It's Good to be Humbled Once in a While

Some people who know me, and read this blog, think I need a good dose of Humble Pie every once in a while.  To all of you that think that, I couldn't agree more.  It's good for the soul.  The other day on this very blog I blasted Rotmans Furniture for their lack of communication in a recent delivery debacle.  I just want to give everyone an update of the past few days.

Since my article ran on Thursday Rotmans has called my house about a half dozen times for various reasons and it was all pleasant. They also initiated a dialogue and asked for my feedback of how they can improve things.  The bed did arrive on Thursday afternoon and my daughter was so excited that she immediately began to organize her room the moment the delivery men left.  She loves her new bed.

Now it's easy to say I am changing my tune, or flip flopping, I'm not.  I am still disappointed over what happened.  But as one of comments read on my blog "Cheer up...this will pass".  I want to tell you what else happened with Rotmans yesterday that did not really have to.  

Last night our family was split up because I was coaching, my wife attended her aunt's 60 Birthday party and the kids were with my parents.  This morning as I went out to get my paper I noticed a box on my front doorstep and it was addressed to my daughters.  I brought it in the house and saw that it was from Vermont Teddy Bear Company.  We immediately thought it was my oldest daughter's godmother or my brother's wife, because both of them rock like that (I hope they are reading this).  My wife opens the box and there were two bears in dresses.  I rummaged through the box and found a card that said this.

"We hope you enjoy cuddling with your teddy bears in your new bed! (Special thanks to Mom & Dad for shopping at Rotmans.  We are truly sorry for the delay in delivering your purchase) - Rotmans"

Wow! I am floored.  I felt I immediately needed to write this.  This was way beyond what I expected or even wanted, but my wife and I are grateful.  I look at it this way.  I never told Rotmans my daughters’ names, they must gotten it from my blog site.  They also got bears for BOTH my daughters.  My youngest has no idea what had happened.  There was also a gift card for my wife and I, which we truly appreciate as well.  That is way too much and I am humbled by this act and I want to thank the team at Rotmans for it.

Before I sign off I want to thank these people who deserve it:

The Delivery Manager - I think his name is Ken.  Although we never spoke you worked hard to get things moving

Britney in the delivery department - You took the brunt of my wrath and never got angry with me.  Thank you

John and Marcus who delivered our bed.  Truly the front line

Barbara in Sales - you were very thorough in the other minor issue that popped up.  Thanks for taking care of it.

The gold star goes to Heidi in customer service.  She talked me off the ledge, took my feedback and listened to my issue rather than talk me through it.  You really nailed it.  If you ever need any more feedback don't hesitate to call me back.  Good Luck to your daughter Friday in her district game.  Maybe we will run into each other at a tournament game.

Thanks Rotmans.  This was a learning experience for everyone.

3D

Humbled and grateful, the wife is too.

Not so Faaaaantastic!!!

I am firm believer in taking care of the local economy.  I rarely eat at chain restaurants, I like to frequent local electronic stores such as Percy's and Vin's TV and during the summer I like to buy vegetables from the local fruits stands.  So when it comes to furniture in Central Mass, Rotman's has always been our selection.  Unfortunately, their lack of communication and customer service were not so great the past couple of days and it makes me thinking about never purchasing there again.

Last weekend my wife and I brought our daughters down to Rotman's to get my oldest (4 years old) a new bedroom set.  We walked around and she got to pick it out (sort of).  We purchased the set and the salesman set up Tuesday delivery for us (2/18).  Now, Tuesday comes and we are hit with a snowstorm.  We have broken down my daughter's room and a friend of mine needed the bed for his daughter, and he came and picked it up.  A risk we were willing to take.  The time they were to come was between 1-5 pm.  At 3:30pm I was leaving to go coach a basketball game, which was a different issue in and of itself, and my wife wasn't sure if the delivery guys were still coming.  I told her to call and see.  She got an answering service and the delivery office closed at 4:00.  Now if that doesn't sound foolish.  The delivery office called back before closing and confirmed that the truck was at the previous stop and they would soon be on their way.  She was outside with the kids in the snow and shoveling to clear a way for the deliverers. The delivery driver called at 3:45pm and left a message on our voice mail saying he would be there in 10 minutes.  My wife, still outside, saw them come to the end of our street, pause and then drive off.  She went inside and saw that they had left the message.  She immediately called the driver's cell, no answer.  She called again, no answer.  She politely left a message and asked him to call her back and explain what is going on.  Nothing.

Since the delivery department is now at this point closed she calls the main customer service number and they tell her now it can't come until next week.  Unacceptable!  The customer service rep puts my wife on hold and calls the driver and he miraculously answers the phone.  The driver told the rep that he did not feel he could get down the street and off with the snow because our street had not been plowed yet.  So now, my daughter who had been excited all day that her new bed was coming is inconsolable and had to sleep with her mattress on the floor (not completely Rotman's fault).

Yesterday morning I call up the delivery office the moment they open and I get a lovely girl named Britney on the phone.  She tells me that the delivery will now not come until tomorrow (today 2/20) because that was the first available date.  I vented my frustration and said the first available date was yesterday (2/18) and that they had dropped the ball and it's not my problem when the first available date was and that I wanted delivery today (2/19).  She tells me she needs to talk to the delivery manager and would get back to me.  I responded with "Please have him call me directly as I would like to get a quote for an article I am writing about this on telegram.com's blog site".  Within minutes, Britney calls back and explains to me the exhaustive efforts that they did and that it would now be delivered today (2/19) between 4-8pm.  I politely thanked her and we hung up.

Guess what did not happen between 4-8pm yesterday? At 7:35 pm last evening the "striker" (delivery man) called and had an extremely nervous tone on his voice as he delivered the news that the truck was stuck in Webster.  He was extremely apologetic and I could tell he legitimately felt bad because he told me that I was the call he had dreaded most to make.  Poor guy, I let him loose and thanked him for the call.  I went downstairs and broke the news to my 4 year old.  This time she took it in stride.

I must say that not delivering when they were supposed to because they were afraid of getting stuck and then not coming the next day because the truck got stuck makes absolutely NO sense to me.  I get that the weather the past couple of days has been nasty and I would like to give these guys the benefit of the doubt.  But you deliver furniture, in the Northeast, during the winter, it's going to happen people. They need to be better prepared, this isn't Atlanta (sorry, low blow).  

I'm not upset that they couldn't deliver the bed because of the weather, I'm truly not.  I'm upset that we had to chase the information.  Not one person was forthcoming with what was going on and the information was only available when I demanded it.  It was as if Rotman’s missing a delivery was not big deal and that it was OUR fault that they had made this mistake.  I don't care what business you are in, that is unacceptable.  

Unfortunately for Rotman's they don't get the hometown loyalty any longer.  They didn't lose my business this time but next time we will be sure to shop around.

3D

Take it from me, because you don't want to ask the wife on this one.

It's Not Personal, Just Sports

This past weekend we saw another ugly incident in the world of sports.  Marcus Smart and Jeff Orr crossed paths for the first, and most likely the last, time.  Unfortunately their encounter caused a national stir and once again started the debate of the behavior at sporting events.

Marcus Smart a basketball player on the Oklahoma State University basketball team went into the stands during a play.  He eventually landed at the feet or lap of Jeff Orr, Texas Tech University booster and fan.  The next thing you see is Orr say something then Smart pushing him before being separated by teammates and officials.  The incident had the potential to escalate to something far more serious and I commend the OSU players for getting Smart out of there.

So what was said that made Smart push Orr?  It doesn't really matter.  Who is at fault in this incident? Everyone involved.  Smart as a competitor, and potential NBA player, should know better that the emotions of the game stay between the lines. NBA player Meta World Peace (a.k.a. Ron Artest), who had the ugliest athlete/fan incident in sports history said that Smart can learn from this "...those types of challenges on the court when you're playing and fans are rooting against you -- that was a great lesson learned, so that hopefully when he does become a pro, he'll be able to kind of withstand the fans that are rooting against him on the road."

What about Orr? The argument can be made that he is a paying fan and he can say whatever he wants.  Technically, I guess that is true, but just because you pay to do something or go somewhere doesn't give you the right to act like a jerk.  Just look at all the season tickets the New England Patriots confiscate for behavior related reasons each year.  But Orr called a kid a "piece of crap", really?  If he felt compelled to say that about a college kid, far be it from me to judge.  But what a nerd.

This is the problem with sports fans.  We, as a society, have put so much focus on supporting our teams that nobody can enjoy the game.  I wrote about this a few months back when a fan was stabbed to death outside of a sporting venue.  This pales in comparison, but it's in the same category.  If I had been in Orr's seats and Smart came running at me I would have commended him on good effort.  That's just me I guess.  I just don't get to the point where I need to mock players on the other team or their fans.  My take on it is, don't say something to someone at a stadium that you don't have the guts to say to them in a room by yourself.

There was speculation that Orr used a racial slur.  I am not going to comment on that because it is unfounded and I don't think Smart would have apologized (as he did publicly) to Orr for shoving him if he had.  Smart received a 3 games suspension for his role in incident, which I feel is appropriate.  I do want to point out that OSU, Smart, Coach Travis Ford and Orr have all conducted themselves very well in the aftermath.  As I stated before, this had ugly potential all over it.

To all fans going to games.  Cheer, maybe a little distractible heckling, but NEVER make it personal.  You don't know them and they don't know you

3D

If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.