Douglas Nissan in College Station Texas

A few months ago, I bought a used 2010 Nissan Versa from Douglas Nissan.  I got a good deal.  A few days ago, I called them around 5:20pm and asked how late I could come in for an oil change.  The service rep asked how soon I could get in there.  I was across town and it would take about 20 minutes.  Ok.  Come on in and we will take care of you.  I got there, gave them my keys and spent a few minutes waiting.  My car was ready, they had checked the pressure in my tires and reset the tire pressure light.  All in under 20 minutes.  I am impressed. 

Dog food

My pick is Nutro.  They have a Natural Choice line and an Ultra line.  I use one of the Natural Choice foods.  I use this even though there are more expensive and supposedly better brands out there. .  I use Nutro for one very simple reason.  They make their own food.  They are a production company, not a marketing company.   Most of the pet food companies are  marketing companies as are most of the high end dog food companies.  Why is this a problem? Because the company has no control on what goes into that dog food.  With Nutro, there are quality checks at their two plants every day.  There is no outsourcing.  When a company uses two or three other companies to make their dog food, that company specifies what they want their ingredients to be.  If these other companies that the food has been outsourced to add other ingredients, they are not listed.  So if your dog food company does not manufacture it's own food, then you have no idea what your are feeding your dogs.  If Nutro ever starts outsourcing, then I will be back to making my own dog food.  .  Look at the back of your dog food sack.  If it is manufactured by the company selling it, then it will say manufactured by.  If not it will state distributed by or will just list the name of the company.  Check it out.

Nissan Versa

I have been driving a used Nissan Versa for about 3 months now.  I get around30-32 miles per gallon.  I am not really impressed.  This does seem lackluster for a 4 cylinder.  My Mercury Grand Marquis got 30 mpg and it had a v8 engine and weighed 4000 pounds.  I think it is not a good idea to give up safety for a couple of miles more per gallon.  I will probably keep the Versa at lest for now.  However, I will be buying another Mercury Marquis as soon as I find what I want.  I will also be buying a Dodge Ram.  I am not much on the smaller cars.  Seems to me, if we are giving  up the safety of the larger cars, we should at least get around 50 mpg.  I just feel like I have been ripped off.

Verizon sucks

I have a friend who shut off her house phone back in May. Ever since, verizon has alternately sent her refunds and late notices.  She got a late notice in July for $121.34.  She called about it.  Seems those refunds were sent in error and yes she was late.  So she sent an electronic payment in the amount of $121.34.  It cleared her account on July 17.  Yesterday, Aug 6, she got a late notice and threat to shut off her phone.  So I called for her.  I got a rep after holding forever.  He pulled up the account.  Oh, it looks like there was a payment made on Aug 2.  Ok, where has that money been for 16 days and why was she sent a late notice and a threat?  He didn't know, but it won't happen again.  Oh, yeah, of course it will.  My reply, ok you threaten to cut off her phone again when she has already paid the bill, then AT&T or Sprint is looking pretty good.  Hell, even Straight Talk is looking better than Verizon.  Oh, I assure you this won't happen again.  We'll see. 

Great Vets

If you are in the vicinity of Central Texas and need a really great vet, check out Beard Navasota Vet Hospital.  Two of their vets, Don Goodman and David Luedeker are the two that I know very well and they have been taking care of my pets for over 20 years.  They are caring.  They are very competent.  And they are reasonable.  Check them out.

Locksmith

Griffin Locksmith in Bryan Texas.  This place rocks.  I borrowed a friend's car and the ignition went out.  I could not turn the key.  I called Griffin Locksmith.  Yeah, they could fix it.  A little background here: she had had the ignition replaced and a new key for it.  However, it had never worked right.  So, I had Griffin Locksmith look at it.  They replaced the ignition and reset it to the original key.  They even came out to the business where I work to fix it.  Charge was about $300 less than the dealer wanted.  They rock!

Environmental Air

Around the end of May or first part of June, my central air conditioner quit.  The fan would run, but that was all.  So I called Environmental Air Company.  This was on a Friday evening.  A tech from Environmental Air showed up Saturday morning, looked at the outside unit, and told me my compressor was out and it would cost $4000 to replace and I should consider replacing the entire unit as there might be some problem in the attic components as well.  Total cost-$8000.  Not having this kind of money, I told him I would have to think about it.  So I went to Lowes to buy window units since I did not have $8000.  I saw a yellow van with red lettering saying Segert 1 hour AC.  I stopped and asked if they did Amana units.  Yes. What was my problem.  I relayed what the tech from Environmental Air has said.  This gentleman was the owner and was Mr. Segert.  They followed me home and took a look at my unit.  My compressor was fine.  Then they went to the attic.  I need a new control board to the tune of $621 total.  They installed the control board.  I paid them and my unit is working fine.  I contacted Environmental Air and complained.  I told them I wanted my money back.  Two weeks later, my check was returned in the mail, but not before I contacted their corporate headquarters.  So guess who is taking care of my heating and airconditioning from now on?  I have been singing the praises of Mr. Segert ever since and have sent him at least one new customer.