The lack of service in this country!!!
Just Saturday I was telling Burr how sad I was to leave, etc. etc....but then....the following things happened: (Note these things happened in span of 72 hours...and this is normal).
1. I'm attempting to talk to Virgin Airlines regarding our around the world trip tickets. The tickets were supposedly getting "priced" last week and the only way for me to find out the price was to continue to call back with my reference number. (I'm thinking there isn't a person assigned to this to call me back regarding a large sum of money and about 10 flights you just cancel them?....well of course not...but that wasn't the problem). I continue to call Wednesday and Thursday, nothing, tickets not priced yet. So then I call today (Tuesday) and my tickets have been "cancelled" due to auto-cancellation or something. The person on the phone tells me this and I start screaming "How can they auto cancel without even telling the customer how much they were, shouldn't someone call me? I didn't even know they had a cancellation date.....and I've been talking to Virgin for over 2 weeks). Before you judge my screaming...you have to understand I have been working on these tickets for 5 weeks, not kidding, the dates, the places, etc. etc. so to have them almost ready to book and then all the sudden "cancel" - I freaked. The guy on the phone says "DON'T YELL AT ME" and I say "I love British customer service, you are actually telling me what to do now? just fix this problem" and he says "If you keep being rude I will hang up" - and he let's say he wasn't bluffing...so click.
2. Sunday morning Burr and I are attempting to get our Barclay's bikes out. [These are the bikes we have key cards for and you can pick them up and ride them to a different location for £1.] So we go to get there and Burr's key doesn't work. We call from the bike stand and since we don't have a 3rd visa card (i.e. more than Anne's debit and Burr's debit) and only have an AMEX credit card we cannot get a bike out and Burr has to wait 3-5 working days for a new key. Really? You can do nothing for us? Basically because our regular key cards are "attached" to our visa debit cards and we need another visa card to get a bike. This is absurd.
3. Also on Sunday we are at Whole Foods checking out and we have these salads from the salad bar and somehow we tell the guy we are eating in and the price of the salad changes about £5. Really? another £5 to eat at a table where I pick up after myself?! insane.
4. I am checking out at a grocery store and I realize my bill for the 4 items I'm buying is WAY too much. I ask to see the receipt, first the guy says "Why do you need a receipt?" He is meanwhile looking at the receipt so I grab it from his hand and realize I'm about to pay $10 for a pint of Ben and Jerry's frozen yogurt. I say I don't want this anymore....this is too much for ice cream*
*(Seriously $10 for frozen yogurt? That is INSANITY! Even I don't want ice cream that badly)
So I tell the guy I don't want it and I want a refund and he starts getting mad and me and arguing with me - he is saying the price was on the container, I already paid, etc. etc. I, of course, argue back get my £ and leave...but I am thinking did this just happen? Would someone at the Teeter argue with someone who wanted to return something they bought 30 seconds before? And not just scoff, I expect that, but really argue with me about returning it?
These chain of events makes me realize....its time to come home....to land of the customer is always right!!!
And there is good evidence that US customer service is amazing as Burr and I have been dealing with the moving folks back home they are all "Please let us know if you need anything else, etc. etc." - Oh I could kiss them.
God Bless the USA!
XX
Anne
Yummy....the last choice...minced meat (aka: ground beef)
The 4 of us seeing the at the Roman Bath Spas! 
