Mechanical Sewing machine moment

I would have added to the comment about requesting a refund for the non-service service fee, "I'll be sure to let firends and neighbors who sew about your business practices."

Ginger in CA who told off the manager of the local JC Penneys at 7:30 this morning for a bait-and-switch trick they tried

Nothing like starting the day off early Ginger. Geez.

Old mechanical machines are fun to play with. I only once took my Bernina 930 apart once but old Singers don't scare me. For years I took my Bernina's almost 150 miles away for service I trusted. That is ridiculous but since they don't need much help it was not too bad. (It isn't all that much trouble to 'have' to go to San Diego though)

I went into Michael's the other day. Boy, they make Joann's look like a well oiled machine. As we walked out DH reminded me I had said years ago I would never go back there. Now I have been reminded why.

Taria

G> Ginger in CA

Good job!!! I love the old mechanicals.........(she says with a new Babylock sitting in its box) LOL. No, I really do love the old mechanicals, that is why I have around 20 old machines and only 2 with any computer parts to them. My Bernina 930's and 910 are my favorites. I have had to fix my machines too often to count but it is so satisfying.

It is really hard to find a good service man.

Piece,

Marsha

Well done John. Great result!!! (You're braver than I would have been though!) . In message , John writes

Thank you, Patti, for carrying John's post over for us. Somehow, it eluded my rctq posts this morning . . . and congratulations to John for taking matters into his own hands. Yeah! John. What happy news. 'As long as' are scary words around here. You know, you begin with killing a spider meandering across the ceiling. You decide as long as you have the extended brush out, you'll dust the entire ceiling. Then you realize the ceiling does need painting. The 'as long as' adventure can go on for months and bankruptcy. But, John, 'As long as' you have dared to unveil the innards of you beloved

1008, you might as well see if there's any sneaky snip of thread that need removing, any grubby bits of fuzz and any quite logical places that would enjoy a tiny drop of oil. Since Katrina scared our fine Bernina guy to higher ground, we are left with a cranky-pants tech about 100 miles away. She does what some of us would call (more censorship needed here) a half-assed job. We have decided we can do just fine without her, thank you, and are right proud of our success. And yours. Polly

My parents had a rather good way of having repair work done on all sorts of things, from furnaces and electrical things to the radios in the airplane. Before anything was done they promised the repairman payment only when the item was REPAIRED, not just worked on. A couple of very good repairmen said "well, of course!" and some others declined the work entirely. It sorted out the folks rather quickly, and my parents got very good service.

Good on you :) DS fixed my first machine (Alco by Necchi-- mechanical--with NO plastic parts) a number of times. The repairman said it had been 'set wrong' at the factory. How do you 'set' a clutch wrong? Anyway, whenever it acted up,I let him have at it. Lasted me a long time..then I used it for my back up machine until we moved here.

Butterfly (Blue rooms are allowed as long as lil ears aren't around)

Hi Linda I don't know if it was billed as that, just that they opened at 6AM, and had a set of dishes on sale that I wanted. Used to shop JC Penneys all the time [boy, the memories from childhood!] but gradually moved away to other stores.

I have made a vow to myself to not even walk through their doors again, even if it is to "cut through" to another store in the mall. I walk over to the big mall from my place.

G> John, It just goes to show, if you want something done right, you have to do

O

n Nov 4, 11:31 am, Ginger in CA wrote:

I have made a pledge like that in regards Sears. Many years ago I purchased some auto insurance from Allstate Insurance Co. which at that time had locations within the Sears stores nationwide. I had to file a double claim with Allstate when both of our cars where totaled along with 3 other cars on the block when an uninsured teenage driver from the housing projects wiped out all of the cars in parked on our side of the street, in a wreck. Non of the damaged cars was being operated at the time. They were legally parked at the curb in front of various houses. Allstate paid our 2 claims off and then told me they were canceling our insurance. I told them that I was writing to the Insurance commissioner of the State of California with that information. They then said it was all a mistake and that they were not canceling our insurance but they would not renew it. At that time I purchased other insurance as I didn't want to be in the position of looking for insurance with a refusal to reinsure when I was applying. To make a long story short, I contacted Sears and told them about the fact of the way I was being treated by Allstate, which was part of the Sears organization. They in effect told me to stuff it and there was nothing they were going to do about it. Ergo, I have never been back in a Sears store since. and the Good Hands of Allstate appear to be only for reaching into your wallet. Prior to that episode I had not had any claims against them or even had a traffic ticket, so I was not a bad risk. The same thing is happening in the Gulf States with insurance companies. They will talk to you when they want your money, but they don't seem as friendly when it is pay out time.

John

My son had insurance with Allstate until another car, who also had Allstate, hit his truck. The police issued a ticket to the other guy because it was his fault. The other guy talked to Allstate before my son, saying it was my sons's fault. Allstate was not going to pay to get my son's truck replaced. My son had wittnesses. It was more than a month before the insurance paid up. They would not pay for a rental vehicle for son to get to work. They did not renew son's insurance. It was not through a store, but purchased through an Allstate agency/store. I agree with John that they only talk to you when they want your money.

Well, The Hartford (for those of us "lucky" enough to be over 50 and insured thru AARP) is great to us! Shortly after we were married my idjit almost-ex husband backed MY car into MY truck in MY driveway. We had an adjuster visit us the next morning and she wrote a check- on the spot- for the damages to both vehicles and they paid for a rental car- which we really didn't need since we had a third vehicle, too. And 3 years later they've kept right on renewing my policy. They did bump my premiums up a bit for the accident. But that's HIS fault- not Hartford's! Highly recommend The Hartford for cheap premiums and GREAT service!

I would sooner say that Michael's is TSWLTH rather than JoAnn's, but Michael's does have stuff that JoAnn's doesn't have. Both can be as annoying as all get out though. The only good thing is that a new Michael's opened up and instead of having to drive clear across Anchorage, at least 40 minutes on a good traffic day, I only have to cross a highway now from the JoAnn's store. The problem with that is having to use a detour because of highway road construction that is still a year from being finished.

On customer service and other issues, our family always said that the best place to find out who gave the best customer service, and to pass on good and bad news, was a barbershop. I can only imagine the thousands of dollars and hours of frustration that our family was saved because Dad was a barber. What a wealth of knowledge he had access to, and how many businesses he aided over the years by recommendations. On the other hand, many businesses lost business as well because of shoddy work and customer service, and that was passed on too. Word of mouth and walking our business elsewhere is powerful.

I have actually started to take businesses up on "Please tell us how we are doing". I figure that if I don't, is anybody else or who will? I try to keep it polite but honest, but I do let them know. It only takes a few minutes, and I usually speak to the person in charge, not the employee. I do mention the employee though, so they get recognition or correction, as is needed. Maybe I'm crazy or just getting crankier in old age. Whatever.

I've almost finished updating my website. Not much in the way of sewing but some of Dad's woodworking. I'll post a link when finished.

Steven Alaska

John

Yeah, same here with USAA ... one year, hubby's car was in the shop three times (his fault - mechanical, not accident) and was broken into ALL three times!! Whereas I'm sure most ins. companies would have dropped us like a ton of cement, they paid each time! Not even a breath of suspicion wafted our way (and I doubt that many could read that and NOT be suspicious!).

It made us feel better when, about 6 months after our last break-in at Eller's (the repair shop) the police called us: tellin' us that so many of our parts (we had extra stuff like stereos and such installed - those were what was stolen) were found at a local "chop shop" (in the back woods of La Plata, Maryland, believe it or not!) and that the owners of the "chop shop" had confessed and fingered the thieves - four sons ages 11-18 of a family that did that sort of thing.

But you got the check in that case? I thought that they passed a rule now that says all payments from insurance have to go directly to the repair shop?

Yep, we got the check and it was made payable to me. Actually, I cashed the check, kept the money and traded in the vehicles with the dents in them- didn't get them repaired. I was surprised because I owed money on both of the vehicles- usually the lienholder is named a payee on the check. Maybe I just got lucky??? I dunno..... but that's how it happened. This was 3.5 years ago, so maybe things have changed since then.

Have to say that isn't my experience.

My then 17 year old daughter had owned her license for a whole of five days before someone attempted to pass to the left WHILE she was making a left turn. The woman sideswiped my daughters car and the car ended in a tree -- totaled. Mind you, the street in question is narrow, with a double yellow line (no passing zone) throughout. The car was not insured for collision, so there was no insurance payout whatsoever.

Hartford called in the 'refuse to renew' after TWENTY YEARS of premiums paid (both home and auto).

Since there was no collision coverage, we took the other driver to court. Her insurance company refused to settle for a 50% judgment, so we went to the judge. The judge awarded us 100% as, he told the woman, it is ILLEGAL to ATTEMPT TO PASS on a street with a DOUBLE YELLOW LINE.

And you now know it is useless to take your business to that particular repair man. Debra in VA See my quilts at

You can buy repair manuals for many old mechanical machines on ebay. Debra in VA See my quilts at