Gotta love getting the run-around.

We have been trying to take care of some of the lingering paperwork for the claim on Jo’s back injury. Well, we went to his physician’s office yesterday to get a printout of the dates and times he has attended for his physiotherapy sessions. We step up to one of the reception desks (there are 4 total) and asked how to go about obtaining those copies. The young lady told us to have a seat and she would step back and ask the physician. So we sat there for about 30 minutes or so, just twiddling our thumbs and watching patients enter and leave. Finally I told Jo that we should probably ask one of the other ladies, to see what the hold up was. She said “X has stepped out for lunch”. X = the first lady we talked to. I am a little stumped that the lady would just up and leave without doing what she said she was going to do - help us. So we explained the whole thing to the other lady and she buzzed back to the physician. Of course, it was his lunch break too so they asked us to come back later in the day. No specific time given other than “We close at 6pm”, so we showed up for a third try at about 3pm. We figured lunch breaks were over by then and we would be able to get in and out fairly quickly. On most occasions, that would be true. For us, not so much. We get back and found out that his physician never returned from his lunch break because he took off half of the day and is off all day today. Lovely. Of course the other physicians in the office will not sign off on the forms for us, so now we have to go back tomorrow afternoon and get them.

I cannot stand getting the run-around.

Jo quit his job today. I will try to make this “story” as short and sweet as possible but if it turns into a really long rant, consider this your warning!

As you may recall from many of my recent entries, Jo has been attending 3-4 sessions of physiotherapy each week due to an injury he sustained at work. The injury happened back in June. Between then and now, he has missed approximately 5 weeks of work. Two weeks were paid through his personal and vacation time, which he had acquired since he started working for the company. They then suggested he take another 2 weeks off to recuperate but he would still be required to attend the physiotherapy. They filed all kinds of paperwork for worker’s compensation and such, and while filling out some of it he was asked to see a Human Resources rep. They (the rep) said he should have never been asked to use personal or vacation time for this because workers compensation is supposed to cover this kind of stuff, as would his short term disability if it rolled over to that. They basically said he would be reimbursed for time loss. Sounded great but I guess we should have known it was too good to be true, right? I agree.

So fast forward to yesterday. Jo went back to work, for the first time in several weeks and went to speak with one of the guys in LP (loss prevention) about the position he applied for before missing time. He was a shoe-in and was told he had the job but they would wait to transfer him to it till he got back to work. This position would benefit Jo because there is no lifting, pulling or pushing involved. It is basically like security but he would be making more per hour. It would also benefit the company because he would no longer pose a threat. By that I mean a safety threat or possibly loss if he were to injure himself any further. So, anyway. The guy tells him to get with DM from HR (I will not post her name, I am well aware that some of his co-workers read my blog.. which is fine, I do not mind but I will not involve people from his work). Well, DM says she heard through the grapevine that they were firing Jo, so they filled the position he applied for. Now, if anyone had “heard” this, surely they would have verified it.. especially someone with HR (human resources). She also said it had not showed up in the system yet, that he was fired but that the head guy out there would likely be doing the firing on Monday (when Jo would not even be there).

Jo and I talked about it and I told him that he should NOT let them fire him. So he quit today, before they had a chance. It was not just about this recent thing, he actually found out a lot of stuff (negative) about the company. When someone is injured, it is considered a bad mark against the company. So instead of doing the proper paperwork, they send the employees to “their” physicians. See, this tells me those physicians are on the companies payroll. The reason we think this (as well as other employees) is because no one is ever allowed to really miss work after an injury. They are required to attend therapy by their physicians but still have to return to work. This way the company does not have to do certain paperwork, the workers do not miss time which would put the company into a bind with overtime from other workers and guess what? Those physicians have a steady income.

It is all way too fishy, so I think Jo is going to “talk” to someone about this. It just really stinks because he really loved his job. It had great hours, benefits (so we thought) and paid well. He would get paid for 40 hours, even if he only worked 30 for the week.

I was telling Crissy about it last night and she asked if I was freaking out about it. I told her I actually wasn’t because I was thinking of using this as an excuse to bring up “Newfoundland”. Haha! Seriously though. It would be perfect timing, not that I would have wanted this to happen but think about it - Jo is not employed right now, our lease is up in 2 weeks and his friends are moving to Winnipeg. Perfect timing, I think.

Anyway. I am a little grumpy about the way they treated my husband. I really hope his talking to someone is going to lead to some kind of investigation with this company because it is wrong that they are doing this to so many people. Jo has never in his life suffered an injury at work like this. He was pinned between a pallet jack and a wall at work once, but he missed half a day and it was only because of having to go to the ER about the huge gash in his leg. He has worked with similar companies his entire life and has never suffered like this and has never been treated so poorly by his employer. It sort of reminds me of the way I was treated at the hospital I worked for, as well as the bank. Though my cases were far different - I never suffered an injury and the departments I was in, consisted of all females (not always a good idea, by the way).

But I guess it is like I said to Jo - all things happen for a reason.

I would really appreciate it if those of you downloading and using my themes would leave the links in the sidebars, as I’ve requested in the theme descriptions. This is so that other bloggers can find their way to the themes page and download these themes to use on their own blogs. Plus, as a person who likes to credit where it’s due, it just seems like the respectful thing to do after all of the work I’ve put into the graphics and what not.

I normally try to avoid making posts like this because I loathe getting into big debates over things like politics, religion and the more controversial things like abortion and homosexuality. I am in no way afraid of my opinion or what others may think of it but there are some people that you could debate with for a year and what you are saying just will not sink in. I would rather save my energy, time and breath for other things.

That being said, I do have something I want to say in regards to an entry on a blog (which will be unlinked, I will not send the woman drama nor do I wish for people to bark at her for her opinion) and it really struck a nerve. She is basically saying that someone who is “gay” should not work in the mental health field because they “need help”…

Since when does someone’s sexuality make them more capable or incapable of providing mental health care? Because I am heterosexual, am I more competent than my homosexual relative or friend? That just sounds ridiculous to me.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. I am certainly not saying that my opinion is the right opinion or their opinion is the wrong opinion, but to suggest that someone is incapable of providing “help” to those in need simply because they prefer to be with the same sex, verses the opposite sex seems wrong. These professionals are educated and trained to provide care and for many, caring for people comes naturally. Why should any of us say they are in no position to provide this help?

Like I said, this isn’t the normal for me… Posting about things like this but I really felt I should do this post, so I did.

Jo went for his second session of physiotherapy today. This session lasted twice as long as his first, so he is pretty sore right now. He kept me up all night last night (Monday night) tossing and turning. I know he couldn’t help it though, he was just in pain and couldn’t get comfortable. They said that his employer requests that he attends 3-5 sessions of physiotherapy each week for as long as he is under “Worker’s Compensation”. Hopefully this will get him all straightened out.

After his appointment, I drove over to the UPS warehouse to pick up one of my handbags (from the seller I had an issue with, mentioned in a previous entry a couple of days ago). I forgot to bring the tracking number with me and at that time, had no idea the seller shipped to “Scribblescratch” though I clearly said “J— Jones”, so I was told to get the tracking number and return to the warehouse. Half an hour later I returned (stinking traffic). After they pull up the record, they head to the back and grab my package. Before handing my package over to me, they inform me that I owe $35.75. Now, I was already upset with this seller after what happened earlier in the week, so I know there had to be smoke billowing from my ears when they told me that. I asked what this was for and the woman behind the counter said “Shipping and handling”. My mouth dropped, “No, I paid $22.95 shipping and handling when I paid for the item. I have proof of this..” - I could feel my blood boiling. She suggested I speak to someone with Customer Service via their telephone, so I did and was basically told the same thing. The woman on the other end said that the “shipper” (seller) had shipped this as COD. I was shocked and angry. I asked them to hold the package and she understood, saying that was no problem at all. I came home and right away sent off an email to the seller, along with submitting a dispute resolution. I wanted a refund for both items I had purchased, even the item that had yet to be sent. After submitting those, I contacted PayPal - they reimbursed me $35 so that I could pick up the package. Their reasoning for the reimbursement was that the history on PayPal shows the extra for shipping/handling and insurance. OK, fair enough. The seller finally returns my emails (never my phone calls) and says that this is a PayPal error. She provided proof that PayPal had in fact deducted her account for shipping costs and for whatever reason, still stamped the package as COD. At this point, I apologize to the seller but explained that I was going on what I had been told by the UPS staff and because I couldn’t reach her at the time, had no other choice but take it to the next step (contacting Ebay and PayPal). She understood and per my request, refunded me for the second bag (the camel colored one which caused the first issue with this seller). We have mutually agreed that no negative feedback will be left regarding this item, that we will just go our merry ways after feedback is left for the black handbag I will pick up tomorrow.

I really wanted that handbag - you have no idea how badly but it’s OK. I will survive, this isn’t going to kill me!

Speaking of handbags..

*** CONTEST REMINDED ***
I will be taking submissions to “Handbag Love“, my new contest, through August 31st at midnight EST.

That said, I am going to call it a night. It has been a frustrating day, night and now earlier morning.

I am in such a bad mood right now. I just logged into one of my email accounts (the one I use for Ebay) - instantly I take notice to the bold print staring back at me “Unpaid Item dispute“. Say what? I see it’s for the camel colored Guess handbag I recently did a Buy-it-now on (from a seller I’ve purchased other bags from before). So I logged into Ebay and my PayPal account (in separate windows obviously). I know good and dern well that $156.06 CAD was extracted from my account early last week and the seller was sent whatever that came out to in USD ($142 something). So I click account history in PayPal and while it’s loading, I’m filling in my information in regards to the dispute screen at Ebay. I click back over to the PayPal screen and wouldn’t you know it - I PAID the seller on August 17th. So I get my copy of the payment history and submit it (in pieces because it was so long) with my dispute reply.

This just really ticks me off. I have a perfect track record on Ebay and I absolutely will not have this seller tarnish it. I understand there’s a small chance that she’s overlooked something but that’s not my problem, that’s her responsibility. Before putting in that dispute, she should have looked over her Ebay account (I’m pretty sure it shows it’s been paid when you do it through the Ebay console, it shows it’s paid for me there), her PayPal account history and her email account. One of those would have provided her with the information showing the item has been paid for. Instead, she trots her happy rump over to Ebay and files the “Unpaid Item dispute” claim.

She surely better hope that if this is going to prevent her from shipping the item I have already paid for, that she’s going to reimburse me. I will gladly take my business elsewhere.

Man am I ever angry!

I know many of you entered into one of the same contests that I did recently - “Ashwin’s $2500″ contest. You should all know it was a complete scam. He lied. There was no prize and no “real” winner. It was linkbait. I am no longer linking to this scammer’s site and neither should you (read the first link provided below - there’s a better alternative to deleting your post).

If you would like to read more about the scam, you can do so by going here and here.

I have mentioned it on many occasions - the fact that I have very sensitive skin. I have never noticed any problems with my scalp because of that, until a few days ago. I recently switched to a new shampoo and conditioner. Well, within about 2 days, I noticed a small red spot along my hairline on my forehead. I figured it might have just been from brushing my hair too roughly when I pull it up, since I had been wearing it back in a clip. Well, today makes 7 days since I started using this shampoo and conditioner, it looks awful. I had Jo check my scalp, where I couldn’t see it. As I figured, it is all over my scalp. I can honestly say, this has never happened before. Even after dying my hair for over 15 years now, I have never had any kind of scalp irritation.

This is annoying. I know I have to discontinue use but that upsets me because my hair has looked so much better for the last week. It’s been way shinier and feels so much softer. It wouldn’t be worth it to continue using it, I know but I sure do hate that I have to part with it!

PS; Don’t forget about my handbag contest!

Remember the troubles I’ve been talking about, with my host for herbrokentoy? Well, they responded to my ticket (BEFORE CLOSING, might I add) telling me to log into my control panel, delete the old FTP account and issue a new one, with a new password. Are you kidding me?? Did they not read the entire ticket, where I stated I cannot log into either of these things? The same username/password assigned for FTP is assigned for the control panel. ARGH.

Now they’d like for me to tell them the last 4 digits of my credit card that’s on file. I never had a credit card on file, I had a debit card and that debit card expired in 2006, so it’s no longer in my hands. The last time I paid for my hosting (I pay yearly) was October of last year. I paid via PayPal because the cards on file had expired and were no longer being used. How would I know this information if I wasn’t the owner of the domain? Please tell me that? And please explain to me how I’m able to log into the support ticket area, using the same email address there, that’s on file for their billing records??? My husband seems to think they’re under the impression my account has been hacked. It has not. If my account was hacked, surely the “hacker” would’ve done something to my site, right? Surely they would’ve replaced my blog with some other index page, like what happens when most people are hacked. You know, so that the owner KNOWS they’ve been hacked?

They also refuse to explain WHY I’m having this issue. I’ve not changed my password in over a year. No one else seems to be complaining about this.

ARGH.

I can’t do anything but blog from there at this point. I can’t upload files or anything.

I am seriously fed up with Host Once. FED UP. There’s no tech support line so I phoned their sales line this morning - the only phone number provided on their website. My support ticket had not been answered YET. So the woman that answered says “Host Once billing.. blah blah”.. and I said “Yes ma’am, my domain has been down for almost 2 days now due to maintenance on the server it’s located on. I was told to check the status.hostonce.com page for updates but it hasn’t been updated since August the 8th..”.. She then replied saying I should check “status.hostonce.com” for the updates. Uhm, I stated mere seconds earlier that I had already done this. So, she says there’s no tech support line and there’s nothing anyone there can do to help me. I’m basically stuck waiting this mess out.

Now, keep in mind, I have been a customer of hostonce.com for 6 years this October. SIX years that I have spent my money, even during some rough times there (server problems of the past). I want to give them the benefit of a doubt, you know? I’ve trusted them for 6 years to do me right. I understand things happen but 48 hours is not a good sign, especially when you lack the ability or desire to keep your customers informed on the status. I have asked on several occasions today for an update on the time frame. Yeah, I know some things aren’t predictable but a simple “We’re working as hard as we can to get things running again.. it might be several hours or several days”.. but what do I get? “Check the status.hostonce.com page for updates” in a reply to my current ticket (in the only reply today).

I have missed almost $100 in payments since yesterday. I have had things rejected and at this point, there’s no guarantee I can resubmit in the allotted time because NO ONE is updating me.

This is bad customer service. No communication is bad customer service. Closing tickets when issues aren’t resolved is bad customer service. Not having a number customers can reach you at for tech issues is bad customer service.

To make matters worse, I’ve been told that when things are back up and running that I will have my site restored but it could only be partially restored. UGH.

To those I chat with on a regular basis, I’m sorry for not being around much lately. As I stated on Herbrokentoy.com, I’m just taking a little downtime.