Assumptions Gone Wrong

 My Tuesday is the first of 4 sequential days off.  Usually I rather enjoy having this many days off in a row, but the weather forecast for the next 4 days is not that good: high humidity with thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon.  High temps are forecast to be in the mid to upper 80s (F), but the chance of thunderboomers is going to limit the time I can use my drying rack outside.  

I had a nice long chat with Verizon yesterday because they processed my monthly autopay.  I'd canceled the service and returned the router over 2 weeks ago.  Well... it seems as though I only canceled my router, and not my FIOS internet.  They assumed I was going to be using my own router.  Don't you just love when it's okay for corporate America to make an assumption, but you the consumer simply cannot?  For them it is always a gray area, but for you and I it always black or white.

Before going to work yesterday, I got a very decent upper body workout complete.  Work, itself, was oh so boring... except for my first 15 minutes on the floor.  When I got to the store yesterday the parking lot was nearly empty and I assumed it was going to be slow.  Nope.  We had one aisle associate scheduled and I walked into the department and found 6 customers waiting.  Of course, when those customers were taken care of there was no one else for the next 4 and a half hours.  No one, except myself and the aisle associate.  Slow days are upon us.

And the cultists went into overdrive yesterday when Orangie's pet Attorney General made the statement that there was no Epstein client list.  "How can this be?!" they shrieked on Truth Social and Zitter.  After everything they'd been spoon-fed for years, Bondi had to be lying.  As several people said on Threads and Bluesky, "they are so close to getting it."  Sadly, I do believe that truth is always going to be just out of reach for them.  They are correct, however, in believe she and Kash Patel are lying.  Their dark little hearts are terrified that these lies have one singular purpose, covering up the fact that Orangie's name is practically synonymous with Epstein.  They both had a penchant for little girls.  Someone else brought up the fact that Orangie had bragged about walking through the dressing rooms of the Miss Teen USA Pageant when those young ladies where half dressed.  The truth is right in front of their eyes, but they would rather assume he's telling the truth rather than deal with the black and white of reality.

The Bitter, Old Man

 Temps today are predicted to climb into the mid 70s (F).  I can deal with that.  Tomorrow, since this is spring, rain is predicted, but not much, with temps hovering around in what they call the "seasonal" range.  This means it might be chilly, but it shouldn't be cold.  I get to work tomorrow and I don't have any yardwork planned prior to my hitting the store.

I did work yesterday and it was oh, so slow.  I did manage to get the requisite measure for the week, not all I need are the sales.  They might show up, and then again they might not.  It's no skin off my nose.

My internet was down last night.  I found out when Alexa told me he didn't know what I was talking about when I told him to turn off the lights.  Of course, I didn't know it was the entire internet in my area, so I went through everyone of those tedious little steps to make sure the problem wasn't on my end.  This is one of the reasons I have T-Mobile for my phone and Fios for my internet.  When one goes down, the other is till operational.  When Verizon finally admitted the problem was on their end, I went to bed.  This morning everything was up and running smoothly.

Today is primary day in PA.  I voted by mail.  So many people are trying to replace Scott Perry, it's almost ridiculous.  Only 1 of the 8 candidates will go head to head with him in November.  There's a fairly large Republican group that's anti-Perry, so who knows who they will be voting for since in Pennsylvania primaries, Democrats vote for Democrats and Republicans vote for Republicans.

And I saw this picture yesterday.  In case you didn't know, this is what evil looks like.

Have you ever seen a more bitter, old man?

The first witness in Trump's campaign interference trial was some guy named Pecker (I kid you not), who own the National Inquirer.  I didn't get a chance to see what he had to say, but from what I understand he's going to be telling about Trump's frequent sexual peccadillos, and how, for a fee, he kept them out of the National Inquirer.  Evidently the Moral Degenerate was even more immoral than we thought.  Today, Pecker's going to be testifying again, and no doubt, the world will hear that Trump, among everything else, was also a serial cheater.

From FIOS to the Trumplodite ascension

Ah, FIOS, some of know you too well.  Me, for instance.  My 82 year old mother recently moved into a Senior Living facility.  So far everything is going well except for her one dismay, she now needs to watch Comcast rather then FIOS.  She hates Comcast because they don't broadcast the same religious channels as FIOS.  She'll learn to live with it.  Anyway, it's my job to return the two set top boxes and her router.  When I cancelled her service I was told I could return everything to an authorized Verizon / FIOS dealer.  So I toted everything across the river only to be told "we don't do that anymore, you need to take them to a UPS Store."  So, on my way to the gym yesterday, I stopped off at the UPS Store and was told "our contract with FIOS expired at the end of October."  So, when I got home, I called Verizon and was promptly told "Oh, you were given wrong information.  There are only 2 authorized dealers who can do returns in Pennsylvania, one is in Pittsburgh (4 hours away) and the other is in Philly (2 hours away).  They're mailing me boxes, and mailing labels, so I can drop off my Mom's equipment at my nearest post office.  Now, isn't that nice?

And then I saw this article in the Washington Post which I found to be on the humorous side since it was coming from a fairly conservative news source.  There is evidently some serious concern that Trump might actually get the Republican nomination, the thought of which, I'm sure, is sending all of his Trumplodites into hands free orgasms.  For many, I suspect his ascension in this political arena is the next best thing to the Rapture.  For me, well, found the comparison to both Barry Goldwater and the wonder Wendell Willkie almost heartwarming.

And what really has their concerns all riled up is the fact that a Trump nomination would severely damage their tenuous hold on the Senate.  Oh, woe is me, those poor Republicans.  One can only speculate what might happen to the GOP should the Democrats win stunningly,.. implosion has a nice ring to it, don't you agree? 

 

Another FiOS failure

Well, I've just had anther grating experience with FiOS failed customer service.  Two weeks ago, when I got rid of their TV service, I was told that boxes would be sent to me so I could mail back their equipment.  I thought this was great as there is a Post Office on the way to the Giant where I do my grocery shopping.  However the boxes never arrived.  This morning I received an email from FiOS reminding me the equipment needed to be returned by 5/20.  Since I'm not going to be able to drive until 5/21, I contacted them to see about getting a 1 day extension.  Absolutely not. there is no way they can change that date.
They gave me 2 choices, I could pay UPS to come pick up the equipment and ship it back to them, or I could have somebody drive completely out of their way to either a Verizon Store, or a UPS store where they could be dropped off.  When I say out of their way, that's 5 miles from my house, not my brother's house, which would be another 12 miles out of the way, or my friend Patty's house, another 8 miles out of the way, or my friend Jack's house which is another 9 miles out of the way.  So, we're talking about more then a little inconvenience here.

In fact, their customer service agent Carol, did as little as possible.  When I told her how inconvenient this was her comment was "well, you asked me for a suggestion."  Now, is that anyway to treat your customers?  I had 2 of their services and now I only have 1.  There is a $650 charge if the equipment is not returned in time.  It will get returned in time, believe me, but there's no way I could recommend FiOS to anyone, except possibly to someone I really didn't like.  Do you think they care if they fail one customer?  Of course not.

Cutting the cable to FIOS

It took over 35 minutes on the phone this morning, but I did cut myself free from cable TV.  Once the FIOS customer service rep realized I was serious and that no "really great deal" was going to change my mind, she was very helpful.  I did increase my Internet speed, and because of that they're sending me a new router.  I told her that once I'm able to move around better I will probably buy my own since theirs comes with a rental charge.  Anyway, what am I saving right now?  About $35 a month, or about $420 per years.  After I install my own router that figure will increase to over $550 per year, which is a rather nice savings.

There was an interesting article in USA Today where a reporter indicated that the new, slimmed down packages being offered by Verizon weren't that skinny.  I checked out their new, select packages to see how much my monthly bill would drop and found that my total savings would be about $5 per month, or $60 per year.  Who in their right mind would call that a savings.  And I would still be saddled with boodles of channels I would never, ever watch.  So I cut the FIOS' cable, after all it is just television. 

Verizon's act of desperation

Beginning Sunday, 4/19, Verizon (FIOS) is going to start offering what's being called 'skinny bundles.'  This is their attempt to stave off Cable Cutters and try to maintain some degree of market share.  Some are calling it a bold move.  To me, it's an act of desperation. I don't need a package offering 149 channels when I only watch 3 or 4.  I get all of my news (local and national) on the Internet because updates are current.  Why would I want to wait until the evening news broadcast on cable to find something out?  In fact, with my job, I'm rarely home at that time.
One of the articles I've read suggested it might too little, too late, and I suspect that is true.  The business model both Verizon and Comcast have been relying on is geared towards an aging population.  I, myself, signed up for Amazon Prime.  Because I have an X-Box 360 I can watch it on my really big screen TV.  I can also sign up for Netflix, and Hulu should I want.  So why do I need FIOS TV?

I don't.  Everything is changing.  Of course not everybody is going to change with the times.  My 82 year old mother loves to channel surf.  She rarely watches a show in its entirety.  She is not alone.  There are a lot of people out there who are just like her, they need the super smorgasbord of 189 channels.  To them the idea of only watching a few shows is totally alien.  Under the new Verizon 'skinny bundles' these people can have their addictions satiated, for a fee.  

Will Verizon's act of desperation work?  I suspect not.  Will more networks and cable channels go the subscription route?  I suspect so.  If FIOS is still around 15 years from now, it's going to be a completely different beast.  That is if it survives.

 

Setting fire to cable TV

I did something to my back last week and have been off work, and, since it's my lower back have found my time at home severely limited.  My IP is Fios and, as some of you know, I am not overly impressed with them.  It's not only them, it's the standard fare offered on TV.  There are so many crap channels and so many repeats.  When you see an air date of 2008 on a show's info, you know it's been repeated from here to there and back again.  And never, ever watch a movie on a cable channel, unless you don't mind commercials.  Here's an example:  "Men in Black III" is playing on FX HD.  The actual movie has a running time of 78 minutes... however it's taking the FX HD channel used 3 hours to broadcast it. So what do you think they used to fill up over 100 minutes (that's like an hour and a half)?

Which is why I'm seriously considering purchasing an Amazon Fire and dumping the Fios TV.  It is, I'm fairly certain, the wave of the future.  A future in which you can actually chose the channels and shows you want to watch.  Roku 3 is out there too, but if you do an online comparison it's quite apparent Amazon is planning on setting fire to the cable TV industry.  I mean face, who in their right mind would want to subscribe to FX HD?

Verizon cracks

After six days of working, I am enjoying the first of 2 days off, though let me tell you, it hasn't all been fun and games.  One of the first things I did this morning was call Verizon - the second time in 3 weeks.  I first called them on April 23 have decided to switch my TV from FIOS to Direct TV.  After talking to them for about 25 minutes they decided to issue me a nice little credit to run for a full year, this was because I'm such a "valued customer."  The even sent me an email confirmation to let me know my new monthly payment.  When I received the email copy of my bill there was a discrepancy.  The total owed to Verizon was higher than I had been quoted - because they had raised the rate for the package I had.  That's right, they gave me a credit and then they raised my rate.

So this morning I called them back.  The first customer service rep I spoke to pointed out that on my paper bill, on page three, there was a notification that my rate was going to go up starting with this billing cycle.  Evidently this is all the notification they need to legally give you.  He also informed me this increase had been applied to every one who has the "Elite" package.  I suspect every package level had some increase, mine amounted to $5 a month.  Now I know some of you are saying that's not a big increase, but it is when you consider gasoline is up 25 cents a gallon since November, and my electric rate went up in February, and the water rate is supposed to go in June.

Making Verizon listen

Anyway, the first CSR couldn't help me so he transferred me to his Supervisor, who couldn't help me either.  The Supervisor transferred me to "Retention" because Verizon doesn't really want to lose customers.  Retention had me email my confirmation back to them, where upon they approved an adjustment to my rate for the rest of the year.  Just think, if I hadn't saved that email, my rate would have gone up because Verizon doesn't care what I'm paying for my 'essential utilities.'  Their main concern is keeping their investors happy.  Verizon doesn't care how much you pay per gallon of gas, they just want Wall Street to know their profits are going to go up by 5% this year.  The $60 adjustment to my bill for this year is not going to show up on their balance sheet.  They could do $60,000 in adjustments and it wouldn't show up, in fact they probably do.

The sad thing is that the vast majority of people who see this rate increase will simply say "oh, shit" and reach for the check book.  They'll piss and moan about how everything is costing more and do absolutely nothing.  I don't understand why so many find it so easy to become sheep.  A year from now I will probably end up switching to Direct TV because it is less expensive.  Unless, of course, Verizon decides to give me another rate adjustment, which they just might.

 

Evil Comcast raises its monstrous head

Comcast wants to buy Time-Warner and negotiations have a reached a point where it will be up to the SEC to decide if the deal goes through.  I'm hoping the vote it down.  Comcast is big enough.  .If a thousand people suddenly raised their hands in anger and shouted "enough price increases!" do you think Comcast would care.  Not a bit.  You see they are already so big that their average customer has become infinitesimally small.  They would not even notice a thousand people protesting Comcast's ever increasing prices because those people are so teeny, weeny, small and unimportant.  Would twenty thousand make a difference?  Nope, not at all.  Remember, Comcast is very big... and they want to get even bigger.  They want to rule the world.  Well, maybe not the entire world, but they do want to rule the cable and entertainment industry.  They want to call the shots.  They want to tell you how much you're going to have to pay for the channels you want to watch.  You can bet if the Comcast / Time Warner deal goes through those deals are not going to get all sugary sweet.  The exact opposite will happen.  They will sour your wallet.

Now I know there are people out there who are claiming this will never happen.  Those people are either dumb as bricks or Comcast lackeys on the payroll.  Of course they're going to raise their prices in what they consider a timely manner.  Every expense they experience will increase your rates, and they will go up.

Their rates are high already.  Here, let me give you an example.  My contract with Fios just expired and I decided to call around, since I think they, too, are fairly expensive.  The Comcast Customer Service Agent turned out to be a real asshole.  After explaining why I was checking out prices and what I was interested in (cable and Internet only) he quoted me a price of $180 (plus) and that cost included phone.  I reminded him I was not interested in phone service.  He could not understand why I would be turning down such a 'great deal.'  So, I reiterated again, just cable and Internet, and his tone began verging toward rude.  Now I don't know, maybe their agents get a little bit of bonus when they sign a customer up for the Triple Play and maybe that was his real incentive, but he was not listening to me at all.  When I finally did get him to understand what it was I wanted, he quoted me a price which was $2 more then what I am already paying for Fios, and his cost did not include any taxes or rental fees.

This is what many millions of Americans have to deal with right now.  If the deal with Time / Warner goes through, many more millions will be cursed with the monster called Comcast.  They will screw the American people over and tell them to shut up because they're getting a good deal.

Comcast - optioning failure

With my FIOS contract at an end, I've been looking around for a better deal for my TV / Internet.  Since Comcast is prominent in my area I decided to give them a call.  For years the company has been struggling with a bad customer service image, though in recent years it seems to have improved somewhat.  While the agent I spoke to on the phone was very polite, I realized something there was something even worse going on with the company - they are failing to be competitive.  How so?  Well, after asking me several questions about my viewing habits (sparse), and the type of television I owned, (fairly large flat screen, HD) he announced that the best deal for me was only going to cost me $146 a month.  I was more then a little stunned as that was about $50 more then FIOS wants to charge me.  Then he explained that cost included their phone service.  Now, I'm a nice guy, so I didn't call him a stupid idiot.  Doesn't Comcast realize land lines are on their way out?  Every year they are in fewer and fewer households.  There must be some really bad disconnect at Comcast Corporate Headquarters for them to still keep pushing that dinosaur.  When I explained to the agent that I haven't had a land line in over 8 years he recalculated my cost with out their phone service.  Wow!  Without a phone my cost dropped $40 bucks, but still $10 higher then what FIOS wanted to charge me.

Fossilizing customer by customer

Now I'm in retail and I can tell you when someone walks in our front door with a competitor's price, we do a little thing called 'meet and beat.'  That's right, we take dollars off and sell at less then our competitor because we love our customers, we want them to keep coming back, and back, and back.  I guess Comcast hasn't heard of that policy.  FIOS, which is already charging less then Comcast's best deal will never have to worry about this problem. since they're already meeting and beating the higher price.  Personally, I think this is pretty much of a tar pit for Comcast, one they're stuck in and slowly sinking.  If you can't pull customers away from your competitor you're a failure in the business world.  This is a real customer service issue.  Face it, both offer products which are fairly similar, and if you want to win the battle you're going to have to do it anyway you can.  Someone should have told the Comcast executives that failure is not an option.
 

HBO - bargain basement deals

Right now I have FIOS - and my subscription ran out on 11/5.  One of the first things I noticed was that I now have HBO until 1/31 - for free.  Of course, being the money conscious individual that I am, I called to see if there was some sort of deal for renewing my contract.  What I got was a $5 discount guaranteed for 2 years.  Oh, and I get HBO for one year.  Personally, I think they're being a little skimpy with the discount.  I am, according to them, a loyal FIOS customer.  So I did what everybody out there should do when their contract expires, call the competitor.  Surely, I thought, Comcast would at least be able to match their deal.  First of all, it took a bit of convincing for their service rep to understand what I meant when I said, I only need TV and Internet (my phone is through T-Mobile).  Then there was the issue that two of the channels I watch were in 2 different packages and the best they could offer me was $2 higher then what I'm now paying for FIOS.  Oh, but I get HBO with the package.  In fact both customer service reps kept bringing up HBO, over and over again, as though that one pay channel was going to be the deal breaker.  Perhaps I've missed something but it seems to me Showtime is the channel most people are talking about, not HBO.  Sure, when The Sopranos were on, and if you were one of those people who couldn't live with out them, HBO was the channel to have, but that is no longer the case.  Nothing with value is ever free.  So for right now what I'll probably do is wait a bit and see if I can get a better discount from FIOS.  There's nothing wrong with the service, they just need to offer a wider variety of packages.  The same goes with Comcast.  Not everybody wants a sports package.  The only sport I watch on TV is cycling and now, thanks to the Internet, I can watch it on my laptop.  In fact, if I want to, I can hook my laptop up to my big, flat screen TV and watch Hulu.  What these cable giants need to realize is that HBO is not going to put money in their bank.

Verizon Douches America

Can I really be serious?  Of course.  I recently opened my monthly bill to discover Verizon had increased the cost of my HD Set Top Box Rental by $2.00 per month.  That's a big increase!  So I called their customer service to investigate.  I was told I had been notified on my July bill the increase was going to take place, not that I could have done anything about except pay to break my contract.

Put on your hard hats, you're about to get slammed!

The Customer Service agent informed me this increase applied to all rental boxes. I asked if this was across the country and her reply was "yes," as though that made it fair.  Don't just screw one person, or one district, or even one region, screw the whole country.  What a wonderful thing to do when the economy is in slow recovery mode.  But, of course, Verizon doesn't really care about the country, their main focus is their bottom line and how Wall Street reacts to it.  If Wall Street likes what they've done their stock will go up and their investors will be happy.  So, how big a bump will this be to their bottom line?  Say there are 5 million Americans with Fios rental boxes hit with this $2 increase Verizon gets to put $10 million to their bottom line.  In these financially difficult times Verizon is going to douche America because they can, because very few people are going to complain.  Those who use Video on Demand to get the latest movies will probably not even notice the increase, shame on them.  And, of course, the Customer Service rep I dealt was not the most cordial, but then she gets paid to deal with unhappy people day in and day out.  Actually, she was rude, which seems to be quite common with Verizon Customer Service.  I informed her that when my contract expired I will be changing to another provider, which left her unfazed, but then she, like Verizon, doesn't really care.