I need to get a job as a consumer advocate. Why? Because that’s what I spend my day doing (among other things, of course). You know those annoying feedback surveys on receipts? I actually fill those things out. Last week, I called the Old Navy customer feedback line. The automated voice asked about my shopping experience, how long I waited in line, blah, blah. Pretty painless. In the Old Navy case, I got an incentive (10% off coupon code), more than enough to snare a cheapie like me. Sometimes, I even fill out the comment cards for free. I’ve also written thank you notes to sales people who are super helpful (the lady at Nordies replaced my broken Skagen watch for free!).
Just last week I filled out a survey for my apartment complex… I suppose it’s kind of consistent with my whole activist/advocate stance. Maybe I’m still a sucker for that whole “individual can make a difference” ideal. I mean, granted, I am still rather burned out on political advocacy, but I don’t know, I guess I’m not ready to become a full-fledged bitter, nothing-ever-changes cynic. Not today anyway.
So yeah, my private form of advocacy now is like fighting for consumer justice (for my immediate family). One example? We bought a set of KitchenAid knives in April, and the steak knives can’t cut jack. John and I now eat steak like cavepeople: we stab the slab with a fork and then just rip the meat off with our teeth. Total heathens, I tell you. So the other day John complained that the knives are really shit, especially for KitchenAid. That’s the thing about John: he complains about a lot of things. Problem is, he rarely takes action. I mean, maybe he’s just commenting for the sake of commenting, but to me, if you’re unhappy with something, you have to at least give the company/person the chance to rectify the situation. It’s sort of like Ebay: don’t leave negative feedback unless you’ve already fucking contacted the other party and the issue remains unresolved, know what I’m saying? Otherwise, that’s just not cool. So anyway, during our last steak dinner, I made a mental note to call KitchenAid the next day. Simple. They’re replacing the dull knives… of course, we’re still waiting for them to appear, but hey, gotta love good customer service. Makes my day every time. And as unbelieveable as it sounds, good service isn’t extinct yet (although the end may be near).
Speaking of decent customer service, Dell recently replaced my shit Dell Axim PDA. That fucking device had been driving me crazy for months. In China, every time I went to use my Chinese-English dictionary in class, the whole unit would just die. No goddamn response. I lost count of how many times I had to reset the piece of crap. I wasted months– resetting, resyncing, recharging, re-freaking-straining myself from bashing the thing against the wall (and I rarely show such violent tendencies). Don’t get me wrong, Dell customer service is still far from stellar, but certainly my latest experience is a step up from before. Plus, in the end, I got a new PDA. Thank fucking god. Now at least the damn thing turns on and off when I press the power button. Of course, now I’m thinking of ditching the PDA altogether. After all, the PDA is so yesterday. Check out this sweet baby. I know, a huge price tag but when you consider what people shell out nowadays for totally impractical things, for example jewelry, it’s not so bad. Just make sure you use it, you know? I have a love affair with Sony… Yeah, yeah, I know they’re assholes sometimes with the whole non-standard, proprietary memory stick but back off, man. Don’t tell me the whole iPod craze with freakin’ $40 PLASTIC sleeves and $30 cotton SOCKS ain’t a worse form of highway robbery! Speaking of iPods, I’m proud to say, I’m still out of the loop and off the bandwagon. Music just doesn’t do it for me. Sure, I have my favs, but I think I could live without: I’m more a news radio kind of gal…
And actually, I’m thinking of dropping the mobile phone too. Maybe I’m still suffering from sticker shock, but come on, $50 for the cheapest cell phone plan? Ridiculously steep. I’m fine for now. No one ever calls me anyway. 😛