Category: product complaints

my $500 mistake … or Why I won’t fly Copa

On By Rick McIn product complaints, travelLeave a comment

I had an airline ticket to El Salvador. On checking in, a young agent for Copa Airlines noted that I only had 3 months left on my passport. El Salvador is one of those nations requiring a minimum of 6 months.

If an Airline puts me on the flight, they could be fined.

She refused me a boarding pass.

I tried 6 or 7 ways to get permission to get on that flight. All failed.

Finally a more senior employee of Copa suggested I try buying a last minute ticket on another airline. The other airline was happy to sell me an expensive ticket, ignoring the 6 month passport requirement.

500

My bad.

Still, I’ll avoid Copa airlines in future, if I possibly can.

related – A friend has a visa for Congo. But was not allowed on the flight because the visa would expire before she was scheduled to depart the nation.

Scary Beautiful shoes

On By Rick McIn Art and beauty, product complaints, things getting worseLeave a comment

… what women will suffer in the name of fashion.

Click PLAY or see them on YouTube.

… The shoes—titled “Scary Beautiful”—were designed by artist Leanie van der Vyver, who teamed up with Dutch shoe designer René van den Berg.

A recent graduate of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, “Scary Beautiful” were part of van der Vyver’s thesis, a commentary on today’s impossible beauty standards. …

jezebel

TD visa Emerald card now 15.75%

On By Rick McIn product complaints1 Comment

I’m shopping for a new credit card. Low interest rate IF I don’t pay it off end of month.

Recommendations?

My TD Emerald Visa card fixed rate jumps March 1st from 12.75% to 15.75%.

When I first signed on — and liked that card — it was 9.99%.

Lance Armstrong: Cheating Scumbag

On By Rick McIn cycling, dead to me, ethics, product complaints1 Comment

I wasn’t all that big a Tour de France fan.

Not like Dave Adlard.

Dave relates with and concurs with this missive from a real hero, Alastair Humphreys:

Lance Armstrong broke my heart. Or a tiny little bit of it, anyway. …

Then when Lance gave Ullrich “the look” on Alpe d’Huez on 2001 I was completely smitten. Shortly after that I set off to cycle round the world. I thought of Lance often. When I was struggling up long mountain passes I’d get up out of the saddle, give my imaginary opponents “the look” and put on a sprint. …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Through all the years of allegations about Lance’s drug use I defended him strongly. I secretly suspected that he might be up to something. But I hoped -I really hoped- that he was clean. That he was the inspirational figure he always loudly proclaimed himself to be. He passed hundreds of tests. I wanted to believe. So I believed. I felt sorry for all the cynics. Sorry they couldn’t believe in miracles. …

The only regret Lance Armstrong appears to feel, since he was left with no option but to admit to having cheated in every single one of his Tour victories, is that he got caught.

Cheating was one thing. Showing no remorse is another. …

Lance Armstrong: Cheating Scumbag

All true.

But I have to add the usual disclaimer. The Cheating Scumbag is a superb athlete. I would love to have seen what he could have done without the drugs.

Audible.com scam

On By Rick McIn books, product complaints1 Comment

Here’s the scam:

Dear Rick McCharles,

We have some unfortunate news. We’ve tried several times to renew your AudibleListener Gold membership plan and have been unable to process the charge with the credit card information we have on file. As a result, we’ve had to cancel your membership.

We find that these automatic cancellations are often unintentional, so we’d like to help you restore your membership. In fact, if you call within the next 14 days we can also restore up to four unused credits.

Please contact us and we’ll gladly assist you:

Sincerely,

The Audible Team

_____

So …, I neglected to update my credit card. NOW they’re taking away my PAID book credits.

Here’s my response:

What?

Why are you taking away my credits?

My Audible account has been inactive since I’ve not gotten around to updating my credit card. But my Amazon account is active.

I thought they were now one and the same.

This seems a SCAM to keep credits I’ve paid for. … Am I wrong on that?

I want to keep my credits. And will update my credit card information to do so.

But I’m too busy right now to listen to new books. That’s why I was quite happy to take a break from keeping my credits.

How can I update credit card without starting up monthly payments?

Hey. I’m quite comfortable with Bittorrent.

If you’re going to take away credits from paying customers, no problem. There are less expensive alternatives.

Let me know.

Rick

_____ After some delay in email response, I got this very friendly message:

There seems to have been a misunderstanding here, and we want to make it right. We value your business tremendously and appreciate your loyalty as an Audible Listener.

We’d like to restore your membership and the credits on your account. Please email us at social-support@audible.com so that we can update the billing information on your account.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day.

Andrew R, Customer Care Specialist
Audible.com

lets kill rent-a-car companies

On By Rick McIn product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

TechCrunch:

… There are the lines, the hassles, the constant upsells, confusion around cost of gas and insurance, and about 15 pages of paper that you have to sign before being able to pick out your car and leave the lot. Frequent travelers and members of rewards programs aren’t treated that differently. They have a shorter line and can generally have a better choice of available cars from the lot, but the experience isn’t fundamentally better.

Airport car rentals are a big business — more than $10 billion a year, by some estimates — but the experience is pretty bad all around. Which means it’s time for disruption! …

Two interesting up-and-coming alternatives:

• Flightcar
•  Silvercar

… Customers won’t have to worry about getting gouged for gas at 3x the price for bringing a car back with a half-empty tank, for instance: Since cars are connected to the cloud, they’ll merely report back how empty or full the tank is, and automatically charge users for refills based on the market rate for gas. Customers will also have a limited number of insurance options to choose from, rather than having to navigate the confusing choices that more car rental agencies provide. …

Airport Car Rentals: The Next $10 Billion Industry Ready For Disruption

how’s that WAR on Drugs working?

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, gymnastics, health & fitness, product complaintsLeave a comment

Looks like at least $1.5 trillion mostly wasted, so far.

I HATE right wing politicians who trot out this dead horse as a diversion from bigger issues.

The War on Drugs (December 14, 1914 – present) is a campaign of prohibition and foreign military aid and military intervention undertaken by the United States government, with the assistance of participating countries, and the stated aim to define and reduce the illegal drug trade. …

… In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared that “drug abuse is public enemy number one” …

On May 13, 2009, Gil Kerlikowske, the current Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), signaled that although it did not plan to significantly alter drug enforcement policy, the Obama administration would not use the term “War on Drugs,” as he claims it is “counter-productive” …

In June 2011, the Global Commission on Drug Policy released a critical report on the War on Drugs, declaring “The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. …

Obviously, governments have to look at alternatives.

(via Boing Boing)

take the bus, weirdo

On By Rick McIn product complaints, product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

There are many reasons to choose a long distance bus over motor vehicle or plane.

Greyhound bus is $68.28 Saskatoon to Calgary. Actually, I paid $58.28 after a $10 discount for my International Youth Hostel card.

The cheapest flight I can find over the next 30 days is $156.58, the average well over $200.

The main downside is TIME.

Also, WEIRDOS. Weirdos ride alongside the elderly, new immigrants, criminals. And me.

related – 9 ways to avoid weirdos on the bus

cost of University

On By Rick McIn economics, government, product complaints, things getting worse1 Comment

Canada is less expensive than the USA. But it’s getting more expen$ive.

Full-time undergrads in Saskatchewan pay an average of $6,017 / year, compared with the national average $5,581. Ontario is highest at $7,180.

I’ve been hanging out at University of Saskatchewan this past week. Very nice. But I’m less and less convinced that getting an expensive University degree is necessarily the BEST way to go for young people in 2012.

related – Stats Can

Maxed Out – the movie

On By Rick McIn economics, government, movies, product complaints, things getting worseLeave a comment

Maxed Out: Hard Times, Easy Credit and the Era of Predatory Lenders (2006) is an independent feature-length documentary film and (2007) book that chronicles abusive practices in the credit card industry.

The main premises of the documentary and book are that banks and other creditors deliberately market to people who are more likely to have problems paying and that the creditors benefit from connections to government, the debt collection industry, and from lawmaker apathy. …

Click PLAY or watch the trailer on YouTube.

How do credit card companies get away with 20% or 30% interest fees?

How can that be legal?

Shouldn’t they be prosecuted as loan sharks?

You can watch it online FREE.

… This business model is unsustainable. Sooner or later they’ll need to switch to a system where everyone pays a small amount for all loans. No more 0% interest if you pay it off by the end of the month.

GOAL — pay off my credit card debt in 2012. 🙂