Those points and any card cash back has to come somewhere, and it comes from the cut that credit card companies take on every transaction.
Silly me, I thought those came from the interest they make from your charges? Obviously they stand to make money off of swipe fees and such, but I know very, very few people that pay their balance in full every month and a lot of people that pay minimum balances.
Target and Lowes give you a discount for the same reason credit cards exist at all: they want you to use their card because they get a piece of the interest you will more than likely be paying them on top of your purchase. That 5% off up front is very likely to turn into a fair profit on the back end in interest, statistically speaking. Read some of these complaints about the Home Depot "No Interest Financing" you hear in all of their commercials.
I highly doubt that Verizon is being charged $2 for every card they run. If they were, I'm sure they would be charging us $4 a month instead to cover their "expenses"
I still fail to see the benefit of an automatic bill pay. If you're still going through and verifying your bill every month before allowing the automatic charge, what have you gained by allowing the automatic charge in the first place? And the amount of time spent resolving a dispute in your case seems, in a best case scenario, to be equivalent to my own, and at worst, far exceeding the amount of hassle one would have to go through had the charge been manual and just not made.
Automatic bill pay is flouted as a convenience, but it seems to have no convenience to the consumer at all unless they're either just trying to save themselves from typing in a credit card number once a month or don't care about the amount and just let it go through. What do you gain from allowing them to automatically debit you if you're performing virtually the same actions before they take the money? I mean, outside of avoiding this bullshit fee that they're tacking on to force people to do it (which didn't exist until now)?
I get a reminder that my bill is due to Verizon both in an email and in a text message just the same as you do. I log on and check my bill to make sure that they didn't fuck up again, just the same as you do, and then pay it (seeing as how I'm already logged in, this involves typing in a number).
I mean, honestly, they've even managed to fuck up the charge with me paying manually before, both over the phone and online (I've been a Verizon customer for almost 10 years now, so I've paid just about every way you can). Obviously your experiences differ from mine, but I just don't trust them enough for that. It's not just Verizon, mind you; there are few companies I would trust with something like auto-pay. I've just seen to much goofy shit on my various accounts before, too many double charges, too many "Sorry, even though we can debit your account in the blink of an eye, it will take 2-3 business days (if not more) to refund it."
The fact that they're adding this bullshit fee to try and force people to do it is even more of an inclination for me not to do it. I'm going back to writing them a check and mailing it in. Honestly, it's just as convenient to me to pay either way. I await the "handling fee" that they'll be charging in response to people doing that, I'm sure it's coming...and that's when I take my business elsewhere. To each their own, though. I still think it's lunacy.
This guy still diesn't get it. He blames everyone else, they were "being a bully" or acting like a "punk or jerk".
Then there's this gem: "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened. I've dealt with thousands and thousands of customers with similar complaints, they were all asking the same question." Control the customer? When has anyone been able to "control the customer"? Where the hell did he learn to provide customer service? Even in Fast Food they're trained better than that...
How fucking clueless can someone be? It boggles the mind that this guy actually worked as a professional in any industry, let alone one that focuses on these sort of interactions.
Absolutely. I will never, ever agree to automatic payment for anything, regardless of how much that ends up costing me in the end. I reserve the right to pay my bills in the order I see fit. If I come up a little short one month and I have a cable bill and a rent check to write, you better fucking believe the rent check is getting written first. The cable company may not like that very much, but they can, and do, charge me late fees in the off chance that this occurs.
Based on how hard it is to get a bill corrected that I haven't paid yet with most large companies, allowing them to take the money up front seems like lunacy to me. Anyone that's ever had to deal with getting a credit paid out after they've switched utility companies or cancelled a service knows how frustrating that process can be. The fact that I am no longer even using their service, nor ever will again, doesn't even seem to be enough to convince them that a fucking "credit on my account" is useless to me...either that or they're deliberately obtuse about it.
This is nothing new, I've been paying a "convenience fee" to my electric company for paying online for years now. Ditto with my cable bill.
Hell, they even charge a "convenience fee" at the DMV office here in Wisconsin when you renew online, which doesn't make a single fucking shred of sense at all, considering that they're already understaffed at the actual DMV offices (based on the ridiculous wait I experience every time I am forced to go down there) and pay the people working the counters considerably more than most counter workers get paid. If anything, you would think that the state would be fully encouraging people to pay online, but it seems even the state isn't opposed to sucking a little extra money off the top with "convenience fees".
I'm not saying it's right, mind you, I'm just saying that this is nothing out of the ordinary.
They are recouping the fees charged by Visa and Master Card. Those fees have recently increased by the way.
They did not increase by $2, though. I think that most people would be totally fine with a "swipe fee" being passed on to the consumer if said fee was actually equivalent to the "swipe fee", but it's not, it's inflated, so Verizon can make more money off of the process.
Besides, wasn't the rise of monthly charges for debit card holders blamed by the banks on laws limiting how much they could charge for "swipe fees" in the first place? I thought the max that any bank was allowed to charge was 24 cents under the new law? If Verizon is only getting charged 24 cents for the swipe, where do they justify the additional $1.76 they're passing along?
I'm all for a business recouping their losses, but it really seems more like this is just an opportunistic cash grab, and if that's the case, they should absolutely be called on it.
Contrary to popular belief, neither Verizon nor any other business is required to accept pennies, or any other method of payment it chooses not to, for that matter.
The only entity that is required to honor pennies is the Federal Reserve and, by extension (I would assume), the government. So yeah, you can go down to the county treasurer's office and dump thousands of pennies on them, but show up at a local Verizon kiosk with 30 pounds of pennies and they are fully within their rights to tell you to go pound sand. They could even require you to pay them in gold if you signed a contract agreeing to do so. Hell, they could require you to pay in chocolate. There's nothing saying they have to accept the equivalent amount of currency in it's place, either; you agree to pay in gold, you are obligated to pay in gold.
Obviously, in the interests of customer service, most businesses don't start a hissy fit over things like this, but there are limits. In my days working retail I used to turn people away with large amounts of change all the time, because I did not have the time nor resources to spend counting out pennies or dimes, being the sole employee on shift at the time, nor was I under any obligation to do so. The same principles allowing a business to deny excessively small currency like pennies are what allows them to deny large currencies, as well; we also accepted no bills larger than $20 as do many convenience stores.
Well, you know how it is. Look at how many people call Nazi Germany "socialist" just because the word "Socialist" is in the name, but people do it all the time. It is about as stupid as calling The Democratic People's Republic of Korea a democracy or a republic.
Hell, the sheer number of people that equate socialism and fascism, let alone socialism and communism, or socialism and a social democracy...it's all ridiculous. Ignorance is our greatest threat in this nation, not terrorism.
I'm not speaking as to the quality of the plan, obviously some are better than others; I'm just saying from a business standpoint they make a lot of money. This is why Best Buy, Apple, pretty much any major electronics retailer are so aggressive pushing them whenever you buy something that is even covered by one. You can't buy cables at Best Buy without someone trying to sell you a $3 replacement plan. Hell, even Home Depot pushes replacement plans on stuff now, doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter who even makes it...
The "shady" part comes in when the business pushes plans to cover things that are already covered by law, not to mention other considerations (I know many credit cards have certain consumer protections if you use them to purchase a product, for instance). Curious as to how this will play out in Italy, but here in the States there is nothing illegal about taking advantage of a person's ignorance to their own rights as consumers. Ethically questionable, definitely, but not illegal. It's not their job to educate you as to what your rights are.
Personally, when I worked for a company that dealt with these things, I was always honest and open about the benefits to the customer, and if there wasn't one (customer taking product out of the country where it's not covered anyway, for instance) I wouldn't try to push it on them...which is probably why I didn't last long in that particular job nor had particularly impressive commissions. Nothing against those who subscribe to "the hard sell", but I just couldn't bring myself to capitalize on customer ignorance like that.
Service plans are probably the most profitable thing anybody sells. Just like rebates, odds are very very high that the person buying said plan won't ever use it, so it's pretty much free money a lot of the time...
That's the thing I can't wrap my mind around; no matter how stupid you think the customer's complaint is, you treat them with respect. There is nothing whatsoever to be gained by being an asshole to a paying customer. There can be no positive outcome...at the very least, you just lost potential sales, and at worst, you just cost yourself a job. No matter what happens, you lose.
This isn't even really a customer service thing necessarily. It's simple logic. Even the most patronizing, insincere apology from a major company without a death wish is at least polite. I've gotten some politely worded 'Go Fuck Yourself' responses in the past, but I have never seen something so outright hostile, nor stupid, on behalf of an employee for a professional marketing firm in my life. Typically you have to get your hands on leaked internal emails to see retarded shit like this as regards a customer.
I've worked in Customer Service for many years, including a stint providing computer tech support to people that, if not for the accent, could have convincingly passed themselves off as recent immigrants from the Brazilian Rain Forest where electricity is wizard shit, and I have never seen or heard an exchange like that. We all think it, but we never say it.
Meh, if that's all it is then it's not that bad. It's obvious the guy is some sort of ADHD type guy, which a lot of marketing/business/public relations people are.
Did you even RTFA? I think ADHD is being a little generous; more like fucking retarded. I have never once in my life seen an exchange quite like that between a professional in any industry and a paying customer! They fucking train minimum-wage counter jockies at McDonalds better customer service skills than that idiot displayed. Even the most meaningless marketing double-speak is better than that shit, because at least that's polite...
Then, of course, when he realizes he's talking to Gabe, instead of that adult sense of self-preservation we so often see when someone realizes they seriously fucked up, he starts fucking arguing with him, belittling a customer to a guy with a website seen by millions of people daily.
If this is "not all that bad", I really need to see an example that fits your definition of "that bad". Does the guy have to fuck his mother? Kill his dog? How much worse can a Customer Service/Public Relations scenario get without involving direct bodily harm or, at the very least, multiple felonies?
Man, I wish I worked for this marketing firm, if only to see the shit-storm from the inside. The fact that they even hired someone that responds to a customer in such a fashion is ridiculous. I don't give a shit if you work in an "edgy" field or one that's primary demographic is children and young adults (as if that were even the case with gaming, but supposing it is); obviously the people buying the goddamned things are adults. You're not writing an email to one of your dickhead coworkers. It's not an IM. It's an official communication with a paying customer, an unhappy paying customer at that. Put on your "big boy hat" and write a professional email. Proper grammar and punctuation is not a suggestion...not unless you want to make yourself look like even more of a retard.
Just one more company to add to the "Never Do Business With These Clowns" list.
Oh, and "market", that's funny. I must have woken up in the mirror universe where the grey Apple logo wasn't enough to encourage people to start swiping credit cards left and right...
And how much "marketing" is required to sell an adapter anyway? It's kinda one of those things you either need or you don't...
It was an HTC XV6800 smart phone. It was one of the higher rated smart phones Verizon carried before Android hit, according to CNet and the other places.
It was still a piece of crap. Seems my anecdotal evidence and your anecdotal evidence cancel out, but that's okay, I wasn't trying to convince people of anything; I really don't care. Just giving my own experiences...
Sure. Once I get the requisite billions of dollars in capitol and market share necessary to use as leverage in driving costs down, even in China where things are dirt cheap already, I will get right on top of that. I'm willing to accept donations, though, if you'd like to help me achieve that goal sooner. Based on your UID, I'm sure you have the disposable income.
I want it to do what they tell me it is capable of doing without requiring a hard reboot due to locking up every other day. That alone was too much for my WinMo phone...
Who said you have to use Facebook? If it really irritates you, you can always root your Android phone and remove it entirely.
I've just turned off automatic updates to it, uninstalled all the updates that were there, and don't ever touch it. Works just fine for me. Same with Twitter and the other social networking garbage. Nobody is making you use the shit. The only thing that was forced on me when I got my Droid was a gmail address, and I already had one of those, so no harm, no foul...
I don't have first hand knowledge of the new Windows phones, but I can only assume that they don't force you to use that shit, either.
I discovered this myself last month when I actually went off the 3G grid. I had no idea how much of Android's functionality was tied to having a good data connection. Thank God I still have unlimited data, although once my phone croaks I'm going to have to renew and get capped...bummer.
Oh, excuse me. $30 for the $.03 cable. My bad. They used to be $50. I used to sell the fucking things, I know. The myriad of video adapters were the worst. We couldn't keep the Mini Displayport to DVI adapters in stock if our lives depended on it...
Fair enough. I guess I'm spoiled by the fact that my laptop charges next to the bed so I still wouldn't be watching it on TV anyway.
And yeah, wireless display would be hawt, although based on my experiences with the ridiculously over-saturated wifi bands here in my complex, it wouldn't work for shit...
For one thing, any way you can post links that aren't from a site named nothingchanged.org? I mean, I'm not positive, but something is telling me they're not an unbiased source...
Anyway, how is that different than any Republican candidate (with the exception of Ron Paul)? You think that Newt or Mitt or Rick or (God Forbid) Michele is going to do any different at all in that regard? You think the drone strikes are just gonna stop? Come on.
They both may be similar on 90% of the issues, but the 10% that's remaining is the retarded "Christian Nation" morality bullshit. They're more worried about making sure gay people aren't going to get married and women aren't getting abortions than almost any other issues, based on how often you hear them go back to those points over and over and over again at every Republican debate (and I've watched all the big ones).
And "nobody pretends to be ticked off anymore?" What the hell are you talking about? There are countless articles and op-ed pieces, penned by liberals, talking about how disgusted they are with Obama. Why do you think Ron Paul is doing so well in the polls? He is literally the only candidate that isn't saying the exact same shit as all the rest of them. Watch the GOP debates, they all agree for the most part, they argue about minutia.
Believe me, I know that both parties are absolutely corrupt and broken. I don't want to vote for Obama, I really don't. But what other choice do I have? Unless, by some miracle, Ron Paul gets the nomination, I have no other realistic option. I can write in R.P., I guess, but we all know that won't make a difference, so what? Give Newt or Michele a chance? Yeah, right. That's scarier than 4 more years of Obama by far...
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Those points and any card cash back has to come somewhere, and it comes from the cut that credit card companies take on every transaction.
Silly me, I thought those came from the interest they make from your charges? Obviously they stand to make money off of swipe fees and such, but I know very, very few people that pay their balance in full every month and a lot of people that pay minimum balances.
Target and Lowes give you a discount for the same reason credit cards exist at all: they want you to use their card because they get a piece of the interest you will more than likely be paying them on top of your purchase. That 5% off up front is very likely to turn into a fair profit on the back end in interest, statistically speaking. Read some of these complaints about the Home Depot "No Interest Financing" you hear in all of their commercials.
I highly doubt that Verizon is being charged $2 for every card they run. If they were, I'm sure they would be charging us $4 a month instead to cover their "expenses"
I still fail to see the benefit of an automatic bill pay. If you're still going through and verifying your bill every month before allowing the automatic charge, what have you gained by allowing the automatic charge in the first place? And the amount of time spent resolving a dispute in your case seems, in a best case scenario, to be equivalent to my own, and at worst, far exceeding the amount of hassle one would have to go through had the charge been manual and just not made.
Automatic bill pay is flouted as a convenience, but it seems to have no convenience to the consumer at all unless they're either just trying to save themselves from typing in a credit card number once a month or don't care about the amount and just let it go through. What do you gain from allowing them to automatically debit you if you're performing virtually the same actions before they take the money? I mean, outside of avoiding this bullshit fee that they're tacking on to force people to do it (which didn't exist until now)?
I get a reminder that my bill is due to Verizon both in an email and in a text message just the same as you do. I log on and check my bill to make sure that they didn't fuck up again, just the same as you do, and then pay it (seeing as how I'm already logged in, this involves typing in a number).
I mean, honestly, they've even managed to fuck up the charge with me paying manually before, both over the phone and online (I've been a Verizon customer for almost 10 years now, so I've paid just about every way you can). Obviously your experiences differ from mine, but I just don't trust them enough for that. It's not just Verizon, mind you; there are few companies I would trust with something like auto-pay. I've just seen to much goofy shit on my various accounts before, too many double charges, too many "Sorry, even though we can debit your account in the blink of an eye, it will take 2-3 business days (if not more) to refund it."
The fact that they're adding this bullshit fee to try and force people to do it is even more of an inclination for me not to do it. I'm going back to writing them a check and mailing it in. Honestly, it's just as convenient to me to pay either way. I await the "handling fee" that they'll be charging in response to people doing that, I'm sure it's coming...and that's when I take my business elsewhere. To each their own, though. I still think it's lunacy.
This guy still diesn't get it. He blames everyone else, they were "being a bully" or acting like a "punk or jerk".
Then there's this gem: "Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened. I've dealt with thousands and thousands of customers with similar complaints, they were all asking the same question." Control the customer? When has anyone been able to "control the customer"? Where the hell did he learn to provide customer service? Even in Fast Food they're trained better than that...
How fucking clueless can someone be? It boggles the mind that this guy actually worked as a professional in any industry, let alone one that focuses on these sort of interactions.
What an idiot...
Absolutely. I will never, ever agree to automatic payment for anything, regardless of how much that ends up costing me in the end. I reserve the right to pay my bills in the order I see fit. If I come up a little short one month and I have a cable bill and a rent check to write, you better fucking believe the rent check is getting written first. The cable company may not like that very much, but they can, and do, charge me late fees in the off chance that this occurs.
Based on how hard it is to get a bill corrected that I haven't paid yet with most large companies, allowing them to take the money up front seems like lunacy to me. Anyone that's ever had to deal with getting a credit paid out after they've switched utility companies or cancelled a service knows how frustrating that process can be. The fact that I am no longer even using their service, nor ever will again, doesn't even seem to be enough to convince them that a fucking "credit on my account" is useless to me...either that or they're deliberately obtuse about it.
This is nothing new, I've been paying a "convenience fee" to my electric company for paying online for years now. Ditto with my cable bill.
Hell, they even charge a "convenience fee" at the DMV office here in Wisconsin when you renew online, which doesn't make a single fucking shred of sense at all, considering that they're already understaffed at the actual DMV offices (based on the ridiculous wait I experience every time I am forced to go down there) and pay the people working the counters considerably more than most counter workers get paid. If anything, you would think that the state would be fully encouraging people to pay online, but it seems even the state isn't opposed to sucking a little extra money off the top with "convenience fees".
I'm not saying it's right, mind you, I'm just saying that this is nothing out of the ordinary.
They are recouping the fees charged by Visa and Master Card. Those fees have recently increased by the way.
They did not increase by $2, though. I think that most people would be totally fine with a "swipe fee" being passed on to the consumer if said fee was actually equivalent to the "swipe fee", but it's not, it's inflated, so Verizon can make more money off of the process.
Besides, wasn't the rise of monthly charges for debit card holders blamed by the banks on laws limiting how much they could charge for "swipe fees" in the first place? I thought the max that any bank was allowed to charge was 24 cents under the new law? If Verizon is only getting charged 24 cents for the swipe, where do they justify the additional $1.76 they're passing along?
I'm all for a business recouping their losses, but it really seems more like this is just an opportunistic cash grab, and if that's the case, they should absolutely be called on it.
Contrary to popular belief, neither Verizon nor any other business is required to accept pennies, or any other method of payment it chooses not to, for that matter.
The only entity that is required to honor pennies is the Federal Reserve and, by extension (I would assume), the government. So yeah, you can go down to the county treasurer's office and dump thousands of pennies on them, but show up at a local Verizon kiosk with 30 pounds of pennies and they are fully within their rights to tell you to go pound sand. They could even require you to pay them in gold if you signed a contract agreeing to do so. Hell, they could require you to pay in chocolate. There's nothing saying they have to accept the equivalent amount of currency in it's place, either; you agree to pay in gold, you are obligated to pay in gold.
Obviously, in the interests of customer service, most businesses don't start a hissy fit over things like this, but there are limits. In my days working retail I used to turn people away with large amounts of change all the time, because I did not have the time nor resources to spend counting out pennies or dimes, being the sole employee on shift at the time, nor was I under any obligation to do so. The same principles allowing a business to deny excessively small currency like pennies are what allows them to deny large currencies, as well; we also accepted no bills larger than $20 as do many convenience stores.
Well, you know how it is. Look at how many people call Nazi Germany "socialist" just because the word "Socialist" is in the name, but people do it all the time. It is about as stupid as calling The Democratic People's Republic of Korea a democracy or a republic.
Hell, the sheer number of people that equate socialism and fascism, let alone socialism and communism, or socialism and a social democracy...it's all ridiculous. Ignorance is our greatest threat in this nation, not terrorism.
ToB is a story of humanity's first venture down the road of socialism, where all of humanity fell under the rule of a single dictator.
Based on that sentence, I'd say it's a fair bet that you don't even know what the fuck Socialism is...
I'm not speaking as to the quality of the plan, obviously some are better than others; I'm just saying from a business standpoint they make a lot of money. This is why Best Buy, Apple, pretty much any major electronics retailer are so aggressive pushing them whenever you buy something that is even covered by one. You can't buy cables at Best Buy without someone trying to sell you a $3 replacement plan. Hell, even Home Depot pushes replacement plans on stuff now, doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter who even makes it...
The "shady" part comes in when the business pushes plans to cover things that are already covered by law, not to mention other considerations (I know many credit cards have certain consumer protections if you use them to purchase a product, for instance). Curious as to how this will play out in Italy, but here in the States there is nothing illegal about taking advantage of a person's ignorance to their own rights as consumers. Ethically questionable, definitely, but not illegal. It's not their job to educate you as to what your rights are.
Personally, when I worked for a company that dealt with these things, I was always honest and open about the benefits to the customer, and if there wasn't one (customer taking product out of the country where it's not covered anyway, for instance) I wouldn't try to push it on them...which is probably why I didn't last long in that particular job nor had particularly impressive commissions. Nothing against those who subscribe to "the hard sell", but I just couldn't bring myself to capitalize on customer ignorance like that.
Service plans are probably the most profitable thing anybody sells. Just like rebates, odds are very very high that the person buying said plan won't ever use it, so it's pretty much free money a lot of the time...
That's the thing I can't wrap my mind around; no matter how stupid you think the customer's complaint is, you treat them with respect. There is nothing whatsoever to be gained by being an asshole to a paying customer. There can be no positive outcome...at the very least, you just lost potential sales, and at worst, you just cost yourself a job. No matter what happens, you lose.
This isn't even really a customer service thing necessarily. It's simple logic. Even the most patronizing, insincere apology from a major company without a death wish is at least polite. I've gotten some politely worded 'Go Fuck Yourself' responses in the past, but I have never seen something so outright hostile, nor stupid, on behalf of an employee for a professional marketing firm in my life. Typically you have to get your hands on leaked internal emails to see retarded shit like this as regards a customer.
I've worked in Customer Service for many years, including a stint providing computer tech support to people that, if not for the accent, could have convincingly passed themselves off as recent immigrants from the Brazilian Rain Forest where electricity is wizard shit, and I have never seen or heard an exchange like that. We all think it, but we never say it.
What a fucking idiot this Paul guy is.
Either that or they're related somehow...stupid like this is often genetic.
Meh, if that's all it is then it's not that bad. It's obvious the guy is some sort of ADHD type guy, which a lot of marketing/business/public relations people are.
Did you even RTFA? I think ADHD is being a little generous; more like fucking retarded. I have never once in my life seen an exchange quite like that between a professional in any industry and a paying customer! They fucking train minimum-wage counter jockies at McDonalds better customer service skills than that idiot displayed. Even the most meaningless marketing double-speak is better than that shit, because at least that's polite...
Then, of course, when he realizes he's talking to Gabe, instead of that adult sense of self-preservation we so often see when someone realizes they seriously fucked up, he starts fucking arguing with him, belittling a customer to a guy with a website seen by millions of people daily.
If this is "not all that bad", I really need to see an example that fits your definition of "that bad". Does the guy have to fuck his mother? Kill his dog? How much worse can a Customer Service/Public Relations scenario get without involving direct bodily harm or, at the very least, multiple felonies?
Man, I wish I worked for this marketing firm, if only to see the shit-storm from the inside. The fact that they even hired someone that responds to a customer in such a fashion is ridiculous. I don't give a shit if you work in an "edgy" field or one that's primary demographic is children and young adults (as if that were even the case with gaming, but supposing it is); obviously the people buying the goddamned things are adults. You're not writing an email to one of your dickhead coworkers. It's not an IM. It's an official communication with a paying customer, an unhappy paying customer at that. Put on your "big boy hat" and write a professional email. Proper grammar and punctuation is not a suggestion...not unless you want to make yourself look like even more of a retard.
Just one more company to add to the "Never Do Business With These Clowns" list.
Oh, and "market", that's funny. I must have woken up in the mirror universe where the grey Apple logo wasn't enough to encourage people to start swiping credit cards left and right...
And how much "marketing" is required to sell an adapter anyway? It's kinda one of those things you either need or you don't...
It was an HTC XV6800 smart phone. It was one of the higher rated smart phones Verizon carried before Android hit, according to CNet and the other places.
It was still a piece of crap. Seems my anecdotal evidence and your anecdotal evidence cancel out, but that's okay, I wasn't trying to convince people of anything; I really don't care. Just giving my own experiences...
Sure. Once I get the requisite billions of dollars in capitol and market share necessary to use as leverage in driving costs down, even in China where things are dirt cheap already, I will get right on top of that. I'm willing to accept donations, though, if you'd like to help me achieve that goal sooner. Based on your UID, I'm sure you have the disposable income.
I want it to do what they tell me it is capable of doing without requiring a hard reboot due to locking up every other day. That alone was too much for my WinMo phone...
Who said you have to use Facebook? If it really irritates you, you can always root your Android phone and remove it entirely.
I've just turned off automatic updates to it, uninstalled all the updates that were there, and don't ever touch it. Works just fine for me. Same with Twitter and the other social networking garbage. Nobody is making you use the shit. The only thing that was forced on me when I got my Droid was a gmail address, and I already had one of those, so no harm, no foul...
I don't have first hand knowledge of the new Windows phones, but I can only assume that they don't force you to use that shit, either.
I discovered this myself last month when I actually went off the 3G grid. I had no idea how much of Android's functionality was tied to having a good data connection. Thank God I still have unlimited data, although once my phone croaks I'm going to have to renew and get capped...bummer.
Fool me once, shame on you, lock me into an inferior OS twice, shame on the whole industry.
Damn right. My last smart phone was an HTC XV6800 running Windows Mobile 6.0 and it was the biggest piece of shit I've ever had in my life.
Never again...
Oh, excuse me. $30 for the $.03 cable. My bad. They used to be $50. I used to sell the fucking things, I know. The myriad of video adapters were the worst. We couldn't keep the Mini Displayport to DVI adapters in stock if our lives depended on it...
Fair enough. I guess I'm spoiled by the fact that my laptop charges next to the bed so I still wouldn't be watching it on TV anyway.
And yeah, wireless display would be hawt, although based on my experiences with the ridiculously over-saturated wifi bands here in my complex, it wouldn't work for shit...
For one thing, any way you can post links that aren't from a site named nothingchanged.org? I mean, I'm not positive, but something is telling me they're not an unbiased source...
Anyway, how is that different than any Republican candidate (with the exception of Ron Paul)? You think that Newt or Mitt or Rick or (God Forbid) Michele is going to do any different at all in that regard? You think the drone strikes are just gonna stop? Come on.
They both may be similar on 90% of the issues, but the 10% that's remaining is the retarded "Christian Nation" morality bullshit. They're more worried about making sure gay people aren't going to get married and women aren't getting abortions than almost any other issues, based on how often you hear them go back to those points over and over and over again at every Republican debate (and I've watched all the big ones).
And "nobody pretends to be ticked off anymore?" What the hell are you talking about? There are countless articles and op-ed pieces, penned by liberals, talking about how disgusted they are with Obama. Why do you think Ron Paul is doing so well in the polls? He is literally the only candidate that isn't saying the exact same shit as all the rest of them. Watch the GOP debates, they all agree for the most part, they argue about minutia.
Believe me, I know that both parties are absolutely corrupt and broken. I don't want to vote for Obama, I really don't. But what other choice do I have? Unless, by some miracle, Ron Paul gets the nomination, I have no other realistic option. I can write in R.P., I guess, but we all know that won't make a difference, so what? Give Newt or Michele a chance? Yeah, right. That's scarier than 4 more years of Obama by far...
Apple doesn't have a monopoly on evil.
Obviously not. However, that still doesn't excuse it. The "everyone else does it!!" excuse stopped being acceptable when I was in grade school...