I verified that it was a corporate store before heading over for the 8am launch on Saturday. Here's an update to the saga:
Saturday night I realized that I had left my Treo data cable in the bag full of Pre stuff that I returned. I called the sales rep's cell phone and left him a message. Sunday morning I checked my account online, and discovered that my new 2yr contract and calling plan were still in place. I called *2, and the rep was able to clear that up. He reverted the contract to the original term, and applied 12 months of credits to my account to offset the higher price of the new calling plan. (My original plan code wasn't available in the system.) The *2 guys rock. Always have. I wish they were running the stores.
I got a text message from the sales rep on Monday indicating that he had found my data cable. I stopped by and picked it up. He apologized again for my Saturday experience. I reassured him that he had still earned the 5 stars. This guy deserves a large shout-out, so I'll be sure to identify him in the letter. I'm now on a waiting list at a Sprint store that's closer to my office. I called yesterday to find out where I'm at on the list, and they told me the shipments were trickling in. The store manager is supposed to call me today with an update.
Thanks for the advice on the report structure. How do I get the district manager contact info? I'm in the Phoenix metro area. I'm not comfortable identifying the store publicly, as most of the staff were trying to be helpful and accommodating. I'm not interested in antagonizing them or driving business away. Sprint can work with the manager to improve his customer service skills.
I liked the phone while I had it, but there were problems with the USB port. This would have been annoying if it were isolated to file transfers, but I couldn't get it to consistently charge either. That made the problem a deal-breaker. (The Sprint store had sold all 7 of their Touchstones before I got there.) Fortunately I was able to get a Sprint employee to witness the connectivity problem. But for some reason the manager wasn't convinced the phone was bad. I explained to him that a phone that charges sporadically wasn't useful to me. His employee even confirmed that the phone wouldn't charge when he tried it. But the manager countered by reminding me that one of his employees got it to charge for awhile. To be fair, the manager did try to get guidance from Sprint tech support, but the only suggestion they came up with was to reset the phone. That didn't solve the problem of a defective USB port.
The manager told me that he wouldn't be able to reserve a replacement Pre for me, because I can't just "cut in line." He said I'd have to keep checking with the store to see if they had any available. I disagreed about whether an exchange should be considered "cutting in line," but he was still convinced the Pre was working fine. Hard to reason with somebody in that frame of mind.
They offered to let me keep the Pre until new supplies arrived, but I explained that a phone that wouldn't reliably charge was useless. I gave everything back, and had them reactivate my Treo. The employee who witnessed the problem entered some notes in my account to ensure that I get the existing customer discount when I return. He also gave me his business card so that I can go straight to him for the purchase. I won't, however, be purchasing the $200 of accessories that I returned today. They lost that sale due to the way they handled my situation.
I really hope Sprint and Palm have a very successful year. I'm looking forward to getting a Pre, and I expect that the next one will be fine. But the store manager's attitude during this ordeal was disappointing. Once things have settled, I'll send a letter to Sprint Customer Relations explaining exactly what transpired. (There's quite a bit more than what I've posted here. I made 4 trips to the store during a 6 hour period to get this resolved.) I've been with Sprint for 11 years now, and the only time I have trouble is when I deal with their staff in the stores.
I had a similar experience with Netflix. For the first couple of months, they would turn around DVDs quickly. Then they suddenly began delaying processing of my returns and shipments. It got so bad that movies weren't showing up until a week after they had sent me the e-mail notification. A week after I had decided to cancel, the Netflix CEO publicly admitted to throttling. I've since moved to Blockbuster to see how they perform. So far I'm satisfied. I've noticed what appears to be slight, occasional delays which I'll keep monitoring. But overall they seem to be providing the service that they advertise.
I'm obviously not familiar with the intracacies of either business model, but I do have some observations about how both companies approach their customers. First, Netflix throttled me without mentioning anything. When I contacted them to report the missing DVD (after 5 days), their response was that sometimes DVDs get lost in the mail. They sent me a "replacement" DVD, which coincidentally arrived on the same day as the first one they sent. That was one week after they had e-mailed me the original shipping confirmation. They also mentioned that they were going to track my "missing DVD" complaints to ensure I wasn't stealing their movies. Shipments continued to crawl after this incident.
Second, Netflix had no customer service links that I could find in order to ask someone a question. They had plenty of FAQ responses, but I couldn't find a "contact customer service" link. I had questions about the delivery and return processing times, but they didn't seem to want to deal with questions. (I shouldn't have to file a false "report a missing DVD" report just to get in touch with a human. And besides, how do you compile a FAQ if your customers can't ask you questions?)
Finally, when I decided to cancel my Netflix service they gave me a week to return any outstanding DVDs. I still had two weeks of service available, but they wouldn't provide any recourse. It's not like it was a financial burden to abandon the service a week earlier than planned. But it's still crappy customer service. And they didn't even ask why I was cancelling my account. Even the shittiest companies I've dealt with have wanted to know why I've left.
Blockbuster, on the other hand, has been more customer oriented with me. While comparing two different promotional offers (2 weeks free, or $10 first month) I decided to choose the 2 weeks free. But when my registration completed, they congratulated me on choosing the $10 first month trial. I contacted them to sort this out, and they ended up tacking 2 weeks free onto the end of my $10 first month. The first thing I noticed was that I actually was able to contact a Blockbuster rep. The next thing I noticed was that that I had an answer within a few hours. And on top of that, they had sent me a link to fill out a customer satisfaction survey. Blockbuster also offered 2 free in-store rentals per month when I signed up. I've since switched to 1 free in-store rental per week. In-store rentals aren't the reason that I signed up for mail-order DVD rentals, but they're a nice bonus. So far they've been pretty good, but I'll drop them in a heartbeat if they start going Netflix on me.
I like the Netflix queue manager better than the one Blockbuster uses. But that's about all I liked better about Netflix. They don't have the financial burden of brick-and-mortar stores to operate, so they should be able to beat Blockbuster in a battle of financial attrition. Their CEO indicated as much a few months ago. But now maybe they're worried that Blockbuster actualy poses a threat. If so, then all they need to do is get half a clue about customer service. I don't miss $20/month, but I'll be damned if I'm expected to toss money at a company that doesn't take care of it's customers. (Unless, of course, it's the local cable or telephone monopoly...)
Last week, based-upon a tip from the RIAA, the US took action against the global piracy problem. Fortunately for the men on the ship there were no bootleg CDs or illegally downloaded mp3 files onboard. In a formal statement released after the event, an RIAA spokesman was quoted as saying, "There's no need to detain these individuals. We regret the inconvenience this has caused the innocent folks on that ship."
When questioned privately about the incident earlier this week, one RIAA representative said, "Damn! I was sure there was piracy going on out there."
I'm not sure what SLA might be in the contract with regard to the commercial service. My guess is that since it is a commercial venture for MobilePro, it's in their best interest to keep the traffic flowing. They've contracted with 3 ISPs so far. Hopefully there will be enough commercial pressure to ensure that the infrastructure remains useable.
I'm also very interested to see what kind of SLA is in force for the dedicated municipal bandwidth. We obviously need some sort of assurance of availability before we begin using it for public safety services.
I hope it's a resounding success for everyone involved: the residents, students, visitors, ASU, Tempe, and the service providers.
I'm an IT employee for the City of Tempe. There seems to be a bit of speculation about the new wireless agreement. Here's my unofficial summary of what's happening:
Our Council has awarded a contract to MobilePro to build-out a wireless network citywide. MobilePro will utilize some City infrastructure (mostly light poles) for the build-out. In exchange, we get free dedicated bandwidth for municipal services.
We're not an ISP. We're not involved with managing bandwidth, setting subscription rates, or filtering content. And despite speculation in several posts I've read, we're not subsidizing the project. This is a partnership with ASU and MobilePro.
As a bonus, you'll be able to deduct this donation on next year's U.S. taxes. It's a wonderful opportunity to let the music industry pay their opponents' legal costs, and get a tax break in the process.
When my local cable company calls to ask me to switch from Dish Network to digital cable, they frequently cite the "bad weather" problems that satellite subscribers can experience. I politely remind them about the "good weather" problems that I've experienced with cable. I've been with Dish for nearly four years now, and I can honestly say that their service has been far better than any cable company I've ever dealt with.
You can also go to Pricegrabber to do competetive price lookups.
I finally got my boss to order one yesterday. He bought a Sony HS-10 from RitzAV. By the time I jump (January), it will be between the Sony HS-10/HS-20 and the Panny LT300/LT500. My choice will depend on projector model availability, price, and my mood.
You may want to spend some time trudging through comments at AVS Forum to get some feedback on various projectors and dealers. And search the specific forums using the keyword "shootout" if you'd like some good comparative reviews.
Oops, you're absolutely right. I believe it's the CRT projectors which are succeptible to burn-in. I should've just pointed to avsforum and left it at that. Thanks for the correction.
I've been researching projectors since last fall, and am still on the fence regarding lcd vs. dlp. As a matter of fact, I've run across some cheap crt's as well. Not sure which way I'll go yet, but there are many factors to weigh in addition to what Texas Instruments has pointed out. (Not that their ownership of DLP patents could provide any agenda for publishing their report.) I don't purport to be an expert, or much more than moderately informed. But I have spent some time agonizing over the variety of projector technologies out there.
For some pretty honest feedback from projector owners and experts, check out avsforum. Check out comments from owners of dlp, crt, and lcd projectors. The folks in the forums are not afraid to either praise or pan a particular projector (or manufacturer or reseller), and they have been a great help to me in sorting out the various factors during my seemingly endless quest. (Actually, I'm just a bit too chicken to drop the $$$ right now.)
And there are quite a few factors worth noting. For instance, some people may be bothered by the "rainbow effect" that is generated by dlp projectors. Others may not be affected by that, but may be bothered by the "screendoor effect" of lcd projectors. Still others may be affected by the "pocketbook effect" of purchasing these things. I may well end up purchasing an LCD for around $2000, and then throwing it away after 4000 hours. (Which for me would be many years, since I watch less than 10hrs of TV per week.) Or I may spend around $4000 on a DLP and plan on keeping it a bit longer. In any case, I don't think I can make a bad choice since South Park will be kick-ass on 100" screen.
Something worth noting is that Sony does not produce any DLP projectors. They do produce CRTs and LCDs. While I'm not a huge fan of Sony, they do kinda have a decent reputation in the consumer electronics field. So to me, their presence in the LCD market lends a bit of credibility. (The HS-10 is getting killer reviews, and it's only around $2500.) Also worth mentioning is the fact that DLP projectors can suffer from image burn-in, while LCD projectors do not. It doesn't mean that LCD is better than DLP. But these are some of the differences worth knowing before dropping several thousand $$$ on a projector. Again, check out avsforum for lots of insight into the different technologies.
If you are interested in purchasing a projector, do your research. You'll probably find that there isn't any one "best technology" to go with.
This one was on my "sick list." (List of movies to rent when staying home sick from work. Not interesting enough to devote a weekend night to.) Was pleasantly surprised at how good it really was. I didn't much care for the Matrix, and would refer this one first. (Jennifer Connelly's presence kinda helps.)
I've stumbled across quite a few "under-appreciated" movies while working my way through the sick list.
The FBI had information about terrorists training in US flight schools. The Phoenix memo was ignored. Agents were not allowed to follow-up, and we know how that turned out.
Yes, the CIA should have been aware of what was going on too. But that does not excuse the FBI, who had resources focusing on a Russian programmer that summer. They had information about activites on our own soil, and they failed to deal with it.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep. Very cool.
I verified that it was a corporate store before heading over for the 8am launch on Saturday. Here's an update to the saga:
Saturday night I realized that I had left my Treo data cable in the bag full of Pre stuff that I returned. I called the sales rep's cell phone and left him a message. Sunday morning I checked my account online, and discovered that my new 2yr contract and calling plan were still in place. I called *2, and the rep was able to clear that up. He reverted the contract to the original term, and applied 12 months of credits to my account to offset the higher price of the new calling plan. (My original plan code wasn't available in the system.) The *2 guys rock. Always have. I wish they were running the stores.
I got a text message from the sales rep on Monday indicating that he had found my data cable. I stopped by and picked it up. He apologized again for my Saturday experience. I reassured him that he had still earned the 5 stars. This guy deserves a large shout-out, so I'll be sure to identify him in the letter. I'm now on a waiting list at a Sprint store that's closer to my office. I called yesterday to find out where I'm at on the list, and they told me the shipments were trickling in. The store manager is supposed to call me today with an update.
Thanks for the advice on the report structure. How do I get the district manager contact info? I'm in the Phoenix metro area. I'm not comfortable identifying the store publicly, as most of the staff were trying to be helpful and accommodating. I'm not interested in antagonizing them or driving business away. Sprint can work with the manager to improve his customer service skills.
I liked the phone while I had it, but there were problems with the USB port. This would have been annoying if it were isolated to file transfers, but I couldn't get it to consistently charge either. That made the problem a deal-breaker. (The Sprint store had sold all 7 of their Touchstones before I got there.) Fortunately I was able to get a Sprint employee to witness the connectivity problem. But for some reason the manager wasn't convinced the phone was bad. I explained to him that a phone that charges sporadically wasn't useful to me. His employee even confirmed that the phone wouldn't charge when he tried it. But the manager countered by reminding me that one of his employees got it to charge for awhile. To be fair, the manager did try to get guidance from Sprint tech support, but the only suggestion they came up with was to reset the phone. That didn't solve the problem of a defective USB port.
The manager told me that he wouldn't be able to reserve a replacement Pre for me, because I can't just "cut in line." He said I'd have to keep checking with the store to see if they had any available. I disagreed about whether an exchange should be considered "cutting in line," but he was still convinced the Pre was working fine. Hard to reason with somebody in that frame of mind.
They offered to let me keep the Pre until new supplies arrived, but I explained that a phone that wouldn't reliably charge was useless. I gave everything back, and had them reactivate my Treo. The employee who witnessed the problem entered some notes in my account to ensure that I get the existing customer discount when I return. He also gave me his business card so that I can go straight to him for the purchase. I won't, however, be purchasing the $200 of accessories that I returned today. They lost that sale due to the way they handled my situation.
I really hope Sprint and Palm have a very successful year. I'm looking forward to getting a Pre, and I expect that the next one will be fine. But the store manager's attitude during this ordeal was disappointing. Once things have settled, I'll send a letter to Sprint Customer Relations explaining exactly what transpired. (There's quite a bit more than what I've posted here. I made 4 trips to the store during a 6 hour period to get this resolved.) I've been with Sprint for 11 years now, and the only time I have trouble is when I deal with their staff in the stores.
No, just women.
Still stop by from time-to-time. This place got huge. What ever happened to Sengan? (After the r/o debacle...)
Portability depends upon the generation of the virtual machine. VMware's mobility guide can be found here.
I'm obviously not familiar with the intracacies of either business model, but I do have some observations about how both companies approach their customers. First, Netflix throttled me without mentioning anything. When I contacted them to report the missing DVD (after 5 days), their response was that sometimes DVDs get lost in the mail. They sent me a "replacement" DVD, which coincidentally arrived on the same day as the first one they sent. That was one week after they had e-mailed me the original shipping confirmation. They also mentioned that they were going to track my "missing DVD" complaints to ensure I wasn't stealing their movies. Shipments continued to crawl after this incident.
Second, Netflix had no customer service links that I could find in order to ask someone a question. They had plenty of FAQ responses, but I couldn't find a "contact customer service" link. I had questions about the delivery and return processing times, but they didn't seem to want to deal with questions. (I shouldn't have to file a false "report a missing DVD" report just to get in touch with a human. And besides, how do you compile a FAQ if your customers can't ask you questions?)
Finally, when I decided to cancel my Netflix service they gave me a week to return any outstanding DVDs. I still had two weeks of service available, but they wouldn't provide any recourse. It's not like it was a financial burden to abandon the service a week earlier than planned. But it's still crappy customer service. And they didn't even ask why I was cancelling my account. Even the shittiest companies I've dealt with have wanted to know why I've left.
Blockbuster, on the other hand, has been more customer oriented with me. While comparing two different promotional offers (2 weeks free, or $10 first month) I decided to choose the 2 weeks free. But when my registration completed, they congratulated me on choosing the $10 first month trial. I contacted them to sort this out, and they ended up tacking 2 weeks free onto the end of my $10 first month. The first thing I noticed was that I actually was able to contact a Blockbuster rep. The next thing I noticed was that that I had an answer within a few hours. And on top of that, they had sent me a link to fill out a customer satisfaction survey. Blockbuster also offered 2 free in-store rentals per month when I signed up. I've since switched to 1 free in-store rental per week. In-store rentals aren't the reason that I signed up for mail-order DVD rentals, but they're a nice bonus. So far they've been pretty good, but I'll drop them in a heartbeat if they start going Netflix on me.
I like the Netflix queue manager better than the one Blockbuster uses. But that's about all I liked better about Netflix. They don't have the financial burden of brick-and-mortar stores to operate, so they should be able to beat Blockbuster in a battle of financial attrition. Their CEO indicated as much a few months ago. But now maybe they're worried that Blockbuster actualy poses a threat. If so, then all they need to do is get half a clue about customer service. I don't miss $20/month, but I'll be damned if I'm expected to toss money at a company that doesn't take care of it's customers. (Unless, of course, it's the local cable or telephone monopoly...)
Here's another link regarding the lawsuit.
Please don't mod the parent message "interesting." I was joking. (perhaps badly, but joking nonetheless.)
Ugh.
When questioned privately about the incident earlier this week, one RIAA representative said, "Damn! I was sure there was piracy going on out there."
I'm not sure what SLA might be in the contract with regard to the commercial service. My guess is that since it is a commercial venture for MobilePro, it's in their best interest to keep the traffic flowing. They've contracted with 3 ISPs so far. Hopefully there will be enough commercial pressure to ensure that the infrastructure remains useable.
I'm also very interested to see what kind of SLA is in force for the dedicated municipal bandwidth. We obviously need some sort of assurance of availability before we begin using it for public safety services.
I hope it's a resounding success for everyone involved: the residents, students, visitors, ASU, Tempe, and the service providers.
Our Council has awarded a contract to MobilePro to build-out a wireless network citywide. MobilePro will utilize some City infrastructure (mostly light poles) for the build-out. In exchange, we get free dedicated bandwidth for municipal services.
We're not an ISP. We're not involved with managing bandwidth, setting subscription rates, or filtering content. And despite speculation in several posts I've read, we're not subsidizing the project. This is a partnership with ASU and MobilePro.
Our website offers a more detailed explanation:
http://www.tempe.gov/business/wifi/
As a bonus, you'll be able to deduct this donation on next year's U.S. taxes. It's a wonderful opportunity to let the music industry pay their opponents' legal costs, and get a tax break in the process.
When my local cable company calls to ask me to switch from Dish Network to digital cable, they frequently cite the "bad weather" problems that satellite subscribers can experience. I politely remind them about the "good weather" problems that I've experienced with cable. I've been with Dish for nearly four years now, and I can honestly say that their service has been far better than any cable company I've ever dealt with.
The original manuscript was found in perfect condition, due to the fact that his son never broke the shrinkwrap on the manual.
Projector People
Ritz Audio Visual
Visual Apex
You can also go to Pricegrabber to do competetive price lookups.
I finally got my boss to order one yesterday. He bought a Sony HS-10 from RitzAV. By the time I jump (January), it will be between the Sony HS-10/HS-20 and the Panny LT300/LT500. My choice will depend on projector model availability, price, and my mood.
You may want to spend some time trudging through comments at AVS Forum to get some feedback on various projectors and dealers. And search the specific forums using the keyword "shootout" if you'd like some good comparative reviews.
And naturally I posted my stupid comment under an unrelated "real" comment, instead of replying at root level. Must slink away now...
I'd guess that they have Ray Charles making their maps. I've had better luck with a 10 year old Thomas Street Guide.
Oops, you're absolutely right. I believe it's the CRT projectors which are succeptible to burn-in. I should've just pointed to avsforum and left it at that. Thanks for the correction.
For some pretty honest feedback from projector owners and experts, check out avsforum. Check out comments from owners of dlp, crt, and lcd projectors. The folks in the forums are not afraid to either praise or pan a particular projector (or manufacturer or reseller), and they have been a great help to me in sorting out the various factors during my seemingly endless quest. (Actually, I'm just a bit too chicken to drop the $$$ right now.)
And there are quite a few factors worth noting. For instance, some people may be bothered by the "rainbow effect" that is generated by dlp projectors. Others may not be affected by that, but may be bothered by the "screendoor effect" of lcd projectors. Still others may be affected by the "pocketbook effect" of purchasing these things. I may well end up purchasing an LCD for around $2000, and then throwing it away after 4000 hours. (Which for me would be many years, since I watch less than 10hrs of TV per week.) Or I may spend around $4000 on a DLP and plan on keeping it a bit longer. In any case, I don't think I can make a bad choice since South Park will be kick-ass on 100" screen.
Something worth noting is that Sony does not produce any DLP projectors. They do produce CRTs and LCDs. While I'm not a huge fan of Sony, they do kinda have a decent reputation in the consumer electronics field. So to me, their presence in the LCD market lends a bit of credibility. (The HS-10 is getting killer reviews, and it's only around $2500.) Also worth mentioning is the fact that DLP projectors can suffer from image burn-in, while LCD projectors do not. It doesn't mean that LCD is better than DLP. But these are some of the differences worth knowing before dropping several thousand $$$ on a projector. Again, check out avsforum for lots of insight into the different technologies.
If you are interested in purchasing a projector, do your research. You'll probably find that there isn't any one "best technology" to go with.
Yeah, this one was on my "sick list" too. Every time I get someone to watch it, they tell me how good it is.
This one was on my "sick list." (List of movies to rent when staying home sick from work. Not interesting enough to devote a weekend night to.) Was pleasantly surprised at how good it really was. I didn't much care for the Matrix, and would refer this one first. (Jennifer Connelly's presence kinda helps.)
I've stumbled across quite a few "under-appreciated" movies while working my way through the sick list.
But then you'd have to know about it in order to under-appreciate it...
(Follow-up here.)
The FBI had information about terrorists training in US flight schools. The Phoenix memo was ignored. Agents were not allowed to follow-up, and we know how that turned out.
Yes, the CIA should have been aware of what was going on too. But that does not excuse the FBI, who had resources focusing on a Russian programmer that summer. They had information about activites on our own soil, and they failed to deal with it.
And people are asking why the FBI didn't know about the pending terrorist attacks last year...