Another Company Who Doesn't Keep To They're End Of the Deal

So, I'm having a run in with yet another company who will lie to get your business, sign you up to a 2 year contract and yet NOT live up to their end of the deal. Who is it?
The company is ClearWire, they supply internet services. They claim to run off Sprint towers and say that if you can use your Sprint cell phone that you will be able to receive 4G internet services with them. THEY LIED!!!!
My home is in Pearland, Texas and I have ClearWire internet services with them at my home, so when I called to inquire about their ClearWire HotSpot, I was excited to hear that if I have a Sprint phone, which I do, that I should have no problem receiving their 4G HotSpot services. To my disappointment, I've been paying the $73.58 a month bill with no luck of using my HotSpot. When I called to cancel the service with no charge to me because of the misleading sales speech, I was deeply disappointed that they wanted to charge me $40.00 to get out of the contract that they did not honor.
The fight continues, and I will kepp you all updated on how ClearWire plans to handle the situation.
Wish me luck.

New Year's Resolutions

So, like many other people in this world, I too made resolutions that by the second week of January, have already broken. I made a resolution to make a new post weekly, then, all of a sudden, got the worst case of writer's block and a severe panic attack because I felt I was letting anyone who read my blog down. So, here's an amendment to the previously failed resolution.
I, Shelly, will resolve to write a new post whenever I have something to write about and will put no pressure on myself. Here is an article about resolutions I should have read from the beginning.

Related articles

• How to Keep Your New Year's Resolutions (apartmentguide.com)

Enjoy and Happy New Year!!!!

Visit me on google+

Check out Google+ and join me!!!!


https://plus.google.com/100760161701674313605

Blogging 2012 STYLE

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012 is to make a weekly commitment to create new posts. I would love some suggestions, links to review, or even product suggestions.
So please send me any suggestions and ideas and help me keep my resolution.

What is Watkins?

My Great-Great Grandmother was one of the very first Watkins distributors in the Houston area almost a hundred years ago. Watkins started out as apothecary and seasonings and has grown to include all natural skin care and environmentally safe cleaning and laundry supplies. Please check out my web site to learn more about Watkins, opportunities, and how to order.

 http://www.watkinsonline.com/sschumacher/

What in the Hell Happened to Customer Service?

It seems now days, merchants are so involved with sales that they have forgotten the customer. That old rule, The Customer is ALWAYS Right, well that seems to be a fairy tale that Does Not Exist. Case in point Metro PCS in Burelson, Texas. I went in on the 11th to pay my bill. The clerk whose name starts with ... Brandi, has decided that waiting on three customers at a time instead of giving her undivided attention to one customer at a time because that would interfere with  her web surfing time, mixed up my payment and applied it to someone else' account. During the commotion of waiting on three customers at a time, I neglected to notice I didn't get a receipt. The next day, I received a text from Metro PCS saying my bill was due. I called the branch I had gone to, and what a shocker the high school drop out working behind the desk didn't know what I was talking about. So I drove to Metro PCS in Burelson, Texas where Brandi acted as if this whole problem was my fault and had the AUDACITY to say that SHE paid my bill out of her OWN pocket. 2 things happened at that moment, #1. I reminded myself I was a Christian and she was a child of God, and #2. I showed self control that I didn't know I had and kept myself from climbing over the counter and beating her senseless with her keyboard. Never once did it occur to her that Maybe, JUST MAYBE, she was in the wrong from the get go.
Well, BRANDI, here is some advice for you....

1. Wait on ONE customer at a time.

2. The customer is NEVER AT FAULT, Take some responsibility for your actions, You IDIOT!!!!

3. Never make a customer feel as if your doing them a favor because in reality, if it weren't for that customer, you wouldn't have a job.


To other idiot's running a business, Bring Customer Service back. It should have NEVER died, so PLEASE, PLEASE, Bring it back

Julie & Julia

One of the inspirations for my blogging attempt is the movie Julie and Julia. It's a movie about a writer who cooked and wrote her way through Julia Child's cook book. It is absolutely one of my favorite movies as I too love to cook and Julia Child has been gracing my TV since I was a child.
I love the way the writer not only cooked her way through the cook book but she actually researched Julia and her life. She read through letters from Julia's husband, she learned about Julia's time in France, and it seemed as the writer was cooking, Julia would manifest in her kitchen to help her with everything except Beef Aspects, ( I believe it is called, lol).
 Julie was such an inspiration to me that I wanted to say, Thank You!!!! Thank You for NOT being afraid to follow through. Thank You for not letting Abigale steal your thunder, AND THANK YOU for not giving up even after Julia Child refused to meet you. I'm sure that was hard but at the time Julia had to be in her 80-90's and probably would have refused to meet the Pope. I know I'll never be as good as a writer as you are but I love your attitude and preserverance.
Again, Thank You

Tried, Tested, and True

The Early History of Watkins

Last Updated on Saturday, 29 November 2008 11:50 Written by John Wednesday, 20 August 2008 10:11

The Birth of Watkins 

Watkins Incorporated was founded in 1868 by Joseph R. Watkins in Plainview, Minnesota.  Mr. Watkins started Watkins with a single product, Dr. Ward's Red Liniment, using a formula he purchased directly from Dr. Ward, the inventor of the liniment product.
J.R. Watkins was an entrepreneur that went on to build a fortune selling liniment and numerous products he created later.  He was not a doctor, but instead an entrepreneur and believer in the power of herbs to treat and cure many common ailments of the day.
Allthough many products in the early Watkins line can be attributed to the genius of J.R. Watkins, his first product, the very red liniment that inspired Mr. Watkins to launch his business, was actually the brainchild and invention of Dr. Richard Ward.  Mr. Watkins purchased the formula and rights to the brand from Dr. Ward, who had a great product, but lacked the business savvy and sales and marketing skills of Mr. Watkins.
One only has to study why J.R. Watkins moved his thriving liniment business from Plainview, Minnesota to Winona, Minnesota to realize why he was so successful early on. In the 1870’s, Winona had 20,000 residents, a big city for those days, and was home of a huge lumbering business, being based on the Mississippi River. Winona also had 5 railroads that when through the city. Most of the workers in Winona worked at the lumber mills or worked as lumberjacks.
Talk about “Liniment Heaven!” Can you imagine how many men went home every night with muscle aches and pains? And J.R. knew his product would work. He also knew that it took a few days for the liniment to kick in and produce wonderful, powerful results. J.R. believed in his liniment’s powers and abilities so much that he placed a trial mark line on every bottle, and told every new customer that every drop liniment from the top of the bottle down to the trial mark line was basically free, because if they didn’t go below the trial mark he would give them a 100% refund of their money if they were not satisfied with the product after giving it a try. For J.R. knew that before the customer would get to the trial mark, their aches and pains would have gone away. Now how’s that for marketing innovation?

Watkins Grew Rapidly in the Early 1900's

At its peak in the door-to-door sales era, Watkins had 135 counter stores in the U.S. and Canada, along with manufacturing and distribution centers outside North America in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.  With his widespread success, Mr. Watkins became an icon in his time.  He traveled the globe in search of the purest and finest sources of herbs, pepper, cinnamon and other spices for his product line, just as the company still does today.  For example, Watkins vanilla comes vanilla beans grown in Madagascar, the same as it has been for over 100 years.
Watkins, the company, grew rapidly in the early 1900’s and by the 1930’s was the largest direct sales company in the entire world.   In fact, during the Great Depression years of the 1930’s Watkins actually grew in size, adding infrastructure, new regional facilities and most importantly, adding new jobs.  In fact, as a result of its success during the depression, the public labeled Watkins a “depression proof company.“
During the 30’s and 40’s Watkins built numerous regional warehouses, manufacturing facilities and retail counter stores around the country.  At one point the company was growing so fast it was building a new manufacturing building on its premises every 2 years, eventually occupying an entire city block of downtown Winona.  During the mist of this growth, Mr. Watkins even hired a world famous architect from Chicago named George Maher to design a ten-story manufacturing plant at one point.  This building was a marvel to behold, advanced in every aspect – the most modern manufacturing plant of its kind anywhere in the world.

Birth of the "Watkins Man" 

Watkins was founded on the “door-to-door” direct sales model.  J.R. Watkins started delivering liniment door-to-door by wagon.  The door-to-door model worked successfully for almost 90 years.  With the exception of the World War years, most housewives could be found at home, not at work.  Thus, there was usually always someone at home to call on during the daytime hours.  This was long before the arrival of personal computers, so online sales were out of the question.  America did not outsource its labor-intensive jobs to foreign countries.  Manual labor could be found everywhere you went, particularly in rural areas.  Thus, the door-to-door, farm-to-farm, plant-to-plant sales model was an ideal way to market Watkins products. 
Mr. Watkins company was not only the first international direct sales company in the world, but for many years it was the largest direct sales company in the world.  His direct sales force grew to become an American institution.  “Watkins men” became part of Americana, transcending from selling Watkins products from wagons in the 1800’s to selling Watkins products from paneled trucks, vans and station wagons in the 1900’s.
I can recall when growing up in rural Louisiana our Watkins man having a large black leather products case with the Watkins label in gold letters on the outside of his case.  The case opened up like a large tackle box with multiple shelves.  Looking into that case each month was like gazing under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.
The “Watkins man” brought more than products to his customer base.  In the early days he was one of the few forms of communication in rural America, relied upon for bringing the latest news about national and world events, the going price for wheat or corn on the commodity exchange, the latest storms to hit the area, etc.  It was a different world -- one that would eventually change and have a dramatic impact on the company and its future.

The Death of J.R. Watkins

Mr. Watkins died in 1911 while vacationing with his family in Jamaica.  He and his first wife Mary Ellen, who had preceded him in death in 1904, had two sons that died at very young ages, and one daughter, Grace, who was born in 1877.  Grace was approximately 34 at the time of J.R. Watkins death and his only living child.  Grace immediately became the largest shareholder in Watkins.  Control of the company passed on to his nephew, Paul Watkins, and his son-in-law, Ernest Leroy (E.L.) King Sr., who married Grace in 1904.  Paul Watkins was a graduate of Harvard, very bright and articulate, and became President of Watkins after J.R. Watkins death. 

What are we in for today?

Well today, I'm moving to Texas and while YES, there is a story behind that, it will have to wait for another time. But since I'm moving to a new town, starting a new life, I decided to go for the Hat-trick and change careers. I like living on the edge and since I haven't been very full-filled as an Executive Assistant, I decided to do some research to find out what my passion is.
Today I'm leaving you with resources, advice, and information on How To Change Careers

http://www.resume-resource.com/resumeblog/career-change-throw-your-career-a-change-up-in-mid-stride/952/

http://www.ashland.edu/services/cardev/job-handbooks.html

http://www.careerdoctor.org/job-seeker_links.html

http://www.career.fsu.edu/advising/guides.html

http://www.career-resource.net/

http://www.careerplanner.com/Links/Links-Career-Sites.cfm

http://www.evetahmincioglu.com/web/blog/

http://www.infodaily.org/Topics/Careers/Dreams-Come-True-Especially-A-Dream-Job.asp

Well, if you've been thinking about a career change lately, read the articles and resources  above to help you make an informed decision. A career is more than a job. It's a life choice. Be careful and diligent with your choice, you owe it to yourself.

See Ya Next Time,



Shelly

What the Hell????

So, in June, my husband bought me a tanning package at "At The Beach" ( a spray tan application ). The day he purchased it and signed a contract I used the service, I noticed a really bad blotching and itching, I marked it off because I had lotion on and figured there was a reaction. The next day, I went back and tried it again. Same thing happened, I went to a Dr. who told me I was allergic and don't use it again. I called At The Beach, informed them of the situation and was told, "Don't worry about it." You've only had the contract 2 days, we can cancel it, NO PROBLEM". 3 weeks later, I'm online checking my account and noticed not 1, BUT 2 charges from

AT THE BEACH.

So, I called back and spoke with "Customer Service", ( who by the way, I've spoken to less educated, hateful, mean people who were nicer than that B----), anyway, she proceeded to tell me, too bad, I could either use a tanning bed OR just continue to pay for a service I was allergic to. I then told her, well, technically, your company just broke our contract due to the overcharge. She laughed at me, hung up, and charged my account again which resulted in, mega insufficient funds charges from another corrupt institution, US BANK, ( that's another day).

Through US BANK, I filed a fraud report, filled out 5-6 forms explaining situation, faxed several records over to them hoping and praying they would back me up.

Well, that didn't happen. AT THE BEACH got away with over charging me and US BANK totally screwed me on 3 INSF charges.

Can someone please tell me why an individual can miss a payment on a contract, or make a late payment, and be in default of a contract but a corporation can over charge, not supply service or product specified in contract and get away with it.

Customer Service is DEAD and GONE at " AT THE BEACH" and US Bank. The customer is never right and costumer service reps act more like polititians, telling you what you want to hear in order to get your John Hanncock on the dotted line, then they are on their own agenda. 

SAD!!!!!!

Don't fret, I'm sooooo not done with them yet, wish me luck.