Wednesday:
Jim hasn’t made much progress with the BMW dealer (Hendrick BMW). He questioned why they recommend the spark plug change at 50k rather than the manufacturer’s recommendation at 100k. They’re telling him that it’s for optimal performance. Optimum performance? Does that mean the manufacturer is only interested in our car running at average? They also told him that “the maintenance schedule has been updated.” Hendrick’s didn’t even include a brake fluid change that the manufacturer recommended. Jim had to push them to price it out. They want hundreds for a brake fluid flush as opposed to Sears wanting $40 for a fluid change (as recommended by the manufacturer). He’ll probably continue to pursue this with BMW corporate at this point. I think he should. Hendrick BMW is a rip off! Aside from corporate, I wonder if it’s worth a comment to the Better Business Bureau? I’ve said it before. I was in the business for many years. To me, this is dishonesty at its worst.
Work is going well. I’m enjoying it but still learning. There’s a mix of opinions within the department how some stuff should be handled. It’s odd that it’s not cut and dry. Today I couldn’t get an application to correctly submit. Between the trainer, an “expert” and a supervisor, none of us could get it set up correctly to accept. A woman came over and gave her opinion and it still didn’t work. That’s 5 of us. When a Team Leader came back from lunch, he was full of answers… correct ones. Frustrating. I understand though that some situations are very rare, I just happened to get one on day 3! Six months from now if someone runs into that situation, will I remember the solution? Probably not. I just wish the system itself would provide the solution. Perhaps the error message could have told us what to do instead of being so cryptic?
Over the weekend I bought a fan and put it under my desk. It has made the temperature absolutely comfortable and even cold at times. Yep, sometimes at 77 degrees I have to turn that fan off. It could be the whole “heat rises” issue, hence why I put the fan on the floor blowing upward at my chest. Today I glanced at my thermometer and it was 74. Maybe they’ve adjusted the thermostat? Awesome!
Thursday:
The rest of the week went fine. I’ve certainly had my share of “interesting” customers this week. Most of the class is needing help less and less. That’s good because next week we won’t have people walking around specifically to help us. Sure, we’ll have help, just not as easily.
Jim called BMW corporate. They’ll refer the situation back to the service manager but at least “big brother” is watching, hopefully. BMW corporate skated around the whole situation taking caution not to confirm the dealer be correct or incorrect. Jim even asked about the updated maintenance schedule but was told that they didn’t have any access to updates. We were out for dinner when the service manager left a message for Jim at about 7pm.
Friday:
It’s graduation day at work! We worked the phones from 9-11, then went to a training room for graduation “ceremony”. Our trainer said a few words and then handed out certificates. Some of us said a few words as we accepted. Mine was “I’d like to thank the voices in my head.” Yes, I’m the class clown. Speaking of, there were 4 awards given out. “most likely to reach incentive first”, “most helpful”, “most likely to become a team leader” and “always smiling and making class fun”. The last award was a tie and I won as well as another classmate who is nothing but smiles and upbeat. I probably got it for my frequent outbursts during class.
Photos:
Above: The mail robots name is Wally. Wally gets stuck in front of Mike’s cubicle twice a day.
Above: Me in my cubicle.
Above: Cubicle neighbor Kaci.
Above: My floor mat which seems to get a lot of attention.
Above: One of our supervisors assists Mike. Mike is on the other side of my cube wall.
Above: In the training room waiting for graduation to start, our trainer, Jay.
Above: One of my lunch buddy’s, Jessica.
Our supervisors, coaches, leaders, etc spoke some words and then as an extra bonus told us that we were dismissed from work after lunch! Awesome! We all went to Buffalo Wild Wings where they had tables set up for us. 17 classmates plus coaches = 23 of us. I did snap some photos at lunch. If you want to see all the photos, click here.
Meanwhile, Jim was at the mall killing time while Sears performed services on the BMW that the dealer wanted top dollar for. That leads me to the next story. Best Buy. Oy. Let me start by telling you that a few years ago we had several gift cards for Best Buy. We purchased a radio for the Motor Home at bestbuy.com and used up the gift cards. The gift cards were used up. I threw them out. When we received the stereo we decided we’d live with what we have and attempted to return the item to the store. They wanted the old gift cards. I don’t have them. Can’t they just issue new ones. Nope. They said Best Buy is different than bestbuy.com. The whole thing was a mess. I was angry and stressed. We eventually got it resolved and vowed never to give Best Buy another dime of our money…
When we moved here to Charlotte, we needed a TV so, we bought one at Best Buy. Perhaps the wounds had healed but we’ll still never buy from bestbuy.com. So far.
Jim and I are Rewards Zone card holders. You know, it’s one of those perks where you get special coupons or earn money based on prior purchases?
The other day we received an email saying we had a $15 certificate waiting. When I got off of work today, Jim suggested I print off the certificate, meet him at the mall, and I could buy a video game I really wanted.
I accessed my email from Best Buy which took me to a site to log in. My password wouldn’t work, I clicked on “forgot password”, followed the instructions, eventually getting to a site to select a new. It wouldn’t work. I called the 800 number and was told they were having problems with the password reset system. She recommended I just keep trying. I told her I’d like to go to the store now. She said the store can call and get the certificate number. With that info, I departed for Best Buy.
I selected my game, took it up to the register. I explained the rewards situation and she instructed us to go to Customer Service. I did so. It rang up differently at $59.95 than the posted $49.95 price. I had to run back to the shelf and snag the price which was apparently a sale price from 2 weeks prior. No problem on getting the new price.
The clerk called rewards and was give a number to use that may or may not work. It didn’t. She then tried to see if she could do it another way. This went on for a long time. She eventually gave up. I asked for a manager. Another employee over heard and asked if he could give it a try. He tried getting the certificate number online but couldn’t so he called the reward number. Meanwhile, I too called the reward number, got someone 30 seconds sooner than he and asked them to help me, eventually passing the phone to the guy (Michael) to get the certificate number. Michael asked that the rewards representative stay on the line while he tried the number. It worked. Michael saved the day and I’ll be writing a letter to Best Buy to tell them so. That was the “short” version.
We finished off the evening by having dinner at Red Robin with Mike and Billy.
Mikes cute.... :)
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