I recently purchased a round trip airline fare through CheapTickets.com and didn’t get the email confirmation. I checked my bank account and I was charged for the flight, so something just happened with the email. After filling out their email form the confirmation page says:
Thanks for contacting us.
We’ll do our best to respond within 4 hours.
Amen. Too many companies believe that if a customer emails for a problem, it’s a free pass to wait a business day before doing anything. Just like you shouldn’t wait long when calling, email should be used to provide fast customer service. It’s a lot cheaper for the company so why not?
(This was on Sunday night, the number of hours may change based on the staffing level and or email volume.) Also, in case you’re interested, the tix are for a trip to Vegas for CES.
UPDATE: My problem was solved in 30 minutes, great work!
I finally made it to Goody Goody this week (after two unsuccessful attempts) and it was great. Well, the food was great at least. Service wise they won’t win a prize. Sorry to see it go!
I’m ashamed to admit that I have been listening to Gorillaz lately. It’s animated, that’s pathetic. Why is it entertaining to me?
A long lasting indie restaurant is a rare thing in a lot of towns. Tampa has one called Goody Goody that has been in business in the same location since the 20’s which is long enough to make it an institution but not technically the oldest. It’s a bit out of the way from me and I have never been there, but word broke recently that it will be closing at the end of the month. Ever since I have tried to make the pilgrimage and it has been a harrowing experience. For reference, this is a classic American diner type place, their signature dish is a hamburger.
After finding someone to go we made plans for lunch on the next day. I picked him up right around noon and we made our way over there (which is just a few minutes from his place) only to find about 40 people packed into a very small dining room. It was obvious that we were in for a long wait to just get a table so after a few minutes of scoping out we left discouraged but not beaten.
Today was round two and we played this match with a later time and more confidence. Around 1PM we strolled in (this time with another person, maybe for good luck) and found nearly as big a crowd. After about 20 minutes we had a table but found out that it would be, “A hell of a long wait” before getting food. Literally two hours. This explained why we were the youngest people in the place by at least 25 years–you have to be retired to be able to wait for the food.
We haven’t scheduled round three, but we are determined to get to Goody Goody and eat before the end of the month. If people wait hours for a hamburger it must be good. Our gameplan for round three is to go early, beating out the lunch crowd. I’ll probably have to wake up at 5AM to be in the mood for a cheeseburger by 10AM, but that’s what I get for slacking around and not going until now.
(I just calculated that if we are able to eat at Goody Goody on our third trip I will have driven around 100 miles and used ~$11 of gasoline. That’s not to mention the time spent driving and waiting. Quite a voyage!)
I have a new favorite gadget. Together with the iPod they are a formidable team. It’s an Alpine head (CDA-9847 if you’re interested) together with their KCA-420i iPod adapter. I plug my nano into into the head with a dock connector cable in the glove box. From then on I have instant access to any of the songs on it via the head unit. Artist names and what not can be displayed right on the screen and since it’s a direct connection it sounds amazing. Also a plus, since it’s a dock connection the iPod always stays charged. Viva la Best Buy.