Is it possible to purchase an item over the internet without being bombarded with spam? I’m beginning to wonder after staying at a Best Western for two nights.

When I called the Best Western reservation line, I was able to reserve a room on short notice. After giving the man my information including my credit card, he asked for my email address and said that’s where he’d send my confirmation number.

Everything about our stay went smoothly. The rooms were clean and the staff was polite. Kim and I both mentioned that we’d consider staying at Best Western the next time we took a family vacation. We checked out of our room and made our way back to Seattle, and that’s when the emails started.

The first few emails asked me to click on a link to provide feedback about our stay. I don’t typically leave feedback unless someone went above and beyond their job, and I do so in order to call out that specific employee by name. If I have a problem with service, I’ll ask to speak with a manager to see if we can solve it directly. Our stay with Best Western was good, but I didn’t experience anything so memorable that I felt it worth ten minutes of my time to fill out a feedback form.

So I deleted the emails. But the next day more emails arrived, with ever more urgent wording.

“We value your feedback”

“Your feedback helps us continue providing excellent service”

“We NEED your feedback!”

“Give us feedback or give us death!”

Ok, so I created the last one but that’s how I felt.

I then began to receive special offer emails from Best Western. In tiny print, at the bottom of each email, was a link to update my subscription settings. Since when did I subscribe to anything? I tried to remove myself from all mailings but that clearly didn’t work. The wording on those things is so convoluted that I’m sure that’s the point of the whole exercise. Make it easy to sign up but impossible to leave.

I didn’t subscribe to anything, and shame on Best Western for adding my email to their mailing lists without my permission. Any company that believes a purchase grants them permission to send unsolicited emails is misguided. I can hear the marketing pitch now: “For every 5000 emails we send out, 10 people will call to reserve a room.”

Of course, they never mention how many past customers will take their money elsewhere next time because of those very emails.

What started out as a pleasant stay with Best Western has turned into a negative reminder each time I delete their spam from my inbox. Maybe Best Western got suckered into a client loyalty program, but their actions are incredibly short-sighted.

Sure, send out one request for feedback, but that’s it. Don’t send a reminder when I don’t fill it out within 24 hours. And certainly don’t continue to barrage me with special offer emails.

You ruined a good thing, Best Western. I have choices when it comes to affordable lodging and I’ll vote with my wallet.

Admitting: “Your ID and insurance card.”

Me: “Here’s my ID and I’m self-employed. I will cover any costs today.”

Admitting: “You’re what?”

Me: “I’m self employed.”

Admitting: “So you don’t have insurance?”

Me: “That’s right. But I can give you a credit card to cover today’s services.”

Admitting: “Hmmm…..how about you pay $50 today. Then, in about a week, you’ll receive a bill from us. If you pay within thirty days, you receive 40% off your bill.”

That’s how my morning started at the urgent care facility. What began as a sore throat grew into a sinus infection, and I needed to get on antibiotics.

I showed up at 7:30 this morning and finally saw a doctor at 9:30.

The wait turned out to be entertaining. One women was curled up on the floor with a barf bag in her hand. Every ten minutes she’d sit up, clear her throat, and hock loogies into the bag. I felt bad for her as she was the only patient in the waiting area who appeared near death. She was in such bad shape that two other patients approached admitting to see if she could be seen by the next doctor.

An elderly couple entered urgent care about fifteen minutes after I arrived. The husband helped his spouse get checked in, and everything seemed fine. About an hour later, the woman was called up to the front desk. The mysterious LCD screen showed that something was wrong with her insurance.

And that’s when I learned the only thing worse than trying to see a doctor while self-employed is trying to see a doctor when something isn’t quite right with your insurance.

The woman working admitting told the couple they would need to resolve the problem because she was busy and didn’t have time to fix it herself. I gathered that the patient has signed up and paid for COBRA, but her paperwork had not been entered into the computer. So she’d need to pay for the services and submit receipts for reimbursement.

But the busy woman at admitting wasn’t having any of that.

“If you need an x-ray they may not do it because you don’t have insurance”, she told the woman.

The husband pulled out his cell phone and began making calls. He finally tracked down his wife’s paperwork. Still no luck. She wouldn’t show up in the system for at least a week.

Again, the woman approached admitting and explained the situation. She asked if she’d be able to have x-rays taken if the doctor decided she needed them. (Makes sense given she FELL THE DAY BEFORE)

“Well, that’s an entirely different department so you’d need to ask them. But I doubt it.”

Dejected, the women returned to her seat where she discussed the situation with her husband. The woman had fallen the day before and explained how much her knee and wrist was hurting. Given her age, I wouldn’t be surprised if she broke or fractured something.

Nearly 90 minutes had passed since they entered urgent care. Finally, they approached admitting one last time and asked to have her name removed from the waiting list. They would call her primary physician to see what could be done. I watched as the husband held his wife’s arm and slowly walked her to the car.

It’s hard not to believe that such a scenario plays itself out time and time again all over America. Every ounce of humanity has been stripped out of the process of seeing a doctor today.

The waiting room is covered in signs warning everyone what not to do. Don’t use cell phones. No service without ID. No immunizations. Don’t ask to use the phone. No changing channels or increasing the volume on the TV.

Just sit there and shut up till your name is called, OK?

I wanted to run after this couple and apologize for how they were treated. It made me sick to my stomach.

Can you imagine your parents or your grandparents being treated in that manner?

The system is broken when our neighbors are being turned away for care they critically need.

We should demand better than this.

Last month I wrote about my experience of trying to get my Comcast cable box repaired.

The next day ComcastMark left a comment apologizing for the trouble and promised to reach out to his colleagues to get it fixed.

Over the next couple of weeks, I received four phone calls from various Comcast department heads. Each one apologized for the trouble and promised to help.

One women stated she was calling from Comcast VP Support (or something like that) and that she’d been instructed to fix my problem immediately. She mentioned that she’d read my blog post and felt bad nothing had been done in over a year. But she needed to contact the department who would make the local repair to my box.

Two weeks ago we left on vacation with our cable box in disarray. The zip tie was still still in place. But I’d given up hope that it would be fixed before school starts in a month.

But when we arrived home from vacation last Sunday, I saw this.

 

A substantial upgrade from this.

Thank you, Comcast!