Double Heaven

My friend and I decided it'd be a brilliant idea to go into the McDonald's on Oxford Street on Hallowe'en Saturday afternoon. 

Better than that, I ordered a double Quarter Pounder regular meal, which I was advised takes a couple of minutes longer, which is well worth the wait!

I huddled in the express lane, trying to get out of the way of the frazzled Saturday shoppers. It was pretty hard, to be honest. 

After two minutes, the employees at the Express window gave me an update, with an apology - it'll be a couple more minutes. No problem, said I. After another couple of minutes, the team leader gave me an update, with an apology - it'll be a couple more minutes. No problem, said I. 

After another couple of minutes, the manager came over to apologise and to reassure me that it was on the way. Again, no problem, said I - they were clearly busy and doing their best to serve everyone, which is tricky when some of the customers are morons. 

Overheard: 

McDs (to the waiting lady at he front of the queue): Chicken nuggets and fries?

Lady (dismissively): No, I ordered Chicken nuggets and chips.

McDs: Yep, that's chicken nuggets and fries.

A minute later, I got a large meal and a complimentary apple pie - too much for me to eat, although I had a good ol' go, but appreciated nonetheless. 

Well done McDonald's!

Anyone else got good/bad stories on McDs?

Converse ain't so cool

I first spotted these in September, while idly browsing the American Converse site.

Pretty, right? Unfortunately, they didn't have them in stock, so I e-mailed them. With international shipping, it usually works out good value for money - products are quite often not available in the UK, they're usually cheaper and the VAT charged on entry means it still costs less than buying it in the UK would. This is definitely true of Benefit cosmetics, and some products on Amazon. Of course, you'll have to be careful of US only products, such as the Kindle (which I really want) and perishables such as food. 

Anyway, the e-mail came back within a couple of days, and was disappointingly machine generated:

ConverseOne  to me

1 Sep

Hello,

If your size is not listed then it means that we are unfortunately out of stock in that size. It is possible that we will get additional inventory at a later date, but we do not have that specific information at this time.

Please utilize the retailer locator feature in the help and info section at www.converse.com to see if there is a retailer in your area who may have this shoe available. Please note that we do not have access to retailer inventory so you will need to contact them directly for additional assistance with this item.

If we can assist you further, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Regards,

Jessica

www.converse.com <http://www.converse.com/>

Customer Service

Of course, they're not available in the UK. Boo.

I kept checking back, and hit the jackpot at the end of October - they had my size! Unfortunately, I got an error message when I tried to enter my credit card number. I tried with three different cards, all with the correct details, with this error message appearing each time:

"We are unable to process your order. Your credit card information isn't matching up"

I dutifully e-mailed Converse in an attempt to get a solution before they ran out again:

Thank you for your interest in Converse!

We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing difficulties in placing your order. Please remember that when you place your order and enter your billing address it must be typed in exactly how your credit card company has on record for you.

If you are still having trouble placing your order, please give us a call at (888)792-3307 or 1-615-367-7171 and we will be happy to assist you in placing an order via phone. We are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and most Holidays!

If you have further questions please let us know. Thank you and have a great day!


Thank you,.

Jessica
Converse.com

Again, I got a disappointingly manufactured message. 

I tried again, in different browsers, but with the same result. I e-mailed Converse again, and strangely, got Jessica again.

Hello, 

Thanks for the prompt reply. 

My credit card details matched my address, my name and everything else needed to complete the transaction. 

I just attempted to place the order on a PC (instead of my Mac at home) and the cons I want are no longer available. 

I am extremely disappointed with this, as I have waited months for them to come back in stock in my size, and have been trying to buy them for a couple of days. Not only that, but I was able to place them in my basket, only to be advised that they are unavailable.

I have attached the screenshot of the message in case it helps. 

Any advice or help you can give would be much appreciated - all I want to do is order the aforementioned cons in a UK size 6 - shouldn't be too hard!

Thanks for your time, 

Suze

Jessica replied:

Hi Suze,

If you are still having trouble placing your order, please give us a call at (888)792-3307 or 1-615-367-7171 and we will be happy to assist you in placing an order via phone. We are available to assist you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and most Holidays!

If you have further questions please let us know. Thank you and have a great day!

Thank you,.

Jessica
Converse.com

After figuring out that I can't actually call internationally on my mobile, I thought I'd ask for Jessica to call me, after all, they have a clear international shipping policy and a big hearted brand reputation to protect. Surely they could give me a call, or even look into the issue?

Hi Jessica,

Thanks for your e-mail. I would love to phone you about this, but neither my work phone or mobile are set up for international calling. 

I've attached two screenshots to show you the error message - please note, in the second one I deleted my security code after I submitted. You never know who's looking, right?

Feel free to call me - I'd like to get this issue sorted out because I love the shoes and you can't get them in the UK! If there's something obvious that you can see is a problem, please let me know. I've now tried this on about four different browsers, and I know that the information is correct.

My mobile number's in my signature.

Thanks, 

Suze

Apparently not - note the lack of 'Have a super swell day!!!!!!' at the end of this.....

Hello,

Regretfully, we are unable to contact you via  phone.  You must be able to place your order online or with us via phone.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Thank you,.

Jessica
Converse.com

 There endeth my Converse dealings. I cannot place the order online as their website has a bug or bugs in it. I work in a web team, so I'm not exactly unfamiliar with corporate websites. I cannot call them, because 

my phones are not set up for international calling. 

We appear to have reached an impasse, dearest Converse. I was looking forward to adding to my decent collection with the dazzlingly pretty multi uppers, but it seems that it is not to be. 

Anyone else have issues with the Converse site, international or not?