Ugly Bug Ball*

We started the day with a Waffle and Fruit breakfast, Lovely.

We had a phone call from the Cooker people, it will be delivered Monday morning.

My favourite photo from the Telegraph.

We call him Freddy

This morning both kids were bathed. Small's bath was a little difficult. We had to wrap his arm in a towel and then wrap a plastic bag around the cast. He had nowhere to put it and had to hold it in the air. He said he could only manage a bath a week now. Yes, I bet!!

The Gas Installers came this morning. Two of them. Very nice men. However, the Cooker people - and I will name them as I am not happy with them (what is it with Appliance people and me!!!) - TASCO, told me originally that the MOST I would have to pay for the Gas Installers was $300 and that would cover a twenty five foot pipe into the kitchen. The installers have now told us that we also need a ventilation unit which will cost an additional $300. On top of this, the hook up cost will be $175. Plus we had to pay them $113 for the inspection. So what was $300 extra on top of the already expensive cooker I have already paid for, has now turned into $888 (of which TASCO will give us $50 off for using their installers - whoop de doo). Another problem is that the Range arrives on Monday morning, but the earliest the installers can do their bit is Wednesday.

Well you can imagine how unhappy Huffle is with all of this! I rang the lady who dealt with me in the TASCO shop. Her name was Susan Bishop. I told her I wasn't happy and I told her the range was coming on Monday but the installers couldn't come until Wednesday. I told her she quoted me $300 at the most (and I know this for a fact, becuase she said they normally dealt in cash and I would need to know how much cash I would have to get). She said she would never quote that. I told her she did and I had my Mother-in-Law sitting next to me who can back me up. Now Susan may not have known (as we did not know) that we would need a ventilation unit. But there should be a range of questions they ask BEFORE you buy an appliance. Ie. is there gas in the kitchen at the moment? Is there a ventilation unit in there? This is how much you could be looking at to get these things sorted BEFIRE you buy a range. To be fair, two other shops we went in did tell me to call the installers before I ordered the appliance. Should have known then shouldn't I?

I am now waiting for a call back to see what they can do. To say I am upset is putting it mildly. I never would have pushed Huffle to go for a more expensive model had I known that we would have had to pay nearly a grand on top. Huffle is soaking in the bath and sulking. He is ready to cancel the whole order and get compensation for any extras and inconvenience!!!!!

We had lunch. Played Table Football and Jenga.

Update: Susan rang back and said that I should call their head office on Monday and talk to the manager there who would sort something out. I told her I wasn't prepared to wait until Monday as the cooker was coming Monday and if I was left with a cooker and no way to pay for the installation, what would happen then? I asked her why she could talk to the Manager in HO but I couldn't. she said "oh because it is her day off today". I said "ahh boo hoo to her, I have sat in all day waiting to hear what your company is going to do!). She asked me what I wanted to do. I told her she better cancel the order, refund us for the cooker and reimburse us for the Inspection fee plus change the way they dealt with their customers. She said she had been upfront and done nothing wrong. I said she had definitely mislead us and went through all that she said to me. She denied it, I shouted, she told me not to shout, I told her to listen and I wouldn't need to shout, she wouldn't listen I shouted some more and then I asked for her Manager. I spoke to her Manager, I told him I had been mislead and he said she had done everything right but once I told him the charges she had quoted, he seemed to listen a bit more (like he could tell I was telling the truth). Anyway, I told him to cancel the order and reimburse us for the inspection. He said he would talk to the HO and see what he could do. I then stormed about a bit, cried a bit and then went and wrote an email to Susan telling her to put it in writing and that I was appalled at her company. Then the manager rang, Huffle answered and he was told that there would be a full refund in a cheque including the installation fee. He also apologised. Hope some heads will roll for this. I am so p!55*d off and unhappy and angry and annoyed. And I still don't have a decent cooker and at this point I can't see me getting a decent one!!!!

Then we forgot about it all and went off to a Barn Dance at a local barn.

We met a new friend called Millie. She was lovely and friendly and huggable and would sit when Smallest said so.

They had a massive bird feeder hanging from a tree.

It was brilliant. The kids had a whale of a time. They got to ride on a tractor.

We had hotdogs, burgers (veggie burgers) and cakes, wine, soft drinks and we got to watch and take part in some dancing (well Small did). Huffle chatted to Mr Royal and met some new people. I chatted to lots of people and met some lovely new ones. Smallest clapped and bobbed his head to the music. NoCustard and Umbrella were there. Drew was there. Mr and Mrs Royal was there. We saw the boys Summer swimming teacher and even the lady who's dog sat on Smallest the first week we moved here. It was funny watching people. It seemed a really good crowd and I think we will go back next year.

Gorgeous big barn

Small, Mrs Royal and NoCustard

Umbrella, Drew, smallest, Mr Royal

NoCustard and Umbrella dancing

Lots of dancing, lots of barny outfits too (spot the flag?)

Mrs R and Small dancing

More dancing

While Small was dancing, someone caught his thumb and it hurt him.

Small and NoCustard dancing (she was looking after him really well until they all changed partners and that's when he hurt his thumb).

Mr and Mrs Royal

NoCustard and Umbrella

We are going to have an easy day tomorrow although we do have to go and buy uniforms for the boys for cubs and Beavers. The boys were both tired, so we called it a day at 9:30.




*Huffle told the boys we were going to an Ugly Bug Ball. At one point in the evening, it was open mike time. Smallest wanted us to go up and sing the Ugly Bug Ball song - we didn't! A man stood up and sang a song to his wife and then another man told us a story about remembering something. It was a 'scratchy' moment.

Please don't use my photos without asking first. Posted with Blogsy