Atlanta Magazine has named its annual “Top All Around” high schools and Alpharetta High School and Milton High School both made the list. The top 16 list only included 7 public schools and all four of the Fulton County recipients were located in North Fulton. Northview High School in Johns Creek and North Springs Charter High School in Sandy Springs were the other Fulton County schools to make the top sixteen.
You can read more here.
Back in November an incident with a company left me furious and would have cost me hundreds of dollars. But thanks to my use of social media the situation was finally resolved today. Despite my frustration with the situation it was fascinating to see the way social media has given consumers the ability to fight back when they have been wronged.
It started when I realized a small problem with my television picture. After contacting the manufacturer they sent out a repairman and during the service process something went wrong. The tv no longer worked. The repair company and Samsung both refused responsibility for the broken television and that left me with a $1000 paperweight.
Ten years ago I would have had very little recourse. I could have filed a small claims suit in court or complained to the Better Business Bureau but neither of those options were likely to have resolved my problem. The company was not going to accept responsibility and I would have eventually had to swallow my frustration, buy a new tv and settle for badmouthing them to people I know. Back then companies could easily dismiss disgruntled customers because the damage was limited. Even the horror stories to friends would fade from memory after a while.
Fortunately the invention of social media has provided another option. I vented my frustration on Facebook. I vented my frustration here on my blog and then I repeatedly hammered Samsung on Twitter. Instead of griping about my experience to a few acquaintances I was blasting out the facts to people all over the world.
Within about 24 hours a Samsung employee responsible for monitoring Twitter responded to my grievance and she began to rectify the situation. It took about two months to finally get the back ordered parts and fix my television but it took less then 24 hours for social media to get the attention of a giant company that would have just blown me off a few years ago.
Businesses can’t count on getting away with that anymore though. Consider this hilarious video that was posted by a guy who got screwed over by United Airlines:
Nearly 1o million people have watched the video on youtube. It was talked about on blogs and television shows all over the world and the guy became a minor celebrity. United finally took care of his claim but how much bad publicity could they have avoided if they had just done the right thing to begin with?
The growing number of social media have exponentially raised the potential cost of a bad customer service experience to businesses. Successful companies recognize this and are adapting. I look forward to a revival of customer service as they do.
Former city councilman David Belle Isle is the first candidate to declare he is running for mayor of Alpharetta.
You can read his press release here: http://tinyurl.com/4ty49e3
So how long will councilmen Doug Derito and Jim Paine wait before following suit?
The NY Times finally finds government spending they don’t like… Georgia’s fishing museum. http://nyti.ms/gKv7f9
“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” – MLK Jr.
77% of Americans say government should cut spending, 9% say they should raise taxes: http://bit.ly/gKCdlH via drudgereport.com
An Atlanta business is offering a special relocation deal for Illinois residents hoping to avoid the recent income tax increases in that state:
Décor is offering the “I’m Outta Here” special of 10-50% off of their already discounted rates for those who wish to exercise their right to relocate. The special is described as relief from higher taxes with financial savings for those businesses or residents who relocate to Atlanta, GA. The “I’m Outta Here” special starts immediately and is described as a way to welcome new jobs to Georgia and help people burdened by high taxes.
“As a small business owner, I’m struggling to stay above water. Where would I be without my employees? I can’t reduce salaries any more. I can’t lay more people off. It’s heart-wrenching. When you already are hungry, adding more taxes is like drawing blood from a rock. We just don’t have it to give,” said Rupert Parchment, Owner of Décor Moving Services, Inc.
I applaud Mr. Parchment for his using his conservative beliefs to create a brilliant marketing campaign. Hopefully he will attracts enough business to keep his employees busy in an industry which has taken some major hits in recent years. Good Luck to Mr. Parchment and Decor Moving Services as they have the inside track to being named GA Jim’s business of the year for 2011!
Read the whole thing here.
Stan Thomas, the developer responsible for the failed Prospect Park development in Alpharetta, Georgia could be facing jail time for contempt of court. The legal case is unrelated to the foreclosure of the Prospect Park development but it does shed some light on the man the city trusted with our future. The Times- Herald of Coweta County reports:
According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Scheindlin on Oct. 12 issued a $13.5 million judgment in the case in favor of Jerde. Since that time, according to Scheindlin’s contempt order, Thomas transferred a $6.5 million promissory note, backed by real estate Thomas owns in the Cayman Islands, to an unrelated lender, in violation of the judgment. Scheindlin ordered Thomas to transfer $6.1 million and other considerations to Jerde. If Thomas didn’t comply by Dec. 30, he would be fined $10,000 per day. If he doesn’t comply by Jan. 20, he will be jailed.
You can read the whole article here.
If you want to know more about the man responsible for Alpharetta’s dirt mound on Old Milton Parkway you may also want to read here about Mr. Thomas’ dealings with former Governor Sonny Perdue:
That same year, Perdue sold off the family farm and invested his $2 million profit in 20 acres in Florida near Walt Disney World. Perdue never saw the land before buying it from developer Stanley Thomas, who Perdue had just appointed to Georgia’s Board of Economic Development, a plum choice for any state developer, and just after Thomas had given $250,000 to the Georgia Republican Party. The land was assessed at just $185,000, substantially reducing Perdue’s tax burden.“Perdue ethics charges linger,” Associated Press/Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, Dec. 27, 2006.(20)“Perdue ethics charges linger,”
And you may recall that the city of Alpharetta investigated ethics charges involving Mr. Thomas last year as reported here in the Alpharetta Revue:
At the time, Thomas said he saw no conflict of interest with the donation. Later when he became aware of the size of the value of the work and the proximity of time between the in-kind contribution and the vote, Thomas said he would have probably advised DeRito “in an abundance of caution” to recuse himself from the vote.
I know Councilman Derito. He seems like a nice guy with a nice family and he was cleared of any wrongdoing in the incident reported above. And though I have no reason to believe Councilman Derito did anything illegal or acted with anything other than the best of intentions it was disturbing to find out about the events that took place regardless of how noble the cause.
The past few years have been unkind to Mr. Thomas and I take no pleasure in seeing a businessman struggle. But the city of Alpharetta and it’s community development department allowed Stan Thomas to turn the most important parcel of land in the city into a wasteland. It is instructive to see who they were dealing with.
Hide your kids, hide your wife… the GA state legislature is back in session! http://bit.ly/h5SxYf
“Housing Market Slips Into Depression Territory” Down 26% since 2006. Ugh! http://bit.ly/ePt3lP
GA Jim 