This was the weekend where I visited the same cafe twice, so that I could experience nature and try out pretty looking food. We couldn’t coordinate a hike, so instead, we went to Cafe La Foret to surround ourselves with trees:

The coffee beans are from Timbertrain and Phil & Seb, so can’t go wrong there. H and I went on Saturday, after R’s wedding (more on this later), and got the berry tart and a flat white:

I sorta liked the tart, it was very crumbly and it looked so pretty I almost didn’t want to eat it. The berries were tart, as they should be on a tart. H wasn’t feeling well, so he had hot water. The place was so busy that there was nowhere else for all the guests to sit, and the line up almost went out the door! Very slow service, but I guess they didn’t expect this type of reception on only their 1st week opening.

I liked the atmosphere enough to want to come back again the next day with M and Cx2 so that we could try the other food. Little did we know, the pastries weren’t ready yet on Sunday, even around 1:30PM. It was also very busy, and their bar was rather unorganized. My coffee got stolen, as some lady budged in line before me to pick up her small latte. I was not impressed. We had our coffees and left…

So disappoint. There are so many other places to visit, I don’t know when I’ll find time to come back to this little oasis in the middle of the busy Metrotown area, but I probably won’t come again on a weekend.

H is still sick after almost a week. We missed the 2nd portion of R’s wedding, and I had to stay off social media to avoid the FOMO. It was still a busy and productive Saturday though, because I managed to finish the 3rd season of Narcos. I am inspired to learn Spanish and visit Columbia.

I wonder what type of drainage they use for their forest in the middle of their cafe? I think I need some type of drainage for my tiredness, so that the fatigue will flow away.

It cracked already, barely a week old. Didn’t have a major fall, didn’t tumble it down anywhere. Note 7 has the worst glass. Do not get it if you’re into durability and reliability, or get a REALLY good case for it. Samsung customer service also highly disappointed me.

1. I went to the Richmond Centre store on Tuesday, and the sales rep there advised me to call their general customer service line. The agent on the line advised me that if I brought the phone back to the original store that I purchased it at, they would be able to switch out the phone for me. The original store was the Metrotown store, which is not along my usual route to and from work (very out of the way actually), but he guaranteed that if I went it would be switched for me.

2. I went in to the Metrotown store, and the sales reps there told me that they would have to send the phone out to get it checked, 2-3 week turnaround, and I might get a quote. That’s not what I was promised. I called the Samsung number back, and was connected with one of the rudest customer service reps I’ve ever talked to. He kept calling me “ma’am” and telling me he couldn’t hear me, so I went out of the store to find an area with better reception. Then…

Me – Can you hear me now?
Samsung Customer Service Rep (SCSR) – Yes, I can hear you better now.
Me – OK, here’s the file # from yesterday… 2…1…
SCSR – No, NO, hold on MA'AM, can you tell me what this file is regarding?
Me – *Explains the story of how I called yesterday and the Sales Reps at the store telling me a different story*
SCSR – ONE, I can’t hear you. TWO, if you cracked your screen, it’s considered physical damage and that’s not covered, so you have to send it in.
Me – ONE, you clearly can hear me if you heard that I cracked my phone. TWO, I already explained the story. Your 1st rep clearly lied to me and misled me. I wasted my time coming to the Metrotown store. SCSR – I can’t hear you, MA’AM. I can’t hear you!
Me – *Speaks louder and clearer* *Line cuts out* Hello?

RUDE. Insensitive. You should get another job, because you really suck at doing what you’re doing now.

3. I call back, and reach a much friendlier SCSR. He listens to me, realizes that I’ve been lied to and that the phone isn’t doing what I expected it to, in terms of the glass being way too weak and not gorilla-like. Eventually, he transfers me to an Executive Customer Service Agent (ECSA).

4. ECSA tells me repeatedly that physical damage is not covered under the warranty. He does not understand or listen to me at all, that their rep first lied to me. I ask to speak to someone higher up, and he says:

“I’M AN EXECUTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENT. THERE’S NOBODY ELSE YOU CAN SPEAK TO.”

I guess he’s the owner of Samsung or something. I spent at least 10 minutes arguing with him, and everytime I made a point, he would just repeat the same thing about the warranty, and end his paragraph by asking me if I had any further questions. I don’t feel like Samsung provides executive service at all, more like a service for sending you on a guilt trip, and they should really be more empathetic if they are charging regular customers $1000+ for a handheld device. Robots reading from a script, that’s all they are. It’s almost a conspiracy – if I want to make any complaints about any of them, who do I contact? The 1800SAMSUNG number and speak wo their ECSA’s, who all work together to make their customers feel worthless and like it’s completely my fault that their product uses weak glass. Samsung, if this is the message that you’d like your customers to receive, then, I’m not sure I like what your company represents.

5. I go back to the store to get it shipped in for repairs… The original Sales Rep I was working with is helping another customer, so I speak to another person, who then tries to help me wipe my phone. I ask if there’s an extra phone that I can use as backup, and he says he’ll check. Comes back empty handed. Well, that’s enough, I just left, didn’t want to fix it anymore. I don’t have time (or money) to waste, and by this time, it was an hour gone with nothing to show.  I was so tired of this bad service. I work in the customer service industry too – it’s really not that difficult to do a good job – be empathetic and listen. That’s all, but maybe I expect too much from the rest of the world. Am I unreasonable at all in all of this? Let me know what you think.

Otherwise, I’m happy with this phone. It’s smooth, everything works great, except the outer glass. If I had known, I would’ve bought a case right away, just to keep together the pieces of glass that the phone would become.

But yeah, otherwise, I’m a happy hiker.