Hunt for Elusive Spectacles, Courier Douchebaggery and Other Stories...

[EricKei]

Funny you should mention DHL -- We *used to* get deliveries from them almost every day at the old office; a few years ago, however, they stopped all Domestic US service, period. They're only International now (From/To USA and to/from other countries), tho maybe they're domestic elsewhere? I'm sure UPS and FedEx lost no time filling the gap...

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Eisa- its a very good book, at least I liked it. The most incoherent parts are certain diaries that are included, including one where she just wrote her mad non-sensical (and sometimes un-decipherable) thoughts while on certain medications.



Yodel weren't done with messing with us!

First of all, mum bought a cheaper, replacement wardrobe from Argos. Now having had a brief stint as a "pale warden of the treasure" and having seen enough of their own lorries before, I was under the impression that Argos did its OWN deliveries...not any more at least! Nope, they use Yodel too! The driver lugged the new boxes and laid it againts the stairs- right next to boxes that his inept colleagues failed to collect the previous week. Therefore completely blocking the stairway.

My mum said "Are they heavy?"

"Yup, they are."

"Could you help me put them on the landing then please?"

"Nope, not allowed."

I came home from my opticians appointment* to find my mum seething again and we had to carry the boxes ourselves. I suffer from tendonitis and she from arthritis, so I think it was pretty shit. Apparently its all down to insurance purposes, but I can't help but think what they'd have done if it was a frail little old lady who they had delivered this wardrobe to?

Anyway, the broken one is gone now, and my brother has a new, not broken wardrobe.

(Happiness tangent )*And now back to Tesco Opticians. Turns out my choice to go with them rather than Specsavers was a good one. First of all, I went to Specsavers to get the details of my prescription. The bright-little creature at the desk insisted several times that my name wasn't in any of the records and that I MUST have been at the wrong branch, and I insisted several times that I had never been to any other. Eventually, she DID find it

On my way out, I saw "my" glasses on the cheapy display, instantly throwing me into a conflict. I was about to go and pay £99 for two pairs of designer glasses (BARGAIN- well, actually it ended up being £129, as I had anti-reflective glaze added to my "work" pair, to help stop my headaches), but if I decided to change my mind and go with this cheap pair, I'd be paying £75 (including glaze). I decided to just go ahead with the eye test.

The lady was very nice, and the test seemed somehow less annoying and intrusive. She then told me that either my eyes had actually improved (which was not likely) or my current prescription from Specsavers (which I've been wearing for a good 6 or 7 years) are too strong! I can continue to wear them without harm, but it just shows that they really aren't as great as all that! But I was conflicted as to whether or not I should just take the new prescription back to Specsavers and get the cheaper pair or go with Tesco's offer. I felt guilty about it too, but the sales lady said I should go home and think on it. By the next day, I had made up my mind. I went back to Tesco and put in the order. I made sure to tell the lady that there were a couple of factors that made up mind- including the fact that i had actually been excited about buying some funky new glasses, not just cheap plain ones- but the biggest was the fact that I had recieved some excellent service from their opticians and I wanted to spend my money THERE. She thanked me for my kind words, but really, I wanted to thank them.

The glasses haven't arrived yet, but I'm totally buzzing them...I can't wait!!!

[Geek King]

She then told me that either my eyes had actually improved (which was not likely) or my current prescription from Specsavers (which I've been wearing for a good 6 or 7 years) are too strong!

Just an aside, but my eyes did actually get better, and I also was without an eye exam for a while (er, ten years...I is a bed geek. I'm getting yearly checks now), and went back to the same doc I have always used. A half step in my "good" eye, and a full step in my bad eye. It can happen.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

1) must remember "arsy" is a word
2) Delivery Guy WIN.

[Teskeria]

When I was a teenager, my mom found a new eye doctor for the family. One of my sisters, the one just younger than me (i'm 2 of 5 girls, baby 6 was a boy) had such bad eyes all the other doctors told mom she would be blind by 30. (me by 50) This older guy would deliberately give us glasses just a tiny bit weaker than we needed. To make our eyes work harder. Guess what. neither of us are blind and both our eyes are better than they were when we were young teens (okay mine are getting worse again, but hey, I'm old).
Funny thing, I was away for over 20 years. Came home to Boston, went to see him on my insurance and he looks at me and says 'you're one of J's girls. Are you V or B? I've seen all the others in the last couple years.' Then he apologizes for no longer having my records as he only keeps them 10 years past the last visit. Took my current glasses in to check the prescription and comes out and says 'Are you having bad headaches? Your astigmatism is in your right eye as I recall and these glasses are correcting for it in your left eye." (Yes I was actually, reason I went to him when I found he was still open.) Then he did the eye exam.

[Andara Bledin]

The best part is, if a Signature is called for on the label, they may or may not even attempt to get one.

Any time this happens, tell the vendor about it. They have to pay for that service, so if it's not happening, they'll want to have a little chat with their rep.

UPS, like any other business, sometimes ends up with shitty employees, and since they're primarily out on their own, unless someone speaks up about it (beyond venting to completely unrelated groups), nothing will get done.

One thing to remember is that you are not their customer. You don't pay them, and they can't be certain that the random person calling them is really who they're claiming they are. The vendor is their customer, and that is the one that needs to be making the calls to get things changed or sorted.

Our UPS guy is awesome, as is our USPS guy. FedEx is okay enough, though they tend to skip delivery and claim they tried on occasion. DHL is the really bad one in this area.

At our last place, the regular UPS guy was great, and the subs were universally terrible. The regular FedEx guy was shit, but the subs were great. And the regular USPS lady was a lazy shit who wouldn't even try to deliver anything larger than a small Priority Mail box, while the subs were a mixed bag.

DHL is a fun one since they don't do actual delivery, but dump it at the local USPS office and let them drop it off, so how well they do is often entirely dependent on your local USPS crew.

must stop reading in the dark...sometimes I don't even realise until I've left the room and re-enteredit how dark it is!

If you're not squinting or straining, then it's not actually "too dark."

Check with apartment management, there may be a policy in place that requires this. Personally, if I were in a complex, I'd prefer it be done this way, as it means that my packages would be inside, being at least technically "watched" or in view of somebody.

I'd prefer this, too. It would mean that I wouldn't have to worry about anything left outside my door (there is no stoop, it's flush with the walkway to the rest of the apartments on this level) which has been done, I don't have to worry about going to get it at the distribution center, and I don't have to worry about it being left with a neighbor who may or may not ever admit to getting it and passing it along.

As it is, I work in an office environment, so I just have everything delivered to my work. I'm guaranteed to be there, they put their better drivers on business routes (more money involved, and we're actually their customers), and I don't have to wonder if anything is going to be there when I get home because I already have it.

Our local UPS depot is great, too. I'd rather they handle my shipments than any other local carrier--including the USPS. If I come home to a missed delivery sticker, I can call and usually pickup the package at the depot that evening.

Another option for those who aren't home and don't mind the trip to the distribution center, is to have it held there for pickup. You don't have to have it delivered to your home. You can have them hold it and pick it up as soon as it's tracked at the center and you don't have to wait for a delivery attempt, because none will be made.

This older guy would deliberately give us glasses just a tiny bit weaker than we needed. To make our eyes work harder.

Since both nearsightedness and farsightedness have to do with problems with the muscles that control the focal point of the lens of your eye, that's not a bad thing. With work, you can train your eyes to work better, but only for problems that are muscular in nature.

So, if your glasses were to just slightly undercorrect, not enough to cause strain, but enough to make them work a little harder, then it should have a positive net effect over time.

^-.-^

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

This thread is reminding me I desperately need to get an eye exam and new glasses already.

This time I think I will go with a little more "clunky" frame if possible. I'm no longer in school and thus no longer have to worry about the crippling social unpopularity that comes from being a coke-bottle wearing four eyes.

[EricKei]

You can have them hold it and pick it up as soon as it's tracked at the center and you don't have to wait for a delivery attempt, because none will be made.

Whenever I've asked about this, the local UPS depot refuses to do it, saying that a delivery attempt MUST be made before they will hold it. Even better, they won't let me come pick it up until the next day. The thing is, they always leave the stuff on the front stoop (despite written instructions on the box that say otherwise, at times) and call it a success.

This thread is reminding me I desperately need to get an eye exam and new glasses already.

Same here -- Tho I tend to go with smaller, wire frames more because smaller lenses = lighter glasses. With my eyes, the lenses will always be a certain minimum thickness no matter what (they have to curve on the outer edges to allow for peripheral vision), so minimizing the diameter tends to minimize the overall weight and thickness, within that limit.

[Andara Bledin]

Whenever I've asked about this, the local UPS depot refuses to do it, saying that a delivery attempt MUST be made before they will hold it.

No. This has to be part of the shipping instructions given by the shipper, not something the recipient requests after the fact.

We send out things all the time that go to XXX Depot, hold for pickup.

But if it has a regular address on it, they're required by their contract to make a delivery attempt.

^-.-^

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Update on glasses....starting to wonder if I made the right choice!

I got them a little less than 2 weeks ago. I was excited. I got them home and kept switching them because they were all pretty n_n

Starting to notice after a couple of days that my vision was a little blurry. Knowing that the prescription was slightly weaker, I dismissed it, assuming I just needed to get used to them. I also have watery eyes which does sometimes make things worse. But then after a few days, I realised that while the lense on the left eye on both pairs of glasses was fine, the right lense was too week, making my vision blurry. I tested this by closing my eyes one at a time and trying to read the clock at work. The left lenses are perfect but the right were wrong.

I went back to Tesco, and they were very cool, arranged a retest for today. A new optician retested it, and agreed, the right lense needs some adjusting. This is where my faith is really shaken...

He takes me back to the sales floor and says to the sales advisors "Its another remake, I'm afraid."

Uh oh. Another?

(They remake for free as they don't do refunds).

Then the lady who was putting in my order started saying..."So you have distance and readers?" I said no, I don't need reading glasses at all. She was looking at the wrong person's file and it took her ages to realise. And as she put in the new order she kept saying to herself "Oh, what AM I doing?"

O_O

I still stand by what I said before...the service I recieved before WAS good, and in Specsavers I was unimpressed...but I am a little disappointed by this...I hope its just a glitch!