Thank you so much for taking the time to write to us.
I would first like to apologize for my delay in getting back to you. I truly appreciate your patience.
[i asked about the free birthday drink since i was denied a free drink on my bday] In regards to your inquiry about the birthday postcard, you should receive your Starbucks Card Rewards birthday beverage postcard within 30 days before or after your birthday depending on when you registered. We recently mailed the first round of birthday postcards, which covers all customers who signed up prior to September 20, 2009, who had a birthday in August or September. As a special surprise and delight, customers with a birthday in August will still receive the postcard even though it was prior to the launch of this new benefit.
[then i asked about the free refills if you have a registered gift card] Regarding your question about using your Starbucks Card rewards card to purchase refills, please know that customers who pay with a registered Starbucks (or Duetto) Card can receive free coffee refills during the same store visit. This is our way of thanking customers for using the Starbucks Card. This benefit applies only to registered cardholders. Our customers may take advantage of the refill policy as long as they are enjoying the beverage in our store. Regarding using your card for the refill purchase, as the program is designed to reward our customers who use and pay with a Starbucks Card, you must present your card with a balance on it to participate.
[finally, i asked for their official policy on free coffee if you have to wait for the brew] Additionally, please know that Starbucks empowers our store managers to provide customers the best experience possible. In doing so, some store managers chose to provide free drip coffee when customers may need to wait for a fresh pot, while other store managers may choose different ways of rewarding our customers. Starbucks encourages goodwill gestures to our customers, however there is no policy that states customers receive a free tall drip when fresh coffee is being brewed. Please know, in order to provide the freshest possible coffee to our customers, we have also adjusted the frequency in which we brew our drip coffee. Coffee brewed fresh in the store will now be made every 30 minutes. Although this may result in longer wait times during some visits, we hope that the increased availability of fresh-brewed coffee will compensate for any delays.
If you have any further questions or concerns that I was unable to address, please feel free to let me know.
apparently pizza hut is connected to this company as is fandango and some others, but we were victimized through visiondirect.com, a contact lens company. here's the letter i wrote to them:
"I am very dissatisfied with your website. I've ordered contacts from you on several occasions, but this last time, after my wife made a purchase from you, you referred her to take a survey for Complete Savings and without ever agreeing or giving our credit card info to that company, YOU FORWARDED THAT INFORMATION TO THEM! And they have since been charging our credit card monthly.
WHY DO YOU FORWARD OUR CREDIT CARD INFO TO OTHER PARTIES?!
You should get yourself far far away from ever doing business with them. YOU WILL LOSE CUSTOMERS BECAUSE OF THIS!"
anyway, never take a survey online after making a purchase.
it all started a few months ago when i responded to an ad in craigslist for an editor. i met with the client and another potential editor, who looked like a smoothed over unkempt. he had a striped button down shirt, complete with food stain on the front. he seemed a little off but a lot of editors are.
months later, i've edited a bunch of stuff for the client. he tells me he's being sued by another editor for $2000 who kept sending him cuts he didn't approve of, demanding money for his time.
today, i agreed to help the client by speaking on his behalf in small claims court. we were the last case to be called. it was like a real slow episode of people's court.
there was the case of the woman who's purse was runover by an LAX shuttle. she won damages to her purse, LV wallet, sunglasses and camera.
there was the case of the guy claiming he was rearended by the defendant, who responded that the plaintiff rolled backwards and hit her car, said not to worry b/c there wasnt any damage, then proceeded to follow the defendant home and ask for $1500. when she refused he drove himself to the ER. the judge sided for the plaintiff.
then the case of the guy who wanted an impound lot to pay for damages to his car. the defendant stated that the car was found half on the sidewalk after the plaintiff was arrested for a DUI. judge sided with the plaintiff.
it wasnt looking good as the judge kept siding with the plaintiff, no matter what.
our case. i immediately recognized the plaintiff editor from that meeting a few months back. still unkempt (dandruff on his coat). the editor states that he did some work, then couldnt do work b/c he didnt have the proper software, couldnt do work b/c he didnt have enough footage. defendant told the judge no satisfactory work was ever delivered. i got to add that i probably wouldnt charge for work i couldn't do. judge sided with the defendant.
the moral of the story - dont trust a guy who has food stains on his shirt.
this is a followup to a post awhile back about where to recycle your environmentally handicapped CFL bulbs.
home depot.
they have orange recycle bins near the returns desk marked "recycle your CFL" (at least in the HD i visited). seems like a lot of home depot employees don't know this so be sure to ask a few employees.
