Random Thoughts for Thursday, June 11th, 2020

Scott Winters June 11, 2020 0 Comments

We are coasting now until we get to the weekend! Here are today’s “Random Thoughts”…

ARTPRIZE CANCELLED

Another big cancellation due to the Coronavirus — ArtPrize for 2020 will not happen.

It would have been the twelfth year for the event, but it is not going to happen.

Event organizers also said they are going to “take time to evaluate the possibility of future events”.

Here is the official statement from ArtPrize.

Could ArtPrize be done as we know it?

I’ve felt over the last couple of years that it was slowly just fading away. Without its presence this year, it might just be a thing of the past. We will have to wait and see.

ArtPrize was great the first couple of years, but then with all the changes they made, I think a lot of people lost interest in it. I had friends and family from around the U.S. come to check it out. It was great to help boost the economy in downtown Grand Rapids while it was happening.

AND YET ANOTHER CANCELLATION — THE YASSOU! GREEK FESTIVAL

This year’s Greek Festival has also been cancelled for 2020.

This is going to be pretty much the summer of “nothing”.

The official statement on their website said: “We are sad to not celebrate our heritage with the community this year. However, with concern for the health of both our volunteers and guests and the challenge social-distancing requirements would present, it is impossible to hold a successful event this summer that would be safe.”

They are planning on returning for 2021. The date has already been set, so mark your calendars for August 20-22, 2021.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CUSTOMER SERVICE?

With every passing day, it seems that the whole idea of customer service disappears more and more.

I’m working on a project here at the house and needed some long lumber…too long for my car or a friend’s pick-up truck.

I wanted to get started on this project while I still had some free weekends this summer. I started the process to purchase the wood on Wednesday, May 27th.

I went to one big box hardware store and they couldn’t deliver the wood I needed until June 9th. That meant I’d lose two of my weekends that I wanted to work on this project. So I decided to try a couple of the other big box stores.

One didn’t even have the materials I needed in stock. The other did indeed have the items in stock!

Their website included a chat service — so before I ordered anything I chatted with “Agatha” to inquire about how long delivery would take. I explained to her exactly what I was ordering and she said delivery would be “24-48 hours”. Great! My project would be back on track and I might possibly be able to get started that weekend. So I placed the order.

Then I had to wait a few hours to get my delivery details. I was anxious that the materials for my project would be here on that Thursday or Friday. OR NOT! Once the email arrived the delivery date for most of the material was June 5 — and the two materials I needed to start the project wouldn’t arrive until June 10. The date was basically the same that was offered by the first store I went to! I tried to call, but their “customer service” department had a 45 minute wait time to talk to anyone. I figured I might as well just come to the realization I was lied to, and I was just going to be stuck waiting for 2 weeks (instead of 2 days) to get my lumber.

Fast forward to June 5th, the first part of the order arrived, but I still didn’t have the two pieces I needed to start the project. Those were slated for delivery on the 10th. Once again my free weekends were passing by and I didn’t have the materials I needed. But no worries, I’ll just get the project started the weekend of the 13th and 14th.

Until I get an email yesterday that now my remaining materials won’t be delivered until June 19th!

So, we went from 1-2 days to almost a month for delivery time for something listed as “in stock” when I ordered it. I tried to call their “customer service” number last evening only to get a message that their department was closed (really? your store is still open.)

I can tell you one thing, I will NEVER, EVER buy another thing from this store. They have lied to me repeatedly, make it almost impossible to contact them, and I paid more for the materials in hopes of getting them sooner.

I am beyond frustrated.

I know you are asking…”which store was it”. I won’t tell you which store, but I will say their name rhymes with “blows” just like customer service does.

I should have known when I went to their Better Business Bureau page that they would have only a 1-star rating out of almost 600 reviews, but yet they get an A+ rating — how does that happen? It actually happens quite frequently!