Craziness at the Return Counter

So the other day I purchased this Aiptek HD 720p Video Camera, I liked it but I saw it was on sale at this week so I went in to get the $30 price difference. Well, I couldn't find the receipt so I went in to make sure it was the same camera first. It was not the same camera, it was the new better model, the Aiptek HD 1080p Video Camera, for $30 less. From the way it was on the rack I am pretty sure the old one was also on sale (i.e. clearance) since they didn't have them any more and this one seemed to be replacing that one at the same price point.

As I walked up to the counter I decided I didn't want to bother to return the old one and buy the new one since the differences were minimal and there was a 15% restocking fee. I just wanted them to credit me the $30 for the old one. They couldn't print me a new receipt, nor could they credit me the $30 without the receipt, but they would refund my money and they weren't going to nick me the $30 if I purchased a new one, so I went back, got the better camera (which was even better than I thought) and got my $30 back too. From the receipt, it looks like they have the same SKU, so now I'm sure both were $30 cheaper.

Sadly it was a waste of materials and money (they'll send it back to the manufacturer) since they didn't have a mechanism in place to credit me back the difference. But at least I made out on this one: better camera, $30 and a new receipt.

Technorati Tags: Aiptek, Aiptek HD 1080p, Aiptek HD 720p, HD Video Camera, price difference, returns, Target, Video Camera

Free Phone 411 information. No Catch!

Have you used Google's Free phone information service at 1-800-GOOG-411 or 1-800-4664-411? It's voice activated directory service! They'll even connect you for free if you'd like!

If you're on a cell phone Say "text message" or "map it" and they'll text you the information with phone, address with web and map links (with driving directions too).

It's not new but I've never gotten around to mentioning it. Here's direct YouTube link to Google's Free phone information.

Technorati Tags: 411, free information, Google, Google 411

Passwords suck

Argh! I'm annoyed with creating user accounts. Everyone has their own damn process for passwords:

Delivery is Weird

So I'm not just talking about regular mail, I'm talking shipping and receiving from companies and just getting deliveries. The way things arrive and the order in which they arrive is just strange sometimes.

My most recent computer order is one example, I ordered a computer (with a larger hard drive so it had to be "built"), a spare battery and spare charger. The computer has already been assembled and shipped, the battery didn't ship until a day later than the computer (I assumed it would have shipped the day before the computer) and the charger hasn't shipped yet. Maybe, this is all a plan from Apple, they know how fast everything will get here so why have someone rush to ship the battery when they had something else to do, the computer system could be smart enough to do that. It just seems strange. Although, I find it strange it's cheaper to do the final assembly in China and ship them here one at a time via FedEx.

I've been on vacation and mailed postcards on the same day (from the same mailbox) to people in the same city and they arrive weeks later. Where was the other one? Stuck in someone else's magazine? Did it travel a different route?

I'm currently subscribing to the TicoTimes, it's a weekly English paper that covers Costa Rica. It's published on Friday and sometimes I get it the following Wednesday (5 days later). I'm not sure when they actually mail it, I'm sure on Thursday or Friday. But sometimes I get it days later, I think the record is 12 days (I think I got it 4 days later, on Tuesday once). Why such the time difference? It looks like they ship it from Costa Rica, I wonder if it makes more sense to ship all the US customers in one package (shipped faster) and have them re-mailed from the US. I know they ship to a few US newstands to sell them so the re-shipping wouldn't be too hard.

And I find it really strange when I order something from Amazon (in stock) and in the same order I get a used book from one of their used-partners and I get the used book days before the new one...

Most of the time when I order from places like CDW, I get the item the next day even when I don't pay for fast shipping (I almost always choose the cheapest).

And my absolute favorite is when I pay big buck$ for overnight shipping and I don't get it for 3 or 4 days. Their reasoning, we didn't get it shipped the first day, but when we did ship it, it went out overnight. I love that Amazon clearly marks when you'll get it with one-day shipping if you order it in the next "3 hours and 5 minutes" or something like that. When my oven broke a few months ago the GE site, clearly stated that when I ordered it by a certain time it would ship that day, I could of paid less ($10-$15) from a few other sites, but I couldn't be certain when it would actually ship; so with that little piece of knowledge, GE got my money instead and they got a premium...

Technorati Tags: FedEx, shopping, Receiving, Shipping, UPS

Why I hate Medco Health Mail-in prescriptions.

First of all, I love Medco for so many reasons, but the fact that all the annoying things they do basically annoy me sometimes makes me wonder if it's worth it. I'll list what I like:

1 and 1 downtime (AGAIN!). 1 & 1 has great service when it works but when they aren't working, they have lousy support...

It went down again. And it took two calls for someone to be able to tell me they are aware and fixing it. They need a way to keep customers all up to date. Have they ever heard of a status page (or a blog)? I wouldn't mind any downtime if I could check on it in just a few seconds.

Now it seems as if my permissions are goofed up in some directories.

I'm not sure why you aren't/weren't seeing all the post content all the time...

I'd get rid of them if they weren't so awesome when they were working!!

Technorati Tags: 1 and 1, 1and1

Third Time's the Charm!

So I'm at McDonald's and I want my regular order, a number 3 combo (Quarter Ponder, Fries, Soda); so I order a "number 3, no pickle, no mustard" slow and articulated but as usual they have to ask me again what it is that I want. I don't understand how they don't get it the first time, it's a limited selection of items that I can order even if I slur my voice someone should be able to figure it out, it's not like I ordered an iPod with a side of onion rings. But that's actually not my complaint today, she did get it correct and processed that part of the order quickly and accurately.

So they hand me my order, while the QP box has the "no pickle, No mustard" tag on it there is an excessive amount of mustard on the box which lets me know to check before I bite. Sure enough there's mustard on it (maybe pickle too). So I sent it back. Minutes later I get another one, with pickle and mustard. So I send it back, it's easily 5 minutes more until I get a correct sandwich. They did give me fresh fries (the first order was better than delicious) and offer me a pie (but they didn't have apple so I passed). They handed the final order to me in a togo bag, was that a hint?

How much money (food and staff time) did they waste trying to make this sandwich correctly? We're not even factoring in my time wasted and the fact that this is the most expensive McDonald's around here.

Technorati Tags: fast food, McDonald's

Why I hate 1 and 1 web hosting!

I love 1 and 1 web hosting, I really do. Great features, great price, all sorts of configuration options and cheap domains ($5.99 a year). They've got decent reports and now they'll automatically mail me stats. Some of their web interface stuff is a little slow (it's too fancy) but it's got lots of options so I can live with it.

What I hate is their lack of customer communication:

They have great up time and I understand that things happen, but had I known there was a major upgrade I could have:

I still can't figure out what took them so long to fix it and I'm only really annoyed because of the lack of communication. An e-mail that apologizes for it either earlier in the process or even after they fixed it would have gone a long way with me...

FYI: To clarify, they we mostly down for about two-and-a-half days...

Technorati Tags: 1 and 1, 1and1, customer service, web hosting

Technical Problems

There are web problems with my host 1 and 1 which is causing 404 errors, these are not my fault, but they are affecting you. I'm sorry for that...

I love my web host 1and1 but what I hate is they have no kind of status page that customers can look at to see what problems are happening with the network. If they just had a page where they could list something like "many customers are having 404 problems and it may take hours (or days) to fix it" I'd be happy (not if it happened all the time). Then I wouldn't waste time checking on it (on the chance it is my fault) or bather calling them (or waiting on hold). It seems like customer service common sense to me...

Technorati Tags: 1and1, web hosting

So Delta completely failed us.

It took them over three hours to decide to finally cancel our flight. That's three hours after it was scheduled to depart, that's not even factoring in that they had to have some idea there would be problems before the flight was even supposed to leave . We had a plane but no pilots, you'd think that wouldn't be so hard to keep track of and keep us informed. I know I'm a little crabby from traveling but I've definitely been treated better than I was with the way the system worked tonight. If they would have canceled it hours before that I'd have been fine with it but I should have been home two hours ago and I'm just finally in a hotel. They've got free WiFi in the lobbys/resturants which is a bonus, but I'd rather have the A/C working...

Please let me clarify: I understand things can be beyond their control, but at 7:30 when they are telling us at when the pilots land at LaGuadia around 7:45 they'll taxi over and it takes until 10 PM to tell us they can't get pilots they don't really care about the customers. All they have to do was keep us informed. If they would have told me at 8 I would have gladly went over to the hotel, ate and gone to bed. They just dragged it out and the story they gave us doesn't make sense.

We didn't get anything but a hotel room and a $7.00 voucher for dinner (that's about 1/2 a burger at the hotel, everything at the airport was closed). Anyone have a good number or address at Delta for me to complain to? Please let me know. (Delta, if I misheard and there's a free round-trip ticket in the mail for me, I'll gladly correct this post...)

Five Minute

Why is is so quick to get takeout at a Chinese Restaurant when it takes SO long at a “fast food” joint?

The biggest problem with incompetent people...

The biggest problem with incompetent people is that they don't know that they are incompetent. I don't know if Sarah got that from somewhere or she paraphrased it, but it's so true. I had to deal with several customer service people today (me being the customer) and I just wasn't getting anywhere.

I just wanted them to listen. And if you can't listen, at least wait until I finish the question before you jump in with an answer that clearly indicates that you didn't listen.

For example: I'm supposed to call the pharmacist tomorrow at noon to see if they could get my non-generic prescription (if they can't I'm happy with the generic). Now they had to call me to tell me this because they assured me while I was there that they could get it (so I actually could have gotten it while I was there). So for fifteen minutes I'm on the phone with them (they called me) and all I want to know is if they have the generic if the other doesn't come in. They swear they have it, but I should call at noon to see if they received the non-generic. Why? Either way I'm getting something when I go there after work. So I wasted a few minutes trying to get them to explain why. As far as I can tell it's so I'm not disappointed later...

Why would I want to be disappointed sooner?!?

That's fifteen minutes of my life I'll never get back...

Customer Service(?)

So I went to Target (a department store) today to pick up a few things and to get a price adjustment (the price went down since I bought it and I wanted the savings back). They were fluorescent light bulbs (the ones you screw into a regular bulb socket) that had 3 in a pack that I bought a few for $8.88. The next week they were $6.21 (not worth taking them back), but this week they were on clearance for $2.21, now that was worth taking stuff back. Now they always have odd return rules that change so I brought a few packages of the bulbs with me (but I left them in the car). Of course they said price adjustments are only good for 14 days, so you need the item with you (and what they do is return it and you immediately re-buy it). I only had two packages (but I had bought three) so I tried to sweet talk them into letting me do all three but no luck (but I got $16 for the two, that's more than I spent today), they said I'd have to return it later (later just means get back in line) but the line had grown. Maybe next week when I go back for something else (I'll get another $6 then).

BTW, Easter stuff is 90% off, so I got some Cadbury Creme Eggs for five cents each!!!

I'll have three deluxe chicken sandwich meals... Not!

I was nervous asking the question (any question), but it was the only way to find out. "Do you still have the that deluxe chicken sandwich," I asked the BK lady. She named it without hesitation and said they had it, so my earlier fears were gone and my guard was down. So I said I'll have that here in a meal (which they always try to force on you anyways) with no mayonnaise and onion rings instead of fries. So we did a few rounds of you wanted a large soda, right?, no, the regular meal, you said to go?, no it's for here. And I reverify with "regular size, onion rings and no mayo".

"That'll be $10.79, is that to go?" It's for here but that seems a little expensive, (blank stare), "that seems a little expensive for the meal." Oh! She pulls out the receipt and explains to me she void it later and have to re-ring it. I think she wanted me to agree to this because there was a big pause before she actually did this. We did our little dance, but shorter this time. After she prints the receipt (which they don't give you so you can double-check your order) I say "no mayo", and get back "huh?", "no mayonnaise on that" I repeat, which she says sure and yells it back (since she didn't get it on the third try).

So I get my soda/napkins/straw and some other people get in line, so I go wash my hands, they're still ordering (two ladies for themselves and two kids who are sitting down). So I stand there and wait, I can see the receipt (no mention of mayo) and it says "fries" so as she takes a break from their order (yes, they are still trying to order) she grabs my tray and sandwich and I say three times, "don't forget I want onion rings" (I'm getting no acknowledgment, which is why I'm repeating). As she hands me my tray (with fries) I say "I wanted onion rings". "But I rang up fries" she says, and she says this a few more times as I very politely keep repeating I want (and also that I ordered onion rings). When what I really want to say is, "what did you put down on my first two meal orders...?" She was really hung up on this, I'm not sure why, she knows darn well I ordered the rings, but she's really concerned that she might get fired (or something) for giving me what I ordered. (That's the least of the reasons they are going to fire her.)

PS - My sandwich was delicious!!! :)

FYI - They actually still have the nerve to own Have It Your Way dot com.

Did I mention that there is road construction out front? I'm the only person in line. No one waiting and very very few cars in the drive thru. The slowest day I've ever seen there, i.e. no distractions or chaos...

And (generally hyper) me? I'm totally relaxed and in no hurry (fortunately), I didn't even drive up there since it was a nice sunny afternoon.