elcheapo vlog

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

Ok, here is a story of outrage about @LEGO_Group's appalling customer service. I hope this gets some visibility, because nobody should ever order directly from them online. Let me tell you what happened.

My mother was visiting from Argentina and wanted to gift my son the Lego set he's been wanting for a long time. It's Ninjago City Markets, $369.99 plus shipping. This is a lot of money for her, and I really asked her not to. But she insisted. She doesn't have a USA credit card, so she gave me the cash and I ordered it for her.

Lego users Lasership for delivery, which is rated as one of the worst carriers in the US. We live in Oakland. They dropped off the package at 7:46 pm on Thursday. They did not ring the bell, and this is why they took the picture below. We were at home, so we know. Had they done it, we would have received it directly from them like we always do and this picture wouldn't exist. Notice how the package can be seen directly from the street. There are plenty of places to hide it, but the delivery person chose not to.

This is Oakland, and not the best neighborhood. The package must have lasted five minutes before someone took it.

I checked the delivery on Saturday and realized what happened. Since then we've been chatting with Lego support for hours. The first time they took our data and did nothing at all. The second time they said they would review the case.

Their final answer: because the delivery happened, you should take it up with your bank.
What should we do? Should I just dispute the charge? Should I lose $407 because of a lazy carrier who decided to drop a huge package in front of my door and leave?

I really would appreciate likes and retweets for visibility. I normally wouldn't care that much, but the fact that this is a gift from my 78-year-old mother from Argentina (where $400 goes a loooong way) to her only grandson really infuriates me. Thanks for reading.

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

Interviewing Engineers? Enough with the whiteboard coding! http://t.co/5rivzjJ

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

The sport of support. Why we try so hard to keep our users happy. http://t.co/VZfkDtf

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

Remember to sign up for the first SF Information Retrieval Meetup next week, hosted by @indextank and @greplin. http://t.co/wsEhAEh #pizza

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

Please vote for @kidpollo's talk about Tanker here at 1:50 pm at #railsconf courtesy of @engineyard http://eyelect.com/ (and RT!)

[IndexTank @indextank]

New release of IndexTank, now with Public Search API http://blog.indextank.com/638/new-release-of-indextank-now-with-public-search-api/

[IndexTank @indextank]

Also, our new site is pretty. http://indextank.com

[IndexTank @indextank]

IndexTank now free up to 100,000 documents! http://blog.indextank.com/609/indextank-now-free-up-to-100k-documents/

[elcheapo vlog @trendistic]

Japan's natural catastrophes reached a tweet-share of 12% at the peak. http://bit.ly/dPdp3q

[IndexTank @indextank]

Last call! We still have a few spots for tomorrow's full text search workshop at 6.30. Tweet to RSVP.

[IndexTank @indextank]

Full-Text Search Workshop, Jan 26, 6:30pm at our San Francisco office (free pizza and beer, limited capacity) http://bit.ly/h9EEmu

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

How to create a real-time search app with IndexTank and Heroku: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2031878

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

Options for full-text search (with and without IndexTank) http://bit.ly/fYfYFm via @jhandl

[Heroku @heroku]

Planning to hack over the holidays? You could win a Macbook Air! http://cot.ag/feAgkj

[IndexTank @indextank]

Heroku & Indextank Holiday Hacks contest announced (1st prize a Macbook Air). http://blog.indextank.com/93/holiday-hacks-indextank-heroku/

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

IndexTank search clinic this Friday, please RT! http://bit.ly/c4vNc1

[Diego Basch @dbasch]

Facebook down, 5% of tweets mention it. http://trendistic.com/facebook/_7-days

[elcheapo vlog @trendistic]

Reddit announces new search powered by IndexTank (another Flaptor product): http://blog.reddit.com/2010/07/new-search.html

[elcheapo vlog @trendistic]

Donovan scored a last minute goal for USA which ended up #1 in their group in the World Cup http://trendistic.com/donovan/goal

[elcheapo vlog @trendistic]

The world cup and the three goals by Higuain: http://trendistic.com/argentina/higuain/hat-trick