No, we are not getting our phone tomorrow. What? You thought that we would? Hahahahahaha. That is funny. Ben got ahold of the Rejection Team today - yes, there is a Rejection Team working on our case - since they hadn't bothered to call him back last week. They said that maybe someone would come on Wednesday. Sure, sure. And maybe I'll get a pet camel who can re-brick my house while we're at it.
Wait! Do you want to know why I've made a couple of allusions to bricks? No, you probably don't. You're going to find out anyway.
Our doorbell rang at about 7:30 last night. It was Brian, one of the nice men who installed our air conditioner on Friday. He told me that he couldn't sleep unless he came back and showed me something. It turns out that while they were installing the air conditioner, they noticed a few cracked bricks in the area. Ok, not a problem, right? Unfortunately, it's not just a few cracked bricks. It's a LOT of cracked bricks on every wall of the house. It's bad enough that a bricklayer told Ben on the phone that he didn't need to come out and see it. He said that all of the cracked bricks would need to be replaced and that it's possible that the entire house will need to be re-bricked.
The good thing? It's under warranty since it's a brand new house. However, I don't look forward to delivering this news to the builder. Bah.
We hadn't noticed the cracks ourselves because we don't have our grass yet and neither of us felt like we had a reason to walk around in the dirt. We have to submit our 30 day form to the builder by the end of this week, so guess what's going on top of the list?
**THIS JUST IN!**
Ben just got a phone call back from Lucie of the Rogers Rejection Team. She informed Ben that she had good news and bad news. The good news? The order is entered properly in the computer so we shouldn't have any more problems. HA! Where have I heard that before? The bad news? They can't come until June 5th.
*insert diabolical laughter here*
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 27, 2007
It's been awhile...
This morning our Rogers cable box died. Supposedly we can go in to any Rogers store and exchange it for a new one for free.
There is a Rejection Team working on our phone case. Ha! They were supposed to call us back by Thursday and they did not. I think we're up to 6-7 months of free phone service and 1 month of free internet. It'll be interesting to see how much further we can take this.
We're assuming that the phone appointment for Tuesday is still on.
*************************************************************************************
Rachel is addicted to the game of Zingo. What is Zingo, you ask? It's like Bingo, only easier & potentially more fun depending on your point of view. Each player gets a card with 9 pictures on it. You can choose to play yellow cards (less duplication of pictures and therefore less competition) or red cards (more competitive). We usually play yellow cards although Rachel is too young to understand competition. If we race to the door (or anywhere!) and she doesn't get there first, she cheerfully yells out, "I got there next!" It's very cute and innocent.
Yesterday the three of us were playing Zingo. We took turns "dealing" the tiles. When you see a tile with a picture that you have on your card, you shout out what's on the tile and take it for your card. When your card is full, you shout "Zingo!" It was a very close game - we all needed one more tile in order to win and shout Zingo. The next tile that came up was one that both Ben and Rachel needed. When Rachel saw that they both needed it, she said, "Daddy, you can have the first foot." (Yes, the tile had a picture of a foot.) Ben happily obliged and yelled, "Zingo!" at which point Rachel and I decided to keep playing until everyone got a Zingo.
We're enjoying being able to play "real" games with Rachel. She likes to make up her own rules, but what kid doesn't?
There is a Rejection Team working on our phone case. Ha! They were supposed to call us back by Thursday and they did not. I think we're up to 6-7 months of free phone service and 1 month of free internet. It'll be interesting to see how much further we can take this.
We're assuming that the phone appointment for Tuesday is still on.
*************************************************************************************
Rachel is addicted to the game of Zingo. What is Zingo, you ask? It's like Bingo, only easier & potentially more fun depending on your point of view. Each player gets a card with 9 pictures on it. You can choose to play yellow cards (less duplication of pictures and therefore less competition) or red cards (more competitive). We usually play yellow cards although Rachel is too young to understand competition. If we race to the door (or anywhere!) and she doesn't get there first, she cheerfully yells out, "I got there next!" It's very cute and innocent.
Yesterday the three of us were playing Zingo. We took turns "dealing" the tiles. When you see a tile with a picture that you have on your card, you shout out what's on the tile and take it for your card. When your card is full, you shout "Zingo!" It was a very close game - we all needed one more tile in order to win and shout Zingo. The next tile that came up was one that both Ben and Rachel needed. When Rachel saw that they both needed it, she said, "Daddy, you can have the first foot." (Yes, the tile had a picture of a foot.) Ben happily obliged and yelled, "Zingo!" at which point Rachel and I decided to keep playing until everyone got a Zingo.
We're enjoying being able to play "real" games with Rachel. She likes to make up her own rules, but what kid doesn't?
Friday, May 18, 2007
Still shaking with anger...
After THREE hours of being on the phone with Rogers, we supposedly have an installation date of May the bleeping 29th. Ben's cellphone died while he was on with a rep who was actually willing to be helpful.
When he called back, he was on hold so long that I had to take the call for him since he had another appointment to keep. The manager who was speaking to me told me straight out that SHE had gone above and beyond what she needed to do for us. She indicated that she had contacted a manager in the rejections department even though the May 29th order is our FIRST analogue home phone order (Apparently all the others were digital even though WE never requested it. Supposedly that is why our orders were being cancelled since we can't port a cell number to a digital phone line.). Apparently it's a huge deal that she actually called someone in another department.
She was the type who wasn't willing to let anyone else get a word in edgewise. She also continually brushed off my insistence that we have had FIVE orders cancelled by repeating over and over that this was the only analogue order we had and so it was the first order. Um, ok. Whatever. She also kept repeating that we could not speak to her about compensation since it was a different order and department. Again, whatever. She had access to our entire history and admitted as much to us.
When I persisted in attempting to speak to someone who *could* actually compensate us, she got very snippy with me and started saying things like, "Well ma'am, if you're going to be upset with me then maybe I won't call you back on the 29th to see if your phone was installed." Um, whatever. Anyone want to guess what I told her? I didn't think so...
When he called back, he was on hold so long that I had to take the call for him since he had another appointment to keep. The manager who was speaking to me told me straight out that SHE had gone above and beyond what she needed to do for us. She indicated that she had contacted a manager in the rejections department even though the May 29th order is our FIRST analogue home phone order (Apparently all the others were digital even though WE never requested it. Supposedly that is why our orders were being cancelled since we can't port a cell number to a digital phone line.). Apparently it's a huge deal that she actually called someone in another department.
She was the type who wasn't willing to let anyone else get a word in edgewise. She also continually brushed off my insistence that we have had FIVE orders cancelled by repeating over and over that this was the only analogue order we had and so it was the first order. Um, ok. Whatever. She also kept repeating that we could not speak to her about compensation since it was a different order and department. Again, whatever. She had access to our entire history and admitted as much to us.
When I persisted in attempting to speak to someone who *could* actually compensate us, she got very snippy with me and started saying things like, "Well ma'am, if you're going to be upset with me then maybe I won't call you back on the 29th to see if your phone was installed." Um, whatever. Anyone want to guess what I told her? I didn't think so...
This just in....
Virgin Mobile has just confirmed with Ben that they do NOT require 5 business days to release a cell phone number. In fact, once the request is received, the number is immediately released.
Yet Rogers has told us over and over again that Virgin won't release the number for "x" number of days where "x" is variable depending on the representative's response.
Ben spent 1 hour, 19 minutes and 37 seconds on the phone with Rogers last night. Maybe we should consider invoicing them at our hourly rate.
Yet Rogers has told us over and over again that Virgin won't release the number for "x" number of days where "x" is variable depending on the representative's response.
Ben spent 1 hour, 19 minutes and 37 seconds on the phone with Rogers last night. Maybe we should consider invoicing them at our hourly rate.
Poor Unsuspecting Soul
At approximately 1:10 this afternoon, a man with Rogers paraphernalia came up to our front door. We were very excited until we realized that he was just an innocent sales rep going door to door trying to get new business.
He didn't really get a chance to go into his spiel before we invited him in to discuss our Rogers issues. We also found out that the current Rogers promo for new customers is SIX MONTHS of free local phone service. I think they can double that to start and we'll have a basis for discussion.
The rep felt bad for us and called on our behalf. He was told that Rogers cannot port a prepaid cell phone number anywhere. So I asked him to find out if we could port the number if it was a monthly plan since Virgin allows plan changes. He wasn't sure but suggested calling Rogers' cellular department.
Ben called, only to be told that a prepaid number could certainly be ported to a Rogers cell phone and that it could probably also be ported to a home phone line. Probably?!?!?!?! PROBABLY?!?!??!?!
In the meantime, the air conditioning man arrived to give us an estimate. Shortly after he arrived, someone came to fix our cable issues. Sadly, the Rogers technician was unable to get us more than 13 channels on our upstairs tv. He said that the tv was likely set on "antenna" and we would need to find the original remote to re-set it. Did we know where that remote was, he wondered. HA! Our upstairs tv was in storage all last year. I'm sure that the remote is somewhere in one of the boxes that we have yet to unpack. Which one? Who knows?! The kicker? The Rogers technician indicated that the phone people should have been able to suggest this solution to Ben ON THE PHONE last night instead of sending someone out.
Summary of Friday May 18 so far:
*No Rogers phone service
*No extra channels upstairs
*No working internet since the modem still hasn't been fixed
*No clue whether or not we can port the number although Virgin just definitively told Ben that we could port it as long as it was an eligible number. Let me think... 519... yep, that should work in London.
He didn't really get a chance to go into his spiel before we invited him in to discuss our Rogers issues. We also found out that the current Rogers promo for new customers is SIX MONTHS of free local phone service. I think they can double that to start and we'll have a basis for discussion.
The rep felt bad for us and called on our behalf. He was told that Rogers cannot port a prepaid cell phone number anywhere. So I asked him to find out if we could port the number if it was a monthly plan since Virgin allows plan changes. He wasn't sure but suggested calling Rogers' cellular department.
Ben called, only to be told that a prepaid number could certainly be ported to a Rogers cell phone and that it could probably also be ported to a home phone line. Probably?!?!?!?! PROBABLY?!?!??!?!
In the meantime, the air conditioning man arrived to give us an estimate. Shortly after he arrived, someone came to fix our cable issues. Sadly, the Rogers technician was unable to get us more than 13 channels on our upstairs tv. He said that the tv was likely set on "antenna" and we would need to find the original remote to re-set it. Did we know where that remote was, he wondered. HA! Our upstairs tv was in storage all last year. I'm sure that the remote is somewhere in one of the boxes that we have yet to unpack. Which one? Who knows?! The kicker? The Rogers technician indicated that the phone people should have been able to suggest this solution to Ben ON THE PHONE last night instead of sending someone out.
Summary of Friday May 18 so far:
*No Rogers phone service
*No extra channels upstairs
*No working internet since the modem still hasn't been fixed
*No clue whether or not we can port the number although Virgin just definitively told Ben that we could port it as long as it was an eligible number. Let me think... 519... yep, that should work in London.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Just for fun
While Ben remains on hold with Rogers - he's been on the phone for 52 minutes now - I thought it would be fun to dig up some other customer service flops we've experienced in the past couple of years. Here's the story of the incompetency that surrounded our attempt to get home for winter break in 2005:
Hi to all our Canadian friends up north in the cold, cold land of snow and ice. Many of you have heard about our pathetic "snow days" last week when the schools closed because it was COLD (approx. -15C at its worst, -2C at best!). The skies were clear, it was sunny, the roads were good.... Kansas City got 2 snow days. The natives thought it was warranted since the kids might get frostbite if they went out in the snow.
Today we were supposed to fly home to Toronto and then head to London. Today (as I'm sure you can all guess!) our flight was cancelled. It's the reverse "Wizard of Oz" syndrome - now we can't get OUT of Kansas! I've attached the long version of our flight saga below. Read on if you dare:
I called the Kansas City airport at 1:15 and was told that my flight was cancelled. I called Air Canada right away and was put on hold. The lady confirmed that my flight was cancelled and she did not know why Air Canada's website wasn't showing that.
However, technically I booked with United. This flight is a United flight operated by Air Canada and booked on Expedia.com. Does anyone sense impending confusion?
The Air Canada lady was very nice. She told me that they were in the middle of a snowstorm that isn't expected to pass until mid-afternoon tomorrow. She explained that she couldn't rebook me on tomorrow's direct flight because I hadn't initially booked with them. I was told to call Expedia.com. Although this was annoying, it made sense. I thanked her and asked if she knew how much room was left on the plane. She said that it was half-full and confirmed that it was the 54-seater.
I called Expedia.com a few minutes later after IM'ing with a friend and joking about how on earth you call a website. Turns out that my friend was right - it IS 1-800-EXPEDIA! LOL.
After getting through the auto-service that answered, I reached a nice lady named Michelle. I explained the situation and she explained that she could not change my reservation without penalty since the airline had not informed Expedia that the flight was cancelled. I explained nicely how there was a snowstorm in Toronto and flights were being delayed/cancelled. She offered to get a United agent on 3-way with me. I agreed and was placed on hold briefly. Sadly, I was disconnected about 30 seconds after Michelle began her journey through United's auto-service.
I called right back and reached a different Expedia agent. I explained the situation, but I think that we were speaking two different languages. She could not understand what I was saying even though we were both apparently speaking clear English. She started to tell me that Expedia had no record of my flight being cancelled. I politely interrupted and told her what had happened during my conversation with the previous Expedia agent. This agent offered to put me on hold and contact United. Of course I agreed.
I got to listen to Pachelbel's Canon FIVE TIMES IN A ROW. Oy vey. As a violinist, that is the equivalent of nasty torture. ;)
Finally the lady came back on the line. She told me that Becky at United didn't know why the flight had been cancelled. I politely explained that there was a snowstorm and snow was falling on the ground. I told her that the nice Air Canada lady was IN Toronto and had confirmed that planes would not be coming in. She went back to Becky with this information while I listened to Pachelbel some more.
When the lady came back on the line, she said that Becky from United wanted to know what changes I wanted to make to my reservation. Feeling more than slightly frustrated, I replied that I wanted to get on a plane that was actually leaving the airport since my plane had been CANCELLED. The lady asked again what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to change my flight. This she understood. She said that she'd see what was available.
La la la. More Pachelbel.
Finally she came back online to tell me that there was a connecting flight through Chicago tomorrow morning and would I like to get on that? I nicely explained that I have a 1.5 year-old and I specifically booked a direct flight. I asked her to check if there was room on the direct flight knowing that there had been room 20 minutes prior.
Well, she came back and said that the direct flight was overbooked. I replied that I was not impressed by their incompetence since I had been informed only half an hour prior by Air Canada that there were still 25+ seats on that flight. She said again that it was overbooked and asked if I wanted the Chicago flight. I said that I would take it but I would like some compensation. I was told again that Becky at United didn't know why the flight had been cancelled.
In the end, I got a generic "customer service" e-mail address for Expedia and an apology from the Expedia lady.
Now we hold our breath and wait to see if we actually make our connecting flight. There is only 1 hour in between flights and the Chicago airport is huge! I plan to get someone to drive us down to the connecting gate. I don't intend on walking with 2 backpacks, 1 diaper bag and a toddler/no stroller AND a carseat. LOL.
It could be worse. I do love snow. I am Canadian. I did wish for lots of snow. ;)
**We got to the airport the next day and heard that Air Canada had added an additional direct flight to Toronto for the day. Since we had no intention of going through Chicago if we didn't have to, we kindly let lots of grateful passengers cut in front of us in line until we missed our Chicago flight. Hehe. We were successful at getting on the direct flight and we made it home for the rest of our vacation.
Hi to all our Canadian friends up north in the cold, cold land of snow and ice. Many of you have heard about our pathetic "snow days" last week when the schools closed because it was COLD (approx. -15C at its worst, -2C at best!). The skies were clear, it was sunny, the roads were good.... Kansas City got 2 snow days. The natives thought it was warranted since the kids might get frostbite if they went out in the snow.
Today we were supposed to fly home to Toronto and then head to London. Today (as I'm sure you can all guess!) our flight was cancelled. It's the reverse "Wizard of Oz" syndrome - now we can't get OUT of Kansas! I've attached the long version of our flight saga below. Read on if you dare:
I called the Kansas City airport at 1:15 and was told that my flight was cancelled. I called Air Canada right away and was put on hold. The lady confirmed that my flight was cancelled and she did not know why Air Canada's website wasn't showing that.
However, technically I booked with United. This flight is a United flight operated by Air Canada and booked on Expedia.com. Does anyone sense impending confusion?
The Air Canada lady was very nice. She told me that they were in the middle of a snowstorm that isn't expected to pass until mid-afternoon tomorrow. She explained that she couldn't rebook me on tomorrow's direct flight because I hadn't initially booked with them. I was told to call Expedia.com. Although this was annoying, it made sense. I thanked her and asked if she knew how much room was left on the plane. She said that it was half-full and confirmed that it was the 54-seater.
I called Expedia.com a few minutes later after IM'ing with a friend and joking about how on earth you call a website. Turns out that my friend was right - it IS 1-800-EXPEDIA! LOL.
After getting through the auto-service that answered, I reached a nice lady named Michelle. I explained the situation and she explained that she could not change my reservation without penalty since the airline had not informed Expedia that the flight was cancelled. I explained nicely how there was a snowstorm in Toronto and flights were being delayed/cancelled. She offered to get a United agent on 3-way with me. I agreed and was placed on hold briefly. Sadly, I was disconnected about 30 seconds after Michelle began her journey through United's auto-service.
I called right back and reached a different Expedia agent. I explained the situation, but I think that we were speaking two different languages. She could not understand what I was saying even though we were both apparently speaking clear English. She started to tell me that Expedia had no record of my flight being cancelled. I politely interrupted and told her what had happened during my conversation with the previous Expedia agent. This agent offered to put me on hold and contact United. Of course I agreed.
I got to listen to Pachelbel's Canon FIVE TIMES IN A ROW. Oy vey. As a violinist, that is the equivalent of nasty torture. ;)
Finally the lady came back on the line. She told me that Becky at United didn't know why the flight had been cancelled. I politely explained that there was a snowstorm and snow was falling on the ground. I told her that the nice Air Canada lady was IN Toronto and had confirmed that planes would not be coming in. She went back to Becky with this information while I listened to Pachelbel some more.
When the lady came back on the line, she said that Becky from United wanted to know what changes I wanted to make to my reservation. Feeling more than slightly frustrated, I replied that I wanted to get on a plane that was actually leaving the airport since my plane had been CANCELLED. The lady asked again what I wanted to do. I told her I wanted to change my flight. This she understood. She said that she'd see what was available.
La la la. More Pachelbel.
Finally she came back online to tell me that there was a connecting flight through Chicago tomorrow morning and would I like to get on that? I nicely explained that I have a 1.5 year-old and I specifically booked a direct flight. I asked her to check if there was room on the direct flight knowing that there had been room 20 minutes prior.
Well, she came back and said that the direct flight was overbooked. I replied that I was not impressed by their incompetence since I had been informed only half an hour prior by Air Canada that there were still 25+ seats on that flight. She said again that it was overbooked and asked if I wanted the Chicago flight. I said that I would take it but I would like some compensation. I was told again that Becky at United didn't know why the flight had been cancelled.
In the end, I got a generic "customer service" e-mail address for Expedia and an apology from the Expedia lady.
Now we hold our breath and wait to see if we actually make our connecting flight. There is only 1 hour in between flights and the Chicago airport is huge! I plan to get someone to drive us down to the connecting gate. I don't intend on walking with 2 backpacks, 1 diaper bag and a toddler/no stroller AND a carseat. LOL.
It could be worse. I do love snow. I am Canadian. I did wish for lots of snow. ;)
**We got to the airport the next day and heard that Air Canada had added an additional direct flight to Toronto for the day. Since we had no intention of going through Chicago if we didn't have to, we kindly let lots of grateful passengers cut in front of us in line until we missed our Chicago flight. Hehe. We were successful at getting on the direct flight and we made it home for the rest of our vacation.
A Phone Call To Rogers
Just for kicks, Ben decided to call Rogers tonight to see if they could at least fix our cable and internet issues. They came last Friday to install cable and internet. Our downstairs tv is getting lots of channels. For some bizarre reason, our upstairs tv is only getting 13 channels.
Our internet doesn't work at all. (Well, the "borrowed" wireless works great!)
Ben waited on hold for 25 minutes only to be asked, "And what's your HOME PHONE NUMBER?" Hehe.
It's like the old skit, "Who's on First?", only Abbot & Costello were actually funny.
I don't think I've ever used the word "morons" as much as I have in the past couple of weeks. I'm amazed that Rachel hasn't asked yet what a moron is.
**LIVE UPDATE** Apparently our internet doesn't work because they didn't register the cable modem with our account. Still no word on the lack of upstairs channels. And Ben's on hold again.
Our internet doesn't work at all. (Well, the "borrowed" wireless works great!)
Ben waited on hold for 25 minutes only to be asked, "And what's your HOME PHONE NUMBER?" Hehe.
It's like the old skit, "Who's on First?", only Abbot & Costello were actually funny.
I don't think I've ever used the word "morons" as much as I have in the past couple of weeks. I'm amazed that Rachel hasn't asked yet what a moron is.
**LIVE UPDATE** Apparently our internet doesn't work because they didn't register the cable modem with our account. Still no word on the lack of upstairs channels. And Ben's on hold again.
What's for dinner?
Tonight we had lasagna, carrots & bread for dinner. Rachel requested "No Hazzan-ya for me, thank you." (Hazzan is the title of a cantor in a shul.)
I'm not quite sure where my child went but I kind of like this new Rachel. She gets up cheerfully in the morning & knocks on her door to come out, eats carrots willingly BY HERSELF at the dinner table, flushes the potty before we get back to the bathroom, TELLS us every time she has to go...
We checked out one of the pre-schools at the Jewish Community Centre on Monday this week. Although it won't compare to Beth Shalom, Rachel had a lot of fun during the hour that we visited. We're pretty sure that we'll sign her up for the 3 morning program in the fall. I have a few questions for the teachers but I thought it was a good program overall.
I'm not quite sure where my child went but I kind of like this new Rachel. She gets up cheerfully in the morning & knocks on her door to come out, eats carrots willingly BY HERSELF at the dinner table, flushes the potty before we get back to the bathroom, TELLS us every time she has to go...
We checked out one of the pre-schools at the Jewish Community Centre on Monday this week. Although it won't compare to Beth Shalom, Rachel had a lot of fun during the hour that we visited. We're pretty sure that we'll sign her up for the 3 morning program in the fall. I have a few questions for the teachers but I thought it was a good program overall.
Thinking of changing our names to Job...
So at 4:30pm today we received a phone call from Rogers informing us that our FIFTH appointment for home phone installation has now been cancelled. The employee claimed that Virgin Mobile won't release our cell number for installation until May 29th. I find that interesting since we've been calling Rogers to request the transfer since April 23rd. Rogers has evidently dropped the ball again.
In any case, Ben requested that someone come out tomorrow to install the main phone line regardless. We don't particularly care which number is considered the primary number as long as our business number can be ported to our home phone. Funnily enough, the employee seemed to think that now no-one could come before Tuesday. We're currently expecting a call back from a manager. I don't have high hopes that someone will actually call.
Why aren't we just going with Bell? Ah, an excellent question. We did speak to a Bell employee at the mall 8 days ago. There were several problems. First, Rogers is cheaper by a fair bit for all of the services that we were requesting. Second, Bell doesn't have the technology to port our cell number to a home phone line. They could port it to another cell phone but since Canadian cell phones are so expensive, we'd really rather not go that route. Third, high speed internet services are not available in our new subdivision yet so we'd be stuck with dial-up. Dial-up is not a viable option for our business (and personal!) internet usage.
At the moment, we plan to hound Rogers relentlessly until we get the services we ordered 24 days ago. Once we have the business phone number set up as a home line and we've exhausted the free services and discounts that WILL be honoured.... well.... you can guess whether or not we'll stay with the same company. I'm not saying a word. Not a single word.
In any case, Ben requested that someone come out tomorrow to install the main phone line regardless. We don't particularly care which number is considered the primary number as long as our business number can be ported to our home phone. Funnily enough, the employee seemed to think that now no-one could come before Tuesday. We're currently expecting a call back from a manager. I don't have high hopes that someone will actually call.
Why aren't we just going with Bell? Ah, an excellent question. We did speak to a Bell employee at the mall 8 days ago. There were several problems. First, Rogers is cheaper by a fair bit for all of the services that we were requesting. Second, Bell doesn't have the technology to port our cell number to a home phone line. They could port it to another cell phone but since Canadian cell phones are so expensive, we'd really rather not go that route. Third, high speed internet services are not available in our new subdivision yet so we'd be stuck with dial-up. Dial-up is not a viable option for our business (and personal!) internet usage.
At the moment, we plan to hound Rogers relentlessly until we get the services we ordered 24 days ago. Once we have the business phone number set up as a home line and we've exhausted the free services and discounts that WILL be honoured.... well.... you can guess whether or not we'll stay with the same company. I'm not saying a word. Not a single word.
Apparently our request wasn't heard...
Last night while driving home from Toronto in rain and poor visibility, the Sienna got a lovely chip in the windshield when a stone hit it. $50 later it's all good.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
A kick in the teeth
We picked up our (new to us) Toyota Sienna this afternoon after much unnecessary waiting. It's awesome. More on that later.
We still don't have a home phone since Rogers cancelled their FOURTH appointment with us. At least this time they notified us. More on that later.
We stupidly drove past our old house on the way home tonight. I've been stalking the real estate listings ever since we sold it... tonight we drove by and saw a SOLD sign on it. Ben and I both cried. We've talked a lot about how much we loved that house. Even last summer, we wondered if we should wait to look for a re-sale house instead of building since we knew that we'd only be getting one studio this way. The thing is, this house couldn't have been up for sale for more than two weeks. Those of you who know me well know that I can be very obsessive. I checked the listings frequently. Too frequently! The timing of the house going up for sale coincides exactly with the time we left Kansas.
Yes, we love the new house. But the house on Cedarwood Crescent was our home. That's where we brought home our baby. You know what they say... "There's no place like home." And wow... they listed it for a lot more than we did! It really is a seller's market out there right now.
http://www.mls.http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d0%26mp%3d250000-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d0-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d818%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d6517&Mode=0&PropertyID=5693121
Typing all that out is somehow making me feel a little bit better. Maybe there was a reason for us seeing that "sold" sign tonight. And yes, we do realize that nothing that's happened to us in the past 2 weeks is life-threatening or earth-shattering. Still, we'd appreciate it if the comedy of errors would come to an end sometime soon.
We still don't have a home phone since Rogers cancelled their FOURTH appointment with us. At least this time they notified us. More on that later.
We stupidly drove past our old house on the way home tonight. I've been stalking the real estate listings ever since we sold it... tonight we drove by and saw a SOLD sign on it. Ben and I both cried. We've talked a lot about how much we loved that house. Even last summer, we wondered if we should wait to look for a re-sale house instead of building since we knew that we'd only be getting one studio this way. The thing is, this house couldn't have been up for sale for more than two weeks. Those of you who know me well know that I can be very obsessive. I checked the listings frequently. Too frequently! The timing of the house going up for sale coincides exactly with the time we left Kansas.
Yes, we love the new house. But the house on Cedarwood Crescent was our home. That's where we brought home our baby. You know what they say... "There's no place like home." And wow... they listed it for a lot more than we did! It really is a seller's market out there right now.
http://www.mls.http://www.mls.ca/PropertyDetails.aspx?vd=&SearchURL=%3fMode%3d0%26Page%3d1%26vs%3d1%26rlt%3d%26cp%3d%26pt%3d0%26mp%3d250000-0-0%26mrt%3d-1-0-0%26Beds%3d0-0%26Baths%3d0-0%26f%3d%26ft%3dall%26o%3dA%26of%3d1%26ps%3d10%26ptgid%3d1%26aid%3d818%26MapURL%3d%253fAreaID%253d6517&Mode=0&PropertyID=5693121
Typing all that out is somehow making me feel a little bit better. Maybe there was a reason for us seeing that "sold" sign tonight. And yes, we do realize that nothing that's happened to us in the past 2 weeks is life-threatening or earth-shattering. Still, we'd appreciate it if the comedy of errors would come to an end sometime soon.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
For the sake of comparison...
Here's my abbreviated version of the move down to Kansas City as told to a friend in e-mail back in August 2005. It seems so tame in comparison:
We ended up leaving on Sun. Aug.7 because the guys had the truck almost fully packed by 3pm. We didn't leave until 8:30pm, but we figured we'd get across the border and maybe as far as Lansing that night. Logic seemed to say that crossing on a Sunday night around 9:30pm would be much quicker than crossing on Monday morning during rush hour.
LOGIC WAS WRONG!!! We sat at the border for over 1.5 hours. We later found out that Ben and Terry were there even longer with the truck. We had no problems actually crossing the border, it was just insanely busy! We got across just before 11pm and stopped for potty break/snacks in Port Huron. We very briefly debated just staying in PH but decided to keep going. Danielle and I drove until close to 1:30am and then finally said "ok, this is stupid, let's get a hotel." I think we stayed just outside of Lansing. It turned out that it was midnight before the guys got across, so they did stay in PH.
We didn't have cell phones. Ok, Danielle had a cell phone. She didn't inform me until Day 3 (Tues.) of our trip that she thought it only had to be plugged in to work. Ie. It wasn't turned on!! LOL. The guys didn't have a cell phone, but apparently they did try to call us. Our (stupid) plan was to meet up at Holiday Inn Express hotels along the way.
On Monday we drove all the way to Iowa City (about 5 hrs from Kansas City). We stopped at 3 or 4 Holiday Inn Express hotels along the way asking if Ben and Terry were registered there. Picture me walking in and saying "excuse me, I know this is kind of silly, but I'm travelling and I've lost my husband. Could you please check if he's staying here?" When we reached Iowa City, we just planned to get a room regardless of whether or not the guys were there. Well, the Holiday Inn Express said they had no rooms. I burst into tears (surprising myself!) and the lady called the Comfort Inn across the road and got us in there for a really good rate. There was a mall nearby, so Tues. morning we let R run around and did some shopping.
We got to Kansas City around 4:30pm Tuesday and decided to stop for dinner before looking for the apartment. Around 6pm we started our search. Ben had neglected to tell me exactly how to get there although I did know the address. All I could remember was that he said there was a trick. Little did anyone know that there are no less than 4 or 5 streets with the same name and NONE of them connect!! At 6:45pm Danielle went into a store to try to get directions. She came out at 7 and said they couldn't figure it out. She was all for getting a hotel that night, but I am stubborn. At this point I knew the guys were there already. Ok, I didn't really know, but I figured they were there since they wouldn't have to stop as much with the truck. I started driving randomly and then somehow saw the sign for our apartment complex! Too bad the leasing office closed at 7pm and it was now 7:05pm.
We drove around and found our apartment. Some of our stuff was inside, there were a few boxes on the porch, and there was NO SIGN of the truck. I think that's when I lost it. I couldn't believe that they would leave our stuff outside and just take off somewhere. It did not help that R was cranky either. Ugh. And there was no note on the door either...
So we walked around the complex for almost 1.5 hours with Danielle trying to convince me that the guys had gotten a hotel for the night. I knew better though - why waste more $ if they had the apt? At 8:30 the truck pulled in. Let's just say that our reunion was not pretty. I was so angry and upset at this point that Danielle basically pulled Terry aside, they took R for a walk and I lost it completely.
All's well that ends well though, I suppose. We're here. And now for the irony:
The guys got one of the last rooms at the Holiday Inn Express in Iowa City on the Monday night. In fact, while I was crying at the check-in desk, they had just headed out 5 minutes earlier to the Olive Garden next door. Note that this was the only hotel that I didn't ask if they were there. And they had a king suite with jacuzzi because it was the only room available when they checked in!!!! (Terry apparently insisted on paying) So TERRY got my dream date with Ben - dinner at Olive Garden and a king-sized bed with whirlpool/jacuzzi in-suite. Yes, they shared a bed. LOL. Even funnier... they were so tired on Tuesday that they had only brought in our queen mattress to the apartment. They had planned to repeat the bed-sharing! Hehe. Danielle and I had a good laugh over that one...
We ended up leaving on Sun. Aug.7 because the guys had the truck almost fully packed by 3pm. We didn't leave until 8:30pm, but we figured we'd get across the border and maybe as far as Lansing that night. Logic seemed to say that crossing on a Sunday night around 9:30pm would be much quicker than crossing on Monday morning during rush hour.
LOGIC WAS WRONG!!! We sat at the border for over 1.5 hours. We later found out that Ben and Terry were there even longer with the truck. We had no problems actually crossing the border, it was just insanely busy! We got across just before 11pm and stopped for potty break/snacks in Port Huron. We very briefly debated just staying in PH but decided to keep going. Danielle and I drove until close to 1:30am and then finally said "ok, this is stupid, let's get a hotel." I think we stayed just outside of Lansing. It turned out that it was midnight before the guys got across, so they did stay in PH.
We didn't have cell phones. Ok, Danielle had a cell phone. She didn't inform me until Day 3 (Tues.) of our trip that she thought it only had to be plugged in to work. Ie. It wasn't turned on!! LOL. The guys didn't have a cell phone, but apparently they did try to call us. Our (stupid) plan was to meet up at Holiday Inn Express hotels along the way.
On Monday we drove all the way to Iowa City (about 5 hrs from Kansas City). We stopped at 3 or 4 Holiday Inn Express hotels along the way asking if Ben and Terry were registered there. Picture me walking in and saying "excuse me, I know this is kind of silly, but I'm travelling and I've lost my husband. Could you please check if he's staying here?" When we reached Iowa City, we just planned to get a room regardless of whether or not the guys were there. Well, the Holiday Inn Express said they had no rooms. I burst into tears (surprising myself!) and the lady called the Comfort Inn across the road and got us in there for a really good rate. There was a mall nearby, so Tues. morning we let R run around and did some shopping.
We got to Kansas City around 4:30pm Tuesday and decided to stop for dinner before looking for the apartment. Around 6pm we started our search. Ben had neglected to tell me exactly how to get there although I did know the address. All I could remember was that he said there was a trick. Little did anyone know that there are no less than 4 or 5 streets with the same name and NONE of them connect!! At 6:45pm Danielle went into a store to try to get directions. She came out at 7 and said they couldn't figure it out. She was all for getting a hotel that night, but I am stubborn. At this point I knew the guys were there already. Ok, I didn't really know, but I figured they were there since they wouldn't have to stop as much with the truck. I started driving randomly and then somehow saw the sign for our apartment complex! Too bad the leasing office closed at 7pm and it was now 7:05pm.
We drove around and found our apartment. Some of our stuff was inside, there were a few boxes on the porch, and there was NO SIGN of the truck. I think that's when I lost it. I couldn't believe that they would leave our stuff outside and just take off somewhere. It did not help that R was cranky either. Ugh. And there was no note on the door either...
So we walked around the complex for almost 1.5 hours with Danielle trying to convince me that the guys had gotten a hotel for the night. I knew better though - why waste more $ if they had the apt? At 8:30 the truck pulled in. Let's just say that our reunion was not pretty. I was so angry and upset at this point that Danielle basically pulled Terry aside, they took R for a walk and I lost it completely.
All's well that ends well though, I suppose. We're here. And now for the irony:
The guys got one of the last rooms at the Holiday Inn Express in Iowa City on the Monday night. In fact, while I was crying at the check-in desk, they had just headed out 5 minutes earlier to the Olive Garden next door. Note that this was the only hotel that I didn't ask if they were there. And they had a king suite with jacuzzi because it was the only room available when they checked in!!!! (Terry apparently insisted on paying) So TERRY got my dream date with Ben - dinner at Olive Garden and a king-sized bed with whirlpool/jacuzzi in-suite. Yes, they shared a bed. LOL. Even funnier... they were so tired on Tuesday that they had only brought in our queen mattress to the apartment. They had planned to repeat the bed-sharing! Hehe. Danielle and I had a good laugh over that one...
It's long but funny... read at own risk!
This could get long. If you want the abbreviated version, there isn't one.
A Chronological Journey Home with Ben, Jane & Rachel (and let's not forget our friend Terry, without whom this may not have been quite as funny!)
On Saturday April 28th, I went to pick up Terry at the airport. For those of you who don't know, Terry is an old friend of mine from high school. He helped us move down to Kansas in 2005 and he was kind enough to come and help us again this time. We booked his plane ticket long before deciding to use movers, so he thought he was just going to have a fun vacation. Little did he know...
His plane was an hour late. That was fine by me since Ben was at his final concert at UMKC and Rachel was home with her favourite sitter. I got myself a snack and settled down with a book. To read uninterrupted for an entire hour during the day was sheer bliss! *Please note that if you do not currently have a small child demanding your attention 24/7 this may not seem as exciting as it really was.
Terry's plane finally arrived, at the same time as a plane carrying US army people coming home from Iraq. The airport was full of cheering people and the Kansas Motor Guard (? or something like that!) was out front to welcome the troops home.
We enjoyed a relaxing evening on the plaza where Terry played tourist and took pictures of all kinds of silly things.
The next day, we took Terry with us to our very last day playing at First Family Church. (www.ffc.org - we've been playing there all year and taking advantage of the nursery for Rachel instead of paying a sitter!) I'd love to say that we had a great time, but I actually only got to play the rehearsal. Fortunately for me, Rachel had pooped in her pants so as Ben likes to say, our lotto number finally came up! They use a sticker system to keep track of the kids there, and our number came up on the screen just as the 9am service was about to begin.
I cleaned Rachel up and then asked her if she wanted to come with me to Beth Shalom since by then I had missed playing the 9am service entirely. (We only play the first 20-25 minutes and then I dash off to Beth Shalom for a Hebrew class then zip back for the 10:45 service at First Family.) Rachel played nicely during class and then we decided to skip the 2nd service and go out for coffee with a friend and her daughter. Rachel and her friend had a great time and it was nice to get some adult conversation in too!
That decision was fortuitous since it prevented Terry from attending the bible study he was invited/conscripted to at the end of the 9am service by the "spy" in the church who passed him a note welcoming him and inviting him to the study. After the service, he was approached by the note passer's husband but luckily Ben was there to let him know that I had left a note and that he needed to come outside to meet us briefly.
We decided that we hadn't had enough ecumenism (is that a word?) for the day so we headed off to Independence, MO for the afternoon. We visited the Community of Christ temple with its amazing spiral tower and then decided that it would be a good idea to visit the Mormon Visitor Center across the road. As the doors opened for us and we were ushered inside, we all realized that it had probably been a mistake to do this. Hehe.
Amusingly enough, our guide Sister Peterson was more intriqued by Terry's Ukrainian Catholicism than by our Judaism. Rachel had had enough by this point though, and she ended up once again being our ticket to salvation. ;)
On Monday we decided to run errands after the movers had picked up our things. We went to the bank where we changed our address and supposedly activated my new debit card. On Tuesday, Terry and I toured the Dead Sea Scrolls with Rachel while Ben wrote his final exam. That night my bank card started declining transactions although Ben's was still working.
After a farewell to Shireinu (my Jewish choir - I will miss it very very much!), we got on the road to head to Nebraska by about 8:30 Tuesday night. We checked into our hotel after getting lost for a short while, and settled down for the night excited about our trip home.
On Wednesday morning we set out to meet a friend at the Omaha Zoo. Just before leaving the hotel, it occurred to me that our bank had a branch in Omaha so perhaps I could fix my debit card issue. Since Ben had just received an e-mail requesting that he immediately pay back the $1200 that UMKC had overpaid him (don't ask. Just don't ask.) we were especially excited to find the bank.
Our plan was to withdraw money from our Canadian account and deposit it into the US account. This would have worked nicely had our Canadian debit card allowed us to make a withdrawal. Since it kept saying "insufficient funds" we had to get creative.
Please keep in mind that we walked into a bank in Omaha, Nebraska saying that we were Canadians on our way home from Kansas City with a declining bank card and an immediate need to transfer a large sum of money from our Canadian account to our American account. We were officially homeless at this point too.
The nice bank lady really wanted to help us but said that her access was limited. She ended up calling our branch in Overland Park to sort out my debit card. They had to change our contact phone number to the Omaha bank lady's cell phone so that I could call and set up my PIN. After that, we set to work trying to figure out the money transfer. We confirmed that our Canadian bank account did indeed have sufficient funds - a good thing since all of our house money was in there at that point!!! - and we ended up writing a cheque from that account for deposit to the American account. Since our home branch is in Kansas and not Nebraska, it wasn't immediately deposited. Apparently it gets mailed to our home branch, then takes time to clear since it's Canadian, and only then will the funds appear. No worries... UMKC can wait for their money. We're not concerned.
By early afternoon we were on our way. After a brief lunch stop, I suggested that I drive while everyone else napped. Rachel fell asleep quickly, Ben was in and out, and Terry kept trying to nap unsuccessfully. I started playing mind games with myself.... “Jane, you can have that chocolate bar on the console when it's 4pm or when you get to 225,000km - whichever comes first!”
At approximately 3:55pm on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007, just past the 188 mile marker in Nowhere, Iowa, the van's transmission failed. Let me say that again just in case you are gasping in disbelief. The van's transmission failed. One of the indicators on the dashboard started going haywire, I heard grinding when I tapped the gas lightly, and we could smell something burning. I pulled over and we piled out of the van as fast as we could. Please note that Terry had asked how the rest of our day would go since Rachel was napping (she doesn't usually nap) and my response was that it would depend on how she woke up.
After we all got out, the guys went back for the instruments and our passports. We stood a safe distance away while Ben called AAA. We ended up pulling Rachel's carseat out too - she felt slightly better in the seat but was still pretty hysterical for awhile.
A state trooper came along shortly and helped the guys push the van further off the road. It was officially dead at this point. Soon after, a car rental man from Enterprise and a tow truck driver came on the scene. We were told that we'd need to go back to Newton, IA for a rental car although nowhere nearby was set up for one way rentals to Canada. Ben went with the tow truck driver to the truck stop 3 miles down the road to discuss our options since the driver had indicated that he might be able to buy our van for parts. He also told us that although there was an AAMCO not too far away, there would likely be no chance of getting it fixed quickly. Since it was already 5:30pm by that time we decided to not even pursue it. Ben and I were both in full agreement that if anything else happened to the van, that was it.
Terry, Rachel and I got in the rental car (yes, we installed her carseat!) and headed back to Newton, IA. Yes, Newton. The place I'd driven past earlier that afternoon thinking, “Hmm. Newton. Wonder what's there.” Once we got there, we learned that the nice man had no mini-vans available for rental but that he could provide us with an SUV. I left it to Terry to assess the SUV since I would be a horrible judge of space. It turned out that we could have had a minivan if we'd been willing to wait another half hour or so, but since we couldn't take this vehicle to Canada anyway, it didn't matter much to us. Shortly after 7pm we arrived at the truck stop. Ben had gotten nowhere in his negotiations with the truck driver since he wanted to discuss it with both of us. It turned out that he was leery of the title transfer, especially since our van was Canadian. We ended up basically selling it to him for the tires (since they were NEW in November!) since no-one was sure how the title transfer would go. (We got home to a cell phone message from the driver stating that he went to the Iowa courthouse and was told that he would need our customs papers for the car. Right. That's what the Kansas people said when we attempted to get Kansas license plates almost two years ago. Does nobody realize that the US has a LAND border with Canada!?!?!??!)
Terry and Ben worked very hard to creatively fit everything into the SUV for the trip through Coralville, IA (scene of the most ironic part of our trip down - I'll dig up that e-mail and post it later for those of you who don't know the story) and up to the Cedar Rapids airport where we'd been told that we could rent a vehicle to get us to Canada. In the end, we abandoned my two favourite laundry baskets and all of our bathroom & cleaning supplies. We literally had dirty laundry strewn throughout the SUV.
I will now backtrack slightly and mention that Rachel needed to go potty while we stood out on the I-80. I took out her potty seat and set it on the basket of towels. Yup, my daughter peed on the side of the I-80.
By a little after 9pm we arrived at the Cedar Rapids airport, which is about half an hour north out of our way. Ben had called his cousins in Cedar Rapids but they weren't home which is probably lucky for them! We all got out of the SUV and headed in to talk to another car company about getting a one way rental to Canada. Imagine this scene at the Hertz rental counter of a rather deserted airport in small-town Iowa:
“Hello, we need to rent a vehicle to get us to Canada. Our van blew up on the side of the I-80. What's that? Oh, yes, we really do need a van. We have a lot of stuff and we already left some of it in the van that we sold to the tow truck driver. We drove a rental car up here but we can't take it out of the state. Can you help us?”
If Shanna and Christine at the Hertz rental counter thought we were crazy, they hid it well. They offered us a choice of two SUV-type vehicles. Terry and Ben went to check them out while Rachel and I explored the airport. Unfortunately, both vehicles were way too small. We begged Shanna for a mini-van and she explained that she would have to call her manager. Thus follows our favourite quote from the trip as she tried to get her manager to allow her to release one of the vans that was on hold for the next day:
“These people are... screwed.”
Shanna managed to get us a Toyota Sienna. Wow, is that a nice van! Terry and Ben found a shark's tooth, lipstick and a tampon in the van. We ended up needing none of them.
Shanna took care of the paperwork while asking us for our CAA cards. Since we all have different last names, she asked me at one point which one was my husband. In my defense, we were all tired and giddy! Terry was on one side of me and Ben was on the other. I couldn't remember which one was where. My intention was to point to Ben and say “that one.” Apparently I said, “Uhhhh....” and looked from one to the other as if trying to decide. And that is all that I will say on the matter.
Fortunately, none of our craziness deterred Shanna from renting us the van, and she and Christine even allowed Terry to take a picture of them for posterity. We transferred everything to the van while Rachel toilet papered the parking lot for entertainment. Yes, we picked up the toilet paper after we were done.
Since we had completely missed our dinner date in Davenport with another friend, we decided to head up the street to Perkins for dinner. We got there at about 10:30pm and basically decided to just spend the night there. The guys took Rachel ahead to the restaurant while I went to get us hotel rooms. Amazingly, no-one fell asleep on a dinner plate and we all stumbled into the hotel to end what had been a very trying day. I should add that the lady at the hotel made the mistake of asking me if our trip was for business or pleasure. I don't think she was expecting the story that I told her!
As another aside, the moving truck driver had called us that afternoon to say that he was already in Michigan and was hoping to meet us at the border the next morning to sign the customs papers that would release our goods. We explained our situation and suggested that he call us in the morning to see where we were! Since we would need to be in London by 4:30pm on Thursday to sign papers at the brokerage office, we were doubtful that we would get our things before Monday. (The driver had to take his other shipment up to North Bay on Friday and would not have made it back to London before the close of business.)
The next day, we set off for what should have been a smooth 10 hour drive to London. Actually, it wasn't that bad. It just seemed to take forever, plus we did not get to stop at my favourite outlets in Michigan City! At this point, I need to mention that we were four Canadians driving a rental minivan with Texas plates. We were coming from Kansas City having abandoned our van in Iowa and heading home to London. The last thing we expected was a smooth border crossing. What a blessing that was!
At about 10:30pm we pulled into the parking lot of the Stoneridge Inn just outside of London. When the nice man at the desk asked for my home address and then my vehicle plates, I burst out laughing and told him our story. Since I didn't know what the plates were, I told him that I was sure it would be the only van in the parking lot with Texas plates. We got a kick out of driving around London with those plates, knowing that people would be staring. Hehe.
On Friday morning, we headed to the lawyers to sign papers for the house. Things were proceedingly smoothly. The only hitch was that we had to keep the $200/DAY rental car for the equivalent of an extra day since it would have been due at 6am and we really had no options at that point. Thankfully Terry had not flown home from Cedar Rapids (nice try!) since as of midnight on the 3rd our US car insurance expired. We did find out later that we were all insured by Hertz regardless but for awhile Terry was a very convenient chauffeur to have around.
We had a very productive morning as we sorted out appliances, insurance, driver's license renewal & address change, and eventually got the keys to our wonderful new house! Then it was off to the train station with Terry, after which Ben and I headed to our respective gigs.
The moving truck driver confirmed with us that he would arrive on Monday morning. Ben arranged to meet him at the brokerage place at 8am, or so he thought. Darren (the driver) showed up at 8:30am and papers were signed. We also had to pay $38 to release our goods. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? Ben then found out that he had to drive out to the London airport to speak to a customs officer and receive final clearance for our goods! Since he hadn't anticipated this, he didn't have his passport or visa papers with him. Luckily, we hadn't bothered returning our Kansas driver's licenses so Ben was able to prove that we had indeed been in Kansas since 2005. He got back home shortly after 11am and the movers finally arrived with our things at 12:30pm on Monday, May 7th.
During this time, I had been waiting patiently for Rogers to come and hook up our phone, cable and internet services. We had scheduled it back on April 23rd, and I even had a confirmation e-mail from them. A nice man from Union Gas showed up to check our lines, but that was it. No Rogers. When Ben called them from our Virgin (cellphone!), he was told that they had to move the installation date back to Wednesday since Virgin wouldn't release our number prior to that date. Since we had ordered 2 weeks prior, we were understandably irritated.
We cheered up when the movers arrived, and we quite enjoyed having Darren tell us how he didn't realize until he was leaving North Bay that he'd actually been on the coast! (For the non-Canadians, North Bay is NOT on the coast. Unless you mean the coast of Lake Nipissing. Hehe.)
Today is Wednesday. Once again we waited in vain for the Rogers people to show up. Once again, Ben wasted more cell phone time calling them and waiting on hold only to be told that someone had cancelled our order and they would get back to us in a few minutes. Please note that Canadian cell phones are expensive. We've put $60 on the darn thing since last Friday. Finally, Ben gave up and went over to our builder's sales office down the street to use the phone there. After 40 minutes, he was promised all sorts of wonderful things and told to expect a call back shortly. The lady called back on our American cell phone since we were once again out of time on the Virgin. (For anyone who cares, the American cell phone counts 1 minute as 7 minutes when calling long distance in Canada.) We were told that it would take another 5 business days for Virgin to release the number and that the earliest installation date available was May 18th. Ben basically told the lady to just cancel our order since she refused to let him speak to a manager who was higher up than she was.
We decided to go to the mall to see what Bell could do for us. Despite my strong dislike of Bell - after all, it did take 18 phone calls in 5 days to set up our phone properly back in 1999 - we were set to go with them. Unfortunately, Bell does not currently offer high speed internet in our area since it's a new subdivision. What a surprise.
We decided to go to the Rogers store and explain our situation. We didn't expect the same deals, but figured that if we could set up the services we could always call the Customer (Dis)Service line later to complain and get compensation. The girl that we worked with in the store was wonderful. The only real hitch was when she tried to get us approved for two cell phone lines and was told that our credit check denied us this. In the US, I'd understand. In Canada? That's insane!
After 2 long hours in the Rogers store (thankfully the nice man set the tv to Treehouse for Rachel), we thought we were all set to leave with two new Canadian cell phones, tv & internet set up for Friday and the home phone line set up for next Monday (which is earlier than the 18th, I might add!). I sent Ben and Rachel ahead to go across to a restaurant for dinner, saying that I would walk over and join them when we were all done. As the Rogers employee checked our voice mails on the cell phones to confirm that they were working, a strange thing happened. My phone was fine, but Ben's phone said:
“Hi, you have reached the voice mail of Dominique.”
Ben denies that he has a secret girlfriend, but in any case, Natasha (Rogers lady) and I put a stop to that very quickly!
And now, my friends, you have reached the end of our saga for now. I wrote you this tale of woe and laughter on borrowed wireless internet, and though I should feel shame and guilt, I feel nothing but mirth - and thankfulness that it wasn't any worse!
We're still car-less and phone-less, but we have our beautiful new house and we are back home in Canada. God bless America? Sure, just don't make me live there again!
A Chronological Journey Home with Ben, Jane & Rachel (and let's not forget our friend Terry, without whom this may not have been quite as funny!)
On Saturday April 28th, I went to pick up Terry at the airport. For those of you who don't know, Terry is an old friend of mine from high school. He helped us move down to Kansas in 2005 and he was kind enough to come and help us again this time. We booked his plane ticket long before deciding to use movers, so he thought he was just going to have a fun vacation. Little did he know...
His plane was an hour late. That was fine by me since Ben was at his final concert at UMKC and Rachel was home with her favourite sitter. I got myself a snack and settled down with a book. To read uninterrupted for an entire hour during the day was sheer bliss! *Please note that if you do not currently have a small child demanding your attention 24/7 this may not seem as exciting as it really was.
Terry's plane finally arrived, at the same time as a plane carrying US army people coming home from Iraq. The airport was full of cheering people and the Kansas Motor Guard (? or something like that!) was out front to welcome the troops home.
We enjoyed a relaxing evening on the plaza where Terry played tourist and took pictures of all kinds of silly things.
The next day, we took Terry with us to our very last day playing at First Family Church. (www.ffc.org - we've been playing there all year and taking advantage of the nursery for Rachel instead of paying a sitter!) I'd love to say that we had a great time, but I actually only got to play the rehearsal. Fortunately for me, Rachel had pooped in her pants so as Ben likes to say, our lotto number finally came up! They use a sticker system to keep track of the kids there, and our number came up on the screen just as the 9am service was about to begin.
I cleaned Rachel up and then asked her if she wanted to come with me to Beth Shalom since by then I had missed playing the 9am service entirely. (We only play the first 20-25 minutes and then I dash off to Beth Shalom for a Hebrew class then zip back for the 10:45 service at First Family.) Rachel played nicely during class and then we decided to skip the 2nd service and go out for coffee with a friend and her daughter. Rachel and her friend had a great time and it was nice to get some adult conversation in too!
That decision was fortuitous since it prevented Terry from attending the bible study he was invited/conscripted to at the end of the 9am service by the "spy" in the church who passed him a note welcoming him and inviting him to the study. After the service, he was approached by the note passer's husband but luckily Ben was there to let him know that I had left a note and that he needed to come outside to meet us briefly.
We decided that we hadn't had enough ecumenism (is that a word?) for the day so we headed off to Independence, MO for the afternoon. We visited the Community of Christ temple with its amazing spiral tower and then decided that it would be a good idea to visit the Mormon Visitor Center across the road. As the doors opened for us and we were ushered inside, we all realized that it had probably been a mistake to do this. Hehe.
Amusingly enough, our guide Sister Peterson was more intriqued by Terry's Ukrainian Catholicism than by our Judaism. Rachel had had enough by this point though, and she ended up once again being our ticket to salvation. ;)
On Monday we decided to run errands after the movers had picked up our things. We went to the bank where we changed our address and supposedly activated my new debit card. On Tuesday, Terry and I toured the Dead Sea Scrolls with Rachel while Ben wrote his final exam. That night my bank card started declining transactions although Ben's was still working.
After a farewell to Shireinu (my Jewish choir - I will miss it very very much!), we got on the road to head to Nebraska by about 8:30 Tuesday night. We checked into our hotel after getting lost for a short while, and settled down for the night excited about our trip home.
On Wednesday morning we set out to meet a friend at the Omaha Zoo. Just before leaving the hotel, it occurred to me that our bank had a branch in Omaha so perhaps I could fix my debit card issue. Since Ben had just received an e-mail requesting that he immediately pay back the $1200 that UMKC had overpaid him (don't ask. Just don't ask.) we were especially excited to find the bank.
Our plan was to withdraw money from our Canadian account and deposit it into the US account. This would have worked nicely had our Canadian debit card allowed us to make a withdrawal. Since it kept saying "insufficient funds" we had to get creative.
Please keep in mind that we walked into a bank in Omaha, Nebraska saying that we were Canadians on our way home from Kansas City with a declining bank card and an immediate need to transfer a large sum of money from our Canadian account to our American account. We were officially homeless at this point too.
The nice bank lady really wanted to help us but said that her access was limited. She ended up calling our branch in Overland Park to sort out my debit card. They had to change our contact phone number to the Omaha bank lady's cell phone so that I could call and set up my PIN. After that, we set to work trying to figure out the money transfer. We confirmed that our Canadian bank account did indeed have sufficient funds - a good thing since all of our house money was in there at that point!!! - and we ended up writing a cheque from that account for deposit to the American account. Since our home branch is in Kansas and not Nebraska, it wasn't immediately deposited. Apparently it gets mailed to our home branch, then takes time to clear since it's Canadian, and only then will the funds appear. No worries... UMKC can wait for their money. We're not concerned.
By early afternoon we were on our way. After a brief lunch stop, I suggested that I drive while everyone else napped. Rachel fell asleep quickly, Ben was in and out, and Terry kept trying to nap unsuccessfully. I started playing mind games with myself.... “Jane, you can have that chocolate bar on the console when it's 4pm or when you get to 225,000km - whichever comes first!”
At approximately 3:55pm on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007, just past the 188 mile marker in Nowhere, Iowa, the van's transmission failed. Let me say that again just in case you are gasping in disbelief. The van's transmission failed. One of the indicators on the dashboard started going haywire, I heard grinding when I tapped the gas lightly, and we could smell something burning. I pulled over and we piled out of the van as fast as we could. Please note that Terry had asked how the rest of our day would go since Rachel was napping (she doesn't usually nap) and my response was that it would depend on how she woke up.
After we all got out, the guys went back for the instruments and our passports. We stood a safe distance away while Ben called AAA. We ended up pulling Rachel's carseat out too - she felt slightly better in the seat but was still pretty hysterical for awhile.
A state trooper came along shortly and helped the guys push the van further off the road. It was officially dead at this point. Soon after, a car rental man from Enterprise and a tow truck driver came on the scene. We were told that we'd need to go back to Newton, IA for a rental car although nowhere nearby was set up for one way rentals to Canada. Ben went with the tow truck driver to the truck stop 3 miles down the road to discuss our options since the driver had indicated that he might be able to buy our van for parts. He also told us that although there was an AAMCO not too far away, there would likely be no chance of getting it fixed quickly. Since it was already 5:30pm by that time we decided to not even pursue it. Ben and I were both in full agreement that if anything else happened to the van, that was it.
Terry, Rachel and I got in the rental car (yes, we installed her carseat!) and headed back to Newton, IA. Yes, Newton. The place I'd driven past earlier that afternoon thinking, “Hmm. Newton. Wonder what's there.” Once we got there, we learned that the nice man had no mini-vans available for rental but that he could provide us with an SUV. I left it to Terry to assess the SUV since I would be a horrible judge of space. It turned out that we could have had a minivan if we'd been willing to wait another half hour or so, but since we couldn't take this vehicle to Canada anyway, it didn't matter much to us. Shortly after 7pm we arrived at the truck stop. Ben had gotten nowhere in his negotiations with the truck driver since he wanted to discuss it with both of us. It turned out that he was leery of the title transfer, especially since our van was Canadian. We ended up basically selling it to him for the tires (since they were NEW in November!) since no-one was sure how the title transfer would go. (We got home to a cell phone message from the driver stating that he went to the Iowa courthouse and was told that he would need our customs papers for the car. Right. That's what the Kansas people said when we attempted to get Kansas license plates almost two years ago. Does nobody realize that the US has a LAND border with Canada!?!?!??!)
Terry and Ben worked very hard to creatively fit everything into the SUV for the trip through Coralville, IA (scene of the most ironic part of our trip down - I'll dig up that e-mail and post it later for those of you who don't know the story) and up to the Cedar Rapids airport where we'd been told that we could rent a vehicle to get us to Canada. In the end, we abandoned my two favourite laundry baskets and all of our bathroom & cleaning supplies. We literally had dirty laundry strewn throughout the SUV.
I will now backtrack slightly and mention that Rachel needed to go potty while we stood out on the I-80. I took out her potty seat and set it on the basket of towels. Yup, my daughter peed on the side of the I-80.
By a little after 9pm we arrived at the Cedar Rapids airport, which is about half an hour north out of our way. Ben had called his cousins in Cedar Rapids but they weren't home which is probably lucky for them! We all got out of the SUV and headed in to talk to another car company about getting a one way rental to Canada. Imagine this scene at the Hertz rental counter of a rather deserted airport in small-town Iowa:
“Hello, we need to rent a vehicle to get us to Canada. Our van blew up on the side of the I-80. What's that? Oh, yes, we really do need a van. We have a lot of stuff and we already left some of it in the van that we sold to the tow truck driver. We drove a rental car up here but we can't take it out of the state. Can you help us?”
If Shanna and Christine at the Hertz rental counter thought we were crazy, they hid it well. They offered us a choice of two SUV-type vehicles. Terry and Ben went to check them out while Rachel and I explored the airport. Unfortunately, both vehicles were way too small. We begged Shanna for a mini-van and she explained that she would have to call her manager. Thus follows our favourite quote from the trip as she tried to get her manager to allow her to release one of the vans that was on hold for the next day:
“These people are... screwed.”
Shanna managed to get us a Toyota Sienna. Wow, is that a nice van! Terry and Ben found a shark's tooth, lipstick and a tampon in the van. We ended up needing none of them.
Shanna took care of the paperwork while asking us for our CAA cards. Since we all have different last names, she asked me at one point which one was my husband. In my defense, we were all tired and giddy! Terry was on one side of me and Ben was on the other. I couldn't remember which one was where. My intention was to point to Ben and say “that one.” Apparently I said, “Uhhhh....” and looked from one to the other as if trying to decide. And that is all that I will say on the matter.
Fortunately, none of our craziness deterred Shanna from renting us the van, and she and Christine even allowed Terry to take a picture of them for posterity. We transferred everything to the van while Rachel toilet papered the parking lot for entertainment. Yes, we picked up the toilet paper after we were done.
Since we had completely missed our dinner date in Davenport with another friend, we decided to head up the street to Perkins for dinner. We got there at about 10:30pm and basically decided to just spend the night there. The guys took Rachel ahead to the restaurant while I went to get us hotel rooms. Amazingly, no-one fell asleep on a dinner plate and we all stumbled into the hotel to end what had been a very trying day. I should add that the lady at the hotel made the mistake of asking me if our trip was for business or pleasure. I don't think she was expecting the story that I told her!
As another aside, the moving truck driver had called us that afternoon to say that he was already in Michigan and was hoping to meet us at the border the next morning to sign the customs papers that would release our goods. We explained our situation and suggested that he call us in the morning to see where we were! Since we would need to be in London by 4:30pm on Thursday to sign papers at the brokerage office, we were doubtful that we would get our things before Monday. (The driver had to take his other shipment up to North Bay on Friday and would not have made it back to London before the close of business.)
The next day, we set off for what should have been a smooth 10 hour drive to London. Actually, it wasn't that bad. It just seemed to take forever, plus we did not get to stop at my favourite outlets in Michigan City! At this point, I need to mention that we were four Canadians driving a rental minivan with Texas plates. We were coming from Kansas City having abandoned our van in Iowa and heading home to London. The last thing we expected was a smooth border crossing. What a blessing that was!
At about 10:30pm we pulled into the parking lot of the Stoneridge Inn just outside of London. When the nice man at the desk asked for my home address and then my vehicle plates, I burst out laughing and told him our story. Since I didn't know what the plates were, I told him that I was sure it would be the only van in the parking lot with Texas plates. We got a kick out of driving around London with those plates, knowing that people would be staring. Hehe.
On Friday morning, we headed to the lawyers to sign papers for the house. Things were proceedingly smoothly. The only hitch was that we had to keep the $200/DAY rental car for the equivalent of an extra day since it would have been due at 6am and we really had no options at that point. Thankfully Terry had not flown home from Cedar Rapids (nice try!) since as of midnight on the 3rd our US car insurance expired. We did find out later that we were all insured by Hertz regardless but for awhile Terry was a very convenient chauffeur to have around.
We had a very productive morning as we sorted out appliances, insurance, driver's license renewal & address change, and eventually got the keys to our wonderful new house! Then it was off to the train station with Terry, after which Ben and I headed to our respective gigs.
The moving truck driver confirmed with us that he would arrive on Monday morning. Ben arranged to meet him at the brokerage place at 8am, or so he thought. Darren (the driver) showed up at 8:30am and papers were signed. We also had to pay $38 to release our goods. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? Ben then found out that he had to drive out to the London airport to speak to a customs officer and receive final clearance for our goods! Since he hadn't anticipated this, he didn't have his passport or visa papers with him. Luckily, we hadn't bothered returning our Kansas driver's licenses so Ben was able to prove that we had indeed been in Kansas since 2005. He got back home shortly after 11am and the movers finally arrived with our things at 12:30pm on Monday, May 7th.
During this time, I had been waiting patiently for Rogers to come and hook up our phone, cable and internet services. We had scheduled it back on April 23rd, and I even had a confirmation e-mail from them. A nice man from Union Gas showed up to check our lines, but that was it. No Rogers. When Ben called them from our Virgin (cellphone!), he was told that they had to move the installation date back to Wednesday since Virgin wouldn't release our number prior to that date. Since we had ordered 2 weeks prior, we were understandably irritated.
We cheered up when the movers arrived, and we quite enjoyed having Darren tell us how he didn't realize until he was leaving North Bay that he'd actually been on the coast! (For the non-Canadians, North Bay is NOT on the coast. Unless you mean the coast of Lake Nipissing. Hehe.)
Today is Wednesday. Once again we waited in vain for the Rogers people to show up. Once again, Ben wasted more cell phone time calling them and waiting on hold only to be told that someone had cancelled our order and they would get back to us in a few minutes. Please note that Canadian cell phones are expensive. We've put $60 on the darn thing since last Friday. Finally, Ben gave up and went over to our builder's sales office down the street to use the phone there. After 40 minutes, he was promised all sorts of wonderful things and told to expect a call back shortly. The lady called back on our American cell phone since we were once again out of time on the Virgin. (For anyone who cares, the American cell phone counts 1 minute as 7 minutes when calling long distance in Canada.) We were told that it would take another 5 business days for Virgin to release the number and that the earliest installation date available was May 18th. Ben basically told the lady to just cancel our order since she refused to let him speak to a manager who was higher up than she was.
We decided to go to the mall to see what Bell could do for us. Despite my strong dislike of Bell - after all, it did take 18 phone calls in 5 days to set up our phone properly back in 1999 - we were set to go with them. Unfortunately, Bell does not currently offer high speed internet in our area since it's a new subdivision. What a surprise.
We decided to go to the Rogers store and explain our situation. We didn't expect the same deals, but figured that if we could set up the services we could always call the Customer (Dis)Service line later to complain and get compensation. The girl that we worked with in the store was wonderful. The only real hitch was when she tried to get us approved for two cell phone lines and was told that our credit check denied us this. In the US, I'd understand. In Canada? That's insane!
After 2 long hours in the Rogers store (thankfully the nice man set the tv to Treehouse for Rachel), we thought we were all set to leave with two new Canadian cell phones, tv & internet set up for Friday and the home phone line set up for next Monday (which is earlier than the 18th, I might add!). I sent Ben and Rachel ahead to go across to a restaurant for dinner, saying that I would walk over and join them when we were all done. As the Rogers employee checked our voice mails on the cell phones to confirm that they were working, a strange thing happened. My phone was fine, but Ben's phone said:
“Hi, you have reached the voice mail of Dominique.”
Ben denies that he has a secret girlfriend, but in any case, Natasha (Rogers lady) and I put a stop to that very quickly!
And now, my friends, you have reached the end of our saga for now. I wrote you this tale of woe and laughter on borrowed wireless internet, and though I should feel shame and guilt, I feel nothing but mirth - and thankfulness that it wasn't any worse!
We're still car-less and phone-less, but we have our beautiful new house and we are back home in Canada. God bless America? Sure, just don't make me live there again!
Thursday, May 03, 2007
On the road
Here's a summary of our trip thus far:
The van's transmission blew up. In the words of Rachel, our van is "smoked." We abandoned it in rural Iowa. (Ok, we sold it to the tow truck driver.) Now we're on our 2nd rental vehicle and are staying the night in Cedar Rapids because we don't feel like driving through the night. Why we are in Cedar Rapids is another story for another time.
Prayers for safe travel would be much appreciated. We're hoping for a smooth border crossing but not counting on it. We're currently driving a rental van with Texas plates. We came from Kansas City, abandoned our car in Iowa, and now we're heading to Ontario. That should go over well at the border.
We're all safe and no one has been hurt. I'll update with the full story later.
Having a great time! Wish you were here! ;)
The van's transmission blew up. In the words of Rachel, our van is "smoked." We abandoned it in rural Iowa. (Ok, we sold it to the tow truck driver.) Now we're on our 2nd rental vehicle and are staying the night in Cedar Rapids because we don't feel like driving through the night. Why we are in Cedar Rapids is another story for another time.
Prayers for safe travel would be much appreciated. We're hoping for a smooth border crossing but not counting on it. We're currently driving a rental van with Texas plates. We came from Kansas City, abandoned our car in Iowa, and now we're heading to Ontario. That should go over well at the border.
We're all safe and no one has been hurt. I'll update with the full story later.
Having a great time! Wish you were here! ;)
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