Cuisinart Customer Service: USA vs. Canada

You may recall my love for my Cuisinart Keurig Brewing Station. I heart it... seriously. But lately, it has been acting up on me. The dreaded DESCALE signal has come on at least 5 times in the last 3 months. The machine is not running right... and since its has a fantastic three year warranty (most Keurigs only have a year), I decided to call the Customer Service number in the back of the owner's manual and see about what could be done.

The first number I called, I got through to an agent after two keypad entries on the phone. A lovely agent greeted me and asked about the reason for my call. I explained the troubles I have been having and she confirmed in a rather upbeat tone that the machine was not functioning properly. She asked for the model # and the serial #, and said they would ship me out a new one immediately and when I received it, I had to ship them my current unit.

I thought ... this is too good to be true, but AWESOME!

The lovely agent asked for my name and address... but when asked for my STATE, I said ONTARIO, and she said 'oh, your from Canada?'. She then proceeded to give me the Canadian number for Cuisinart and said that it would save me on the headache of having to ship my machine to the USA. So I took the Canadian number down, we said our goodbyes, and I immediately dialed Cuisinart Canada Customer Service.

After selecting the language, and then listening to a recording three times over by a someone with a very heavy accent, I pressed zero and was transfer to a holding pattern for 10 minutes. When someone did finally get to my call, she was a low-talker. You know the kind I mean ... super soft voice as if she didn't want to disturb a hibernating house fly.

Anyways, I proceeded to tell her my spiel about when I purchased it, the descale issue, and the fact that the machine is not functioning properly. She then asked me did I have proof of purchase. I informed her, yes. She asked for my serial # and model # and told me that someone from Cuisinart would have to look at it as it sounds like the unit may not be working right. (Genius). She told me to mail in the unit to a specific address that she rhymed off and in 10 business days, someone would get back to me.

There was silence on my end for a good 20 seconds as I began to process the differences from the call I just had with Cuisinart USA. So I then tried to clarify with Agent Canada the process.

Me: "So, your telling me, I have to ship you my unit and be without my Keurig for a minimum of TEN DAYS"
Agent Canada: Yes (faintly) you are correct (softly),

Me: And in the meantime, I am just without it (read: without coffee, sanity, my soulmate)?
Agent Canada: Ahem.

Me: And after 10 days what?
Agent Canada: Someone will contact you to let you know what the next steps are.

Me: Wow.
Me: You know your US partners were all set to ship me a new one, without so much as asking for receipt. No questions asked.
Agent Canada: Uh-huh. That's the US.

Yes, that is the US... they get the importance of COFFEE to their customers. They understand that k-cups and world peace are pretty much one in the same. They know that taking a product away from a customer is wrong, and they recognize the inconvenience a bold move like this would have on the coffee drinking population.

USA Cuisinart gets it. Canada Cuisinart does not.

I don't understand how two different countries can have such different approaches when its the same issue to the same product.

Agent Canada got a little snarky, (but still a low-voice) when I barked again about having to go without the unit for so long. But the bottom line remains, if I want my unit fixed I have to send it away to get repaired with no guarantee of even getting a new one and no guarantee on the time line.

Lovely... just lovely.

You can bet if I can't brew my own k-cups for ten whole days... there is going to be hell to pay for someone at some point during that dark period.

You've been warned!

A tale about... The Spa Day Retreat on Castlefrank!

I have a bone to pick.

The bone is old and stale, but every time I think about it, I want to pick it just a little more!

The bone became a bone of contention around Easter time, but at that time I was not in blogging mode (because I was pregnant and didn't know it), so many months later I am recounting the story and my dislike for The Spa Day Retreat on Castlefrank.

Up until 'the incident' at Easter time, I really REALLY enjoyed The Spa in Ottawa, both locations - Bell's Corners and Kanata - but since that visit I was totally turned off by their management and the way they handled the entire situation.

What situation you ask?

Well... a friend and I had pedicure and manicure appointments at The Spa Day Retreat back in April on a Friday night. It was a rainy day - and so I had worn my rain jacket. Not just any rain jacket, my brand new Lululemon $150 rain jacket. It was actually my signature purchase from some birthday gift cards I had received back in Janaury - so when I found the jacket, I fell in love with it and thought it was even better because it was a GIFT!

You may already see where this is going, but just so you have the whole story - read along. Every time you go to the Spa (either location) they ask you take off your shoes (in the winter) and hang up your coat. So you do it - and off you go to a different room on a different floor. You get your pedicure, manicure, relax at a drying station afterward, get your coat and shoes back, pay your bill and you're out the door.

My experience back in April didn't quite go like that... my friend and I showed up for our appointments on time, hung up our jackets, took off our shoes, got our pedicures and our manicures, relaxed at a drying station, but when I went to get my coat, it was GONE. Upon consulting the staff, they looked around, but weren't sure - said it must have been mistakenly taken by someone else, so they took my information down, said they would follow up the next day, but were happy to take my payment of over $125 for services received that evening. So I left that night in the drizzle without a coat, and not a happy camper.

Talk about a great experience!

To further my frustration... I had to call them to follow up about the jacket. Upon getting in touch with them, they had called all of their customers from that evening to see if one of them accidentally took my jacket. Apparently there was one Old Navy raincoat left on the coat rack so they were sure someone mistakenly had taken it. However, they said they would keep trying to track it down and a manager would get back to me with an update in a day or two.

Did she get back to me? Nope - I had to call and follow up with them again a few days later. Upon getting a hold of the manager, she basically told me that there was nothing they could do - and that there was a sign in the waiting area that says they are not responsible for lost or stolen items - so that translates to hang your coat and leave your shoes here at your own risk. Did I mention that they make you hang your coat up every time you go in there? Right.

The manager - Marta - that I spoke with said that she was REALLY sorry, but that these things rarely happen (only once before did a customer's Danier leather coat get stolen). She explained that she was the manager of the Bells Corner's location, but that the manager of the Castlefrank location was on vacation but she would let her know about the situation and that maybe that manager would offer me a credit as a sign of - wait for it - goodwill.

A few days later, I did get a call from the manager - Tanya - from the Day Spa Retreat - reiterating that she was really sorry to hear what happened, but that I have to understand that anyone could say they got their jacket taken from the spa - she had to take my word and trust that I was being honest and telling the truth. Wow - talk about believing in your customers!

To some extent I can understand that they may have the odd shady customer - but overall if she looked at my file before calling me it probably was not the best approach to take with a long standing customer. In addition, she rambled on to say that she knows the jacket was probably expensive and so as a peace offering she'd like to offer me a $40 credit on my account as apology.

I was nice and thanked her, but really I sucked it up, because what else could I do? I hung up the phone feeling insulted and overall I now have a very bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing.

First of all, I didn't just walk off the street and get a pedicure and manicure, I have actually been going to the Spa, both locations, for a couple of years now. In addition, a $40 credit at the Spa gets you jackshit. On average I spend $75 a visit, so thanks for your $40 credit, but in the grand scheme of things it just highlights how they feel about loyal customers - they could care less. The other contributing factor is that the jacket cost me $150... so a $40 credit doesn't buy me the zipper off the damn thing, and on top of all that I spent $125 for services that night - the least they could have done is recognized what I was out for having been a customer at their establishment.

I got the memo loud and clear... in the end they really don't care about the customer as long as they get their money.

All this to say... this incident happened over 4 months ago and I am still upset about it. Mostly because we've had some rain in the past week and I would have done anything to have my nice lululemon raincoat to wear - but instead, all I have is an unused $40 credit sitting on my account at The Spa.

Grrrr....!

I am sure many Ottawa peeps have had lovely experiences at The Spa and will continue to - up until this one major incident I really did enjoy going there, but for now on my message to people who continue to go there is don't take anything of value to The Spa - and when they ask you take off your coat and hang it up, hold on to it and insist you keep it with you. You never what types of thieves are crawling around the place.

Pass the kleenex please!

Can someone please explain why your body and hormones don't return to *normal* after pregnancy. It's been 15 months since I gave birth, and my teary eyed hormone (if that's a hormone) is still all out of whack.

What is the deal?

Before pregnancy, I basically was neck in neck with Stone Heart for teary eyeness - but since I got pregnant - I just well up at the drop of a hat, and I don't foresee this reaction going anywhere anytime soon.

I remember driving in my car at 5 months pregnant and listening to the CHEO (Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario) radio-a-thon. I was bawling listening to parents talk about how CHEO saved their son's life. Nobody died, nobody was fighting any disease -their family was in complete good health now, and there I was sobbing at the thought of what could have happened if CHEO was not around.

I knew at the time, it was just hormones, and I totally thought - push this baby out, and go back my Stone Heart ways.

However, an entire year later, I am still crying over the little sappy things. For instance, I watched Baby Story over the weekend.. and I was crying at the moment the mother pushed out her baby and saw him for the first time. It brought me right back to my delivery moment - and it was as if I had just delivered E. Brutal I tell you.

Last week at work, a woman who has worked for the government for 36 years retired. We threw her a surprise party and when she walked in she started crying, to which I started crying - who does that. I hate that. I look like a loser. I had to tell people I was teary eyed because I know I still have 25 years left until my surprise retirement party!

One other piece that is guaranteed to make me sob is watching this video on You Tube. It's a piece from Kelly Corrigan's book The Middle Place... and its just about woman and friendships and life in general - but every time I watch it, I can't help but cry. You would think after the 4th or 5th time I would be able to get through it without any tears - but that's just not the case. Pre-pregnancy I would have watched and said, that's nice... but post-pregnancy I am a leaky faucet.

I guess my only hope for recovery is that a second pregnancy would throw me so outta whack again - that it might put me back to my pre-pregnancy Stone Heart state. But... since a second baby isn't in the works for a while, I guess I better stock up on Kleenex!

Do any of you get this? I want a coping mechanism ... suggestions?

Don't threaten me with a wooden paddle!

The whole new cell phone/ipod law really, REALLY erks me. Perhaps its because I frequently listen to my ipod and drive... and on occasional (more times than not) text and drive, and talk on my phone and drive.

This new legislation in Ontario, is being put in place to ban all of that from happening... I feel as though the Ontario government is a big meanie parent, slapping their misbehaved children in the ass with a wooden paddle.

At 16 to 21 or even 25 years of age... perhaps the wooden paddle is necessary. New drivers, whether they be teens or new immigrants, they should be concentrating on one thing and one thing only, learning the rules of the road, etc. But at (almost) 30 years of age, and someone who has been driving for close to 15 years, I think I know when its safe to drive and talk, text and talk, and use my ipod or GPS. Wooden paddle is not necessary ... and frankly the threat of it, makes me want to do it even more - to see how in fact they are going 'to catch' me breaking the law.

I feel this law is a bit silly because you can't text and drive, but you can still eat a peanut butter and honey bagel, drip it on your good work pants, and then frantically serve all over the road looking for a napkin to wipe it up. $500 fine for one, $12 dry-cleaning bill for the other.

You can't change songs on your ipod, but you can search for one of 50 burned CDs on the backseat of your car, throw it in the CD player in the dash, and look for a song that way.

You can't talk and drive, but there is no law against reading a 100 page document while in morning traffic. You can't enter an address on your GPS while driving, but feel free to shuffle through 6 pages of print-out directions from Google Maps, while swerving all over the road.

You can't change songs on your ipod, send a text, or make a phone call, but feel free to drive around with a screaming infant in your backseat, while you intently try to shove a soother in his mouth from the front seat, or grab a bottle out his hand before he dumps it all over himself for the 60th time. Nope... no law against that.

Yes... to me this law is petty, when applied to experienced drivers. While new drivers these days, have been born with a cell-phone and ipods attached to their hip, perhaps they don't know better - but for myself, and someone twice my age ... I think personal judgment is still working fine, and can be applied without the threat of the wooden paddle.

Return to Sender

Today, I picked up the mail, and noticed two pieces of mail in our box addressed to the previous owners.

This drives. me. nuts.

Why?

Because we moved in our house four and half years ago.

In the first six months that we lived at this address I was vigilant about writing RETURN TO SENDER on the envelopes and putting them back in the mail. I actually hoped the tenants at our previous address were doing the same (shout out to the Sellers). But, after four and half years, if you haven't changed your address, I don't think you are entitled to the mail.

And what's more annoying is that the companies who are still sending out the mail haven't realized that they have been sending their mail outs to the wrong address for four freakin years.

Specifically Scotiabank, Sunlife Insurance, and Royal Bank are still mailing what looks like account statements to this address. I think to myself, how good is your customer relations if you don't know the proper address of your clients for four years.

I really have to laugh at Sunlife.... because every year at Christmas, the insurance agent goes to the trouble to send the previous owners a Christmas card, and a calendar, and a magnet... but all they do is end up our recycle bin.

I guess in the world of online business, snail mail is really not necessary, so the previous owners probably aren't missing out on much as I imagine they are keeping up with their finances and insurance on the web. But... this doesn't help my problem with the amount of mail we receive that is not for us.

I think its bad here, and we are only the second owners of this house - I am sure apartment people have it 10 times as bad if they are the 5 or 15th people in the place. Isn't it just annoying on all accounts?