I fought the law and... I won???

You may have read about my rants on Hewlett Crappard/Comcrap in the past. If not, where have you been? Are you not reading these things? Why am I wasting time putting them out there??? Check this out if you want to be updated quickly:

http://patrickphoto.blogspot.com/2010/10/comcraphewlett-crappard.html

So, it's been a while since I've been willing to chat about this online, mainly because when discussing it, I tend to chip all my teeth from clenching my jaw. But I am determined when it comes to money, just ask my brother and sister in law; I am Mr. Craigslist to them.

I spent a lot of money on a laptop that wouldn't turn on, and to say it wasn't fun, is putting it mildly. I won't review it but let's just say I also received the crappiest of usual crappy service from WorstBuy. The 14-year-old female manager (I won't tell you her name but her name tag said Jess B) from WorstBuy who told me that she didn't have to tell me her name kept telling me to go back and read my contract instead of listening to those rascally, jokester sales people told me. What do they know? They only represent the company, WB, on the stock exchange.

Anyway, after several emails and letters to both companies, Worst Buy and Hewlett Crappard/Comcrap, I received nothing but heartache. About a month ago, after tons of Internet research (they don't want you to find their names) I wrote even more letters to each of four high level executives at both mega corporations. I didn't want to give up as they sold me a lemon. Reading the Internet, I discovered there were thousands of other people who were just as upset as I was about the 'quality' of their products. The sticker on my laptop says, "BUILT TO LAST", of course, in fine print it says "one day past warrantee'.

I finally did hear back from WorstBuy and he was very nice. He apologized for all the problems and told me to go pound sand as they didn't care enough to back their products. When I reviewed the rude treatment by his store manager, he told me "We don't care. We don't have to. Circus City is gone and we're the only game in town." or words to that effect. To be honest, he actually offered me a $40 gift certificate from WorstBuy. I believe I told him to cram the gift certificate somewhere as I never intended to step foot in their store again. He told me to have a nice day and I told him I'd have whatever kind of day I felt like having.

The next week, as we were finishing dinner, the phone rang. We didn't answer as family time is family time. However, when the voice said "This is CeCe from Hewlett Crappard." I picked up the phone. As we talked, she apologized for the problems but she told me that they could not give me a new laptop. She said, however, that she was willing to repair the laptop for free and even send me a pre-paid Fed-Ex box to ship it. I told her that that would be lovely as it's all I wanted was a laptop that actually turned on when you hit the on/off button and worked for more than five minutes. Hey, I'm easy to please.

Amazingly, within two days, the box showed up on my doorstep and I shipped my laptop back. I checked the tracking form two days later to make sure they received it and to my surprise, they were already delivering it back to me that day!

I opened up my box, turned it on, and it actually worked! For a full week now, it has worked fine every time, something it had never done previously.

I didn't pay a dime, except for stamps for all my numerous letters. Paula and I are still in shock but as I've found before, it pays to be a squeaky wheel.

So, Hewlett Crappard/Comcrap has changed slightly in my mind and shall no longer have that name but a new one: Hewlett Crappard/Compaq. They have earned losing half a crap from their name. We'll see how it works over the next few months as I have a ninety day warranty. I may eliminate the Crappard portion too, but I doubt it.

However, WorstBuy continues to be WorstBuy and I shall not be visiting them any time soon.

My Mom used to tell me that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I'm sure she's be happy to know that I got a little bit of satisfaction from not letting a major corporation get away with selling me a lemon.

And if she see Jess B next time you're in Worst Buy, tell her Pat Henry says hey!

When Irish eyes are smilin'... and telling jokes...

It was the day of the big event, the annual St. Patty's Day church corn beef and cabbage dinner. It usually is attended mostly by the older members of our church but we go to support the church. I'm also on the social action committee. And most of the others do all the work, I'm on it in name only as we have very dedicated members of our church.

We invited Memere to go along with us as she knows many people at our church too and we try to get her out as often as we can. She knew many people there and she was so happy to be included as she told us again and again how happy she was to go with us.

After dinner, it was time for some Irish tunes and some joke telling. First on the list were those Henry kids. Kate stepped right up to the microphone and told her joke which got a nice laugh. Thomas' joke, which was pretty long and involved, received a huge laugh. He told it well and only gave away the timing of the punchline by the huge smile on his face.

When all jokes were done, a gift certificate was awarded to the best told joke of the night. Surprisingly, those darn Henry kids won the award and received another round of applause.

They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and as their Dad is a complete nut, I agree. I was proud not only because they won, but having the courage to stand up in front a large crowd and tell their joke. It's something their Dad would have had trouble doing at their age, maybe even now.

Faith and begorra, we have some fine Irish kids.

Kate delivers the goods

Delivering her cookies to a neighbor down the street, Kate hops on her bike and took off. Despite the chill, she wanted her bike as the sidewalks had finally relented from four feet of snow. The sun was out and it felt more like spring.

Earlier, she asked me if she could get her bike out and after pumping up her tires a bit (they were practically frozen), she headed out. She had a load of girl scout cookies in a backpack as I watched her go down the street and around the corner, out of sight. I noted to Paula about how quickly they're growing up.

She made call after call to our neighbors, asking if this would be a good time to come over and deliver cookies. She looks up each number, calls them herself and is not bashful at all. She used to be a bit shy but not any longer.

Coming back into the house with the cash from another sale, she commented, "I feel so independent when I do that."

Yes, she sure looked independent going out into the world all by herself. This is one dad who's having a hard time believing it. You want time to stand still a little bit but it doesn't.

She's growing up. There is nothing we can do but stand back and be proud of her. I sure am.