Ono's Plastic Band
Here's the scenario. I bought a Swatch watch last September in the San Francisco airport. Why? Because I had a sedate Seiko which I had worn for years and years, but I wanted a fun, sporty watch too. So, I paid $50.00 for a plastic watch with a plastic band. And I loved it!!!
Six months later the band had almost completely torn apart. If I wore it much longer, the band would eventually split in two and I would lose the watch when it fell off my wrist. So I stopped wearing the watch and set it aside until I could purchase a new watchband.
From time to time I looked at the watch where it sat on my bureau. I wanted to wear it, but wouldn't. The risk of losing it completely was too high.
I started to think about where I could go to buy a Swatch watchband. I knew I had seen two Swatch stores - one in Harvard Sq. and one in the Burlington Mall. I would just have to get myself to one of these locations and I would surely be able to buy a watchband. I did not relish a trip to either shopping area - I had all but given up the mall for shopping now that my son was no longer living at home and Cambridge seemed like a long way to go for one watchband.
Then it dawned on me that I could probably purchase the watchband online. With great exhileration I entered www.swatch.com and bingo - there was the homepage for Swatch. And, of course, they sold watchbands online! I even found a transparent plastic band that looked exactly like the one sitting on my bureau. But, I didn't purchase it that day because the width was in millimeters - and God knows I don't know the metric system - so I wanted to measure my band exactly to make sure the new band would fit the old watch.
I did measure the band, but I didn't go back to the internet site to purchase the watchband right away.
And over the course of the next two weeks something wonderful happened. I was cleaning out my wallet and came across a little card stuck down in a crevice of the leather that I had received when I bought the Swatch watch. It said that I had 24 months from the date of purchase to get any part free should it break in normal wear and tear. Aha! I thought my watchband fit this category. So, now I could take this card to the store in Burlington or Cambridge and get the watchband for free! Well worth it!!!
I was busy, it was summer, other things took precedence, but last week I made up my mind to drive to the
Burlington Mall and visit the Swatch store.
I was disappointed to find another store in the spot where I remembered Swatch to be. I checked the directory at the Mall and Swatch was not listed. I then decided to go to the other two watch stores and three department stores to see if anyone carried Swatch watches. The closest I came to finding my watchband was at the new Nordstrum's. They sold Swatch watches in their jewelry department on the first floor. But, when I asked the lady behind the counter if she had any Swatch watchbands she looked down her nose at me (really!) and replied with great disdain, "We don't carry watchbands!" As though watchbands were for the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised...
I was so disgusted with the whole shopping expedition by this time that I practically ran out out of the Mall.
I drove home and turned on my computer. I clicked and clicked and submitted my order for the watchband that I had originally seen online.
The cost of the watchband was $8.50 plus $7.00 shipping. So, for $15.50 I got the new band. It was delivered to my backdoor two days later - and it was perfect!!!!!
$15.50, a tank of gas, 2 hours of walking, 5 months of procrastination... Do you think I've learned a lesson here?
Real Estate Hint #18 - If you are considering the purchase of a home and you are having trouble remembering th details don't hesitate to ask your broker to take you back inside the house. Brokers would rather take you to the same house 2 or 3 times to look at it and make sure you like it than to start the offer process and have you back out because you just don't like some of the things about the house that you didn't notice on your first visit. My advice is to always, always visit a house at least twice before you make an offer on it. Nobody can take in all the detail of a home in one viewing!
Six months later the band had almost completely torn apart. If I wore it much longer, the band would eventually split in two and I would lose the watch when it fell off my wrist. So I stopped wearing the watch and set it aside until I could purchase a new watchband.
From time to time I looked at the watch where it sat on my bureau. I wanted to wear it, but wouldn't. The risk of losing it completely was too high.
I started to think about where I could go to buy a Swatch watchband. I knew I had seen two Swatch stores - one in Harvard Sq. and one in the Burlington Mall. I would just have to get myself to one of these locations and I would surely be able to buy a watchband. I did not relish a trip to either shopping area - I had all but given up the mall for shopping now that my son was no longer living at home and Cambridge seemed like a long way to go for one watchband.
Then it dawned on me that I could probably purchase the watchband online. With great exhileration I entered www.swatch.com and bingo - there was the homepage for Swatch. And, of course, they sold watchbands online! I even found a transparent plastic band that looked exactly like the one sitting on my bureau. But, I didn't purchase it that day because the width was in millimeters - and God knows I don't know the metric system - so I wanted to measure my band exactly to make sure the new band would fit the old watch.
I did measure the band, but I didn't go back to the internet site to purchase the watchband right away.
And over the course of the next two weeks something wonderful happened. I was cleaning out my wallet and came across a little card stuck down in a crevice of the leather that I had received when I bought the Swatch watch. It said that I had 24 months from the date of purchase to get any part free should it break in normal wear and tear. Aha! I thought my watchband fit this category. So, now I could take this card to the store in Burlington or Cambridge and get the watchband for free! Well worth it!!!
I was busy, it was summer, other things took precedence, but last week I made up my mind to drive to the
Burlington Mall and visit the Swatch store.
I was disappointed to find another store in the spot where I remembered Swatch to be. I checked the directory at the Mall and Swatch was not listed. I then decided to go to the other two watch stores and three department stores to see if anyone carried Swatch watches. The closest I came to finding my watchband was at the new Nordstrum's. They sold Swatch watches in their jewelry department on the first floor. But, when I asked the lady behind the counter if she had any Swatch watchbands she looked down her nose at me (really!) and replied with great disdain, "We don't carry watchbands!" As though watchbands were for the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised...
I was so disgusted with the whole shopping expedition by this time that I practically ran out out of the Mall.
I drove home and turned on my computer. I clicked and clicked and submitted my order for the watchband that I had originally seen online.
The cost of the watchband was $8.50 plus $7.00 shipping. So, for $15.50 I got the new band. It was delivered to my backdoor two days later - and it was perfect!!!!!
$15.50, a tank of gas, 2 hours of walking, 5 months of procrastination... Do you think I've learned a lesson here?
Real Estate Hint #18 - If you are considering the purchase of a home and you are having trouble remembering th details don't hesitate to ask your broker to take you back inside the house. Brokers would rather take you to the same house 2 or 3 times to look at it and make sure you like it than to start the offer process and have you back out because you just don't like some of the things about the house that you didn't notice on your first visit. My advice is to always, always visit a house at least twice before you make an offer on it. Nobody can take in all the detail of a home in one viewing!
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