totes umbrellas

I think Tuesday was the day it was pouring. So with so much rain, I decided to use a bigger umbrella. I walked out of the house and to the bus stop. It was a good thing I had my big umbrella because the rain was coming down hard and sideways with the strong wind. I got on the bus and closed the umbrella. I then opened it up when I got off the bus to walk to the train. Once I got down the stairs, I tried to close the umbrella but only the top part closed, the part where the fabric was. The metal rod part would not collapse in towards the handle no matter what I tried. So I took a very crowded train ride with a halfway closed umbrella, it was about 3ft long and others probably thought I didn't know how to close it properly. Then halfway through the ride, I realized it was pouring out and I wouldn't be able to use my umbrella when I got off the train. Since I couldn't close it properly, it wouldn't open up because of the spring loaded thing or whatever. I ended up walking from the 6 train manually holding the umbrella top open with my hand. Not only did I look like an idiot, but my arm was so tired because the umbrella was very heavy due to its huge size and I had to hold it against the wind.

So I was very upset since this was a tote umbrella and they are supposed to be great and work well all the time and are expensive. I think it cost 35$ for the size I was using and that's alot for an umbrella. I think I have 10 various different Totes at home and 4/10 have broken which is ridiculous. And all the defects are due to the umbrella itself and not poor care etc.

Totes do however boast a lifetime warranty and I just looked it up. I think I can get it replaced, I need to send it back, pay for the shipping, and then give them another 5$ for s&h in order to fix the problem :( Why can't they just make umbrellas that live up to their promised superiority?

Wow I can't believe I am posting on my blog though my phone.