Friday, April 18, 2008

I got Scammed!!!

So, I fell for it. It was a good plan by these people though. First off, I lost no money, just my time. About a month ago I got a phone call from "L and L Systems" and the lady on the other end said she was doing a public survey and she asked me about 10 questions; most of which had to do with cleaning supplies. I don't mind being part of the random sample of a survey. At the end she asked my permission to put me into a drawing for a 3 day, 2 night stay at a resort. Who would want that for free, so I said sure. Well...it was a part of the scam:

On Wednesday I got a call a little after 8:00 PM from "L and L Systems." I bold PM because that is already late. What does the lady tell me: "You are the lucky winner of our drawing and you get a 3 day 2 night stay at a resort." I think this is pretty cool, and I even recognize the ladies voice. She said that needed to drop off a certificate and get my signature for receiving. She made sure I was going to be at my house at 8:30 PM so they could drop it off. I said I would be and then specifically asked her, "Are you going to come here and try to sell me something?" Her reply was, "No, all you are going to have to do is sign for receiving your prize and fill out a 10 question survey." I then proceeded to tell her I would be here. Again, this was all part of the scam.

Two people showed up at a little after 8:30 PM. They came to the house with a big box and a little box. Since it was cold outside and I saw that neither the guy or gal was bigger than I, I invited them in out of the snow. The guy came in and said, "Is this your living room where we can set up?" I then told this guy that the lady on the phone told me all I had to do was sign for my prize and fill out a questionnaire. He told me he wanted to show me just a few things. I then responded, "We can go in the kitchen and you have 30 seconds."

To make a really long story short, the guy and gal were there to sell me a vacuum. The guy tried to belittle our Dyson (which we love), but I didn't let that fly and I argued with him. Finally I kicked them out of our house after he tried and tried and tried and tried to sell me a vacuum at 9:30 PM. I was blown away by how hard this guy tried. He did everything but get down on his knees and beg. Some of the funny parts of this whole experience was my arguing points. This guy had no idea what he was walking into, with trying to explain turbine motors and air flow to a Mechanical Engineer. My favorite response was: He asked me,"Would use a microwave that would only cook your food half way?" I replied with, "Sure I would. I would just use it twice." The guy looked at me and didn't have a word to say.

Before the guy left he wanted to call his boss and tell him how awful he failed at selling me a vacuum. I politely let him use our phone. I am glad I did this, because after the guy left our house, I immediately redialed the number. I got right to his boss who now has two ways of going #2. Just to spread the word, and to hold up my promise to this boss, I am letting everyone I know, DO NOT LISTEN TO, BUY FROM, TALK TO, ETC. ANYONE FROM "L AND L SYSTEMS." They are scam artists and I not proud to say that they were even in my house, but at least I can now let everyone else know, not to fall into the same trap. The vacuum they were trying to sell me was the Tri Star. And I thought buying a $500 vacuum was outrageous, they only wanted $2895. Yeah almost THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! I couldn't believe it.

Then the final straw was this guy asking me to fill out a form with 8 of my friends information, AFTER I asked him to leave. They have to be on some sort of drugs at this point, to think I am going to give them anything but a swift kick to the rear end. So just remember:

L AND L SYSTEMS = SCAM
TRI STAR CLEANING SYSTEM = SCAM
PETER J. = FEELS DUMB
The last thing I have to say is: Heather, sweetest woman I know, YOU WERE RIGHT! She told me before they got there, that they were going to try and sell me something. I LOVE YOU BABE AND I AM SORRY FOR BEING SO DUMB.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Crazy People's Household is right

Is there ever down time? I can't even imagine what it will be like when Abigail comes. At least Heather will have some time off of her crazy work place. What has been going on:

Colton, where do I begin? He is growing up so fast and learning so much. People always say they are little sponges and those people are so right. He learns so much every day, and he has such a good memory. He is doing so well in Tae-Kwon-Do. I missed it, but a couple of weeks ago he was able to break a board for his first time. Heather was there and she said she almost broke into tears with joy and excitement. She said Colton threw is little hands in the air and was so proud of himself. He is currently trying to test for his next level which I believe is high white belt. Baseball is also starting up soon. I am going to be his coach again. This year we are in Machine Pitch, so it should be interesting. I will post up some pictures of him as soon as I take some. I still have to get some pictures of him at karate, so once I get them I will share with you all.

The house is pretty much at a stand still. It is about 99% complete, and it will probably stay that way. There are really just some odds and ends to do. Now that I am done with the majority of the interior, maybe Heather will allow me to do some work on our garage. The bar top still needs to be refinished too.

Heather's back is getting better. Thank you all for your prayers. Poor Heather has been ordered to get massages. She goes once a week for about an hour. I guess it gets me off the hook for a little while.

That is all that is really going on as we wait for Abigail to come around.

A final note of "PRAISE GOD." We finally have a settlement agreement between us and Colton's biological father. I express how relieved we are that we can finally move on. I could on for hours about how it was like pulling teeth without any numbing medicine, but for now I will thank God that we got some papers signed.

We also want to send out another welcome to Nash Jacob Adams. He was born on April 3rd at 7:09 PM. He weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and was 19 inches long. His parents, Lauren and Travis have started creating a blog, so once it is up and running I will post up the link. For now you can enjoy a picture of him: