Category Archives: Product (Re)Views

Apple Does Right with iPhone Changes

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I just read this post from Steve Jobs on Apple.com regarding the iPhone price drop this week.  Good on Apple for offering to at least a small repayment for the major price drop after only two months of their iPhone being on the market.  I know I probably sound like a fanboy, but Apple continues to impress me with their customer service and their customer centered model of business.

Why should you buy an Apple product?  Because their customer service is not matched by enough tech companies and it will shock you [in a good way].

August Was a Bad Month for Garbage Cans in the Peterman Household

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This last month our garbage cans were run over by friends and family.  Twice.  At the beginning of the month Jessica’s sister creamed them with her parents’ Buick (not pronounced like quick).  In the middle of the month my friend Tony nailed them as he was backing out of our driveway.

The good thing is that they’re rubbermades and they withstood the smashing.

A Free Upgrade Wouldn’t Be Worth It

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When you read quotes like this:

I’ve been using Vista on my home laptop since it shipped, and can say with some conviction that nobody should be using it as their primary operating system — it simply has no redeeming merits to overcome the compatibility headaches it causes. Whenever anyone asks, my advice is to stay with Windows XP (and to purchase new systems with XP preinstalled). – Joel Spolsky

Its hard to want to upgrade.

Yet Another Post in Which Randy Cries Like a Baby

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Today I got a phone call from AT&T.  Well, it was from a computer at AT&T.  Or at least I think it was.  It could be the nation wire tapping program just doing a routine monitoring of my line pretending to be AT&T.  But assuming its AT&T a recording, yes a recording, told me to call AT&T to ask them about my account.  It gave me the phone number to call, told me that I should call them about my account, and then gave me the number to call again.  Only I had no paper to write things down with so I hung up, tried to dial the number from memory and then got a wrong number message.

A recording!  Why is it that they can afford to do any number of things that are called advertising but they fail to offer the customer service experience that would make customers want to do business with them?  Can you believe that in a customer service scenario they chose to use an electronic device to 1) irritate me like nothing else and 2) cause me to have to scramble to remember a number and 3) use a recording to communicate ‘an important message’?  So I called AT&T’s customer service line that is published on their website and after a little pinball-like action through their automated system I arrived at a customer service rep named Leslie.  Leslie was nice and helped me the best she could, she helped me determine that something had shut off my auto-pay plan (which has worked for some time now without a problem).  Something had shut it off three months ago.  And after accumulating three months worth of bills they were kindly letting me know that, finally, I should pay my bill.  Three months!  A recording!  Agggghhhhhhh!!!!!

I don’t know who is responsible for the numbskullery that is their procedure and policy in dealing with billing snafus but this was a really irritating way to interrupt a Friday.  So I’m going to pay my bill and attempt to reset my auto-pay program, but this is just irritating.  Thanks for nothing AT&T.  A recording!

A Customer Service Story & A Joke

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Today on my lunch break Jessica and I went to go close a bank account at a bank we don’t want to use any longer.  Upon going into the bank the two gals that were closest to one another behind the counter were bandying back and forth about getting married to a millionaire – together.  They argued who would get access to the money and who would have to sleep with the guy (they were definitely interested in the money and not the man who had accrued it).  Its the kind of customer service you dream of from a bank.  It reminded me of this joke:

A man is in a bar and finds a woman down the bar from him attractive.  He picks up his drink and slides on down next to her.  He looks her in the eye and says, “Would you sleep with me for $1,000,000.00?”

She sizes him up, thinks for a moment and then says, “Yes.”

The man looks back at her and says, “Would you sleep with me for $100.00?”

“What kind of woman do you take me for,” she asks.

“We’ve already established you’re a whore, now we’re just haggling over the price!”

Sears Borkbucks: The Borkination Continues

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So this morning was finally the day that the repairman from Sears was supposed to come out and unbork our fridge. That is until this morning when some poor soul had to call our house and tell us that they had scheduled a repair when there wasn’t a repairman available. She kindly asked us if we could wait another 8 days. You know, because walking out into our garage to get any item that needs to be refrigerated is a good thing. Not really, but surely they must appreciate putting customers on hold for weeks.

Jessica was nearly screaming at the automated voice system when she called back to try to speak to someone with actual authority. The automatic voice recognition system isn’t designed to handle angry people, which makes the angry people more angry, and it makes the system more not work, which means when the person gets a hold of a manager they’re ready to rip off the heads of live chickens in an Ozzy Osbourne type show trying to demonstrate their anger and communicate to the manager that the situation is grim.

I just hope that Sears deals with us soon and quickly because I’d have to have to write a third post about borking – its starting to make me feel kind of mad-scientist like with all of this evil laughter.

Update: Jessica got through to a live person, who promptly hung up on her, then she called back, got another live person who transferred her to a manager who got an appointment scheduled for Friday.  Not exactly now, but definitely better than next week some time.

Make Your Own Filet Mignon!

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OK, so this isn’t news, but did you know you can buy a Tenderloin at your favorite wholesaler (Costco, for example) and butcher it at home for filets that are significantly cheaper than the grocery store, and super juicy?  Sure, if you’re a vegetarian I’ve just suggested you go suck on a dirty gym sock, but for the omnivorous folks out there, wow!  We had tried this for Easter this year and had limited success because our tenderloin was spread between too many people.  However, tonight Kurt & Becky kindly invited us over for Kurt’s birthday (Happy Birthday, again!  Don’t eat the Pie!) where Kurt’s parents had kindly bought another tenderloin for us all to share.

WOW!  All my base are belong to Pismo.  Yummy stuff!  The butchering of the tenderloin isn’t that difficult and you will end up with approximately 10 tenderloins and meat for some very tasty philly cheesesteak sandwiches for about $50.00 (USD).  Give it a shot if you get the loot, its well worth it.

Frontier Airlines: Big Business Means Little Customers

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I have flown on Frontier Airlines for five or six years now, not so much in the beginning, but the last three years have seen almost all of my airline travelling business go through them.  They were generous in the beginning and their staff was friendly and accomodating.  I would not get the level of service that that Frontier offered from any other airline with any consistency (and most definitely not for the price).  However, in the last year they’ve gone ‘big business’ on me.  The bottom line and making money now in larger amounts is apparently more important to them than my long term business.

I’m a very loyal consumer.  When I have a bad experience I very rarely cut off my business with a company.  Sometimes I’ll go back a second and even third time to make sure it wasn’t an off-day, or a new employee that threw me for a loop.  When I have a good or better experience with a company or restaurant I often tell people about it and readers of this blog have gotten ‘an eyeful’ of reviews.  Frontier has gotten many recommendations from me in the past by word of mouth and by forwarded emails to others when they’re running a special.

Not so much any more with Frontier.  I’m going to shop around and if they happen to have the better deal I’ll take it, but my loyalty is no longer with them unless after contacting customer service they’ve rectified the situation.  Employee attitude can make a company or break a company, and the employees that I have dealt with on the business side of things have just been lousy the last year.  I’m sorry to have to break from my loyalty, but there comes a time when this sort of thing happens and sitting around to be treated like a number is only permissable from the government – they’re the only ‘legal’ monopoly.

I’m Not Cleaning That Shelf

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Today at the deli, where I almost didn’t buy my deli meat I overheard an employee going over a health inspection sheet that apparently stated that some areas of the deli be cleaned by next inspection.  This is good, I’m not concerned that they needed to work on some areas because that is just normal for businesses.  I was, however, concerned that the lady was then broadcasting that she was not going to be cleaning that shelf!  “You have to actually move stuff on that shelf, you can’t just wipe around things,” she said.

I think I’ll be shopping at another ‘super’ market.  That’s just not super, and its not marketable.  [lies start here] I can get away with not washing my feet because I’d have to actually bend down to wash them, but I don’t believe any health inspectors will be evaluating how clean they are for preparing food on [lies end hear].

Close Shave

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I got my Valentines day present early.  Jessica (and the girls) got me a shaving kit.  One that includes shaving oil, shaving creme a badger hair brush and post-shave lotion.  Wow!  This shaving experience is probably uncommon today compared to 100 years ago.  Who thought that using creme from a can was a good choice?  The oil helps keep the razor from mutilating my already funky skin.  The creme & badger brush create a nice smooth lather on top of the oil, and then the razor slides across my skin getting the hair up and off while keeping the skin in tact.  The lotion was not greasy and really made for a nice, smooth shave that I look forward to employing for years to come.  Thanks, Jessica, Abby & Evie!  And for those of you who wet shave, consider dropping a small amount of money on a kit like this, it will make shaving fun, and the results are well worth the extra cash because you’ll feel like the $50.oo (USD – and that’s an estimate, I don’t know the actual cost) is shining in your face.