Marc's Musings Reality from Marc's point of view!

*Updated 2011.10.22*

A couple of days ago I received a package from Knetgolf with a dozen replacement balls. They arrived unannounced (except for the note from UPS regarding the impending shipment). So I had no idea what, if anything Knetgolf was going to do regarding my order.  I’m a little surprised they didn’t shoot me a quick email to tell me their intentions but I do give them kudos for making things right.

*End Update*

For myself, I’m fine with plain old white golf balls. Now that I’m a bit older I usually buy my balls new as I do see a difference between those and balls that have been sitting at the bottom of a lake for a month.

Michelle has concerns other than performance in mind for her golf balls and so I was tasked with getting her a some PURPLE golf balls.

I eventually found a place that sold reconditioned purple balls (don’t tell her they’re not new) for a reasonable price from knetgolf.com and ordered two dozen.

The balls were delayed in getting to us by a day, UPS noted that this was because the label was unreadable.

When we received the balls the following day, I could see the issue. The label had been destroyed and the box obviously ripped open and taped shut again.

Inside, one dozen of the balls were fine. The other dozen had their little mesh bag ripped open and was actually missing one of the balls. Of those remaining 5 of them look like they had been dragged across some surface hard enough to scrape the shell down so they are smooth in a patch on one side.

Sending a note to Knetgolf’s order confirmation address with a couple of pictures had them respond by asking me to resend the pictures to their help desk. I never heard back.

About a week later they sent me an automated survey email asking how they did. To this I relayed the same story as above and never heard anything back either.

The value of the balls is not enough for me to get worked up about. But the pretense at customer service with absolutely no follow through was irksome.

So I post this warning. I’m sure the fault for this lies in UPS’ court, but it’s up to the vendor to deal with any issues with their carrier. Of course I won’t be patronizing knetgolf again and, if you are thinking of doing so, you should consider this anecdote with respect to their customer service.

Posted under Retail Experiences

Hmmm…  Apparently the $99 I paid for my DVR back in 2005 wasn’t to actually *buy* the unit but rather is a lease price and they want it back. No doubt there were too many people who were continuing to watch all of their recorded content long after they had cancelled service and they needed a way to quell that.

Since mine is about as useful as a brick I have no objections to returning it. Looking at my bill I can see that I’ve had a $6 charge for a “leased receiver” (and a corresponding $6 credit) forever so I can’t really say they weren’t telling me that.

Who really pays attention to those line items anyway?

Now, what will life be like using Netflix, Hulu and other Internet resources for entertainment?  We’ll have to see. The adventure begins…

Posted under Retail Experiences

Of course, in my opinion, we should have in place a system where folks are re-tested every few years. The laws are *always* changing – those legislators have to justify their existence somehow – and are you really sure you know what the current thinking is on the correct way to handle a driving situation?

Even if your approach *is* the best, if it is unexpected as far as the other drivers are concerned then it is *you* who are the hazard.

I just finished reviewing the 2010 Driver’s license manual and got 100% on this (rather simple) test. I challenge you to do the same.

What do you do when a schoolbus has its amber lights flashing? What about its red lights? On a divided highway? I see people doing the wrong thing all the time, they are endangering EVERYBODY’s lives.

Posted under General, Opinions

When people speak about “corporate culture” it often seems like such an esoteric term.

But there is a certain reality to the way some companies deal with you that appears to be the manifestation of that esotery.

For instance, when I deal with Amazon.com or Sears or Wendy’s I get the sense that I’m getting something of a fair value for what I am paying and that the retailer is legitimately concerned that my experience is a satisfying one. They certainly clear a profit, but their focus seems to be much more on the transaction, satisfaction and their reputation than it is on the “making a buck” aspect of it. Hence, pretty much every time I deal with these businesses I come away satisfied that I have most likely received very good value for my money – at least as far as legitimate retail sales go.
Other business I favor include:
Applebees
Affordable Electric
Roto Router
Flushmate
Vonage
…There are many others that don’t come to mind immediately

On the other hand, there are some institutions out there who seem solely focused on separating you from as much money as possible for whatever product or service they provide. Every single transaction with them leaves me feeling … well … a little dirty if not abused. These are the companies that will send you marketing fliers advertising great promotional savings and nowhere can you find what the post-promotional price will be. Their rate increases manage to deftly outpace inflation and you can be sure are driven much more by what the market will bear than value for service. Every mailing I receive from these companies I scrutinize because I know I will find some new charge or limitation on my services that I need to be wary of.

Hence I try to avoid doing business with them as much as possible. If I’m forced to work with them I keep my eyes open for the first opportunity that I can move away to someone I trust more or someone I don’t even know at all since there is a chance they may be better.

The bad boys in this list for me include:
Ticketmaster – Not only can I never get the seats I want, but the final price I pay is always well above the actual seat price.
Comcast – They will eke every red cent they possibly can out of you for any service you have with them.
Bank of America – I briefly held a bank account and credit card with them until I realized that they LIVE to charge service fees for every possible interaction.
AT&T – Caps on internet service. Plus the fact that my worth to them as a customer dissolved when uverse was introduced.
Hooters – Seemed to pioneer the overpriced soft drink. I pay full price for a plate of tenders and fries cost extra? Really?
SprintPCS – I’m paying $10/month/phone for this mythical 4G service that I’ve seen maybe 5 times since I started with them. I have no choice due to the phone I’ve selected.
All Pizza delivery companies that charge “Delivery Fee” yet don’t give it to their delivery people – if any of the ones I deal with would drop that stupid fee, I’d use them excusively.
DirecTV – Have to keep calling them to get the price down to something reasonable, if you sign up for automatic payment, they draft the money immediately upon producing the bill and then tell you that the bill is for zero dollars. Weird.

There are, of course many, many others that hover somewhere in between which is to be expected. They walk that line between being inoffensive and just meeting expectations. I would say it’s a good thing that so many are in this middle ground. Of course there will always be exceptions where folks have bad interactions with a retailer on occasion. Maybe there was a computer glitch or maybe some manager was having a bad day, but if your day in and day out interactions are uneventful, I still score that as a win.

But there is true pleasure to be gained from dealing with a company or even an individual between whom an exchange will happen where both parties feel that they have received real value from their interaction.

Who are the good boys and the bad boys on your list? Who do you deal with where you just feel good and confident that you will get what you paid for?

Conversely, who do you deal with that always leaves you feeling kinda gross?

Posted under Opinions, Retail Experiences

Definitely a good laugh. The “problems” of the first world, even contrasted with those faced in the first world even 30 years ago, should make you roll your eyes.

When it’s a personal tragedy that your automatic garage door opener isn’t working, you *really* need to reevaluate your priorities. Hell, I still get a little giddy when I play with my power windows in my SAFE, QUIET, DEPENDABLE car. Which car will probably need a tire change in maybe another couple of years and will require me to manually tinker with its engine um.. never.

Posted under Affluenza, Amusing

I purchased this KVM after my TRENDnet TK-207K bit the dust after only 6 months of use.

I have to admit that I’m now happy for being forced to change. The TRENDnet was only about $23 from Amazon where this Syba weighed in at closer to $60. This is still a very good price for a fully functioning KVM.

The reasons I am happy are twofold:

The Syba uses native DVI ports so I no longer have to use any converters or VGA cables. I really can’t tell if this has improved the quality of my video performance but I am finding that I have no more issues with my screen resolution being reset on me when I remove and replace my laptop (something that happens frequently as I take it to and from work).

Swapping ports is nearly instant with the Syba where there used to be a lag of several seconds plus a little acknowledgment sound from each computer as the change was made before. I silently swap between machines now with just a click of the Syba remote button or a double-click of my mouse middle button (scroll wheel). Quick, easy, reliable and the settings are remembered.

So far count me very happy with this new Syba KVM.

FYI my setup is:

1 desktop machine (Alienware) with two monitors (Syncmaster 226BW and SyncMaster 2343BWX). I am sharing the Syncmaster 226BW whose native resolution is 1680 x 1050.

1 Dell Lattitude E6410 with a port replicator

Basic 3 Button Alienware optical mouse (USB)

Basic standard Dell keyboard (also USB)

I don’t like using laptop keyboards or the eraserhead or trackpad pointer devices. I’m a mouse and full-sized keyboard kind of guy.

The laptop travels with me to and from work so I can have a consistent platform as my primary workstation.

Posted under Opinions, Tech Stuff, Utils / Tools

I’ve had this switch for almost exactly 6 months now and it’s just failed utterly on me this morning.

My setup is:

1 desktop machine (Alienware) with two monitors (Syncmaster 226BW and SyncMaster 2343BWX)
1 Dell Lattitude E6410 with a port replicator

I don’t like using laptop keyboards or the eraserhead or trackpad pointer devices. I’m a mouse and full-sized keyboard kind of guy.

The laptop travels with me to and from work so I can have a consistent platform as my primary workstation.

I used the TK-207K to share the 226BW between the laptop and the Alienware along with a proper keyboard and mouse. This has always presented a minor issue where, each time I replace the laptop into the port replicator and switch to it, the resolution on the monitor is ALWAYS incorrect with no correct option to select from. I always need to log onto the laptop and then PULL THE VIDEO PLUG out of the back of the port replicator and then plug it back in. After this the computer recognizes that the resolution is incorrect and allows me to select the right resolution. The monitor that I use at work has exactly the same native resolution so there is something a little odd here. Once this is done I’m good until the next time I remove the laptop.

This morning I was working on my Alienware machine when the keyboard and mouse just stopped responding and the computer threw up a message indicating that it did not recognize a USB device.

Several restarts later and after swapping out keyboards I come to the conclusion that the TK-207K is no longer of this world…

I am not going to try to get a replacement as others have done. I’m sure TRENDnet will probably honor their warranty but frankly I prefer my stuff to work the first time and work right.

I’m going to look for another solution. Until then I will have an extra monitor on my desktop and two keyboards and two mice.

Posted under Opinions, Tech Stuff, Utils / Tools