New Front Tire

We love to support local business, so we bought my new tire at Cedar Tire in, you guessed it, Cedar. We live in the Cedar-Yellowpoint area, some of which is considered part of Nanaimo and some of it, like our area, is Ladysmith. It's a terrific community with lots of trees, ocean views, and a terrific community of people. Cedar Tire doesn't however put the tires on the bikes, so we contacted Dragon Cycle, just across from the airport and about 5 minutes away from our place. I had mistakenly thought that they were a custom bike building and painting shop. But they had a display at the Cassidy Show 'n Shine last week Sunday and we discovered then that they're a lot more. They were great about putting my new tire on, though I think it gave a little trouble. It must have been stacked with other tires for a bit, and so it was a little out of round. That caused problems in getting a good seal onto the rim. It also needed a new inner tube. But Brent (I hope that was his name) was great about doing the job while I spoke to his girlfriend Christa. They do extremely great work there, and I'll definitely be hoping for a bit of a custom paint job on my Little Hussy sometime down the road.

Once I had the new tire on, I figured I should start to wear it in a little before Sunday, so I finally got a chance to ride into Nanaimo once again to exchange my cell phone. What a saga that has become. About 5 weeks ago, I needed to access my e-bill and was shocked to discover I could no longer remember my password. I contacted someone at Telus and got what I needed, but the rep told me that I should exchange my old phone. I admit it is a bit of a dinosaur as cellphones go. Anyway, I told her that I was happy with my existing phone plan and didn't want to spend money on another phone. She assured me that the exchange would be at no cost to me. I could keep my plan, but I would have to sign a contract to continue with Telus Mobility for another three years. I have their most inexpensive plan and expect to stay with them anyway, since no one else offers such a light plan. I went into the Telus shop and told the clerk there my story and she said that this couldn't be done. I would have to pay for it. Needless to say, I didn't do it. However, I was peeved that the Telus rep got this started only to have me disappointed in the end. So I finally got around to calling them again, spoke to a guy called Jeff, and he too assured me that I could have this done. He said they'd charge me $25 at the Telus shop, but that they would credit me the same amount on my account. Imagine how much more peeved I became when I went the 80km roundtrip back to the Telus store to be told: "Telus will charge you $25, and they can credit you that, but we also have to charge you $35 ourselves. In addition, it says right here on the file that you MUST change your plan." Those idiots, two of them by now, totally lied to me on the phone.

When I got home from this useless trip to the Telus store, I called and let them know how angry I was by this time. I'd wasted two 80km plus roundtrips, and wondered who'd pay for my fuel. I'd made it abundantly clear that I wasn't interested in changing my talksaver plan. I'd made it ultra clear that I wasn't interested in paying a fee for any change, and I'd be assured both times that the only thing required was an agreement to continue with my plan for another 3 years. Of course the representative I now, someone called Mel, had on the phone needed to get a manager involved. Within a few moments I was speaking to someone called Aziz. I went through the whole thing again, and he said he'd be writing a report on the two representatives who had made this mistake. I asked how that was going to help me. I explained again that it wasn't me who had suggested the phone exchange in the first place, and told him in no uncertain terms that I'm quite a clear communicator... for crying out loud, I have a Master's Degree in English. I know that I expressed myself clearly and repeatedly with both the representatives I'd dealt with.

Aziz was apologetic, and offered to send me a new Samsung phone. He explained a charge would show on my next bill, but it would also be credited back to me. He said I would not need to sign a contract, nor would I need to change my phone plan. He went on to tell me that Telus won't be earning a cent on me for the next year, since the phone value $150 was coming to me free and my plan costs me only $10 per month. Well, if he thought that was making me feel bad for them, he was wrong. I was only satisfied that they were going to exchange my phone, and after all, the whole thing was their idea in the first place. I think they want folks with the TalkSaver plan off their system and hope to suck them in with their promises. I wasn't about to be sucked in.

But as for the ride, it was glorious. The weather is so warm that I actually chose to ride with a three-quarter helmet. The full helmet nearly choked me in that heat. I can see that summer riding is going to be quite different than the spring stuff has been. I may have to start wearing a lighter jacket too, and who knows, the chaps might even end up being too hot and I'll have to go with just bluejeans. I'd better be extra careful out there. I wish the RCMP around here would make a huge effort to educate drivers about the fact that there are motorcycles on the roads and they need to keep an eye out for them. Too often we hear of cars turning left right into a motorcycle, and then the typical statement made is: "I didn't see him." I can only hope and pray that I keep myself visible!