Verizon shenanigans

Talk about wringing every last dime out of your customer...

A few weeks ago my Verizon Blackberry died. Since I'd fulfilled my 2 year commitment, and was tired of having to tether the thing to my PC to get my contacts and calendar to sync, I decided to go ahead an jump for the iPhone, crappy-AT&T-network and all. I began porting my numbers... first mine... then I canceled the OnStar service in the Tahoe...and then a few days later, my daughter's phone. Now that her number has successfully ported out, I called verizon to cancel the account altogether, and I got the best excuse ever from Jan at Verizon Wireless: "We'll cancel it effective the 18th, which is the end of your billing cycle, so you don't get a pro-rated bill". Uh. What? You mean you'll bill me through the end of the month so I can pay for 2 weeks of service that I'm not going to get? Hell yeah! NOT.

So then Jan puts me on hold for 5 minutes while she "makes that change". Jan comes back and tells me that she has to transfer me to someone that can help me.

Kristen. Ah, what a sweet lady.
"Why are you leaving us Mr. Goldsby, what's wrong?".
"Nothing's wrong, I just made the move to the iPhone".
"Okay, well let me make that change. You realize there will be an early termination fee becuase you didn't fulfill your 2 year commitment on that other handset, and your final bill will be pro-rated so it will be a little higher than usual?".
"Uh, yeah, but it will be less than letting it run through the 18th of the month?"
"Well, yessir.".

I guess that little game has made it into the corporate playbook.

Saavvii for MSWord - Even faster keyboard shortcuts!

http://www.softwaretheories.com/

This application is great. I have always been a keyboard junkie, avoiding the mouse as much as possible. Under MSWord 2003 and prior versions, I was able to do just about everything with the keyboard and rarely needed the mouse. This all changed with Office 2007 and the blasted "Ribbon". The keyboard shortcuts largely changed (to nonsensical combinations) and it became near impossible to find the function I wanted.

Enter SAAVVII. This little utility lets you call it up with the hotkey sequence of your choice, and type in plaintext commands like "insert 2x3 table" or "edit header" or whatever you like. No instructions, but they're largely unnecessary. As long as you don't try to get silly and trick it, Saavvii will generally figure out what you want to do and do it. Handy.

iPod Shuffles Indestructible?

I have an iPod Shuffle (2G) that I've been using for my 430am trips to the gym for over a year now. I have managed to leave it in my shorts and washed / dried it no less than half a dozen times. Every time it comes out dead, but if I give it a day to dry out it will re-sync and keep on playing just fine. You just can't kill these things!

Belkin Flywire - multi HDMI + others inputs wirelessly to your LCD

Finally. Wireless HDTV in your house. Well, almost. When will this thing ship?

http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/releases/uploads/07_10_08FlyWire.html

The "Ten Demandments"

In the workplace, political skills can determine one’s ability to perform effectively. The following “Ten Demandments” are common-sense principles that can harness political energy to foster successful teams.

From Baselinemag

Finding large files and directories on Windows

What an annoying problem - your system drive is filling up, but with 200G+ hard drives these days, how to find where in the blasted filesystem those large directories and files reside can be a problem. Space Monger offers a graphical view of your Windows harddrive, and it's slick. The free version can be downloaded here (older, but still works well) -> Spacemonger 1.40



Or you can purchase the latest version from Sixty-Five

Why does Verizon hate its customers? (redux)

Tonight's debacle: Market Segmentation to further alienate your high revenue, high profit customers.

You May remember my post from April 2008 "Why does Verizon Hate Its Customers". Well, it keeps getting better.

I still have this high margin (for Verizon) account because I haven't taken the time to move to AT&T and an iPhone yet. I added a line to my account and wanted to activate Verizon's nifty Parental Control features. Apparently, although I am signed up for a family plan, I am not signed up for the CORRECT family plan (one of: Nationwide Single Line or Family SharePlan).

Now you have to know that all of this stuff is just checkboxes on a configuration screen. It's the same equipment handling all of the call routing and features. The reason I can't have the features I want is because someone with too much time on their hands and a spreadsheet determined Verizon could maximize their profit by forcing customers into just the right combination of phone plans and add-on services. In my case, even thought I pay Verizon $262 per month for service, I'm not paying *enough* to let me have Parental Controls for an additional $4.99/month.

Hey Verizon, just one more reason for me to change my service, and that of my employees, to another provider.

Can you hear me now?