I have to sing the praises of Baja Fresh. They make the most fabulous mexican food in such an amazingly clean facility–and for the same prices as Burger King. It’s a fabulous place.
Sticking up for Disney as well. Just went there recently and was very impressed. Never have I been in an amusement park this clean, this open, this friendly, or this helpful in all my life. quietman1920, I’m sure you’ll agree with me–by the way, that was a touching story; it’s wonderful to know that there are still companies that are looking out for people. The Mouse is good people. Anyway, my own anecdote is nowhere’s near as emotional, but still nice. We bought into the Vacation Club while down there, and each of us got a card good for two instant FastPasses. We failed to read the back of the card and attempted to use these instant FastPasses incorrectly. Each time, the person working the ride would glance at it and say “Well, I’ve never seen these before. Here, just go ahead.” There was no long waiting for a manager or any rude attitude telling us to get to the back of the regular line. Whether they didn’t have the time or could just afford to let us go, I still thought it nice that there was no red tape involved.
I need to say it again–Disney was so CLEAN! I’m simply amazed. Never saw one cigarette butt (the smoking places were clearly marked, obeyed, and virtually deserted) or gum wrapper. Amazing.
I want to do a big thumbs up for YHA youth hostels. I have never had a bad experience, never a lost booking, never had to pay excessive amounts, have shown up without booking in a busy season and been fitted in somehow, have been helped when I’ve been pickpocketed or had food stolen from the fridge (that was other travellers who helped me find the guilty party and lent me food til I could shop), have been wined, dined taken on personal tours of areas for no cost, and the service is always cheerful and friendly, even if you got off the bus at 3am and then rang the doorbell so that someone would let you in.
Home Depot – they might be expensive, but their staff knows everything about anything, and they’re willing to answer questions.
It’s a local thing – Dorothy Lane Market is MUCH better than Trader Joe’s or Whole foods, plus they give cooking classes. And they have the most wonderful sweet shop! Mmm!
Jungle Jim’s is an enormous grocery store with food from all around the world. I always get my imported English teas and Indian desserts from there.
Hey phraser, what’s YHA stand for? ‘Youth Hostels of America’? I know they’ve got hostels in Europe, but I’m intrigued by the idea. How do you “book” a room? Got a link or something?
Lands End… especially now that they’ve caved to me (and who knows how many others) begging them for years to do maternity. We’ve got shortalls that are going through their 10th round (cousins had 'em first), that are still in great condition.
Robeez shoes (for toddlers). Soft leather footgear, no fat inflexible chemical-plastic soles, and the company is high on the ethics scale - heavy on both single parents and workers with disabilities. Quick service, great designs, and the first shoes my son actually brought TO me to put on his chubby little feet.
Duluth Trading Company. Great products at great prices, comparable to Gardener Supply but for construction (and gardening). Get my Ironclad and BucketBoss products here…
Ironclad gloves. Best gloves I’ve ever had (work gloves), fit well, hard wearing, and even though they hadn’t actually released their new glove version (for landscaping among other things), they still sold a pair to my IL’s to give me for my birthday. Love 'em.
Xandria. Great customer service, not at all freaky to talk to, nice not-obviously-unmarked packages and catalogs…
I have to agree with Nordstroms.
I absentmindedly tried to return a shirt I bought at another store.
When I took the reciept out of my wallet I realized I was in the wrong store and apologized to the clerk. She told me not to worry about it and gave me a refund for the price of the shirt.
She said she would rather give me good service than have me go elsewhere.
Motorola. I ran one of their T900 two-way pagers through the laundry once. After a heavy-duty wash cycle with hot water, followed by 90+ minutes in the dryer, I pulled the pager out. It was so hot I couldn’t hold onto it. I let it cool and put a new battery in it. Aside from some scratches on the case from tumbling in the dryer, it worked as good as new.
I’ll second BMW. Despite a salvage title and years of shameful neglect by the previous owner (about the only thing they ever did was change the oil), my old '88 528e is virtually indestructible. It runs a little rough, but every time I crack open one of the systems to do the routine maintenance, I find it has taken an amount of damage that would have rendered a lesser vehicle inoperative. It just keeps plugging along…
Timberland boots. I walk funny, and I busted the stitches on one of their boots after about four years. I mailed it to them, and they sent me a new pair.
And I back up Zippo. I smoked for six years, and had one Zippo the whole time. It never broke, and I dropped it a lot.
My KDS monitor crapped out on me last night. I called their tech support line and the guy asked me what happened, etc. It had just stopped displaying anything for no apparent reason and my attempts at troubleshooting had failed. Tech support took the model & serial numbers along with my name & address and said they’d transfer me to customer service so they could ship me a new monitor.
Customer service asked me when it was purchased. I thought I was going to have all sorts of trouble with that because, even though it was within the warranty period, my late father is the one who bought it. But I gave them the date on the receipt and that was it. They’re shipping me a new monitor by Fed-Ex and all I have to do is ship the broken one back to them.
