Ron's posts with tag: gripe
Nearly a month ago, I called the Enterprise lot near where I live to see what kind of rate they could give me for an "intermediate" size car for our trip. The guy I talked to quoted a price, and I asked if there was a problem with driving to Colorado since some car rental places don't allow you to take the car out of state, and others don't allow you to go beyond neighboring states. He told me they allow 1500 miles free per week and additional miles cost .25 each. (Yikes!) But for $15 a day, you can get unlimited mileage. Okay, that's an extra $105. I have a Passbook with coupons for 10% off or a free upgrade, and I wanted to figure out what was most beneficial. I told him I would either call back or book the reservation online.
About a week before the trip, after poking around their website and deciding it was better to take 10% off an intermediate than it was to pay for a compact and get an upgrade to intermediate, I made the reservation online. I even entered the coupon code and it took 10% off the total. But I couldn't find the unlimited mileage option. In fact, it said at the bottom:
MILEAGE IS UNLIMITED WITHIN TEXAS, ARKANSAS, OKLAHOMA, AND LOUISIANA. IF TRAVELING OUTSIDE OF THESE STATES, MILEAGE WILL BE CHARGED AT 200 MILES FREE DAY, 1500 FREE WEEK, AND 3000 FREE MONTH. EACH ADDITIONAL MILE WILL BE .25 MILE.
So I called the local lot again and asked how to go about making the reservation with unlimited mileage. This time I talked to a lady who told me not to worry about that, but to just let them know I wanted that when I picked up the car - it was just another option like all the different types of insurance. Great. So I asked her if I could arrange for a ride. She asked when I was renting the car and I told her from noon on Saturday, September 16th to the following Saturday the 23rd. She said I should just call them a couple hours before noon to arrange for them to come get me. Super.
Saturday morning I called the same number again, told them my name and that I had a reservation at noon and was wondering if I could arrange to get a ride there to get the car. Hesitation. The guy said "Well, normally that's not a problem, but there's only two of us here on the weekend, and we can't really leave only one person here." Oh oh. I grumbled and he told me it's never a problem Monday through Friday. He asked me where I lived, and I told him - less than a mile away. Hesitation again. He said call him back if I really needed a ride, but they probably wouldn't be able to do it on a Saturday. So I called Lisa and she ended up taking a two hour lunch break from work, driving all the way from where she works to my house to get me and take me to Enterprise. Grrrrr.
So when we get there, the first thing I notice is that there's one employee in the lot showing a car to somebody and THREE other employees inside the building. I gave my name and handed them the printout I had with the reservation number on it. The guy asks for my driver's licence and credit card and starts getting the paperwork in order. I mention that I want the unlimited mileage option because we'll be taking the car into Colorado. He looks at me and tells me the car can't be driven beyond neighboring states. SAY WHAT? I explain to him about the two different phone conversations I've had with two different people. I show him the verbage ("IF TRAVELING OUTSIDE OF THESE STATES...") on the printout I have. He apologizes that somebody gave me that misinformation, but that was their policy.
Well, Geek got pissed. Yes, I gave the little jerk behind the counter a piece of my mind. He just stood there stupid and handed me the rental agreement to sign. As if this doesn't make any difference. I told him what I thought of his "only two people here". I told him what I thought of their "We'll pick you up" slogan. I told him what I thought of the two people I'd talked to on the phone. I told him what I thought of their website. And I handed him back the contract and told him to tear it up. And that their main office would be getting a letter from me explaining my dissatisfaction. He mumbled something that Lisa thought might have been "I'll look forward to it". When I asked him WHAT? I got no answer. I was NOT speaking quietly. I only regret that their other customer was outside and (probably) out of earshot.
I think Lisa was embarrassed. We headed back to my house to make some phone calls.
On the slight chance that you're a new user on Yahoo! Messenger, and not just an idiot or a spammer, I'll tell you that it's considered rude to IM people you don't know without first introducing yourself. It's even ruder to '<ding>' them. And it's especially impolite to do this before you've filled out your own profile.
 I bought what I thought would be really cool software to allow me to connect my new LG PM225 cell phone to my computer and transfer phone numbers back and forth plus download pictures from the built-in camera.
There are all kinds of cables available, and I ended up buying two of them from 3G Cables. No problem there. They arrived quickly and for a good price.
For software, there was BitPim. It's open source, but it looked like it didn't yet support the LG PM225. Plus, I'd have to download and install LibUSB-Win or something to make it work with a USB device under Windows. Hmmmm.
I'd seen DataPilot mentioned, so I headed to Susteen's website to check it out. They advertised that it would do everything I wanted (but didn't yet support some of the more flashy stuff), so I ordered it. At $34.99 (plus $8.95 to mail a CD? be serious!) it certainly cost more than BitPim, but I figured a commercial program would be easier to install and better supported.
Boy was I wrong.
When the software arrived, I read the directions that said it should be installed before the cable or phone was connected. Okay good - I'm glad I waited. I popped the CD in and it started up an installer program. I looked through the online manual, then clicked "Install". After some disk whirring, it prompted me to accept a license agreement, and then to enter the serial number. So I type in the number that's printed on the label on the front of the jewel case insert.
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Well, hmmmmph! I must've made a typo. So I typed it again, carefully. Same thing, it says it's an invalid serial number. I try an "I" instead of a "1". I try all lower case instead of upper case. I enter it over and over again, and nothing works. So I visit Susteen's Support Site and look for an answer. I found suggestions to reboot, to make sure there was only one copy of the installer running, to clean out the \winnt\temp directory, to clean out the \winnt\installer directory... I tried all those things, and nothing helped. So I went back to the website and created a support ticket (2380-1849322), just like they said. I described the problem as well as I could. In response, I got a canned message via email with some "You must be stupid, let me tell you how a computer works" kind of help, including the stuff they'd suggested that I'd already tried. I captured the screen shot above, then went back to their website and submitted that, saying their canned messages hadn't helped, and I'd tried everything they had told me to do, with no luck.
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Six days later, they responded with "It's been a few days since I left a message and I have not heard from you, please feel free to re-open the ticket if you still need assistance." and they marked the ticket as closed and RESOLVED. I was livid.
I reopened the ticket and responded: "It's been a few days since I've heard from *YOU* after I submitted the screen shot showing the invalid serial number error message. This problem is still outstanding. I have been unable to install this software. I need to hear some type of actual solution from you guys soon or I will be requesting a refund. I've purchased and installed many types of software in the past and have never had this many problems right from the beginning. This is ridiculous."
24 hours later, the ticket hadn't been touched, so I tried to call them. Their main number (949-341-0007) said if I had technical questions, hang up and call 949-789-8200 for technical help. So I did. Over and over again, with the same results each time - a busy signal. So I decided I was just going to return the piece of crap and try BitPim. On the website, I found a place that talked about returns, so I went there. In order to generate an RMA number, they want my order number (which I have) and an authorization number (which I don't have). So I just decide their website is a complete waste of time, and I call their main number to ask for an RMA number. After entering the pushbuttons for customer service, it rings, and... guess what? I got somebody's voicemail. While wondering if any real humans actually work there, I leave a message saying I was unable to install the software, I couldn't get help from their technical support, and I needed an RMA number. I left my phone number. I wonder if they'll call me back.
I'll try calling them again tomorrow. Susteen says they'll give a refund within 30 days, but will not refund shipping charges. If I'm not able to get hold of a real person tomorrow, I'll call the credit card company and have them reverse the charge. That will include the shipping charge.
I sure wish I'd read the reviews at Amazon before I bought this.
 Pick Cingular, Verizon, or T-Mobile... What does Yahoo have against Sprint?
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RSS feeds on blogs are for YOUR stuff, not your news source.
I can find my own news feed, thankyouverymuch.
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 This past weekend, I bought an Epson R200 printer. It's a color printer that has the ability to print directly onto a "printable" CD-R, so I can buy that type of CD-R instead of buying label sheets and printing those and sticking them on, etc. (I burn about 4 CDs a week of our church's worship service.) This is the "plain jane" version. The next step up is the R300 that support USB memory sticks as well as other memory devices from cameras. And there's an R320 that has a little LCD screen for previewing the picture you're going to print. On those models, you don't even need to have it connected to a computer. But since I *did* want to print from the computer, I opted for the low-end model after being assured by the salesguys that they were essentially the same printer otherwise. I've never owned a color printer before, and one of my concerns was with the ink cartridges and their prices. This printer needs a black cartridge plus five color cartridges - Cyan, Light Cyan, Magenta, Light Magenta, and Yellow. I scribbled down the part number for them all, and then located them in the store. The black cartridge (TO481) was $17.99 and each of the color cartridges (TO482 - TO486) were $12.99 each. So it costs $83 to replace all the cartridges. I know the guys that make printers make their money on cartridges, not printers. So, I was sort of expecting to find half-full cartridges installed in my printer, or some kind of "spare tire" type cartridges that would be good for a few sheets before you'd have to plonk down the bucks for new ink. So I was surprised when I opened the box and the cartridges were all there - brand new, with the same part numbers I'd written down. So here's the thing. The printer itself costs $69.99, and I get a $20 rebate, making it cost only $50 if I actually get the rebate check. And included inside were $83 worth of cartridges. Hmmmm. I think back to the church's garage sale that we hold every June. I've been in charge of checking out computer equipment for the past few years. Each year, we get more and more stuff, and as time goes by, we also get better and better stuff - the leftovers from upgraded computers, monitors, etc. Sometimes someone will donate something with a notation "Please erase everything on the hard drive before selling" so I go to work. Over the last couple of years, a large number of color printers have been donated, many looking brand new. In my testing, I'll usually find one or sometimes two of the color cartridges empty. Suddenly it all makes sense. And we wonder why there is so much computer equipment in landfills.
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