Customer Service Rant #2 and Cole

It took the warranty company three weeks to get me the new lamp for my tv. Three weeks. So Jason and I went to install it this weekend. And it's the wrong one. Someone had put a sticker on it with the correct lamp number, but that's not the same number that's engraved into the lamp. And while it's very similar to our lamp, it just doesn't fit. So we spent like three hours trying to figure out what was wrong with us and why we couldn't get the lamp to go in the way it's supposed to before we realized that there was a difference in the housing that was causing it to not fit. So I called them again. And of course I was told that they couldn't expidite the correct lamp (cause that's what I'm always told althought they finally did expidite the incorrect one). I was also told that I'd have to ship back the incorrect one before they ship me out a new one. At this point, I'm so fed up with them, I said no way, connect me with someone who can get me what I want (which, personally, I don't even think is that extraordinary, just what I should have gotten all along). And of course, she says, there's no one in today that can do that because it's the weekend, you'll have to call back Monday. So today I call again. And immediately ask for a supervisor. And wait on hold for 55 minutes. I'm not even exaggerating. Finally a supervisor gets on the line (I guess they realized I wasn't going to hang up), and offers me what I've asked for all along without me having to ask for it. I, however, am not going to hold my breath until I see the correct lamp in my posession. Did I mention how I didn't want this tv? Oh, so I looked up the warranty company online and found out this is SOP for them. So before you buy an extended warranty on anything, make sure it's not through The Warranty Group cause it's not worth the money.

On to Cole. He's been going through a phase. At least I'm hoping it's a phase. We're so frustrated with him, and really at our wits end. He keeps taking his Bakugan to school and getting them stolen. So I finally took them all away from him, but he keeps stealing some of them back from me cause I keep finding them in his pockets. I found more on him today after school. Meanwhile, his desk has to be at the front of the class by himself or else he gets distracted. I have to constantly remind him to wear his glasses (he's nearsighted in one eye, so it doesn't affect his normal vision, so he doesn't think about it--not to mention he doesn't like being teased for wearing glasses, something I can relate to). He's bored in school so he just chooses not to do his work because he feels like it's way too easy (and it is). But his teacher and I have sat down and talked to him about how if he will just show her that he can do the regular work he can get harder work and be rewarded with things like extra computer time and he still chooses not to do it. He's just making bad choices all the time. Which is why we chose to not have him baptized this month. I feel like if he can't make good choices, he's not ready for that responsibility. I know we're not perfect parents, but we try, and we're raising him the right way. He knows right from wrong, he just chooses not to obey. We've tried punishments, we've tried rewards. I just don't know what to do with him anymore. I really hope this is not a preview of what teenage Cole is going to be like cause I just couldn't stand it. I think one of the hardest things as a parent is to watch your child make wrong choices, knowing that they are the ones that have to choose. At this point, at least it's just schoolwork, later it's going to be worse. So we're at our wits end with him. Please tell me it's a phase and he's going to grow out of it.