Selling contact lenses online – This is how it’s done!

Posted on 2012-04-18 by gigi

A while back I posted a big rant in portuguese about a terrible experience I had in an online shop for contact lenses.
The skinny:

I ordered my regular lenses prescription, they fucked up, I wrote several e-mails to them and they where less than comunicative. After several months they found my package in their warehouse and decided to pay me back by paypal like I sold them something, making me loose money to paypal fees. I didn’t even pay my order though paypal. They just took my e-mail and sent the money without telling me. A horrible, horrible experience. My advice is DO NOT BUY from Optica Iberica!

Meanwhile, yesterday I ordered another set of lenses from lenstore.co.uk and they gave me the following shipping date:

Expected shipping date: Today
Expected delivery date(s): Monday, 23rd April 2012 to Tuesday, 24th April 2012

Today I received this e-mail:

Dear Ms Francisco,

Thank you for your recent order.

I am sorry to report that there has been a slight delay in us receiving your prescription from xxxxx, and we are expecting your lenses to arrive here by Friday 20th April.

Please accept this 10% discount code to use with your next order: XXXXXX (valid to 18/04/2013)

If you are in a rush to get your lenses, I will be happy to upgrade you free of charge to Special Delivery, which is guaranteed to arrive with you by 1 pm the day after dispatch.

Please do let me know if this would be helpful to you.

Kind regards,
xxxx

The verdict is still out on the shop since the order is not yet completed but just for this e-mail I’m betting I’ll be a client for life. I’ll keep you posted.

PS – The problem is not if shit happens. Shit will happen. The problem is how you handle it.

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[Edit – 24-04-2012:] Just got the package from lenstore.co.uk. It was right on time of their first estimate. What a great service!

PS II – Nobody payed me to say any of these things. I know no one in any of these stores. I’m just a regular customer making a review.

My Week in Pictures – 365V – I

Posted on 2012-04-17 by gigi

I restarted Project 365 again on April 1st. Go here for the first week.

Some random thoughts on specific TV shows

Posted on 2012-02-21 by gigi

30 Rock – It’s better than ever. I’ll be very sorry to see Jack Donaghy go, though.

Alcatraz – Because of what I learned with Lost, I’m not expecting a good ending to this plot. Yet, the journey until now is pretty enjoyable. I love the use of historical facts mixed with science fiction. Gives everything a much more plausible thread.

Archer – I love it! The Duchess is amazing.

Community – I love this show. WTF is the network thinking with this hiatus? Bring Community back, pronto!

Downton Abbey – Beautiful period drama.

Fringe – I like the show but I’m a bit afraid of the corny plot twists. Not expecting much but enjoying the main characters. Walter Bishop is a favorite.

Homeland – Enjoyable and not too predictable. That’s all I ask after the Lost fiasco.

Parks and Recreation – One of my favorite. Great writing going on. LOVE (almost) all the characters.

Person of Interest – Grew on me. Let’s see if it doesn’t get too predictable.

The Simpsons – They just celebrated their 500th show. That’s impressive.

The Walking Dead – Is it just me or that sheriff’s wife (Lori) is the most annoying character on TV right now? OMG, shut the fuck up already!

Unsupervised – I love it. Endearing characters and funny plot.

Upstairs Downstairs – Modern sequel of the 70’s show of the same title. This first episode of the second season didn’t convince me. Still, I love the house and the costumes.

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Lost – I don’t want to talk about it. Those bastards… I am disappoint.

11 February 2012 – The day the mainstream media decided to ignore

Posted on 2012-02-12 by gigi

Yesterday, all over Europe, there were thousands of people in the streets against ACTA. Yet, I saw very few world news media talking about it.

How democratic, independent and factual the mainstream media is today! No words…

I was at the protest in Paris and here are some of my pictures:

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More pictures from other European cities:

Vienna, Austria

Photo by Wolfgang Illmeyer, Licence: CC BY-NC 2.0

Berlin, Germany

Photo by Udo, Licence: CC BY 2.0

Brussels, Belgium

Photo by: agnes hermapix, Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Prague, Czech Republic

Photo by: bukjah, Licence: CC BY-NC 2.0

Stockholm, Sweden

Photo by: Erik, Licence: CC BY-NC 2.0

London, England
See here.

Chinese New Year in Paris

Posted on 2012-02-2 by gigi

I just wrote a post on Photo Dudette about this year’s parade. Go see!

Bluegrass

Posted on 2012-01-21 by gigi

My current musical obsession.
I guess it was a natural path to take after years of The Band, Little Willies, Dolly Parton, etc..
About two months ago I was watching again that old favorite “Cold Mountain” and I fell in love with the soundtrack.

The first song of the album is a traditional folk song called Wayfaring Stranger and is performed by Jack White:

After many hours of enthusiastic listening to the whole soundtrack and revisiting “The White Stripes”, by The White Stripes, I decided to give miss Alison Krauss a go and bought Alison Krauss and Union Station’s album “Paper Airplane”.
Here are two of their songs:

This is so far from my idea of what “my taste in music” was that is almost funny. I wonder what my 18 yo self would say… Hahaha.

Que vergonha.

Posted on 2011-12-20 by gigi

O Alto Comissariado das NaÃ§Ãµes Unidas para os Direitos Humanos num relatÃ³rio oficial de 2005 reconheceu oficialmente as violaÃ§Ãµes generalizadas dos direitos humanos que ocorrem regularmente na Coreia do Norte.

Em especÃfico referiu-se a estes e outros tÃ³picos:

– DetenÃ§Ãµes arbitrÃ¡rias e extras judiciais, ausÃªncia do devido processo legal, imposiÃ§Ã£o da pena de morte por razÃµes polÃticas ou arbitrÃ¡rias;

– ExistÃªncia de um grande nÃºmero de campos de prisioneiros e a ampla utilizaÃ§Ã£o do trabalho forÃ§ado;

– ProibiÃ§Ã£o ao acesso de todos Ã informaÃ§Ã£o;

– RestriÃ§Ãµes graves e disseminadas Ã liberdade de pensamento, de consciÃªncia, de religiÃ£o, de opiniÃ£o e de expressÃ£o, reuniÃµes sociais e associaÃ§Ã£o pacÃficas;

– ContÃnuas violaÃ§Ãµes dos direitos humanos e liberdades fundamentais das mulheres, em especial o trÃ¡fico de mulheres para a prostituiÃ§Ã£o ou casamentos forÃ§ados, abortos forÃ§ados por motivos Ã©tnicos, religiosos ou polÃticos, incluindo injeÃ§Ãµes que induzem o trabalho de parto, assim como o infanticÃdio de crianÃ§as de mÃ£es repatriadas, condenadas em centros de detenÃ§Ã£o ou campos de trabalho forÃ§ados.

Podem ler em pormenor aqui (em PortuguÃªs) e aqui estÃ¡ o documento oficial (em InglÃªs).

E o Partido Comunista PortuguÃªs lamentou ontem a morte deste “Querido LÃder”. Sem comentÃ¡rios.