I currently have an iPhone 3G that I bought about a year and a half ago. Sadly, I’m a little hard on cell phones, partially because of my job. About 2-3 months ago, I had my cell phone in my hand and went to put it on the kitchen counter, but missed it and it fell on the floor. This hasn’t been the first time that I’ve dropped the phone, but I usually have a case on it. I didn’t this time. The result was that the phone completely functions, short of the fact that the speaker on it no longer works. This means that I can’t use the speaker phone or hear the phone ring.

So, I decided to wait for the iPhone 4.. I knew that there would be hype about it and that it would be hard to find. I have a friend that went to the Apple store in Toronto the day it came out and had a prolonged wait even after the store opened just to get one. I’m eager to get it, but not that eager!

So, since then, I’ve been popping into various Fido retail locations to see if it’s been in. The first couple weeks I expected it to not be in. But it’s been a month since it’s been released and stores are getting very few in.. And there seems to be no sign of a mass release in the near future..

I went to school for marketing, so I understand the rationale behind building demand and hype about a product such as this. But seriously! For me, this is now becoming an annoyance. Here I am, a customer willing to give money for a product that is being withheld by the manufacturer. I like Apple products, but I’m getting a little pissed. I tried asking the rep in the Fido store in Coquitlam Centre today when did she think that they would have a regular supply. Well, she kept cutting me off and not letting me finish my question. I tried to say that I have no problem waiting, but am I likely waiting a couple weeks before the market is adequately supplied with the phone or am I looking at 3-4 months. I’m sure she gets similar questions all day and every day, and I don’t envy her having to explain it over and over.. But I just need a new phone. One that rings!

So.. If someone from Apple happens to read this, I just want a damn iPhone 4! Stop withholding the product and release it outright. Demand doesn’t need to be built up for a product that you KNOW is going to be in high demand. You are just pissing off a lot of people and wasting their time by going to various retailers looking for it. I do have better things to do with my time than to chase down a product that you apparently want to sell.

START SELLING IT!

I recently bought a new truck. The sales guy told me that the tires were filled with nitrogen. So, of course I asked him what the benefit of this was. He was going on about how it gives you better mileage on the tires and treadwear and blah, blah, blah. I asked him what happens when I need to add air. He said that I could fill them with air, and then the next time I brought the truck in for service they would drain the tires and refill with nitrogen.

Since then, I’ve seen a number of places that advertise this “amazing” product! NITROGEN FILLED TIRES! A MUST HAVE!

But wait… Something doesn’t add up here..

Now, I don’t remember that much from high school science, but I do remember that air is already 78% nitrogen. How much more benefit could having that extra 22% really provide..

I decided to ask my landlord who is a mechanic. I haven’t known him more than a few months, but I’ve come to learn that he’s pretty honest about all this car stuff. And when it comes to vehicles, I’m dumb as a post.. He said that there may be a slight benefit to putting pure nitrogen in there, but not enough to warrant the cost.

So, I’m just going to put air in there. Seriously! I can find better ways to spend/waste my money than on that..

This is just another fine example of a marketing ploy. Much like the box of saran wrap here that says “BPA Free” (with in very small letters above it saying “As always”). Or olive oil bottles saying that they are now “Cholesterol Free”.. umm.. Olive oil never has had cholesterol in it..

That’s it.. A short rant from me.. for once..

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!

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…

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..

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.

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.. 

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

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..

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?