Since one of the projects I am working on involves the travel industry this week I came out to Seattle for SES Travel. The event was good, met with Expedia, the Yahoo! travel team and several other companies that will help this project grow. I will publicly disclose the project shortly, so stay tuned for that.
On this trip to Seattle I managed to get to Boeings factory and did a tour it was really interesting to see how they build 747’s and see the insides of one of these planes without all the airline additions. I would recommend taking the time to check out the Boeing factory if you’re in Seattle. Didn’t really get much else done as I only really had one extra day in Seattle, but there was a parade which I opted to avoid as it sucks doing those types of things by yourself.
I did manage to catch the Simpsons movie, was funny and the crowd in Seattle really got into the movie. I’d recommend seeing it if you are at all a Simpsons fan, but don’t expect too much of anything new in fact they recycle many items from the series.
Life in Guelph is better all the time, just before I left for Seattle my new appliance arrived and where properly setup. So now I can actually do some grocery shopping. Also come September our company will be moving into brand new offices, which will bring further fun into work and life in Guelph.
Next weekend I am off to Europe for a week and this week I’m swapped with project work, so anyone back in Guelph who I’ve not called or met up with in the last few weeks I apologize as haven’t been in Guelph much and when I am it is either working or sleeping. I’m still planning on a party for end of August or sometime in September and I you know when that is happening and hope we can all meet up then.
Sunday, July 29
Back to Seattle for SES TravelExpand this Post: Back to Seattle for SES Travel |
Saturday, July 21
Guelph Best Place to Live in Canada?Expand this Post: Guelph Best Place to Live in Canada? |
Remember I had never been to Guelph prior to moving back from Asia to take the job here and while I did research a lot about the city my gut feeling and logic told me it was going to be a good place to live. Well it did turn out to be a great place to live from my first hand accounts, but I am happy to find that a 3rd party research firm has also rated it as one of the top places to live in Canada.
Below are the top 50 places to live in Canada according to Canadian Business Online (Canoe.ca) one of the largest news agencies in Canada:
1 Ottawa - Gatineau ON
2 Halifax NS
3 Québec QC
4 Guelph ON ( Guelph's Rating )
5 Fredericton NB
6 Kingston ON
7 Moncton NB
8 London ON
9 Victoria BC
10 Gander NL
11 Collingwood ON
12 Toronto ON
13 Winnipeg MB
14 Leamington ON
15 Vancouver BC
16 Saskatoon SK
17 Cobourg ON
18 Windsor ON
19 Brandon MB
20 Orillia ON
21 Kitchener ON
22 Hamilton ON
23 Montréal QC
24 Oshawa ON
25 Thompson MB
26 Peterborough ON
27 St. John's NL
28 Calgary AB
29 Corner Brook NL
30 Yellowknife NT
31 Edmonton AB
32 Port Hope ON
33 Joliette QC
34 Stratford ON
35 Lloydminster AB
36 Lethbridge AB
37 Kenora ON
38 Tillsonburg ON
39 Regina SK
40 North Bay ON
41 Victoriaville QC
42 Sherbrooke QC
43 St. Catharines - Niagara ON
44 Yorkton SK
45 Saint John NB
46 Rimouski QC
47 Magog QC
48 Whitehorse YK
49 Saint-Georges QC
50 Brantford ON
I have been to 19 of the above cities and have lived in 4 of them. While it is too early for me to say Guelph is the best place I’ve ever lived but it certainly is a nice place to call home.
White Water Rafting on Ottawa RiverExpand this Post: White Water Rafting on Ottawa River |
Last weekend went camping and white water rafting on the Ottawa River. It was great to get back camping and the white water rafting added even more elements of fun. The only thing that was a damper on the weekend was the 8 hour bus ride from Guelph to the camp. Its makes spending 12 hours on a plane seem like heaven as on the bus there is no one feeding you, even less room to walk around and limited in-flight entertainment.
We arrived at the camp Friday night and started up a fire and just took in the night. It is really nice to look up in the sky and see all those stars. The following day we hit the water and had some amazing hits and rapids, we did flip once and went swimming a few times. It was my second time white water rafting and was as enjoyable as the first. The most enjoyable part was dropping down a 15 foot waterfall, we all survived and nobody flips on that one.
That night was great as we where all tired and ready for a nice relaxing time around the fire. We got some marshmallows and hotdogs and chatted about life while watching the flames dance in the fire.
The next day I took the lazy day and ended sleeping half it away as was a little sore and “someone” gave me a red bull the night before and I wasn’t able to sleep till nearly 3am. Most of the group headed back out on the water and had a great day. Then it was back on the bus and another 8 hours back to Guelph.
If you are interested in heading out to the Ottawa River for some white water rafting the company we used was HorizonX and they have a website: http://www.horizonx.ca/
Friday, July 13
The Brick GuelphExpand this Post: The Brick Guelph |
Summary: I wouldn’t recommend anyone to buy or order appliances from the Brick in Guelph.
While the sales staff is very friendly and supportive prior to a sale I have a little story to tell you about my personal experience. I ordered a fridge and stove from the Brick store in Guelph and paid for delivery and paid extra for the setup. The salesman explained to me the setup fee was extra as they would setup everything other then plugging it in. So great don’t mind paying $50 for someone to setup this for me.
So the delivery day arrived and the first thing that was off is the delivery driver called and said he would be at my house between 10:30 and 12:00 so I took a couple hours off work and headed home during that time. Well come 12:30 they hadn’t arrived and I called up the Brick to see where they where. The switch board couldn’t reach the driver and they said just for me to wait longer. So I waited and 15 minutes later they arrived, maybe my mistake to think that a delivery would be more important then their lunch.
Anyways so they came in put the fridge in its spot and right away the delivery guy said, “oh going to need to adjust the feet on the fridge” as it was sitting at about a 10 degree angle as the front feet where fully extended while the back feet where not. Not an issue I thought as that’s what the setup was for. Next the stove came in and well it had a lot of tape and other things all over the front and top it was also put in the spot for the stove.
Next thing I expect was for them to remove the packing/shipping material and adjust the fridge so that it was level, put the handle on the fridge so that it could be used. Well this didn’t happen, the next thing they did was ask me to sign approving the delivery. I said but the setup isn’t finished and I can’t even see half the stove as it is still covered in packing/shipping tape and other shipping material. They looked at me and said oh we don’t do any setup services. So we called the Brick here in Geulph and asked the sales person and while I did pay $50 for “setup” it turns out they only call removing the item from the box as a setup service. Removing packing tape, making sure that the item has no scratches, making the fridge into a useable item with door handles and doing anything else has nothing to do with setup in the Bricks eyes.
So the lady on the phone at the Guelph Brick store said that they never actually setup anything for customers that all they do is remove something from a box and no further packaging/shipping material remove. She also said that they refuse to do anything else and she would have the drivers take the items back if I didn’t want to do all the setup and the further unpacking myself.
So of course I said good idea you can have the items back and I will do what I can to ensure that other people in Guelph understand the level of after sales support you provide. Which is why I am adding this entry into my blog, using my knowledge of Google ( http://www.google.com/search?q=the+brick+guelph ), and also why I wouldn’t recommend anyone buying appliances from the Guelph Brick store, unless of course you don’t care about after sales service and if that’s the case might as well save yourself a bunch of money and buy from any of the online retailers who don’t lie about the no service aspect of the products they sell.
Here are some other options for furniture and appliance in Guelph:
Far East Clearance
http://www.fareastclearancecentres.com/
I’ve bought my sofa set from them and had really good service and after sales support as one special screw in the sofa came out and the owner’s son himself came and reinstalled one for me.
Shuh Appliance Center’s
http://www.shuhappliance.com/
While I’ve never bought something from them they do have a very large selection of appliances and will be one of the places I look at as I still need a fridge and stove.
Acker's Furniture
http://www.ackersfurniture.com/
What a homegrown store, this family run business is very personal touch. The owner of the store personally delivered my table and chairs. This place is most defiantly worth a look over as they have a little bit of everything.
Sears Guelph
http://www.sears.ca/
While not something I highly recommend they do have a selection of appliance. The only problem is you won’t be getting any nice before sales service as the sales people within the appliance department are not too friendly and come off as used car salesmen.
I’ll add in more options and if I get any news back from the Brick I’ll post an update here.
Follow up on this story:
Actually this story written above wasn’t put online till today as I wanted to get the response from salesman at the Brick. He wasn’t working till today which is why the delay. I went into the Brick this morning and funnily the manager of the store and the salesman where having a meeting about me and I joined them. The manger of the store said and I quote “nobody setups the appliances for customers” his reference to nobody was in that not only does the Brick never setup things for the customers that nobody in the industry does.
Well I didn’t mention it to him but the day before I went to Shuh Appliance Center’s with my receipt from the Brick and they sold me the same items at the same price and defiantly ensured me that they setup and have everything in working order before they leave the customers house.
The manager never apologized for this he simply went on about how customers seem to misunderstand that when they pay for a setup it only means that they will remove the box. He also made it clear to me how much they lost on this deal and how upset the driver was and at the end he added, I am sure that this was an inconvenience to you also. It sure was, but I did get an apology from the salesman he’s a good guy stuck in a bad situation. He couldn’t say anything with his boss standing in front of him and only when he left did he apologize and I could see he felt bad.
To add salt to an already open wound this next thing is so shocking it even got the fraud department at my bank calling me. Since I returned the good to the Brick they where to refund my credit card. Didn’t think much of this until I got a call from the fraud department at my bank as there was some unusual activity on my card. It turns out the Brick refunded my card and then charged me again for the stove and fridge. Add to this the charge from Shuh (which was authorized) and my personal banker flagged it and had the fraud team investigate. Sure enough the Brick did charge me again for the stove and fridge as when I went in today the lady at the counter had thought that I still had the stove and fridge at my house.
It turns out on the same day that I returned my stove and fridge another customer with the same issue with the “setup” fee/service asked for a refund. This customer got his refunded but the Brick had decided to actually give him the setup service that he request which was to actual setup his appliance. The lady got this person and me mixed up and charged my credit card again rather then the other persons. Good thing my bank watches my credit card charges as more then likely the Brick would have just kept my money.
While this is just my opinion and my experience, I think you all would understand why I give caution to anyone buying appliances from the Brick in Guelph.
Monday, July 2
Canada Day in HalifaxExpand this Post: Canada Day in Halifax |
Business took me up to Halifax on the Friday before Canada Day and I decided to stay till the Monday and celebrate Canada Day in Halifax along with some friends from Genie Knows.
I came into Halifax to talk some business with Genie Knows as well as celebrate the launch their vertical search engine for the gaming industry http://www.GenieKnowsGames.com . The business talks went great and the evening of celebrations even better.
Spending a couple days walking around and doing touristy things in Halifax was enough to get a good sense of the city. It has a lot of history and a lot of culture but is small, which is a good thing if you are ok with not much to do other then bars after 10pm.
On Canada Day I went to the home of the founders of Genie Knows and spent it with their family, it was a really amazing time. They are such nice people that you feel like your part of the family and for me it was the best Canada Day I can remember for a long long time, well it also was my first Canada Day in 7 years.
I did enjoy Halifax, recommend staying at the Westin, great location and rates, but you need to get a harbor view room. The Marriott was also nice, closer to things and the casino but the rates jumped and they actually didn’t have room for me and my colleagues. Although I did enjoy Halifax I took an earlier flight back to Toronto/Guelph as after you’ve walked the downtown/harbor area for 3 days straight there isn’t much new to see.
So I am back in Guelph, just getting ready for another blitz of a week, just looking forward to the middle of the month as will be going camping with some colleagues from work and for me camping is always an amazing time.