Hi Clare, When you do speak to someone at Ira Wood, tell them that if they have to restock the valve, that signals that they have it in hand. Tell them you will pay extra to have it expedited to you this week. Since they obviously do not have the part, and therefore, no restocking is necessary, they cannot get the part to you faster. I would do as suggested above and mention the Garden Web forum. If this thread ultimately ends with you being screwed by them, then I would imagine they have lost way more money in the long run than by not charging you the fee. Maybe you just haven't spoken to the right person there. Sometimes you have to deal with a manager who will have more authority to reverse a charge and often has more common sense. Give them a chance to do right by you and you may have a happy ending. I am in the midst of dealing with 2 Ford dealers about the service to my car. One messed up, but did the right thing by us in the end. The other committed fraud when dealing with us and I am awaiting a return call from the owner. I made it clear I am giving them a chance to rectify before I call in authorities. The first place was only guilty of a mistake yet bent over backwards to retain my business and make things right. I do not have high hopes about the fraudulent one, but have made it clear that I will pursue the matter and they will end up with a bigger mess. I am guessing they know they were caught and will try to minimize the fallout. BTW - I did report all the to Ford's HQ and will see if that is any help as well. HTH

Qdog, I agree. There are many nice places to live in both PA and NJ and there are always the bad areas. The same as any other state. Call me weird, but I actually like living in NJ. Yes my property taxes are more than most people's mortgage payments, but we do live in a town with one of the top school districts. And even in a down market our property values have held steady. Also I love being fairly close to NYC. We get the best of both worlds. We are close to the best (IMO) city in the world while being able to raise our children in the suburbs. And this is just my experience so don't attack me, but I have found the NY/NJ area to have the most diverse, highly educated and sophisticated populace in the country. Most people we know are college educated, worldly and tolerant of other religions and races. I haven't found that to be the case in most other parts of the country. C

Just a couple of things to consider--with your IRA, don't you have to start withdrawing at a certain age? If so, what happens if that money is tied up in a CD? Do the penalties apply? As to POD. That may or may not help your heirs. When my mom died, yes--we 'kids' just took the CD's to the bank, with the death certificate, signed off that we were direct heirs, and walked out with the $$$ (well, a check for the others, and I just deposited mine, since I banked at the same establishment). HOWEVER , when my aunt died, those POD's meant nothing--because of it not being a direct descendant, they became part of the TAXABLE estate. Also, the annuity she had, that she left me?--both my accountant and the annuity company said it was NOT part of the estate. Guess what? The STATE would NOT release the estate funds until I paid the tax on the entire $40,000+ that I'm getting (in $100/month installments, mind you)!!! I won't live long enough to get the entire thing, so that means my heirs, may end up paying tax on top of tax! Look, we're mostly amateurs here. And mostly probably don't live in your jurisdiction. Best advice anyone can give you is to sit down with your accountant and follow his/her advice--after double checking that they're right with whatever govt entities might be involved down the road. Laws and practices vary greatly from state to state--you really need to know what applies where you live. Good luck.

He is doing important work, but there is still so much more to discover,