internet

I'm tired of all this social networking bullshit. I mean the social networking bullshit that is always asking me to click something, creating visual noise, and generally just pissing me off because I'm not interested in sharing everything I do with the world. Today I purchased some books at Chapters and after my purchase went through I got this screen asking me if I want to "tell my friends about my purchase" on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter.

[img_assist|nid=403|title=Chapters - Share Your Purchase|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=501|height=233]

The only good thing to come of this is that as more and more people share useless information on social networks that no one cares about (like your lastest high score in some game that no ones care about but you, or your recent check-in at a local business, or something that you liked), more are more people will get pissed off and stop using them. I barely go to Facebook anymore because I find the ratio of crap to quality is monotonically increasing. Google+ is a bit refreshing because they are so few people that use it, there is therefore less crap; however, I can still use it for the things that matter to me, like sharing photos and videos with close friends and family (not the public), even those that aren't actually signed into Google+.

It's probably because I'm getting old, and being older and wiser, I can see things for what they are. I have no illusions that my friends will care what I buy at Chapters, and I know that Chapters just wants to sell more books. It's a little thing, but when combined with other things (the new Plum points crap), it's another reason to shop somewhere else instead.

We ordered a bunch of shoes online for my daughter, from various American companies. One of them was Preschoolians (I'm not going to link to their site. There is an entire blog devoted to how much Preschoolians sucks but the last post was from 2006 so I decided to give them a try anyways.

First, I tried to order an "Accufit measuring device." The order was cancelled by Preschoolians and they said the following: "We would like to inform you that the for the moment we do not ship Accufit measuring devices and unfortunately your order was automatically canceled by the system . Please accept our most sincerest apologies for any inconveniences this may have caused you."

August 20th, 2011: I went ahead an ordered some shoes. I received a standard email stating that once the item ships I will receive a tracking number.

September 9th, 2011: I inquired about the order and they replied, "We would like to inform you that we have checked with the manufacturer to know exactly when your order will be shipped. They have confirmed that the shoes were made and will be shipped in 1-2 days, with the next shipment. The shoes will be delivered to you next week, and we will also send you an email with a UPS tracking number, to know exactly the estimated delivery date."

September 13th, 2011: The refunded the shoes, but stated that the shoes will be sent anyways as a gift! "First of all, please accept our apologies for the delay. We would like to inform you that the full refund was issued, and the money will go back in your account in no more than 2-3 business days. The refund was issued in order to make up for the delay. We would also like to inform you that the order was not cancelled and that the shoes will still be delivered to you as a gift."

October 18th, 2011: I inquired again, and received this reply: "Please note that we were informed that the problems we have been facing at the factory were solved so, all overdue orders should start shipping by the end of the week. We do apologize about the delay."

November 13th, 2011: Apparently the shoes are on their way via USPS: "We would like to inform you that the order for the I'm Walking Barefoot Fly Away Dark Purple Light Purple size: 25 was just shipped to you and it is transit with USPS and should be delivered to you in Canada the following days. Please accept our most sincerest apologies for any inconveniences this may have caused you."

Now it is January 3rd, 2012. If I check the status of the order online, there is a UPS tracking number (not USPS). The order is in the "waiting for UPS" state. Apparently they created a tracking number/label but never got UPS to pick it up. The number was created August 21st, 2011, the day after I ordered the shoes.

This company is an absolute joke. Most of these emails are obvious lies, as my wife said near the beginning, after the refund was issued and they said they would still send them as a gift: "Omg, they are never coming."

BTW, if you want a recommendation on where to buy toddler shoes online, check out Pediped, See Kai Run, and Robeez. Some other companies we didn't order from include Soft Star Shoes, Vivo barefoot, Teva, Land's End, and Feelmax.

I finally have the Internet at home again after our move to our new place and a switch to a new ISP (Telus - rant about that is forthcoming). Coincidentally it is 1am which is also the latest I've stayed up since moving to the new place. Maybe I'll post a couple blog entries soon...might even have some drafts that I didn't have time to finalize.