Is Quality Going Down?

Recently I've experienced poor customer service and incompetence from my bank, cell phone provider, my credit card company and computer company.

Are you experiencing it too?

I blogged about my computer hard drive burning up. It just quit one night when I was working on it. It is a Dell and less than a year old. Dell sent me a new hard drive but it was refurbished. Shouldn't I get a new one if it is under warranty. I would complain but I'd have to spend half my day on the phone like Laura did trying to install the hard drive and the lost programs. It is ridiculous.

Dell was a really good company but I think they got too big too fast. I wouldn't recommend buying a computer from them. I can't say anything about their other products.

My next beef is with my cell phone company Sprint. I have been trying to cancel my automatic payment from my checking account for a year. Every time I call they say they cancel it but I keep getting the bill deducted from my account. The worst part is I don't use that checking account anymore so I do not deposit into it as of a month ago. I don't recommend Sprint either.

Onto my bank. When Laura and I set up the account here in New York I wasn't able to be on it because I didn't have any paperwork with my name and address on it. So we just put it in Laura's name. We had a wonderful experience with the staff member who helped us. Last month we went back to get my name on the account. Again the woman was excellent. I asked if I could sign the checks even if my name wasn't on the check itself. She said now that my name was on the account it didn't matter. Well I had to call Citibank the other day to ask a question and I couldn't because my name isn't on the account. Incompetence.

Now here's the deal with my credit card. It kept getting declined. So I called them. The bill was returned to them when they tried to mail it. I just moved. I changed my address with company before that. It must not have happened. You would think they would call me if my bill was sent back?

I called up the company to change my address again. The woman I spoke with didn't know how to do that. As she fumbled around, I was disconnected. I couldn't call back because I was on my lunch break and didn't have time to call back and wait on hold. I am cancelling the card.

These aren't complaints, just realities. Realities that waste time. We all shell out a lot of money for these services (which we really don't need). We should call out companies that have poor quality and service and patron those that excel in it.

One company that went above and beyond for us is DHL, a shipping company. So there's a shout for DHL.

Is health care a right?

I recently signed up for my company's healthcare plan. It basically costs me 100 bucks for medical and dental care. Within that coverage I have a copay and certain procedures are split 80/20.

The 100 bucks a month ($1200 a year) seems fairly reasonable with the high costs of medical care in the event that I may need it. In reality I believe it is costing me more because my employer is paying whatever else it costs to insure me as a perk for working there.

I'm not someone who requires a lot of medical care at this point in my life. In fact I do not remember the last time I went to a doctor. So that money I pay each month is "just in case" something happens which I am sure I will be greatful to have in case something happens.

I look at all the money that is spent on me "just in case" and I cringe. There's gotta be a better way to do it. fI looked into a health savings account but unless my employer pays me the money that they are spending on my health care it wouldn't be worth it.

Massachusetts recently passed a bill that will insure nearly all of its citizens. Very interesting.

http://www.hcfama.org/

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/us/05mass.html

I want to see how this plays out.

Post at light giver...

Connections...

Lil sis...

My sister Candace has a blog called Running Reflections. Thought I'd give her a shout.

Back....

My hard drive burned up so I've been out of commission. Not that I would have been blogging anyway! We haven't even had the computer for a year and it already went bad. It is a Dell Inspiron 600m. The customer service was pretty much a bad experience. I don't know how many hours we spent with the phone to our ear trying to get things fixed. I think that I will look into Macs for our next one.

Don't thank me for not smoking...

Famous words a football coach of mine uttered when he saw one of these signs. Always makes me laugh. He was an ornery guy.

Laura and I saw "Thank You for Smoking" this weekend. Nick Naylor is a smooth talking lobbyist for "big tobacco" who is on a mission to get more people smoking. It's a good movie. Probably better to rent it than shell out cash at the theater.

My Lives...

Billy Joel played his 10th show in Madison Square Garden Saturday night, March 4th. Laura surprised me with tickets for our anniversary. He is one of my favorites.

Our seats were not very good, all the way at the top of the Garden. As we circled our way around to our seats a guy tapped me on the shoulder and asked if we wanted to sit in the 2nd row - all we had to do was trade him our tickets for the 2nd row seats. Yeah right. He had an all access pass around his neck and said he worked with Billy Joel and that Billy himself reserved seats in the front rows for fans with not so great seats to show his appreciation. Only being in New York for a couple weeks we couldn't help but think we were getting scammed but how did he get in? We bantered with him for a minute or two and decided to go for it. We immediately found the nearest usher and asked if our tickets were legit. Sure enough they were! So that's were we watched the show, from the 2nd row. It was amazing.

Light Giver...

I post on another blog called lightgiver. It is hosted by kairos.la

TCOB...

It has been three weeks at my new job. I like my work and the people are nice. To sum it up in non-descriptive terms, it's going well.

However there is one thing I am not used to yet...the community bathroom. Now I'm one of those people who do not mind using a public restroom. In fact I kind of enjoy it. Maybe because it appeals to the animal instinct of "leaving my mark". The same feeling doesn't ring true when the possibility of running into my manager or even the president of the company resonates in the back of my mind while I'm taking care of business.

The community bathroom in the work place. Is it some employee building technique thought up by some crazy consultant or just a way to save a buck?

Armed with new tools...

So I just finished ironing my shirt for work. It has become a daily ritual. The dress code at my job is a shirt and tie (pants are optional). Personally I choose to wear the pants and I wear shoes too. My new favorite tool to put my shoes on is the shoehorn. I just have a simple one but you can choose from a large variety of shapes and sizes. Who knew? There are even shoehorns for women!

Take a moment and collect yourself.

Excuse me while I go tie my tie.

Now we are cooking with gas...

A coworker of mine, Eddie, used to say that a lot. I get the jist of it, but not until now have I experienced it. Our apartment has a gas stove and man is it nice. My scrammbled eggs are done in less than two minutes. I burned the butter yesterday not paying attention! Our heat is gas too. Funny how they allow open flames in the house and how people don't really think twice about it. Not me, its always in the back of my head that I could get blown through the wall while making my eggs in the morning. That's why I never cook in my skivvies.

Other Ramblings...

My lastest obession, next to my wife:

Oops...wrong picture

The Aston Martin Vantage

New York politics are a little different than in North Carolina, to say the least. I'm looking forward to this election year even though I still find the current political climate nausiating. Anyways, I am an avid listener of talk radio. My latest find is Air America 1190 WLIB, Progressive Talk. It is liberals answer to Rush Limbaugh.

More and more people these days seem to have a problem with capitalism. I can understand their beef in some ways. As of right now I don't have a problem with it, but I will continue to allow my thoughts to be shaped. A book Laura and I are reading is by Ron Sider called, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. We haven't read enough to comment on. Just speaking out of my you know what for right now, I'd say the problem is more with marketing and Hollywood.

I would like to pose a question that nobody else (to my knowledge) has. Is Kanye West overrated? I really don't know anything about him other than his song "Gold-digger" which I think is clever. Oh and that he criticized the President on national television during a Hurricane Katrina fund-raiser. I think that is his claim to fame. Nothing is more popular right now than hating the President.

I saw Brokeback Mountain. I wonder how many people comment on it (positively or otherwise) without even seeing it? It wasn't what I expected.

And finally one complaint about New York living. People do not put their shopping carts in the shopping cart return cage. They just leave them in the parking lot strued about haphazardly obstructing reasonable peoples like myself ability to park. It's not just one or two but dozens!

They have a lot to answer for...

Evangelicals Join Global Warming Initiative read the headline.

All those tv preachers with the excessive use of the hair spray probably has a lot to do with it.

Back to the Blog...

For the past five weeks Laura and I have been in the process of moving from Greensboro, NC to Long Island, NY. Laura started a new job on January 3rd so she moved to NY while I continued working in NC. I stayed with friends (thanks Ray and Tere!) after we moved all of our furniture out of the apartment. I officially moved to LI on Sunday, driving the 10 hours on Super Bowl Sunday, because I started a new job myself with LKB, Inc.

I packed up our stuff myself instead of hiring movers. It was quite a job. It took me over a week. I figured I saved about 3000 bucks doing it that way. I rented a truck and drove the 600+ miles. It was a haul and the truck was a hoss (a 22 footer). I left at midnight and made it to NY at 2pm the next day. A couple extra hours longer then I expected because I was lost in Brooklyn, after I smashed the passenger's side mirror at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge toll booth. It was a circus there for a little while as I passed back and forth JFK International airport trying to find my way. The Van Wyck saved me and I finally made it to our apartment.

Special thanks to Ray, Lou, Vick, Jonathan, Mom, Dad, Bri, Corrie, Cand and Josh for helping us move. We couldn't have done it without you!

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Help...

My lovely wife has joined the blog world lovetolaughoutloud. Check it out when you get a chance. She is an excellent writer. Warning: high drama.

And speaking of my lovely wife, we are currently in a battle over the thermostat in our apartment. She tried to make a truce but I am refusing. It is more like a cease-fire on my part.

Laura has the heat jacked up to 78-79 degrees! She wanted to call a truce at 75! Yeah, that's what I'm saying. The heat is so intense I can smell the paint burning. I can handle 70, maybe 72. I don't know what to do. I need some help on this one.

What is a reasonable temperature to heat your home to? And keep in mind that my Laura as wonderful as she is, is not reasonable.

Simplyhired.com

Since we moved to Long Island, I've been doing the job search. Simplyhired.com is an awesome site that pulls from careerbuilder, monster, and many other job search engines. Thought I would pass it along in case anyone else is looking. It is my favorite site so far.

Monster and Careerbuilder are good for posting resume's. I have had success with people looking at my info and even got an interview this way. But I find them lacking when doing specific job searches.

If you know of any other sites please comment below.

RevDanDugan...

My grandfather-in-law who is in his 80's started a blog: revdandugan.blogspot.com He is a cancer survior and he wanted to encourage others who are fighting it and have survived it.

He is a pastor of a church in West Paterson, NJ. He is also a phenominal cook. Oh the manicotti!

Check it out and pass it on to those you think it may help who are suffering with an illness or disease

The EVERYTHING Bagel...

Who invented it and why. Do you really want onion breath all morning??? A mouth wash or gum company probably thought this one up to boost sales.

What's compatibility have to do with it???

This came up in our Bible study group last Tuesday night. I can't take credit for it, Carrie is to thank for that. I will share what we discussed.

Somehow we were talking about the differences between my wife Laura and myself. When it comes to personality we are extreme opposites. Most of the couples in our group would consider themselves opposites on many aspects, not just personality. EHarmony boasts more matches that become marriages than any other service. You can get a free compatiblity report right on their website! One of their commercials has a couple all starry eyed saying how they find more and more in common with each other every day.

I think Laura and I find more that's different than the same! I'm not saying that one way is better than the other, but I would like to know if more marriages are two people of "compatibility" or "opposabiltiy" (if that is even a word).

Maybe EHarmony factors this into their "compatibility" tests but I would venture to say that they do not.

Anyways we all thought this to be odd. Can anyone help me out?

Keeping the New Year's Rez...

My car needed new brakes so I took it to the Toyota dealership. I figured I'd continue reading a book I got for Christmas as I waited. The title is called Overdosed America The Broken Promise of American Medicine. It is a book written by a family doctor who through personal research discovers that many of the new drugs heavily marketed do little to help the medical condition they were invented for and even cause more harm to the patient. Sometimes simply exercising will be more effective than taking a drug!

From what I've read so far it seems that the health industry is just as interested if not more in your money than your well-being. It is a good lesson for us to stay informed as to what is happening out there and pay careful attention to what we are putting into our bodies.

I just read this article today about over-the-counter cough medicine being ineffective.

Happy New Year...

I'm a little slow starting the new year. As for resolutions, no specific ones. Only that I want to be more creative and the I want to read more. I did a personal inventory and found that I only read two books (cover to cover) in '05. There were a lot of books I rummaged through but didn't completely read.