We Add Up Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week (and I think that's really cool)

I just got this e-mail from We Add Up and thought I'd share the opportunity with everyone:

Celebrating Local

Breastfeeding is about as local as it gets for food! When possible, breastfeeding is a great choice for the health of Mom, baby, pocketbook, and the environment. Next week (August 1-7) is World Breastfeeding Week. Celebrate with our popular "Breastfeed" We Add Up organic cotton t-shirt.

Or, purchase this custom numbered tee for a special woman (or man) in your life! Enter coupon code at checkout: breastfeedweek10 and receive 15% off your total order (includes any shirts or other products). Shop now.

Happy World Breastfeeding Week (almost)!
The WE ADD UP Team

I don't actually get compensated for this in any way. I just think it's a worthwhile cause and have happily posted a link to their site on my blog for awhile now.

Quick update on why Mike Homes is awesome

I will update more as details unfold...but in the meantime...WOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!

My letter to Mike Holmes

Earlier tonight, I tweeted the following: @herbadmother THAT IS IT. I will NOT rest until I see Mike Holmes, in a tutu, remodeling your sister's basement. #tutusforTanner

To meet Catherine (Her Bad Mother) go here. To read Tanner's story and understand why I'm suddenly obsessed with tutus, go here.

Because when I tweeted the above about not resting, and tutus and Tanner I truly MEANT IT, I found Mike Holmes on Twitter (@Make_It_Right). This was super easy because I was already following him. If you don't know who Mike Holmes is then I feel really bad for you because he is THE MAN. Google it. You'll thank me.

...oh FINE, here's a link. Sheesh.

Having found him, I tweeted: @Make_It_Right You are desperately needed. http://herbadmother.com/tanner/

Deciding that the tweet was not quite enough, I send the original tweet regarding Mike in a tutu to @Make_It_Right.

Because I vowed to not rest until I met my objective (Mike in tutu remodeling Tanner's house), I looked up Mike's website hoping to find contact information for his business. Eureka! I found it and sent the following:

Dear Mike Holmes:

I never do this. By never, I mean NEVER. However, I am doing it now...

I know someone who needs your help. I cannot do the story justice, it would be better if I sent you the information in the words of someone who is much better at writing than I am and who is invested in the story so much more than I am. Her name is Catherine and her nephew Tanner is dying. Please read the following blog post for the story:

http://herbadmother.com/tanner/

My heart is breaking. I've never met Catherine (who lives in Canada), or her sister, or Tanner. All I know is this - if this were my child, I would do everything I could to make sure he gets his wish.

I'm not asking for you to swoop in and do the remodel (although it would be awesome if you did). I'm not asking for you to pay for anything. All I'm asking for is for you to read his story and do whatever seems appropriate to you to help. They need all the help they can get and maybe you know people who would assist at reduced cost or would possibly donate some services. Any little bit would be wonderful.

I'm just so worried. Tanner doesn't have a lot of time left and my heart is breaking for him and his family.

Thanks for listening,

Dear Samsung

I forgive you. You may not have the best customer service in the world, but when you say you'll do something...by golly you do it.

Our TV has been repaired, at no cost to us, because it was indeed an issue with not one, but two capacitors on our set. The repair guy came, spent 15 minutes fixing it, and went on his way. We decided to gamble and have him come out because the 'authorized repair place' was pretty confident that it would be the capacitors - that and we didn't figure we'd ever manage to drive the TV to the Twin Cities for repair and got good and sick of no TV in the living room.

I now have a happy husband. I could hear the smile in his voice when he told me the TV was officially repaired. In fact, he sent me a (somewhat blurry but blame the cell phone and not the TV) proof of life photo in his excitement:

(I find it to be a somewhat good and comforting omen that he turned on the TV to see that a native son of Minnesota was playing on our favorite 80's hits DirecTV music station. I'm kinda silly that way.)

Still annoyed with Samsung but as long as they fix my TV I will get over it

I went to the Samsung website and pulled off information for an 'authorized' repair place for our TV. I called them and was told that certain TVs of that model number that were manufactured Feb-Aug 2008 might be eligible for free repair due to capacitor issues. (Woot! Of course, if we call them and they drive from the Twin Cities and it's NOT that part then we'd end up paying $270 plus whatever the parts cost because they came out to our house. If we bring the TV to them and it's not the capacitor the we'd only have to pay $180 plus parts...plus the cost of gas to and from the Twin Cities. Still , it would probably be less than a new TV. Decisions...decisions...)

So, I went back to the Samsung chat armed with the serial number for our TV. Logged on and immediately asked that they review the chat from earlier today with Stanford. Guess what? THEY COULDN'T DO IT. I got peeved and immediately asked for a supervisor. Told him that Stanford was big fat liar (not really in those exact words) and then supplied him with a link to my blog that gave him the chat history of the earlier conversation. He read it and started to comment when...

I lost power to my house for an eighth of a second...JUST long enough to kill the chat connection.

*HULK SMASH TIMES ELEVENTY BILLION*

(Luckily, I had asked what to do if we were disconnected because we've got some nasty storms a brewin' around these parts.)

I took a few deep, cleansing breaths and logged back into the chat. Here is the transcript. (No transcript for conversation right before it though because I lost it when I lost power):

General Info
Chat start time	Jun 25, 2010 9:58:50 PM EST
Chat end time	Jun 25, 2010 10:49:39 PM EST
Duration (actual chatting time)	00:50:49
Operator	Dylan D

Chat Transcript

info: Please wait for a Samsung Agent to respond. info: You are now chatting with 'Patricia G' Patricia G: Hello, I am a Samsung Technical Support representative. How may I assist you today? Jo: Supervisor please. I was speaking to Dylan D and lost connection. Patricia G: Let me check with the supervisor. Jo: Thanks Patricia Patricia G: You are welcome. Jo: Are you able to pull up chat history? I lost the chat information I had with Dylan when I lost power. Patricia G: Yes, I am talking to my supervisor. Please hold on. Jo: Awesome, thanks! Patricia G: You are welcome. Patricia G: Thanks for holding. Patricia G: Please give me a moment while I transfer you to my supervisor. info: Please wait while I transfer the chat to 'Dylan D'. info: You are now chatting with 'Dylan D' Jo: Thank you Patricia. Have a good weekend! Jo: Hi again Dylan. LOL Dylan D: I am sorry for the chat disconnection. Jo: No worries, the fault was on my end. Weather is crazy here in Minnesota right now. Dylan D: I have access to the chat history and the link you have provided. Dylan D: Let me know exact TV model number. Jo: LN40H450C1DXZA Jo: Serial number B46A3CsQ6OO844V version AAO2 Dylan D: This model doesn't seems to be from US. Jo: Um...what? Jo: Let me try again. I may have done a typo. Jo: "us" or "United States" Jo: LN40H459C1DXZA Dylan D: I mean from the United states. Jo: sorry, my husband looked again. LN40A450C1DXZA Jo: it is not from the United States? Dylan D: This model is from the United states. Jo: I gave you the correct model number just now. The "H" should have been an "A" Jo: LN40A450C1DXZA is the correct model number. Jo: B46A3CSQ6OO844V version AAO2 is the serial number Dylan D: I am sorry, I am unable to pull up your previous chat history. Dylan D: Let me know the issue you are facing with the TV. Jo: Did you read the link I sent earlier? Do you need it again? http://www.minnesotajo.com/2010/06/why-i-am-annoyed-with-samsung-right-now.html Jo: Stanford, the person I spoke to earlier today, said specifically that you would be able to review the chat history. I'm feeling very frustrated right now because it would appear that I was misled. That is why I asked for a supervisor and was connected to you. Dylan D: Let me go through it. Dylan D: I have gone through your previous chat with Stanford provided in the link. Dylan D: I see that your TV is not powering on. Dylan D: Is the TV plugged into a surge protector? Jo: Currently no, it is not plugged in at all. At the time it began malfunctioning it was plugged into a surge protector. Dylan D: Okay, is it working properly when plugged directly to the wall outlet? Jo: My husband is trying it now. Jo: I am crossing every finger that i have. LOL Jo: We are crazy missing our TV. Dylan D: Let me know once it is done. Jo: I'm going to feel really silly if this works. Happy but silly. Jo: It didn't work. Dylan D: Have you tried plugging the TV to another wall outlet? Jo: It did a flickering red light then immediately back to the constant red light blinking. Jo: He will try that now. Dylan D: Sure, go ahead. Jo: Still red light blinking. Jo: It didn't work. Dylan D: There seems to be some problem with the TV and it needs to be serviced. info: Your chat transcript will be sent to bradandjoanne@gmail.com at the end of your chat. Dylan D: Would you like me to provide you the link to register for the service? Dylan D: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/repaironline/supportOnlineServiceRequest.do Dylan D: Visit the link above to file the service request and register for service. Jo: I got the information for a company in the Twin Cities that services Samsung from your website. Dylan D: Okay, you can select any authorized service center near by your area. Jo: They said that there are issues with the capacitors on certain TVs of this specific model that were manufactured between Feb and Aug of 2008. Jo: According to their information, if our TV serial number matches one that was manufactured at that time, we are eligible for free repair. Jo: Do you know anything about this? Dylan D: Let me know the serial number of your TV. Jo: B46A3CSQ6OO844V version AAO2 is the serial number Dylan D: Let me validate the serial number. Jo: Thank you. Dylan D: The serial is incorrect. Jo: Checking again Jo: one minute Dylan D: Please provide me the correct serial number. Jo: B46A3CSQ600844V Jo: The "o"s should have been zeroes after the 6. My apologies. Dylan D: Let me verify it for you. Jo: version AA02 Jo: not "O" 2 as I said earlier Dylan D: Samsung has decided to cover the repair for a few TVs with power issues in case to case basis. Please call Samsung Customer Service at: 1-800-SAMSUNG (1-800-726-7864) | Mon - Fri - 9 AM to 9 PM, EST so that we can file a service request on your behalf. Dylan D: Do you have any further questions? Jo: No, I think I'm good. I will call customer service first thing on Monday. Thanks for your help. Jo: I do have one more questions Jo: question Jo: sorry. Dylan D: No problem, go ahead. Jo: Would a regular customer service rep have had access to this information without the serial number? Dylan D: No, that is not possible. Jo: Or was it necessary to provide that in order to get the message that you sent requiring the 'case by case'. Dylan D: Yes, you are right. Jo: OK, thanks for letting me know. It makes me feel better about the conversation that I had with Stanford earlier. Dylan D: You're welcome. Is there anything else I can assist you with? Jo: OH, one more. Are your chat histories tied to IP addresses? LOL Jo: It's driving me nuts that you could not access the histories of the conversations. Dylan D: Yes, it is tied to IP address. Jo: My main frustration with this process is that I was told you'd be able to access the chat. I even brought up that I'd be on a different computer with a different IP address and was assured it would still work. Perhaps someone could let Stanford know that he gave incorrect information? I'd hate to have someone else be frustrated by this process. Dylan D: Can I be of any further assistance? Dylan D: I apologize for the inconvenience. Jo: Have a good evening. Thank you. Dylan D: Tired of tech TV shows that only review your product? Check out Samsung SPSTV "Keep It Simple" every Thursday and Friday where we show you live on the web how to get the most out of your Samsung product. Just click here to check us out online. Dylan D: Thank you for chatting with us. If you have a minute, please press the "close" button and fill out a brief survey to help us serve you better. Have a wonderful day! Chat session has been terminated by the Samsung Agent.

Anyone wanna make a bet that Dylan threw something across the room right after he disconnected from me? Perhaps he did a *HULK SMASH* of his own? I was also rather saddened by the fact that he completely lacked a sense of humor. Seriously. He ignored every last one of my jokes. How lame is that?

Also, I find it very interesting that I had to ASK about the free repair and that Samsung certainly would not have volunteered that information. This being AFTER I asked Stanford if there were any known issues with the power supply (of which the capacitor is a part). He replied, "I am sorry we haven't heard any issues till know." Seems to me that was a flat out lie but who am I to judge?

So wish me luck on Monday morning when I call the customer service number that was provided to request service. Shall we take bets on how much more annoying this will become before we have a TV that actually works?

(OK, OK...so we really do have functioning TV's in our house...just not the pretty HD one. We are suffering yo!)