I run an internet marketing company, and when I was setting up our phones and internet lines, I went with one of the bigger phone companies in Utah, Qwest. After all, their motto is “Spirit of Service.” I thought that they would do a good job, and they were a big company because they were good.

I was wrong.

Month after month, our bill got bigger and bigger, and we weren’t making any more long distance calls. In addition, the bill was around $200 per month more than what I was quoted by their salesman. I grew so frustrated with them that I decided to switch my phone lines to another company, Eschelon, who has been good, for the most part. (Our voicemail stopped working for a few days with them, which was a pain.)

Despite switching carriers over a month ago, I received a bill today for long distance calls made over two months ago. I called Qwest to see what was going on, and they said they had no control over when the “3rd party company” sent them the bill for long distance. They told me to call that company - they couldn’t do anything.

Qwest, it turns out, is a very dishonest company that quotes low prices to sucker people in, but once the contract is signed, they raise the prices to outrageous levels. I’m looking into MStar. They have great internet and phone rates. I hope they’ll be better than Qwest.

What Qwest needs to learn is customer service, how to retain small business customers, and to price their services competitively. It’s not good business practice to build your busines by ripping other companies off. They didn’t even care when I called and told them my frustrations. They didn’t even try to convince me to stay - they just don’t care enough about small businesses. Qwest - you need to make some changes.

Yesterday, my husband and I went to Costco to pick up a few things, and we happened to have our Bunny, Honey with us. (We had picked her up from boarding as we had been out of town at the FOOA Conference - Future of Online Advertising - in New York City for the past few days.) We had her in her little carrier, and proceeded to walk in the door.

The woman checking the membership cards asked if we had a dog in the carrier, and I told her no, it was a bunny. She then said (in a very rude tone, if I might add) that Costco does not allow any animals in the store at all, and we would have to take the bunny out.

Now, I can somewhat understand this if they don’t want big dogs roaming around the store, but Honey was in her carrier, and posed no threat to anyone, big or small. She’s a bunny!

My other problem with this is that the weather is getting hotter (It’s mid-June in Utah, a desert state), and there are always so many documented cases of people leaving their pets in hot cars, and the pets end up dying. I absolutely would never leave Honey in the car, especially with warm weather, so we just left our cart there, and walked out of the store.

Costco could have handled this situation better. The woman was so rude - she could have nicely explained that pets weren’t allowed. (I didn’t see it obviously posted anywhere stating that, although it could be.) Also, what alternative can people have on a hot day so they don’t have to lock their pets in the car? Granted, it’s common sense to not bring your pet with you, but in our case, we were on our way home, and were passing by Costco, so we just decided to stop by. We didn’t go out of our way to bring Honey Bunny on a *fun* field trip to Costco, but there we were, bunny in tow.

At any rate, now I know that Costco is absolutely NOT pet friendly. Don’t try to bring your pet there. Just leave your pets at home so they don’t have to suffer in the car from heat or cold or whatever the weather might be. Animals are sensitive to the weather, especially the summer heat. Within an hour on an 80 degree day, cars can heat up to 123 degrees - way too hot for people or animals to bear.

Just keep in mind that Costco does not like animals, so don’t try to bring your pet there.