Cam I Am

Recently, my wife and I have been going on dates with each other once a week. Usually, this involves going out for dinner, movie, coffee or even a walk. But this weekend, I decided to do something different.

After some research online, I came across this place called Fraser River Fishing Lodge and Resort (http://www.fraserriverlodge.com/). They have a variety of packages available, including one called the Romance package. This was the package that I selected, with an upgrade to a honeymoon suite that included a jacuzzi tub.

Overall, we were very happy with our experience. The dinner was good, and because it was family style seating, we met some very interesting people. The room was cozy (the fireplace helped!) and it was quiet too. We were about an hour away from home, but a world away.

I highly recommend this place for a getaway!

Recently, we went to The Keg in Maple Ridge and Milestones in Langley and had two completely different customer service experiences.

At The Keg, my wife and I ordered our dinners both with mashed potatoes. When we got our dinner, the first thing I noticed is that the potatoes looked like someone had put fake vomit on our plates. We tried them and the tasted like glue. We told the server and he said he would replace them. A few minutes later, he returned with a new serving of potatoes, but they must have been from the same batch. They were awful. Once again, we told our server who offered something else. I said that I’d take a baked potato and my wife declined anything else.

We’ve been there countless times, so we know exactly what to expect.. Usually the food is very good, but not time. The Keg offered no apology or compensated in any other way. I even told the manager on the way out that we weren’t very happy, and they said that they’d check into it, shrugged their shoulders, and left it at that. Overall, we weren’t impressed with how it was handled.

About a week later, we went to Milestone’s. We ordered our food, and when it arrived, everything looked great. My wife ordered her favourite dish from there and was looking forward to having it. She tried it and thought that it tasted different, like there had been a change in the recipe. We told the server who immediately offered to get a new plate of food. The server was very quick with a new plate and my wife tried again. Still the same. The manager came over to check in things and we told him that it still tasted funny. He told us that they had recently changed suppliers, but the recipe should still be the same. Then he took care of part of the bill for us.. We left there satisfied with the service.

We don’t usually complain about food in restaurants at all.. But these are two cases where something was not right with the food and two very different responses. We definately will return to Milestone’s in Langley again. The service is always outstanding. As for The Keg…. Yeah… We’ll probably go back again…

Well, I just got off the phone with Capital One again..

After getting a person on the line, I was transferred to the fraud department relatively quickly and got a guy on the phone who checked into things for me.  I told him what happened, and he took care of things for me.  I should have a new card number in less than 2 weeks. As for the three charges that were put through, they will be reversed.  Apparently, the fraudster also tried charging $185 in Edmonton at Walmart too.  This is probably one of the few times I’m glad that there wasn’t much room on my credit card.

So, it looks like I’m finally getting what I was looking for last night.  However, I expected better service when I phoned in at 11:30pm.  There should be a 24/7 fraud department.

I think that once this is settled, I will start shopping around for a new credit card.  It may be difficult with the whole “global credit” situation, but Capital One has not been my favourite company to deal with, on the whole.  But that is for another post..

I’ll tell you what’s in my wallet..

It’s a Capital One credit card. 

And someone went on a little bit of a spending spree with it over the weekend… in Alberta….  and it wasn’t me.

About half an hour ago, I was going through my account statements online, just to make sure everything was in order.  I was about to head to bed when I thought that I’d quickly check my credit card statement (as I frequently do), to see available credit and make sure that everything was fine.

I logged on, and on the main screen, I saw that my balance was about $100 over limit.  “That’s strange,” I thought to myself, “it’s shouldn’t be over it’s limit.”  So, I looked a little closer at the transactions. 

hmm.. paid for camping site, a couple transactions through iTunes…  and Superstore?  And McDonald’s?   And Shaw Cable?

I racked my brain for answers..  I never use the credit card unless I’ve got nothing in the bank account.  Why use credit when you have cash?  Then I started to look closer..  Shaw?  Why would I have charged $3.00 to Shaw on my card?  As an employee, it comes directly out of my bank account..  I certainly never would use my credit card for that. 

Then it hits me…  Someone has scammed my credit card.  All these transactions happened on the weekend..  I can only assume that more will post to my account in the next couple of days.  I called Capital One right away.

I went through the obligatory menu options, getting a little more stressed as I listen for the option that I want.  Eventually the “speak to a real live person” option comes up.  I mash the “0″ key on the keypad.  Relatively quickly, I get a person on the other end of the phone.  I explain to her that I needed to report fraudulent activity on my card..

Well..  I might as well be speaking to a brick wall.  She told me that I could dispute the charges if I like.  Umm… hellllloooo???  I tell her that I want a freeze put on the card.  “I don’t want ANY activity on the card for now!” 

“Oh…  well, I can transfer you to the fraud department, if you like”, she finally clues in.  I tell her yes, that’s exactly what I want.  I get put on hold for about 30 seconds, when she comes back to tell me “I’m sorry, but that department is closed.  Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“Ummm…  YES!  You can put a hold on my card!”, I tell her for the fifth time.  She then goes on to assure me that she’ll make a note on my file, but I’ll have to call back in the morning.  (I guess fraudsters sleep at night too.)

After I try a couple different angles with her, I give up in futility.  I ask her when the fraud department opens, and she said 5am PDT.  So..  you know what I’ll be doing in the morning.

That brings us up until now.  I’m mad and a little stressed.  I should be in bed sleeping.  I shouldn’t have to worry about what else is going to appear on my credit card overnight, especially since it’s $100 over it’s limit.  I shouldn’t have to deal with a script reading CSR that doesn’t seem to listen, but only reguritates what they are told to say.  I wasn’t saying “I don’t think I made these charges”, I said, “Someone has been using my card and I need a freeze put on in immediately”..  Similar, but very different.

Stay tuned…  I’m sure this will only get more frustrating as I try to sort this out.

Anyone who is looking specifically for complaints about Alarmforce will find a number of posts here about my disdain for them..

It’s been no secret for over a year that I am very dissatisfied with their service–both the system and customer service..

So, I finally called them today to cancel my service.  Our contract is up on June 1st of this year, but I wanted to give them plenty of lead time.  After waiting on hold for about 10 minutes, I got to tell them that I was canceling.  They asked the usual questions like why was I cancelling and “is there anything we can do to change your mind?”  After several  minutes, they said that I would have to either fax, mail or e-mail my cancellation request.  I got the information from them that I would need to include and hung up.  I then e-mailed them, as requested..

A couple days later, I get a call from them and get the same barrage of questions from them…  This time I was quite blunt and said that I didn’t want to have anything to do with their service and I want it out of my house.. 

A understand the “customer retention” department concept, but all that last phone call did was piss me off more..   I was clear in my initial conversation with them and the e-mail.  The final call was unnecessary, in my opinion..

So..  the point of this point is this..  if you have Alarmforce and want to cancel, keep the following in mind:

• They require about 60 days notice.  Don’t wait until the last day of your contract.
• They will ask you to send back ALL of the equipment that is part of the system.  I challenged them on this and asked why I needed to give back equipment that I paid for.  They quickly amended their statement to say the parts that were part of the original installation — not the extra sensors that I paid for.
• Be prepared to ship the unit to them.  They’ll provide the Purolator info, but they won’t come pick up the units themselves..

Hopefully, this helps someone.. 

For nearly four years, I’ve had the misfortune of having your alarm system in my home.  I have endured countless problems (see below for links), including your wireless sensors not consistantly communicating with the main unit, battery issues, poor customer service, and the lack of action that occurs when an alarm is triggered..

Oh yes, you really do get a voice through the unit.  It isn’t that loud, booming voice you hear in the commercial..  It always like some timid person trying to sound important.. 

My “favourite” part of having your service is discovering that my local police department won’t respond to an alarm unless there are two sensors triggered or if I am present and request that the police be present..

Here’s a scenario that my wife posed to me that illustrates how useless having your system is.

A burglar breaks into my home at night.  Let’s say that they trigger the door sensor, but of course the motion sensor isn’t tripped, because it isn’t armed when I’ arm the alarm to “stay.”  Anyway, the burglar comes up stairs, holds a gun to us and says, “Don’t say a word”.   Alarmforce’s timid creature comes over the system and asks us to “identify ourselves”.  We say nothing.  Because only one sensor is tripped and there was no verbal response from within the home, the local police are not dispatched and therefore, help is not on the way.

What good is your system?  I’d have better luck with having a phone and 911…

In closing, I’ve had my alarm system unplugged for about five months and don’t miss it.  When my contract is up, I’m dumping your alarm system and getting a new one.  

I’m going with “Large Noisy Dog”. 

Past Stories: http://blog.eagleinbc.com/?s=Alarmforce

Telus just keeps giving me more and more fodder to talk about!

Back in March, I posted my experience with their billing department trying to bill me for service two months past I had switched over to Shaw Digital Phone.  

Well..  they called me again in the last week..

I answered it, and they confirmed that I was me.  Then they asked me if I was still with their service..

Umm.. shouldn’t they know? 

I said no..  I had switched to Shaw.  The guy on the phone had me confirm two more times that I was no longer with them.   He sounded very puzzled.  Eventually he thanked me for my time and hung up.

At no time during this phone call did I mention that I worked for Shaw and had no intention of switching back.  That being said, at no time did he even ask if I wanted to switch back!  He took no opportunity to see if I was having problems with my new service.  He didn’t try to find even a remote possibility of me wanting to switch back to them..

How can Telus try and retain/capture market share if they don’t ASK the customer if they want it.  One of the very basic fundamentals of marketing is to ask the customer if they would use/try your service/product!

In the end, I stood there with the phone in my hand..  amazed..  or dumbfounded..  I still haven’t decided..

A couple months ago, I changed some of the “extra” options that I had on my City Fido plan.  I upgraded to a bundle that included “unlimited” surfing on my phone.

I don’t have an iPhone, or other smart phone.  I have your average Sony Ericsson Z550.  I don’t need all the bells and whistles, Bluetooth aside.  But I thought that it might be nice to do a little surfing here and there during the day, without paying 5 cents per kilobyte. 

It’s worked out great..  Everyday, I’d go a local radio stations site, look at the news (and enter my bonus code of the day!), and that’s about it..

Yesterday, I got a text message..  Here’s what it read:

Important Fido info:  Additional charges of $28.20 for usage not included in your unlimited surfing option have been incurred.  Please call us to resolve

That’s interesting..  When I spoke to the representative at the time I ordered it, she said that I could use it for any site that I wanted, as long as I was using a Fido issued phone, and not using it as a modem for a laptop.  I had not deviated from what I was initially told..

I called Fido and got an indifferent rep on the phone.  I asked her what exactly I had done that wasn’t covered. 

This is when the truth comes out..   It’s good to WAP sites only.  That was never mentioned.  I wouldn’t have gone to my favourite news page.. 

So, I got her to reverse the charges and put a block on the account so that I don’t go to any non-approved sites..

How is unlimited limited? 

I decided to try something different yesterday..  I thought I’d try the “customer retention/relations game”..  One of my friends seems to do this periododically and it usually works out for him..

I have had a cell phone with Rogers for about 8 years straight, but 15 years on and off.  In that time, I’ve paid my bills on time and have not even really complained about the service..

A few years ago, I switched my service to Fido, and gave my wife the Rogers cell phone plan, while retaining the number and the billing in my name.  She doesn’t use it much (something around 250-300 (mostly daytime) minutes a month), so we’ve tried to find a plan that works..  Back in January, I tried to find the most optimal plan that works with her usage, and was offered by Rogers a plan that should work.  

So we watched the next 3 months of bills come in. That plan worked out to be about $75 a month.  I looked over at my unlimited City Fido plan, with the bells and whistles that I have added on..  $85 a month for 1500-2000 minutes a month..

There is hardly a comparison there!

Now, I know that my “I Will Die With This Cell Phone Plan” with City Fido was an amazing offer that will probably not be repeated ever again, but $75 for 300 minutes with Rogers?   That just doesn’t seem like a good deal to me. 

I don’t usually complain about things to companies.  I usually put up with far more than I should..  So the phone call that I made to Rogers yesterday was certainly out of character for me.  I called to see what other plans that they had.  The (rude) woman on the phone said that was “the best that she could do”, so I said that I wanted to cancel.  She advised me of the contract termination fee of $240 to which I said, ‘That’s fine.  I’ll make it up with the plan that I can get at Telus.  She said that she would start to cancel the line.

This isn’t going quite according to my plan, at this point.   If I did switch to (evil) Telus, I wanted the same number that I have had all this time.  I advised the lady that I wanted to port it so my next call would be to Telus. 

This is when she said that she put me through to “Customer Relations”. 

Ahh!  This is what I was looking for! 

I get a very happy sounding employee who, in the end, was able to give me a better plan, including voicemail and call display, with 250 minutes, free weekends and evenings for…..$39…

Much better!  I can live with that! 

So, I signed for another 3 years, which wasn’t so bad since I was already one year into a three year contract anyways.  Maybe it wasn’t the best possible deal out there, but it is one that I could live with..

Now I have the taste for this little game.  Now who else can I try it on?!  I can’t with my cable/internet/home phone and I think I do pretty good with Fido already…

Maybe I should threaten the Gas or Hydro company! 

I just got off the phone with Telus.  I cannot believe how much they can screw up a simple task.

In early January, I switched phone providers from Telus to Shaw.  We transferred our number over and everything seemed to go well.  Since I do this for work all the time, I thought that it would be another simple transfer.

Apparently not.

Last month, we got another bill from Telus for around $139.00.  They tend to bill a month in advance, so my wife called them and asked what’s going on.  She was assured that the situation would be taken care of and that the next bill would reflect our final amount owing.  Great!  All taken care of!

Apparently not.

I come home today and find another Telus bill.  Great!  We can finally pay off the true amount owing!  I open it.  Amount owing: $210.

What the hell?  So I call them again!  I go through their extremely annoying voice-activated menu system on the phone and eventually get a person on the end.  She answers in the typical way, asking how she can help me.

I tell her that I got my bill…  and I shouldn’t be..

She seemed quick enough to react, put me on hold for a couple minutes, and then comes back to say that it is taken care of and that the next bill I receive will be corrected.

I wouldn’t think that a task such as finalizing and closing an account would be so difficult.  It’s very frustrating to deal with a company that you have no desire to do business with..

We’ll see what happens with the NEXT bill..