



Dear Greg: We contracted with Florida Valet Parking Services to work our Edgewater High School prom at Buena Vista Watersports. We paid $2,000 in advance. The contract called for 15 valets and they sent six. It was a disaster. They arrived a half-hour late and some even went to the school instead, even though the owner confirmed the location in advance. A lot of people parked their own cars. The valets looked disheveled, and some brought little kids who ate from our buffet without permission. All I'm asking for is a refund for the valets who did not come, but when I called the owner he started using foul language. I really feel violated.



Dear Inca: If it's any consolation, the owner of the valet service, Jaime Velarde, feels violated too. "This lady has called the office 200 times making all kinds of threats!" he said, sounding as if he was exceeding the new blood pressure standards. He claims that 11 (not six) valets showed up and all went swimmingly. "We opened everybody's door, we parked everybody's car who wanted it parked. No missing keys, no people having fender benders -- we did a good job for her." I told him that was not your opinion, in case he missed the message in the "200" phone calls. Velarde has grudgingly agreed to refund you $600, the cost of about five MIA valets. But don't expect a corsage.

Dear Greg: My wife and I were looking to get into a KB home we saw in the newest Parade of Homes book. The "as-shown" price in the book was $204,000. But when we went down to the KB office the next day they said, oh no-no-no, that's not the price. They were going to jack it up by $50,000! One lady in the KB office, without any prompting by me, said, "This is not a bait-and-switch." I think what KB did is slimy and a little on the illegal side.



Dear Jake: Someone rained on your parade -- I just don't know who. Rick Carruthers, president of the Central Florida region for KB Home, said the home you saw on Page 62 of the book was "still a work in progress" when the book was printed, and that Parade of Homes, not KB, was responsible for the ad. "To the best of my knowledge, we never saw that ad," Carruthers said. "We did send in the information. But we did not see the actual ad." Jason Zeckowski oversees publication of the book for the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando. "We don't put anything in the book they (builders) don't sign off on," he said. Bottom line: In this parade you were the guy with the shovel following the elephant.

Dear Greg: In reference to your comment about purified drinking-water companies, please consider referring people to the Better Business Bureau to investigate our reputation. We do not advertise or solicit customers. We work primarily through custom-home builders and everyone referred to us by a satisfied customer gets the same low wholesale price. We're in a business with more than its share of bad apples, and we have worked very hard to overcome that image.



Dear Ken: I don't normally print letters like this, but if Diogenes were around today he would be searching for an honest drinking-water company. Don't disappoint me.

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