JimSwift.net

Last night I received a phone call from Mr. Bill Bauer at GE Appliance. I wasn’t at my phone so he left a message asking to call back with regard to my email. GE is to be commended for responding on the same day. It was after 5:00pm, so I planned to call Mr. Bauer in the morning, but he reached out to me early this morning.

He was very nice and understood my complaint about not providing tracking numbers, like most websites for companies do. In this instance, it would have likely solved the problem which I’ll describe below.

Like I alluded in my very first post about washer parts, I could not believe it would take three weeks to get these parts, and I was right. GE shipped the parts that very day, and they arrived promptly on Wednesday, like I initially expected. So, to all you GE appliance owners, you can get the parts ASAP for a fair price and good shipping rates. Here’s the website.

Here’s the rub. My condo, Midtown Alexandria, recently changed management firms. The new management firm, Armstrong, decided to change the protocol for notifying residents of packages. The old regime was that you got a note in your mailbox and a blank mail key with a note “you have a package” would be put in your box. This system was fine.

Armstrong, without notifying anyone, changes the system to send you an email. A fine system I am sure, but I was not notified such a change occurred. They used the email on record, in this instance, my mom’s email address. I don’t know if they contacted her initially to tell them about the change, but last night I received a different package and my mom forwarded that email notification to me this morning. The new management had no idea if the email they had on record was the best account, and this was a very bad decision, I believe. I voiced that to our concierge and will change the email account to one that forwards copies of the email to Betsy and I.

Essentially, Midtown was sitting on my replacement parts for an entire week. Needless to say, I am not happy with the new management so far. Maani will come tomorrow and fix the washer, and I look forward to having a functioning washer again.

In closing, I am hopeful that GE will embrace my suggestion with regard to posting links to tracking numbers for shipped products, and am very happy with their response. Maani is great, but it’s yet to be determined if the washer will be fixed properly. Midtown’s new management, however, is on my shit list.

If you’re in DC tonight and want to join us at the game, let me know — $10.

Here’s a letter I sent to the CEO of GE.

June 29, 2010

General Electric Parts Division

CEO Jeff Immelt

Fairfield, CT

Dear General Electric,

As a shareholder and customer, I write to you today to express my dissatisfaction with your company’s service. Having been born down the street from your Nela Park lighting facility in Cleveland, Ohio, I have had a good opinion of GE for a long time. Unfortunately, my opinion is changing.

Recently, my GE Spacemaker washer broke. I noticed two things. My washer was much louder than usual, and a screw was in the pile of wet clothes. Specifically, a screw broke off in the lock plate, rendering it useless. Now, I’ve had no problem in the past with your products — I understand things break after two years of constant use. (My girlfriend’s GE washer flooded her apartment last night, which is a bit ominous). I wish it were longer than two years before the washer broke, but a lot of factors play into it, so I won’t fault you there.

Here is my problem. My washer broke two Thursdays ago, June 17. I have not used it since, because I am not a nincompoop and wish no further harm upon the device or my wallet. A local service guy came out to look at it two days later on Saturday. He realized that he did not have the parts and told me he’d get back to me soon about ordering them. Two days following, on June 21, I had heard nothing. So I call him and he tells me it will take three weeks to get the part. I did not believe this at first, and told him to hold on before ordering. I thought: “Well, he has to order parts for probably 50+ customers, and then only orders the cheapest shipping to make a better profit.” I decided to look for the parts on your webpage. I found them, ordered them and paid extra for two day shipping. I even posted on my website that I thought your parts division was good, which you can see by visiting: http://www.bomble.com/jimswift/?p=4731. The purpose of my post was that, if you do it yourself, you can sometimes get things done faster.

Fast forward eight days, and I have yet to receive the parts. One would figure that, because I got the order in early (around noon on Monday, June 21) the products would ship that day, and arrive Wednesday, June 23. Or, because it was after noon, they’d be processed the next day and arrive Thursday, June 24. After it did not arrive on Thursday, I logged into the status page and saw that, according to your webpage, the order had been shipped. “Great,” I thought, “it will likely be here Friday or Saturday.” Wrong. Since most domestic shipping companies do not deliver on Sunday, I thought it surely would be on my doorstep on Monday. Wrong again. Well, it’s Tuesday, a week and a day after I ordered parts your webpage said you have in stock that were supposed arrive quickly with two day shipping.

Here’s an anecdote. Amazon.com’s market cap is about a third of GE’s, and you guys cannot even offer tracking numbers? They do. I realize that GE has been around so long that innovation isn’t really as easy it is for smaller firms, but even Woot.com can provide me with tracking data for a $3.99 xbox headset, which is why I’ll continue to buy from them. What geniuses in your IT and Customer Service departments are yet to have the epiphany that customers like tracking numbers? I’m convinced that, in addition to new people in your customer service department, you could probably get a 21 year old kid who took one class in SCM (supply chain management) to do a better job of organizing the shipping of your parts.

In closing, GE, you stand to lose a lot with me. Fridge, microwave, dishwasher, oven/stove, washer/dryer — all GE. They’re nice looking products that have, for the most part, performed well. They came with my condominium. When they crap out, as products eventually do, your response to this letter will determine whether or not my unit continues to buy General Electric products. Similarly, as a shareholder, my votes will be determined by your response, which will be posted on my blog, as this letter has.

Respectfully,

Jim Swift

So, my washer broke recently. It had been getting louder, and frankly, Betsy and I delayed the day of reckoning by not getting it serviced earlier. I found a nut in my washer and realized that it was time to call someone.

I went on google and picked the service guy in the area with the least amount of complaints. He came promptly that day and identified the problem. Turns out the nut snapped off inside the lock plate, so I need two new screws and a lock plate.

Monday comes around, and no word from this guy on when the parts are coming. So, I check with him. He says that he needs to check with GE, and he’d get back to me. An hour later, it turns out it will take two to three weeks to get this part shipped.

Call me crazy, but I have a hard time believing that General Electric doesn’t have these sitting around. I called Betsy, and got the model and serial number, and went to GE’s handy website to look up the model. I found the diagram and the parts, and they’ll be shipped to my door within two days for $49.95.

The moral of the story is that you might be able to do a better job getting the parts than the guy who has to order them for everyone he works with. I may be able to fix this myself, but will let the guy fix it. Heck, I’ve already put down a $45 down payment, I am going to let him finish the job.

(While you’re at it, why not take my new education survey?)

My old address on Buchanan is featured in this ad.

My buddy Shane sent me the following email today:

German student attacks Hell’s Angels with puppy

Yesterday at 17:24 | Reuters

BERLIN, June 14 (Reuters Life!) – A German student created a major traffic jam in Bavaria after making a rude gesture at a group of Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang members, hurling a puppy at them and then escaping on a stolen bulldozer.

German police said on Monday that after making his getaway from the Hell’s Angels club, the 26-year-old dumped the bulldozer, causing a 5 km (3 miles) traffic jam near the southern town of Allershausen, local police said. He then fled to his home nearby where he was apprehended by the police.

“What motivated him to throw a puppy at the Hell’s Angels is currently unclear,” said a spokesman for local police, adding that the student had lately been suffering from depression.

The puppy was now in safe hands, the spokesman added.

Read more: http://ru.kyivpost.com/news/world/detail/69709/#ixzz0r12YH1v6

So, a quick photoshop later and now you can imagine like you were there:

Friends, thanks to those of you who have taken the survey. Please see the results below.

Economic Knowledge Results (pdf)

Friends, I have been on a market research kick lately and have been crafting surveys for fun. If you already haven’t, I hope you’ll take the time to fill them out. All answers are anonymous.

• Branding and political ideology
• My attempt at replicating a recent study on economic knowledge

Breaking up is hard to do, so goes the song, but I recently had a break up I am not sure is going to be that hard: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, I am breaking up with you.

It became official on Friday when I was issued my parking pass at work.

Sure, there will be things I’ll miss about you Metro. The interesting experiences with fellow passengers and tourists, but I’m sure that driving in our nation’s capital will afford me some interesting experiences too. While dealing with your ever present delays, I’d read the multitude of things for work, magazines, or my new kindle (which I love) but there will be time for that elsewhere in my day, just not while I am driving.

Why break up with Metro? I can assure you that I did it under the guise of the temporary “time off”, but with some rides on the side. Metro and I are now no longer exclusive, but friends with benefits, if you will. I just can’t lug around the Arizona Booze Kittens softball equipment without the assistance of my sister Betsy being on the hill.

Things I will definitely not miss this summer on Metro:

• “Step back, doors closing.”
• “Excuse me, is that your bag?”
• 18 minute waits
• Panhandlers
• Students in the morning
• Gallery Place/Chinatown
• Broken air conditioning
• Offloading trains
• Delays due to things Metro alerts hide from you
• People playing music without headphones
• Smells

Things I will miss:

• My Examiner / Express people
• Interesting experiences
• The ability to have more than 2 drinks after work
• Not worrying about the price of gas too much
• Car maintenance

That said, I expect I’ll be on Metro again come September, maybe earlier, who knows. But Metro, we need some time apart.

Found a great place on the Hill that has Great Lakes Brewery Company beer.

Schnieder’s of Capitol Hill on 300 Massachusetts, Avenue, NE has small supplies of about 5 types of GLBC Beer.

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Similarly, Magruder’s of Chevy Chase (DC) side at 5626 Connecticut Avenue, NW has a large supply.

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Hopefully soon, it will be in Virginia for sale. You can find it at Cap Lounge if you’re out and about looking for some Dortmunder on draft.