Entries Tagged as 'satellite radio'

eBay Spam, Crystal Light Addiction, And Fun Installing A Sirius Satellite Radio Antenna

Quick-hitters:

- 99 degrees (102 RealFeel) yesterday; 103 (108) today.

It’s only June! Help me!

It’s so freaking hot that I have to turn on the A/C…at 8pm!

(More on the heat later.)

EDIT: We just had our first lights-flickering moment of the season! Rolling blackouts, here we come!

- The Dodgers are on a three-game winning streak! W00t!

Oh wait…they swept Cincinnati. Never mind.

(Now I hear that Rafael Furcal won’t be back until the All-Star Break. Sigh.)

- So after a several-month long absence from eBay (8.25% final value fees + 3% PayPal fees!!!!!), I posted a few things for sale that I couldn’t move on Amazon.com.

Two days after listing the auctions, nine eBay-related messages showed up in my inbox. Of the nine, two were legitimate questions about my auctions, four asked for shipping costs to a foreign country (obviously, these bidders missed the boldfaced part of my auction description that says that I will not ship to international bidders), and three were emails that looked something like this:

Subject: [eBay user] thought you might like this item on eBay

Body: We’re a big shipping company in China [blah blah blah] We specialize in wholesale electronics [blah blah blah] cell phones, laptops, computers, LCD TVs, plasmas, etc.

[blah blah blah] [contact info] We hope to conduct business with you.

One week later, and I got a total of nine or ten of these stupid emails. Never mind the number of phishing emails from fake sites like signin-ebay.com, e.g.

(Tangent: Every time I log on to my eBay account, I see an ad for a discount offer on an eBay symposium. Yeah, like I am going to pay to hear eBay explain why they need to raise their fees even more.)

- So I think my family is officially addicted to Crystal Light. Armed with a $15/39 coupon (SUMBEV39), I ordered the following flavors of Crystal Light for my sisters:

If the temperatures around here stay in the low-100s, these Crystal Light packets probably won’t last more than a month.

- At about 7PM last night, my sister asked me to assist her in installing her Sirius satellite radio antenna in her car. When we started the install process, we noticed something immediately: it was freaking hot!

(Her car thermostat reported 84 degrees, although I don’t think it was that warm. It was still really warm, especially for 7PM, though.)

So the installation of the antenna involved attaching above the rear windshield—the antenna itself is magnetic, and there’s a small piece that is adhesive-backed, which further helps to secure the antenna to the car, as well as protecting the antenna cable from kinks. The antenna wire is then to be fed under the rubber molding that surrounds the rear windshield, followed by threading through the trunk, into the back seat, along the floor, and eventually to the radio itself. Sounds easy, right?

We had three different plastic putty knives (the instructions suggested that we use a putty knife), and a small pocket blade (and by that, I’m talking about those “blades” on a Swiss Army knife), and had nothing but trouble threading the cable underneath the rubber molding. That’s when my sister got this great idea to use index cards to push up the rubber molding, allowing us to push the cable underneath the molding.

The idea was brilliant, although I think I punctured the antenna anywhere from one to a hundred times when I used the putty knife to force the antenna underneath the molding. Once that was complete, we fed the wire through the trunk, down the back seat, along the floor of the passenger side of the car, and that’s when we ran into another snag.

There was enough wire to connect the radio only if we kept the radio near the cup holder. There went any ideas of sticking the radio on the dash! However, my sister loved the idea of leaving the radio near the cup holder!

(Whatever floats her boat, I suppose.)

Overall, installation of the antenna was relatively painless. I just fear that someone is going to rip off the antenna. And if you think I’m crazy, recall that I live in a complex where our “Welcome” mat was stolen…right in front of our front door.

Next time, I’ll mention what else happened with my sister and Sirius customer “support.” Until next time!

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Sirius Customer Service Rant (AKA Sprint’s CSRs Have Some Company On The List), And Celtics-Lakers Game Three Thoughts

Quick-hitters:

- How come I never realized how addictive graham crackers can be?

Damn graham crackers. Good thing I don’t have any chocolate and marshmallows lying around…

- Current rebate-o-meter: ~$1,400. Apparently I forgot to enter about $400 in rebates that I almost completely forgot about!

And by “enter” I mean “I completely forgot about these items I ordered, and therefore I’m not even close to thinking about filing these rebates.”

I’m lazy.

- Hey Sprint! Did you loan out some of your CSRs to Sirius?

I was shopping through Sirius’ web site via AAA for a radio and subscription service. The site had a pretty nice deal: $14.99 for the Stratus 4 Dock & Play Kit, plus a free month of service and free activation. After notifying my sister of the deal, she quickly told me to order it for her.

When I got to the checkout, though, I saw the $15.00 activation fee in my shopping cart. I looked back at AAA’s website, and made absolutely sure that everything looked good. Free shipping? Check. Free month of service? Check. One year subscription? Check. So where’s my free activation?

I called the Sirius/AAA hotline, and almost immediately, a guy with a thick accent answered. He asked me for my name, phone number, and address, but I pointed out that I was not yet a subscriber, and just had a question or two about a AAA promotion. I pointed out that AAA members get free activation when ordering online, adding the fact that I did sign up for a one year contract.

The moron asked me to read the serial number off the back of my radio. Strike one.

I reminded him that I was not yet a subscriber, and wanted to sign up for service. I stated again that I was supposed to get free activation as a AAA member.

The moron, matter-of-factly, stated that it was “policy” to charge the $15.00 activation fee. Strike two.

At this point, I was furious, so I decided to speak in my one-word-at-a-time, near-the-top-of-my-voice voice (which will, from now on, be known as the “IVR voice”), pointing out again that I was signing up through AAA’s site, and the site clearly mentions that AAA members get free shipping AND free activation.

The moron told me that he would research it with “somebody,” and he put me on hold. When he came back, he acknowledged an error on the site, and that I should only be charged $10 for activation. Foul tip…

I screamed, “TEN DOLLARS IS NOT FREE!” That’s when the rep dropped this bomb on me: he said that his coworker insisted that the activation charge was correct!!!

(Now I’m assuming “coworker” != “supervisor.” For all I know, maybe he did mean supervisor. For now, though, I am not giving him the benefit of the doubt.)

One final time, I adamantly pointed out that I should be getting free activation. That’s when I heard his “coworker” in the background utter “It’s right! It’s right!”, to which the trained seal stupid rep responded with something to the effect of “There is a $15.00 activation fee, which is policy to charge for new subscriptions.”

*click*

Strike f**king three.

EDIT: Wanting my sister to share my pain, I had her call back and try to get a supervisor on the line. “Jay” answered her call, and while he wouldn’t transfer her to a supervisor, he did append our order for free activation. There were some issues getting the radio she wanted for $14.99, but he eventually fixed the pricing of the kit as well. He was ready to put the order through, and he asked my sister if it was OK to put her on hold.

She did. And, in-freaking-explicably, she “accidentally” hung up on him.

She immediately called back, and tried to find “Jay.” The first rep explained that she couldn’t do so without his extension. The second rep she spoke to wouldn’t put the order through, insisting that the price of the radio was wrong. While being on hold with a third rep, and she inexplicably hung up while on hold a third time!

(Apparently the rep I dealt with cursed us.)

When she called yet again, she again demanded a supervisor. Tired of waiting being placed on hold for so long, she hung up and called again. Finally, she got a rep that spoke English!

This rep instructed my sister to order the service through sirius.com, and once the order was in the system, the rep was going to manually waive the activation fee. How do you suppose that went?

After the order was submitted, the rep put my sister back on hold, and attempted to manually credit her account. When she came back on the phone, naturally, she told us that she could not credit the account. Instead, she told my sister to call back when she receives the radio, and request the credit upon activation.

Hey, stupid rep: if you couldn’t credit the account right now, what makes you think one of your fellow morons reps is going to be able to credit the account when my sister calls in to activate the radio?

Several calls, zero supervisors, two headaches…and we aren’t even customers yet. Awesome.

- Paul Pierce went 2 for 14. Kevin Garnett went 6 for 21. The Lakers held a double digit lead in the first half. Kobe Bryant shot 18 foul shots. Sasha Vujacic scored 20 points.

And after all that, the Lakers still had to fight for a Game Three win? That can’t bode well for the Lakers’ chances in the series. Then again, Lamar Odom was non-existant for three quarters, Pau Gasol got a couple key offensive rebounds, and Derek Fisher had another ineffective game. So did the Lakers really win, or did they just not lose?

Speaking of Sasha, what a great game he had. Killer treys, irritating defense, but not a single shot of him adjusting that thing he had in his head that keeps his hair manageable? And I loved the little tussle between PJ Brown and Jordan Farmar.

If Pierce and Garnett give Boston anything decent in Game Four, and Odom and Gasol rebound as well, who wins Game Four. You have to give the Lakers a slight edge, all things considered, don’t you? Then again, a dominant Pierce might be all Boston needs to win Game Four and end the series in six games at the most.

Note to Phil Jackson: Trevor Ariza does not belong on the court, much less checking Paul Pierce or Ray Allen.

Until next time!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , by Peter
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Screw you, DHL; Microsoft Rebate Checks Come FAST (How Fast?); And Upon Further Review, Yes, You Did Include the UPC

I’m going to go sports-free today.

In other words, I’ve got tons to rant (and a little bit of raving) regarding customer service issues.

(Warning: L O N G blog entry today!)

Quick-hitters:

- So I just signed up for a free seven day trial of Sirius Internet Radio.

(I know…I’m WAY late to the party).

So far, I like the idea of commercial free radio, though I was hoping that the stations were COMPLETELY interruption-free (every now and then, the DJs insist on interjecting their thoughts between songs).

You could say that I’m testing out Sirius to try to convince my sister to sign up. With her AAA card, she should be able to get a decent deal on service + a radio, though nothing close to the $0 deal that was posted on SlickDeals recently, which even included a $30 gift card!

- I understand that credit worthiness is as understood as Mars, but I gotta wonder why Discover card is willing to offer me a promotional 0% balance transfer rate for a year, Chase is offering the same—as well as 2.99% for life (and that check is still sitting on my desk just in case)—but Citibank insists that their 0% for 4 months or 7.99% for life offers are worth my time.

Worse, while Discover only offers me this when I log into my online account, and Chase sends me balance transfer checks about once a quarter, Citibank insists on sending me these checks 2-3 times a week. I guess that’s why I bought a Staples MailMate shredder.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,049, with at least $200 “cut” (check written, and en route to me.)

Current unfiled-rebate-o-meter: $500 or so :P

(I’m so lazy.)

- Screw you DHL, and you too, idiot driver! I had a package scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, but I was not available to sign for the package (it was signature required). I got the notice on the door that night, and the next day, my sister was around to sign for the package.

That evening, the driver never came around! I checked the status of the package, and it said that a delivery attempt was made at 2:54pm! Ok…then where’s the second notice, remarking that Friday would have been DHL’s third and final delivery attempt?

I was around all day on Friday, awaiting the package, and around 7:00pm that night, I checked the status of the package again, and it appeared that the package never made it into the hands of the driver! WTF???

I called DHL earlier today, and the rep flatly told me that it was returned to sender. When I asked him why only two delivery attempts were made—by my count, there was only one delivery attempt, but whatever—the rep told me that the first delivery attempt was made on Tuesday.

(WRONG! Look at the status page! And I’m completely ignoring the fact that the package went to the wrong shipping facility on 6/2, a day before the supposed first delivery attempt!)

The rep asked me if I received a notice, and I pointed out that I received one on Wednesday. I then explained that, if the second delivery attempt was made on Wednesday, then why did I not get a notice on Tuesday? In addition, if this was the second delivery attempt, then wouldn’t I have been notified that the next delivery attempt would have been my last?

That’s when the rep dropped this bomb: he said that the driver scanned the package three consecutive days, and that the third scan was done on the sixth.

(If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the first scan have come on the fourth, and not the third as the rep mentioned earlier?)

The rep added that, regardless of what the online tracking says, three scans = three delivery attempts. I pointed out that the driver might have been at my front door once out of the three attempts, and the rep would not budge on his three scans = three delivery attempts argument.

I’m almost 100% convinced that, after Wednesday’s delivery attempt—regardless of which delivery attempt that was—the driver didn’t even try to contact me via the intercom on Thursday, and didn’t even bother to attempt a delivery on Friday. Good thing the package contained nothing of great importance.

I suppose DHL guy still isn’t as bad as the FedEx driver, who really loves to throw packages against my front door. And as much as I think the UPS guy is not at all funny, at least he cares enough to leave me notices every day that he attempts a delivery.

And I don’t want to hear, “Well, if the package was important, then why didn’t you sign the back of the notice?” One, even if I did so, I’m not even sure that the driver made a second or third delivery attempt! How can he leave a package without stopping by my front door? Two, I still live in the complex where an LCD was stolen from my front door, and someone’s boxed up broken tuba (!!!) was stolen from their front door!

Screw you, DHL.

- After all that ranting, I think it’s time to switch gears. I submitted a $30 rebate for Windows Live OneCare, which, according to my records, was mailed out on 5/6/08.

The rebate check showed up in my mailbox today.

(In a world where rebates takes 8-12 weeks, usually from the date of receipt, but sometimes from the date of the end of the promo, or even 30 days after the end of the promo, a rebate that takes four weeks to receive is awesome.)

I checked my email inbox and noticed that I had only gotten notification that the rebate processor got my submission on 5/27 (the email itself arrived 6/3). Thirteen days—nine business days—from receipt to a check? Wow!

Even funnier is the fact that, when I checked out my online rebate status, it says this:

Date received: 05/27/08

Date checked mailed: 06/19/08 (est.)

Estimated check arrival date: 06/29/08

In other words, the rebate processor still thinks the check is only in the processing stages!

Incidentally, Microsoft rebates are handled by Young America, the same company that processes TrendNet rebates (rejection rates = Ray Allen’s free throw shooting percentage; really really high, in other words), Corel and Office Depot rebates (really really slow), and Sony software rebates, which leads me to my last story…

(Young America also used to handle Kaspersky rebates, and while I had no real problems with Kaspersky rebates handled by these guys, many people on SD weren’t so lucky).

- Three days ago, I checked the status of a pair of Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 rebates at web-rebates.com. One rebate was good to go, but the second rebate had this little remark attached to it:

Submission did not include an original UPC from Movie Studio 8

Now, the UPC was a sticker, which I stuck smack dab on the top edge of the rebate form. Certainly you can see how a moron could miss that, right?

(Unless the piece of invisible tape I used to further stick the UPC to the rebate form yellowed in transit, and thus blocked the UPC from plain sight, I guess…)

Naturally I did what I do best: I sent a hate-filled email to their customer service desk, using the webform found here. This morning, I got this reply:

Dear Mr. Ung,

Thank you for your interest in the Sony rebate offer.

We have reviewed your request and find the UPC was submitted. Your $30.00 rebate has been processed.

Please allow 10-14 days to receive your rebate check.

We apologize for the error and the inconvenience incurred.

It’s good to know that these rebate processors don’t mis-see (:P) UPCs, and then immediately trash the rebate submission afterwards, which begs the question: why don’t they? If a rebate submission is clearly invalid, then why keep them?

Perhaps it has something to do with rebate companies trying adhere to a strict quota of only processing a select percentage of rebates…

(Nah.)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , by Peter
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