No, I Really Don't Want to Buy Your Product

This past weekend, I spent far too much time watching the first two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. I love it, though, and look forward to the big dance from the first tip of the season.

One really troublesome consequence of watching all this hoop action is that I tend to see the same commercials over and over. Some are good and I don't mind, the Pacific Life "whales" ad, for example. Unfortunately, many are annoying and that is only exacerbated through repetition.

Here are some of those I find most irksome ...

• the Chevy truck "man step" ad with Howie Long
• the Fidelity "green line" ads
• the Charles Schwab ads which are posterized
• any Lexus ad
• the Sonic "basketball injury" ad
• the Enterprise "grandma" ad
• the Burger King breakfast shots ad
  

I suppose irritating potential customers is a sound marketing strategy during tough economic times. What do I know?

Now It's Buy.com's Turn to **** Me!

Since my last post on this issue, I was finally able to reach Buy.com customer service. I had to do a Google to find their CS number which appears nowhere on their website (That's not a good sign!).

Foolishly I thought that since they were the merchant who took my money, they might be interested in helping me resolve my issue with Westinghouse Digital. Ha!

Buy.com told me that the defective TV had to be returned to the manufacturer. Now they tell me that since I returned it to the manufacturer instead of to Buy.com, they can't help me.

Buy.com has my money. Westinghouse Digital has the TV. I have nothing but annoyance, frustration, and aggravation!

Next stop, my credit card company.

No Joy from Westinghouse Digital

In a recent post I described my battle with Westinghouse Digital regarding my attempt to exchange a defective TV.

After waiting about two more days from that time, I again called Westinghouse Digital "customer service." They still claimed the returned TV was not in their system, whatever that means. I reminded them I have delivery verification. If they don't know where it is, that's their problem, not mine.

I suggested they just grab another TV, put a shipping label on it, and send it on its merry way. Then they can worry about locating the returned TV. Of course, "We can't do that." They say they can't send out a replacement until they locate the return. Does this mean that if they can never locate it, I'll never get a new TV?

I asked to speak to a supervisor, but the was "no supervisor available." The rep said a supervisor would call me within 24 to 48 hours. We'll see.

Stay tuned, no pun intended.

Keystone State Summer

Why Do I Pay My Taxes and My Bills?

Why do I bother to pay my taxes? Why do I get my bills paid on time?

I ask myself these questions every time I hear or see one of those ads that purport to be able to settle your IRS or creditor debts for pennies on the dollar. If these ads are to be believed, I should just ignore my taxes and max-out all my credit cards, then get these guys to settle my accounts for a fraction of what I owe.

Caution: Lunatic at the Wheel

Image via WikipediaYesterday, as I'm driving through a residential area near my home, a lady in a big, white Cadillac sedan pulled out of a side street in front of me. She apparently was going in more or less the same direction as I was traveling so as I continued on I was following her.

At the first red light, she was the second car in line, I was the third. When the light changed, the first car drove off and white Cadillac just sat there. After waiting several seconds, I gave two quick, light taps on the horn. White Cadillac gave me a friendly wave in the mirror! She then realized what was going on and drove off.

At the next red light, the entire routine (minus the wave) was repeated! At the next light, I had to stop for a left turn, but white Cadillac proceeded on into the next block where there are two left-turn lanes. She obviously wanted to turn left (Of course, that's speculation on my part as she used no turn indicator.) She couldn't seem to decide which left-turn lane she wanted so, she straddled both lanes.

Fireworks Rant

The Fourth of July holiday has come and gone, though I'm sure the amateur fireworks shows will still be going on for days to come. I was very annoyed yesterday as the explosions began to reverberate through the neighborhood mid-afternoon and carried on relentlessly until past 11 o'clock.

A few of the blasts were window-rattlers! I don't know what sort of devices were being used. It seems each year more and more powerful fireworks are becoming available to the public. These home-grown pyrotechnic displays aren't something that can be limited to the privacy of one's own backyard or driveway.

If such devices are to continue being widely available, and many of their users are unable or unwilling to exercise good civic responsibility, there may need to be restrictions placed on appropriate times for these events to occur. A few days ago, I awoke to the rumbling of fireworks at 2:30 am!

Verizon DSL Tech Support - Kudos!

In the past I have not had good experiences with Verizon DSL Tech Support. So when I couldn't get my new MacBook to wirelessly connect to my router, I was not looking gleefully forward to calling that dreaded number again.

Things started in the usual, anticipated way. First call, bad connection, had to hang up and retry. Second call, worked my way through the annoying menu system and finally got directed to Mac DSL support. Held for several minutes before an automated voice announces they are over capacity, please hang up and retry later. Call number 3, the voice recognition suddenly seems to have become hearing-impaired necessitating at least three repetitions of every command. Finally, however, I reach a real live tech support human.

This guy was fantastic! He quickly diagnosed the problem (needed modem/router firmware upgraded) and walked me through the process. Once we got the MacBook online, the iPod Touch went offline. So, he worked to resolve that issue. He was extremely courteous, pleasant and competent. 

This is my first Verizon Tech Support issue that didn't end up with me frustrated, angry and demanding a supervisor. Big props to this individual!!

Get Rid Of Junk Mail With These Easy Steps

Link to a transcript of a report by Kelly Frey that first aired May 2, 2008, on WTAE Channel 4 (Pittsburgh) Action News at 5 p.m.

"... more than 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered each year. Junk mail in the U.S. accounts for one-third of all the mail delivered in the world. And 44 percent of that mail ends up in a landfill, unopened."

Hate Junk Mail? Get Rid Of It With These Easy Steps - WTAE Pittsburgh

Image details: Mailbox with mail served by picapp.com

You Gotta be Foolin' Me!

How stupid can we be?

Updated 2/25/08: Apparently Amazon thought better of selling this item. It was a book holder that attached to the steering wheel of your car to facilitate reading while driving.

Automated Political Campaign Calls

I got some of these in the spring at primary election time. I found them very annoying. In fact, annoying to the point that I pretty much made up my mind to NOT vote for the candidates related to these calls.

Apparently others have found them equally annoying ...

States try to pull plug on 'robo-calls' - USATODAY.com