ALDO, the WORST customer service experiences of my life.

Beware - this entire post is just a bitch fest about my recent string of ridiculously heinous customer service experiences with Aldo Shoes.

A few weeks ago I decided that I desperately needed new work shoes pronto.  I didnt have to time to go to Lenox mall so I ran to Cumberland, or as we all prefer to call it, SCUMberland Mall.  I figured that Macys would have a similar selection regardless of the mall and I would start there.  When I did not find anything that I even came close to liking I went through a few other stores just to check.  I happened to find a pair of shoes at Also that I REALLY liked.  I was on a mission for black closed toe high heel shoes.  I found these.

I actually liked them so much I also bought them in Nude.  They were $75 a pair but I knew I would wear them.  Anyway, I bought them on Monday.  Tuesday I wore the nude pair to work with a really cute skirt and sweater outfit.  I was mostly sitting in meetings all day but when I walked to the bathroom at one point I could feel something poking my foot.  I figured it was a stone but when I took the shoe off and looked at it I could see what looked like a nail or something sticking up through the insole.  Luckily I had the black pair in my car still, so I changed and called Aldo to tell them. 

By the time I had a minute to run to the mall to exchange them it was Friday.  I showed the store manager the shoe, explained that I had bought them Monday and worn them for a half day Tuesday.  She immediately told me that because I had worn the shoe she could not return or exchange it for me, per their policy.  After trying to reason with the woman (named Tata....but whatever) for over 20 minutes I was just about in tears.  She told me that there was nothing she could do and at one point even insinuated that perhaps I had put the nail in it myself.  She actually attenpted to "fix" the shoe by using the tip of a pair of scissors to push the nail back down into the sole!  When I was not satisfied with that (call me crazy), she suggested I put a gel insole into the shoe!! 

I tend to think I am a pretty reasonable person.  I can understand why a shoe store has a policy against exchanging worn shoes.  BUT, its not like Id had them for a month and decided I didnt like the color.  These were clearly defective shoes.  Finally Tata offered to send them out for repair and try to get an exception made to the policy if they could not be returned.  I was so exhasperated at that point that I couldnt wait to leave the store, so I agreed.  She promised the shoe would be sent out on Monday and back by Weds.  When I hadnt heard back by Friday I called the store to check back, only to find out that the shoe had never even been sent out for repair.  The girl I spoke with said she would call me back that afternoon to tell me what was going on.  If you can imagine this, I never got a phone call. 

On Monday I decided to just go into the store.  I figured that if worse came to worse I would take my defective shoe back and take it to another store in hopes of finding a reasonable and dependable staff memeber there.  When I arrived and explained who I was, etc the lady at the counter told me that Tata had actually been fired.  The new manager agreed to exchange the shoes for me without question.  THANK GOD, right!?  As it turns out they didnt have my size/color in the store but they offered to order them for me and have them delivered to my house for free.  That sounded reasonable to me so I gave the girl my information and left  the store, happy that this mess had been resolved. 

Well, of course this ordeal just got worse.  Why would I think this had been resolved!?  I just checked my order at aldoshoes.com and realized that the lady at the store has now sent me a second pair of BLACK shoes!!!  Arrrrghhhhhhhh.

I called the customer service line to confirm this and ask that they change my order, but that would be too easy.  Since the order was paid in full the only option is to cancel it and wait 5 days for a refund.  Since I dont trust anyone even affiliated with Aldo at this point I am letting them just ship me the shoes.  I will then take them to the Lenox mall store I guess.  I will say that I have been WAY to patient with the entire situation.  I should have just returned both pairs and demanded my money back a long time ago.  But alas, I like the shoes...

Am I crazy or is this the most unreasonable and ridiculous customer service story you have ever heard?  So needless to say I will never ever buy another pair of shoes from Aldo and I would recommend that no one else does either.  Unless of course you are a glutton for punishment. 

50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly!

Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly.com.  Its easy to enter, just click here and submit your completed form.

Now I just need to convince Nick to take a picture with Roscoe and I for the card :)

Well, Hello There!

Holy smokes, I cant believe it has been almost two weeks since I have blogged!  I have so much to catch up on. 

Ok, lets start with my lack luster attendance at Crossfit over the previously mentioned two weeks.  I had a week of work meetings last week that basically went from 7am to past dinner every night.  So needless to say, there was no working out happening that week.  My meeting ended Thursday night and Friday Nick and I left for a weekend in Asheville.  More on that later.  I was able to make it to Crossfit on Mon and Tues of this week before leaving Weds am for a three day trip to Texas.  (Here I am, in Rockwall, TX now.)  I am definitely looking forward to being in town for a while so I can get back to Crossfit full time.  I need it so bad!

Two Sundays ago Nick and I went to North Georgia Canopy Tours to do the Adventure Tour.  I bought this a deal on Living Social months ago and it was about to expire, hence having to go on a Sunday (which is typically dedicated solely to watching football and drinking beer).  Driving to the location we felt as if we were extras in the movie Deliverance.  Dirt roads, double wides, rusty old cars on the side of the road...the only thing missing was the sound of a banjo.  But, when we finally arrived we could hardly contain our excitement.  Our tour guides were Chip and Jenna, both goofy and over the top.  So naturally, we loved them.  Here are a few pictures.

This past weekend was our one year anniversary together (awww) and since we have never taken a trip or gone away "just because" we booked a weekend in Asheville, NC.  I have been dying to go there since I moved to Atlanta because Ive heard that in mid November its the perfect combination of fall leaves and early Christmas lights at the Biltmore.  With a little convincing Nick was on board.  I LOVED Asheville.  It has a very hippie, free spirit, local pride feeling that I doubt can be matched.  Nick was less impressed with the barefoot dancing and guitar playing in the streets than I was, but nonetheless we had a fabulous weekend.  We listened to live music at a local bar, toured the Biltmore and winery, had breakfast two days in a row at Tupelo Honey Cafe (some of the most incredible food I have EVER had, seriously we went there two days in a row)

, and our anniversary dinner at Bouchon.  We also got chocolate truffles from Chocolate Fetish, which were possibly the most amazing things I have ever tasted.  They will ship them anywhere in the US, which might be my diet downfall. 

Again, here are a few pictures. 

At the Biltmore House, what an amazing view.

My bounty from the Biltmore Winery.  5 "souvenier" bottles :)

At Bouchon for our anniversary dinner!

It was really nice to have a weekend away by ourselves without a schedule, anywhere to be, anyone to meet up with, etc!  Nick and I have been through a lot together in the year that we have been dating and nothing was more welcomed this weekend that being able to move at our own pace. 

One somewhat funny thing that did happen was also one of the most romantic.  Nick had arranged for two dozen roses to be in the room waiting for us when we arrived.  When they werent there upon our arrival he scrambled to find them without me knowing.  He called 1-800-Flowers, Fed Ex, talked to the front desk manager...all with no luck.  Finally he just told me about it and while he felt terrible and was really upset about it, I very much appreciated the thought he had put into it.  The next morning at about 8 am (read: waaay to early) there was a knock on our door.  When I politely yelled "come back later" the poor manager asked if he should just leave the flowers at the door.  HA!  Ooops!  Later that day we asked the front desk where they found them and it turned out that they had been delivered to the wrong hotel room.  This brings up two points for me.  1. Wouldnt you riase a red flag if you had two dozen red roses unexpectedly in your hotel room that you KNEW didnt belong to you?  2.  How akward would it be to ask someone for the roses that dont belong to them?  So yea, that was funny to me. 

I think for now Im pretty well caught up on my life.  Im sure there is more, but Im too tired to think about right now, much less write it.  I *promise* it wont be so long before my next post!

Who says you need to train for a 5k?

Yea, thats right.  Todays WOD was to run a 5K.  "Fast". 

Back in August of 2005 I decided that I would train to run a marathon.  In January 2006 I ran the Disney Marathon in just over 5 hours.  But when I first started running back then I couldnt even cover 1 mile without stopping.  It was incredibly sad.  But I stuck with it and trained 5 days a week; including a 6am long distance group run in Albany.  It sucked at first but I got into the groove after a while and actually stared to enjoy running.  Then after the marathon I just stopped running.  Ive tried a few times to start back up again but have not been successful. 

When I read the WOD I nearly threw up in my mouth just thinking about it.  I mean, people spend weeks training to run 3.1 miles.  Then I realized that even though we have not spent the past 6 weeks doing strict "race" or "running" training, we have certainly been training our bodies to handle a little 5k!  I slipped on my Vibram Five Fingers and set off, with Nick reluctantly in tow.  The route mapped out by the gym is beautiful, but hilly like a bitch.  I felt pretty good and was able to run almost to the half way point before I had to walk through a cramp.  The boys had all run ahead of me, but since I was able to pace myself and walk minimal distances I finished within one minute of them.  Nick finished in 33:50 and I came in just behind him at 34:20.  It is also worth noting that even when I was marathon training, this still would have been a pretty damn good time for me!  These little legs just dont run very fast. 

Tomorrow is my 5th Zerona treatment, Ill let you know how it goes.  Hoping to be down to about 121, but still waiting to see my end measurements before I declare success.

And today is November 1, so I can say goodbye to my only moderately successful Sober October ;)

Just finished my 4th Zerona treatment and weighed in at 122.2. That's one more L-B down from last Monday.