The only thing that Rogers delivers consistently is bad service
I spent half my morning on the phone with customer retention at Rogers this morning dealing with another of their fuckups.
When I say the only thing they deliver consistently is bad service, I mean it!
Billing me for twice the amount I owe for almost a year on my cell phone bills, jacking the price up on internet while the performance suffers and then extending my contracts without my knowledge. The funny part is that all of this happens when they’re trying to appease me because I keep trying to leave!
The real icing on the cake today is that I called in to upgrade (I know, I know. I only did it for work and as soon as my contract is over Teksavvy is getting my business) my internet plan to find out that my contract had been mysteriously extended without my consent or knowledge. After sorting that bullshit out for half an hour I finally get to the part where I upgrade my internet.
Oh wait, what’s that? I need a new modem, and it’s going to cost me $7 to rent one now?? Fuck.
I agreed to it because I really need the internet, and the person makes a work order for me to pick up my new modem tonight at my local store. Everything is dandy, right?
HELL NO.
I leave work early so I can get to the damn store because I don’t know what time they close at. Yes, I called ahead but apparently answering phones or even having voicemail at a phone company is not something Rogers believes in.
So I haul my ass out there, wait in line for 20 minutes only to get to the bitch-ass dude at the front who is playing on his cell and barely greets me. I tell him I’m there for the modem that was ordered for me this morning, present my work order like a good little peon and he tells me…
“WE DON’T HAVE ANY OF THOSE”
And proceeds to give me shit attitude when I start to get upset. It wasn’t easy to get there and stand around for ages waiting to pick something up. I was also without internet (and so were my paying guests) while I hauled the old modem in for the switch. Not cool.
And the attitude I got was just amazing. The two working there looked like they hated their jobs and were taking it out on the customers. The guy treats me like an idiot because I’m incredulous that they don’t have any of the promised modems. He tells me it doesn’t matter that I have a work order and that I was told there would be one ready for me and makes it seem like its my fault that I didn’t call ahead.
I told that punk I DID call ahead and no one bothered to answer the 3 times I did. He just shrugged. Un-fucking-believable.
I just left at that point before I made a scene.
The best part?
I called Rogers immediately to complain and sat on hold for SEVENTEEN MINUTES. And never even got through.
Who the hell is in charge of their quality control? Their distribution? Their customer service?
I want to hear from these people and have something done about my account. This is just sick. How can they expect to keep me, or others like Krystal as customers with all this idiocy??
Off to see the Wizard!
Well, the time is nigh. I’m off to San Francisco on Sunday to begin a week of training for my new job with Airbnb. I’m quite excited!
They’ve got us staying in some Airbnb listings (of course!) and mine looks pretty darn nice: click. Three of us are staying there together, but I think there will be 10-12 of us in training this week. I’m really looking forward to meeting everyone!
I only wish that I had more time to explore San Fran. They told us that we had to fly in on Sunday and out on Saturday so I will only have a little bit of time in the evenings to go out and explore.
Krystal has already suggested a burrito place to check out, but what else could I do in an evening? I’m staying in the Mission area of town.
Suggestions?
Building a Business: Lesson #2
You always spend more than you plan to.
I have an excellent example of this. I need to get some packaging & shipping supplies for all the stuff in With Heart. I’ve shopped around and compared places and settled on a company out of the US. There is a Canadian company I may use later on, but I have to buy everything in such huge quantities… I just really don’t need 500 boxes right now. Where would I keep them?
So I ordered a smaller amount from the US company.
While their prices are competitive, the shipping (for my shipping supplies! Double LOL!) is what’s killing me. I spent about $50 on product, and the shipping is $30. Ouch. But otherwise I would be spending more like $300 just to get what I need.
Another great example of this that I want to have a good variety of items in the store. I’ve got some amazing finds and artists ready to hop on board, the only issue of course is money. I’ve spent most of my start-up inventory funds already, and can’t really add more items until I sell what I’ve got. Or get more money, somehow. I’m not sure whether I should add some more from my personal bank account to get some of these things, or if I should be more responsible and wait til more sales come in. (BTW, have you taken a look at the shop yet??)
I think maybe the happy medium might involve some kind of voting system. I’ll pick a few sample items, post them here on on the website blog (whenever I get that issue sorted out… *sigh*) and let you guys pick which artist I buy next.
What do you think?
Have you seen my new shop yet? With Heart (www.withheartshop.com) is an amazing collection of Original & Interesting Stuff that I have curated myself! Lots of beautiful handmade and hard-to find things for your shopping pleasure. Don’t forget that the holidays are just around the corner!
Busy Bee!
I have been so busy lately! I have 2 airbnb guests right now (my Aussie student is here and he is awesome! We’re hanging out so much I think we’re married now… lol) and I also took a quick vacay down to the Finger Lakes region in New York.
That was kind of fun. Our extended family had a giant fancy-pants lakehouse on Lake Seneca all to ourselves. If that weren’t enough, it had hidden rooms and treasures and all sorts of fun things to explore! Plus my room was like staying in a castle. Awesomesauce.
Since we were in the wine region we did some wine tours and tastings. I came back with about 4 bottles of deliciousness. Yummo.
I was challenged to sit on every couch in the place. This is my proof!
My Aunt & I at Dr. Frank's Vineyard
The view from the lakehouse
See!? It's a castle room with real stained glass window! So luxe.
The vacation was a nice break; before that I was going full-tilt between social activities, playing hostess, holding a BBQ, celebrating all my jobs and more. The only thing I regret is spending so much… I bought a ton of stuff at the outlets nearby. I came back with 4 bras, 4 dresses, 4 pairs of shoes, new dish sets, etc…. my parents weren’t too happy! LOL I just told them it was all for my San Fran trip…
Speaking of which I am just booking my flights now! I am still so stoked that I’ll get to work for Airbnb. I’m just a little concerned though about the actual employment part… so far all the docs and info I have gotten have been geared towards US citizens. I know they hire international folk, so what happens with them? I’m just trying to figure out if their contract and stuff is even applicable to me since I’m in Canada and will be working from here. Maybe they set me up as a contractor or something to get around US employment law? I have no idea but am hoping someone will be able to fill me in soon. I’m freaking out!
I just really have a lot on my plate right now and I think it’s catching up with me. I’ve been putting off work on my shop (side note, my soap order just came in! w00t!) and being generally lazy, but hopefully I can break out of that soon. No rest for the weary!
Have you seen my new shop yet? With Heart (www.withheartshop.com) is an amazing collection of Original & Interesting Stuff that I have curated myself! Lots of beautiful handmade and hard-to find things for your shopping pleasure. Don’t forget that the holidays are just around the corner!
More Good News!
So you all know that I was featured in the New York Times article about my involvement with the company Airbnb.
Now I am happy to announce that I officially work for Airbnb! I just got the offer tonight and I’m totally excited.
It’s not a lot of money and it’s a temp position to start, but I’m not really worried about any of that. Since I’m a SuperHost with them I already know the system so I’m sure I’ll do amazing and get the permanent job in a short while (which is also when I can negotiate a more reasonable salary).
I’ll be doing customer support through email, which works great for me. Airbnb is flying me out to headquarters in San Fransisco for a week of training, then sending me home with a shiny new MacBook Air so I can work remotely. I’ll be able to work anywhere there is internet. Woohoo!
This is really the best situation for me right now. I love Airbnb and being able to work from home is a godsend… It means that I’ll have the flexibility to continue working on my online shop and growing and succeeding there. So convenient!
Really, I am just thrilled and jumping all over the place!!! Everything seems to be finally falling into place.
It’s going to be a lot of work these next few months (years?). I’m essentially working 3 jobs (With Heart, Airbnb & hosting on Airbnb) plus blogging which sometimes feels like a job. I am also looking into teaching some workshops on various things around Toronto via Skillshare.
A busy girl indeed!
So obviously I’m taking on more work and throwing an epic BBQ this weekend. And a cute boy is coming. A cute boy who I’m pretty sure likes me…
Let’s see how this develops!
It’s Alive, Alive!!
It’s true! I finally got the site up and running, my friends!
I’m going ahead with a soft launch to start, and the official grand opening is scheduled for October 1st.
The soft launch will let me work out any kinks, learn what sells and basically practice everything. I don’t have a logo yet (but it’s in the works, more details after the weekend!) and I don’t have all the products in yet, but I have enough to start. Every day I am adding more so I hope you’ll keep coming back.
Without further ado,
www.WithHeartShop.com is live and taking orders! Go forth and shop, my blogging friends!
If you have any suggestions about products or crafters I should check out, please let me know. I will be continuously sourcing the latest and greatest items made or designed with heart.
If you could also do me a favour and spread the word I would really appreciate it! I am trying my hardest to live my dream and get the business doing well enough to pay me a salary to live on. I have other irons in the fire right now just in case, but ultimately I want to do this store, and open up a bricks and mortar location within a few years.
I think I’ve done pretty well. I got the business up and running from nothing in just under one month. I’d say that’s pretty impressive! I only incorporated on July 13th 
Apparently I was in the Herald Tribune, too
Look! They used a different photo! I kind of wish they had done it in colour…
And also told me I would be in this paper as well! Does anyone happen to have a printed copy of this hanging around that you could send me? I’ll pay postage!
Click for a larger image.
Reuters picked up the story and it ran in the international version of the Herald Tribune
Building a Business: Lesson #1
People are crazy.
I recently made some new friends, one of which is a graphic designer. I need a logo, she’s a designer, maybe we can work something out. I asked her if we could get together and talk about things, to see if we’re the right fit for each other. She invited me over to a BBQ at her house and introduced me to a woman who is apparently her business partner. The woman had been doing sales & marketing on a small scale for a long time so she handled the business side of things and my friend did the design. They hired themselves out as some kind of consulting/design team or something.
This woman is incredibly pushy and overbearing. She seems to think she has the solution for everything and that she’s never wrong. She also doesn’t let you get a word in edgewise. I think if she had actually listened when I was speaking to her that night all of the following problem could have been avoided.
Anyway I tried to be polite, smiled & nodded, said “uh-HUH, I’ll think about that” “thanks for sharing” and all the other kind of nice noises you make at someone when you are actually more knowledgeable than them in a topic but are trying to be polite.
I think somehow she construed this to mean I had hired her??? I don’t know?? As soon as I got home I started getting bombarded by emails from her about one thing or another. They were all loosely related to my business, but just barely. She’d send me info on products I could carry (that were not part of my image), sent me links to promotional supply companies (I don’t need those, I need actual consumer products) and then she started in with the demands.
At first I thought it was just that she was interested in my business ( a lot of people like to weigh in on things & ask me about it out of curiosity) and maybe wanted to give me a tiny bit of help. I tried to reciprocate by doing research on product vendors for her and also sharing industry information with her. But it was SOOO frustrating. She’d send a million emails a day asking unclear questions in each, all while preaching at me for one thing or another. None of it was useful to me, it was just her trying to be important.
She demanded information from me on a trade show I’m going to next week. I gave her the info on that and everything else she asked for (I was trying to be nice) but it seems like she didn’t even read anything I responded with. She kept asking for the same stuff, over and over. Why is any of this MY problem?
The final straw was today. She “called me out” on the fact that I didn’t answer all her questions on something this week.
1. Why am I obligated to answer her on anything?
2. did she even read any of the 3 previous emails where I told her the answers?!?!
And then she demanded that I sell her a product I was getting for the store at cost. At first I misunderstood. I thought she just wanted to make sure I ordered enough items so she could buy 4 of them. I told her I would order them and give her free shipping since she’d be picking them up. That’s nice of me, right?
Oh no, it wasn’t good enough. Here is her response and some other juicy bits from the email train. My original email to her is in purple.
Dear Lisa,
I am not paying retail for your products. I will buy them from you at cost price.
It’s called barter or contra. I have helped you in your business, and you have helped me in product purchase. Trading services.
On Wed, Aug 3, 2011 at 2:50 PM, Lisa <@gmail.com> wrote:
I’m lost! There are so many emails! What questions do you still need answered?You do realize that Retail is all about answering questions & service. You will need a lot of energy to execute the process.
If you answered my questions per email, my questions reduce down to 1 email only.
Here are my questions again off of email last night - (…)
Unreal.
That was it. I have no obligation to this woman, I owe her nothing and she’s not helping me. Somehow she thinks we’re doing business? There was never any talk of trade or an agreement. I know what contra, trade and barter are. It was part of my job when I worked in advertising. It’s not contra when the other party doesn’t know anything about it!
I called and left her a voicemail saying we were not doing trade because I was unaware of it. I offered to give her the items at cost to smooth her feathers but told her it was a one-time thing. I also told her that it couldn’t have been trade anyway since I never asked her for anything, and the things she did “share” with me *cough*shovedownmythroat*cough* were things I already knew since I worked in marketing, too. Basically this woman has provided no value to me at all. I tried to be diplomatic about it but there’s no getting around it.
She thinks she did all this work but it was pointless since I never asked for it. Why should I trade or give payment for something I never wanted nor agreed to?
So that’s what I learned today. I guess once people hear that you’re going into business they start coming out of the woodwork. Everyone wants something and a lot of them think they can get it for nothing.
I’ll help you out as much as I can, but I have to draw a line somewhere. This is my livelihood and I have to look out for myself because no one else will.
Roadblock!
Well I’ve come up against the first business-related roadblock that I can’t sort out myself.
I had no trouble getting a bank account for my business, but when it came to a credit card…. no dice.
I had to give RBC my whole life story (financially speaking) sending in networth statements, tax documents and the promise of my first-born child to try and get a measly $3000 limit Visa card for the business.
After waiting a week I find out today that they’ll give it to me on a condition, unfortunately that condition is not possible to meet at this point.
In order to get the dinky little card, I need to hand over $3000 in security to the bank for 18 months. Now, this isn’t like pre-paying the card, I literally give them $3000 for the privilege of using a Visa card. I get the money back after a year and a half, but that is a TON of money for me right now and I just can’t afford it. That is literally all the money in the business bank account right now. If I fronted the cash, I would have nothing left to use to pay the damn Visa off, and then I’d lose the $3000 anyway!
What a poopy catch-22.
The bank dude felt bad for me. He said that for someone of my age and status I have demonstrated remarkable financial responsibility. He said that it was pretty awesome I even got a conditional offer from the bank for my new business.
Too bad I can’t roll with it. Having a corporate credit card sure would have helped me out. A lot of my bigger suppliers only take credit cards. I guess I’ll have to keep using one of my personal Visa cards for the business. At least I can keep all the money separate.
In other news, today I placed my first inventory order!!! I’m so excited! I have some really awesome stuff to share with you all once I do my soft launch! Stay tuned!
Invasion of the House Gnomes
Have you ever felt like there may be others living with you in your home?
I have. But I don’t mean ghosts or spirits. I firmly believe I have a case of the house gnomes.
I know when they’ve been active because things around the house always seem a little out of place, and mundane yet useful objects seem to go missing for an unholy amount of time.
Most recently I have lost my kitchen shears, BBQ tongs and my nice peppermint footcream. I can only imagine what they’re up to with that motley assortment…
I have looked high and low for these things and I just know it was the house gnomes because those items just don’t travel outside a certain sphere of location! I have absolutely NO reason to move my footcream away from it’s home on my night stand. I simply don’t use it anywhere else! How could it just disappear??
I try to take all of this in stride though. Sometimes I wake up and mysteriously find some task done, or the room tidied up or something. I do have a history of sleep-cleaning (no joke!) but I usually remember some of what I was doing. Lately I haven’t remembered any of it.
Maybe I’m going mad?
But really. It’s the house gnomes.
Thank goodness I don’t have a garden. Could you imagine?!!?
