Not so suite.

Again, the construction. Trust me – you aren’t as tired of it as I am. So Billy, the floor guy, didn’t do such a great job. The transition between the existing wood floor in the kitchen and the new wood in the study was pretty darn sloppy. And the finish? Well, it was pretty shabby. There was grit under the poly. It was so poorly done, that even the general contractor told Billy he had to re-do it.

So today was the day. Only it wasn’t Billy and his company that came, it was the “better” floor company. (Now why didn’t we hire them the first time?)
He looked around and kept shaking his head. Yes! He was shaking his head. Evidently, Billy used to work for him. Before he was fired for incompetence. Bummer for me.

If you’ve never had wood floors refinished, you might not know that you can’t walk on them – not even a little – for at least 8 hours. And since our entire entrance floor was affected, we made a reservation at the local Homewood Suites. We prefer a suite hotel since the boys go to bed earlier than we do. That way, we can read or watch TV without worrying about the lights. You know the drill.

So yesterday, Andrew called and made a reservation.

Well…the floor guys decided to do it in 2 parts – so while we couldn’t use the kitchen, dining room or study tonight, we could get into the house and get upstairs to sleep. We’d have to go out to eat, but we could sleep in our own beds with our own pillows! Don’t even get me started on the pillows. I am so attached to my pillows… they even have names. They are very special down and I have a particular way of washing them (and my sheets) with Era and Clorox Fresh Rain scent and then Bounce in the dryer. It produces an almost “hotel-like” experience. But I digress.

So once we realized we could sleep here, Andrew called to cancel the hotel reservation. Joy, the manager, told him that there was a 24-hour cancellation clause and that we could not, in fact, cancel. We would be charged the full price. Well, had the person he spoke to yesterday mentioned that, fine. But she didn’t. IN FACT, she never asked for a credit card – not until Andrew said he wanted to guarantee for later arrival. Then Joy told Andrew he was lying. (She actually called him a liar – how’s that for service?) After a scuffle, she conceded that if she could rent the room within the next 10 minutes, we were off the hook. Excuse me? What?

So we called the corporate customer service line. William was very nice and called Joy. Joy told HIM that she said if she rented by midnight she’d let us off the hook and AGAIN called Andrew a liar – that she never said 10 minutes. It’s not resolved. I can tell you that if we are charged, there will be phone calls and letters. I don’t mind policies. I just mind secret policies that work only to someone else’s benefit. When the mood strikes.

So if you were thinking of coming to Columbia, Maryland…. stay at the Sheraton. They are very nice there.