel-

I have been following the story of Target's contributions to the Minnesota Governor's Race.  I read your message at Pressroom.target.com.

Your company's decision to contribute to MN Forward is disappointing, to say the least.  I find it hard to believe that you cannot see the duplicity of claiming to support the gay community, or women's rights, and then making a contribution supporting political candidates that are endorsed by MN Forward.  It is shocking to us, who have long noted Target's social conscience.  It is not just your employees that are saddened to hear this news.  I cannot in good conscience continue to shop at your store until you reverse this decision.  I urge you to call MN Forward and ask for your money back.  There are many ways Target can use its corporate muscle to help create jobs and improve the business environment without getting involved in these social issues.  

You need to rethink, not just contributions in the future, but this one as well.

As soon as I see the announcement that you have withdrawn the contribution, I will head out to one of the three Target stores located within a few miles of my home.

Swim with the Fishes

We had quite an experience at the Rainforest Cafe recently.  We'd gone down to Chicago and stopped in Schaumburg to go IKEA, and went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch.  Jack and Avery were very impressed with all the live fish circulating in huge tanks all around us.  Though the mechanical gorilla was a bit terrifying for our youngest.

It is quite a process to get a table at this place, but we were seated without too long delay, and checked out the menu.  Veggie burgers are $12?!?!  And they don't even include fires.  All kids menu items are also a la carte.  Well, okay.  It's not like we come here all the time, we're all tired.  We adults order our veggie burgers, and they arrive within the twenty minutes that our server had said was the likely wait time.  But the twelve dollar burgers are cold and mushy, like baby food.  After a bite or two, in a rare move for us, we decide that it is inedible.  

We flag down the server to tell her this, and she apologizes, and brings out the manager.

The manager hears our complaint and says: "Well, those are handmade here, so that's how they come out."

What!?!?!

The Manager's explanation is that since they are hand-made, they taste terrible?!?  And are therefore cold???  Aren't handmade foods supposed to taste BETTER than factory made?  We were amazed that the manager made NO ATTEMPT to say the veggie burger shouldn't normally taste like that, no attempt to suggest that if it were redone, it would come out better.  He took the price of the burgers off our bill, but gave us ZERO reason to think that if we came back to the Rainforest Cafe, we would have a better experience.

It is shocking that this passes for customer service at this chain.

The kids enjoyed their meals of spaghetti with sauce and chicken fingers with fries.  But it is not an inexpensive meal.

The Toaster Sketch

Hard to believe this really happened.  It is John Cleese and Michael Palin away from being hilarious:

Dear Wal-Mart Managment :

I would like to express my unhappiness and disappointment stemming from a recent trip to your Walmart Supercenter # 3857, located at 2151 Royal Avenue, in Monona, Wisconsin.

I went to your store on Sunday, July 11, 2010 with the seemingly simple task of returning a $29.99 Hamilton Beach toaster oven which I had purchased a few days earlier (on June 27th).  The toaster didn't work correctly, and so I wanted to return it.  I have just moved, so I had accidentally thrown out the box and accompanying papers, but I had my receipt, so I figured everything would work out fine.  I have never had a problem returning any recent purchase to any store I have shopped in, provided I had the receipt with me.

And yet, Wal-Mart managed to make this simple task a frustrating and difficult process.

I was told that since I didn't have the manual with me, I couldn't make the return.  The employee explained that she needed both a bar code to scan and the paper manual in order to complete the transaction.  She suggested that she could use the bar code off another toaster oven of the same model, if I could go get one from the shelf.  But she would need supervisor's approval to do the return since I didn't have the manual.   

I told her I thought that was ridiculous, since I had the receipt, but that she should call her supervisor while I went with my daughter to find the toaster oven on the shelf.  When I returned with the product, the clerk informed that her manager said I could do an exchange, but I couldn't get a refund without the paper manual.  

I told her that was unacceptable.  Why would I want a new copy of the same device, if the one I bought a week ago doesn't work?   She said she could get the supervisor to come down to the counter to explain it to me.

The supervisor arrived, and told me the same thing: I could get a new copy of the malfunctioning appliance.  They would take the manual out of the new one and keep it with the one I was returning.  I explained to her also, that I didn't want another Hamilton Beach Toaster Oven, as the one I had didn't work correctly.  You would sell me an item without the manual?  I was unwilling to accept that as a solution.  

Then the supervisor said she could arrange for me to receive store credit.  I also found this an unacceptable response.  After all this time, the best the supervisor could offer was store credit, when I had a receipt?  Unbelievable.

I asked her to call her supervisor, she walked off saying she would.  I never saw or heard from her again.

While we waited for a possible response, another supervisor happened on the scene.  The first clerk again explained the problem:  I wanted to return an item without the paper manual, but I had a receipt.  The second supervisor said: "It's our policy that you need all the paperwork that comes in the box."  I began reading out-loud the "Wal-Mart Returns Policy" poster hanging on the wall behind her. (http://www.walmart.com/cp/Returns-Policy/538459#37440 )  It stated quite clearly that items could be returned within 90 days, provided the receipt was present.  None of the exceptions listed pertained to small appliances, nor did any of the exceptions mention needing the paper manual.

This second supervisor walked out of the room, without another word to me.  She did not return. 

Shortly after that, a store manager arrived, perhaps called by the first supervisor.

He heard the explanation from the Returns desk employee, and said, "You should do the refund."  She said she would do so, but explained that this was contrary to her training.  

It is simply unbelievable that you have policies in place designed to complicate a simple return.  I also find it hard to believe that your managers and supervisors are all so powerless or disinterested, or both as to let a customer remain in such an unsatisfied state.  I can't imagine another store where not one but TWO supervisors would walk away from an unhappy customer without saying another word, without coming back to see if my problem was resolved, without caring one way or another how it turned out.  This is what passes for customer service in your store?  I find it appalling.

Why would anyone want to shop in your store when they are treated this way?  Is it by treating people with such little concern that Wal-Mart became the successful retailer that it is today?  

I look forward to your response.  Is this typical for Wal-Mart customer service?  Is this how you train your supervisors to help people?  As this was one of my first experiences at Wal-Mart, your response will help me determine if I shall continue shopping with you.

Is this seat taken?

Our family frequents the La Quinta Inn when we travel. They are the most dog friendly chain that we have come across. There is no additional fee for our pup and no deposit required.

La Quinta serves a free breakfast for guests. Generous seating is always available, but it has been our experience that finding a high chair is like striking gold; it just doesn't happen often at all. Why on earth would a hotel exclude a high chair from the seating options? It is not an expensive purchase. I wouldn't think it would impact any insurance policy since the hotel allows children. The lack of highchairs seems to be a ridiculous oversight across the chain.

But don't think that La Quinta is the only commercial enterprise offender. Dear Starbucks has a similar problem. Though Starbucks is even odder in practice. Our recent trip to a Bloomfield, NJ location revealed that the entire store only offered one highchair for patrons. One highchair? Do you offer one seat for adults to share? Of course not. Adults have generous seating options from the wooden wipe clean seats to the comfy cushioned chairs. But our small children get to wiggle on our laps as we look enviously on at the one parent that snagged the only available highchair. I'd like to say that this experience was unique to this specific location but that is not the case. Many starbucks only offer only the one highchair.

~Special Follow Up~

Before we were able to post this entry, we got a call from Morgan, Manager of La Quinta in Fairfield. It seems that the email I sent through the www.lq.com site complaining about the lack of highchairs reached an actual human being with common sense! Morgan apologized profusely and said that a few highchairs were being purchased today!!! He attempted to explain bizarre policy that doesn't make the various individual La Quinta Hotels account for high chairs on site. I won't even bore you with the bizarreness of the further explanation. Since I won't be back to the Fairfield La Quinta anytime soon, I will have to trust in Morgan and his dedication to righting the wrong. But high fives all around to what appears to be excellent customer service follow up for La Quinta Inns & Suites!

We also received an email from Starbucks in regard to the follow up to our experience that we sent via email on the corporate site. They claim that they are looking into the highchair issue. They also stated that free drink coupons were on route to our address as a way to welcome us back to their stores.

It was a day of good customer service follow up!

And this is what we look for.  We know that not everyday is a company's best day, and that mistakes happen.  We don't demand perfection.  Our question is: What does a company do about a problem when we bring it to their attention?

Both Starbucks and La Quinta made an effort to fix the problem.  Kudos to both!!

Wrapped up in books

A child-friendly shopping experience we can't say enough about is Book Sales, specifically the Keene Public Library sale.

Our home is overflowing with books new and old. But that doesn't stop us from enjoying a book sale. And our absolute favorite type of sale is the set price per bag of books. This usually doesn't happen until the final day of a sale but we've never been disappointed by the leftovers. And our children love being handed a large bag that they can fill with absolutely any book they want.

Good old Keene Public Library offers a $5 per bag day on the final day of their Fall and Spring book sale. They even give you a bonus bag for free! The workers of Keene Public Library practice common sense and realize that all of the remaining books will have to be put into storage~ and who wants to do that work? And ultimately, a book in someone's hand is worth more than a book languishing on a shelf. We happily left the last Keene sale with 4 enormous bags of books and a giant box of a children's collection of 10 volumes with just $15 given out of pocket. Kudos to you, Keene Public Library!

A second Scoop of Friendlys

Our journeys recently offered us another chance to test out the Friendly's Menu.

The last time we visited them, it didn't work out very well. Friendly's uses a splashy, complicated, multi-tiered menu for kids, that appears to be deliberately designed to trick parents into spending more than they might have originally thought when heading out for lunch. So after our last visit, we called them, and told them so. The customer service operator apologized for our poor experience, and sent us a small gift card to make up for our troubles. She said they change the menus often, and she'd send our comments to the design team, so maybe our next visit would be a happier one.

Well, the follow up visit was better. Not fabulous, but more along the lines of what you'd expect. They had, indeed, changed the children's menu and it was slightly easier to follow along. We still don't understand why you need to give kids a choice to sort of "super size" their meals with different desserts. It is just plain confusing. But I suppose we should throw out some sort of kudos to Friendly's for attempting to simplify their previously horrendous menu with a less messy update.

As always, the offerings at Friendly's for vegetarians are abysmal.