Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Who's responsible when a delivery goes awry? That's been an issue for some luckless consumers at least since the days when Sears, Roebuck & Co. pioneered mail order a century ago, and likely for clients of the Pony Express before that. Recently, it has gained urgency from the growth of delivery-dependent Internet commerce. One day, it may even be an issue when Amazon's drones target the wrong front stoop for a package drop.

The key thing to remember is that delivery systems endure because, almost always, they work as promised. But just in time for the holidays, Philadelphian Ellen Zucker has a cautionary tale to share about what can happen when something goes wrong. She found that it can seem a Herculean task - or, as she puts it, David vs. Goliath - just to make things right.

In the end, Zucker basically solved her own problem, and wrapped it up with a bow for Consumer 14.0, so this is mostly her story. It begins earlier in the fall, when Verizon Wireless lured her with an offer she couldn't refuse: Trade in her dated iPhone for a brand-spanking-new iPhone 6 Plus.

Verizon said the device would arrive via FedEx before 8 p.m. Nov. 12 at her Castor Gardens home in Northeast Philly. That's when things went kablooie.

Zucker's home, I should note, is a place where she has never had problems with deliveries, even while away at her job working for the state. It's on a neat block of rowhouses with large front yards, patios, and plenty of places to stash packages. Still, with a phone that retails for more than $700, she didn't want to take any chances. So when FedEx texted at midday Nov. 12 to say her package had arrived, she decided to drive home during lunch. She arrived less than 90 minutes after the supposed delivery. But there was no package, no note - no sign at all of her phone.

When she contacted FedEx, she got a surprise no one would want to hear: The courier company said it had a "Proof of Delivery" document, which it said showed that the package had been delivered to her address - and that Zucker herself had signed for it.

I've talked to Zucker only a few times, but I'm inclined to rule out any notion that she has an evil clone who sneaks around while she's at work and likes to play Angry Birds on her phone. I'll also accept that the scrawl above the words Indirect Signature Required wasn't her signature. But she had a tough time convincing FedEx or Verizon of the same.

Zucker says she called the companies nearly every day for the next three weeks. FedEx kept pointing to the signature as obvious evidence that it had performed its role. Verizon, hearing the same story from FedEx, left her equally frustrated.

How did she eventually break through? Zucker reported the vanished phone to police, filed a fraud report with Verizon with evidence of her actual signature, and disputed the charge with American Express. But she suspects what mattered most was an e-mail to a Verizon regional president. A few days later, she got a call from someone in "executive relations."

Continued here:
Delivery mix-up: Her word against Verizon and FedEx

Colombo Juparana Granite Countertops | Granite Manufacturers India
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Butcher Block Countertops
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From roof shingles to drywall to concrete countertops, products made with leftover waste from coal-fired power plants are in many U.S. homes.

About 45 percent of this dustlike materialknown as coal ashis recycled into products as elemental as pavement and foundations. Such reuse, up from 30 percent in 2000, is generally considered safe and welcomed by most everyone, from utilities seeking to lower disposal costs to environmentalists looking to lower carbon emissions.

But that's only half the story.

The other 55 percent of coal ash, which can contain toxic substances like arsenic, is often stored in ponds next to waterways. In December 2008, more than a billion gallons leaked into the Emory River and nearby land from the Kingston Fossil Plant in Tennessee. And in February of this year, up to 39,000 tons spilled into the Dan River from a Duke Energy coal plant in North Carolina. (See related story: "Giant Toxic Coal Ash Spill Threatens Animals.")

So on Friday, facing a court-ordered deadline, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made a long-awaited decision: Coal ash needs to be safely disposed of but is not a hazardous waste. (See related story: "Largest U.S. Coal Ash Pond to Close, But Future Rules Still Undecided.")

To the dismay of environmentalists, the EPA's determination keeps coal ash in the same category as household garbage. Still, the agency called for regular safety inspections, the closure of landfills that fail to meet standards, groundwater monitoring, and dust controls around coal-ash sites.

A Boon for Recycling?

The coal industry, which lobbied heavily against a "hazardous" label that could have required costly disposal rules, says the EPA decision could spur an uptick in coal-ash recycling.

"There's a lot of market demand for this material," says Thomas H. Adams, executive director of the American Coal Ash Association, noting interest from green-building groups and others that favor reuse.

He says a common type of coal ash, called fly ash, makes concrete more durable andby reducing the need to manufacture cementalso lowers greenhouse-gas emissions. Adams adds that another type of coal ash, synthetic gypsum, is used in about 50 percent of U.S. drywall, while a third type, boiler slag, appears in about 80 percent of roof shingles.

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EPA Decides That Coal Ash, Which Pervades Our Homes, Is Non-Hazardous

Habitat for Humanity - Before After - Bridgeport, CT - Bob #39;s Discount Furniture
Take a look at the Hernandez #39;s new house before and after it was filled with brand-new furniture and decorated by Ron Marshall, interior decorator. Special t...

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Andrea Muschinski, a volunteer trainee, prepares centerpieces at the Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District's Station No. 2 on Dec. 12, for the mountain fire department's annual Christmas party at the station, which is expected to finally get indoor plumbing sometime in 2015. For more photos, go to http://www.dailycamera.com. (Cliff Grassmick / Daily Camera)

The Sugar Loaf Fire Protection District has cleared one set of hurdles in its plans to finally provide indoor plumbing, with running water and flush toilets, at two of its fire stations.

The fire district intends to drill water wells and install septic systems on the 3.56-acre parcel that's home to Sugar Loaf's Station No. 1, at 1677 Lost Angel Road, and the 1.52-acre parcel at 1360 Sugarloaf Road, the site of the district's Station No. 2.

Boulder County commissioners recently awarded official county recognition to both those properties, designating them as Community Facility Lots.

Battalion chief John Winchester, the Sugar Loaf department's former chief who represented the district at the county commissioners' Dec. 9 hearing, said that he and others have been working since 1997 to get to the point they'd have water available inside the stations for drinking, sanitary and gear-washing purposes.

Winchester said that when he and his wife joined the department and saw the stations, she asked: "How come we don't have a bathroom?"

Normally, rural fire districts' properties are exempt from local zoning jurisdiction, but Sugar Loaf discovered that it needed the county recognition of the two properties in order to seek state well permits.

Both stations now have composting toilets but don't have running water or onsite wastewater septic systems.

Sugar Loaf officials have said their mountain fire district covers about 18.5 square miles, following Colo. 119 in Boulder Canyon from the Tunnel to Rogers Park, the eastern nine miles of Sugarloaf Road and the eastern two miles of Magnolia Road. It serves about 500 homes, about 1,500 residents, Boulder's Betasso water treatment plant, open space areas belonging to the city of Boulder and Boulder County and several thousand acres of the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest.

The 40 volunteers on the district's active roster respond to about 110 fire-related and medical calls each year.

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Mountain fire district's stations may finally get indoor plumbing

An indisputable expert after spending 53 years in the furniture and flooring business, the most important piece of business advice Dennis Stanfordcan offer has nothing to do with interior furnishings.

"I put people ahead of income," Stanford said as he was preparing for his last couple of weeks before retirement. "Care more about the customer than the money, and you will be very successful."

Stanford whose last day of work at Furniture Mart on Main Streetwill be Dec. 31 showed off that philosophy last week as he greeted someone who walked into the store. It was impossible to know if this was a customer or a friend until the conversation switched from friendly banter to talk of flooring.

"All of his customers become friends with him," said Anita Wald, the store manager who has worked with Stanford for 20 years. "He's just got a good way with people, and makes sure everyone is taken care of."

Stanford, 72, started his career with Fischer Furniture in 1961 as a 19-year-old working on delivery and installation.

"I set out to go to college, but it turned out I didn't have enough money so I got a job," Stanford said.

He continued to work in installation until 1964 when he returned from basic training for the Army National Guard.

"I had a boss at that time that said, 'Dennis, you're either going to the sales floor or you're not going to work here anymore.' So I said OK."

He credits his success to several great mentors, excellent on-the-job training, and his own drive to become better at his job by taking sales courses and reading books on sales like those by Dale Carnegie.

The company changed ownership and buildings over the years, including once due to the historic flood of 1972. Stanford rolled with change, focusing on taking great care of the customers and people he worked with, and ended up at his current position as director of business development at Freed's Fine Furnishings Furniture Mart in 2001.

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Man reflects on half decade in furniture business

There are some pretty nice perks connected to writing a newspaper column.

Among them: People give me stuff.

Mainly, I get books from publishers hoping for free publicity: interior design, house construction, fix-it guides and gardening books galore. Some are so specific one small manual was on planting perennial bulbs (not choosing bulbs, mind you, just planting them) that I cant imagine anyone reviewing them for a general readership.

I have received so many books over the years that they have to be awfully special for me to keep them. Theres only so much room in the house, and I have yet to receive a bookcase in the mail. Apparently, furniture companies dont need publicity.

The rejects I pass along, usually to freshly minted homeowners who I figure could put to use guides for plumbing repairs or basement remodeling.

And its not just books.

Over the years, Ive opened boxes filled with cleaning wipes, plastic cooking bags, live plants, a miniature washboard, toilet seats (one with a self-closing mechanism), a lawn sprinkler disguised as an ugly tropical bird and the sorts of tool kits that people who dont need tools keep in their kitchen junk drawers or on closet shelves.

I pass those along, too.

But my favorite perk is a road trip.

Every couple of years, I get an invitation to visit the workshop of someone whos as toolish as I am.

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HouseWorks goes on a field trip

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Longhi Architects New Year 2015
Longhi Architects New Year 2015.

By: Asiel Nuez

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