Microsoft Genuine Advantage

Gee, my copy of Office 2003 suddenly doesn’t validate any more. It did for the past couple of years. I wonder why all of a sudden Microsoft wants me to repurchase it. Of course, Microsoft owes nobody any explanations, even the DOJ. So should I complain. Why bother.

Oh well, though luck me! So my next computer will be a MAC.

Direct TV

I’m watching the “Searching for Signal” picture. I called Direct TV. They told me it “must be the weather.” I wasn’t buying it. There’s a thin cloud layer. So I pressed Vicki (I always get the person’s name) for more information. Then she told me that I needed to reset my receiver. I told her that I would do it to humor her, but the likihood of all 4 receivers going out simultaneously were small.

I asked her to check my account to make sure that they have not terminated service (see my post on the New AT&T about my 6-month-long battle to get my billing straight). My account is in order.

She finally admitted that there was a probelm in “the Greensboro area” which if I know anything about sattelite communications probably includes about 1/4 of North America. I asked her if they had an estimated time in service. She said the comments said “they are working on it.”

I told her thanks. She asked if she could do anything else for me. I told her that I don’t suppose she’d don a space suit and go up there and fix the sattilite? At least with cable, they can send a guy out with a truck.

At least this time I got reasonable servce from the service center, although I did have to prod her a little to get the answer I needed and put up with the standard, “It’s not our fault, it’s somebody else’s fault, and there is something wrong on your end”) before getting the truth.

My final question was, “You’re going to get a lot of calls on this one. Is this outage posted on the web site?” She did go out and check. Nope. Not there. If I were Direct TV, I wouldn’t want my failures out there for the world to see either.

The New AT&T

The “New AT&T” used to be BellSouth. I was impressed with my service with BellSouth, however, things have changed.

Since becoming The New AT&T service has gone down and costs have gone up.

I made a big mistake signing up with a bundled package with The New AT&T and DirectTV in June. I was supposed to get Telephone, Internet and Satellite for $80 a month.

Problem 1 – Ooops we didn’t tell you that you have to rent the receivers for an additional $20 a month?

Problem 2 – To get your $35 rebate (for 6 months) simply log onto the web site and fill out the form. I spent 8 hours on the phone on this one. Getting shuttled from one hold queue to another and getting dropped twice. It seems that the surly agents at DirectTV had no idea about the promotion. The promotion simply wasn’t on the web site.

The New AT&T told me I had to talk to DirectTV. DirectTV told me I had to talk to The New AT&T. I love it when companies point fingers at one another and play “monkey in the middle” with the customer.

So the first letter to the CEO of The New AT&T was sent. I asked for a response in writing. I get a call from the regional center in Atlanta informing me that the problem will taken care of., but it might not show up until the September bill. It wasn’t.

So the second letter to the CEO of The New AT&T was sent. I asked for a response in writing. And I got anther phone call from the regional center. What ever happened to replying in kind? I write a letter, I want a letter in return. Companies hate letters. It’s a paper trail. So I do memos for the record.

In my third letter I asked for written confirmation of the alleged corrections. I asked for a response in writing from the headquarters and not a call from the reginal center since the regiional center was obviously not empowered to handle this probelm. I got another voicemail from the regional center. I gave up and did not call back to get put on hold again. “Your call is important to us …”

Problem 3 – Ooops didn’t we tell you that the “extras” like voice mail and those other services aren’t included.

Problem 4 – International calling. Oh yeah, the price went up for the package. It’s didn’t matter, instead of charging me the 9 cents a minute, they charged me full rate. So a call that should have cost a couple of dollars cost $75. My wife called and we got an adjustment. She had to make this call three months in a row. It was fixed … at least on last month’s bill.

Problem 5 – Internet. Well, you existing service isn’t the one in the package you signed up for. So instead of charging you $42 as we used to for this service it’s $85. I called on this one and got it fixed, but not until after I paid the first $85 charge.

The rebate is allegedly in effect. I got a voicemail to this effect. I still have not seen a bill that confirms this. According to the robot on my account, they say I have a $210.01 credit. This is due of course to my having to overpay them for the past 6 months.

Problem 6 – Installation. Our existing cabling was not adequate for the service so they ran all new cables: all over the outside of the house including two cables running up the front of the house, and one across the front steps. The New AT&T has refused to address this issue and insists I talk to DirectTV about it. I contacted them on Nov 28th. I talked first to Jamie who told me she couldn’t help me and gave me another number to call where I talked to Kiana. As of Dec 5th they still had not called back. So I called them again. this time I talked to Dawn who told me. “Did you sumbmit a damage report?” I asked her “What’s a damage report?” Well, it turns out there is more work I HAVE TO DO, as a customer before they can consider my claim. I’ll keep you posted on this one.

I used to spend $185 a month for internet and two telephone lines (legacy from dial-up days and a home office), and $55 for cable. Now I pay $140 for internet and one telephone line (the addition $60 a month is “fees”) and $75 for DirectTV. That’s $250 per month, a far cry from the advertized $80.

I had time to compose this blog piece during a recent The New AT&T is “region-wide problem.” I did get a recording that informed me of this and the fact that I could expect a 60-mintue wait to talk to an agent. They said that the agents didn’t know what was going on. Given my experience with the New AT&T I believe them.

E-Gold Money (Part Time Position) Transfer Agent.

I got the attached email and I just had to follow up. First thing to notice that the mail comes from Cherylsfla352@aol.com but I am directed to respond to A.Karenina.job@gmail.com. OK, so when is the last time you saw a respectable company using AOL, Hotmail, GMail or any other non-commercial email account. Heck even I have my own domain name!

The email says nothing about what a transfer agent is, what the job description is, or what the duties and responsibilites will be – a lot like those work at home ads on TV.

I eventually got a response directing me to a Russian web site to buy and sell gold. I think I’ll pass on this one.

Message Follows:

From: Alexandra Karenina [Cherylsfla352@aol.com] TO: Dan Flak Subject: Part Time Position Hello Dan Flak  We’ve found your resume at monster.com and would like to suggest you a “Transfer manager” vacancy.

I’m the Chief Manager of Department of employment We have thoroughly studied your resume and are happy to inform you that your skills completely meet our requirements for this position. Our company buy, sell, and exchange digital currencies, like E-gold and E-bullion. This is a part-time position. Your schedule will be flexible. You will need to spend on average 1-2 hours per day, Monday-Friday. This is a work-at-home position. All communication will be online. General requirements: *     Applicants must be at least 21-years-old *     Good communications skills *     Honesty, responsibility and promptness in operations;  A position within our company on a trial period for one month starting from the beginning of the work will be offered to the successful applicants. During this trial period you will be receiving training and online support while working and being paid. Employees on a one month trial period are evaluated at least one week prior to the end of their trial period. The supervisor can recommend termination, during the trial period. At the completion of the trial period, the supervisor can recommend continued employment, extension of trial period, or termination. During the trial period you will be paid $1,500 per month. You will also be keeping 8 percent commission from every payment received from our customer. With the current volume of clients on average your overall income will add up to $3,000 USD per month. After the trial period your base salary will go up to $2,250 USD per month, plus 8 percent commission. After the trial period you may ask for additional hours or proceed full-time. If you are interested in this position, and would like to know more, please e-mail me: A.Karenina.job@gmail.com We will contact you within 24-hours.

Marriot Hotels

I just came back from vacation visiting the grandchildren in Vancouver, U. S. of A (just north of the Oregon border in Washington State. Not to be confused with Vancouver, Eh? Just north of the Washington border in British Columbia.)

The stay was paid for with points earned during numerous business trips. Redeeming the points took two phone calls. I changed my reservations: no sweat. We checked out and there was an issue about the points dates not matching the stay dates. The person at the counter clicked a couple keys on the computer and said, “There shouldn’t be a problem. If anything comes up, we’ll call you. Have a good trip back.”

That’s what I like; being treated like a customer. They provider does the work, and I do nothing except reap the benefits. Too many companies nowadays isolate themselves from their customers hiding behind telephone menu systems and web sites. It’s become a self-help world and if you have a problem, it’s your responsibility to fix it.

The stay? The people were courteous. The facility was great (the wife and I liked the mini-fridge … wine, cheese and crackers before bed always goes over well). The grandkids loved the pool and my only complaint about the hot breakfast was that they have what has to be the world’s slowest toaster.

Bank of America

No, not for the reason you think. They do NOT issue credit cards to illegal immigrants. You just don’t need a Social Security number to get one. They don’t care WHY you don’t have a social security number. As the saying goes, if you don’t want to know the answer, don’t ask the question.

My beef with them is that they claim that this is a benefit to the Latino community. They are just helping the poor working class man and woman out by providing a credit card with a $99 deposit up front, $500 credit limit and 24+% interest rate. They are fairly certain their customers won’t complain.

Bank of America – friend of the working man with or without a Social Security number.

Triad Job Search Network (TJSN)

Another free resource is the Triad Job Search Network that meets at The Covenant United Methodist Church, 1526 Skeet Club Road in High Point (about a mile west of the intersection of Hwy 68 / Eastover & Wendover / Skeet Club Road) each Tuesday from 9 AM to 11 AM.

TJSN won’t get you a job, but they will help you learn the skills you need to get a better job quicker.

There is a volunary $3 donation at the door. It pays for the coffee .

Professionals in Transition (PIT)

This group is run by a group of volunteers, all of whom share a common denominator: they’ve been laid off and been in the job search and want to give back to those who are now seeking work themselves.

PIT is primarily a self-help networking group.  The facilitators’ purpose is to assist people in giving each other leads and advice. No outside solicitation is allowed.

 PIT meets at the Greensboro Jaycees (401 N Elm) on Wednesday evenings from 7 PM to 8:30 PM. They also meet at the Winston-Salem Red Cross on Thursday evenings at the same times.

If you are looking for a new job whether you are still employed or not, check it out. It’s free.

How American Airlines Tried to Kill My Family (Part II)

A lot of people have 9-11 stories. Two of the four hijacked airlines were American Airlines. There must be a reason why terrorists choose American.

My brother-in-law’s appointment in the towers was pushed back from 8:30 to 11:00 AM. He planned on having lunch with his brother and wife who both worked in the towers. They planned on barely making lunch as they were at the OB doctor for a sonagram.

Family communications were accomplished via New York to North Carolina to Portland, Oregon back to New Jersey.

Microsoft

It was only a matter of time.  My problem with the evil empire today has to do with its latest download.  Microsoft has been known to release upgrades that do more harm than good. Because of this I opt to download upgrade but not to install them automatically. I let a day or two go by and then I check the boards to see if anyone is having problems with it before I install it.

The download-but-don’t-install option is no longer an option. Now when you download the upgrade, you have the option to install it immediately or Microsoft will install it for you AUTOMATICALLY when you shut down the computer. You’re getting the upgrade whether you want it or not.

It’s typical Microsoft; you, the user, are too stupid to run software and they will go to all lengths to keep you from doing harm to yourself. Of course, they keep you from doing anything useful too.

It started with DOS. Delete a file? ARE YOU SURE? Of course I am! I grew up with Unix. If you wanted to cd / and then rm -r *, the computer assumed you had a good reason for doing so. I hear Vista is the same way; you can’t run a command without verifying it.