Here we see a 5′ 8″ tall woman demonstrate how large the new General Electric washing machines are by climbing inside.
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It’s not often I have a positive experience with customer service worth talking about. In this day of altering corporate attitudes driven by shrinking profit margins with a more concentrated focus on the bottom line and less on the customer, I feel it’s important to mention one fine experience I had recently.
A couple of weeks ago I posted to Twitter, using the Hampton Roads hashtag #hrva, my dis-satisfaction with my bank. In particular I don’t like some policy issues and rising fees. My tweet was responded to by @ChartwayFCU inviting me to join them.
After checking them out I applied for membership online. A day later I received an email from “K” with my acceptance invitation. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I responded with a thank you.
Today I sent an email to “K” informing her I would be by to take care of things. Almost immdiately she shot back a warm welcome and wanted to know when and where I’d be arriving. She also included information about upcoming computer upgrades that may impact my visit.
At noon I sent her an email that I’d be arriving at a given location in 25 minutes. Shortly thereafter she let me know “M” would be waiting for me.
Sure enough, when I arrived “M” was at her desk with my paperwork in front of her ready to go. It took just about 5 minutes for “M” to take care of everything. She was thorough and told me everything she was doing and answered each question I had for her. When she stepped away from her desk she told me exactly what she was doing and what she was retrieving.
After leaving the facility I sent an email to “K” letting her know I was signed up and thanking her for her time. She promptly replied with another warm and welcoming thank you.
All this communication made me feel like they actually wanted my business, not as if they were entitled to it.
Chartway may not have all the fancy tools a big bank does, but they do have some good people who truly make you feel wanted. They also have someone who’s pretty good at social marketing and recruiting because if it wasn’t for that I may never have contacted them in the first place.
Well I finally got to take the BH T4 out for a spin today and it sure was interesting.
Let’s start with the beach, its just two blocks over but I didn’t want to hunt there the first time out. Really, I just don’t want a bunch of people staring at me while I try to figure this thing out. With my luck I’d step on someone gal’s engagement ring, fall to the ground with blood gushing from my foot requiring many stitches, and STILL wouldn’t have detected the ring. She’d just snatch it out from between a couple of bones and say “There it is”.
So I chose a tot-lot at the southend of the beach, in the pouring rain, with no one around except for a bunch of homeless people whom I’ll get to in a minute.
I don my slicker and wide brimmed sailing hat, rig the MD, insert the ear buds, cover the electronic goodies with a bag, put on the apron and off I go.
I wasn’t expecting much since this park is only about a year old, but practice I wanted, practice I got.
I started with the approach to the lot, but the ground is so darned hard I couldn’t dig anything without a full on shovel so I moved straight to the mulch. I searched the areas I thought would produce the best chance of finding some love: around the benches, swings and covered tables.
Oh, did I mention the homeless????
It didn’t take long to get my first “hit”. And let me tell you, that Tracker was singing a tune! As a matter-of-fact it was singing a looong, wiiiiide tune. Did any of you know that park benches could have concrete and steel holding them down????
I backed away from the bench and came up empty hand-tooled.
By the third bench I became acutely aware of some noise from around the first bench I checked out. I ignored it at first.
I moved on to the swings. Bam-O! Hit after hit. Holy crap a pocket spill! Yeehaw I’m on my way to paying this thing off.
Nope… You see, it turns out the construction crews who built the park must have cut the chain for the swings on site. Nice, huh. Half a dozen half-links later I move to the slides and the noise I heard before is louder. Much louder. It even has an angry quality about it.
First slide down and nothing but playground foundation.
Now I hear it. Well I’ll be damned but this homeless lady is having a fit over me “cheating”. WTH is that about??? No need to post what she was saying, but she sure wasn’t using nice language. Potty mouth. I seriously contemplated offering her my finds….
I hit the last slide and find nothing. The lady is flat out wigging and its pouring like mad. I’m leaving but on the way out I stop by the concession stand area. I already know I can’t dig so I hit the shrubbery in front of the window area.
Oh yea baby. A hit within 1 foot of me starting. Nail…
Wham! Another hit. Nail…
Kapow! Pulltab…. In the middle of ginormous red ant colony that appears pretty pissed off for some reason. Go figure, I only moved their mulch, scrapped a bunch of their dirt and in all likely hood I split the queen in a few pieces. Sheeze.
On that note I gathered my garbage, dumped it in a can, listened to my new friend serenade me one last time, dried off and left.
Frustrating, comical, enjoyable. I can’t wait to head out again. Oh, oh…. I hear thunder – Later….
For those of us who like former governor George Allen of Virginia, this is great news. Its also not terribly surprising that he leads, what is surprising is how large the lead is.
From Bearing Drift we get this take on the latest Public Policy Polling results:
You can almost hear the disappointment in the Public Policy Polling voice:
There are plenty of establishment Republicans who need to worry about primary challenges from the Tea Party next year but George Allen doesn’t appear to be one of them.
Ouch.
The numbers surprisingly show Allen with a massive, commanding lead of 67%. More surprising, Prince William Delegate Bob Marshall outpaces all other contenders at 7%, while Tea Party organizer Jamie Radtke, Prince William Supervisor Corey Stewart, and newly announced lawyer David McCormick all trail near the margins of error.
Here’s another neat tidbit from the poll:
What’s more telling is that only 25% of Republicans prefer a generic ‘more conservative’ challenge to Allen, while 52% stick with the former Senator. That’s better than most long time GOP politicians are faring against hypothetical foes to the right- before he retired we found Jon Kyl under 50% against a ‘more conservative’ alternative and Bob Corker actually trails a generic challenger to his right. So for Allen to have a 27 point lead on that measure is significant.
So while the charges against Allen for “not being conservative enough” are sticking, conservatives are staying loyal to Allen. PPP chalks this up to name ID, but Virginia insiders will tell you this is because Republicans remember the George Allen of ’93.
Here’s another kicker: Marshall and Radtke both share comparable name ID in Virginia (low to mid 20s), and Marshall beats Radtke practically 2-1… if the difference between 7% and 4% is really a gap.
Of course, this is still very early on in the race, with no candidate really pushing hard against Allen at the moment or raising a tremendous amount of money. Still, when you’re staring down a 60pt gap, a hungry frontrunner with a skilled staff, and a Republican base that is standing by Allen… there is nothing but steep uphill running for the challengers.
PPP also mentions that Huckabee is currently the state favorite with 20% of Republican primary voters backing him. Romney, Palin, and Gingrich finish out the lead pack, with numbers in the mid-teens.
