If my leg wasn’t so sore from my new tattoo, I’d smear both your asses all over the parking lot.

Todd’s “Life Sucks” tattoo from Beavis and Butt-head, episode 5, “The Crush.” I couldn’t bring myself to do it on my arm and sacrifice such prime real estate so I went with the shin. Done by my friend Alyssa at Living Out Loud in NJ.

A few weeks ago, I posted an experience with Sleepy’s and GE Credit Services. It’s not worth retelling, just find the post if you care. What is worth telling is that the day after my post, Sleepy’s customer service commented to the post and asked me to email them my information, which I did. A few days later, I received a phone call from a very nice woman who asked how she could help to make things right. Because I paid off the full balance of my credit card after believing nobody would help, she couldn’t do anything to the back interest; however, she could send me a check for an amount equal to some items on the sales ticket from my mattress re-purchase. This totaled just over $200 — far from what I spent because of this debacle but the best she could do without giving me money off the mattress, which could screw me again if I needed another warranty replacement. The check arrived a few days ago, as promised.

Though I’m still out a lot of money, I do appreciate Sleepy’s having staff dedicated to making amends with disgruntled customers. My feeling is that modern corporations often hide behind websites, call centers, email boxes that don’t really get checked, leaving the consumer with absolutely nobody to hold accountable or yell at when things go really wrong. Sleepy’s could have ignored my blog post but instead, they sought me out and did what they could. That’s cool and something that I will remember.

The problem is your recovery partition. Download Joker’s CWM v3, flash that to your phone, then reinstall CM9. It will work, promise. More info later.

An update, 4/17! I got a phone call from Sleepy’s today and spoke with someone. They say they are sending out a check that covers most of what I paid in interest. I’ll update again when it is received.

In October of 2010, I purchased a bed from Sleepy’s. I signed up for their store credit card, made payments regularly. From what I remember, it was either all paid off or close to it when, in March of 2009, I made a warranty call because of a saggy mattress. They came, reviewed, granted me a warranty replacement, and away I went. My initial purchase was $1749.87.

When I went to the store, they told me that I had purchased a mattress that was part of a promotion. That mattress had since been discontinued so they could give me a credit, but because I was getting a new mattress and not a mattress/box spring combo, I was not eligible for the promotional price of a new mattress and would have to pay more to get the modern equivalent. The “more” that I had to pay was $1000.01… to replace a defective item that they sold me that I did not break myself. I was young and more agreeable so I didn’t argue it and put it on my Sleepy’s card. It’s been a long time, so I don’t exactly remember what happened, but I remember it being 0% interest. I was signed up for automatic payments so I didn’t look at the paper statements, I just knew it would get paid down over time so I wasn’t worried.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from GE Capital, who are in charge of the Sleepy’s card. Their system was undergoing maintenance so my automatic payment would not go through. I logged into the account to make a manual payment and noticed that my balance, three years later, was still $671.05. I looked a little further and discovered that I had been paying 26.99% interest. My repurchase went under a promotional period that expired after two years. When that happened, I got hit with the back interest and it’s been going ever since. I called GE, they told me to call Sleepy’s; I called Sleepy’s, they had me wait for two weeks and then said that there’s nothing they could do. My only options at this point were to continue paying 26.99% interest or to pay it off.

I just gave GE $671.05 from my savings. My initial purchase was $1749.87, I paid them $659.90, I just paid $657.05 — $3066.82 in total, or nearly TWICE the cost of my initial purchase. The bank would say that you need to be more careful and it’s my own fault and a part of me agrees, but the fact that this is allowed to happen is very upsetting. I feel exploited, I can’t believe this.

“Grand Cromlech” by Hivelords has the distinction of being the first completed project out of the new studio, beating Coffin Dust, whose full-length is recorded but pending a final mix and master. This is the most natural recording I’ve done in quite a while and makes use of no drum samples, no gates, and only two (instead of four or more) guitars. Easily one of my favorite projects to date. Kudos, gents. If we can figure out how to slim these about 7 minutes each, they will be out on 7″ and available through Bandcamp in the coming weeks.

Find Hivelords at www.facebook.com/hivelords.