Scammed By a Scanner - Almost!

Yesterday was a bit of a tune-up day around our house. I needed to get a new blade for my Miter Saw, as the original one was pretty beat up. I've had it sharpened a few times and I'll definitely get it sharpened again and keep it as a backup. But, I wanted to get a blade with a few more teeth to allow for a finer cut, as most of the cuts I do are for woodworking type applications, not carpentry.

My trusty Ryobi Miter Saw
So, I went to Canadian Tire as I still had a $50 gift certificate from my birthday. The new blade turned out to be $49.99 - perfect! I picked up a few other things too, so when I went through the checkout, I just paid an extra $20 or so with my gift card. Leaving the store, I looked at the bill and saw that they had charged me $59.99 for the new blade. I went back and re-checked the price to make sure it was $49.99 - which it was.

I took the blade and the bill to the customer service desk and asked them what their "scanner error policy" was. After a few minutes of checking, and some confusion, they refunded me $20 - $10 to reflect the correct price, and a further $10 for the scanning error. The policy, which they showed me, was "the next item free up to a maximum of $10". I think I'll start checking these scanners a bit closer from now on!

Paulette's bike all fixed up and ready to go


After getting back home, Paulette asked me to have a look at her bicycle to make sure it was o.k. to ride. It had been stored in our shed for the winter, so I knew it might need a few things looked at. The tires were low, so my air compressor took care of that pretty quick. Next, I got a can of oil and lubed the chain, sprockets, brake cables and anything else I could find that looked like it needed a squirt of oil to keep it moving freely. Finally, I got the hose and washed the bike to get the dust and dirt off, and in just a few minutes Paulette's bike looked just like new!

With that, I was finished my jobs for the day. While I was doing all this, Paulette had gone down to Victoria for her bi-weekly walk with her sister, Arelene. They walk for an hour along the Galloping Goose Trail, part of which is very near Arlene's house. Halfway through their walk, the trail passes by a Starbuck's and Tim Horton's which allows them a chance to stop for a coffee and a chat. I'll have to do a blog on the Galloping Goose one day - its a 60 mile trail that starts east of Victoria out in the boonies, goes right through the city, and ends out by the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal. It is an extremely popular trail that is used by both hikers, cyclists and commuters to get to and from work along with lots of family recreation on the weekends and holidays.

So, yesterday wasn't an extremely productive day by any means, but enough to keep me as as busy as I care to be!