I sent the now parent company of Ertl, RC2 an email inquiring about possible replacement by the company.

This is the response I got from ‘Karen’ in Customer Service:

Thank you for your inquiry regarding model kit parts.

The Company announced on 1/11/2007 that it will discontinue its Racing Champions, Joyride, Ertl, and AMT die-cast and model kit automotive collectible product lines. The Company plans to continue with its strategy to reposition its Johnny Lightning Brand. Production for 2007 will remain as planned at this time.

We are sorry to hear of your problem with our product. We focus on producing quality toys and collectibles, however on a rare occasion quality issues can arise.

With the wide range of products and items we market, it is impossible for RC2 Brands to keep replacement parts or stock on hand. The Company has established return policies with the retailers who purchase our products directly. Please return the product along with your receipt to the place of purchase for an exchange or refund. The return is subject to the discretion and return policies of the retailer.

You can also try contacting one of the following retailers: Gold Coast Hobby 516-759-4094 or Model King 732-240-3987 for purchase of replacement parts.

Thanks for your support of Learning Curve Brand products.

Consumer Services

to which I responded

Your response somehow didn’t surprise me.

Given that I too work in Quality Control, it’s extremely difficult to imagine that our respective companies would put out a product that is less then perfect in the eye of the customer. But it does happen from time to time, as we both can attest to. The big difference is that for my job, I have to claim responsibility for the quality of my company’s product and do what I can to make it right in the eyes of the end user/customer.

Evidently, your company does not believe in quality or customer service, based on my exchange with you. Furthermore, the fact that your product is made in China and your customer service information is not existent in any tangible way via your company’s website should have been huge red flags to me.

I am disappointed as a customer, as for a good, joyful part of my childhood growing up on a family farm in the rural Midwest was spent carpet-farming with what was viewed as the best in farm toys ~ Ertl. I attended numerous toy shows and purchased numerous toy farm machinery for my carpet-farm. All these products were made with the Ertl logo.

While it’s easy to see why you’re company continues to use the Ertl brand, I am extremely disappointed in the product you currently put out and lack of response to quality concerns. (By the way your email response in corporate speak is so vague it actually means little. Numerous mention of the year 2007 are made, but what that has to do with present day issues are not addressed. I suggest you fire your copy writer)

While we live in the age of the Internet and Social Media, I will take it upon myself to spread the experience I’ve had with your company. It should be a hoot to hear my relatives that currently own Ertl toys and their response to this saga.

Enjoy making your cheap Chinese shit, I wish your company nothing but the worst.

So, there you have it, a part of my childhood has been sold out and now peddles cheap crap under the priceless memories of a once quality brand!

Married 1 year 3 months now. That’s going good and enjoyable.

Work.

5 years at full time (got nice set of Monogrammed drinking glasses… ooh aah)

7 years at part time gig… whoa that’s long…

House

Numerous, numerous projects. I started with big ideas and they are slowly taking form as finished products.

First/main level completed to my liking.

Currently working on Garage wall (drywall)

Whole 2nd story
New ceilings/walls throughout, bedroom bigger, smaller bathroom, totally redo bathroom minus tub/shower, adding closets to bedroom, moving doors from bathroom to hallway entrance to back bedroom

Bits and pieces outside
Gutters, gardens, trees/plants, landscaping

Bits and pieces of basement.
Redid walls along steps to basement, remove/reroute all scary things that start/terminate in basement

Attic.

Redo insulation and seal all gaps, and the list goes on forever….

98 High Ave

Try out piotter.us/weddingphotos for all of the official ones, plus a set my 2nd cousin so graciously did for us.

Also a few family/friends have posted a few to Facebook, which I now have a nifty link to facebook.com/mpiotter

All the wedding can also be seen at the wedding website: michaelpiotter.com/wedding as well!

Enjoy!

I don’t think I’m very proud of this, but given the hoax I was pulled into in the sake of a deal being too good to be true, I must out a horrible company and it’s crooked, deceitful, and down right pathetic attempts to literally steal your ‘wedding money’.

The bozos are Associated Consultants Inc, supposedly out of Minneapolis, Mn. What they do is try and bilk young engaged couples into a crooked ponzi scheme idea that by spending $2400 on there average cookware. They use all the tricks in the book to con you into thinking you must buy there product then and there, no questions asked.

Associated Consultants Inc supposedly sponsored a bridal fair in St Cloud, from there they steal your information and while probably selling it off to marketing firms all while letting you know if you visit with them for 2 hours (not the 3.5 it turned into) that you could win all these fabulous prizes and get a chance to purchase a one of a kind product.

The lure was a free camera (film, not digital mind you) and a trip to Carribean destination. Plus throw in a meal (just happen to run this fraud from 5 pm on).

Slick sales guy goes into his mode describing his companies shit and then comparing in every way possible to the competitors all while relentlessly accentuating the positives on his comany’s crap and making the competitors look negatively bad in every possible light, both from the way it’s sold, the way it’s made, what county it may be made in and on and on till you are bludgeoned with negativity about everything but…. the shit they are trying to sell you.

Does some fancy tricks like standing on china cup and throwing plate on floor (reinforced props, no doubt). Cutting away pots and pans to show best of everything in Associated Consultants shit, and worst in all others.

Oh and no water used in cooking system, but when we are cooked up our ‘meal’, which consisted of a few pieces each of chicken, and under cooked carrots/broccoli; water is generously ‘sprinkled’ on everything? Odd system. Indeed.

Sorry suckers that stayed at the end got the opportunity to waste their money on this overpriced crap. Out of the 7 couples attending, only 2 left immediately (we took ‘crystal’ glasses instead of trip to crime ridden Carribean…. er Mexico) What a sham, and the dufus/ his company easily got $10,000 that night from the suckers that stayed and bought outrageously priced crapware.

I could go on and on about how shitty this deal was/ wasn’t and how it was a 3.5 hour waste of time. But I don’t want to waste more of my time on such a piece of shit company ~ Associated Consultants Inc.

While Associated Consultants Inc tried to play to every letter of the law, it’s despicable that a company would scam people in such a way to make a buck. As one of my co-workers said after I told her and she had been to something similar, why can’t these people get a real job for a living, instead of suckering fools out of cash?

Obviously there’s enough fools to milk.

By all indications, Federal law states that tax documents should be mailed out by January 31 for previous year (bumped to February 2 due to 31st falling on a Saturday). Well giving WF the benefit of doubt, I should have had my documents as of this post.

I called WF last night and they stated that 1099s would not be mailed out until the end of February. So I decided to call the IRS to get their take on this discovery. Seems that IRS is already swamped, as it took them a full 15 minutes to get a person on the phone to talk about this. Not real stellar, but I have heard that’s what the government does ~ make you wait. They say I have to wait until the 15th before ‘worrying’ about it. We’ll see.

Personally, I would like to stick it to WF. I had liked them for a while, but they are starting to wear on me. Their policies are wishy-washy and every person you talk to, gives you a different answer.

The bozos are rescinding their executive retreats as tax-payers don’t appreciate giving the poor bastards gobs of bail-out money and all the while the big-shots enjoy the good life.

Good grief.

The biggest reason I am miffed, is that due to the home buyer credit, I am entitled to a fairly hefty refund, which would come in nice for home improvements and/or a upcoming wedding.

Plus the whole fact that we live in a digital world where computers do the banking work for them, it’s stupid that they would get any kind of reprieve.

Plus, they’re screwing with the feds, so you know they are so toast. Probably has something to do with the bailout $$. It makes everything slow to a government like snail’s pace.

Screw you Wells Fargo!

It is kind of odd too, because that Jan 2009 edition of PC Magazine is the last print copy of the magazine. They are going totally digital after that edition. So, I guess it’s a milestone edition and I got published in it. Maybe it could be a collector’s item?

Read my submission:

Way to piss on the customer. And it reinforces why I have since moved all my domain names away from this company. Hosting may well be next…

Dear Customer,

1and1 Internet appreciates your business, and we hope that you are
happy with our services.

In order to stay competitive and continue to offer you excellent services,
we have made changes to our pricing structure in accordance with the
changes in the industry. This change affects new domain registrations
and domain renewals.

Since November 3, 2008, the following domain rates apply:
.com, .net, .us, .org, .info, .name, and .biz domains have been increased
to
$8.99 per year

1and1 is committed to offering very competitive prices and professional
services in the domain environment and we hope to continue to meet and
surpass your service expectations.

I’ve lost my buddy. Jake was probably the best dog I ever had. He also was the dog I’ve had the longest as well. We debate for how long we had Jake, but it was roughly 10 years (getting him in 1998). He got him at a time when I previous dog ~ Spot had died. So there was a farm place without a dog. At that time we would go to Hutch Sales Barn to find deals on small poultry and knew they had at the time free kitten/ puppies to give away as well. We got Jake from a family that lived in New Auburn, but not much else for background/ information. We always had fun describing what breed Jake really was. We think it was Golden Lab/Golden Retriever with possibly German Shepard mixed in as well, but nothing for certain. His name was in reference to the song by Pirates Of The Mississippi – Feed Jake . Always thought after I heard that song, I’d wanna name my dog that. That song summed up much about my dog too.

Although he wasn’t a born hunter, he always loved to roam the farm, occasionally scaring up a rabbit or his specialty, squirrels. While they utterly fascinated him, he only caught one once and he didn’t hang onto it for long after. He spent more than a few hours treeing a squirrel and wondering in barks and yelps why they didn’t come down. He always loved going for a bike ride or walk and would always be checking things out a few hundred yards ahead at most times. He also loved car or truck rides, although with car rides, he usually jumped in and usually kicked out immediately.

He was a very loyal dog. He often knew the visitor to the farm before they set foot out of their ride. He had a special sense for guys and whether they were good or not.

In the last few years, Jake even learned to ‘shake’ his paw at his advanced age, no doubt being jealous of his companion Max (our Black Lab). Although Jake never loved to shake, he would do it on ocasion if it meant he would be getting a meal or a pat on the head.

Although we are not sure what ultimately happened to our friend, he did get loose on one of his occasional runs with Max and never came back. We can only assume the worst.

I think the following pictures capture his spirit best, that of a happy dog, enjoying the world around him. I’ll miss my buddy. Bye Jake.

From Jake

None the less, McCain didn’t win. I think he was screwed over since his initial presidential run in 2000 when his campaign stalled as a frat-boy from Texas noodled his way into the White House. McCain never really recovered from that. His form in the campaign was off, and the administration sure didn’t do him a single favor for torpedoing his run in 2000. Ah, time for a change.

As for the US Senate race in Mn, it was ridiculous. Why didn’t the two main idiots just say they were gonna bash the other in so many ways that it would look more like a sissy fight than a run for elected office. These two took pride,it looked like, in hating the other guy and finding new ‘campaign’ ways to do so. Yuck.

Al Franken got what he deserved. After losing outstate Mn in the primaries to his DFL competitor, he was blase enough to admit that his real opponent was Norm Coleman the whole time. I sure that statement and attitude were enough to convince some couple hundred voters to switch to GOP or even Independence Party, which fared better than may have been expected. It is of note that the Independence Party did play a spoiler of sorts in this election as well. Just goes to show that 3rd party politics may liven up the electoral scene.

As for the citizens of Minnesota, the majority of them took it upon themselves to raise their taxes via a sales tax increase. They bit this propaganda hook, line, and sinker (or art piece, I forget). Little did anyone mention that the arts and parks would greatly benefit from a good chunk of this amendments ‘great outdoors’ improvement plea. Little did the state government have to worry about, because with it’s passage, they passed the buck (no pun intended) and get to bask in squandering my generations taxes on whatever they have to money to.

Where did all that ‘state lottery’ money go we Minnesotans were promised a decade or so ago? All I have heard was embezzlement charges against the big shots running that gig. Yuck.

These taxes tend to stay on the books too. Mankato for one, is a city around the area that has had implemented an extra sales tax to pay for a ‘regional’ project in the Civic Center, but now after the initial taxing period has expired, they conveniently found numerous other ‘priorities’ that needed funding. Yuck.

Almost can’t wait for another even numbered year. Yuck.