Free lunch
Must be my lucky day (see Customer Service below). I stopped at Taco Bell on my way home to get some cheap eats. The help was slow and unfriendly, but as I stood waiting for my order I watched the food prep guy putting together orders, shooting sauces, cheese and sour cream on various containers of... whatever.
He screwed up two orders of Nachos Bell Grande by putting sour cream on them when the customer had asked for none. I figured he'd sweep them into the trash, but instead he turned to me and asked if I wanted two free Nachos Bell Grande.
So there IS such a thing as a free lunch. Next thing you know people in Customer Service will actually be helpful...
Customer service: wow!
For years I've purchased domain names through GoDaddy.com because the price is reliably as about cheap as you'll find anywhere. On the other hand, as anyone who's signed up via the the GoDaddy site knows, actually making the purchase requires you to go through multiple screens selling add-ons of one sort or another before you finally reach the check-out. A pain in the butt.
Today I wanted to renew a couple of domains to take advantage of a mailing offering 20% off. No problem, right? Wrong. No matter what I tried I kept getting a screen that sternly told me that "the registry does not allow the specified renewal length."
In frustration I finally dialed the Customer Service phone number (not toll-free, a bad sign). I got through the first two stages of voice-mail screening and hit a snag (another bad sign). But fortunately that took me to a real person: "Hi, my name is Dave."
Much to my surprise, Dave handled my renewals quickly, and not only did he NOT try to sell me anything, he asked if I was using the hosting plan I was paying $5 a month for. Actually, I wasn't—it was a project that never quite got off the ground—so he cheerfully suggested he cancel it for me.
Huh?
Friendly, efficient Customer Service that saves me money instead of trying to get me to spend more...vs. a website that's confusing, unfriendly, and focused on adding more crap to my shopping cart. The moral of the story? Use GoDaddy.com... but pick up the phone and call 1-480-505-8820.
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Surf's up
A steady wind, about 25 miles per hour from the northeast, made for pretty good wave action today at Edgewater.
The bright sunshine was great, since with the temperature in the 40s it was a pretty chilly walk along the shore.