Chris and I have decided to put an end to our sedentary life..

Step 1:  Buy bikes.  Check.

Step 2:  Buy an elliptical.  Check.

Step 3:  Buy a Wii or Xbox Kinect.   In the pricing stage.

Step 4: Use said devices…..

So how are we progressing??  Bikes have been used–not as much as we wanted but we have been here there and everywhere since we bought them so we are trying to be intentional about using them.   Bought the elliptical at Sears locally about 10 days ago.  It was to be delivered and set up today.   Delivered, yes.  Set up?  No.  Delivery dude Travis said they don’t assemble ellipticals.  They assemble treadmills but not ellipticals.  Our little sales chick assured us that they would do that and that it was included in the astronomical delivery fee so we sprung for it.   Little did we know that she was misinformed….

So off to Sears I went. Actually twice.  I “thought” they would open at 9 am but noooooooo.  So I went back after the 10 am opening time.   I presented my case very nicely.   Another guy was called.   Guy came.  Guy listened to story.  Guy told me salesgirl had made a mistake.   So I asked what they could do to make this situation better.   Assembly was a whopping $200.  No wonder they did not tell us that!   I told him there was no way we were paying that so they might as well take it back.   He then offered to split the cost and assemble for $100.   While I was standing there I noticed a flyer with “our” machine listed for sale at $150 lower price than what we bought it for on sale…….I commented on that and he got a look on his face…then my sister texted me to tell me that her secretary in Ohio had had the exact same experience with Sears there.  Come to find out it was the exact same machine!!!   So as she is texting me I told the guy that it seems like this is an issue not limited to just Iowa!!!! And that she got the assembly free plus another 10% off…..

Still with me???   Soon I felt like I was at a car dealership because he asked if I wanted to talk to the store manager.  You betcha!   They already had a call in to have them come pick up the box and return it.  Off he goes.  10 minutes later he comes back with his final offer…….refund the difference between the sale price we bought it for and the new sale price ($150 ) and split the assembly cost down the middle so we pay only $100.  Basically we came away paying $50 less than we had originally AND they will come assemble it now.  I have to hand it to Nate that he stuck in there with me and tried to get me satisfied——kudos to him for that and for satisfying a pretty disgruntled customer.   I told him that i had been battling with Delta (still no refund for incidentals I had to buy when they did not deliver my suitcase with me!), Holiday Inn for not notifying me when said suitcase arrived, (Did get an email from the manager telling me what they were doing to make sure this did not happen again AND he added 1500 points to my Priority Club account), Ebay hassle which I got my shipping refunded….the list goes on!   So I told him thank you very much and I would leave positive feedback for his part in the experience.

So now the box sits in the basement waiting for the assembly to begin which hopefully will be next week.   I am tired of everything being a battle.  Tired of having to make a big deal out of stuff.   I am an easy to get along with person !   Come on now–let’s ramp up the customer service a bit!!!   i guess it is a happy ending to the story but it wore me out!  I may not be able to use it when it finally gets assembled…