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United airlines and continental merger?

March 3rd, 2012

Well, after a day of flying with United, their merger still have some kinks to work out. Just getting on the first flight was a challenge. The scanner would recognize the passengers in front of me. Also some planes must still have paint drying.

I’m still waiting for a flight out of Washington. We’ve been waiting over two hours for a 25 minutes flight!

[Update 1] Flight was cancelled due to a maintenance issue. After waiting for hours with lots of promises that the flight would happen somehow, it was cancelled…

[Update 2] Rented a car. Now I’m out not only 5 hours of my life but $150 too. Check this space for United’s customer service response…

[Update 3] Interesting… United automatically rebooked me on a flight for Sunday morning… I guess I’m on that flight right now! Even though I’m already home…. so I’m guessing that I will not be getting any compensation from United. If not, there go those miles since I will do everything possible to never fly with them again.

Also, United’s app crapped out and ‘ate’ my boarding passes. Lucky for me, I was in the airport for an early flight and the customer service line had not formed yet. Back to paper for me! Too stressful with an electronic ticket!

Just my rambling on a Saturday afternoon.

Tags: Messed up
Posted in Gripes, travel | Comments Off

Hilton hotel extra charges

March 2nd, 2012

I wish that Expedia would disclose when I have to PAY to park a car. $10 which is just extortion. I have pre-paid for this room. I have a car. No place to park. So stupid. I will not be staying at a Hilton Hotel for a long time.

Oh yeah, they wanted $9.95 for what would be free at any other hotel. This is being written on my lovely iPhone. With already paid for Internet.

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Customer Service Via Web Forms

January 11th, 2012

As you may have noticed, it’s the little things that really bother me. I just want things to work as they appear they should.

Web forms, Contact Us, Submit Your Issue, and the like.

You’d think that if an automobile dealership has a ‘Set-up a service’ form, you’d be able to pick a date and just show up. Not so fast with Keller Bros in Lititz, PA (www.kellerbros-ford.com).

I complete the form with all the necessary data (you need at least a week’s notice on this form) on a weekend. No auto-response message. OK, not a big deal. I think I completed it correctly.

So I wait a day. Crickets (nothing happens).

Wait another day, nothing. Now it is Monday but still a week away from my ‘maybe appointment’. I figure that I’m still good, I must have gotten the necessary appointment.

No email Monday.

No email Tuesday morning. So I call to speak with a human. I start with “I completed an online form to make a reservation…”. The receptionist says something like “No problem, let me schedule one for you”. I figured I must have completed the form incorrectly.

Wednesday, I get a response from ‘someone’ that I can’t have an appointment on Monday since there are now no openings! WHAT? I have an appointment. I called. Have you now cancelled my appointment? Nope… the web must be out sourced to India (or somewhere other than Lititz, PA).

Just thinking on a rainy Wednesday.

Posted in Car, Gripes | Comments Off

UPS Drivers Are LAZY!!!!

November 22nd, 2011

Well, all I can say is that if a UPS driver is paid to deliver packages, he/she should deliver them. Granted my house has a very difficult driveway and odd address. That said, I receive UPS packages twice a week, so it is possible.

Another package was not delivered today. I’m home. UPS usually delivers after 4PM. I check the package status at 4:30PM. “Out for Delivery”. Normal.

I check at 6PM. “The customer was not available” BS. I am sitting on my couch.

Logical conclusion: the driver did not want to come up my long driveway. The packages did NOT require a signature.

To boot, you can not complain about UPS. If I call, the customer service says, ‘Oh, there must have been a temporary driver. Sorry.’

Amazon, please allow me to choose a different shipper! Please!!!!

[Update]
Well, the saga continues. My ‘front porch’ is now beside my garage. I received the following package on a RAINY day. While this is not as bad as the FedEx monitor throwing delivery, I still feel that there needs to be a place to rate drivers.
[Update 2]

Another package(s) delivered to my driveway. This time it was $500 of wooden cabinets. One more day and those items would have been ruined in the rain!

Posted in Gripes | Comments Off

VPS (Virtual Private Server)

November 22nd, 2011

With the world going to the cloud, it seems that having a physical server is a going to be a thing of the past. I’m not so sure. What happens when your service provider has crappy, low end equipment? What happens when there are other clients that overuse the Node?

If you have a VPS at Burst.net, nothing happens. You are just out of luck. You first will need a good monitoring program. One that lets you know when a VPS is offline (every day, a few times a day). Then be ready to file a support ticket. Then be ready for the newbie, level I techie that says, “I can ping your server, so go away so I can watch TV or Netflix”. (Well, the watch TV was made up, but the first part is true)

Well, another server just went offline (11/22/2011 at 4:50PM). Filed a ticket 4 mins later (after trying to see what was going on… but not able to access my vePortal). The Node was restarted at 5:08PM. I get a response to my ticket at 5:09PM, “I can ping your server”. What a bunch of idiots at Burst.net!!!!

My two cents on VPS. I’m sorry that I moved from a physical server.

[Update]
So I have a crappy VPS, I guess I have to live with it. I have tried to have my container moved. I get a response that it can not be moved. What they are saying it that they don’t want to do that. I would need to order a new server. Configure it (many, many hours). Then test it. Then make sure that the new IP is not on a blacklist. Then make sure the IP is on White lists.

[Update2]
This VPS has been offline for the past two hours. I get ”The node is currently running a filesystem check.” from tech support. I guess this Node is oversubscribed like most VPSs. Ugghhhhh……

[Update3]
Well, things started looking up. Someone in customer service actually listened to my pleas for help. Everything was good for a week. Now the Node is offline again (7hr at this point). I contact tech support to find that ‘unscheduled maintenance is underway’. WHY NOT LET ME KNOW? I would then not be scrambling to enter tickets or verify that the server is truly down.

Posted in Burst, Yard | Comments Off

My own Tour de France

July 2nd, 2011

I have finished 19 days of riding, trying to match the real TdF. I rode in the Lancaster Bicycle Club’s Tour de Red Rose AND Aquaphor Le Tour Challenge @ MapMyRide.com (finished 53!)

The Tour de Red Rose had rides on the weekend and every weekday. I unfortunately was not in Lancaster for 10 days, so I missed out on the majority of the LBC rides (no ride punches for me).

July 2 – 42 miles
July 3 – 40 miles
July 4 – 33 miles (fast, hot and almost dehydrated myself)
July 5 – 60 miles
July 6 – 15.6 miles (rest day)
July 7 – 29 miles; 750 ft of climbing w/ 1 Cat 5 climb
July 8 – 31 miles; 1000 ft of climbing
July 9 – 41 miles; 550 ft of climbing
July 10 – 33 miles;
July 11 – Rest day (thank you!)
July 12 – 40 miles; 560 ft of climbing
July 13 – 25 miles; 629 ft of climbing
July 14 – 26 miles; 472 ft of climbing
July 15 – 29 miles; 600 ft of climbing
July 16 – 48 miles; 1000 ft of climbing
July 17 – 30 miles; 600 ft of climbing
July 18 – Rest day (yeah!)
July 19 – 30 miles; 550 ft of climbing
July 20 – 32 miles; 600 ft of climbing
July 21 – 17 miles; 350 ft of climbing
July 22 – 61 miles; 3120 ft of climbing
July 23 – 53 miles; 800 ft of climbing
July 24 -Paris! (not really..) 47 miles; 920 ft of climbing

Posted in Bicycle | Comments Off

Loving my Wahoo Fitness iPhone Case

July 2nd, 2011

It has been 6 months that I’ve been using an iPhone case on my bicycle. The case is water resistant and clips onto my stem. The case has ANT+ and ‘talks’ to my heart rate monitor.

I don’t have the speed sensor yet so I just rely on the GPS. This has been fine so far.

Posted in Bicycle | Comments Off

Facebook is Creepy!

December 23rd, 2010

As you may know, I’m not really into the whole social media thing. Well, I have a whole three ‘friends’ on Facebook. I have not added previous work/contacts/phone numbers in my profile.

Creepy part – FB seems to know all my old co-workers! FB wants me to add them as friends.

Data sharing? I’m guessing that FB has tapped into my LinkedIn profile (where these folks are Linked to me).

The reason I don’t have more friends is that I don’t want my DATA out there! I guess those days are gone.

Posted in Yard | Comments Off

HHGregg – Bad Experience

November 7th, 2010

First off, don’t go there when there is only 1 other person in the store. The salesmen (no women seen) where all over me. Even the ones that I bluntly stated "I have no questions", they continued to pester me.

Second, the web/store prices are WACKY. I was looking for a 32" TV/DVD combo. The web stated $348 which seemed like a good price. I go to the store (next day) and the price is now $379. There was nothing about "Sale until Saturday"… To top it off, the salesman didn’t even know the price.

Wifey says HHGregg must be like a stock market… going with daily trends. Well, my trend is to never go there again. Nor will I recommend it to anyone.

Posted in Yard | Comments Off