UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Quick-hitters:

- Talk about a stroke of luck! On Friday night, I headed out towards the parking lot in preparation to go to MPK for the weekend. Halfway there, I remembered that I didn’t check the mail yet, so I opened my mailbox, grabbed the mail, and started fingering through the contents. I noticed a single rebate check, for $15, which I grabbed immediately. The rest of the mail was thrust in to the back seat of the car, and just left there.

On Sunday night, as we prepared to leave MPK, I opened the back seat of the car, and a little postcard fell out from between the door and the back seat! I immediately noticed the “endorsement required” notation on the back of the card, and when I picked it up, I found out it was a $50 rebate! Whew!

Too bad that’s about the only good rebate-related news I have to report for today (more on that later).

- I spotted this amusing little tidbit on a FatWallet thread last night:

Wouldn’t it be funny if Kevin Hain has trouble getting his severance package and they just send him the same stupid cut and paste email replies he sent us? “Yes, those who properly requested their severance package will
receive theirs.” “Again, there will be no monies provided for those requesting severance packages.”

I’m not sure why I found that to be so funny; it’s not like I have a problem with Mr. Hain or anything.

- So AllRebates, now run by Ohana Companies—the same scammers (yes, scammers) that handle ZoneAlarm and CompUSA rebates—is continuing to jerk around with me regarding my $25 rebate. I got an email in my inbox today, regarding the latest resubmission attempt I made:

In researching your account, we find that your receipt was not included with your submission. In order to process the rebate, please fax a copy of the sales receipt, rebate form and any additional requirements to 1-800-514-8259, Attn. AllRebates Special Services. If you prefer you may mail a copy of the sales receipt, rebate form and any additional requirements to: AllRebates Attn: Special Services, P.O. Box 8340, Wilmington, DE 19803.

So first I didn’t send in a clear copy of my UPC and Proof of Upgrade, and now I didn’t send in a receipt???

I just faxed them a hate-filled letter with clear copies of my receipt, UPC, and Proof of Upgrade.  Yeah, I know I said that my state Attorney General would hear my complaints if AllRebates jerked around with me one more time, but I had some steam to let off :P.

On the other hand, I might just call Amazon.com instead and see if they’re willing to assist me in this matter.

- One other quick rebate rant:  a couple months ago, I was foolish enough to buy a FAR American Telecom phone.  I’ve checked their rebate status page, and my status has yet to appear online.  Worse yet, the phone number on the rebate status page told me to send all rebate inquiries to rebate@atsphone.com.

I sent an email to that address a week ago, and have heard nothing.  This sounds like something I better get Fry’s involved with again.

Hopefully my next blog entry will discuss anything other than rebates.

Tags: Cust. Service, Deals by Peter
2 Comments »

Quick-hitters:

- In the mail today, I got another bottle of refill toner for my laser printer.

If you don’t see another blog entry here in the next week, assume the worst :P.

(Note to self: apparently the new Samsung laser printer—the ML-2510—has a reset fuse on the cartridge, making refilling impossible without replacing said fuse.)

- I made mention last time about a $25 Kaspersky rebate that I’m still fighting for:

AllRebates.com is currently giving me a hard time on a $25 rebate with the purchase of a Kaspersky software title. I have faxed in my resubmission twice now (as instructed by their customer service), and they have yet to validate my rebate.

A week after my second faxed resubmission, I got this wonderful email from their CS:

Thank you for participating in the AllRebates program.

In researching your fax, we find that your submission did not include the full requirements of the rebate. While the faxed receipt was acceptable [gee, thanks!], both the UPC and the proof of competitor’s ownership were cut off at the top, and the competitor data was also covered by the UPC.

Here is the exact copy of the scan that I faxed to AllRebates. Need I explain out that the UPC is on the left, and the proof of competitor’s ownership is on the right?

One more rejection, and the CA Attorney General’s office will be hearing my complaints.

(Tangent: For those of you, like me, that don’t own a fax machine—and in my case, I don’t even have a land line—and don’t readily have access to a fax machine, FaxZero is a lifesaver. The three-page maximum sucks, and the fact that they include an ad on the first page of the fax makes using FaxZero for important documents a bad idea, but for basic fax duties, it’s pretty neat.

[Warning: The following is a testimonial for FaxZero. None of the participants of the testimonial have been compensated for their appearance on this blog.]

FaxZero has helped getting me somewhere in the vicinity of $300 in invalidated rebates approved!)

- Here are my very quick NFL Conference Championship thoughts:

1) Lawrence Tynes is lucky Giants’ coach Tom Coughlin didn’t make him walk all the way back to New York (or New Jersey, or wherever the Giants practice) after hooking those first two field goals.

2) Who had money on a Manning making it to the Super Bowl?  Ok, who had money on the other Manning?

3) 2006 Giants — Tiki Barber = Super Bowl appearance.  If that doesn’t prove Bill Simmons’ “Ewing Theory,” nothing will.  Here are a couple early predictions I have for 2008:

• 2007 Colts — Marvin Harrison (sudden retirement) = Super Bowl appearance.
• 2007 Seahawks — Shaun Alexander = NFC Championship appearance.

4) Props to the Chargers for sticking around most of the game, but you had to figure that not having LT or a healthy Rivers or Gates was going to catch up to the Bolts eventually.  Still…FOUR Kaeding FGs?  You guys couldn’t cash in any one of those for TDs?  If any one of those FGs were converted into a TD, the game probably plays out much differently than it did.

And finally…

5) Congrats*, Pats*, for* now* being* 18*-0*.  Just* one* more* win*, and* you* guys* could* legitimately* start* the* Greatest* Team*/Greatest* Player* Of* All* Time* talk*.

As much as I dislike Eli Manning for his draft-day whining, I’d much rather see him win his first Super Bowl than for the Greatest QB Of All Time* to win his fourth*.

(Nah, I’m not bitter or anything :P)

Tags: Cust. Service, Sports by Peter
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Quick-hitters:

- To all the loyal readers of the UngsungBlog, this is what I have to say to you:

We’re BROTHERS…’till the end of time!

Now excuse me while I go shoot myself in the face.

- I still have yet to play Super Mario Galaxy. It’s like I’m saving it for a special occasion or something.

- All these rants I’ve been doing lately documenting my horrible experiences with rebate processors have caused me yet another headache: tons of Google ads for work-at-home rebate processor positions

(Yeah, I know…why don’t I just Adblock Google Ads?)

Speaking of rebates…

- I’ve got an update on my ZoneAlarm rebates fiasco. I got this email from MyRebateOnline.com on Tuesday, the day after faxing in my rebate submissions to Fry’s:

Thank you for participating in the MyRebateOnline program.

Our records show that your rebate submission has been approved and your payment will be issued at the end of the pending period for the following product(s).

4000069-Buy ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 3-User Pack at Fry’s Electronics or Frys.com get $40 Check

Your rebate will be invalidated if you return your product(s) during the remaining return period.

After the return period expires, your payment will be released and processed. Please allow an additional 2-3 weeks to receive your payment.

So far so good, but no mention of the other rebate in question.

Fry’s.com emailed me shortly thereafter:

Hello Peter, we have received your faxed rebate submissions. Please
allow up to 78 hours in order to hear anything back from Fry’s.com in
regards to this rebate inquiry. Please let me know if you have any
further questions. Thank you!

Ok…

Earlier today, this email hit my inbox:

Hello Peter, in regards to your ZoneAlarm rebate in the amount of $40.00
we have since gotten in contact with the rebate manufacturer in regards
to your denial. They have stated that your rebate had been validated and
you were expected to receive your rebate by the end of February. In
regards to your other ZoneAlarm rebate in the same amount. They have
stated that the promotion has been closed with this offer and that you
were no longer able to resubmit. We will go ahead and give all of your
copies to our corporate office in regards to this rebate and they will
be issuing you a check. Please allow up to 1 month in order to receive
this check. If you have any further questions please feel free to
contact us. Thank you.

Sweet! We’ll see, though, if I actually see both checks.

- Unfortunately, these ZoneAlarm rebates aren’t the only rebates I have to fight tooth-and-nail for (yes, this is what we “rebate monkeys” have to deal with):

• AllRebates.com is currently giving me a hard time on a $25 rebate with the purchase of a Kaspersky software title. I have faxed in my resubmission twice now (as instructed by their customer service), and they have yet to validate my rebate.
• I’m still waiting on 2 $19 rebates for a supposedly FAR CPU heatsink/fan from back in May. I’ve emailed these clowns several times, and have heard nothing but “please allow x weeks for processing.” The latest reply, which came on 12/17, said to allow an extra month for processing. I’m about ready to go down the state AG/BBB route.
• I bought an American Telecom phone back in October, and have yet to get an update on the status of that rebate. I have now sent two emails to their rebate processor, and have yet to hear back from them.
• Finally, I got email notification of 2 $40 rebates submitted through CompUSA’s eRebates that were issued to me today. To my horror, I noticed that the email notification said that I would be receiving a pair of rebate debit cards, not checks. I know for a fact that I opted for checks, and yet they’re going to go ahead and give me stupid debit cards instead. Argh!

(It seems I’m not the only one that is getting a headache from CompUSA.)

That’s what I get for playing the rebate game.

- Krunk recently alerted me to (what appears to be) a huge increase in the number of “auto-post” blogs lately (basically, these scammy blogs either rip material from other blogs, or quote entire blog entries). That same night, I got five separate requests from Wordpress to moderate comments; turns out, all these “comments” were just trackbacks from these scammy blogs.

Over the last three days, Wordpress has asked me to moderate nearly twenty (!!!) such comments, and there’s no telling how many Akismet caught and didn’t notify me of. It’ll be damn funny, though, to see this post ripped by a number of scammy blogs later tonight.

That’s all I’ve got for now.

Tags: Blog, Cust. Service, Technology by Peter
11 Comments »

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter:  approaching $1,500, no thanks to the tax software deals.  The number will be dropping, though, as I’m expecting another couple hundred dollars in rebates.

More on rebates later (unfortunately).

- I got a letter from Sallie Mae a couple days ago, with “Important Information” enclosed.  Yeah right…right?

Actually, it was a notification that my student roan consolidation interest rate was dropped a full percent for my exceptional payment history!  W00t!

Too bad I couldn’t have taken out a $100,000 student loan, just so that I could have invested the excess.

- It’s amazing how well the Ung-hex works at times.  Didn’t I just say, a couple days ago, that the Lakers were playing well and Andrew Bynum was a stud?

Laker fans, you may commence sending me your hate mail.

- Here are my NFL Divisional Playoff thoughts:

1)  Ryan Grant is a stud.  Two fumbles, and then he follows those up with 201 yards and three scores?

(Packers fans, prepare to send me your hate mail next week :P.)

2)  I don’t know what’s crazier:  Eli Manning actually beating the Cowboys, or the fact that I actually bet on the Giants + 7.5 in the first place!

By the way, enough of the Tony Romo/Jessica Simpson “controversy!”  Though I must wonder…will a sportsbook put out future odds on who Romo will be dating in 2008?

And sorry TO, but I’m not buying the whole teary-eyed defense of your QB.  Weren’t you the same guy that throws his QBs under the bus?

3) Billy Volek?  Michael Turner?  Darren Sproles?  Seriously?  THAT was Tony Dungy’s (likely) swan song?  What the hell was that???

By the way, was I the only one who felt that there was an NFL fix going on with the refs in the SD-Indy game?  Did you see that horrible pass interference call?  How the hell did the Colts NOT win on Sunday?

I suppose it had something to do with Peyton Manning reverting back to his early 2000s self, and the defense playing like sheer crap.

and finally…

4) Should we just go ahead and crown the Patriots* the 2008 NFL Super Bowl Champions*?  We might as well give the Super Bowl MVP* trophy to Brady too, while we’re at it.

I can’t wait for the 2008 NFL season.

- I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting in my kitchen lately (sorry, no pics!).  What have I been making?

• Won ton soup, twice, both times altering my filling recipe slightly
• Cream cheese wontons (imitation crab meat, cream cheese, green onion, and a pinch of salt and pepper)…remind me next time to make only 3-4 per person *gag*
• Pork burgers; in my defense, I had some unidentified meat in my freezer that looked like ground beef, and it was only when I cooked the meat did I realize that I was using soy sauce-marinated pork instead.

(Tangent:  Is there a more frightening phrase than “unidentified meat?”  If there is, please let me know.)

• California rolls, sans avocado, sadly.  My 99 Ranch had soy wrappers, which were awesome to roll, but very difficult to cut; at least the seaweed wrappers (nori) had perforations on them, which made cutting a heck of a lot easier.  I didn’t have medium grain rice, but my long grain Jasmine rice worked quite well.  I would have made Philadelphia rolls, but I couldn’t find any smoked salmon.

Pardon the pun, but I wonder what I’m going to cook up this week.

- Finally, I have to talk about a horrible experience with MyRebateOnline.com, the guys that are in charge of processing ZoneAlarm rebates (and probably other stuff).  For the records, these guys handle rebates sent to Bensalem, PA.

Background:   in both October and November, I bought a copy ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 3 Pack from Frys.com.  Each item came with a $40 mail in rebate attached to it, and I made sure that I qualified for both rebates separately (each rebate had a different offer number assigned to it).  I had heard nothing from the rebate processor regarding the status of my rebate—usually, rebate processors are supposed to send an email upon receipt of a rebate submission, notifying you of the status of any promotion a buyer attempts to claim—so I decided to give the rebate center a ring and see what was going on with my two rebates.

HUGE MISTAKE.

Unfortunately for me, I got a CSR on seemingly the worst day of her life.  I gave her the spelling of my last name (three times!), followed by my zip, and then she asked me for my address.  I began spelling out my address, and she cut me off with a terse “I can see address right in front of me.  Just confirm it!”

After doing that, the CSR told me that my rebate submission was rejected.  Hold on, I said.  I pointed out that I had two rebates that I was inquiring about, and wanted to know which of the two rebates was rejected.  The CSR, obviously miffed, went on a huge rant:

Look, I don’t have that information in front of me.  Our rebate processing deparment [you mean the guy in the cubicle next to you?] says that your rebate has been denied for missing the receipt!

[and here comes the kicker]

(like a parent scolding her kid) WHY DIDN’T YOU SUBMIT THE RECEIPT?  WHY DIDN’T YOU MAIL IN THE RECEIPT WITH YORU SUBMISSION?

WHAT.  THE.  [expletive].  HELL???

Trying to keep my cool, I then asked about what I could do to fix the rebate, even though I had no idea which rebate I was attempting to clear up.  The CSR immediately pointed out that I could mail in my receipt (the one that I supposedly didn’t mail in; I did, for the record, and my PDF’ed copy of my rebate submission will back this up), provided that the rebate promotion was still valid!

Naturally, this wasn’t going to happen, as both rebates were valid in October and November, respectively.  Even if I assumed that “valid” referred to the rebate postmark dates, most rebates require the postmark date of the rebate submission to be within thirty days of the purchase date.

Nevertheless, I decided that I was going to attempt to resolve the October rebate, even though I wasn’t sure that that rebate was even submitted, much less invalid.  Evidently pressing my luck, I asked the CSR one more question:  was there some other way I could clear up this matter (fax, perhaps?).

*click*

I know I’ve said this before on this blog, but I’ll say it again.

Listen, ZoneAlarm CSR:  I’m sorry that your life is clearly not going in the direction you thought it would.  However, you don’t have to take it out on an unsuspecting customer who is just trying to figure out why he hasn’t received his check for promotions from three and four months ago!  May I suggest a career change?  I might consider giving one of those colleges you see advertised on daytime TV a call.

After shaking off that horrible phone conversation, I decided to go straight to Fry’s.com CS and see if they could help me out.  A very nice lady (not just by comparison) answered my call, and asked me to fax in both of my resubmissions directly to Fry’s.  She said that I could call back within a week or two to check the status of my complaints.

*crossing fingers*

And yeah, complaints to my state Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau are coming, if Fry’s isn’t able to help me out.

Tags: Cust. Service, Food, Sports by Peter
4 Comments »

Yeah, I know…four days between posts?

Be quiet.

Quick-hitters:

- My Wii friend code is 1963 4549 4969 1019.

- How about them Lakers?  Andrew freaking Bynum is a stud!  Jordan Farmar has been a spark plug off the bench.  And Kobe’s happy!

(Did I just jinx them?)

- One quick sports take:  how about this ruling that the Hawks and the Heat have to replay the last 51.9 seconds of OT because of a miscalculation in the number of fouls Shaq had?

Questions:

1) What the heck took so long for this ruling to come down?  Shouldn’t this have taken a couple of days at the most?

2) What if Shaq is hurt when the replay occurs?

3) What if players on either team get traded before the replay can happen?  I would love to see the NBA mandate that a traded player has to return to his original team just for this one minute of action.

4) Um…the Heat are one of the worst teams in the entire NBA!  One extra win (should they pull this game out) isn’t going to make a lick of difference in where they finish!  Besides, if I were Pat Riley, I’d strongly consider tanking the rest of the season starting now…that is, if teams actually tank games to better their draft position in the first place…

- So what else did I do during my prolonged absence?  Like I mentioned in my last blog entry, I took a trip up to Elk Grove, CA, to visit my cousins and nephews.  They were staying in Reno on the 26th, and we planned on meeting them up there for the night.

We drove up there, and somehow got from Tarzana to Stockton—we stopped for a lunch break—in a bit over four hours.  Stockton to Reno via Sacramento and Lake Tahoe took another four hours, though, and the precipitous drop in temperatures got me sick.

(Great, huh?  The first day of my vacation, and I got sick!)

Amazingly, while in Reno, I did no gambling.  I got the joy of following two ultra-hyper kids through Circus Circus’ kiddie land, while feeling sick as hell.  I might have gotten an hour of sleep that night; it didn’t help that one of the brats woke me up at 7AM.

Thursday was spent sucking on cough drops one-at-a-time for the entire day (to hell with the dosage recommendations!) while going on a second tour of duty through Circus Circus’ kiddie land.  After that, we headed back to Elk Grove, but not before stopping in Truckee, CA (just south of Tahoe, if I’m not mistaken) for an unforgettable experience.

And by unforgettable, I mean I’m never doing it again.

My uncle thought it would be a fun idea to do some sledding (sorta; basically, we’re doing down a snow-filled hill on a board, sitting down.  Anyone wanna let me know what that’s called?  In the meantime, we’ll go with “sledding”).  I emphatically announced that I would not be getting anywhere close to one of the boards, knowing full well that riding one of those things would probably have killed me.

(Totally off topic:   I’m placing some online orders while typing out this blog entry.  Should a random string of characters—some random digits, my credit card number, etc.—appear on this blog, let me know, yeah?)

Anyway, the highlights of that day include:

• My seven-year-old nephew went down the hill first, and I immediately noticed he was drifting left, right towards me.  Instinctively, I jumped over him and to the left, to avoid certain death.  Thank goodness for my cat-like quickness and agility, even for a person my size, and especially considering I was sick!
• Twice, my cousin was ready to slide down the hill, only to have the board slide down…with him not on it.  Both times, he decided that he had no choice but to slide down on his shoes.  By the way, he was wearing dress shoes.  The second time he went down, all I remember was him barreling down the hill.
• I also distinctly remember watching my sister go down the hill twice.  Each time, she (the lightweight that she is) couldn’t stay fixed on the board, and she kept bouncing off the board as it was going down the hill.  And I’m not talking about coming off the board slightly!  We’re talking 3-6 inches!
• In my delirium, I may or may not have been forced to go down the hill once.  I honestly cannot remember.

(*whistles*)

- The rest of the trip was pretty boring, even though every morning was started with coffee and a donut from my cousins’ donut shop.  I did get a ton of recipe ideas, cooked them some tasty steaks—could you believe my sister wanted to serve them London broil???—and thankfully, I got over my sickness…when the trip ended, naturally.

We returned home on Christmas Eve, and just about nothing happened between then and now.  I did get Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii, though, but I haven’t even ripped off the shrink wrap on the case.

That’s all I have for now.  Until next time!

Tags: Random by Peter
1 Comment »

(Warning:  Today’s blog entry may run a tad long.)

I’m such a slacker :P.

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and New Year’s.  I know I did.

Despite the fact that there is so much in the sports world to talk about—the Cheat-riots going 16*-0, Roidger Clemens, LSU winning a national title, the Lakers and UCLA Bruins rolling, etc.—I’d much rather talk about what I’ve been doing lately.  I’ll save my thoughts on the big sports stories for another day.  But first…

Quick-hitters:

- Current rebate-o-meter:  ~$1,300.  That number will probably rise with tax software deals now available.

- CVS has a deal running through January where you get $4 ECBs when you buy 4 SoyJoy bars (limit 5 offers).  Combined with various coupons—$1 off 4 bars, $3 off 10 bars, and freebies—my sisters and I made a killing off these bars.

Has anyone tried one of these bars?  I tried one, and let’s just say the thing tasted like a nastier fruitcake.  Just thinking about how bad it tasted is giving me the chills right now!  However, my sisters actually enjoyed them, and even my brother thought they weren’t terrible.

*gag*

I’d almost rather down an entire bottle of castor oil than have to eat one of these bars.  I’m thinking about leaving them outside the local gym, for anyone to take :P.

- It’s good to see some of the late night television shows back on the air, even though the shows aren’t quite what they used to be.  I thoroughly enjoyed Jon Stewart’s monologue, though.

- So I made mention in my last blog that I had a hot date a few weeks ago.

Krunk happened to swing by for our annual meeting of the minds, and we spent all day chatting, Wii-ing, and watching TV.

(I’m a boring host.  I am aware of that.)

After Wii-ing all day, we went to an all-you-can-eat Korean restaurant for dinner.  Damn place raised their prices!  Good stuff, though.

Freaking Krunk brought me a Christmas present:  a Wii remote!  Being the bad friend that I am, I have yet to reciprocate (no, Krunk, dinner doesn’t count!).

- On the 24th, my sister and I went to my cousin’s house—thank you, Ellen and Darren—for a Christmas Eve dinner (I was asked to bring the entertainment, in the form of Guitar Hero III).  The night was memorable; unfortunately it was more memorable for bad reasons than good :P.

• Dinner was great.  It was the quintessential potluck:  roasted chicken, tamales, a Honeybaked ham, a shepherd’s pie, spaghetti with broccoli, steamed veggies, etc.
• Both of my mom’s sisters attended, but my mom did not, which led to one of the more traumatizing incidents of the night.  Those that attended the party know exactly what I’m talking about.  Let’s just say that my aunt says some really strange things when inebriated (and by “inebriated,” I mean “had one sip of beer.”)
• I cannot play Guitar Hero without an HDTV with Progressive Scan enabled.  I have no idea why.  I think I’m going blind.
• I almost died when I nearly took a tumble down a couple of steps.  Actually, I almost killed Ellen; I tumbled right into her, nearly knocking her down.  No, I did not have a drink that night.
• The night ended on one really traumatizing moment, right before we left for the night.  Again, those of you at the party know exactly what I’m talking about.

Good times.

- The Ung family Christmas dinner, on the 25th, was also quite excellent.  We brined our turkey—thanks, Alton Brown!—and it came out juicy and tender, though quite salty.  Green bean casserole, stuffing, steamed veggies, and mashed potatoes completed the meal, and my sister made some pumpkin bread as well, which was very good, even though she really cut back on the amount of sugar the recipe originally called for.

Sadly, we could not take any of the leftovers home.  That’s because I went out of town the next day, on a trip to see my cousins up in NorCal.

More on that next time.  Later!

Tags: Blog, Deals, Random by Peter
1 Comment »