bigger not always better

wow -- what an exercise in frustration. when we decided to get our wonderful mattress, we opted to open a macy's deferred account to pay for it. that was an absurd experience -- i had to listen to the gal ask me if i had ever lived any of five different addresses. and since i had lived part of that time in seattle, the question went something like this: have you ever lived at 22133 ne 136 ave? have you ever lived at 213234 ne 631st place street avenue? it was so weird and seattle's streets are sooooooo screwed up, i simply blanked and had absolutely NO recollection of any address i'd ever lived anywhere in my life.

well, we got past that and bought the mattress. then it had a problem and we asked for someone to come out and examine it. she did and said if we didn't hear from macy's in 10 days, to call customer service. trying to call to talk with someone at customer service was a joke. the first call had us talking to someone who sounded like they were in new delhi. the next couple of calls netted us automated voices who didn't offer the options we wanted. finally we got it all sorted out and a new mattress delivered.

they picked up the mattress but forgot to pick up the extra-special mattress pad. not long after, we got a bill for the new mattress which we were expected to pay until the credit came through. no biggee, just a couple of thou here and there...

but the credit showed up right away and we didn't have to do anything except call and get the credit transferred from the deferred account to the regular account (even though they both had the same account number!?!). the gal took care of everything just fine and we called the automated thing later that day to make sure everything was square.

which it wasn't. there was a credit balance which started out being one thing, then increased to another, and increased to another. what??? i finally called them, waded through the automated crap, spoke to a real new delhian, and said i wanted a refund. after that bit of paperwork, i said i wanted to close the account. the hell with aggravation.

and i hate automated, choose-the-following-options corporate interfacing. it's easier for them; it wastes my time. i'm going to shop with the little guy downtown.