Cam I Am

Well, it’s not quite like that, but still…

The past several days, I’ve had a nail in one of my tires in my truck. Yes, I know that it needs to be fixed, and it will tomorrow, but that’s not the point. In the meanwhile, I’ve been adding air to my tires on a daily basis to compensate for the slow leak.

This brings me to my point. What the hell is with all of these gas stations
(aka service stations) to charge 50 cents or even a dollar for air! Some claim that it goes towards a charity, but I highly doubt this. The petroleum companies make millions and millions of money off of us. Even gas station owners do well (I have recently spoken to a couple who have confirmed this). They can’t afford to run a compressor? They need to charge me for air?

So, have made a point of marking in my GPS in my truck the stations that still provide “free” air.

I don’t pay to breathe it.. I’m not going to pay to put it in my tires…

If you have tried to call me recently on my cell, no doubt you’ve heard my message that says, “My phone doesn’t ring, so leave a message and I’ll call you back when I’ve noticed that you’ve called.” Yes, I get comments about how I should get my phone fixed/repaired. But it’s not for lack of trying.

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!

So.. This year has been an exciting and tumultuous year so far.

The year started off with promise. I got to go on a trip back home to Ontario — something that hasn’t happened for 9 nine years. I visited my family and a few friends on my quick trip back.. It started off well!

Then the 2010 Winter Games were here! An exciting event that I brought the kids to see the sights downtown. We even took the kids to see a Sledge Hockey game for the Paralympics..

Sadly, this was also a turning point. The same day as the hockey game was the same day that my wife and I let our children know that we were separating. It wasn’t an easy decision, but after being together for over 12 years, it wasn’t working for us..

Shortly after I moved out. And since then, things have been a very different. I left nearly everything in the house, so I had to quickly furnish a place as inexpensively as possible. (Well.. the inexpensively part didn’t work out so well). I’ve also had to learn how to operate a household on my own. This is the first time in my life that I’ve had to be on my own. And yes.. I do suck at housekeeping! My ex and I are also still working on how to schedule the kids around our needs, and parent as a cohesive unit that live separate lives now. A challenge indeed..

I’ve met someone as well. This happened much quicker than I thought and she’s had to put up with me. I’ve been all over the map in terms of how I feel about where I am in life, dating and family. It’s been over four months since I’ve moved out and this new lady in my life has been supportive (she’s clearly a sucker for punishment!). I’ve made mistakes and I still keep trying to improve myself.

I’ve had a lot more time for myself. When I don’t have the kids and when I’m not working, I spend time with this new woman in my life (Meghan). I go geocaching, have gone camping a couple times (with another trip planned in a couple weeks), and still am full of good intentions..

So, here it is on a beautiful, sunny holiday Monday. I’m planning to take the kids to the beach today, play in the water and find seashells and some crabs.. I have no idea where life is taking me at the moment, but I’m still moving forward. Who knows where this journey will take me.

Hopefully, I’ll be blogging a lot more regularly now..

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.

Recently, we’ve been having some problems with our cordless phones. Yes, Handset 1 has been acting up again!

We’ve noticed that in two of the three handsets, the batteries are no longer holding a charge.  In fact, one of them last for about 10 minutes after a full charge.  So, I went looking for some new batteries.  After some shopping around, I came to a disappointing conclusion.

It’s cheaper to buy a new set of phones than it is to buy replacement batteries. 

Seriously!  The batteries I priced out between $25 and $30 each..  I found a new set of phones for $69..

Something is very wrong with this picture.  In a society that is trying to be more enviromentally sound, this is unacceptable. 

The ironic thing is that batteries come with the phones.  Shouldn’t the phones cost more?

Over the past couple years, my wife and I have been trying to paint the inside of our house.  When we bought it, most of the walls had this horrid looking sponge painting job done on them.  While this works for some people, it certainly was not our style. 

Since both of us work full-time and we have three daughters, it isn’t easy to get around to getting things done.  We’ve managed to paint our dining room, living room and two bedrooms, but the upper hallway and stairwell have been a task that we haven’t been looking forward too. 

When it comes to painting, I am pretty meticulous about it.  I take my time to tape things off, patch holes, wash and sand the walls.  In this case, we’ve had to put primer on the walls before the two (and sometimes three) coats of paint required to make everything look nice.  But this time, we decided to hire a painter to do the hall and stairs.  We figured that it would be easier and quicker than the several days (to a couple weeks) that I would take to do it between working and making sure that I do a good job.

We looked through the local newspaper and called a painter by the name of Steve.  He came over, had a look and gave us an estimate.  We liked his offer, and told him the colour we wanted..

Well, it took him two days to do the job, which was expected. The result was less than spectacular.

He missed a couple corners/spots completely, and I’m not happy with the overall job.  The only reason I don’t call him back to fix it is simple..

I didn’t have to do it.  I would have taken a lot longer to set everything up, tape everything off, sanding, etc..  He got it done in two days, while my wife and I were working..

My only other complaint would be that his “receipt” is questionable.  A piece of paper that he scrawled on..  But I’ve kept it, and will be using it as a tax write-off next year.

Next time, I’ll just do it myself..  at least that way, I’ll be happy with the end result..

Please stop poisoning my family.

Every time that you start your very sick sounding vehicle, it spews out a horrid blue cloud that smells atrocious.  It’s bad enough that I walk out my front door into a haze of gases that nearly knock me unconscious, but it filters into my home, even with the windows closed.  You compound the problem by letting your van warm-up for 10-20 minutes each time you start it; even if you just returned from the store. 

I’ve politely asked you what was wrong with it, you told me that it was the catalytic converter and that you were going to get it fixed “soon.”  I’d like to know what your definition of soon is. 

You are making it uncomfortable and dangerous to be in my home.  I know that it is dangerous because my carbon monoxide detector is set off nearly every time you start your van…

So, once again, I ask you..

Please stop poisoning my family…

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.. 

Since I moved to Vancouver in 1998, I have listened to a couple radio stations.  One is News 1130, which I listen to for news, traffic, weather, etc.   The other..

Well..

When I moved here, it was Z95.3..   For a number of years, I would listen to this Top 40 station.  A lot of the music I didn’t care for, but sometimes, they’d play what I consider to be some decent stuff.  True to this type of radio station, they played some music and then a ton of commercials.  A few years ago, they tried to revamp the station format, but essentially it was the same.

Then, about 2 years ago, they “changed their name and format”.  They became 95 Crave.  The first few weeks, it wasn’t bad.  They played a little more from the 90’s, and a little too much of the 80’s.  But it didn’t take long before their old habits returned.  Too repetitive, too many commercials, and too much music that I wasn’t interested in..

A few weeks ago, I turned it on, and now they are Virgin.  Same staff, same theme.  Nothing has changed but the name..

This radio station has a serious identity crisis.  They change the name, say that they are going to make changes, and yet, it stays the same. The only thing I enjoy about it is the morning show.  The only problem with the timing of the morning show is it falls when I’m driving to work and listening to News 1130 for stuff that matters..  like traffic.  Besides..  the on-air personalities at the news station actually are entertaining to listen too..

There are other stations in the Vancouver area to listen to, but I none of them hold me interest for long.  Jack FM isn’t bad, but most of the others are crap.

So..  keep up the good work News 1130!   As for Z95/Crave/Virgin..  well.. keep trying..  someday you’ll actually achieve the change that you are looking for..

Old habits die hard I guess.