Tag Archives: Service

You Can’t Beat the Smell of a Classic Bookstore

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6 of the best used bookstores in Montreal | Curated

Hello blog readers!  It’s Miriam again and I have once again pushed David aside to share with you my SQM Pick!

I am so happy that summer is here.  Not because I am going anywhere or doing much of anything….the pandemic saw to that.  Since we are spending lots of time at home, I am, however, enjoying the effort that David and I have put into our backyard – new cushions for the outdoor furniture, new string lights, a bonfire pit and a hammock that my 14-year-old daughter loves to lie in and read under the shade of a tree.

While my girl loves to read – she doesn’t do it very often.  During the school year, homework becomes a priority, guitar lessons take over and playing competitive soccer three to four times a week, doesn’t leave a lot of downtime for pleasure reading.  With overnight camp closed for the summer of 2020, she has rediscovered her love of reading, with the help of a little store and a little tale that goes back 14 years to the small town of Bracebridge, Ontario.

We are one of the lucky ones, as my parents have a cottage in northern Ontario.  Every year, since Talia was a baby, we would go up on summer weekends and would inevitably end up walking around town.  It is there that we discovered the Owl Pen Bookshop, a used bookstore with all the charm that you would expect in cottage country.  Talia was always allowed to go in and choose herself a book and it became part of her cottage ritual.  Even when David and I didn’t go up with her and she went with my parents and her cousins, a trip to the Owl Pen was always worked in.  Fast forward to present day and the love affair with this bookstore has found renewed life in a pandemic era, where summer camp has to wait until next year and cell service at the cottage is seriously spotty.

It began a few weeks ago, when my parents were heading up north and we were still not “bubbling” with them yet.  Talia asked me if we could call Owl Pen and find out if they had books that she wanted and then maybe “my grandparents could do a curbside pick up for me”.  I called the store and Katherine (she and her husband took over the family store from her in-laws) answered the phone.  I explained that I was from Toronto and my daughter was a huge fan of her store.  I gave her a list of books that Talia wanted, she went to the shelf, pulled them all down for me, took an e-transfer payment, wrapped them up and brought them out to my mom when she pulled in front of the store.  Since then, Katherine has kept her eyes out for books that are on Talia’s list, puts them aside and even suggested reading that she thought Talia would enjoy.  When we head up north, our first stop is always the Owl Pen to pick up my daughters curated reading material.  

Yes, we could easily order these books online, but Talia, at 14 years of age, still loves the thrill of going to her favorite bookstore.  And I happily plunk down all the cash necessary to support her love of reading…and a small family business that provides outstanding customer service.

The Owl Pen Bookshop
58 Manitoba Street, Bracebridge, Ontario
705-645-1966
Ask for Katherine and remember: they only accept cash and e-transfer.

 

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How to Celebrate Mother’s Day in Lockdown

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Coronavirus changing Mother's Day plans - WFMJ.com

With Mother’s Day fast approaching, things will look a bit different, this year, with everyone practicing social distancing.  But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t celebrate your mother on May 10th.  Here’s a list of ways to celebrate:

1. Purchase Flowers – Although many of us are still on lockdown, there are still many flower shops that are currently open and ready to deliver. 1800-flowers is a company still open that ships in Canada and the United States just by simply placing an order on their website. Alternatively, you could support your local florist by checking if they are currently open and sending out deliveries.

2. Order a Mother’s Day Brunch or Dinner – This year while we are stuck at home, other ways to celebrate is by hosting brunch or dinner by sending your mother her favourite cuisine from a local restaurant, or even looking up the recipes and making the meal yourself.

3. Create a Spa Day – If you’re currently at home with your mother, you can host a spa day with her; by purchasing an assortment of masks, nail equipment and any spa needs at your local drug store.

4. Tea Time – Many usually spend their time with their mothers having tea and a small lunch.  So, to celebrate this year, you can still do the same, but it will look a bit different. You can drop off some teas to your mom and have your teatime while on a video call, so you’re still spending time together.

5. Create a virtual slideshow – To honour your mother this year, create a slideshow full of your favourite photos and videos.  Creating the slideshow is simple and can be done on sites such as Smilebox.  You can create a free account and look through the many mother’s day templates and add in your own photos.

6. Game Time – To celebrate, have a games night with some board games or puzzles. You could even create a family-based trivia game.

7. Have a Movie Night – Whether you’re together or apart if you and your mom are movie buffs, then have a movie night.  You can enjoy your favourite movies together or checkout brand new films available on demand.

8. Drop off care packages – If you’re older and spending time away from your mother, you can simply plan a drop-off.  Create a simple care package filled with all of your mom’s favourite items, including her favourite chocolates, wine and anything else she loves.

9. Have a virtual meetup – Since many people are celebrating apart, you can simply create a zoom chat with your entire family and friends to celebrate together.  Simply go on Zoom and organize your own meeting, and you can invite anyone.

10. Give mom some free time – Many families have had to deal with the added responsibility of working from home and also helping their children with online classes, so, give mom some alone time / downtime where she can unwind on her special day.

Whatever way you celebrate, Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms out there!

 

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Clean-Cut Customer Service

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As much as I’m trying to share information about companies that are across Canada and North America, I do like to occasionally give a shout out to local businesses that I’m familiar with.  One such company is Stork Cleaners, a laundry and dry cleaning business that’s been serving the local community since 1964.

Stork Cleaners happens to be owned by a gentleman named Fred, who lives in my neighbourhood.  The store was originally owned by Fred’s dad but is now run by him and his sister-in law.  The business has a large following and loyal clientele because they do great work.  Fred even offers a pick-up and drop-off service, knowing that many of his customers are busy and can’t always make it over to the store.  

I personally go to him for my shirts and suits, but I’ve noticed that a lot of people go to him for special items, such as:  wedding dresses, expensive coats, blankets, and other miscellaneous items.

Fred is extremely efficient, organized, and always a pleasure to deal with. If you happen to lose your ticket, Fred keeps his own records so that he can easily keep track of everything and find your items.  If you’re in a time crunch, Fred will do his best to make things work and will package or put your clothes on hangers depending on your preferences. On top of that, he’s very reasonably priced and easy to work with.

For someone looking for a cleaner or to wash more delicate items, I’d suggest Fred and the team at Stork Cleaners.

Stork Cleaners
416-635-0550
storkcleaners.com

 

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A (Sirius) Case of Customer Support

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Two Ways to Add SiriusXM Satellite Radio to Your Car

For many years, my wife has been a huge fan of Howard Stern – an American radio and TV personality best known for The Howard Stern Show.  This particular radio show is only available on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, and since there are already more stations on the radio than I know what to listen to, I was never keen on paying extra for another 200 stations.

Nevertheless, my wife convinced me to give it a try, so we added the satellite radio service to one of our vehicles.  Since first doing so, a few years ago, Sirius has been very good at retaining my business.  When I first bought my car I had three free months of satellite radio, and it was so good I ended up purchasing a subscription.  Whenever my subscription comes to an end, they seem to come up with a reasonable price, within my budget to keep me happy and willing to continue with the service.

Last summer, unfortunately, my need for satellite radio temporarily came to an end when we had a car accident and the car was written off.  I called up Sirius, thinking it would be a hassle to cancel my remaining subscription, but they were very easy to deal with and very sympathetic to my situation.  They even provided me with two options….. cancelling the remaining months and providing a refund or allowing me to place my subscription on hold.  For a number of reasons I asked them to cancel my subscription and they did so—without a problem.  A little while later, they sent me a kindly-worded email, hoping I’d return someday.

When I finally did get the new car, a couple of months later, I called to renew my subscription and once again, they were great to deal with. They’re pleasant to talk to over the phone, you’re never on hold for too long, and they keep in touch with email as well.  In the case of the new vehicle, it came with a free three-month subscription, and they provided a reasonable rate for me to continue after the 90-day trial.

At first, I didn’t think that having hundreds of extra radio stations would be of value, but if you’re looking to listen to jazz, blues, Howard Stern, or anything in between, there’s something for everybody.

SiriusXM Satellite Radio
1-888-539-7474
https://www.siriusxm.ca/

 

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My Oldest Friend in the World

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In a previous blog, I mentioned that I found my accountant through my good friend and lawyer, Mitchell Rose. Mitch is my oldest friend in the world, as our moms met when they were expecting us. Ever since we were born, we’ve managed to keep in touch and when Mitch graduated from law school and was called to the bar, I am proud to say that I was one of his very first clients.

While Mitch continues to do legal work for me, in more recent times he has been focusing a great deal of attention on the mediation aspect of his business. Although he is still very much a lawyer, these days most of his work involves him acting as a mediator or settlement counsel.

In 2019, he started his own firm, known as Mitchell Rose Professional Corporation, with two divisions: Mitchell Rose Law and Rose Dispute Resolution. Mitch is the perfect person to be involved in mediation and settlement counsel work, as I have always found him to be a very level-headed and methodical lawyer. Mitch is practical, results-oriented, and is always thinking things through to the end and providing his clients with reasonable and sound advice. He also provides great value.

In some circumstances, Mitch has even suggested not pursuing certain actions or cases based on either the financial or emotional toll that it may take on myself and other clients. While this may have cost him money or fees in the short term, I have no doubt that this approach has served his mediation clients well, and will continue to serve him well as he attempts to grow his business.

Mitch also has an uncanny ability to look at things from many angles, always keeping the big picture in mind. With both personal or business matters, people in law often forget the human component. Whether it’s preparing or reviewing an employment contract or severance package, dealing with a neighbour dispute, or handling a debt collection issue, he takes into consideration the fact that he is dealing with people with various needs.

Mitch always works with a great deal of class, thoughtfulness, and kindness. While I have not personally had the chance to use Mitch for mediation (and probably couldn’t, due to our close friendship), I highly recommend that you or your legal counsel consider him for all of your mediation and settlement counsel needs.

Mitchell Rose
Mitchell Rose Professional Corporation
5000 Yonge Street, Suite 1901
Toronto, ON, M2N 7E9
416-227-3406
https://mitchellrose.ca/

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Buckling Down the Best Customer Service

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From time to time, I’ve purchased various products, either online or at one of their few retail stores in Canada, at The North Face.  The company has anything from casual clothes, outdoorsy-type of clothes, sporting equipment, camping gear, and more. 

Back in 2016, my wife bought me three pairs of shorts. They were all stylish and comfortable and came in various different colours. While the shorts currently look as good as new, I had a slight problem, last year when part of the plastic on the belt wore down, resulting in the buckle no longer staying connected.  I called up The North Face to see about purchase a new buckle, but it turns out they’ve changed the style to a different buckle that would no longer fit my shorts. In fact, even when I first visited the store, one of the employees I talked to was willing to replace the buckles right then and there, until we realized it wasn’t going to fit. 

Because it was near the end of the summer, their parts department didn’t have my type of buckle stocked but told me to keep in touch and when the parts came, they’d send them to me.   As time passed, our interactions turned into quite the comedy, as on three separate occasions they sent me the wrong type of buckle.  At one point, I even sent them pictures to describe exactly what I needed, however, I would still end up with the wrong items.  In the end, they finally figured out what I needed, and sent me two of the three buckles (because they only had two).  While that would have been more than enough (I could always take off the belts to use with the other pair) they went one step further and offered me a free pair of shorts for the long delay and the inconvenience. 

The moral of the story is that I had often heard The North Face has great products, and as often with companies with good products, they stand behind their brand with great customer service.  Whether it was in-person at one of their stores, speaking to their Canadian head office in Montreal, connecting with their call centre or online exchanges, I’ve had a consistently good experience from them.  All employees have a can-do attitude and truly aim to please. 

If you’re looking for great customer service along with great clothing products, check out The North Face. 

The North Face Canada 
514-404-4896 
https://www.thenorthface.com/en_ca/homepage.html

 

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Good Customer Service is Only a Phone Call Away

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My story starts out a number of weeks ago, when I was having problems with my cell phone….had encountered the black screen of death! 

I took the phone to one of my suppliers and he indicated that I was having a software problem.  When I got the phone back, it seemed as if he had corrected the issue, and the screen of death was gone, but I now noticed a pressure crack on my screen.  After speaking to someone else, I was told that the LED bleeding was only going to get worse, and eventually take over the entire screen unless I fixed it. 

With that in mind, I took it to the neighbourhood store, called UBREAKIFIX, where I met Steve.  Steve was a nice fellow and told me that he would only fix my screen if he could also clear all of the remaining software issues.  He took some time to run a diagnostic, and with my approval, decided to reset/wipe my phone. 

After he did all of this, I decided to make a call to Rogers (another blog) before I spent the money on a new screen, because replacing it is fairly expensive.  My contact at Rogers managed to get me a new phone, at no charge, and as a result, I did not have to incur the costs of putting a new screen on my old phone. 

While there was no guarantee that if he fixed my software problem, he could fix my screen, Steve spent a lot of time trying to help me out. In a day and age where businesses know what they want and how to get it and have this “what’s in it for me” mentality, Steve took the long-term approach to build a relationship with the customer as opposed to trying to make the quick sale. 

While this situation didn’t result in a sale for Steve at this particular time, I’ve already shared my experience with friends and colleagues and recommended Steve’s store.  Of course, I will definitely use his services in the future as well. 

For any electronic or technical challenges, Steve and the team at UBREAKIFIX are efficient, kind, and a pleasure to deal with. 

UBREAKIFIX 
416-483-3773 
https://www.ubreakifix.com/ca

 

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