Savannah Beach Inn Sucks Or Why I Love My Credit Card Representatives

by HijabMan :: posted 29 June 08

I’ve been trying to cancel a reservation at the Savannah Beach Inn for about a month now. I’ve e-mailed and called four times to no avail.

The Savannah Beach Inn is run by two clueless women and one of the womens’ sons. While I’ve never received a response to my multiple e-mails asking for the deposit to be refunded, our phone calls usually go one of three ways, depending on who I’m speaking with:

“Hi, my name is HijabMan, I made this reservation on this date, and I’ve been trying to cancel it since June 2nd, I’ve sent multiple e-mails and called several times. Can you help me out?”

Conversation 1: “We do things by e-mail here. So, I can’t take your cancellation over the phone.”

“But I’ve already e-mailed three times!”

“Well, I’m not in the office so I can’t check it. Can you call back again?”

“When will you be in the office tomorrow?”

“I don’t know.”

Conversation 2: (After putting me on hold and hanging up) “Yeah, well, oh dear! Let me see, I’m not in the office. You see we have some flooding and there is this going on and that going on and…can you call back at 8 pm. That’s when I’m at the office.”

She of course, is not in the office at 8 pm. And is unable to remember anything or write anything down (see Response 2). And thus there is a repeat of Conversation 1.

Conversation 3: I’m an old lady, I can’t deal with this. Whatever. (I was floored by this one.)

I’ve never had to dispute a charge before, and so I called Citi Cards and quickly bypassed any automated message by asking for a representative. In this world of huge call centers, Lindsey, a cheery, young-sounding woman picked up the phone within seconds.

Lindsey was quick to laugh while I spelled out my name and compared it to the spellings of a particular fruit. She definitely lightened my mood. I explained the situation, and while productive, the conversation was actually full of laughter. I was just fascinated by how these two ladies ran me around in circles. Lindsey and I were becoming quick buddies— that is until the scary, inevitable part happened.

She wanted to transfer me.

Oh no, please God don’t.. elevator music.. bad experiences with Verizon. The horror! The horror!

I expressed my sadness. I had found a helpful, bubbly woman to help me with my troubles, and now I was being transferred!

Just when it dawned on me that the stars were not even close to alignment, Lindsey, concerned for my happiness, assured me:

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure the next person you speak with is nice, too.”

I was expecting that to be our last goodbye, but Lindsey, superwoman that she is, got back on the line with Rochelle. She proceeded to introduce Rochelle as a very nice woman. Wished me a lovely evening, and we parted ways.

Rochelle was pretty decent too, but explained something quite illogical if you ask me. She explained that in order to dispute the charge, it would be helpful if I could get a cancellation confirmation number.

I explained quite clearly that the people who are running the half-assed operation over at Savannah Beach Inn do not work with reservation numbers or cancellation numbers. They just say they’ll take care of it and then forget about you. Rochelle seemed to be saying that if they display some competence, it is easier to dispute the charge than if they are totally incompetent. Peachy.

I was not happy with Rochelle’s explanation of things, but I called back Savannah Beach Inn, and as expected got nothing from them. They told me to call back tomorrow, but [surprise, surprise!] couldn’t give me a time for when, because she had errands to run. I had gotten used to these long-winded explanations involving floods, natural disasters, errands, and the like.

I called Citi Cards, my credit card company back, and immediately got hooked up with Ray, Employee ID YF0414, aka Best Guy Ever. He explained that I didn’t need to go through this back and forth with Savannah Beach Inn, that as soon as I felt there was an issue, I should have called and disputed the charge. At that point, my credit card company does the back and forth with the merchant so that I don’t have to. And Ray said not to worry about the cancellation confirmation number. Yeehaw.

Never in my life did I think I would say good things about a credit card company— but hot damn, these people are nice!

Ray gave me his employee ID number, and confirmed that until the dispute was solved, they would credit my account. Thank you for the great service Lindsey, Ray, and sometimes Rochelle!

I’ll be reporting Savannah Beach Inn to the Better Business Bureau, though I’m sure this blog post will get up there in the Google results. I will also be writing a nice letter about Lindsey, Ray, and sometimes Rochelle :)

PS. It’s safe to judge a Bed And Breakfast by it’s website. Savannah Beach Inn’s web site = epic fail.

PS x 2. Even though I canceled my trip to Savannah, the most helpful guy on the phone was Richard at the Kehoe House. Stay there. Their web site? Very nice.

Organic Is Halal: HijabMan Becomes The First Muslim Shirt Company To Go Green

by HijabMan :: posted 27 June 08

“Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically-dependent crops, sucking up 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides on 3% of our arable land; that’s more than any other crop per unit. That adds up to 1/3 of a pound of chemicals to produce enough cotton for a t-shirt, and 3/4 of a pound for a pair of jeans. And that’s just not bad for the planet; 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).” – Treehugger.com

As the HijabMan fans will know, I’ve had a Sweatshop Free and Organic shirt for a while now, with the promise that I would gradually go green.

Well, it’s time to start. At ICNA this year in Hartford, CT, I will be experimenting with organic cotton shirts for some of my most popular shirts with the intention of having all, if not most of my shirts made from organic cotton in the future.

They are a bit more expensive to print, but well worth it in the long run. For me, “halal” isn’t just about meat. Or marshmallows. It is being conscious of what we consume. Asking questions about how, where, and from what materials the things we purchase are made is very important for me as a Believer and a global citizen.

Oh, and organic cotton is super comfy too.

Support the first Muslim-owned shirt company to go green. Buy Hijabman products and tell all your friends about them at:

http://www.hijabman.com/store

P.S. Now all I need is a vegetable-oil powered car. I don’t s’pose any of you do diesel conversions? :)

Giving Away Sunflowers at 7:30 AM on a Sunday in Manhattan

by HijabMan :: posted 25 June 08

“When you feel life out of focus, always return to basic of life.” – Mr. Miyagi, Karate Kid Part II

Your first question?

Why in God’s name were you up at 7:30 AM on a Sunday?

What can I say? The sun rises, and I like to make sure I’m there to greet it. Waking up early makes me feel productive and alive. It is a time of day when I feel most contemplative, in the quiet of the streets, as the street lights automatically turn off after a night of glowing. Besides, my favorite kind of food is breakfast. The End.

Second question?

Why were you in New York?

I was meeting OneFemaleCanuck a blogger buddy with a genuinely warm smile. She was visiting from one of my favorite countries (Canada). You should know that I never shy away from hearing a Canadian speak. I can’t wait for someone to use the word “guy” at the end of a sentence. I really just can’t.

Third?

What’s with the sunflowers?

So, there I am walking around the city at 7:30 AM, a full hour early for my breakfast meeting with OneFemaleCanuck. The few people outside were frowning, as they always seem to be in NYC early in the morning. So, I went into a shop, bought five sunflowers, and intended to hand them out to strangers.

These last few months I’ve become a little bit of a hermit, and I went into my hard-to-approach-new-people default. I figured this would do both me and the receivers of the flowers some good.

After I bought the flowers, I walked around for another fifteen minutes mustering up the courage to start offering them to the depressed-looking people. The first was a middle-aged woman walking towards me. She didn’t make eye-contact so I stuck out one of the flowers and asked, “Would you like a flower?”

She politely declined but after passing she turned around quickly to remark, “That was very kind of you, though.”

I got rejected another dozen times, until a long-haired man that looked Southeast Asian took one and smiled. His response and the look on his face was quite sincere.

“Thank you SO much.” He paused, before walking on.

Right then, I had a flashback. 2003. Cairo. I was handing out oranges on the street, and I threw one over to a little old lady, and she proposed to me. HA! hahahahahaha! weeee!

I was able to give away one flower before it was time to meet OneFemaleCanuck. She was outside of a church taking a candid photo of me as I walked by. Figures. She’s a blogger and a photo-taking fiend like our mutual buddies, Yasminay and Barsaat.

After our greetings, we climbed the stairs and walked into the church. We offered one of the remaining sunflowers to the two men standing in the entrance hall.

“Where would I put it?”

I think that is the number one concern of people rejecting my flowers.

“How about I put it on this table right here?” I asked, considering the people who would walk into church later that morning and see the flower. They agreed.

The next sunflower went to an African-American guy right outside the church. He hesitated because he was on his way to work, but OneFemaleCanuck helped me convince the guy that he should just give it to someone and make their day a bit brighter.

We arranged for breakfast at a local diner, and our waitress got the last flower. She was shy though (see photo).

Next time you feel the inspiration, give away some flowers. Or balloons. Or oranges. Through all the rejections, you find the people who will take the time to smile, reflect, and enjoy the simple things in life.

Thanks Miyagi-San.

Salam Cafe, Australia's Hottest Muslims!

by HijabMan :: posted 6 June 08

A long long time ago, in a far away place on the internet, I made contact with one Susan Carland, of Melbourne Australia.* At the time, she was on a relatively small, low-budget cable-access television show called Salam Cafe. It was basically a show made up of a panel of young, fun, and funny Muslims talking about current issues. I’d watch the old episodes on youtube, and eventually I sent her a Make Chai Not War shirt. Before I knew it, the shirt was appearing on the show.

Now, years later, Salam Cafe has gone national and they are still fans of HijabMan! Ahmed Imam, shown above, gestures to his HijabMan shirt while asking the residents of a town that rejected a Muslim school, “Where’s the love?!”

You can now find Ahmed, Susan, Waleed, and the rest of the gang every week on SBS. Feel free to watch the show on their web site.

I’ll be sending shirts to the gang soon, so all you Aussies can enjoy HijabMan shirts out there.

Again, thanks again to the entire crew at Salam Cafe, I truly appreciate you wearing HijabMan products on your show.

*Note: It’s quite possible she made contact with me. The details are fuzzy, perhaps she could provide us with better details, since I’m obviously going senile.

For Meredith. Wherever The Heck You Are.

by HijabMan :: posted 28 April 08

During the periodic cleanings of my apartment, I’ll inevitably come across notes, cards, and photos from old friends. Today, during my spring-cleaning blitz, I found a CD case.

“Wait a second, wait a second! Let me get this straight, you and mom actually played music and stored things on… disks? HAHAHAHAHAHA!” – my future children

Out of sheer curiosity, I stuck my hand in the back pocket of the case and came out with an envelope with a card in it. It was written by a particularly mysterious friend of mine while we were studing in Cairo. In the era of Facebook, Gmail, and the all-together mind blowing human connections I’ve found myself having lately, I’m not exactly sure how she disappeared herself. I know she was interested in a job with intelligence, either FBI or CIA, but that is all speculation, though I must admit, it adds some exciting drama to this otherwise run-of-the mill blog post, and it makes me want to type things like

plot thickens. or dun dun DUN!

So, I fished out the card. She wanted to share with me a journal entry of hers, dated 7-20-2001. I hope she doesn’t mind that I am sharing it with you. It is a lovely thought:

“Be strong everyday. Try to stop and think at all the difficult points/steps because they all matter, even the small ones. And if you can remember to be strong, compassionate, and do the right thing— remembering what is truly important— then hopefully it will come naturally when the big stuff hits. Try to remind yourself daily that you are never alone, that God is watching & that is not a scary thing, it is a blessing and we are all going to be okay. Great things, great love is waiting in God’s plan for the future… and there is great joy/happiness buried somewhere every day if you keep your eyes open and your heart/mind clear of distractions. Don’t stop giving because returns don’t matter. To give is never fruitless, just try to start giving without ever expecting a return (I must do this in front of my children so it comes naturally to them). Try to recognize when selfishness is clouding your vision, and push it away so you can admit your mistakes and learn from them.” – Tovah

The great part about this is not just this journal entry, but her thoughts afterwards. She reiterated that this was a moment of spiritual clarity, something that she’d probably forget. Because that is what human beings do. Forget.

Thanks for the note, Meredith.

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amster (Savannah Beach Inn Sucks Or Why I Love My Credit Card Representatives)

good stuff
moon (Organic Is Halal: HijabMan Becomes The First Muslim Shirt Company To Go Green)

go green!!!
ana (Organic Is Halal: HijabMan Becomes The First Muslim Shirt Company To Go Green)

yay to going green!!!

:)

Savannah Beach Inn Sucks Or Why I Love My Credit Card Representatives

Organic Is Halal: HijabMan Becomes The First Muslim Shirt Company To Go Green

Giving Away Sunflowers at 7:30 AM on a Sunday in Manhattan

Salam Cafe, Australia's Hottest Muslims!

For Meredith. Wherever The Heck You Are.

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