Thursday, April 28, 2011

Would you Believe me if I Told You....Part III

Well I wouldn't believe it myself if I wasn't actually touching it with my fingertips right now. But it's true. It's back and do I dare say as good as new?  Yup. She's up and running just like she's supposed to! I guess in the end it was worth the 2 and a half months that I had to wait. Even though we all know that in any other organized country it would have taken 2 and a half weeks, at the most. But now I can finally get to work and seriously get things done! So I'll be back in the next day or two with the news of the day. Much has happened in the last 2 and a half months, important changes many a good things have come my way!

So ciao for now friends. A domani!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

So would you believe me if I told you, Part II...

This just keeps getting better and better, and at this point I just have to laugh, (well I did get a little frustrated this morning, but now I'm laughing)  So the broken computer saga continues...

My husband and I are getting a little tired of sharing a computer, spoiled I know, but we both have things we need to do, fatture da fare, blogs to write, photos to edit, and lets face it, games and t.v shows to watch, so since he was going to be in the area, I asked him to stop in the shop and see if they had any news on this computer part.  I was good and ready to tell him that if it hadn't arrived to tell them that I didn't want it anymore! I was going to take it somewhere else, or better yet just wait another month for my family to arrive, order another one and have it sent to one of them and they could stick it in their suitcase,  ormai it's 2 1/2 months, what's one more?

Well as it turns out I didn't have to do that. Why? Well guess what? It's here!!!!!  Yes that's right, it arrived!!! OMG! I could hardly believe it.

But see this is where the frustration comes in.  My husband went to check on it a little over a week ago and this is when he was told that it was told that it was stuck at customs, but what he found out today is that it arrived 3 WEEKS AGO!!!!!!!! See I told you you wouldn't believe me!  It's been there, just sitting in the shop and no one bothered to call and tell me it was there.  And the explanation to this? Well apparently the ragazzo who did the ordering doesn't work there anymore. Beh? Allora?  What does that mean? If we hadn't stopped in no one would have ever called?  I mean, they paid for the thing after all.  Don't they want to collect the money they spent on it?  But moreover, how do you NOT know what's going on in your store just because someone doesn't work there anymore? Unbelievable, really.  So in the end, the computer is there to be repaired and now we have been told that they will call us within the week to let us know when we can pick it up. E da vedere! Now let's see how long this takes!

It really truly is beyond words, (although I guess I managed to find a few) One thing about the Italian culture is that they are masters of non-colpevole. It's never, ever the fault of the person that you speak with. In fact the girl actually asked my husband who he spoke with the last time he was there, and he said "you, I spoke with you" and she said "no, you didn't speak with me" WOW! really?  So problems of shipping aside, the piece was there, in the shop 3 WEEKS ago, when we were told it was still stuck in customs!!!!! Come on people GET IT TOGETHER!!!

Seriously, patience truly IS a virtue especially in this country!

But in the end, there is no where else I'd rather be.

Awwwwww!!!! I feel so much better now, thanks for letting me vent. Let's hope that the next post I write will be from my computer!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

So would you believe me if I told you.....

......that my computer is STILL not fixed? I know sounds unbelievable but its true. But I live in Italy.

Apparently the piece that was ordered from the U.S to fix it is being held hostage at customs. Maybe they think its some kind of explosive device? Or spy equipment?  Who knows for sure. All I know is that it has now officially been more than 2 months since it was ordered.

This kind of thing really makes me curious because when it comes to sending anything into this country, the list of restrictions is endless. In fact here is a little list as noted by the USPS.  It will give you a good laugh to say the least.  Now there is a little trick to it however, and that is when you 'declare' what is actually inside the package 'PERSONAL ITEMS OF NON COMMERCIAL VALUE' seems to do the trick.  Some have even told me that 'CARE PACKAGE' works quite well also.  Now, it doesn't really matter what the sender has paid to ship the package, you can probably expect to pay some sort of tax after its arrival. That is if it actually arrives. I once bought a pair of earrings from a shop on Etsy, oh 3 years ago maybe? Yeah, never actually received them. We also once sent a gift to my husbands aunt from the U.S and the poor thing had to jump through hoops and PAY for her birthday gift! Ma che roba da pazzi!

But, if you are a business ordering merchandise to sell or if you are buying from business based outside the EU, the non commercial value/care package trick is actually quite illegal.  If the cat were let out of the bag on that one, it could mean thousands of euro in fines for the business.

Mind you, the customs officers barely check your passport when you fly into Italy and figuarti  if you fly into Florence. Come to think of it,  I don't think I've ever had my passport checked upon landing in Florence. So, people yes, packages no.

Needless to say, I was a bit concerned when I was told by the dude that said he could fix my computer that the piece had to be ordered from the U.S. so I asked him if it would be easier if I had it sent to a friend who was going to be there and she could bring it home with her and I could then bring it to him and he could do the repair. "No, non c'รจ bisogno" It will only take about 2 weeks.  2 weeks?!?! Really?!?! Great! yeah go ahead and order it, cool!  Here I am thinking that he's done this before, he knows what he's talking about. No need to worry, trust the kid!

I guess I forgot where I was for the 10 minutes that I was inside the store.

Here's the deal, the Italians are great, wonderful, passionate people who really know how to eat and drink and savor all of life's pleasures, but organization and customer service are far from their strong suites. It's actually more likely that they don't know what they are talking about than that they do, and if efficiency and sense of urgency are what you seek, you have come to the wrong place! Try Switzerland or Germany. You'll be much happier there.

So I do realize that essentially this isn't the stores 'fault' that the piece is being held at customs, but in the end I do think that they should know what they are talking about before they give their customers information and make promises they cannot keep.  I'm wasting time, I'm loosing money, and I am not able to be as creative as I need to be. Bright side is that I am gaining an intimate knowledge of the world known as PC, and that just makes me miss the mac even more!

This is just one of the things that one must deal with while while living here in beautiful Italy! Pazienza...

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