Category: product endorsements

finally – an answer from Air Canada

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

After weeks and months of stalling, I got a reply. And it’s not a form letter. And it’s quite reasonable.

Thanks Bev. I appreciate this:

Unfortunately we cannot reconstruct the circumstances to determine the exact reasons why your bag was delayed. We have reviewed the file for your travel and it appears that your bag was delayed on arrival in Vancouver and therefore was not cleared through Customs. Delayed bags are sent to Customs for clearance when they do arrive and then subsequently given to the airline for return to the passenger.

Once the bag was given to us to forward, you moved to different temporary addresses and our staff did their best to reunite you with your bag. At one point the record shows that they contacted three Sheraton Hotels in Chicago to try to locate you but were unsuccessful. The bag was then sent to Calgary to await your return there.

For your future information, Mr. McCharles, our Central Baggage Office (CBO) staff are responsible for relaying information to our passengers. They do not search for and forward bags once they are located. This is the function of our airport employees who update the electronic file whenever they have information so that the CBO staff may pass it along. We appreciate your comments about the staff there as they are indeed very pleasant and hard-working people.

By way of explanation, most airlines us the same “world tracer” system to locate delayed bags. We share information in an attempt to find bags that may have been incorrectly forwarded to the wrong airport. The airline industry as a whole does not have systems that resemble those used by courier companies and the current technology does not allow bags to be tracked in the same way that a parcel may be tracked. Every airport is run by different airport authorities and therefore systems vary from airport to airport and do not communicate with each other, nor do they share a common database. Most airlines, therefore, have similar processes for locating and forwarding delayed luggage.

We must advise that there is no indication on the file that there was anything reported missing or damaged after the bag was returned to you.

We are very sorry, Mr. McCharles, for the inconvenience that you experienced as a result of this delay as it is our goal to have our passengers and their bags travel together. We regret that this did not occur on this occasion and trust that you will understand that we did our best to get the bag to you once it was located.

Sincerely,

Bev Johnston

Customer Service Manager

I wonder if Bev is one the 2000 employees given the pink slip by Air Canada Tuesday.

Don’t expect service to improve at Air Canada. Fly WestJet. Instead of cutting flights, WJ projects a 16.6 per cent increase in capacity in 2008 followed by an 8.5 per cent increase in capacity in 2009.

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Air Canada’s loss could be WestJet’s gain

the greatest recluse author – Trevanian

On By Rick McIn books, product endorsements1 Comment

I recently learned that one of my favourite authors died in 2005.

One obituary:

TREVANIAN, author of The Eiger Sanction, Shibumi and The Summer of Katya, is no longer with us. He died on Dec. 14 in London. Even when he was alive, no one knew who he was, because Trevanian was merely a pseudonym. Rodney Whitaker was his real name, and he published both fiction and nonfiction under multiple pen names. He may be the only person who can claim to have sold millions of books worldwide without making one single promotional appearance or doing one single booksigning or live interview. …

Metroactive

It was often rumored that he was actually Robert Ludlum using a pen name to which Trevanian stated, “I don’t even know who he is.

Mr. Whitaker lived much of his life in a little Basque village on the French side of the Pyrenees and used it as a setting in his writing.

Trevanian tried to disappear in 1979, actually doing a farewell interview with the NY Times that year. But that pseudonym did not die until The Summer of Katya (1983).

Then nothing for 15-years.

When I saw — unexpectedly — Incident at Twenty-Mile (1998) appear on the shelves, I assumed it was a successor, perhaps a son. The book was excellent — but much different than his earlier work.

Then <a href=”Hot Night in the City (2001)

And Death Dance (2002)

Finally, the last book before his death:

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The Crazyladies of Pearl Street: A Memoir (2006)

It’s an excellent read, somewhat based on the author’s own life. A life still shrouded in mystery.

Trevanian’s final novel is the warm, entertaining coming-of-age story of an imaginative boy in working class New York.

He has additional unpublished works in the works, I understand.

download Firefox 3 Tuesday June 17th

On By Rick McIn Apple, product endorsementsLeave a comment

Join us in our mission to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours!

…now is your chance to change that! Help set a Guinness World Record …

Firefox 2 for Mac used too much memory. I prefer Opera 9.5.

But Firefox 3 is getting rave reviews on both Mac and Windows. It’s one of the great examples where Open Source software is better than proprietary software, including Internet Explorer and Safari.

spread-firefox.jpg

SpreadFirefox.com

what to do about poverty?

On By Rick McIn product endorsementsLeave a comment

I don’t know. We risk causing greater hardship for even more people due to unintended consequences.

Government poverty relief programs are unlikely to be effective.

First — educate girls and women in the developing world.

Next. Perhaps we need Gates to find and fund programs like this:

Best Buy or Worst Buy?

On By Rick McIn product complaints, product endorsementsLeave a comment

best_buy_worst_buy.jpgDana was shopping for some electronics, comparing Best Buy with Amazon.

Wisely, she went with Amazon. They’ve really perfected the science of retail.

She’d heard horror stories about Best Buy:

14-Day Return Period

Fourteen days from the date merchandise was received, refunds are available on computers, monitors, notebook computers, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras and radar detectors.

After you return merchandise, you wait at least 7-10 days before getting your refund in the mail.

Worse, from that refund will be subtracted a …

Restocking Fee

A 15% restocking fee will be charged on opened notebook computers, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors, GPS/navigation and in-car video systems. A 25% restocking fee will be charged on special order products, including appliances. These fees apply unless the item is defective or damaged, you received the wrong item, or the fee is prohibited by law.

BestBuy

This is how you convince customers to boycott Best Buy.

Consumer electronics is a low margin, cutthroat business. It’s tough to compete against Amazon.

Despite deceptive practices, Best Buy is the “#1 retailer of consumer electronics in the United States and Canada, accounting for 21% of the market.” The company is profitable and expanding.

Subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada, Future Shop.

Best Buy – Wikipedia

NOTE: It was CompUSA that nearly went out of business. In the end some of their stores remain open, now owned by Systemax (TigerDirect).

Always compare Amazon with any other retailer before you buy. For example, the hard drive I bought the other day at the Apple Store for $150 sells on Amazon.com for $120. (I was in a hurry. Blast!)

Kayak vs Mobissimo – best travel deals

On By Rick McIn product endorsements, travelLeave a comment

Since I hiked with one of the Mobissimo guys 2-years ago, I’ve been recommending the site for those shoppping for best airfare.

Connecticut startup Kayak has raised $223 million in venture capital and employs 58 people to build and grow its travel search site. Its chief competitor, San Francisco based Mobissimo, has raised $1 million and has just 15 employees. Mobissimo also became profitable last year, and the company doesn’t have to raise more money unless it’s to fuel faster growth or acquisitions.

It’s also clear even from a cursory comparison of the two sites that Mobissimo is trying harder than Kayak to help you find exactly the flight and hotel you are looking for. Kayak is largely similar to other travel search sites – enter where you want to go and get back results from a number of providers, sort by price, etc.

TechCrunch

I’ve been traveling non-stop for the past 4-months. Shopping for flights I compare Mobissimo with Yahoo Fare Chase. And buy from either or, often, directly from the airline.

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on demand TV and movies

On By Rick McIn movies, product endorsements, TVLeave a comment

DAVID POGUE reviews the new Netflix Player, a $100 black box that already delivers 10,000 movies and recent TV episodes to you on demand. It’s pay per view. Commercial free.

This thing could not be simpler. I was watching my first movie six minutes after opening the box.

Like all Internet movie services, the Netflix Player requires a high-speed Internet connection. It found and connected to my wireless network instantly and flawlessly. (You can connect it to your home network with a cable if you prefer.)

It connects to your TV using any kind of modern video connection: HDMI cable, component cables, S-Video or even those old red-white-yellow RCA cables. The nine-button remote lets you choose a movie, skip around in it or pause.

tv.jpg

Is the Netflix Player, then, the movie box the world is waiting for? Not quite. It falls short on the age of its movies, the smallish selection of good ones and the not-quite-pristine video quality. And as with all Internet movies, you don’t get subtitles, director commentaries or any other DVD extras.

But it comes darned close. For movie lovers who already subscribe to Netflix, at least, this one-time $100 expenditure is practically a no-brainer.

NY Times – State of the Art –
20 Seconds, and a Movie Has Arrived

Of course this is only available in the USA, so far. But it’s coming soon everywhere.

The future looks bright. Right?

Yet more people than ever are paying more than ever before for “traditional” cable TV. Competitors have not gained much traction yet. New technologies are still seen as novelties, not replacements.

Cable prices have risen 77 percent since 1996, roughly double the rate of inflation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month.

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Cable Prices Keep Rising, and Customers Keep Paying – NY Times

In the REAL world, my parents are getting their first DVR soon.

M*A*S*H still works for me

On By Rick McIn movies, product endorsementsLeave a comment

One of my favourite directors is the controversial, unique Robert Altman. He died in 2006 at age-81.

That started after I saw his 1970 anti-war, anti-establishment film M*A*S*H. It’s has had a big influence on me ever since.

mash014ie.jpgThe filming process was difficult due to tensions between the director and his cast. Donald Sutherland has stated that he was the only member of the principal cast and crew not using drugs during the filming.

During principal photography, Sutherland and Elliott Gould spent a third of their time trying to get Robert Altman fired.

Altman, relatively new to the filmmaking establishment, at that time lacked the credentials to justify his unorthodox filmmaking process …

Altman later commented that if he had known about Gould and Sutherland, he would have resigned. Gould later sent a letter of apology and Altman used him in some of his later works, but he never worked with Sutherland again.

Sutherland has already impressed me as Sgt. Oddball in the anti-war movie Kelly’s Heroes.

staffpicks_mash_320×240.jpg (M*A*S*H) won the Grand Prix at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Sally Kellerman) and Best Film Editing, and won an Oscar for its screenplay.

Wikipedia