Mower Update

Good morning!

I thought I would give you an update on our riding mower saga since I mentioned it in my post this past Saturday.  The last word we were given by the Lowes extended warranty people was that Margaret, their contact at the service center, told them that our mower was going to be worked on that week (which was last week) & that she would call us that week with an update.  No call came so yesterday I called Lowes again to tell them of our displeasure & to ask them to call again to see what was going on.  They put me on hold & transferred me to another department where someone named Erica took my call.  I explained the story to her & asked her to call & see what the problem was.  Erica called & spoke with Margaret & then came back & informed me that Margaret said we were #5 in line & our mower would be worked on this week!  Can you believe that!  I told her no way!  I said this was the same story that Margaret told them last week ... that our mower would be worked on then ... & now here she is telling them the same story!  I told Erica that I wanted the service center to return our mower & for her to schedule with another service center for repairs.  Erica didn't seem to comprehend that Margaret had flat out lied about starting work on our mower last week & why in the world should we trust that the work would be done this week!  She indicated that if we scheduled with another service center it could take even longer to get our mower repaired.  I am totally useless as far as confrontations go so I said "please hold ... I'm going to put my husband on the line."  John told her this service center had lied about working on the mower last week, they had lied about the work they did the last time we had problems with the mower, & he wanted our mower returned.  He said we could at least mow our 6 acres of overgrown lawn & that when we finished we would contact Lowes again to be set up with a different service center.  Erica told him that at this time of year service centers are swamped with mower repairs & there's always a backlog for them to take care of.  Honestly ... how many mowers could they possibly have that they would back up for over a month before they could get to them!  All these people do is service mowers!  Unless it's a mom & pop operation with Margaret answering phones & her hubby being the one & only person to work on the mowers, there's no way things could back up like that!  Grrrrrr!  After Erica agreed to return our mower to us, not even 15 minutes went by when the phone rang & it was Margaret in this sweet sing-song voice telling me that our mower would be delivered today.  I merely thanked her for the information.

And get this!  I asked the first Lowes representative if they would give me an address so I could write a letter of complaint about this service center.  I told him that our experience with this company now & in the past shows them to be dishonest & irresponsible & I think that Lowes should look into this.  I was told that there is no address I can write to!  I was so shocked by that answer that I couldn't even say "give me your supervisor" or anything!  No address indeed!  Grrrrr!

I anticipate mowing today ... blah ... lol!  But it has to be done.  At least the weather will be a bit cooler today ... 85 rather than in the 90s.  Our gravel driveway has been holding up well since we had it re-graveled at the start of summer.  Unfortunately I think the tall grass has been keeping the rainwater from soaking into the ground along the sides of the driveway because we noticed yesterday that ditches have formed on the driveway from the water running down & washing out the gravel.  Sigh!

I hope this doesn't sound like a complaining post.  It's not really.  It's just the way things are here at the farmhouse   : )

I started ... or actually restarted ... a new cross stitch project last night.  It's a Thanksgiving needleroll kit by Shepherd's Bush.  It's not really what you'd call prim (they actually strike me as kind of Victorian) but I always loved these things in my previous cross stitch life & so I looked them up & was overjoyed to see they not only still have them available but there are way more than there were 7 years ago!  It's stitched on 32-count linen.  If you think stitching on 32-count linen is easy, guess again ... lol!  Even with my magnifying daylight lamp my eyes feel like they are crossing along with the stitches   : )   Here is the work I've done thus far.

   

The pictures are a tad blurry I'm afraid.  It's always a surprise to see if my pictures will be clear or blurry.  I'm not sure if it's the camera or me.  Anyway, that piece of linen you see in the frame in the first photo measures 6" across.  The design itself measures 2-3/8" across.

I found my pattern for the doll swap I mentioned yesterday!  I think I'll be able to handle it since there are "real" directions   : )   I'm not sure if she will meet the size requirements though.  I might need to enlarge the pattern.  I will post a photo of her after she is received by my swap partner   : )