"Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -- unknown

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results - Albert Einstein

the good consumer
May 25, 2008 - 7:55 pm

That's right, I purchased a new dishwasher. to my credit, I tried to fix the leak a time or two... but the cause of the leak eluded me and water continues to dribble out. All things being equal, I don't much mind the water... but I got to thinking, what if Loca took to lapping up the water? I doubt it's clean...

So.. a little look here and a little look there.. and I picked a machine. I'm thinking of taking a week off in June, so I'll have it delivered then.

A little side story... a while back, I signed up for loudsiren -- if you don't know the name, it's one of those identity protection services. Works pretty simply:

1) they submit "fraud alerts" to the the major credit companies -- yes, you can do this yourself for free
2) I'm not sure how they do it, but you get a lot less junk mail -- esp credit card apps. Lovely.
3) when you get the account you do two things.. first you record a little saying (whatever you like) that they will play when they call. This way.. you know it's them. Then pick a pin number.

Why this? So.. when I was buying my dishwasher, I opted to get the store credit card and get a discount. I had to open an account. The only con the whole thing was this part took a while. Like... 10 or 15 minutes. Their credit department called Loudsiren with the request.. whose automated system in turn calls me. I answer.. hear my voice.. and listen to the automated system tell me why it's calling. If I approve, I input my pin and life is good.

Kinda slick.. but, like I said... slow.

This way, not only do I have automatic fraud alerts out there.. I get a call whenever someone tries to open an account.

However... there is a second con to the whole thing. I decided today to get the new desk/chair I'd been debating. This store also had a discount setup if you get their card... only it seems their credit folks were close. So no one on their side to call and do the verification process. Supposedly I'll get a call in couple days... and I think I'll complain a good bit. See if I can get a better deal... a bigger discount. Probably not.

On the plus side, it stopped what was already an expensive weekend from being a really expensive one.

How much better a citizen could I be than trying to be such a good consumer on a holiday weekend?