If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably B.S.

I’m a loyal Jordan’s customer, but a few years ago I needed a rug for the dining room and I went to Bob’s because I didn’t want to spend a lot of money for a rug that would have food dropped on it daily.  Today’s drama involved that rug, pictured below.  Refer to my letter to Bob (also below) for details.  So far I have not heard from Bob.

Dear Bob –

In 2005, I purchased a rug for my dining room from your Natick store. The salesperson sold me on the “protection plan” by telling me that I could have the rug cleaned any time it was dirty – just call the customer service phone number to schedule. Four years later when our dog had an “accident” on the rug, I decided to take advantage of the cleaning protection I had paid for, and stopped by the store. The two people working at the desk confirmed that I just needed to call customer service, and gave me a card with the phone number. When I called, I was directed to call another number, which I did, and I explained my situation again. A form was emailed to me and I was instructed to print it and fill it out, including a drawing of the stain (I included a drawing of the dog just so the problem was clearly described.). I had to mail the form back (fax and email not acceptable), and wait while my claim was evaluated. Several weeks went by and someone called me to schedule the cleaning. He warned me in his phone message that I needed to call right away or the warranty company would cancel the claim. I called and made an appointment for a week later – today.

This morning I removed all of the furniture from the dining room in preparation for the cleaning and waited for the carpet cleaner to arrive. Imagine my surprise when he showed up with a “carpet and upholstery cleaner” with a 5” wide nozzle. He very politely explained that he was not responsible for cleaning the whole rug, just the stain. When he left my house I had a 6-square-foot area of rug that looked brand new, and 72 square feet that looked like a family of 5 with a dog and 2 cats had been dropping food on it for 4 years. The technician was kind enough to confirm that I could use my Bissell carpet cleaner on the rest of the rug without damaging it. Honestly, I could have cleaned the rug with my Bissell cleaner about 4 times for the amount of time I’ve invested in this carpet cleaning. Not to mention that I dealt with my dog’s accident long ago, since I obviously couldn’t leave it while my claim was being considered for several weeks.

I don’t expect a refund or even a response (especially if you respond that I should have read the “fine print”), but I think your salespeople should understand and explain the policy more accurately to future customers.

Sincerely,

Lori Greene
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Norah’s Birthday Recap

Now that we’ve established that I’m insane (quite a few of you have agreed with me, and Lana bought me a mini zen garden), here are some photos from Norah’s birthday last week.

Cupcake for breakfast:

The infamous homemade cupcakes (the kid with the allergy ended up being out sick that day!):
The Bedazzled shirt:

Family tradition, dinner at Bugaboo Creek:

Welcome Baby:

Out of the Mouths of Babes

This morning I kept telling Adlani to get dressed for school, starting with my Nice-Mommy voice and progressing through Stern-Mommy, Exasperated-Mommy, Incredulous-Mommy, and all the way to Furious-Mommy, getting louder each time. 

Finally he started crying the angry-cry and yelled, “IT’S NOT FAIR!!!” 
Me (Thinking, “This is gonna be good.  I need to write this down for the blog.”):  “What’s not fair?”
Adlani (still yelling):  “It’s not fair that YOU get to just WALK AROUND, and WE have to do EVERYTHING!!!”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Tin Grin

About four hundred and sixty three people have asked me why Aliya has braces at such a young age, so here goes.  She has a really bad cross-bite, which you can see from my highly technical photo at right.  I had been taking her to a regular dentist instead of a pediatric dentist, thinking that the only difference was that pediatric dentists had the TV’s, stuffed animals with big teeth, fabulous prizes…boy, was I wrong.  The regular dentist didn’t even mention the cross-bite to me…I noticed it when she was getting a filling and the dentist told her to bite down on that little piece of paper they use to check the filling.
Since I really disliked the front desk ladies at Adlani’s dentist’s office and Norah hadn’t been to the dentist yet, I decided to find a new dentist for all 3 kids.  We found a practice that we love…Dr. C and Dr. B in Wayland.  Dr. B mentioned Aliya’s cross-bite and recommended that she be evaluated for braces, which consists of a series of photos, x-rays, and measurements.

After the evaluation was done, Dr. C sat down with me for a detailed discussion of his findings and a plan.  It was obvious that she needed braces, it was just a matter of when. In the old days, kids got braces around 12ish, and had them on until 15 or 16.  Obviously that varied, but you never saw an 8-year-old with braces.  The orthodontist would wait until the permanent teeth were in place, and then try to maneuver everything around with braces, often pulling some adult teeth as well as baby teeth.
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Many orthodontists still follow this school of thought, but Dr. C has been a pioneer in the field of early orthodontics.  Some of the benefits are 1) Aliya won’t have to have any permanent teeth pulled, 2) her growth can be used as an asset and her permanent teeth can be guided into the desired position instead of moving them after they’re in place, 3) her teeth are more likely to stay where they are when the braces come off, and 4) she’ll be out of braces by the time the she hits the awkward middle school years.
Aliya was excited about getting braces because she wanted to look older, but the first few days were rough.  She had to re-learn how to eat and talk because she kept gagging on food and always had a mouthful of spit when she talked – so annoying!  But she’s doing well now, even though she has a gigantic “appliance” on the roof of her mouth.  She’s already planning what colors and patterns to get at her upcoming visits.
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Aliya was a great patient, and the most amazing thing was that her dental assistant was one of the dancing queens from Samba.  She winked when she saw me, so I think she may have recognized me and didn’t want me to call her out in front of her boss.  She’s really nice. 
And the bottom line…yes, braces are expensive.  The total is $5,500 but Ben and I each have dental insurance for the whole family so a bunch will be covered by insurance.  The payment plan is $1,000 up front and $200/month, but Dr. C’s office manager offered to defer most of the 2009 cost into 2010 so I could put money in my flexible spending account and pay for the braces with pre-tax dollars.  That would save me almost $2,000 if I was paying for the whole thing without insurance.
Let’s hope the other two have nice straight teeth and no need for braces!
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