Category: Thoughts

Experiments, Random Ideas, and posts that don’t fit other categories.

Posted on

Customer Service: Pep Boys

( @pepboysauto, #repairs )

I had an interesting couple of days with our cars. On Thursday, my friend known as GTT texted me to tell me that my wife’s car in the driveway had a flat tire. I was in the office and could not deal with it until I got home (my wife and I carpool). Long story short, there was a screw in the tire and I decided to wait until the next day since we were both working from home.

The next morning, we got the spare on and I followed Allison over to Pep Boys so she could get the tired repaired. Heading down Woodbury-Glassboro Road in Pitman, the cops decided to have a check-point. Allison got through with no issue, but my car had a brake light out, and when they pulled me over I informed them that my driver-side window was broken. This thing has been giving me trouble for months (it kept getting stuck). Long story short, I got stuck with the cops for a while, but didn’t get a ticket. I knew I had to get this thing properly fixed. So after her car was fixed, we left mine. I knew this was not going to be cheap.

This is where I will pause and pose a question that I generally get: “Why do you take your car to Pep Boys?”

My answers are many and there will be several in the course of this little story:
1. They are close
2. They are a corporation, so should I get poor service (which I have not), there is a chain of command I can follow to get my issues resolved.
3. They always have parts
4. They are much much better than Firestone (I have a whole story with them for another day).

One other thing about this particular chain (Glassboro, NJ), they have done several small fixes for my wife and I at no cost. A month ago, a heat shield half fell off my car and they removed it and cleaned up the area at no cost (and told me I didn’t need anything else to be done even though I was willing to get repairs done). They also fixed my wife’s flat at no charge (but I think that comes with their tire service when you buy from them – but either way, it was nice).

Back to my story, the manager called me and told me the repair was not going to be cheap (over $500) because the motor in the window had to be replaced. As I said, I was expecting this. They had to get a part from another store, but the car would be done that day. THAT DAY. When the car was done and I went in to pay, they let me use a 10% off coupon and the cashier noticed I had a $30 mail in credit that I didn’t think I could use in combination (so I didn’t mention it), but they saw it in my hand and let me use. Pep Boys sends coupons for service almost every month. Its smart of their part but also works out well for the consumer.

I figured I would put this out there since several popular blog posts document my negative experiences with car rental places, ticketmaster, and other retail outlets. I always have decent experiences with Pep Boys and never feel like I got taken advantage of. Their monthly coupons are smart because they keep us thinking about services for our cars. They execute a nice mix of good service, good marketing, and availability. Well done.

Posted on

Rant: Joey vs. Perfume

This is going to be short and simple readers, because there is not much to say…I hate perfume.

Hate it.

It is horrible going into the office and being trapped in an elevator with some man or woman doused in sweet, flowery, headache-inducing evil. I would rather someone rip a raunchy garbage-in-hot-weather fart and be stuck smelling it for 10 floors than even catch a whiff of perfume. I don’t understand why more people don’t talk about this problem. Getting crop-dusted by an over-quaffed perfumed dandy can ruin my day or at least a few hours of it.

Don’t people realize that these scents can adversely impact their co-workers? Let’s brainstorm readers: what can we do to protect our noses from these daily chemical attacks? Share your ideas on the feedback form, and I will update this article.

For the perfumers out there, next time you go out and buy some starlet’s fragrance, remember that other people have to smell that stuff and it will probably make them want to vomit.

Posted on

Storm Preparation

( #Hurricane, #irene)

This is going to be a long post, but should contain all the basic information needed. The majority of this information comes directly from 72hours.org

After a major disaster the usual services we take for granted, such as running water, refrigeration, and telephones, may be unavailable. Experts recommend that you should be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least three days. Store your household disaster kit in an easily accessible location. Put contents in a large, watertight container (e.g. a large plastic garbage can with a lid and wheels) that you can move easily.

[Emergency Supply Kit]

Your basic emergency kit should include:

  • Water: one gallon per person per day
  • Food: ready to eat or requiring minimal water
  • Manual can opener and other cooking supplies
  • Plates, utensils and other feeding supplies
  • First Aid kit & instructions
  • A copy of important documents & phone numbers
  • Warm clothes and rain gear for each family member.
  • Heavy work gloves
  • Disposable camera
  • Unscented liquid household bleach and an eyedropper for water purification
  • Personal hygiene items including toilet paper, feminine supplies, hand sanitizer and soap
  • Plastic sheeting, duct tape and utility knife for covering broken windows
  • Tools such as a crowbar, hammer and nails, staple gun, adjustable wrench and bungee cords.
  • Blanket or sleeping bag
  • Large heavy duty plastic bags and a plastic bucket for waste and sanitation

[Go-Bag]

A component of your disaster kit is your Go-bag. Put the following items together in a backpack or another easy to carry container in case you must evacuate quickly.

  • Flashlight
  • Radio – battery operated
  • Batteries
  • Whistle
  • Dust mask
  • Pocket knife
  • Emergency cash in small denominations and quarters for phone calls
  • Sturdy shoes, a change of clothes, and a warm hat
  • Local map
  • Some water and food
  • Permanent marker, paper and tape
  • Photos of family members and pets for re-identification purposes
  • List of emergency point-of -contact phone numbers
  • List of allergies to any drug (especially antibiotics) or food
  • Copy of health insurance and identification cards
  • Extra prescription eye glasses, hearing aid or other vital personal items
  • Prescription medications and first aid supplies
  • Toothbrush and toothpaste
  • Extra keys to your house and vehicle

[Storm Preparation]

Severe storms can cause landslides, flooding, uprooted trees, and downed utility lines.
Call 3-1-1 for information on free sandbags to protect your property from flooding.

  • Tune to KCBS 740 AM or local TV channels for emergency advisories and instructions.
  • If water has entered a garage or basement, do not walk through it – it may contain hazardous materials.
  • Do not try to drive over a flooded road. If your car stalls, abandon it immediately. Attempting to move a stalled vehicle in flood conditions can be fatal.
  • If you are asked to leave your property, disconnect all electrical appliances.
  • Do not walk through moving water. Six inches of moving water can make you fall. If you must walk in water, walk where the water is not moving. Use a stick to check the firmness of the ground in front of you.
  • Stay clear of water that is in contact with downed power lines.
  • Do not allow children to play around high water, storm drains or any flooded areas.
  • If you are asked to leave your property, shut off electric circuits. If advised by your local utility, shut off gas service as well.

[Treating Water]

In a disaster, water supplies may be cut off or contaminated. Store enough water for everyone in your family to last for at least 3 days.Store one gallon of water per person, per day. Three gallons per person per day will give you enough to drink and for limited cooking and personal hygiene. Remember to plan for pets.

If you store tap water:

Tap water from a municipal water system can be safely stored without additional treatment.
Store water in food grade plastic containers, such as clean 2-liter soft drink bottles. Heavy duty, reusable plastic water containers are also available at sporting goods stores. Empty milk bottles are not recommended because their lids do not seal well and bottles may develop leaks.
Label and store in a cool, dark place (replace every 6 months).

Treating Water after Disaster:

If you run out of stored drinking water, strain and treat water from your water heater or the toilet reservoir tank (except if you use toilet tank cleaners). Swimming pool or spa water should not be consumed but you can use it for flushing toilets or washing.

Treatment Process:

Strain any large particles of dirt by pouring the water through layers of paper towels or clean cloth. Next, purify the water one of two ways:

  • Boil – bring to a rolling boil and maintain for 3-5 minutes. After the water cools, pour it back and forth between two clean containers to add oxygen back; this will improve its taste.
  • Disinfect – If the water is clear, add 8 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach per gallon of water. If it is cloudy, add 16 drops (1/4 teaspoon) per gallon. Make sure you are using regular bleach— 5.25% percent sodium hypochlorite— rather than the “ultra” or “color safe” bleaches. Shake or stir, then let stand 30 minutes. A slight chlorine taste and smell is normal.
Posted on

Customer Service and Social Media

( @petershankman, @Mortons )

I read this story over the weekend and feel like I needed to pass it on. In short, Peter Shankman is a writer and a speaker who loves Morton’s Steak House. Morton’s is a chain and this fellow travels quite a bit, so he frequents Mortons throughout the country.

Mortons has documented in their system that Shankman is a good customer.

One night while on a plane, he tweeted that he was craving Mortons and when he got off the plane, there was a care-package waiting for him. He of course wrote about this story on his blog (and he has 100,000+ twitter followers) and the whole situation went viral.

It should.

How much did the meal and the travel time cost Mortons? 100 bucks? And now they are getting great word of mouth and public interest. Hell – even with my butcher father, I want to check the place out. I’d love to have this set up with an outfit, so the moral of the story is that it pays to be loyal. And for businesses, it never hurts to be a little creative and willing to think outside of the box.

Kudos Mortons.

Posted on

Tumbling

I have been trying out a few new social media tools this week.  Tumblr has been on my mind for a while.  At first I thought it could be a replacement for my main JoeyLombardi.com domain, but I am not there yet.  

I would like to push my other blogs and feeds into this and make it a one stop shop.  If it can’t do that, it will go away.  Not sure if this is another tool to distract from producing or something that will help get my ideas out into the ether so they can spark conversation.  

Either way, it will be another learning experience.  

Posted on

GooglePlus Review

( #GooglePlus, #SocialMedia )


Image Credit: Paul Vedar

Last night the good people over at Lifehacker offered invites to the new Google+ service. I jumped at the chance to get one because I have been looking at a way to do multiple people video chats for months. Skype offers it for a few bucks a month, which I was considering, but I don’t like that I have to install software to video chat when Google does it in the browser.

Google calls the feature “hangouts” and even in beta, it works pretty damn well. Actually checkout the Lifehacker crew’s video:

Google seems to have built this service around security and privacy. This sounds like an odd thing for Google, but it comes from the public scorn they got from rolling out Buzz (which automatically shared private info like email addresses) and also as a response to Facebook. Even though Facebook has privacy features, I feel that they always trying to get you to share more public data (and their updates always change settings to make that happen). In order to compete, Google is focusing security groups (called Circles) so you can share certain things with certain people much easier.

I am sure Big G isn’t completely saintly in this service, but since they have the Government breathing down their necks and face fierce competition with Facebook, I think the Google+ service is as legit as it can be. Since I am a google guy to start, I am hoping the service takes off because it will be much easier for me to manage my social circle with the plus service than with Facebook since I already have a hands off attitude towards it.

I was going to offer invites to readers, but it looks like Google shut down invitations already. But drop me a note, and if they turn it back on, I will try to get you in.

UPDATE: A blogger buddy (and current Keypulp founder) Joss Ross already found a security issue. Even if you choose a select group to see your post, someone could share it with everyone. Google has a fix, there is a drop down in the right corner that disables sharing. I think it should be defaulted that way, but for now, be aware and don’t share!