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Wow, What a wild ride. I just don't know what to say as an overall impression! Good deal but Cautious, perhaps? You decide:
We went slightly used van shopping and observed an interesting...
Wow, What a wild ride. I just don't know what to say as an overall impression! Good deal but Cautious, perhaps? You decide:
We went slightly used van shopping and observed an interesting prospect online on their website. Looked good, nice price, nice a local. So we decided to go check it out.
We arrive and their facility was clean and spacious with a decent selection of vehicles. We were quickly shown the vehicle we were interested in. They started it up and brought it to the dealership door- nice service there!
We got our children situated for a test drive and well, it's Winter in Minnesota and we noticed it was rather nippy still in the van. We tinker with the controls and can't figure it out so we ask if there is some secret knack to it and they discover "the thermostat" is out. Oops. After about 45 frigid minutes we get back and decide as long as they fix the heater issue- we really like it and would like to take it to an inspection before signing papers.
SURE! They say. We'll get that fixed first thing and have it ready ANY time the next day for us to take to the mechanics. Okay.
The next day comes, we call in the morning and are told they just took it to the shop and it should be back for us at about noon. To be on the safe side we schedule a 2pm inspection at a different garage.
1:30pm rolls around and we call before coming and are told they just brought it to the shop [huh, where had I heard that before?] and it won't be ready for another hour. Okay. Is 4pm a safe bet? Yes. Okay.
3:30pm and the van is still not ready. The truth is now they don't know what's wrong with it but it's not the thermostat and it's big. "Sorry, the van won't be available for a week or so. BUT.... We just got this awesome trade in and we think it is perfect for you!"
Slightly hesitant, we agree to see the vehicle. It's nice. More basic and a couple years older than the LX version we saw but had ALOT less miles on it which is a good bonus. [Price would be the same because of our inconvenience- uh hu....]
We decide it may still be a good deal though and they offer to let us take the vehicle overnight and have it inspected the following day. Generous offer, we accepted. Inspection came out pretty clean, we put in an offer, got a decent deal and a good value on our trade.
Part of our deal was also that they agreed to put on new tires and give it an alignment because one tire was dangerously/shoddily repaired and could blow at any time. They then offered to let us drive a very nice nearly new vehicle until ours was ready.
We purchased our van on a Saturday but they couldn't do the work until Monday...... they said. Monday rolls around and I call to set up a pick up time for after the tires are done but before my husband needs to go to work at 3pm. Tires don't take that long to do. They hem and haw a bit and say it can't be done by when my husband needed to go and offer to let us keep the loaner another night.
Tuesday morning, same routine- need a pick up time before husband needs to go to work. "We just took it to the shop, Call back at 1:30pm, it'll be ready." We HUST took it to the shop? Isn't that what they said yesterday? This is getting to be a nasty pattern. We call at 1:30 and uh oh, it's done but they still need to pick it up at the shop, can't be gotten by 3pm, keep the loaner ANOTHER night.
Now I like the loaner vehicle :) Nice 2006 Chrysler Pacifica, very Luxury. But we also like our New Van and have already paid for it. They could have just been honest and said "it will be done Wednesday" instead of making us wait around all day every day with broken promises of when it will be ready.
In summary, we did get a nice vehicle at a decent price. They were friendly but almost distracted. They were not aggressive sales people. It bothers me that they always seem to have a new story. We also noted a sales associate showing the first van [the one with big problems?] to another customer as we took our test drive on the second one and thought that was suspicious-- If something was so wrong with it why was it still being shown for sale?
I recommend great caution with dealing with them. I observed things which could be construed as horrendous disorganization or deceptive business-- depending on the facts of the situation I don't have.
Never assume what they say will happen will. Research your vehicles and get an independant inspection. You might get a great deal-- but be alert and understand their time ........ "handicap" going in.
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Friday's
Category:
Restaurants
2480 Fairview Ave N
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55113
(651) 631-1783
We had my husbands surprise birthday party at this restaurant a couple weeks ago and I cannot say enough good things about it!
They have revamped this Friday's Location and it is really modern...
We had my husbands surprise birthday party at this restaurant a couple weeks ago and I cannot say enough good things about it!
They have revamped this Friday's Location and it is really modern and hip. The food and service has been stepped up too.
From planning stages to the final check it was a great evening and the staff did an outstanding job.
I first called a week in advance to ensure they could accomodate a potentially large group on a sunday evening and whether I needed reservations for that or anything. They were helpful and pleasant advising me to just phone in the day before the party and have them take down our information. Which I did successfully- AND I think they got asinto the surprise as we did-LOL.
They seated our guests at a pre-designated table between 7-7:20 and ordered a variety of appetizers. When we arrived at ~7:30pm everything was set to go, they led us to our table with a smug grin and the Birthday boy was floored :)
Throughout the evening they kept the beverages and appetizers comming fresh [we had all decided that and cake was enough food for us]. The staff thoroughly embarrassed the birthday boy on no less than 3 separate occasions as well. When we arrived every wait-staff person came over with a balloon and tied it somewhere to him [like wrists and such] and wished him a personal Happy Birthday. Later they delivered a birthday sundae with everyone singing happy birthday. And lastly, an encore, about 3 guys came over and did a Helium Influenced rendition of Happy Birthday that had the whole restaurant in hysterics.
The service was amazing and food really great. I recomend them to everyone now and WILL be back!
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My son receives a postcard for a free kids meal and dessert every year on his birthday and most of the time we use it.
So we went again just the other day and I remembered why we don't eat there...
My son receives a postcard for a free kids meal and dessert every year on his birthday and most of the time we use it.
So we went again just the other day and I remembered why we don't eat there more often.
We walked into the restaraunt--- and into a over-powering cloud of cigarette smoke. We almost walked right out but were on a time crunch so didn't have time to find another option for lunch.
Smoking or Non we were asked, Um... no difference here! [Our city has a no smoking ban on public places like stores and restaraunts which we have been enjoying, this one apparently landed right outside the city line] Normally it's not too bad but that day it was awful and there was absolutely no separation for the smoking section. Anyway ;)
There were maybe 5 other tables full in the whole place so it was not busy at all BUT:
We waited 10 minutes to be seated.
10 Minutes MORE for the waitress to bring menus and take drink orders.
10 more minutes for our drinks and she left without taking our order so...
We waited another 10 minutes just to place our order.
We waited 20 minutes for the food which arrived cold and out of the fruit included with the childrens meals.
We ate and waited around for 10 minutes to gain the waitresses attention to order the birthday sundae.
5-10 minutes more to get the sundae, he ate that.
During ALL this time she never brought refills on the sodas & juice, which was more a glass of ice and a small amount of beverage.
Finally we had to go find the waitress after yet another 15+ minutes to get our check so we could leave.
The meal/visit lasted an hour and a half which is alot longer than normal for us at a restaraunt and was very difficult making a 1 year old baby sit through.
Other observations included sticky tables, dirty silverware, extremely messy restrooms, and employees seeming to spend an excessive amount of time socializing with eachother, and an inaccurate bill.
They charged us $1.99 for a beverage for our son even though the waitress had stated it came with the meal and we had a coupon for a free meal. They were not rude about this per-say but would not budge on removing it from our bill.
I do not recomend the service or atmosphere at this location. The food was passable- but would be better if served hot. There were no redeeming factors to our visit and will keep that in mind should we ever feel tempted to go again!
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Hubby took our Son, A friend of ours and their son snow tubing at Wild Mountain in Taylors Falls Last week and they had SO much fun!
They actually got a bit lost trying to find the snow tubing...
Hubby took our Son, A friend of ours and their son snow tubing at Wild Mountain in Taylors Falls Last week and they had SO much fun!
They actually got a bit lost trying to find the snow tubing part of the resort and went to the ski lodge which was awesome looking. About 5 minutes farther up the mountain you find the tubing facility-- it reminded them of a skating rink-- basic but did the job. They could make the building more comfortable and maybe add some attractions, like the other lodge had an arcade- but you ARE there to 'tube'.
The 'chutes' are CRAZY! Ever saw Cool Runnings? Imagine a steep, long, dug-out tunnel of sheer ice. Throw in huge inner tubes and get ready to scream! The daddies were more scared than the kids.
The employee service was great-- especially the chute attendant named "Matt" who was great with the kids. He was very knowledgable and described how to do it safely and kept them interested and laughing. Every time they went back up for another run they chatted some more.
All in all it was a great trip and we highly recomend this essential winter 'sport' and our local Wild Mountain facility.
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For our landline service we recently switched from the monopoly provider in our area [Qwest] to a smaller local company called Velocity Telephone.
When we moved Qwest said we moved too far...
For our landline service we recently switched from the monopoly provider in our area [Qwest] to a smaller local company called Velocity Telephone.
When we moved Qwest said we moved too far outside the service area to get DSL through them anymore--- yet we had only moved 6 blocks in a very large main city! They would only offer us dial-up for $20/month and we already paid$35 for the landline telephone service. We REALLY did not want to go back to dial-up and certainly not at that price. So we started shopping and stumbled across an amazing deal by this local company.
They have incredible rates!
We were offered landline telephone with all the features + DSL & modem for $49.99/month. Great DEAL! The service is great too. Very personalized. You will get a technician the day you call-- and may actually end up speaking to that technician when you call! When you have a problem you will probably hear from the president of the company too :)
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We have 3 cell phones in our house- crazy, I know ;)
2 of them are Tracfone prepaid wireless though and I like them very much.
Basically you buy a phone [most of the time you can find a deal...
We have 3 cell phones in our house- crazy, I know ;)
2 of them are Tracfone prepaid wireless though and I like them very much.
Basically you buy a phone [most of the time you can find a deal with a free one with purchase of airtime on their website: www.tracfone.com ] and buy airtime cards either online or in many stores like Target, Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, K-mart etc.... The airtime cards will add minutes to your calling bank AND add service time [usually 60 days]. You retain ALL unused minutes aslong as you have valid service time added. You can also purchase a one year card that has either 200 or 400 minutes on it and 1 year of service time for about $90-$100. This will last you all year depending on how much you talk on the phone.
My motorola flip tracfone does not get reception in my house at all but out motorola pocket phone does just fine.
It is really great for those who don't want a contract or monthly bill but want something for minimal usage and emergencies. Most of the time you can also find codes online for extra minutes to use when activating a minutes card actually making it a much better deal than other pre-paid companies.
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We actually Have 3 cell phones- oye. But the main one is a Motorola Razr with T-Mobile Wireless. We pay $35/month for 300 minutes + free weekends. This works out well for us as we don't use our...
We actually Have 3 cell phones- oye. But the main one is a Motorola Razr with T-Mobile Wireless. We pay $35/month for 300 minutes + free weekends. This works out well for us as we don't use our cell overly much, just quick calls to each other to and from work or when we are all out and need to touch base. It's also great for those on the road emergencies. You can check out their current offers for both new and current customers on their website: http://www.tmobile.com .
My oninion of T-mobile is a mixed bag. Service has been good but there are places in our house that will not get reception at all. Their rate plan is reasonable and is one of the few carriers that still offer a plan under $40/month. Their phones are good too, and upgrades a nice incentive.
One thing that miffed me was that we had wanted to get a new cell phone after 2 years with T-mobile using the very basic Nokia we got free when we opened an account. All the upgrades that were again free were not very good quality. For NEW clients they were offereing very nice phones including the Razr for absolutely free but for current members the pickins' were slim. If we wanted the Razr they would charge us $50. Way to go for encouraging customer loyalty!
So I called customer service with the little gripe-lol. I was transfered to customer retention. The person I spoke too was pleasant but not very helpful. I explained to her that I could just sign up with a new account with another carrier like Sprint and get a Razr [or equivilent] Free with free activation, $29.99 plan, a 1 year contract and keep my phone number. I asked her what T-mobile could offer comparable.
Obviously not listening well, she objected if I switched I would have to pay a $40 activation fee which is only $10 less than buying my own phone through them, why not stay? I told her it was free activation. She then argued I would have to sign a contract with a new carrier......to which I responded that T-mobile would ask I sign a contract too in order to get any discount on a new phone. She didn't have much to say really. Just reinterated the prices for their phones and said they would be sorry to see my business go.
Now, I'm not totally against paying something for my phone, I was just a little irked they offered much better deals to new customers and didn't care about keeping current customers.
In the end, I did stay with T-mobile and just waited out their prices and got the phone I wanted for $30 after rebates.
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Qwest
Category:
Home Electronics
Seattle, Washington 98101
(800) 244-1111
Not great prices and mediocre service. Qwest is the predominant phone carrier in our area and we have always had them. We've never been overly impressed nor overy mistreated-lol. Their prices just...
Not great prices and mediocre service. Qwest is the predominant phone carrier in our area and we have always had them. We've never been overly impressed nor overy mistreated-lol. Their prices just aren't that good though for what they offer and what they lack is annoying. We had dsl & regular phone line with them for awhile when we moved all of 6 blocks and magically we were outside of the range for DSL service. We live in a bigcityfor goodness sakes, it's not like we were asking for service to be hooked up to the moon. They were a bit rude too and unhelpful of what we could do besides go back to dial-up. So we did some research and found a smaller company withan amazing deal for DSL & Phone with the works for $49.95/month together and took that deal.
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This is THE resource for Party supplies. They have absolutely everything you can think of for a myriad of themes. The prices are insanely low and in bulk [like all good party supplies SHOULD be!] It...
This is THE resource for Party supplies. They have absolutely everything you can think of for a myriad of themes. The prices are insanely low and in bulk [like all good party supplies SHOULD be!] It is a one stop shop for birthdays, weddings, holidays, scrapbooking, crafts, prizes, programs-- anything.
We have personally shopped for dinosaur, rubber ducky and christmas themed parties here as well as prizes for childrens church classes. Buy over $50 or $60 and there is usually a free shipping code out and if you sign up for their emails to get a coupons too. Their clearance practically gives product away too.
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The situation of course makes you want to throw a fit-lol- but other than that, we were very happy with our experience with this business last week.
The story goes that our whole family -Me,...
The situation of course makes you want to throw a fit-lol- but other than that, we were very happy with our experience with this business last week.
The story goes that our whole family -Me, Hubby & 2 small boys- are in Downtown Minneapolis for hair-cuts and a farmers market trip this last Thursday. When we left our house that morning the car made a brief funky noise when we started it but thought nothing of it,seemed fine otherwise. Well, with shorter hair and laden with bags of fruits and veggies we pile back into our car after a long day. Turn the key. Nada. Lights, door dings- then nothing else.
After a bit of fiddling it was quite obvious we weren't going anywhere. The starter had completely died.
We called our garage to see if their rental was in and how to go about getting a tow and they gave us the number to Cardinal Towing.
We were quite stressed and our 2 kids were in desperate need of naps. We figured it would first take forever to get a truck [did I mention were were in a 6'5 clearance ramp?]and then Hubby would have to ride with the tow truck to the garage, pick up the rental and come back for us [most trucks would not have room for us all]. Or I could wrestle 2 cranky kids home on the city bus which I was really not into. Dread.
BUT- to our surprise the experience was the opposite! The tow truck arrived within 20 minutes max & It was a full extended Cab with 2 bench seats! Fast and plenty of room! The driver was very friendly and checked our car out before towing us to make sure we couldn't fiddle with it and get it started and avoid the tow cost!
Alas, still nothing so he pushed our car out of the parking space and hooked it up - again in record time. The drive was short and he chatted amiably the whole way. When we got tho the garage he did a miraculous parking job and just put the tow on our garage bill so we didn't even have to pay him up front.
This business gets 5 stars for speed, customer service, friendliness, and convenience!
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