UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Yeah, I know, I haven’t blogged in forever.

me <– slacker

I’ve got so much to talk about, I’m going to split this blog into (at least) two parts.  Today’s entry, unofficially sponsored by Baked Lay’s potato chips, will be completely sports-free!

Quick-hitters:

- Don’t you hate it when you talk to someone about a product, then go to the store later, see the product on the shelf, and have to buy some of it?

An unnamed individual asked me about which flavors of Sobe I enjoy–Orange Carrot, Energy, and Tropical something-or-another, thank you very much.  I dropped by the store later today, and, of course, they were on sale ($1/bottle), and I had to get one of each.

Stupid unnamed person

Oh yeah, at the supermarket, I somehow willed myself to pass up on a box of powdered donuts!  The same couldn’t be said for the bag of Baked Lay’s, beef jerky, Gatorade, and Club crackers that I saw.

(At this point, I should mention that my sisters are going on a cruise this week, meaning I will be home alone.  Take lots of pictures!)

- Where the hell did summer go?  Last week, it was ridiculously hot, and this week, it’s been ridiculously cold!  Dammit, I want the heat back!

(Yes, I know, I am impossible to please.)

- I cannot believe that I have never heard this song before.  Damn that was funny.

- My current rebate-o-meter is at a cool $2,500.  Something tells me that this figure will hit $3,000 by the end of September.

(Note:  I typed this before discovering $300 in rebate checks in my mail box from Saturday.  I was in MPK for the weekend…more on that later.)

I think I am way past being “addicted” to hot deals.

BTW, I think I’m completely addicted to CVS’ hot deals.  I know have ten sticks of deodorant, and six tubes of toothpaste.  Combine that with the twelve bottles of body wash, and I better start taking three showers and brushing my teeth six times a day.

- So I have been a customer of Bank of America for about three weeks now, and as soon as I get my $100 bonus for opening up a BofA checking account, I’m going to kick them far beyond the curb.  Maybe I’m overreacting; you be the judge.

I opened the account online, and funded the account via a direct transfer from my ING Orange Savings account.   BofA took my money rather quickly, as I waited for correspondence from them to come in the mail (ATM card, welcome kit, PIN, etc.)

A few days later, I got a package from BofA, which included brochures and a signature card that I had to sign and return.  I did so, and waited a few days for additional mail.

And a few more.

And a few more.

Nearly two weeks had passed, and I saw nothing else (which I mentioned here).  I’ll just copy and paste what I had already wrote there:

I opened a Bank of America checking account a few weeks ago, and I have yet to see my ATM card or a welcome kit.  I called BofA and asked what was going on.  The nice lady calmly told me that “Whoops, we have your address on file wrong!”  The rep assured me that no fraudulent activity has shown up on my account yet, and that she would expedite another ATM card ASAP.  She also assured me that the ATM card and the welcome kit will probably show up returned to sender.  Thank goodness that my signature card (which has my SSN on it) and my temporary online passcode somehow made it to me!

Well, the old ATM card magically showed up the next day.  I tried calling BofA “support” to see what I should do with this new card.  On my first calling attempt, it took a whopping 1:20 for BofA’s machine to answer the call!  WTF???   Once the machine answered, it kept asking me for my bank account number (you know, the account number that I did not have!).  Frustrated, I kept pounding 0, #, and some other keys, to see if I could reach an operator.  Nothing worked, so I went with my tried and true method of screaming “Get me to a f**king operator!”

Yeah, it worked

Of course, when I got to the operator, and began talking to her, the CSR told me that she could not hear me at all.  She, Speedy Gonzalez-like, quickly gave me a number to call back, and hung up, before I even had a chance to think about picking up a pen and paper to jot the number down.

I found out that hitting 00 was the key to getting to an operator, so I used my cell phone, called back, and hit 00.  After the “you’ll be transferred to an operator” message played, I waited on hold for all of a few seconds.  Then I heard another recording:  “Your call cannot be completed at this time.  Goodbye.”

At this point, I was going to throw my laptop through a wall.  Granted, this may not necessarily have been BofA’s fault, but that’s not the point.

Totally frustrated, I called back, dialed 00, and connected with a live operator.  He immediately asked me for my checking account number, and I explained that I just needed to ask him about my ATM card.  He explained that I should wait for the second one, and asked if I had any other questions.  I then mentioned that I was never sent my online login ID to access internet banking.

Guess what the CSR asked me for?  If you said “the checking account number that you did not have,” pat yourself on the back.  I had to hang up on the guy, and decided to just wait for the new ATM card to arrive.

A couple days later, the replacement card showed up.  I attempted to activate it, using the phone number on the sticker on the front of the card.  When it got to verifying the last four digits of my SSN, it didn’t work!  At this point, I was fearful of identity theft, or some other royal screwup.  I got ahold of a live operator, who was able to manually activate my card.   I then asked again about my internet banking online ID, and the rep was able to give me the ID pretty quickly.  I also asked about not yet receiving my PIN; the rep told me to go to my nearest branch to set one up, since I never received my original PIN in the mail.

I went to the branch the next day, waited a few minutes, then set up my PIN.  When I was done, the woman that was helping me out said “Good luck!”  I replied, “Too little, too late,” and walked off.

Nicely done, BofA.

- Quick-hitters, a customer service (or lack thereof) edition:

• Screw you, Consumer Depot, for sending me a DOA Guitar Hero controller.  It’s going to cost me $40 just to ship back the damn paperweight!  Good thing I only spent $25 on the controller; I hope the one I ordered from Shop4Tech works.
• Screw you, Web-rebates.com, for BSing a bunch of rebate rejections, not responding to my customer service request emails, and dragging your feet weeks after I sent you my resubmissions.  Parago thinks you guys stink.
• Screw you, Fedex delivery person.  How many times do I have to kindly ask you to NOT leave packages at my front door?  Yes, I understand that these packages were sent w/o requiring a signature.  However, is it really that hard to go to my neighbor and ask her to accept my package, instead of leaving it on my doorstep?  More on this later.
• Screw you, Time Warner.  No, no reason in particular for this rant.

Ok, I’m going to end this blog entry on a positive note.  While in MPK this past weekend, FedEx dropped off a package at my front door on Saturday morning.

(Tangent:  Unlike UPS, FedEx Home Delivery does ship on Saturdays, but only if the package is in the local hub by Saturday morning.)

I was completely unaware of this delivery attempt, until I got back home late last night.  I noticed a note on my front door from my neighbor, saying that she accepted a package on my behalf.  I went to knock on her door, but there was no response.

I returned about an hour later, and she finally answered.  Before I had a chance to say anything, she took a few steps backwards, grabbed a box sitting on a shelf, and handed it to me.  I asked her if the delivery person had asked her to sign for the package, and she told me that she heard the driver knock on my door once, say “Fed-Ex!,” leave the package on my door step, and walk off, all in a span of a few seconds!  My neighbor, realizing that a package left at my front door was just asking to be stolen, went ahead and took the package off my front door, holding on to it until I returned.

(Tangent:  I have an agreement with my neighbor and my UPS guy, where he is to leave packages for me with my neighbor if I’m not home, and vice versa.  As I stated before, my Fedex guy doesn’t care to listen to my requests.  Yeah, I realize this incident involved a different driver, but she acted the same way my normal delivery guy would act; a quick knock, followed by a hasty exit.  This is why I tip my UPS guy with drinks, and I don’t bother even acknowledging the presence of my FedEx guy.  Don’t even get me started with DHL…)

I thanked her profusely, and then asked her to trade phone numbers, just in case we needed to get in contact with each other in the future.  As I got ready to head on out, I noticed her little daughter started following me.

(Heh…)

I am going to hate the day my neighbor moves out on me.

Happy blogging!

//