Nibbled News

Four Cent Phone Bill Hilarious But True

"Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it."   -----    PETER DRUCKER

 

I used to think that  those humorous television commercials which jokingly insinuate that many telephone providers are actually money-hungry charlatans whose sole purpose in life is to extract as much money as is humanly possible from their long term, contract obligated customers were merely stretching the truth in an orchestrated manner. Now, however,  I tend to whole heartedly agree with their overall accusations.

I recently received a long distance telephone charge of four cents from my former service provider. The total length  of the call was rated as being one minute but that duration of time was enough to generate the charge. It was a call made on December 31 to a family member who was not at home at the time. Their answering machine had intercepted the call. 

I had signed up for a new service provider effective January  2012. The shabby service offered by my former telephone service did not warrant me to continue paying its exorbitant monthly rate. The company had also offered internet and televison service as well. I had been on a one year trail contract. The total package expired the last day of 2011.

In January I received what I thought was the final bill from the former provider and sent in my payment by the 15th of the month. This week I received a letter from the phone company informing me that I owed the grand total of four cents for services rendered. The letter indicated that if I chose to ignore paying the outstanding amount I would be charged a $25 administrative fee.

I was shocked that they would waste so much time, effort , paper and administrative effort to ferret out the four cent charge. I wondered how I was going to pay this charge: cash, cheque, credit card charge or visit my bank and have them process the amount.

A telephone call to my former service provider was not that enlightening. The female associate I spoke with explained to me the options by which I could settle this outstanding amount. She recommended that I settle the account by making a one time Visa payment over the phone at this time. This she suggested would be the easiest way to settle up. I thought easy for who me or the phone company.

I decided a few days later to go to the bank, have the charge taken from my account and settle the debt that way. The female bank teller was amused that this phone company would pursue such a triffling amount in such a costly and aggressive manner. 

The contract I had signed with the former service provider offered quality service at an affordable price. But the unreliable service forced me to contact their customer support staff once a month to correct faulty and flagging internet and television reception.

I had been with this telephone company for the past 25 years and had never had a late fee charged to my account. This past year has opened my eyes to the fact that even the high profile telephone service providers need to perform a bit of rethink and reevaluation of the way they service and retain customers.

Ever Try Reasoning With Your Dentist?

"You don't go mud wrestling with a pig because in the end you only wind up looking foolish and the pig tends to love the attention."  -- Anon.

Have you ever tried to engage in a somewhat intelligent and serious conversation with your dentist while you were sitting quietly  in his comfortably padded , genuine Corinthian leather oversized chair visibly trembling and waiting for the pain session to begin?

If you have ever tried this almost universal approach to personal anxiety reduction you would have immediately noticed that both the dentist and his well trained assistant have only one game plan in mind:  helping you through your current oral trauma no matter what it costs you or your ever vigilant insurance provider.

Last Thursday my friend Vic discovered that  a front crown on the upper right portion of his gum area had become extremely loose. He had difficulty eating solid food and the crown was rubbing against his gum causing him pain and overall irritation. The gum was extremely sensitive and required immediate attention.

 He tried to make an appointment with his regular dentist and hoped the visit would resolve his problem. He was told his dentist had the flu and was asked if any dentist would suffice. He answered yes any dentist would be alright.

On Tuesday he went for his appointment and discovered that the tooth had cracked and a part of it had broken away.  It would now need to be extracted crown and all. He did not plan on this happening since the last time a crown came loose the dentist was able to recement it successfully into place.

He was also told that it would be a good game plan to have his teeth cleaned and a few Xrays taken of his upper and lower gums to update his patient file information. He agreed to have these procedures done and luckily there was an appointment vacancy also available that very day.

The female hygienist performed her task in an efficient and friendly manner. She took extra care around the overly irritated and sensitive section of his upper gum. She finished the manual cleaning of his teeth, successfully scraped away the accumulated plaque deposits that had built up around his teeth and then offered him a fluoride rinse to complete the treatment.

He was then led to another dental office and told that the dentist would be with him shortly. A dental assistant entered the room a few minutes later and told him  she needed to take Xrays not only of the affected area but also his whole mouth. This was the dentist's orders. He complied.

When the Xrays were complete the dentist entered the room. He looked at the pictures and then  took his silver colored pliers and carefully removed the crown. He then relayed the bad news that the toothh had broken and the crown and post were useless. He would have to extract the remains of the tooth. The dentist then froze the area with a shot of novocaine and extracted the remains parts of the fragmented  tooth.

The dentist sat at a desk nearby and told Vic of the dental work he might require: permanent tooth implant ($3400); partial dental bridge to bolster gums chewing powers ($3300) ; and finally a back molar ($1100 for the root canal excluding the new crown.

Vic was shocked by this doctor's callous and unrealistic attitude towards his patient. This doctor and others in the building were all fixated on one thing: how much will your insurance carrier handle for you? He tried to explain to this money grubber that he was a retiree living on a fixed income. This made no impression on the doctor.

The next day Vic received a sympathetic telephone call from the dental office's billing secretary. A female associate tried to console him on the loss of his front tooth and asked him how he was handling the loss. He told her it was only a tooth and nothing more.  She assured him she understood his position and his desire to have the tooth replaced as quickly as possible.

The number of options she cited were far too expensive and unrealistic for a retired person lving on a fixed income. He said she was understanding of his financial situation but said she was going to forward a copy of the replacement cost of the tooth to his insurance company. The amount for the tooth alone was "$3800.

Vic said he was struck by the humor of it all. Surely, he reasoned, the materials used and the medical equipment involved did not warrant such  a high price tag. To him this was another example of how costly and unrealistic the cost of medical and dental charges and services have become.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shoddy Tech Support Plagues Giantmatrix

 

Online software companies promise potential customers that their product is second to none and that their product 's technical support team will go out of its way to assist you should you experience problems with their products.

One company whose after sale technical support is sorely lacking is Giantmatrix (www.giantmatrix.com) whose product "Anti Tracks" offers consumers hours of software frustration, little or no product support and of course questionable marketing strategies.

In November of 2011 I purchased an  online version of Anti Tracks from Avangate the seller of the software. I received an email notification that once my order was confirmed I would receive the payment receipt and "detailed product licensing information" in separate emails.

The followup email I received informed me that I should register my product at the Avangate website (www.avangate.com) so that I would be able to view my order details, gain access to my online shopping history and "re-download licence keys/codes".

An email indicated the download site to obtain the program. No product codes were ever included with the emails. At the time I thought nothing of that fact and installed the program. That was my first major mistake.

The program loaded successfully and promised to protect my identity and personal information online. After I initiated the program two things happened which I did not expect:

1.  I was unable to access any website due to server failure.
2.  My computer crashed and I had to do a computer restore.

I had to perform a computer restore two more times after the initial software conflict. I had downloaded a copy of the program and placed it on a DVD for safekeeping. When I installed this copy the computer once again locked up. An onscreen error message informed me of an error occurring because a product cover page was missing.

I sent an email to the customer support team and told them my situation. I also told them that I had not received the licence keys or special codes in any email from them. I requested the product codes to unlock the product.

I received a short email telling me to go to another website and download another version of the program. No product codes were included at this time but the name of the program was listed a "Anti Tracks - complete version". I still do not know what that means.

Naively I followed their instruction, downloaded the program and hoped for the best. Again my web browsers were unable to access the Internet due to server errors. Two more times the program crashed my computer due to software complications.

I again contacted customer support and have  been waiting now for a reply for about two weeks. Apparently a customer has to purchase "download protection" from the company to avoid such frustrating situations. A reputable company should have to resort to this type of after sale customer extortion to ensure that their product will continue to function as promised.

 In the past week or so I wrote to the sales department at Avangate asking for a refund for the product. I also sent an email to Gianmatrix explaining my frustration with both their problem plagued product and shoddy technical support.

From this experience I have learned not to trust an online software company who requests that a customer purchase "download insurance portection" to guarantee them the right to have future downloads should their product fail to perform. 

This is definitely a situation of buyer beware. The best policy is to do your online research about those companies who toot their own product horns a little too briskly. 

Trading In Your Gold For Cold Hard Cash?

"I'm tired of hearing about money, money, money, money, money. I just want to play the game, drink Pepsi, wear Reebok."   ---  Shaquille O'Neal (humorous quotes)

The price of gold has been skyrocketing almost daily soaring high into the uncertain financial stratophere.

Television commercials constantly beg us to mail in our unwanted gold items to them in exchange for instant cash.

As you watch the persuasive infomercials aimed at separating you from your gold you begin to suddenly realize that you do have a number of gold items you don't need anymore and would like to convert your sentimental keepsakes into something a bit more commercially spendable.

Well-known money lending outlets as well as gold exchange kiosks in many malls constantly bombard us with their own gold exchange mantras. Is the gold exchange process as easy and as painless as the ads suggest or is there more that the general public should be aware of before entering the gold exchange transaction?

I recently visited five individual outlets of  national money lending , payday loan companies trying to separate the advertising hype from the reality of doing business with them. The site locations and the people running the outlet determined the ease or the overall difficulty  with which any transacting could be accomplished.

It was mandatory that a potential customer be a registered member with the lending company. I told them I was not a member of their company but was merely seeking information about the process. That being said I entered the sites and inquired about their gold exchange policies, practices and overall waiting times.

The outlets I visited were staffed by young female customer service representatives (C.S.R.S). The women in four of the money stores were under 25 years of age. In one store the woman was closer to 40 years of age. She exhibited the more experienced and reserved attitude towards me and my inquiries.

They all appeared to be competent at performing their jobs. All were friendly and polite.  A potential customer was immediately welcomed at the door. A warm, friendly smile greeted you at the service desk and good eye contact made you feel important as a potential client.

I asked them what I needed to do to exchange my gold for cash. I received brochures, verbal explanations and pamphlets explaining the process to me. It was a virtual smorgasbord of information for me to digest.

All but one outlet told me that the evaluation process would take a few hours to process. The CSR would have to evaluate the items brought in , assess their overall exchange value and then present me with a dollar amount based on their appraisals. This sounded reasonable to me and fell in line with the information extolled by the television commercials.

The older female C.S.R.  informed me point blank  that I would need the original receipts for any and all gold items I brought in for appraisal. I told her that many people want to exchange gold items for which they have no receipts. Items such as gold family heirlooms, a grandmother's wedding ring or other such items might not have the proper paper work of authenticity.

When I finished relaying this fact of life to her she told me matter of factly that at her store the no receipt - no sale policy was in effect. She added that even registered members were not exempt from this rule. To her this policy was a hard and fast rule of doing business.

The other stores I visited did not present such a tough as nails policy towards customers who brought in their gold for sale and exchange. They did not know they had to enforce such a policy. Their more flexible policy might entice more clients to their outlet than the other tough line policy store would.

If you are going to exchange your unwanted gold items for cash it is best if you shop around, make some telephone calls to a number of these outlets and let the overall personality of the onsite C.S.R. guide you and direct your eventual course of action.

Try to realize that the advertising hype may be radically different from the type of reception you will receive at these gold exchange outlets. Many enticing late night commercials seem to radically pale in the light of day when a person actually visits these stores and discovers that the hype and reality are worlds apart.