UngsungBlog: A (Fantasy) Sports Blog

Sorry, no Office review tonight! I really didn’t expect the Spurs-Hornets game to be THAT entertaining!

Quick-hitters:

- Does anybody own a Treo 700 series, specifically the 755p? My sister’s 755p is in a never-ending reboot loop, no matter how many times I soft- or hard-reset the damn thing. What the hell is causing this, and how the hell do you fix it?

The last I heard, she took the PDA to the Sprint store. Hopefully Sprint stores are not as clueless as their phone reps can be.

- Best Buy sent me this email earlier today:

Dear Peter,

In an ongoing effort to improve our services, we’d like to hear about your experience of having BestBuy.com products shipped. Please click the button below to fill out a brief survey about your recent purchase on 05/01/2008, including [items purchased]. It should only take a few minutes.

Thanks for helping BestBuy.com serve you better!

Usually, I have zero desire to fill out these surveys. However, in this case, I have less than zero desire to fill out this survey. You see, this order is currently on backorder!

Nice job, Best Buy!

- I get a balance transfer (BT) offer from either Chase or Citibank (boooooooo!) practically every day.

(Who doesn’t?)

Normally, these checks find their way immediately into my shredder. Most of the time, I get BT checks on my lowest-limit credit cards—$1,200 and $2,000—or on my primary credit card. If I’m going to take out a BT, I’m not going to “waste” my time on a small balance like $1,000, nor am I going to take out a big BT on a credit card that I use everyday. (Why? So I can pay 12% on my purchase balance?)

Today, though, I found a very interesting offer in the mail from Chase on my second-highest limit card, on which I already have a low-interest (3.99% for life) BT. I’ve received BT checks on this account before, but usually the offers range from weak—4.99% for life—to pathetic—1.9% for six months, and then the purchase APR applies. However, I got two different offers today:

• 0% until 2/09 (yawn)
• 2.99% fixed for life

2.99% for life? Considering that the existing BT on the card is at 3.99%, it would be reasonable to expect future offers to have a higher interest rate, especially when you consider that payments apply to balances with lower interest rates first.

I wonder what my credit score is if I’m being offered a 2.99% balance transfer rate. I know people with good-to-excellent credit card scores that are offered 3.99% rates for life.

- (from Consumerist…just spotted a minute or so ago, that is) I normally don’t shop at Walgreens, usually because CVS deal hunting takes up most of my time as it is :P. However, if one of my local Walgreens pulled crap like this, I’d boycott all the Walgreens in the area for sure.

Cliffs: woman falls into diabetic coma near the checkout register, two nurses and an officer nearby administer OJ and sugar, someone pulls a glucometer off the shelf, woman is rushed to hospital, manager runs out in a hissy fit and demands that somebody pay for all the items.

Seriously? Mr. Manager got pissed off over the loss of an EIGHTEEN DOLLAR GLUCOMETER, as well as some OJ and sugar? From the way he acted (according to the nurse and officer), they used his Gluco-tech 5000 series Professional Blood Glucose counter (accurate to 0.0001%!), went to the appliance section, grabbed a high-end juicer, stole an orange that the manager was saving for a snack, juiced the orange, and gave the patient the juice.

Walgreens’ statement was priceless:

“We’re sorry for the misunderstanding. The store manager didn’t arrive on the sales floor until after the paramedics have left, so he didn’t realize a medical emergency had taken place.”

So the two frantic nurses, the officer, the missing glucometer, and the sirens in the distance, not to mention the obvious commotion in the store, weren’t enough of a clue that a medical emergency had taken place? Not to mention, I think a “misunderstanding” is a slight understatement. At least Walgreens was nice enough to offer a refund on the glucometer…

Question: if the store manager insisted that the accounts of the nurse and officer were wrong, why did he not attempt to explain what really happened?

I hate to imagine what would have happened if the woman had bled on the carpet. Would the manager have demanded compensation for the carpet shampooer he would have needed to clean up the stains?

- Quickly…

It’s about time the Spurs’ Big 3 finally showed up for a game in this series. For three quarters, it sure looked like the Hornets were well on their way to a monumental sweep. I still think the Hornets will win this series, and I like their chances in Game 4. Manu’s got a bum ankle, and Duncan hasn’t been nearly as effective as he has in years past. If the Hornets find a way to slow down Tony Parker, the Spurs are cooked.

For the first time all series, we saw the fluidity that the Spurs offense possesses at times: quick passes down low to Duncan, forcing the double team, followed by several passes to open shooters or cutters. And was that a Michael Finley sighting?

For years, the Spurs were called “boring” and “unwatchable,” but I became a passive fan of the team.

(I know, I know. BLASPHEMY! And BLAS-for-you! BLAS-for everybody in the world…)

I just loved how professional the team was—a Robert Horry hip check notwithstanding—and I became quickly impressed by how easily they were able to reload their teams to contend for championships each year. Of course, it helps to be able to build around a cornerstone like Duncan. As far as their boring offense is concerned, sure, running their offense through Duncan could be considered boring, but it was damn effective, was it not? And now that Tony Parker has flipped the switch and is utterly dominating games with his speed and ridiculous finishing ability, how can anyone call this team “boring” any more? Who wouldn’t like Parker v. Paul to go a full seven games?

As far as the other game tonight is concerned, how about them Cavs and the greatest player in the history of the NBA? Is it bad Cavs offense, or excellent Celtics defense? I refuse to say a little of both, and I’m giving credit where credit is due: to the Celtics’ defense. I know that the C’s had a highly rated defense, but after watching bits and pieces of these two games against the Cavs, I know see why. It’s not that LeBron’s settling for jumpers; it’s that LeBron has no choice but to take jumpers!

Should the Cavs lose this series (I actually had them winning in six, and would now like a mulligan :P), we can’t pin this one on LeBron. Cavs fans can start blaming the Celtics’ D, and I hope this doesn’t cost Cavs’ coach Mike Brown his job.

Until next time!

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

- Cavs v. Celtics thoughts: I missed the game completely (more on that later), but I was astonished to find that “King” James only went 2-for-18. As soon as I heard that, I assumed that he had to have been fouled several times w/o getting calls.

Apparently that was not the case. “King” James will have to wait another game to earn his moniker.

- I picked myself up a Linksys WRT54GS from Staples for ~ $5 after some FAR items and a $20/100 coupon. Now I gotta decide whether or not I want to hack and flash it with some third party firmware, or just use the stock firmware.

One key deciding point: this router is for use at my parents’ place, not here. I’ll probably just leave it as-is :P.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1450. I got a ton of rebates in the past week or so—about $300 worth of Symantec Rebate debit cards alone!

I know have over $400 in unspent Amazon.com gift certificates.

(Every time I receive a Symantec Rebate debit card, I immediately convert it to an Amazon.com GC, which I add to my Amazon.com buyer account.)

- Sprint’s customer service is awesome. Don’t believe me? Read on!

Back in January, I extended my contract in exchange for a 10% discount on service. The Sprint rep I spoke to told me that I would see the 10% discount on my account effective within the next two statements.

In April, the 10% still didn’t show up, so I called Sprint, and the rep I spoke to assured me that the 10% would show up on the next statement.

Fast forward to yesterday, and the 10% was still nowhere to be found. I called Sprint again, and here is our conversation (paraphrased):

Me: My 10% discount still hasn’t shown up on my account!

CS: Ok…well…it’s there, and I can’t do anything about it. It will probably show up next month.

Me: Probably? And what if it doesn’t show up next month?

CS: (laughs) Then you can call back and yell at me.

I love Sprint.

- So I swung by Ross today with my sister to return a shirt I bought over the weekend.

That’s when I found a really nice golf polo (Adidas ClimaCool something or another) for $20, marked down from $70. I couldn’t resist, though I’d say it’s 50-50 that I return the shirt sometime in the next week or so.

Anyway, when I got to the checkout line—single line, but multiple registers—I noticed three people in line, followed by a little gap, followed by a shopping cart full of stuff. I looked at the cart, wondered if it actually belonged to somebody, and before I could make up my mind, the owner of the cart came up to it—she had been looking through a rack of clothes near the line—nudged it forward, and gave me a death stare, as if to say “Yes, this is my cart, and yes, I’m in line, a$$hole.”

So I stood behind the lady’s cart, and she went back to her shopping. The line moved some more, and I just stood behind her cart, like an idiot. A guy was behind me, wondering what the hell the idiot in front of him (me) was doing just standing there, and the gap between the cart and the person in front widened. I seriously contemplated just shoving the cart out of the way, but the woman came back, nudged her cart forward again, and walked off.

I told myself, “If I’m the next person in line, and the woman doesn’t return, I’m cutting in line no matter what.” Unfortunately, the woman came back right when one of the cashiers shouted “next in line!”

One other bit of shopping cart ridiculousness: later, when another cashier called for the next person in line, two older ladies went to the register. One of the cashiers asked the trailing lady, “Were you in line?” The lady responded, “Of course! I was with this woman (pointing to her friend) all the time!”

That’s fine and dandy…HAD THE TWO WOMEN COMBINED THEIR PURCHASES AS A SINGLE TRANSACTION! But nope, the second woman waited for her friend to finish checking out, and then started emptying her cart in front of the register, expecting the cashier to start checking her out! And yes, the cashier reluctantly started scanning the second woman’s stuff.

Oh how I hate stupid people.

- Fifteen dollar ($50 retail) box seats. Chicken nachos, Dodger Dogs, and peanuts. Not-so-obnoxious fans (and if they were obnoxious, it was in a funny way). Blake DeWitt hitting his second career HR in inside-the-park fashion. A couple of B-level celebrity sightings (twice!). What could have ruined tonight’s Mets-Dodgers game?

Answer: the possible existence of an even more powerful, faster-acting Ung-hex!

The Dodgers were up, 5-4, in the bottom of the ninth inning, with two outs: a long fly out to center by Moises Alou, and a hard ground out by Carlos Delgado on a great play by 1B James Loney. The crowd stood up, and my sister and I joined them. That’s when I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, my sister putting her backpack on. I immediately told her, “Take that off!” She didn’t listen.

Single by Angel Pagan.

I told her again to take off the backpack. Instead, she handed me my sweater.

Single by Brian Schneider.

I grabbed her backpack, and slammed it on her empty seat. I tossed my sweater on the seat as well.

Strike three, looking, to Luis Castillo.

As we celebrated, I told my sister, “You lucked out. If I hadn’t removed your backpack, we would have lost!” She denied the existence of her own Ung-hex, but who could deny it after what happened above? Never has my Ung-hex worked THAT quickly, and THAT effectively.

The seats themselves were pretty decent—aisle 44, next to the right field foul pole, and row T, just underneath the overhang of the Loge section—and thank goodness that there were no really obnoxious fans near us. The concession stands were a heck of a lot nicer than in other sections, and there was a much larger variety of restaurants. Also, the bathrooms were really nice! Instead of a trough, there were actually urinals :P. Also, while there were paper towel dispensers, the bathrooms also had Dyson Airblades! Awesome!

The game was excellent, although it was clear that Dodgers’ pitcher Hideki Kuroda was going to have a rough game. Thank goodness for the play of one Blake DeWitt (who?): 3-4, 4 RBI (2-run single with the bases loaded, and what proved to be a game-winning inside-the-park home run that had the home crowd demanding a curtain call with a “We want Blake!” chant.

(Who needs Andy LaRoche? Nomar who? BLAKE DE-WITT! BLAKE DE-WITT!!!)

As for the celebrity sightings, it was nothing much to write home about. Once we found our seats, we immediately got up and visited the concession stands. A few seconds into our walk, and I noticed three men walking the opposite way. I caught a glance of one of them, and thought he looked familiar. My sister immediately chased me down, and exclaimed some gibberish that I don’t quite recall.

(She LOVES the show.)

Turns out that Detective Don Flack (Eddie Cahill) and CSI Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) were the two celebs she spotted. On the way out of the stadium, we spotted them near the Field level exit (I was 99.999% positive that that was them, and my sister confirmed it, muttering “OMG OMG that’s them!”). I quickly told her that I would walk past them, and then bend over and tie my shoelaces, to give her an opportunity to go bother them.

She chickened out. By the time she gathered herself to do something, they walked away.

(If this is how we act in front of B-level celebs, what would have happened if we saw Gary Sinise?)

Until next time!

Tags: Cust. Service, Deals, Sports by Peter
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No quick-hitters tonight; I’ll save them for next time.

- While it was fun to see my three-year-old (not four yet, as I said earlier!) nephew this past weekend, I also got a headache from seeing him.

I constantly had to remind myself that he was a three-year-old.  Whining, crying, bitching…and that was just my reactions to his behavior!

It was good to see the kid again, though, even though he is much too smart for his own good.

(Tangent:  I found out, this weekend, that my laptop’s lid could support the weight of a small child!

How did I find out?  Well, my nephew thought it would be fun to crawl over my laptop—it was laying on the carpet, in front of me.  As soon as I heard the lid buckle, I instinctively shoved the kid off my laptop (I might have shoved him a good three feet; I forget how strong I am at times), fired it up, and was relieved to see it boot up.

Who needs a Panasonic toughbook? :P)

- I can’t believe nobody took my bet regarding the XG/MGE fiasco I’ve been dealing with over the past year:

I’ll lay 2-1 odds to anybody who is willing to bet that I will, within the next four weeks, receive the second rebate check.

Anyone who would have taken the bet would be counting his/her money right about now.  On Thursday, I got the second XG/MGE Company check for $19 that was owed to me!

Finally, I can close this dark chapter of my life :P.

- Time Warner keeps advertising on my television that they do not nickel-and-dime like the phone companies do.  I can attest to that!  I don’t think Time Warner has ever nickel-and-dimed me.

Case in point:  my Time Warner bill has gone up from $61, to $65, to $72, in a span of three months!  That’s no nickel-and-diming; that’s a pretty significant rate hike, no?

Kudos, Time Warner, for keeping your word and not nickel-and-diming customers.

By the way, on my most recent bill, there was this gem:

“This statement reflects your new 2008 pricing as previously communicated.  Please see the next page for the new pricing.”

Either Time Warner “communicated” this new pricing scheme via telepathy, or they issued a statement regarding these price increases via television…during the latter part of last week, when my TV signal and internet connection were flaky as hell.  By “flaky,” of course, I mean “works for ten minutes, and then goes out for two hours.”  Of course, there’s also the possibility that Time Warner NEVER SENT ME ANYTHING REGARDING THESE PRICE INCREASES.

All I know for sure is that Road Runner (Time Warner’s HSI) used to cost me $34.99 a month, then it went up to $39.99 a month last month, and now it’s costing me $44.99 a month.  Remember, though:  Time Warner doesn’t nickel-and-dime, and they certainly didn’t do so here!

I’ll update my List soon.

- Finally, I’ve been hearing all NBA season that this year’s playoffs were going to be the most competitive playoffs of all time.  The Eastern Conference first-round didn’t look compelling, save the Washington-Cleveland series, but wasn’t the Western Conference first-round supposed to be all potential seven-game series?  Weren’t we supposed to see at least one “upset” in the making?  Wasn’t Denver’s 1-2 scoring duo of Melo and AI supposed to push the Lakers?  Weren’t the Hornets supposed to be too young to contend against the Mavs?  Weren’t the new-look Suns supposed to push around the suddenly-aging Spurs (save for tonight)?

I see three 3-1 series leads for the favorites, and a series heading for a four game sweep.  Yes, I’m burying the Nuggets right now.  What a horrible performance by the Nuggets’ stars on Saturday!

BTW, Melo, “we” didn’t quit…at least, not all at the same time.  It sure looked like YOU quit first, and then your team followed suit.  I guess coach George Karl better start updating his resume, and either AI or Melo better start packing their bags.  Clearly the Melo/AI experiment is NOT working.

Other random NBA playoff thoughts:

1) What took so long for the Suns to show something against the Spurs?  Could they be working a miracle comeback?

(Nah.)

2) T-Mac, enjoy your vacation.  Maybe you and Gilbert Arenas could go fishing together or something.  They could take coaches Karl, D’Antoni, and Avery Johnson with them!

(Tangent:  Is D’Antoni really on the chopping block if the Suns get eliminated?  Last I checked, he wasn’t the one that traded for Shaq!)

3) Anyone see Al Horford smack-talking the Celtics after Atlanta’s Game 3 victory?  I thought Joakim Noah was the “vocal” one of Florida’s two championship teams of not so long ago.

4) Raise your hand if you didn’t know that Toronto and Orlando were facing each other.

The NHL playoffs couldn’t find the Tor-Orl series on TV.

I’m tired, so that’s all I’ve got for tonight.  No NFL Draft thoughts, by the way, for no reason in particular.

Tags: Cust. Service, Deals, Random, Sports by Peter
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I’ll be splitting up today’s blog into two parts. On with part 1!

Quick-hitters:

- I am so mean. On Sunday night, my mom got a call from my 3yo nephew up in Elk Grove, and according to her, the kid wanted to talk to me (”I WANT TO TALK TO PETER!”).

What did I do? I turned him down, because I was playing poker.

Boooooooooooo to me.

(I’m hanging my head in shame as we speak.)

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,910; I added $30 to the -o-meter, but got a $19 rebate check (more on that later). Current toothpaste-o-meter: unchanged (25).

At the rate I’m going, though, I may need to add other -o-meters to this blog (more on that later) :P.

- I’ve owned a pair of Oakley Bottlecap sunglasses for about two years now, and the one thing I regret about the purchase is the fact the lenses are not polarized.

(To be fair, I didn’t really purchase these sunglasses; my sister allowed me to pick out a pair from Sunglass Hut for my birthday two years ago, and I chose not to spend too much of her money.)

No thanks to this thread, and the unnamed individual who showed it to me, I went ahead and purchased a pair of Columbia Tigertooth 3030 Polarized sunglasses (black/gray; link points to Dick’s Sporting Goods because Campmor is out of stock of the Tigertooth). For $26, I figured that I could easily give them away if I don’t like them, if they don’t fit well, or if I’d rather wear my Oakleys.

Hopefully they arrive this week.

- Here’s yet another update to the ongoing XG/MGE fiasco that I’m dealing with: I actually received a check from these guys on Friday!

It was for $19 (half of what I’m owed), but I guess that’s a hell of a lot better than nothing, right?

I’m probably going to fire off another email to these guys tomorrow, and see what the deal is with my other $19 rebate check. I’ll lay 2-1 odds to anybody who is willing to bet that I will, within the next four weeks, receive the second rebate check.

- After hitting up several Ralphs, CVSes, and Rite Aids, with the assistance of my two sisters, I ended up with the following loot:

• ~50 Pure Protein bars for my sister’s full body nutritional makeover; it helped that I bought ~ 30 $1.50 off 2 coupons on eBay. At $1 per bar, 2 bars would cost -$0.50 ($2.00 - $1.50 coupon - $1.00 double). I’d usually buy 4 per transaction, and get all four bars for free ($4.00 - $1.50 coupon - $1.00 double - $1.50 coupon; neither Ralphs nor VONS doubles more than one coupon per transaction).
• ~ 20 ZonePerfect protein bars. I had a ton of $1/1 coupons that I also got from eBay, and I would buy 2 bars at a time, even though buying just one bar would generate a $1 overage per bar ($1 - $1 coupon - $1 double). Unfortunately, I could only use one coupon per transaction.
• Ten Adidas 3 Deodorant sticks, all free after coupon; again, with assistance from eBay, I scored ten free deodorant coupons. I’m actually not sure why I bought these coupons; after all, who pays for deodorant?

(Tangent: There is a deal hunter’s adage that says that one should always target a cashier that appears to be not paid enough to care when attempting to bend the rules of a promotion. In my case, the free deodorant coupons state “only one coupon is redeemable per purchase.” Now, I consider a “purchase” a single item in a transaction; by that definition, buying two deodorants would be considered two “purchases,” which would allow me to use two coupons. In contrast, the ZonePerfect bar coupons specifically state “limit 1 coupon per transaction,” and thus I won’t even try to use two coupons on a single transaction.

Between me and my sisters, we made a total of five transactions, each purchasing two free (after coupon) sticks of deodorant, at two different stores. For four of the five transactions, the cashier was able to scan both coupons without much difficulty. The fifth and final transaction, however, which I paid for, was problematic. The cashier, a stern-looking middle aged woman, immediately took both of my coupons, waved one at me, and said “I can only accept one coupon. Do you want me to void the other purchase?”

I later found out that CVS also carried the deodorant for the same price as Rite Aid, and they had several different flavors! The Rite-Aids, by comparison, only had two different flavors. I should have just gone to my favorite CVS—in Encino—and found my favorite cashier; I know she wouldn’t have given me a problem at all using several of the coupons at once.)

• Three Speed Stick 24/7 deodorants (-$1 a pop after ECBs). I now have over 20 unused sticks of deodorant…again, why the heck did I buy those free Adidas deodorant coupons???

At the rate I’m going, I better start selling some of this stuff to my neighbors

(And in case anyone is wondering, yes, I am trying to find ways to get rid of some of this stuff. I’m sure I’ll find some takers eventually.)

Until next time!

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

Boy has it been hot here lately!

Quick-hitters:

- I sent XG/MGE this short but sweet email back on the first of the month:

Am I wasting my time by inquiring about the latest status of my rebates?

Should I be surprised that I have yet to receive a reply from these clowns?

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,900 (- $40, but +$200 or so after this past weekend, not counting my Rite Aid/Walgreen’s rebates).

- Today, I am introducing a new “feature” to the UngsungBlog: the “toothpaste-o-meter.” What better way to show my loyal readers how much time I waste going to stores to get money-making toothpaste than with a running total of the number of unused or barely-used tubes of toothpaste?

Current toothpaste-o-meter: 25 (16 unopened—twelve Colgates!—two unused w/o boxes, four used once, and currently three in rotation).

I spotted a preview of May’s CVS Monthly ECB catalog, and noticed that they are going to have Aquafresh Extreme Clean toothpaste free after ECBs all next month, and it’s limit three per customer!

At this rate, I’ll have enough toothpaste to brush each of my teeth individually, twice a day, for the rest of the year

- Damn you, Los Angeles Times newspaper dispenser! My Sunday LA Daily News didn’t contain some coupons that were supposed to be in the inserts, so I grabbed a stack of quarters and ran to the nearest Times dispenser. I shoved in six quarters, pulled the door, and heard my quarters fall right into the change slot. Well, five of them, at least.

Slightly frustrated, I shoved in six quarters again, pulled the door again, and only a single quarter fell through the change slot. And no, I did not get my paper.

Later in the day, I went to Rite Aid, bought an LA Times, and found the coupon I was looking for. Three bucks spent for four bucks worth of coupons…what a deal!

- On Tuesday, my sister handed me a $25 American Express Gift Cheque (yes, I spelt that correctly), saying that I could go ahead and use it if I wanted to.

(Yeah, like I’m going to pass up free money.)

Intrigued—I had never seen an AmEx gift cheque, much less actually used one—I went to AmEx’s web site to research these things, and couldn’t believe what I saw!

A shipping fee will be added to your Order Total based on the shipping method you choose.

There is a $2.50 fee per Gift Cheque, which is subject to change. This amount will be added to your Order Total.

S&H appears to be $5.95 for standard mail. So let me get this straight. If, for whatever reason, I wanted to buy a single $25 gift cheque (tangent: I might flip if I have to type “cheque” one more time), it would cost me $25 + $8.45 in fees???

I know what you’re thinking: these things are probably meant for companies buying several of these gift checks at a time. I suppose that’s a valid point, except

In an effort to protect our customers against unauthorized transactions, Gift Cheques purchases are limited to $1,000 every 14 calendar days.

Forty $25 gift checks, at $2.50 per check, equals $105.95 in fees!

I suppose these checks are better than GCs because of the fact that they could be easily replaced if they were lost or stolen, plus they could be used at multiple stores, but is that “convenience” really worth 10% in fees?

I’m sleepy.

Tags: Blog, Cust. Service, Deals by Peter
1 Comment »

So I just got around to updating WordPress to version 2.5. Let’s hope I didn’t foul things up.

(I agree with Krunk…there needs to be an easier way to update WP. It didn’t help that WSFTP kept throwing up left and right. I had to create folders remotely first, before I could upload the new WP files. And don’t tell me that there is a setting in WSFTP that allows a user to transfer non-empty folders; I am fully aware of that, and never had a problem with the transfer of non-empty folders until today.)

Anyway…

Quick-hitters:

- Oh no! Between my sister and me, we have over $30 in ECBs expiring on the 17th, and there is absolutely nothing worth buying t his week or next! What to do???

- Somebody help me. I have Hunter’s song (from The Office) stuck in my head!

You took me by the hand

Made me a man

That one night

You made everything alright!

Argh!

Again, a one topic blog!

- So I’ve been a Vonage customer for about eight months now, and how can I put this nicely? The service stinks!

Well, at least I figured the service was garbage. I was able to make outgoing calls at a 20% success rate—one in five!—and incoming calls were a crapshoot at best (so much so that I started forwarding calls from my Vonage line to my cell phone.) I figured the problem had to lie either with Vonage, or perhaps Time Warner was messing up my phone connection. All I knew was that I was paying $24.99, and then $14.99, a month for a virtually useless phone line.

(Remember: I had a one year commitment, which was necessary to claim the $300 Circuit City card, as well as the $175 rebate on the Linksys PAP2 Phone Adapter.)

Recently, the Vonage line got so bad that I would get nothing but a busy signal, no matter what number I called. I decided that enough was enough, and began troubleshooting. I logged in to my Vonage account, and under Features…Bandwidth Saver, I lowered the sound quality to the lowest setting. That didn’t seem to do a damn thing.

I decided to log in to the PAP2 to see if there was some setting that I could fiddle with to fix things. I had to log in to my WRT54G router to pull the PAP2’s IP, and that’s when I decided that I would assign a static IP to the PAP2.

(Tangent: For some reason, I’ve never had luck with port forwarding and DHCP. For example, my secondary computer would always pull an IP of 192.168.1.110, but uTorrent would often report that the ports I left open for that computer were not so. it was only when I manually assigned the IP of 192.168.1.110 did port forwarding work properly.)

I logged in to the router, and saw only a couple of pages, one of which was asking for WAN info. Thinking that it wanted my IP info, I didn’t bother with that page, and looked through the other pages for anything to tweak. I found nothing, and that’s when I decided to read the manual (!!!).

(Manuals? What do we do with manuals? We throw them out the window! After all, I have techno-joy! ;-).)

I found that the DHCP could be disabled via the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu, which could be accessed by dialing **** on a phone connected to the PAP2. I dialed ****, entered the command to disable DHCP, and heard a broken “Invalid Command.” I tried again, and got the same broken message.

I hung up the phone, and noticed the “Phone 1″ light on my PAP2 shut off. I turned the phone back on, and heard something along the lines of “This line is not set up for Vonage use.” ARGH!

I accessed the IVR again, checked the status of DHCP, and found that it was, indeed, disabled. OK…I then proceeded to manually enter the IP, subnet mask, and gateway. I hung up the phone, picked it back up, and heard another error message: something along the lines of “Your adapter cannot register with Vonage’s services”.

It turned out that the PAP2’s IVR was about as good as most companies’ IVRs; in other words, they all stink. Too bad I couldn’t scream “OH MY F***** G*D” at the PAP2 :P. It took me seven or eight tries to correctly input all my information.

While browsing through the manual, I figured out that I wasn’t forwarding my ports correctly. Apparently, there are four port ranges that need to be forwarded: More importantly, I was supposed to use UDP and not TCP:

Set up port forwarding on your router. You must specify that four port ranges be forwarded to the IP address of the Phone Adapter. These four port ranges are as follows: 5060-5061 (UDP), 53-53 (UDP), 69-69 (UDP), and 10000-20000 (UDP).

After forwarding all ranges to the new IP of the PAP2, and changing the protocol to UDP, I picked up my phone, and immediately heard a dial tone! I placed a call—FYI, I had been using WaMu’s customer service # as a test call throughout—and immediately heard the WaMu recording! Finally!

The moral of the story? Don’t throw your manuals out of the window…unless you can find PDF copies :P. Let’s just hope that the service continues to work well.

Until next time!

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

Quick-hitters:

- New episodes of The Office are coming back next week!

Yay!

- Argh! I have ~ $30 in CVS ECBs that expire on the 7th, and there’s nothing to buy!

What am I going to do???

- So I’m surprised it took only two months to hear that Brett Favre might already be regretting his decision to retire, according to an LA Times report. If the report is true…are you freaking kidding me? What happened to that teary-eyed press conference, when you insisted that you (paraphrasing) didn’t have it in you to play any more?

It took all of two months for you to recharge your batteries? Soccer players who clutch their knees as if they tore their ACLs, only to recover after drinking from a Gatorade bottle, are amazed by how quickly Favre did a double-take. Then again, who didn’t see this coming? Wasn’t it suspicious that Favre hadn’t yet filed his retirement papers (and no, I don’t buy the explanation that only players that need access to their pension money file the retirement papers; he could have given everyone around him—teammates, the Packers organization, his family, etc.—closure as to his playing status if he had filed those papers).

I wonder if it’s possible for a player to retire, wait five years, get inducted in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and then un-retire. If it is, it wouldn’t surprise me to see a mid-40s Brett Favre returning to the Packers in the 2010s.

Oh yeah…Brett Favre, please go away.

- It is time for Part 2 of my Sprint Customer Service horror story. Grab a chair!

So on Wednesday, I tried to get in touch with my aunt to help her with the activation. It turns out that she was away from her phone :P. I decided to call Sprint anyway, and see how far I could get with them without her being there. I dialed Sprint’s activation hotline (1-866-450-1708), immediately yelled “ACTIVATION!” into the phone, and immediately heard an Indian-sounding woman. Fan-freaking-tastic, I thought to myself. I immediately told the woman that I needed to activate the phone on the line, pointing out that I didn’t actually have the phone on me. The woman immediately noted that there was a “hold” on the account, and after verifying some information, told me that she could go ahead with the activation once she gets the ESN. I reminded her that I didn’t have that on me, and she told me to go ahead and call Customer Service back to finish the activation. I asked about changing the phone number, asking specifically if doing so would not incur charges, a contract extension, etc., and she assured me that I could do this without charge.

Later on Wednesday, I got a call from my aunt, and I proceeded to make a three-way call with Sprint CS. I dialed *2, screamed “ACTIVATION” again, and was dismayed to hear a deep-voiced Indian male, who sounded a hell of a lot like the idiot I dealt with on Tuesday. I quickly determined that this guy was the same moron as soon as he “confirmed” that I wanted to activate a second line of service to my account.

-bang- -bang- -bang-

Eventually, I got him to realize that I was helping my aunt with a new line, but then I mentioned that I wanted to change the phone number first. I asked him if it was possible to change the number before activating the service, and he quickly responded “Of course.” I pointed out that I wanted to do this because, if it was not possible to change the number, I could still cancel the service without incurring any fees (due to Sprint’s money back guarantee).

A couple of minutes later, the rep notifies me that changing the area code could cause me to lose the current plan that we signed up for. Wait a freaking moment, I thought! I quickly let the rep know that if we were going to lose the plan, he might as well start processing our account cancellation. He responded by saying that he would not know if the account was going to change until he attempted to change the area code! I asked again, “Will I be able to cancel without paying any fees if this does not work?” His response was a hesitant “Yes, sir.”

Hesitation? WTF?

A few minutes later (consisting mostly of him saying a bunch of nothingness while I kept saying “huh?”), he said he was ready to make the switch, as long as we were willing to risk our plan. I gave him the OK, reminding him again that I was going to cancel the line if the plan was changed in any way. He then pointed out that, if the plan was indeed changed, he would “try [his] best” to give us a plan as close to the SERO plan as he could get. I immediately thought he was going to give us some junk plan, and point out that that was “as close” as he could get to our original plan.

(If a pilot were flying a plane extremely low on fuel, and he said he would try to get his passengers “as close” to the destination as possible, traveling a distance of the tarmac would constitute “close,” right?

About five minutes of silence later, he comes back on to the line, and announces that he was going to put through the request to change the number. Um…WTF was that five minutes of silence for? Were you twiddling your thumbs??? I blurted out “Go for it” and waited. I put the phone down on my desk and turned on the speakerphone, and went back to whatever I was doing before the call.

About ten minutes later, I caught a glimpse of my phone, and noticed that the LCD brightened up for a split second. Thinking nothing of it, I continued doing whatever I was doing. Five minutes later, my aunt says “Is [the rep] still there?” I picked up the phone, asked “Sir, are you there?” and heard absolutely nothing. My aunt told me that she was going to hang up the phone to verify that he was still on the line—if the call ended on my end, then I knew we got disconnected. Sure enough, we did!

(YOU #()**()#@*$(#@(*#@()$!*((!(!(!!!!!!!!! IDIOT. And no, I am 1000% sure that my phone did not drop the call; otherwise, why didn’t the call with my aunt also disconnect?

I also forgot to mention that he gave me more conflicting information, which I will now dub a “yes, but no” response.)

Noting on a piece of paper, “NEVER DEAL WITH MALE INDIAN GUYS WITH SPRINT” (I kid, BTW), I dialed *2 again, screamed “ACT-I-VA-TIONS”, and the IVR gave me the standard “Sorry…” message. I screamed “ACTIVATIONS!!!!” again, and got the same message. Totally irate, I screamed “OH MY [EXPLETIVE] G*D,” and the voice message told me that it was going to transfer me to a CSR.

(Cursing at the IVR seems to have a 90% success rate :P)

To my utter amazement, I got an English speaking rep named Whitney! I quickly told her that I wanted to change the phone number on the account, and after confirming all essential information, wanted me to confirm that I wanted a new 818 number. I pointed out that I wanted a 626 number, and then asked again if this was going to be completely free of charges or changes to the account. She said “absolutely,” kept me on the line for about a minute, and then broke the silence with “Do you have a pen on you?”

Stunned, I grabbed a pen, and she read the new phone number. I quickly logged into my aunt’s Sprint online account, and sure enough, the phone number was changed! I asked again—making absolute sure, and can you blame me?—that nothing adverse would happen to my aunt’s account, and she confirmed this. I asked her for her name, thanked her again, and called my aunt with the good news.

With my aunt on the line, I established another three-way call with Customer Service. This time, instead of screaming a swear—I knew my 11-year-old cousin was listening in to the conversation—I pounded 0 until the IVR transferred me to a live CSR. This time, I got a woman who had a thick non-Indian accent;I’m not quite sure what it was. Fortunately, she spoke deliberately, which made her quite easy to understand. The rep asked me if I had called in earlier about this account, and all I would say was a somewhat-witty “You betcha.”

I explained—very briefly, I swear!—that I’ve had to call several times, dealing with individuals of various intelligence, and all that was left to do, I hoped, was to activate the phone. The rep calmly explained that the phone was already active; now she had to explain how to program the phone so that it would work with the service. So apparently “activating” a phone wasn’t the same thing as “programming” a phone.

(Duly noted.)

The next part of the story gave me a headache, but for a different reason. The rep asked my aunt for the ESN number, but she kept blabbing random stuff as well; the only thing I could make out was the letters “DEC.” I interrupted the rep, got the attention of my aunt, and asked her to look for the letters “DEC” on the phone. After about five minutes, my aunt pointed out that she couldn’t even get the battery cover off the phone.

At this point, I may or may not have rammed my head into (through?) a wall.

Eventually my aunt gave way to my cousin, who started reading a whole string of characters off to the rep. I interjected, asking him “Are you reading this information off the battery?”

“Yes.”

I popped open the first of three Mexicokes I had that night.

After pointing out that he needed to read the numbers off the back of the phone itself, he read again in rapid succession everything on the back of the phone! I couldn’t take much more, so I screamed “LOOK FOR THE LETTERS D-E-C!!!”

I don’t quite remember what happened next—I might have passed out—but eventually the rep got the information she needed. Whew, I thought…we’re finally done, right?

Naturally, there was more to be done. The next step was to actually program the new phone number into the phone. The rep resumed her rapid-fire instructions, and I was having a hard time following along! You could imagine how much trouble my cousin had! I guess she didn’t realize that she was talking to an 11-year-old, but how many 11-year-olds would immediately understand what to do when a person tells you to “Push down on the four-way directional keypad, until you get down to the MSID (?), and then use the QWERTY keypad to enter the following string of numbers: xxxxxxxxxxx”? The operative word here is “immediately.”

I asked the rep to slow down a bit, and she was very nice about it, apologizing for going too fast. Once the task was complete, the rep resumed her super-fast speaking, and the only things I could clearly make out were “setting up voicemail” and “setting up the phone book.”

Again, I had to ask the rep to verify that no adverse changes were made to the account, and she verified this. Then I asked her to verify that the plan came with 500 minutes, 7pm nights, and unlimited Vision. She said “no” to the Vision, but I knew that this was not true.

(Background: My sister signed up for SERO two months ago, and under “Plan Details” on her online account, there is no mention of the unlimited Vision access. However, we verified it with two different CSRs, and with our own tests, that she was getting unlimited Web. I figured this was the case here as well.)

I pointed the rep to sprint.com/sero, and after about five minutes of researching, she verified that the plan did come with Vision access. I thanked the rep profusely, apologized to both the rep and my aunt for all the trouble, hung up the phone once and for all, and started on Mexicoke #2.

To my horror, I got a call earlier today (Thursday) from my aunt. Freaked out over the possibility that the phone still didn’t work, I reluctantly picked up. It turns out that she had just powered on the phone for the first time, and it was asking her to set up Vision access. I quickly yelled “I’ll set it up this weekend!” and asked if she had even made a call from the phone yet. She had not.

If you don’t hear from me after Sunday, assume the absolute worst :P. And in case you were wondering, yes, this was far worse than my Cingular story.

Oh by the way, did I mention that my aunt’s phone has a $50 rebate on it?

Will my aunt get her rebate?

Yes, after several Certified Mail-resubmissions -110

Yes, when Peter gets his XG/MGE Company scam-bate…er…rebate (that is to say, never) +110

Yes, after a bit of reasoning with the rebate company (explaining that I changed the number, e.g.) +150

Yes, and without difficulty +1000

Until next time!

Tags: Cust. Service, Sports by Peter
1 Comment »

Sorry…only one topic tonight (and when you read it, you’ll see why.)

Quick-hitters:

- Amy got lucky. She actually posted a blog entry on day 1 of this year’s IMBC.

She’s not going to last :P.

- My UPS guy’s a comedian. He swung by around 7PM tonight to drop off a package. When I opened the door, he handed me a small, Tyvek-bagged package from Buy.com. He then started snickering, and told me “Don’t take this the wrong way, but…you have a small package.”

(groan…)

One of these days, I’m going to have to tell him that he’s paid to deliver my packages, not to crack jokes :P.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,760. I got a couple hundred bucks last week, and very quickly added a couple hundred back to the running total.

- So at around 8:30PM tonight, I got a call from my 11-year-old cousin, and I knew exactly what the call was about.

(Background: Over the weekend, my aunt asked me for recommendations on new cell phone service. I immediately mentioned SERO—500 minutes, 7pm nights, free wireless web, etc., for $30—and explained that while SERO was a great value, you get what you pay for. Anyone who has ever dealt with Sprint CS knows exactly what I’m talking about.)

He explained to me that the phone did not work. Assuming this was nothing more than an ambiguity, I asked my cousin to power on the phone. He did so, and then asked me what the phone number on the new account was. I asked him to read a ten digit number off the box of the phone—a Palm Centro—and he started “8-1-8…”

Now I made sure to request a 626 number, and the two contact numbers I left when signing up for the SERO line were also 626 numbers, so why the hell did Sprint give her an 818 number???

Back to the phone itself…eventually it dawned upon me that not only did we have to turn on the device itself, but we also had to turn on the phone capabilities in order to make calls. I had my cousin hit the phone button on the Centro, and was already patting myself on the back, when my cousin told me that he got a message along the lines of “your account is not authorized to make this phone call.”

-bang- -bang- -bang-

I asked for my aunt’s PIN, and called Sprint Customer Service to see if they could figure out what was going on. I got an Indian guy with a heavy accent, and I knew I was in for a headache or three. I first pointed out that I was not calling about the line of service from which I was making this call—I was using my Sprint phone—and I wanted to know why my aunt’s phone was not working. The rep, clearly mistaken, kept asking about what I would need to do to add a second line of service! Three times I explained that I was not looking to add a line of service, and three times he replied, “I know sir…” followed by “If you want to add a new line of service…”

-bang- -bang- -bang-

Once I straightened him out, he then explained that it appeared that the line was not activated. I quickly mentioned that every SERO line I’ve opened or helped someone open came activated, but he insisted that it was not. Sure enough, a quick Google search pointed out that sometimes Sprint doesn’t activate the line of service before shipping. Ok…my fault.

I then asked him about the issue of the phone number. The rep explained that Sprint uses the phone numbers that a customer provides as a guideline, but they really try to give users a number that gives them the best quality of service.

For your information, the number of reference that I gave Sprint is located in La Puente, CA. The number that they gave us is located in Van Nuys, CA. As you can see here, Sprint did a great job giving my aunt a number as close to local as possible, wouldn’t you say? Thirty-six miles…not exactly “close,” I’d say.

I screamed, “How is a totally different area code ‘close’???” The rep explained again that the number they issued was as close to local as they could have provided. Seriously, Sprint? I’m surprised they didn’t give my aunt a 909 #, or a 714 #.

Several other times throughout the conversation, the rep kept giving me blatantly conflicting information (”Yes, you can.” “No, you can’t.”). Not to mention, the rep often used words like “probably” and “possibly.” I don’t want to hear that I can possibly avoid paying the ETF if I cancelled the contract right away! I would like to know if I could definitely avoid said fees! At times during the conversation, it sounded like the rep was sarcastically talking about my “aunt,” almost as if she didn’t exist. That was really apparent at the beginning of the call, when he kept talking about adding (raise your fingers and do the quote-sign in the air here) “my aunt” to my existing line.

After about fifteen minutes of frustration, I bluntly asked “How does your 30 day trial work?” He explained that I could cancel the line of service at any time within the first 30 days, and the ETF would be waived, and I would only be responsible for a fraction of the monthly costs. I then asked, “If the line has not yet been active, will I have to pay anything?”

“Of course not, sir! Why would you have to pay for anything if the line isn’t active?”

(Something tells me that a Sprint rep is going to “accidentally” activate the service before I attempt to cancel. Also, this was the time where I started getting a steady dose of conflicting information.)

Near the end of our conversation, the rep tried to transfer me to the Activation hotline. I kept asking other questions, including what I could do about the phone number mishap. The rep explained that I could “try” to change the number. Thanks!

When everything was said and done, he asked me again if I wanted to be transferred to the Activation hotline. I asked him for the direct number, as I planned on doing a three-way call with my aunt so that she could provide the rep with all the information they need to activate the phone (ESN, e.g.). He eventually gave me the number, and then offered to transfer me again.

(sigh…)

When I set up the conference call with the Activation hotline, I found out that they were closed. Gee, rep, couldn’t you have told me this earlier??? Worse yet, as I was going through the automated menu, they asked me for my aunt’s PIN, which I punched in.

“Sorry. The information you have provided does not match our records.”

(At this point, would you have blamed me if I threw my laptop across the room?)

I told my aunt that I would contact the Activation hotline tomorrow, and she seemed to take it well. Personally, I wouldn’t have blamed her if she disowned me right on the spot :P.

Obviously, abusing the Ung-hex has karmic consequences :P.

EDIT: I’m fully aware of the Sprint/Consumerist Hotline, and that will be my next avenue, if I don’t cancel the line of service outright.

Tags: Cust. Service, Random by Peter
3 Comments »

Crap! This was supposed to be posted last night! I guess I misremembered again

Quick-hitters:

- Did the Lakers really lose to Charlotte a couple days ago?

If they lose to Memphis tonight, they should be forced to forfeit their playoff spot, wherever that may be.

- My sister’s laptop has been posted on Craigslist four days ago, and I’ve only received a single inquiry on it. And it was NOT a 419 scam attempt! Amazing!

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1700, and that includes the $100 I received today.

- Screw you, Amazon.com.

I won’t go into too many details, but let’s just say that Amazon.com will gladly remove my items for sale because of “misrepresentation” (missing UPC or missing original packaging, and I wasn’t even aware of the rules violation), while many other sellers get to keep their rule-breaking listings active.

After a bit of back-and-forth with Amazon Seller support, they decided it would be fun to simply send me form letters, completely ignoring my grievances. At least they didn’t use the ever-popular “we’ll take your concerns seriously” line.

*shudder* I might have to start selling on eBay again.

- So I went grocery shopping yesterday with my sister, who, incidentally, is starting a “full-body nutritional makeover.”

(For you that have an aversion to euphemisms, that’s what I call a diet.)

Long story short, yesterday was NOT the day for her to go grocery shopping with me. Having little to no will power, it was awfully difficult of me to pass up on Triscuit crackers (w/cheddar!), Cheez-Its, Fudge Shoppe cookies, Golden Grahams, and Cookie Crisp. If Vons or Ralphs sold Mexicoke, my sister would have been in real trouble.

After adding each item to my cart, I felt a death stare from my sister. She eventually accused me of intentionally buying junk food, knowing full well that she can’t have anything I was purchasing.

I will neither confirm nor deny that :P.

- (from Consumerist) Finally, this article absolutely made me LOL. Apparently, Wrigley’s Gum is going to introduce a new, slimmer packaging for their gum, and by “slimmer,” I mean “fewer pieces for the same price.” The quotes from Wrigley execs are simply priceless, including this gem:

“To them the value goes up because they’re getting a better tasting product in a better package. Price is not the way the consumer is looking at this,” he said.

Um, when I go shopping, price is usually a BIG factor in what I buy! Better package? Two sticks of gum weigh that much, eh? As far as the better taste is concerned, I guess I can buy that. Tell me, though; where on the packaging does it allege that the gum is better tasting than before?

This phenomenon, known as “package shrink,” has been around for years. Just think about how small a Pizza Hut medium pizza has shrunk over the years.

(Tangent: “Package shrink”…what a horrible euphemism! And yes, I have a sick mind.)

Regarding package shrink, I loved this quote:

Brian Morgan, senior research analyst at Euromonitor, Chicago, concurred: “[Package shrink] is the strategy that has been used in many categories to accomplish a price increase without consumers really noticing or to smooth over the negative reaction.”

Go to any grocery store forum (BargainShare or Slickdeals, e.g.) and tell me that people either don’t notice these shrinkages, or don’t exactly get “smoothed” over once they find out that they’re getting less for their money.

Mr. Morgan added,

Morgan added that, in the gum category more so than in other categories, consumers would likely respond positively to slimmer packaging: “Packaging innovations like that do make a difference, independent of what that does to the price.”

Sure, and pricing increases make a HUGE difference, independent of the packaging innovations. By the way… “packaging innovations”? Since when has removing two sticks of gum from a pack of 17 an “innovation?” Short of the pack actually popping out a stick of gum on demand, I can’t understand how “less product” = “packaging innovation.”

Seriously, is a 17-stick pack of gum creating that much drag in your pocket/purse/etc., or do the extra two sticks cause an exponential increase in the gravitational pull on your body? By the way, doesn’t Wrigley’s also offer five-stick packs of gum?

Finally,

Though the new packaging is, in effect, a price increase, Wrigley is hailing it as a packaging breakthrough. “Consumers like the fact that [the envelope] is slim, sleek; it feels very contemporary,” said Chibe.

AHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA. Contemporary? Are we talking about a pack of gum, or an MP3 player?

This is just my opinion, but I’d be much happier with the extra two sticks of gum. Why can’t these companies just state the obvious: costs of manufacturing have gone up, and therefore, the company needs to either raise their prices, or offer less product? I’d almost respect a company more if they were willing to state these facts! Then again, would you buy a bottle of Tide detergent if it had a sticker on it that said “Now with LESS product!”?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have a bowl of Golden Grahams. Wait a second…this box has only 12 oz. of product! I love it! It’s much more aerodynamic than before, which is really important when you’re in a rush, and have to quickly pour yourself a bowl of cereal!

Tags: Cust. Service, Deals by Peter
1 Comment »

Four straight days of blogging? What’s going on???

Quick-hitter:

- My sister asked me to look for some supplements for her. I looked up the active ingredients in one of her requested supplements, and one particular ingredient made me do a double take.

The ingredient? EPO.

“Listen…who is this guy who suggested these supplements to you?” I asked. Was my sister training with Floyd Landis?

I quickly pulled up the nutrition facts of this supplement, and was very relieved to find out that EPO stood for Evening Primrose Oil :P.

- My sister, after acquiring a new laptop, asked me to format hers and help her with the sale of it. Yesterday, I finally got around to formatting it (shocker, I know).

I went through the original shipping box of the laptop, looking for the restore CD. That’s when I found this square of paper with a picture of a CD on it, saying that no restore CDs were necessary to restore the laptop back to its original configuration; I would have to access a recovery partition on the system’s HDD to perform the restore.

No problem, I thought. I fired up the laptop, and pounded Ctrl+F11 as instructed. The next thing I knew, I saw the Windows XP logo. I guess I must have missed the prompt, I thought to myself.

Lather, rinse, repeat…and nothing. I used Windows Disk Management to verify that a recovery partition did exist, and of course it did. I tried Ctrl+F11 once more, and nothing happened.

I contacted Dell Support via email and explained that I needed the restore disks, as I could not access the restore partition. Dell replied, saying that they would have the restore CDs out in the next few days.

Today, I checked my Dell account to see if the CDs were en route, when I noticed an order created March 20, for the amount of ~$37. Looking at the order status, I noticed that Dell was trying to charge me $10 each for some Roxio software and some other non-essential software. What the hell? If I had to pay for the disks, shouldn’t I have been notified of this before creating an order? And all I really wanted was the Windows restore disk; I could care less about the other software!

I fired off an email to Support and asked why an order was created before notifying me of the necessary charges. The Dell rep quickly responded, letting me know that I would not actually be charged for the disks. Whew!

- My sister and I had plans to join her friends at Pineapple Hill—a “saloon and grill” on Van Nuys Blvd.—to watch the UCLA v Mississippi Valley State game. The food was great: fresh guacamole, buffalo wings, and burgers all around. Too bad the game was utterly unwatchable; I got bored of the game after five minutes.

(I know…what was I supposed to expect from a 1-16 matchup?)

Well, at least I got to watch the first part of the Lakers-Jazz game. Oh wait; that was pretty unwatchable too, at least in the early going. Did I mention that the food was good?

- And finally, some NCAA Day 1 thoughts:

1) Even though it would have wrecked by bracket, I was rooting for Belmont to beat Duke.

Too bad I was on the road during the last 2 minutes or so of the game.

2) USC v Kansas State held up to its billing…for about 35 minutes. What the heck happened to USC down the stretch?

Kansas State:Michael Beasley::Syracuse:Carmelo Anthony? Quite a reach, I know.

3) Thanks for showing up, MVSU. Twenty-nine points? Same to you, George Mason.

4) After Day 1 of the UngsungBlog Bracket Challenge (UBC), I’m trailing 13-12. Shocking, I know.

Until next time!

Tags: Cust. Service, Food, Sports by Peter
No Comments »