NTB and Customer Service

Bethany quoted a marketing stat for me once. She said that, when a person has a good experience at a business, they will tell 11 people; when a person has a bad experience at a business, they will tell 13 people.

Early last week, I was about ready to tell 13 people about NTB. But since they redeemed themselves, now I'll tell 11.

Two weeks ago, I went in to get 4 brand new tires for Bethany's soon-to-be-sold car. Cost was $500+. Not the cheapest tires in the world, but I've had good customer service experiences with NTB before, so it was worth it to me.

After coming home that day, I checked my mailbox... and found a $25-off-4-tires coupon from NTB! But... I just bought the tires that morning! So, the natural thing to do is bring the coupon and the receipt into the store and ask. On Monday, that's what I did.

So I returned to NTB and explained the situation. Come on... after getting my $500+, their crediting me back $25 should be well worth it to keep a customer. But the guy at the counter, after talking with a guy in the back, came out and said,

"Sorry, man. Nothing we can do. You should have brought the coupon in when you bought the tires."

Grr. I didn't have the coupon when I bought the tires. I got the coupon afterwards.

"Well, you must have received the coupon as a promotional thank-you after you bought these tires."

Grr. On the same day? Your marketing department definitely can't turn it around this quick. I'm on your list because, last year, I spent $500+ for tires for my other car!

"Sorry... nothing we can do. Next time, bring the coupon in when you make your purchase."

Fine. I will not talk to a manager. I will call NTB's customer service. So that evening, I had a lovely conversation with a customer service rep, explaining the situation. She understood what happened, was surprised that they would not credit me the $25, and said that she would pass my case on to upper management.

The next morning, I get a phone call from the manager of this specific NTB store. He asked me to explain the story, which I did. His response was...

"Hey man... $25 is not that much. So sure, we'll credit you. But really, people aren't able to redeem coupons after a purchase. You wouldn't be able to do this at Walmart or any other store..." (Actually... you can do this at other stores. Tons of stores do this, because it's the equivalent of just returning your item and then re-buying it with the coupon. But I didn't raise this issue with him.)

So he give me back $25, after lecturing me.

Post-post Note:

When I started this entry, I was going to write about how NTB has made it back onto my Customer Service happy list. So they credited me back $25. Even with a little bit of hassle, that was nice of them. Thank you.

BUT, after browsing around a little bit on the NTB website, I now see that there is an internet coupon for $40 off 4 tires. Wait a second. $40? Grr. They gave me a lecture for using my $25 off coupon which was mailed to me since I was a loyal customer... and here on the internet for everyone is a $40 off coupon?

Oh well. I will learn about my own sense of entitlement and how that's wrong. I will learn about giving up my rights. I will learn to scour the net for coupons before making a big purchase.

SBUX BDay Tally Sheet

Hello friends!
Thanks for celebrating with Alvin either through blog or at SBUX.

I wanted to give you a rundown on the stats for the SBUX Bday Party. Every visitor was important and very special to Alvin and me, but some stood out in the stats.

10.5 hours at a Starbucks
37 unique visitors (not including Skype appearances)

42 visits total (this is because of repeats)
These are the people who had repeats: Carol (3), Brenda (2), Nataly (2), James (2)

Youngest Visitor: Jason Tien
Oldest: Can't say. One couple who came at night said that they would be the oldest. But then we told them that this certain person came earlier, and they said, "oh, no they are definitely older."

First visitor: Carol 7:30am
Last visitor: Maisie 10:45pm

Visitor that Traveled the Farthest: Bea and BVL 21 miles
Visitor who Took the Most Pictures: Brian Tien
Drinks bought: 23. 16 drinks in the morning, 7 drinks bought at night. Alvin had 3 drinks and I had one.
Most Creative Gift: Using a tumbler was a gift for our unborn child in that it helps sustain the Earth.

Skyped in calls: Alvin's brother's family (5 persons) and Angela
Stayed the longest: Depends. Both Brenda and Carol spent 3.5 hours with us. But technically Carol got to Starbucks 30 minutes before the party began, so she spent 4 hours at a Starbucks today.

No birthday song, no balloons, 3/8th of a cake, one cupcake, one loaf of banana bread, and one volleyball signed by our Saturday V-ball friends.

At the end of the night, I was itching to get out of a Starbucks, but for my hubby I stayed. Technically, I only stayed 8 hours since I ran some errands in the morning.

I am glad Alvin had a happy birthday. He even played well at v-ball yesterday in my opinion.

30

7:27AM
Having your birthday on Valentine's Day is convenient, way better than being born anywhere near Christmas (sorry, Eugene). Essentially, my wife gives me a free pass on Valentine's Day. And I'm not a huge birthday celebrating kind of guy, so I give my wife a free pass on planning big birthday things.

So today, the celebration consists of an ideal Saturday... spending it at Starbucks with friends, and playing volleyball. I'll be updating this blog through the day with pictures of visitors, and maybe even pictures from volleyball. Alright... it's 7:30AM, and it's time to get going to SBUX 1.

8:05AM
The day begins with the Jackpot Receipt. Awesome.


First guests... Carol, and Mike!


Then... Luke and Rita!


8:45AM

Then more good friends! Wes... and then Bea... (and Mike for another guest appearance!)


9:15AM

More friends... Ben!


And James!


10:40AM

More friends... BVL!


Marcus and Yuko!


12:00PM

More friends... Brenda, Nataly, Joyce, and Carol (returning for more)


The Chew's!


Jeff and Nancy!


12:30PM

The Tien's!


Iwan and Lena, from volleyball!


Chris and Rebecca!


2:00PM

The Gow's (sans Irene)!


Well... it's 2:22, and I'm shutting down for the morning and early afternoon shift. It's off to volleyball. I'm so grateful for the many friends we've been blessed with... coming to visit, sending me texts and skype messages. It has been such an encouraging day so far!

3:15PM

The day continues with another Saturday favorite. Volleyball with good friends. I love it.

Us with Huang-Chun...


And with Iwan...


7:15PM

Then, after a quick dinner at Chick Fil-A... it was on to the SBUX PM location. Here's B and Huang-Chun...


And then me with my favorite guest for today...


7:50PM

And then... birthday wishes via Skype, from J & J (and M and E/T) in SoCal...


8:30PM

Brenda (her second round today, hanging out with us through the evening)
... and then two young friends we went to college with, who stopped by on their way to go clubbing... Steve and Allie!


9:54PM

Kenny calls in from Louisiana to with me a Happy Birthday, and he buys me a Peppermint Hot Chocolate. (Thanks, man, for knowing what I like, and for considering that I need to sleep tonight).

10:15PM

A Skype call with Angela...


10:30PM

And then a whole large group of people came in... Kenny, Catherine, James (for his 2nd round), Karen, Clarissa, Nataly (for her 2nd round), and Carol (for her 3rd round)!



10:45PM

Maisie (and her friend, Laura - not pictured)!


11:30PM

Then Starbucks... kicked us out. Closing time. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.

But, we went home. What a great day. A fun, low-key way to spend some time with friends through the day. It was almost like we had open house today, and people could come and go as they pleased throughout the whole day.

I feel blessed to be 30. I feel blessed to have the community and support and encouragement that we have out here, and all over the country (and even other parts of the world too).

Next year may look pretty different. I'm pretty sure there won't be a SBUX birthday available next year. But at least I should be on Skype. :)

Thanks, all, for making this a wonderful day. And thanks, of course, to the one who gave up her Valentine's Day so that I could have a different kind of Birthday. I don't get a free pass after all. We will celebrate Valentine's Day... just not until next week sometime.

Final Goodbye

This morning, Alvin and I drove our car to our car buyer. It was a surreal moment. While driving, I had a sadness, but also a fear that I would crash the car and the sale won't go through.
I have been thinking about how this will affect Alvin and my life. We will definitely have to communicate more about car usage. This convenience factor of just driving to the market whenever needed will disappear. Man, we were very spoiled with two cars.

The buyer had to take Alvin and I to the train station (DART) to go home. Since the buyer was a friend of Alvin's, I sat in the back seat. That was really odd for me sitting in the back seat of not- my-car. I think I will go through denial, withdrawal, and grief soon. Oh dear.

Goodbye car! I will miss you dearly.

Goodbye Car

Tomorrow will probably be the last day with my car, the Honda Civic. Alvin and I are selling the car to one of our friends.

Here's a picture of the day I bought my car (Feb. 15, 2003, almost exactly 6 years ago).


I will miss the car. First of all, it was the only car I picked out, bought, and finally owned after 5 years of monthly installments. Second, it gave me fond memories. I even named it Xiao (small) Putt Putt (which is in reference to its slow acceleration). I remember the day I bought the car. Alvin and I chilled at a Walmart while everything was getting ready for the purchase. Alvin suggested that I needed a car cd for the car ride back. So I bought the Lilo and Stitch soundtrack. It was great when I finally got in the car and drove home to the tunes of Hawaiian music and Elvis.



Selling the car is one of the first big things Alvin and I have to do before we leave for overseas. Having the car gone is going to be hard. I almost feel like there is no going back; I have to leave for my car is gone. Another feeling I realized I have from selling the car is knowing that it will be hard saying goodbye. If I have sadness leaving the car, how much more will I miss my family and friends.

Ok, goodbye Civic.

Parenting Advice: Separation is Not a Solution

I've decided that I'm going to share parenting advice in my blog once in awhile. No, not because I'm a parent. And no, we're not expecting. But because once in awhile I people-watch and I notice things, and I want to log my mental notes as parenting advice for myself down the road. And also because I want to for the readers of our blog who are parents to be able to read these entries and then shake their heads and say, "So naïve... he'll learn..."

As I sat alone in a restaurant on Tuesday evening, to my left was a family with 2 young children — a boy and a girl probably 3 and 4 years old. In front of me sat a mom with her two kids — a boy and a girl probably 7 and 8 years old. I noticed the families because... every kid was getting on his/her sibling's nerves. There was yelling about crayons because he was eating a crayon or because she got three crayons and it's not fair. There was spitefulness over accidents because one kid bumped his shoulder into a wall and the other kid thought he was stupid for doing so. There was whining about food because if she gets a milkshake then I should get french fries.

My gut instinct as a parent would be to separate my two children... pretty much for the rest of their lives. Clearly they get on each other's nerves. And I would much rather have peace and quiet. One family did that eventually... they sat at two separate tables. The other family stayed together and just endured a lot of yelling.

As I reflected more on this... keeping my kids apart — just to have peace — is not much of a solution. Maybe for discipline, or to give time for tempers to cool... ok. But if I teach my kids, "If you two can't get along, then sit at different tables..." then I am not preparing them for the harsh reality of grownup-ness that says, "Sometimes you must sit at the same table, so you had better work on working it out."

When you grow up, you can't just sit at separate tables if it's... your wife, or your co-worker, or your dad, or your neighbor, or the guy that sits next to you on a Sunday morning. Separation is not a solution. I hope I will learn this in my grownup-ness, and I hope that my kids learn this too.

Women's Small Group

Every week (that I am in town), I go to a women's small group. We usually meet at a cafe in Korea town, but since we are on a break in between our studies, I invited the girls over for dinner. It sounds like the stand out was the chilled corn soup. For fans of Top Chef, this was made by Jamie and I found her recipe on Bravo TV's website.

And here's a picture of some of the girls from the group. (BLB, NT, andCW are also in the group).
They are a fun group and I look forward to learning with them.