Category Archives: Rant
Scumbag day
Yesterday, December 1, 2009, would be known as scumbag day in my book. It’s a day in which I encountered both low and high tech scumbags.
I encountered the low tech scumbag during my evening jog. At a somewhat dark street junction in my normal route, a young black teenager approached me, took out a knife from his pocket, and demanded for my iPhone. As he was still 2-3 meters away from me, I turned and ran the opposite direction. This punk didn’t pursue and instead ran towards a nearby parked car which took off quickly. Though I wasn’t physically harmed, what really pissed me off about this incident was that this was at a safe residential area, MY residential area!
Later in the same evening I noticed that there was a message in our answering machine. It was a somewhat automated voice asking us to call back 800-695-7020. The message said it was from World National Bank regarding Victoria Secret account. My wife dialed the number and almost gave her SSN upon prompt. Luckily I grew suspicious at the vague message and stopped her in time. A quick online search revealed that phone number to be a phishing scam. What irked me about this was that phishing scams were typically online, not in the physical world. These asshats just crossed the line.
So many bastards in this world.
Incompetence is the new norm
Seems like incompetence is the new norm rather than exception in the customer service industry. Here is one recent example:
Typically I read my own PG&E meters and put up a reading card next to the window to be recorded by PG&E personnels. Well, I forgot to update the card in end of March, so I called PG&E and gave my lastest reading over the phone. I was told that because the meter readings were in the process of being refreshed for all customers, an email with my readings would be sent to the billing department so that I would ultimately get the accurate bill.
Fast forward to today. I received the PG&E bill with an estimated amount, which means something got messed up inside PG&E after my phone call.
It’s no big deal really, I wasn’t expecting competence anyway.
Hit with more tax
Today is the first day of increased sales tax. I was hit with it. At Chinese takeout. For food. Hurts.
USPS customer service followup
This is a follow up to my previous post on USPS customer service.
I got a callback from a USPS person this morning. This person works for the USPS distribution hub responsible for the region. He told me that his department does not deliver to our company address. Instead my company has a private courier that picks up all mails from the nearest USPS office. I brought up the fact that the delivered zip code is incorrect. The explanation I got is that the mail was considered delivered once it was picked up at the post office. The USPS person told me to follow up with that particular USPS office. I got the USPS office phone number and street address from the person in case I want to follow up.
I did a little address search after I got off the phone. The post office zip code is xxx41. The delivered zip code is xxx39. It didn’t tally.
A few possibilities:
- The package was wrongly delivered even before getting to the correct post office. This would explain the delivered zip code not being xxx41.
- The package was lost by the private courier from post office to my company.
- The USPS guy on the phone gave me a bogus story to kick my case elsewhere.
- The USPS guy on the phone gave me his theory based on information he is aware of.
I think my package is lost and is not coming back.
Customer service showdown: USPS versus Amazon
I ordered a camera bag (Crumpler 6 Million Dollar Home) from Amazon on Dec. 14. The package left Amazon on Dec. 19 via USPS destined to my work address. Tracking showed that it was delivered on Dec. 23, but because it was Christmas week, I didn’t pay much attention when I didn’t get the usual package arrival notification from my company’s shipping center.
Yesterday I finally checked with my company’s shipping department for the package. According to the personnel there, no such package was ever delivered. The fact that no recipient signature was required did not help. I had to bring the matter to USPS.
Sneaky Apple and Google
According to reports (here is one), Apple is sneakily installing MobileMe software when users set up iTunes 7.7. I came home tonight and double checked my desktop, and true enough, the dreaded MobileMe setting is in my Control Panel. No where during my iTunes 7.7 installation was I prompted about MobileMe.
Just yesterday I had to deal with a similar annoyance. Along with a Java update from Sun Microsystems came an option to install Google Toolbar for browsers. I was clicking so fast on the ‘Next’ buttons during installation that I accidentally allowed it to go through.
I guess it’s okay for media darlings such as Apple and Google to try this stunt. If Microsoft was to try this, I am sure it would have been sued to the last penny. And I am guessing the European Union would be the most raucous.
False assumptions
Don’t you hate it when this happens?
Me: Is X true?
Someone: Yes.
Me: Is X true for all environments?
Someone: Yes.
Me: Confirmed?
Someone: Yes
During testing
Someone: Oh, Y needs to be fixed because X is not true.
Me: …
Cross-OS pain
I tried to move a large file (larger than 4.7GB) from Mac OS to Vista. It was so painful that I just gave up.
Attempt: Burn file to a dual-layer DVD.
Problem: My MacBook only has a single-layer DVD burner.
Attempt: Mount a NTFS-formatted USB drive to Mac and copy the file directly.
Problem: Mac OS cannot write to NTFS.
Attempt: Format the USB drive to FAT32.
Problem: FAT32 does not support files larger than 4GB.
Attempt: Format the USB drive to HFS+.
Problem: Vista does not read HFS+. MacDrive trial failed to install, throwing “MacDrive 7 Setup could not be completed because an error occurred.”
Attempt: Copy the file over network file sharing.
Problem: Slow. Would have taken 6+ hours over WiFi.
Idea: Break the big file into smaller pieces, using a cross-platform protocol like RAR.
Problem: Laziness.
I know there are other solutions that might work, for example 1) use an external DL DVD burner, 2) connect the computers using wired networking, or 3) toss the MacBook into the dumpster. Sadly I am missing either the required computer peripherals or the guts to throw away $1000.
Bad, bad Mac OS updates
My wife updated her MacBook OS tonight using the built-in Software Updater. These updates were installed:
- Security Update 2007-009 (Universal), version 1.1
- Java For Mac OS X 10.4 Release 6, version 1.0
- Mac OS X Update (Intel), version 10.4.11
- iDVD Update, version 6.0.4
Afterwards her decent Mac user experience went down the toilet:
- DiskImageMounter.app wouldn’t run. This means I can’t install programs since most Mac installers come in DMG format.
- Disk Utility.app wouldn’t run.
- Security preferences pane wouldn’t open, either crashes or hangs.
- Unable to create a new user account.
While searching for answers and solutions, I get the impression that these OS updates are not exactly robust, contrary to popular impressions from all those Mac propaganda. I did run some tests and “corrected” some file permission problems using the original Apple OS install CD (probably not a good idea to fix supposedly updated permissions using older tools), but other than slightly different crash/hang behaviors, nothing really got fixed.
Apple is just giving me reason after reason to hate it. I am tempted to just restore the OS, sell the MacBook, and buy another Wintel notebook.
My continuing iPhone/AT&T dealings
My sad iPhone story continues without an end to this day, so much so that I am tired of writing essays on it. Instead I will list out my dealings with AT&T in chronological order.
10/17/2007
- Called 611 and filed credit adjust request, received request number.
- Told that it would take 3-5 business days for adjustment.
10/26/2007
- Called 611 to follow up on credit adjustment.
- Now told that it would take 10-14 business days for adjustment.
- Furthermore, my AT&T account will be suspended on 11/14 if I don’t pay the $650+ and that I have to follow up with Receivable Management (1800-947-5096) to prevent it from happening.
- Told to call again by end of first week of November.
10/30/2007
- Received an automated phone call from ATT about unpaid balance.
- AT&T support person put a note to avoid account suspension, taking effect till Nov 6.
- Told to call on 11/05 to follow up on the credit request.
11/05/2007
- Called again.
- Told that application is being processed.
- Advised to call back on 11/9.
11/08/2007
- Called back because of AT&T email about unpaid balance.
- This time asked to call back on 11/17.
- Now the credit is supposedly to take 1-2 billing cycles.
11/14/2007
- Received AT&T email regarding unpaid balance.
- Called the normal 611 number and was told that credit adjustment was denied.
- Called customer service at 1800-331-0500 and filed customer support case. Why wasn’t this done earlier I had no freaking idea.
- Told that someone will get back to me within 24-48 hours.
- Meanwhile account shouldn’t be suspended because there is a note for Receivable Management department in my account regarding my case.
11/15/2007
- Account was suspended.
- Called back customer service at 1800-331-0500 to temporarily reactivate my account pending case resolution.
11/16/2007
- Someone from AT&T called back at noon, from here onwards this person will be my single point of contact regarding my case.
- Turns out my iPhone/AT&T problem is not a lone one.
To be continued…
