Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Tee Gee Eye Eff
EEEEEEEEEAAAKKKK!
I just got really excited because our oldest son sent a text to say his family is enroute for the Coast! FINALLY!!!
And two more vehicles will also be west-bound in short order.
Sadly we will be going without the youngest pair who are off exploring lacrosse fields at Lake Tahoe but once more we've conjured up a way to include them in our fun family activities. Not to worry. They will be used only for good - never evil. Besides... who are they going to tell?
And after multiple peaks at the weather app we are quite satisfied with our forecast. But then it really doesn't matter now does it?
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Wednesday, July 17, 2013
As the Dryer Fails...
Two weekends ago our dryer took a turn for the worse. No matter the setting, we kept getting a sensor light.
For whatever reason when we purchased this set we did something we seldom do - we purchased the extended warranty. No reason why we would have done this but when the washer of the set passed, we were overjoyed to learn it was covered. We didn't sweat it - just knew we could call and make arrangements for the maintenance to be done.
Monday AM we got on the phone and set up appointments. Piece.of.cake.
Tuesday came to an end with a dryer certified ready to go... They replaced a fuse and the sensor. I ran one load, finally finishing up what I started over the weekend. The second load had a different outcome. Yep. Same problem.
Wednesday my dear hubby was back on the phone asking for a second repair call. A different repairman was out on Thursday. He was told by Whirlpool to have us clear the dryer ventilation.
Mike started out with a long vacuum hose inside the house and pushed a brush under our kitchen floor through to the vent outside. Then he went outside and pushed the brush into the house. Yes he did get an accumulation of lint but with air flow still substantial we didn't think it was the cause of our problems.
Friday after work I washed up a load, confident I would finally be able to spend the weekend getting caught up. The dryer stopped before the time allotted and when I went to check it out, the outside dryer housing was extremely hot to the touch. We quickly removed the damp clothes and put a fan on the open door. Of course the sensor light was once again illuminated and the dryer inoperable.
Unfortunately it was Friday night. Calls to both RC Willey and Qualified Appliances were unsuccessful to raise assistance on Saturday so we did what any desperate household would do - we opened up the fresh air ghetto laundromat and hung laundry from rope tied all over the patio cover. Thank goodness for high desert climate, triple digits and low humidity. I figure my letter from the HOA is in the mail...
Monday the phone calls took a new attitude. One of desperation. We had been without a dryer for over a week. I called RC Willey and Qualified Appliance asking for a repair person to come out. I shared how dissatisfied we were with the customer service. They asked if we cleaned the vents as we were told and I said we had. I was told they'd get us on the schedule and call back. RC Willey's phone staff actually told me "the good thing is you are not out of pocket for any of this..." Wrong answer. Then they told me I would get a call from Qualified Appliance. Qualified Appliance said RC Willey told them I would call and set something up. Neither bothered to call us and tell us anything. It was always left to us to place call after call.
I took to social media. I found RC Willey on Facebook and "Liked" their page. I was still unable to tag them in a comment but that didn't stop me from sharing my frustration of our dryer-less saga. I decided to "message" them and shared a long step by step story of the customer service - or lack there of - and how there seemed to be a serious miscommunications between RC Willey and their contracted repair company.
Much to my surprise within the hour I received a call from R C Willey's corporate customer service office in Salt Lake City. Followed by a call from our local customer service office. Both assured me we would have a repair person come to the house Tuesday as it was too late to get us on the schedule for Monday. We were last on the schedule for Tuesday but we would see a repair person.
At 5pm the 1st repairman called to say he was on his way but first wanted a recount of the week's events as he needed to call Whirlpool. I waited until 5:45 when he finally called back only to tell me Whirlpool wanted him to order parts. He started naming off a shopping list of items: new motor, fuses, thermostat, wire harness - and they would rebuild the dryer but would have to make sure there wasn't any other damage from the overheating.
At that point I asked him two questions... 1. How long will these parts take to arrive? (A week to ten days) and 2. At what point do we declare the dryer a lost cause and look into replacements? (That wasn't his call).
First thing this morning I call Chris at the corporate and Megan at the local offices to share yesterday's update. Chris said they would track down the estimate. Megan called me back to offer us a loaner while we waited for parts. Later Chris called to say the repairman was out of the area and no estimate had been submitted. At this point I asked how much longer this would take - and explained it has been two weeks and we desperately wanted to resolve this before another weekend passed. My next call from Chris was to let us know we had two options - repair or exchange for new.
We are exchanging the old dryer for a new AND she has us on the delivery schedule for Friday! Whoohoo!
As a wrap up, Megan from the local office called to share they are looking at the processes between RC Willey and Quality Appliance and will make changes to the way things are set up in order to see where the lack of communication is occurring.
Way to go Ladies! Once more we are very satisfied customer! And once again I'm turning to Social Media to share the positive ending to our story.
Monday AM we got on the phone and set up appointments. Piece.of.cake.
Tuesday came to an end with a dryer certified ready to go... They replaced a fuse and the sensor. I ran one load, finally finishing up what I started over the weekend. The second load had a different outcome. Yep. Same problem.
Wednesday my dear hubby was back on the phone asking for a second repair call. A different repairman was out on Thursday. He was told by Whirlpool to have us clear the dryer ventilation.
Friday after work I washed up a load, confident I would finally be able to spend the weekend getting caught up. The dryer stopped before the time allotted and when I went to check it out, the outside dryer housing was extremely hot to the touch. We quickly removed the damp clothes and put a fan on the open door. Of course the sensor light was once again illuminated and the dryer inoperable.
Unfortunately it was Friday night. Calls to both RC Willey and Qualified Appliances were unsuccessful to raise assistance on Saturday so we did what any desperate household would do - we opened up the fresh air ghetto laundromat and hung laundry from rope tied all over the patio cover. Thank goodness for high desert climate, triple digits and low humidity. I figure my letter from the HOA is in the mail...
Monday the phone calls took a new attitude. One of desperation. We had been without a dryer for over a week. I called RC Willey and Qualified Appliance asking for a repair person to come out. I shared how dissatisfied we were with the customer service. They asked if we cleaned the vents as we were told and I said we had. I was told they'd get us on the schedule and call back. RC Willey's phone staff actually told me "the good thing is you are not out of pocket for any of this..." Wrong answer. Then they told me I would get a call from Qualified Appliance. Qualified Appliance said RC Willey told them I would call and set something up. Neither bothered to call us and tell us anything. It was always left to us to place call after call.
I took to social media. I found RC Willey on Facebook and "Liked" their page. I was still unable to tag them in a comment but that didn't stop me from sharing my frustration of our dryer-less saga. I decided to "message" them and shared a long step by step story of the customer service - or lack there of - and how there seemed to be a serious miscommunications between RC Willey and their contracted repair company.
Much to my surprise within the hour I received a call from R C Willey's corporate customer service office in Salt Lake City. Followed by a call from our local customer service office. Both assured me we would have a repair person come to the house Tuesday as it was too late to get us on the schedule for Monday. We were last on the schedule for Tuesday but we would see a repair person.
At 5pm the 1st repairman called to say he was on his way but first wanted a recount of the week's events as he needed to call Whirlpool. I waited until 5:45 when he finally called back only to tell me Whirlpool wanted him to order parts. He started naming off a shopping list of items: new motor, fuses, thermostat, wire harness - and they would rebuild the dryer but would have to make sure there wasn't any other damage from the overheating.
At that point I asked him two questions... 1. How long will these parts take to arrive? (A week to ten days) and 2. At what point do we declare the dryer a lost cause and look into replacements? (That wasn't his call).
First thing this morning I call Chris at the corporate and Megan at the local offices to share yesterday's update. Chris said they would track down the estimate. Megan called me back to offer us a loaner while we waited for parts. Later Chris called to say the repairman was out of the area and no estimate had been submitted. At this point I asked how much longer this would take - and explained it has been two weeks and we desperately wanted to resolve this before another weekend passed. My next call from Chris was to let us know we had two options - repair or exchange for new.
We are exchanging the old dryer for a new AND she has us on the delivery schedule for Friday! Whoohoo!
As a wrap up, Megan from the local office called to share they are looking at the processes between RC Willey and Quality Appliance and will make changes to the way things are set up in order to see where the lack of communication is occurring.
Way to go Ladies! Once more we are very satisfied customer! And once again I'm turning to Social Media to share the positive ending to our story.
 |
| Happy Dance! |
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Tribute to our Favorite Place and a Week Together
Labels:
#ForcedFamilyFun,
Family,
Ink,
Kalaloch
Erin and I have been pondering for a long while about a mother-daughter tattoo. This week while they were in town we decided to act upon our vision.
As luck would have it all of the gang was in town at the same time. Chris and some friends were attending a concert and he had an interveiw. AND it was Mom's birthday.
Naturally I stopped to reflect on our life. Our children are all happy and healthy with their soul mates. They are realistic and know it's not always about what you can have right away. Matt and Brit are enjoying their summer nights and weekends together with their little family. Krieg and Karissa have moved into their new home and are working on projects to fix it up - putting their own mark on it. Erin and Chris have big news too but it's not mine to share - yet!
I've also discovered how to let go of annoyances, which puts me in the right frame of mind when dealing with that which is out of my control. I've settled in for the ride and let other's take the reigns. It's just not worth stressing over. I'm in control of my own self and that's all that matters.
Mr. T wanted to do something special for Drahma's birthday. For months he has been planning our Forced Family Fun to celebrate. He wanted a family trip to Roaring Springs water park, a BBQ at Papa and Drahma's house and then fireworks at the park. We all talked about the idea of the water park and triple digit temperatures on a holiday. Not so fast. Luckily Brit recalled Despiciable Me 2 was opening on the 3rd. We all met up at the movie after our work day, watched the movie and then wrapped up our evening with frozen yogurt. Highly recommend the movie. It was adorable and once again, a lot of humor is lost on the younger audience and enjoyed by their parents.
Erin and I used the time together to work on our business plan, combining our photography skills. We are creating an account to sell matted photographs and card sets; and a new website is in the works. We worked a wedding together in June and have already had a referral for another wedding in August. We feel we both have a great eye for scenery and like to focus on preserving the natural look in pictures - thus we created...
We are very happy with our mother-daughter tattoos. Not your average experience together but then this is a very unique family. I especially love the way the sand dollar doves turn into a heart. My heart. Where my family will always be held near and dear.
As luck would have it all of the gang was in town at the same time. Chris and some friends were attending a concert and he had an interveiw. AND it was Mom's birthday.
Mr. T wanted to do something special for Drahma's birthday. For months he has been planning our Forced Family Fun to celebrate. He wanted a family trip to Roaring Springs water park, a BBQ at Papa and Drahma's house and then fireworks at the park. We all talked about the idea of the water park and triple digit temperatures on a holiday. Not so fast. Luckily Brit recalled Despiciable Me 2 was opening on the 3rd. We all met up at the movie after our work day, watched the movie and then wrapped up our evening with frozen yogurt. Highly recommend the movie. It was adorable and once again, a lot of humor is lost on the younger audience and enjoyed by their parents.
Erin and I used the time together to work on our business plan, combining our photography skills. We are creating an account to sell matted photographs and card sets; and a new website is in the works. We worked a wedding together in June and have already had a referral for another wedding in August. We feel we both have a great eye for scenery and like to focus on preserving the natural look in pictures - thus we created...
As a way to combine our love for Kalaloch we headed to Black Cat Tattoo. Normally Mike has done all of our work. As luck will have it, Mike was at work when we stopped in to show our ideas. We worked with Erin Ruiz instead. She's a great artist and heard what we were saying. The next day we returned for our new ink.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Memories. ..
Labels:
#cousin friends,
Family,
Memories
Today I went back in time. Back to a place in Gram and Grandpa Apfel's backyard. Memories of Grandpa pretending to fuss at us for eating more raspberries than we picked. Memories of being rewarded for lawn mowing with fresh sweet raspberries on smooth, cool ice cream. Memories of Gram's stories of gypsies, train hobos and the circus travelers.
Such a small sweet fruit and so many blessings!
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