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06/24/08 |
        
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Welcome to Chuck's Corner06/26/2008 New Lousy Column Posted In the usual place. I could use some suggestions for future columns. 06/08/2008 News In case you're unclear about whom you should be voting for in the election coming up later this year, let me give you a hint:
05/21/2008 News I'll be posting a new lousy column tomorrow. You probably don't want to miss THIS one! I have a new web site for the Christmas Lights. It's www.LightsGoneWild.com. Right now, it just points back here but I'll be creating a new site dedicated to the Christmas light show over the summer. Don't forget to check back often. 12/28/2007 2007 Videos Online! It's possible that I've added video of all of the 2007 sequences over on the Christmas Lights page but it's PROBABLE that there's only one or two. Only one way to find out...
I've changed the Christmas Lights page to provide show information and other links. I also added some pics of the display. 11/19/2007 Maybe I should be more specific... A recent anonymous poster mentioned this regarding my comments about FedEx: Well the tracking info you posted shows when it was picked up (Sept 26) and arrived in CA on Oct 1. It also shows the estimated delivery date to be Oct. 8 but you don't show the actual delivery date. Also, this is a FedEx Ground tracking report and they have 3 to 7 day delivery commit. Sorry, but with 7 days left to get that package to you I don't see that it was fair to judge FedEx the way you did. Just read that again in case you missed any of the inanity of it. In case I need to spell it out for you: my point was THEY SHIPPED IT TO CALIFORNIA!!! Also, by the poster's standards, I should have had it in my possession by October 3rd at the latest. I did not receive it until October 8th, THAT'S 13 DAYS!!! (Which is about DOUBLE the allotted time.) And I wasn't "judging" FedEx, I was just making an amusing observation. And people wonder why our country is so screwed up when people like this are allowed to vote. "Oh, well, it was only a few days late!" isn't that far removed from "Oh, well, we THOUGHT he had weapons of mass destruction. My bad!" Get some standards, people! To be fair, FedEx DID contact me TWICE during the shipment, Once to apologize for the delay and then again to confirm that it had been delivered satisfactorily. Also, this is the first time I've had a problem with a FedEx delivery. (But FedEx Ground is SLOW. I think Parcel Post is a better bargain.)
10/27/2007 New Column Posted My latest effort to amuse myself is on the Lousy Column page. (The hamsters are at it again.)
10/1/2007 FedEx Sucks POP QUIZ TIME! What strikes you as "out of the ordinary" about this actual FedEx status report?
If you guessed "They shipped it to the wrong end of the country" you'd be correct. 8/20/2007 American Airlines Doesn't Suck! I spoke too soon in my August 11th update. As it turns out, American Airlines has avoided my "List of Things that Suck". In fact, I think they should be commended for good customer service. Here's the short version: I recently flew from Miami to Dallas to Knoxville (that's in Tennessee for those of you from "normal" locales.) There were some "irregularities" with my return flight so I fired off a letter to their Frequent Flier Customer Service. This is the actual Email: Hi, This past week, I traveled from MIA to TYS and back. I went through DFW. The ONLY reason I took this circuitous route was because AA had 777 service on the final DFW/MIA leg. I used my miles to upgrade to first class JUST FOR THIS LEG. Imagine my disappointment when the TYS/DFW flight was delayed and I missed the 777 and, instead, got stuck on a crappy 737! I realize I probably can't get my money back for the entire flight - even though I COULD have gotten there quicker (and cheaper) on many of your competitors - but I think I SHOULD get a complimentary upgrade for the inconvenience. Let's face it - First Class on a 737 is basically equivalent to having an exit row coach seat with free drinks. Since I had 3 drinks and a meal (also worth $5) I'd owe you $20 but I got home so late that I had to take a cab. (My wife was already in bed by that time.) In any event, the cab ride - with tip - was $20 so we're even on that score. In addition, my bag didn't make the connection in DFW so I didn't get to brush my teeth until 8:00 pm the next day after my bag was delivered. Here's the record locator for my flight: <snipped> I look forward to my complimentary upgrade, Thanks, Chuck Imagine my surprise to receive the following a few days later: Dear Mr. Hutchings, We appreciate your recent email to AAdvantage Customer Service. We are sorry for the difficulty you encountered during your trip to Miami. Since you were traveling on an AAdvantage award, we are especially sorry that things did not proceed as well as expected. We appreciate the opportunity to resolve this issue for you. To help make amends, we have credited back to your account 15,000 miles from the award that you used. Please allow 24 hours before you view this adjustment in your account when you login at our Web site, AA.com, with your AAdvantage number and password. I hope this action helps offset your disappointing experience and makes you feel a little more confident about using award travel in the future. Regards, <snipped> AAdvantage Customer Service American Airlines Wow! Who would have guessed it would be so easy? I should have asked for more!
10/14/2006 It's Not Just Me.... I get a lot of feedback from nitwits that think I'm out of my mind and should just shut up about how much ComCast sucks, Well, here's some feedback from someone that WORKS FOR COMCAST! (I corrected all of the spelling and grammatical errors in an attempt to protect the poster's anonymity - there were so many that I figured it would easily identify the poster. Other than that, this is exactly as I received it) Hey, I actually work for Comcast as a <removed by Chuck>. I know what sh*t goes on and I'm pissed I have to work for that company but hey it's a job. I can't complain about that. It hurts me to not be able to tell people the truth about how much ComCast blows. If they ask about other people and what complaints have been made I have to say "Well, I don't see much going on in your area" but I have to book you a tech to come out because you as well half of your neighbors are offline. The worst place to have ComCast service is in Florida (Dade, Broward counties) All of PA (Bucks, Delaware, New Castle counties) and Dallas TX. However I want to make one point clear: Any of the reps people speak to don't have many capabilities at all (people think the reps can do anything and everything) it's not true! Me being a <removed by Chuck>... we can't ever contact local offices or dispatch, we can't contact higher up's in the company (just our seniors) but even then, they can only call dispatch. They have no other contact numbers. ComCast only provides us with the basics... they NEVER provided us with dispatch number. We had to get them from other departments if they'd give them to us. Remember, all Call Centers are contracted out to other companies. For example, the center where I am has 6 other contracts for other companies. ComCast provides NOTHING to us - we have to search for it. What they do provide us with is just the tools to pull accounts and to ticket calls and book trucks. So once again I feel so sorry I can't be more truthful to customers but we are required to sugar coat some things and not to be totally truthful. I feel so bad, I wish I could tell customers the real deal, but I can't! One last thing is that when you call in and start yelling it makes our job that much harder then it already is, All I ask is if you're <snipped by Chuck> mad you keep calm and explain the issue because the notes that are made (if ever) from previous calls are extremely vague to sometimes nothing. So just please be considerate to us, we do understand your pain! Oh, by the way, we are never allowed to ask if you want to speak with a supervisor. You always MUST ask. And the supervisors are just the same as seniors: they have NO Technical Support functions and no contact info for other people. So if you get the gist of what I'm saying you know WE ALL FEEL BAD and HATE IT TOO, WE KNOW!! Thanks
7/25/6 Yet More Feedback Apparently, ComCast sucks the world over (and sometimes in surprising ways): It's Comcastic! (for them). It amazes me how stupid I can be. I'm actually paying Comcast so they can turn around and sell advertising to me during the local cutaway breaks. Used to be these breaks had spots for local businesses (e.g., Ted's Hobby Shop on Main Street in Smallville) Now, since Comcast owns most of Connecticut's cable franchises, I've noticed they are running spots for large national accounts (when they aren't running promos for all their great services). Since I'm paying them for the ability to do this, it would be nice to see a ""rebate"" in my monthly bill for all the spots they are able to sell (on my time). Also in the Northeast, a cable network has existed for years that delivers regional news. Known as ""New England Cable News,"" we never had it in our channel line-up....that is, until Comcast purchased it two years ago! Suddenly, it became magically available everywhere in our state. They also own another useless channel known as "CN8" I say useless because the above mentioned news channel covers all of New England in general with an emphasis on Boston. Living in the Hartford area, we are already served by several local news outlets and don't need a regional news channel here. Yet we get to pay Comcast for carriage of these
two channels so they can sell ads on them for us to all see. It's also
interesting to note these two channels are mono. However, since owned by
Comcast, they put stereo generators on them (so the stereo indicator on
your TV will light up when they are tuned in). The audio is still mono
however. Too bad they can't take those two stereo receivers and use them
on cable channels that actually ARE stereo but aren't offered to us that
way (Court TV and "E!" are two that come to mind). Poor Jimbo. As if living in Connecticut weren't bad enough he's also stuck with ComCast cable service! (Don't bother emailing me about how wonderful Connecticut is. I've been there.) 7/19/6 Feedback is FunHere's some recent feedback. Some people get it. Douglas, for example, gets it (English is probably not his first language but that's OK. I don't judge people based on their English skills.) I have been with comcast for about 4 1/2 5 years, My problems started about 2 to 2 1/2 years ago when I went digital (no option buy the way. Sometime I feel like I spend more time on the phone with them than my family, and I have a large family. I have a stack of WR from them about an inch thick. I have had audio problems (still ongoing) picsilation you name it I have probably had it! Then have replace my living room DVR three or four times, and the one in my bedroom at least twice and it only brings a new set of problems. I was on rapid respose for about 3 months and all that did was get them here to tell me the same thing faster. Believe it or not I have had up to 5 techs here at one time. Still no solution. They put a separate line to my computer and a deticated one to my 5 TVs. They have come in and installed an amplifier. The have come back and disconnected it. Still no solution. I taped Big Brother the other night and the sound went on and off at a regular interval through out the entire show. I still have it saved, finally to catch up I had to turn on my closed caption to tell what happened, this last time. I called Sunday and the tech won't be out until thursday the waits are getting longer and longer. Often when I turn on a show that has been recorded the sound comes out like the chipmunks. On those cases sometimes I can pause and play and it will go away. In the past I wrote down the instances where I lost audio or the picture would pixilate, and in on TV show it happened 4 time losing bits of the show. I like the feature don't get me wrong I just want them to work! -Douglas Some people suck and don't like to leave their name so I'll just refer to this next guy as "Turd Burglar". What a dumb-ass! He can't even speak English or spell correctly! get a life you blurb loser adn get dsl and a dish and shut the hell up, better yet last time I checked cable and internet isnt water and gas so get rid of it and shut up f@cking loser (I put the "@" in that next-to-last word. Turd Burglar had a "u" there - Chuck.) -Turd Burglar That last one just cracked me up. Imagine! The CEO of ComCast replied to MY Web site! 7/6/6 New FeedbackI've been lax in checking the feedback page. I'll try to get to it next week; sorry for the inconvenience. In the meantime, here's someone else's story about THEIR wonderful ComCast service: ********************************************Damn Right Comcast Sucks! During the historical July 4th launch of the space shuttle, what does COMCAST decide to do?!? Emergency Broadcast Testing 8 seconds before launch. Of course it was more than a minute into the launch bufore [sic] it came back on......THEY SUCK!********************************************6/25/6 More problems with ComCastI was about to compliment ComCast on how well their service has been working lately. Good thing I didn't. My current favorite thing that doesn't suck Let me save you the trouble of searching all over the Internet for the greatest moment EVER in the history of the televised world : Stephen Colbert lampoons Bush at the White House Correspondents' Dinner
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This site was last updated 06/24/08
