Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

FTD = Fail to Deliver

How's that saying go...No good deed goes unpunished? Ah yes, that is it.

Last week Groupon was offering what seemed like a great deal - $20 for $40 at FTD.com. Although I could care less about receiving flowers on Valentine's Day I thought it would be a nice gesture to send The Soldier's girlfriend an arrangement since he's away at boot camp.

I should have seen the writing on the wall last week when I tried to place the order but I didn't. I went through all the steps to have my order delivered yesterday only to find that you HAD to go through the Groupon link in order to use the code they provided. Once I did that all my information was lost AND even worse all the prices were a bit higher.

Um, what?!

Read the details...cannot combine promotions, etc. Okay so I can't get the sale price because of the Groupon. Kinda seems like I didn't need it to begin with but I continue with the order. I re-enter all my information. Hit submit and received a confirmation.

I didn't give it another thought until yesterday evening. I was expecting the gf to be gushing about what a wonderful surprise she received from The Soldier. When that didn't happen I sent her a text. What delivery? she says.

What delivery indeed. The short version is that they were never delivered. FTD failed to deliver. And calling them was a complete, utter nightmare. It's apparent that the call center is based somewhere other than the US. After having to repeat myself numerous times to their so-called customer service rep, all I got was "Sorry. We will deliver tomorrow."

Yes but tomorrow isn't Valentine's Day. Duh.

I was on the phone for over an hour last night & another 45 minutes today (mostly spent on hold) to find out nothing. Also evident from what I was told both times is that these reps read from a script. They have no desire to really help the customers they speak with.

Somewhere along the way I asked for the local florists number and finally got this issue resolved. Not only did the florist give me a refund but they still sent the arrangement to The Soldier's girlfriend. (She just texted to say she got them!)

It's disappointing that a large establishment like FTD.com doesn't care enough about their customers to fulfill their end of a transaction and when a problem occurs, they do not care enough correct it.

On a brighter note when I called Groupon to express my frustrations my call was immediately answered by a nice man in Chicago. He didn't handle me like a number, but conversed with me like a customer. He may have said the same apologies as FTD but sometimes it's more about the delivery than the words.

Literally.



Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Army Strong

The Soldier left 3 weeks ago. He was in processing the first few days so we were able to text & talk to him just about every day but now that basic is under way we don't hear from him for a week at a time. If his squad does well during the week then they are granted phone time on Sundays.

We were just settling down after dinner wondering if he would call this week when the phone rang. His voice was a little scratchy but he sounded good.* As you can imagine we were full of questions. Unfortunately the weather caused some havoc with their training schedule so they haven't done much. He actually said that it was more like girl scouts than the Army.

I think that statement will come back to haunt him soon enough.**

The Soldier seems to be adjusting to Army life quite well. He uses words like "chow" and "MREs" (Meals Ready to Eat) and does his own laundry. Already he seems so grown up. And Army Strong.












*I sent him a box of cough drops yesterday. :)

**They are supposed to train for the gas chamber this week.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Where do I go from here?

For this journey I won't need any luggage, a laptop messenger bag, or a passport.

When I started this blog the teen was in high school and like many of you, my life revolved around my kids activities. Our social life was completely intertwined with whatever he was participating in as indicated by my blog posts. I wouldn't change any part of that but it now leaves me at a crossroads.

The teen became the soldier this month. He is several states away starting a new life and our life, my life, no longer revolves around him.* That leaves me with more free time in real life and less blog fodder for this world.

I don't want to abandon my blog (I'm sure it seems I have some weeks) but I just don't feel like the name, Not Your Average Soccer Mom, describes me or my life that well. I'm still a Mom but not a full time one anymore. As he grows I feel like I should, and my blog along with it. I've thought about playing around with the Army Mom thing but to be honest I don't want my identity to revolve around "Mom" anymore.

So I'm looking for some inspiration. Some ideas. Some...something to put me in the right direction.


*Life may not revolve around him but we do anxiously await his phone calls. It's hard to be so far away & not talk to him every day.