North Dartmouth, Massachusetts Day 7 (GA570)

Mary is no longer available for RV traveling, but we remain good friends.
Because we have 5,000+ postings, I’ve invited her to continue posting entries on this blog.

To view past blogs, scroll to the bottom of this page and use the menu.

I’m currently in my 24th year of full-time RVing and my lifestyle is changing, For more info click Here

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The motorhome is parked at Shady Acres RV Park in Yuma, Arizona. I may be here until March 4th.

 

 

 

Since my RVing life is changing (see above), I’m starting to re-visit previously visited places. So rather than constantly re-blogging past entries, I’ve decided to do something different.

  In 2011-2013, Mary and I did a 682 day, 12,679 miles in the motorhome and 8,000 miles in the Bronco, circumnavigation of the United States, which I called The Great Adventure. I called it so because other than my oldest granddaughter’s high school graduation in June in Connecticut, I didn’t know where we would be going or when we would be there!

So, unless I do something really different and unusual warranting a new blog entry, I’ll be posting entries from that trip.

This entry was posted August 5, 2013…

 

 

 

The motorhome is parked at my cousin Bob’s and his wife Donna’s home at North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. We are planning to depart tomorrow.

 

 

Yesterday was a somewhat decent day. With a light cloud cover the high temperature was 79 degrees with 63% humidity. Still too humid for my liking.

 

 

Yesterday we drove the Bronco the about five miles to New Bedford. Our first stop was Saint Anthony’s of Padua Church where my mother and father were married in 1938. I wanted Mary to see this beautiful structure built 101 years ago. It’s spire is 256 feet…making it the tallest in New England.

 

 

You can read all about this beautiful church by clicking this Wikipedia link… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Anthony_of_Padua_Church_%28New_Bedford,_Massachusetts%29

 

 

I really recommend you view these church photos in full screen!

 

 

 

 

 

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Padua is a city in northern Italy…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we drove a couple of miles to downtown New Bedford and went to the New Bedford Art Museum which is rather small and does not allow photography…Boo on them!

 

 

 

 

 

In this part of Old New Bedford, a number of cobblestone streets are still in existence…

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of blocks away we arrived at the Old Star Store. Once New Bedford’s leading department store for many years, it apparently fell victim to today’s modern malls. My grandmother worked at the Star Store for many years as a saleslady in ladies clothing…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today the old Star Store houses an extension of UMASS-Dartmouth and has a few old photos and paintings…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We visited New Bedford extensively during our visit here in 2010. You can see those Blog entries in our archives during the summer months. In the mid-1800’s, New Bedford was the most famous city in the world because of its whaling industry. It was known as the City That lit The World. You can read this history on the official government New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park which we visited in 2010… http://www.nps.gov/nebe/index.htm

 

 

You can read all about New Bedford by clicking this Wikipedia link… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bedford,_Massachusetts

 

 

Enjoying beautiful old buildings is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

 

 

The red dot on the below map shows our approximate location in the State of Massachusetts. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE! MARY WROTE A MANY GREAT BLOGS…SO WHENEVER SHE PUBLISHED A BLOG POSTING THE SAME DAY THAT I DID…YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ HER BLOG BY CLICKING THE BELOW LINK! DO IT NOW!

https://otrwjam.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/st-anthony-of-padua-and-art-in-town/

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the photos.

Forecast for today is sunny and 61 degrees.

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

“Let me recommend the best medicine in the world: a long journey, a mild season, through a pleasant country, in easy stages.” –James Madison

My current travel rig is a 2006 Fleetwood 26′ Class A Motorhome and a towed 1986 Ford Bronco II, Eddie Bauer Model. This photo was taken in the desert at Slab City near Niland, California…

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original works copyrighted – Jim Jaillet -2019

A Full-Time RVer’s Perspective On Customer Service…

Note: I was going to title this Blog entry 2,047 Words About Modern-Day Customer Service…but…I liked the new title better.

This Blog entry is Revision 1 to 609 Words About Modern-Day Customer Service which I published on July 22, 2001…a mere ten days ago…but then I realized that I had only scratched the surface of this topic.

My Fair Lady is one of my very favorite stage plays/movie in which Rex Harrison sings a song entitled “I’m An Ordinary Man”. Here in part… are some of the lyrics from that song…to which I can relate to…

I’m a very gentle man,
even-tempered and good-natured
who you never hear complain,
Who has the milk of human kindness
by the quart in every vein,
A patient man am I, down to my fingertips,
the sort who never could, ever would,
let an insulting remark escape his lips
A very gentle man…

EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE!

I view these above words as applying to me…after all…I live a very peaceful and serene life in my 16th year of vacation (full-time RVing)…a very relaxed, laid-back kind of guy living my life one day at a time.

BUT…nothing ruffles my feathers like poor modern-day customer service. This is my 1,269th Blog entry and have never ranted about one thing. I think the law of averages has caught up with me! A mere ten days ago I spouted my very first rant …unlike my life-partner Mary who rants like Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park…which starts right underneath the below line…the remainder to Revision 1 can be found at its end…

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609 Words About Modern-Day Customer Service             Published July 22, 2011

It’s really hard to find! How’s that for a few words?

I’m lucky in so many ways. One on those ways is that I have little interface with the outside world…outside of my peaceful, quiet and serene RVing lifestyle world. I went paperless about one year ago and that appears to be working well.

But…every once in a while…I do have to interface with the outside world. And every once in a while…I need assistance…sometimes to file a compliant …more often than not…about poor customer service.

What ever happened to real customer service? It seems to me that…in today’s modern world…that when I seek some form of assistance…the person/company to whom I am making the request makes an instant evalation….is there any money associated to why this person is bothering me???? If not…customer service…never heard of it!

And don’t you just love those automated menu-answering systems that never seem to address my particular problem and won’t let you speak to a real-live human being…but instead just keeps you going around in a never-ending circle? Grrrrrrr!

And then…finally when you do get to speak to a real live human being…all they know how to say is…no…you can’t do that instead of… of course..you bet no problem. How in the world did they ever get a job as a “Customer Service Representative”? They do not have a clue as to the meaning of the words! It seems like there’s a formula…the larger the company…the lesser the understanding of customer service. When you’ve got millions of customers…they truly don’t care about me and my piddly little problem(s).

But…there are exceptions to this general rule. The old one-in-a-million trick!

Because of my reclusive life style…my major interface with the outside world is through either a cell phone or computer. Do you know that a mere six years ago…I had neither in my life? Anyways..both of these methods are through a company known as Verizon Wireless.

I’m happy to say that Verizon Wireless seems to understand the words customer service and…most of the times…not always…I’m satisfied with their attempt at customer service.

Now…ABOUT MY ONCE-IN-A-MILLION EXPERIENCE! If you are a regular follower of my Blog you know that in my last two entries I’ve described the physical process of shifting Internet Gears from 3G to 4G. Prior to the actual switching…there was lots investigation/homework to be done regarding what equipment choices to select.

Along the way I happen to connect with a delightful gal in Verizon technical support by the name of Peggy…and let me tell you…she is very knowledgeable…and just a hoot. This lady fully understands the words customer service! She could make millions teaching customer service…if anybody cared enough to want to learn about it.

Anyway…she has provided me with outstanding customer service…and you won’t believe this…she actually gave me her email address (they do not have individual phone extensions) so that I might contact her directly if I had any further questions or problems. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? It’s true! Now…when I have another question or problem…I send her a brief email and usually within a very few moments…she is back in touch with me! Fantastic! It almost takes my breath away!

I was so moved by her level of customer service I actually went out of my way to identify her supervisors so that I could send them an email message about her outstanding customer service.

Whew…as you can tell…I was really moved by my experience with her. Peggy…thank you…you are truly one-in a-million! You’ve made me a very happy camper!  🙂

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Revision 1 continues below…

It seems that in the last ten days I’ve had a rash of poor customer service which prompted this revision. Here are the happenings including the company names…

3Gstore.com…

I recently purchased our new 4G router..with which my new modem was experiencing interface problems…from these folks…whom customer service I normally like. You can actually talk to a live human-being technical support person. Except on weekends! C’mon 3G…get with it…we now live in a 24/7 world…well…at least a 7 world. Would it financially break you to have a weekend customer service rep for people who are having real problems during a weekend?

Sirius-XM Radio…

A few days back my Sirius-XM decided it would no longer receive more than one channel. So…I called customer support. Where do these companies go beyond India???? This customer service gal spoke with such a heavy accent that I had to ask her three times…to repeat what she said…that it could be up to seven days before someone from technical support could look into my problem! I asked her to re-hit my signal and fortunately about one-half hour later my Sirius-XM Radio started working normally once again. BUT…c’mon…up to seven days for technical support!

Lulu.com…

is the publisher of my three books. I needed a download copy of one of my books…and because I’m the author…I can download a copy for free…that’s if my Free Download button was working properly! No talking to a live customer service rep here. The best one can do is “Live Chat”. Two live chats…and two emails…and five days later…my Free Download button is still not working! Good thing I decided not to hold my breath while I waited for my download to arrive! I wouldn’t be writing this revision!

Thousand Trails RV Resorts…

of which I am a member…and once upon a time I used to sell memberships for them. Ten years ago today I was the top-selling rep in the Pacific Northwest…but today nobody remembers or cares. Recently my life-partner Mary and I blended our two memberships into an upgraded Elite Membership on June 30th. On July 1st I called member services requesting that the unused $250 dues from my membership be applied to our new membership dues. Several phone calls…I’ve even requested that the department manager call me three days ago…and three emails later…you guessed it No response. What???? You want your unused money transferred to you new membership dues? Another…good thing I’m not holding my breath situation.

Amazon.com…

Even my long-time favorite Amazon is showing signs of slipping away from great customer service. I recently…accidently… ordered the wrong item. In the past all you had to do was click a link and immediately be able to printout a return label. No more! Now all you get is a “contact the seller” link and then wait 2-3 days for the seller to contact you! Amazon is no longer Amazing! This Amazon vendor actually contacted me and told me that he only made a $2 profit on the item…and for that I also expected customer service? So…I thought about his comment… for only a short moment and came up with an answer. Amazon…or any other vendor/seller for that matter…should be required to put an asterisk on the price and explain…for this price you get little to no customer service! End of problem!

Norton Internet Security…

First of all they make it very difficult to find your way through the maze of pages to find a telephone number to call them. Then the computer screen said estimated six minutes wait time to talk to a customer service representative…after 50 minutes of listening to horrible recycled music I finally gave up and hung up…to try again another day! Terrible customer service!

Is it me???? Am I just a grouchy old man with nothing to do but harass these poor companies? I might be old-fashioned in that I believe that if I pay good money for a product…good customer service should come with the product.

I can prove that I’m not just a grouchy old man…I recently found another company who understands great customer service…

4UCam.com…

I bought my rear view camera for the motorhome from a company called 4UCam. Just a couple of days ago the Sony Camera…the primary reason I bought the system…without warning…gave up the ghost…quit working. Of course I was out of the one year warranty…but I sent them an email expressing my disappointment. Within one hour I got a call from Joe in their customer service department. Without going into details Joe offered me a fair deal on a replacement unit. They sell a wide variety of vehicle camera products and if you are in the market for something they offer…I can highly recommend them to you. Joe told me his job was to turn an unhappy customer into a happy customer! Can you imagine that???? Thanks for your phone call, Joe.  Here’s their website link  http://www.4ucam.com/ .

Enough of specific companies…let’s talk in general. As brick and mortar stores disappear…more online stores arrive. Some of them do not identify where they are physically located or a telephone number…just in case you have a problem with one of their products. If you a lucky you may get a “Live Chat” box or and email us link…and after that…don’t bother us unless you want to send us more money!

One thing that a vendor does not realize about people like me is…our temporary delivery addresses…usually expire at a very short time in the future. Like right now…my temporary delivery address will no longer be valid in another 14 days…so…time is of the essence!

CUSTOMER SERVICE…IS IT AN ENDANGERED SPECIES????

So…I’ll conclude this rant by saying…Customer Service…in my humble opinion…is not totally dead…there are still a few good guy companies out there…unfortunely there are more bad guys than good guys. One can avoid some of these problems by…before making a purchase…evaluating how many different ways and how easy it is to connect with both the customer service and technical service departments. The old adage remains…Buyer Beware!

Whew…it’s a good thing I don’t do this very often…the gall of me…in thinking it’s the principal of the thing…the right thing to do!

PS: I prepared the draft of this Revision 1 on July 28th with the intent of a publish date of August 1st. Within an hour of saving it to my hard drive…both Lulu.com and Thousand Trails RV Resorts telephoned me to advise that my request had been fulfilled. That’s great ESP…how do they do that? That still does not get them off the hook from me telling you about them. A person should not be required to harass, harang, etc…to get good customer service…a good vendor offers it freely!

PPS: Usually my Blog entries are short and to the point…much like Joe Friday from the old television series Dragnet…when he used to say “Just the facts, Ma’am! I tend to be more of a photographer than a writer. I believe that this has become my most verbose Blog entry!

🙂 ‘Nuff said!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://lulu.com/panamaorbust