Yes, the saga continues. We all have our stories, right?

None more entertaining and yet frustrating than the experiences with customer service departments this week and last. Ok, maybe there are other age-old stories that entertain more than this, but read on if you will.

I waited – again – on the phone with ToysRUs today for over an hour. Then, I was able to finally find out that yes, indeed the “error receiving” tracking number I received for my shipment was “bad” and thus, the apparent reason for my box not arriving even after 10 days en-route to us.

It may or may not have been that I received a FedEx Ground tracking number for a package that was being shipped, handled or in my case, not delivered by USPS. I can’t fault either of the shippers…it may not have been their issue in the first place.

I can however, be very cautious if I decide to ever buy again from this and other retailers who didn’t deliver. It IS up to me. I don’t have to – although – as shared this week, some of these retailers do offer pretty good prices. No doubt, because of volume, but at what “true” cost?

What if I never buy from them again and maybe another 1000 people never buy again? Better yet, knowing retail statistics tend to range from 5% to 20% and they never buy again? Do they have the margin and the volume to cover those kinds of losses – or the investment to get new ones to replace the losses? Isn’t Amazon coming up on their coattails and taking a big bite out of their sales?

Anyway, as the saga continues (in theaters tomorrow!) this was the final piece in the puzzle for the gifts we selected for our adopted family. I needed to replace it with another locally sourced item, which cost more, but was in-stock, purchased and able to be hand-delivered to school today with the rest of our loot. It was worth pitching in a few more dollars to make it happen. We have so much and it is really rewarding to be able to help this family, (even with long, boring, on-hold calls, listening to the same 3 songs repeated in between “we will be with you as soon as we can…) I truly hope they have a wondrous holiday.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl