A venerable community institution

has annoyed me.

In actuality, it ended up doing me a favor and saving me some money.  But, it started out by annoying me.

Admittedly, not hard to do.

The Aspen Thrift Shop is an Aspen icon.  Untold numbers of volunteers donate untold numbers of hours to sifting through vast amounts of junk donated by the Aspen community.  I, myself, have donated many an item.  All proceeds are given back to the community.  It is all a very admirable and highly esteemed enterprise.

And yet . . .

Last week, I learned on Saturday morning that I would be attending a "ball"  that evening and like any self-respecting woman immediately decided that I didn't have anything to wear.  Oh, there were a few possibilities but really, nothing that seemed quite right.  So, I thought I'd drop by the thrift store just to see what they might have.  Upon perusing the $6 and up rack, I found two dresses with potential, neither of which had any sort of price tag.  

Having decided that I would take them both, decide in the privacy of my home which one would work the best and then donate them both back the next day, I went down to the cash register to pay.  

Here's where things began to go awry.  While I was waiting, there was an energetic discussion between several volunteers regarding what to charge for a necklace nicely displayed in the window.  With the customer standing right there, one volunteer arrived at the figure of $15, only to be adamantly overruled by the volunteer running the cash register who insisted on $25.  Hmmmm.

A couple of minutes later, it's my turn.  I handed the cashier my dresses, she held them up for scrutiny and said (remember, the sign on the rack said $6 and up), "Well, ok, let's see.  That'll be, um, $15 for this one and $25 for this one."

Startled, I looked at the sign prominently displayed which says, "NO BARGAINING!" and asked, "Um, how did you come up with those prices?"  After being told that it was based upon the quality and condition of the item, I remarked that it would be nice if items were marked so decisions based upon cost could be more easily made.  I then asked for a moment to think about it.

Now, I get that $40 is not a lot of money.  I get that the thrift store is a wonderful charity.  I get that the volunteers are volunteers and are doing the best they can.  I get that the rack said, "and up."  I object, however, to being made to feel that the price is determined by who the purchaser is, which is exactly how I felt.  Especially in a situation when I am clearly informed that I would be doing something wrong if I tried to negotiate a better price.

So, I decided to keep my $40.  And you know what?  I went home and found something eminently suitable hanging right there in my closet. 

The thrift store?  Well, they're out $40 and the opportunity to resell the dresses the very next day.  But, I will continue to gather up my discarded belongings and drop them off, as I always have.

That was hard to take

Having to pay $450 because of someone else's typo? 

The address was 83, not 85.  The county clerk entered it as 85.  The deed said 83, but the county clerk entered it as 85.

So, mail was returned, notices weren't received and taxes weren't paid.  Do they double check the returned mail to insure that it wasn't their mistake?  No, they get too much returned mail to do that!

They enter the address wrong, they discard the returned mail but I have pay the interest and penalties.  I don't mind taking responsibility when it's my mistake but it's hard to take when I'm forced to take responsibility AND pay $450 for someone else's mistake.

Then, they hand me a receipt spelling out in detail how much their mistake cost me.

Ugh.

Wow (as in are my expectations too high?)

As I mentioned yesterday, our hot water heater is a health hazard which we have been directed to replace immediately so much of today was spent in search of a new hot water heater.

Due to the fact that we live in the land of really expensive square footage, our crawl space where our hot water heater lives is not very tall. So, none of the hot water heaters which are normally kept in stock (those 60 inches or taller) will work for us and we must special order. Having done a bit of online research last night before venturing out today, I found that Sears has a short model that still manages to hold 50 gallons (the Kenmore Power Miser 9, 50 Gallon Short). This is a good thing. Most other short water heaters we were finding maxed out at 40 gallons.

After repeatedly getting shot down, we decided to throw in the towel on the hope of coming away with a hot water heater in hand today and go ahead and order the 50 gallon shorty from Sears. Armed with the knowledge that the Sears in Glenwood Springs had closed, we called the Grand Junction Sears from the parking lot of Lowes to place a phone order, only to be told by the manager, Mike, that we could only place a phone order if we were paying with a Sears card.

Huh?

I nicely stated our case, that we lived 2+ hours away and that we really wanted to get the order in since it was getting late on Saturday afternoon and we needed to pick up the unit as soon as possible since we're without hot water in the interim. I told him that we had researched, found units at competitors but had decided to go with the Sears model PLUS the extended warranty. I asked him if he wanted me to purchase from his competition. As I got more frustrated, I said if this was Sears' policy, I could understand why they were on the verge of going bankrupt. I asked him if I could speak with his boss. He didn't seem to know who that was.

Thoroughly frustrated, I got off the phone and turned to my Blackberry's web browser to find someone to complain to, only to discover that Sears has a store in Rifle. Now Rifle's only a little over an hour away. Hmmm. Just for curiosity's sake, I called the Rifle store.

And proceeded to place a phone order for the exact same water heater. With my Visa.

So now we only have to drive one hour in each direction to pick up our hot water heater, rather than 2+ hours in each direction . . .

Just say no to Bike Nashbar

I know internet credit card fraud is a common tale but I thought I'd weigh in anyhow.

In checking my bank account online today, I saw a suspicious charge from www.fedgrantusa.com that had just posted. Granted it was only for $7.95 but it was on a debit card that has not been used since last fall. Being the suspicious person that I am, rather than going to the website which might not be secure, I googled it.

Come to find out that there have been loads of consumer complaints regarding this and affiliated websites. Also found out that most people who were hit with these fraudulent charges had done business with Bike Nashbar (as we have) and that Bike Nashbar has acknowledged a security breach. However, Bike Nashbar has been extremely lax about notifying its customers of this breach.

I called the bank, cancelled the debit card, got the charge reversed and found out about a nice service. Wells Fargo offers a free checking account with a free debit card that you can use for internet purchases. You transfer money into the account when you want to make a purchase and otherwise have the account at $0. This is slightly less convenient as you have to transfer funds before you make a purchase and it's hardly foolproof since a fraudulent charge could hit when you've transferred funds for a legitimate purchase but I'm going to give it a try.

Parking :-(

Came home from a movie to find the parking lot full.

This bums me out. I mean, we only have one car. We're supposed to have a place to park it.

Hmph!

Eh.

The Wienerstube in Aspen, an Austrian restaurant, is a long standing institution. It's gone through a few different owners and permutations. Since I've been in town for the last 10 years, they've tried dinner in the past but it's never seemed to work out.

There's now another new owner, Harald, and he's trying dinner again. He's very enthusiastic and seems very interested in making it work.

However, we went last night and I'm in no hurry to go back.

The food was good, if overpriced. But, it's Aspen, so this is not unexpected.

The service was pleasant although she did forget to bring my second glass of wine. Again, not a big deal.

But, at the end of the meal, when our little party of four received our check, we were shocked to see that the gratuity had been added. On the way out, I double checked the menu but there was no mention of adding gratuity for any size party.

Aspen does have a fair number of foreign visitors who are less than familiar with our customs regarding tipping so a number of restaurants do have a statement on their menu that they reserve the right to add gratuity for large parties or for foreign guests.

During Christmas week, we took a party of nine to the Steak Pit and I so appreciated the fact that the server didn't add on the gratuity that I tipped him 20+%.

But I have never had a gratuity added on for a party of four.

Sorry, Harald, but I doubt that I'll be back for dinner.

LIttle Annie's? Not so much . . .

They have good ribs.

Otherwise, not so much.

I don't know why I keep bothering. The service is surly, it's crowded (why?), the food just doesn't speak to me.

It's one of the less expensive places in Aspen (remember, everything's relative so it's not cheap) so the other night when we were doing the usual "Where do you want to go to dinner? I don't know, where do you want to go?" thing for our party of five, I actually suggested Little Annie's. Mistake. I think it's kinda like childbirth, the bad memories fade too quickly.

They had a blackened ahi special and as you might remember, I love ahi. But, like most everything, I'm kinda picky about my ahi. I really only like it rare. Best way to ruin a nice piece of ahi? Cook it past rare.

So when I ordered, I ordered it rare. The server immediately objected (I should have been paying attention). But she checked with the kitchen and they assured her they could prepare it to my liking (how hard can it be?), so I blindly plunged forward.

Wrong.

The ahi came out cooked completely through. Grey, grey, grey. And the rice pilaf was really dry.

After much thought since I didn't want to order something else after having returned something (worried about kitchen staff retaliation), I handed the full plate back to the server and asked her to take it off our check.

Which she did. With apologies.

And then proceeded to add an automatic 18% gratuity to our check.

Just get the damn vaccine!

I've had to deal recently with a number of vaccine skeptics.

I don't have much patience for this.

To me, they're just like global warming skeptics. Misinformed, ignorant and likely to believe that 9/11 was a government plot.

There is no (none, nada, zilch) scientific evidence that links vaccines to autism.

There are many (as in a lot) scientific studies which show that there is no causal relationship between vaccines and autism.

There is also the sad case of the healthy 22 year old unvaccinated Arizona student who traveled to Costa Rica on a study abroad program and was airlifted home with polio.

Polio. As in residual leg weakness. Which doesn't go away. As in leg braces, crutches and wheelchairs.

Geez.

(This rant was brought to you courtesy of NPR's recent story about Amanda Peet, who, unlike many other celebrities, is championing the cause of vaccines.)

You wouldn't buy our shitty cars

Fine print:

You probably thought it was smart to buy a foreign import of superior quality, with better mileage and resale value. Maybe you even thought that years of market share loss might prod us into rethinking our process and redesigning our products with better quality in mind. But you forgot one thing: We spend a shitload of money on lobbyists. So now you're out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru. Maybe next time you'll buy American like a real man. Either way, we’re cool.

We’re The Big Three. We Don’t Need to Compete.TM

Photo Credit

Are you listening?

Someone from Hallmark Cards' ISP in Kansas City, Missouri spent 45 minutes this afternoon reading yesterday's blog post.

Good.

I'm mad at Hallmark

I like Hallmark ornaments. Over the years, I've spent a fair amount of green on Hallmark ornaments which I've then given as gifts.

Several people on my list get an ornament from me every year (whether they like it or not).

A month ago, when I was in Denver, I stopped in a Hallmark store but the display was overwhelming and 3 people were waiting for me so I bailed, thinking that I'd just order them online when I got home.

Oh no.

Hallmark is no longer selling Hallmark ornaments online.

This is a bonehead move.

According to Hallmark.com's handy little store locator, the closest Hallmark store to my abode is in Grand Junction. Grand Junction is a 2.5 hour drive.

For ornaments? Hah!

I poked around online and the only Hallmark ornaments available are through resellers with a healthy markup. Markup, not discount. Don't they know we're in a recession? Isn't everything supposed to be on sale right now?

So I sent Hallmark the following email:

Why are ornaments no longer available online? The closest Hallmark store to me is 72+ miles away which in the mountains where I live would take me more than 2 hours to drive. I really can't justify this to buy ornaments. In the past, I've been able to buy the ornaments that I give as gifts every year directly from your website. Why no longer? The only websites I can find for the ornaments have a markup which I'll pay if I have to but I'll buy fewer ornaments and it's really a shame.

To which they helpfully responded:

Thank you for contacting Hallmark.

Thank you for looking to Hallmark to meet your gift-giving and connecting needs. Hallmark is no longer offering flower and gift items, including Keepsake Ornaments through Hallmark.com or 1-800-HALLMARK. Please visit your local Hallmark Gold Crown store to find the perfect card and gift for any occasion. To find stores in your area, you can use our online store locator service. Just click 'Store Locator' at the top of any page.

We appreciate your thinking of Hallmark.

To which I responded:

Your response is extremely unhelpful. It's a shame that in this depressed economy Hallmark doesn't value my business.

There are no Hallmark stores in my area. My zip code is 81611. See for yourself.

To which they responded:

Thank you for contacting Hallmark.

Due to the overwhelming amount of spam we have been receiving we are no longer accepting e-mail through this channel.

You will not receive another reply to this e-mail, but we are happy to help you through our online support site where you can get the information you need quickly and easily. You can also contact us from our support site through the "E-mail Us" form once you get there.

http://hallmark.custhelp.com

We apologize we are unable to assist you in the way you expected.

Hmph!

Sliding further down the slippery slope

Federal agents may take a traveler's laptop computer or other electronic device to an off-site location for an unspecified period of time without any suspicion of wrongdoing, as part of border search policies, the Department of Homeland Security recently disclosed.

When does it end?

We'll never undo all the damage they've done.

MIP

Personal responsibility.

I guess the lack of it isn't limited to Aspen but here's where I is and here's what I'm shaking my head at.

Five kids, one eighteen and 4 under eighteen, Rachel's peers, were busted for drinking at one of our local outdoor free concerts. Minor in possession.

Their parents' reactions?

Parents of some of the minors were worried that police interviewed their children and administered a breathalyzer test before the kids had a chance to call their parents.

A father of one of the kids charac­terized the series of arrests as a “witch hunt” that was inappropriate­ly handled by police.

And, another defendant, who blew a low reading on the breathalyzer, reportedly was insulting and argu­mentative during the arrest, telling police that she was from a good Aspen family and deserved special treatment because she wasn’t doing drugs “like everyone else does.”

Deputy District Attorney Richard Nedlin said the girl’s statement indicated she believed she was somehow “above the law.”

The girl, however, said that while she was sorry for what she did, Pitkin County deputies had ill-treated her and made “off-whack remarks.”

Judge Ely reminded the girl that police and sheriff’s deputies are the ultimate authority in such matters and that “ Yes, sir” goes a long way.

Wow.

Now, my daughter isn't one of these kids. She thinks this sort of behavior is asinine. (Yay!)

But, I'm here to tell you (and she already knows it), if you catch her engaging in this sort of stupidity, give her hell. If you're a cop and you catch her, so long as you don't violate her civil liberties (no police brutality, please), have at it.

Oh, and I don't think that calling her parents before she's breathalyzed and questioned is a civil liberty . . .

There will be no messages from me that, when you're caught, you don't have to face the music. No messages that you're above the rules.

Heck, I'm the one who ratted her out to the school for calling herself in sick . . .

Bush is a ****

(Insert whatever pejorative descriptor you'd like above)

So,

the Senate finally got its act together and, in a moment of great political theater, on July 9, retroactively rescinded the 10% Medicare pay cut which went into effect on July 1.

Both the House and the Senate approved this measure by veto proof margins.

But Bush is still going to veto the bill.

Why? Who knows.

Oh, he and his people can give you reasons but really . . .

It's just a huge delay.

Does he have any idea what headaches this delay will cause?
Does he have any idea how much this delay will cost?
(Does he care?)

See, Medicare has to pay current claims within a certain timeframe from the date of receipt. As of Monday, they are going to have to start paying claims at the 10% decrease since the bill rescinding the decrease is not law yet.

This means that when the bill becomes law (as it seems likely it will), Medicare will have to go back and adjust all of the claims that they have already paid. Health care providers will have to go back and repost all of these adjustments. Secondary claims will all have to be refiled. Secondary insurances will have to go back and adjust all the claims that they have already paid. Health care providers will have to go back and repost all of these adjustments.

This happened a couple of years ago and it was a nightmare. Twelve months later, providers were still trying to get secondary insurances to pay pittances in additional coinsurance. It was a losing proposition.

Yep, Bush is a ****.

Car alarms should be banned!

I have never heard a car alarm going off because someone was breaking into a car.

I have often heard car alarms going off because of malfunctions. In fact, the only time I've heard car alarms going off is because of malfunctions.

I had a car which I bought used which came with a car alarm. The really nice feature about this car alarm was that it sounded every time it rained really hard. So not only was I annoying my neighbors, often in the middle of the night, but I had to run outside in the pouring rain to deal with it.

I disabled that bad boy forever.

The other day, my neighbor's car alarm went off every few minutes for what seemed like hours (but was probably closer to a half hour or so) because he had gotten his key fob wet rafting. Poor guy was out in the parking lot with his head under the hood trying to disable the damn thing as it kept sounding off. He'd silence it, then the key fob would short and he'd practically bang his head on the raised hood trying to grab the key fob and find the button again.

Just turn it off, for good.

Photo Credit

Cigarettes are litter!

Why are cigarette smokers so irresponsible?

Ok, ok.

Why are some cigarette smokers so irresponsible?

I see a couple of Food & Wine volunteers taking a smoking break on a stone bench in a grassy area and watch incredulously as they stub out their butts in the grass . . . and leave them there. Even though the volunteers are next going to walk right past a trash receptacle.

An entire apartment complex in Aspen burns down because someone left a smoldering cigarette in a planter on a balcony.

About a week later after much publicity about the cause of the conflagration, there's another fire at another apartment complex caused by the very same behavior.

Duh!

Walk down the street or pedestrian malls in front of any of Aspen's late night clubs first thing in the morning and the cigarette butt litter looks like confetti. I'm guessing that my tax dollars are going to clean that up.

Occasionally, when I'm in an especially bad mood or feeling especially confrontational, I will pick up the butt that has just been discarded right in front of me in a parking lot and place it under the windshield wiper on the offender's windshield.

Or I'll call the person back with "Excuse me. I think you dropped something."

Enough already

Not sure if I'm referring to enough air travel problems or enough of me whining about them.

This morning I went online to check in for our flights tomorrow only to discover that my itinerary could not be found. I got Rachel checked in and girded my loins for battle with the overseas agents.

While painful, the resolution was positive so it could have been worse. Mr. Ajeed Singh turned out to be very helpful and patient as it took him almost an hour to sort everything out.

After doing some investigating, he informed me that someone named "Stuti" (?!?) had called on the 2d to cancel my ticket. When I said that I didn't know anyone by the name of Stuti, he immediately said that he'd see what he could do.

Good answer.

Upon further investigation, I discovered that one of our return flights next week had been cancelled and that Rachel had been rebooked, although no one had bothered to inform us.

I'm convinced that "Stuti" had been attempting to rebook my tickets when s/he accidentally cancelled them.

But, in the spirit of cooperation, I merely said thank you when Ajeed reminded me that he was making an exception and not charging me a change fee. (Huh?)

To complicate my life more, while Ajeed was diligently working to get me rebooked and to insure that Rachel was on the same flights, our internet went down. (Gotta love Comcast.)

Ajeed's typing furiously while I'm running around the house trying to troubleshoot our internet connection.

Finally, Ajeed says that he's gotten it all taken care of but that he wants to stay on the phone while I go online and check in so that we know it's all good.

No dice. No internet.

I have to drive to my office to use the internet there. I reluctantly let Ajeed off the phone after requesting that the new itineraries be emailed.

Rachel's itinerary arrives. (Remember, she's already checked in.) Mine, however, does not.

More angst.

But, in the end, success. I got to the office, logged onto United.com and voila, there was my itinerary.

Rachel and I no longer have seats together but oh well, you can't have everything.

This Isn't Man-Made?!?

What? Are AOL users really this uninformed?
This is disturbing.

VISA's response

Here's the response from askvisacorporate@visa.com to my inquiry regarding how to lodge a complaint against a merchant who has a minimum transaction amount:

Thank you for writing about an issue with a merchant that accepts Visa payment products.

Visa merchants are not permitted to establish minimum/maximum transaction amounts, even on sale items.

If you have experienced this situation, please notify the bank that issued your Visa card. Banks have access to the appropriate Visa rules and regulations as well as to the Notification of Customer Complaint forms which may be used by the bank to document and file merchant complaints.

You can find your banks’ contact information on your credit card statement or on the back of your Visa card.

Thank you for writing.

Visa Webmaster

My original query was:

How do I lodge a complaint against a retailer who won't allow me to charge a purchase under a certain amount of money?

The response is perhaps a bit toothless, but I guess I can always wave the email in their faces . . .

Credit Card Minimums

You may not know this (it seems like a lot of people don't) but having a minimum charge for credit card charges violates a business' merchant agreement with VISA and MasterCard.

I don't run into minimum charges very often but have twice in the last few weeks.

One, at ZG Grill, I already wrote about.

The other happened today at Rocky Mountain Pet Shop.

Personally, I think that credit card minimums are counter productive. Yes, VISA or Mastercard charges a percentage but as far as I'm concerned, the cost is more than balanced by the increased opportunities to make a sale, the efficiencies realized with deposits occurring automatically each day, the convenience of not having to keep and/or make change and the ability to capture revenue immediately.

I did read in yesterday's paper that ZG Grill, along with its sister restaurant, Crust, has been seized by the State for Colorado for nonpayment of taxes. Karma? Or really just another example of shoddy business practices. (I complained about Crust here.)

Today's episode at the Rocky Mountain Pet Shop was over $3 worth of dog treats which I didn't really want since I have plenty here at home. I was making a bit of a guilt purchase, having gone into the store and taken up the salesman's time. When he wouldn't take my credit card, he let me off the hook. But more importantly, he lost a sale (wouldn't a reduced profit be better than no profit) and he lost a customer. While I don't shop there frequently since their prices are kinda high ($20 for a bag of Greenies which I can buy elsewhere for $12), I do shop there.

Or I should say, did shop there.

I came home and researched online how to lodge a complaint against a merchant who is violating his/her merchant agreement by requiring a minimum purchase. According to Bankrate.com, you can email VISA at askvisacorporate@visa.com or call MasterCard at 800-300-3069.

On a more positive note, I have to give kudos to Mondo Cafe in Moab which took my credit card uncomplainingly for a $2 coffee purchase. They were so nice about it that I left a $1 tip.

Photo credit