Customer Service

Last week I was attempting to pay a bill online.  Oh the joy - right?  I don't do auto payments because I want to check the bills as they come in and be sure they are correct before money changes hands.  It usually works out well. 

One particular website has recently undergone an update.  It's pretty.  It is not functional.  The update (whatever they did) will not allow me to copy/paste my password into the account login page.

You see I use 1Password.  I love 1Password.  One of the things I can do on every other site is log in without having to type my credentials.  That's why I have it.  Currently I'm not using the 1Password plugin on my browser as it is giving me problems. Therefore, I'm not even trying for a 1-Click login here, just a copy/paste.

This particular site... no go.  I tried using my Mac with Firefox and Safari.  I tried using my Win7 with Firefox.  None of them allowed me to copy/paste on the login page.  Very annoying. 

So I did what I always do when I find a problem. I emailed them to let them know.  These things happen, but nothing gets fixed if you don't tell them there is a problem. 

I filled out the contact form. Described the problem.  Told them what computers/OS/browsers I used and sent it off.  That was last week. 

Today I received the following email from them:

Hello,
This appears to have been resolved, correct?

BTW - that omits nothing.  The person did not address me by name, even though they replied to my email and my contact info was in the reply.  And best of all, they didn't even sign it!!!  How delightful!

This is a major corporation.  Wow!  Okay. 

I went back to their website and checked. No the problem still exists.  I responded, that this was the first communication I had received and no the problem has not been fixed.

Whoever it is, still not signing a name, now tells me they have passed it on to the IT staff and they are sorry for any inconvenience.  

I expect another email from the IT staff next week saying

Hello,
This appears to have been resolved, correct?

Because I can see they are all about the communication with their customers. 

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 12:16 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Reverse Annoyance

I wish there was a way to use a cattle prod response to telemarketers so they cease and desist without any extra effort on my part (I'm lazy).  The latest annoyance comes to us by way of the March of Dimes. 

Certainly a worthy organization, I have donated to them.  In their little world this means they need to put me on a call list to brow beat me for even more money.  *sigh*  Not just a call list, but a robo-call list where they robo-dial my number several times a day and then don't answer.  Not sure what the goal is here, but there must be logic in it somewhere.

So I see the return number on caller id  914-294-2161.  At first I had no idea who MOD was since that is the "name" on the caller id.  After doing a google search of the number I find the culprit. I always try to find who is calling first.   I don't call back illegal operations like the shady lenders and credit card scammers.  They are already breaking the law and they don't care what you think about their calling habits. 

It's a charity, which means I call back. The same applies to political callers.  They can call as often as they want until I tell them to stop. But once I tell them, they do stop.  However, they don't always make it easy.

I therefore proceed to call the number back and... I get a fast busy signal.  Oh goody.  That means I can't get my number off their stupid list using an easy "please press 3 to have your number removed".  More looking...

Back to the google search - I see other people have dialed the number back and they do get through, but I'm not going to waste my time redialing endlessly.  Nor will I call back other numbers people have reported since that might not get me off the telemarket list or might put me on another one.  Telemarketing is a tricky business.

That leaves me with only one option. I looked up the National March of Dimes and called them.  They were nice about it (and so was I)  All I had to do was tell the man who answered "I'd like to have my phone number removed from your telemarketing calls".  He connected me to someone who took my name and phone number.  She told me it would be 24 hours which is standard.  

All that work, just to get my number off a list. *sigh*  I like it so much better when I don't have to talk to anyone - just give me a way to get off the list automatically.  Oh well, better than listening to the ringing as they call over and over and then don't answer. 

But I still wish for that cattle prod type of responder to companies that use robo-dialers. 

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 11:57 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Still Here

Pulled a muscle or something in my neck while I was sleeping the other day (btw how does that happen? Weird!).  Kinda ruins my whole "let's sit at the computer and see how many words we can type" attitude. Heh.

If you want to see some pics from the last week, head over to my Posterous page where they've been stacking up.  (It's very easy to post pics over there which is why I've been neglecting the extra work it takes to post them here).

Otherwise, more later once my neck stops hurting.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Can you say: Chicken Little!

Okay, okay, maybe I'm being just a leetle snarky, but there are times when I want to tell the news media to just "get a grip people!".

I've seen the following story floating about for the last couple of days. This morning a friend emailed the following:

Hundreds of thousands may lose Internet in July

In a nutshell, here is what happened:

Hackers infected a network of probably more than 570,000 computers worldwide. They took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows operating system to install malicious software on the victim computers. This turned off antivirus updates and changed the way the computers reconcile website addresses behind the scenes on the Internet's domain name system.

First let's take a deep breath. A little over half a million computers world wide is a mere drop in the bucket. It's miniscule. However, if you are one of those people who never do updates on your system and therefore have every drive-by virus and trojan known to man, you have far more problems than whether or not you can get online come July.

For those who want to check their systems because they are worried, you can find a nice handy instruction pdf via the FBI that will walk you through checking your system. Although this is a windows problem for the most part, if you get your DNS addresses served up via a router on your network, you'll want to check your DNS even if you're using an Apple or Linux box. The pdf linked above includes instructions on checking your Mac too.

I remember when this first happened. As I recall, there were a number of businesses who had gotten infected. Because it was difficult, for whatever reason, for these businesses for fix their DNS, the FBI set up the safety net DNS for a while to give them time to clean up their systems (sorry... it wasn't because the home user would have problems... that's basically a non-issue for them). So now they are warning these same businesses that the safety net is going to be dropped and they better get on the ball and get things fixed soon.

The thing that bugs me about how this is all presented is this type of statement:

For computer users, a few mouse clicks could mean the difference between staying online and losing Internet connections this summer.

This is so irritating because you DO NOT lose internet connection! The connection is there, it does not go away. What you lose is the "address book" of the internet.

The DNS (Domain Name Server) is the place where your computer goes to find "where exactly is www.yahoo.com?" When your computer asks this, the DNS computer says "today you can find it at 98.139.183.24". And then your computer can go merrily along its way looking for that address. You don't have to remember a set of numbers. If Yahoo needs to change the numbers for some reason, all it has to do is tell the DNS server the new numbers. It's all fixed in the background without you having to even know about it. Makes browsing the web possible for everyone.

Honestly though, the whole "OMG!!! OMG!!! The internet will be killed!!!! OMG!!!" Is just a bit too over the top for me. Can we now get back to worrying about things that really are scary? Like running out of wine to drink with dinner or something... Sheesh!

Last of all. If you aren't using a service like OpenDNS or even GoogleDNS, then you should be. GoogleDNS provides only DNS service but it should be secure enough.  I use OpenDNS but do not have an auto updater running, I set it up much like one would set up GoogleDNS. The links above are to the basic setup instructions for each.

The reason I use OpenDNS is that it provides DNS plus extra security. They blocked the Mac Flashback trojan well before Apple put out a fix for it. They also allow you to control what comes in over your home network if you want to set up a free account with them.

Either of these services is FAR better than most ISP DNS offerings. They are more secure and up to date. They also don't suffer from major outages like Comcast often experiences. So please think about changing how you get your DNS to your computer. It's well worth it. And if you have a very bad DNS provider, you'll find the web browsing way way faster.

Happy surfing.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 01:48 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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FUD of the Day

I follow a bunch of people on twitter and sometimes I wonder why. I won't say who posted this (since most people I know wouldn't be the least bit interested) but this was a retweet posted today:

RT @identityg: They change the rules all the time. Here's the latest on recent Facebook security updates! http://ow.ly/99ZFf #IDTheft

I don't follow identityg.

When I see something like this the first thing that pops into my head is... Well Damn!!! Facebook has changed its privacy policy or settings AGAIN. So what do I have to look for now??? What do I have to change?

And of course I go to check the link. Which turns out to be...

A story about how the Koobface gang and their servers were finally shut down. Oh yeah... and a warning that there is another trojan out there to take its place.

Really? That's what you've got? And you post a tweet saying "They change the rules all the time." What am I missing? What rules changed? Where in the linked story do they tell me that facebook changed something so users have to check their accounts and fix them again?

Oh the story doesn't say that? Well then your tweet is FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt) to get people to read your article. Good going!

The people who tweet this crap and those who retweet it should be smacked - or unfollowed which is what I did (unfollowed not smacked much as I would love to find the person and do that - ha). That worked out well for them didn't it.

While the story itself is not a bad story - the hype to go read it is severely misleading. The bottom line... facebook has not changed anything and this presents nothing new when it comes to keeping your account secure. It's merely a news story about the shutdown of a gang - newsworthy yes, causing changes to your facebook account? Not at all.

So now that I have unfollowed the culprit in spreading the annoyance I shall return to my regular Sunday afternoon browsing.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 02:13 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Not So Super Anymore

I just finished watching my last Super Bowl (maybe even football game).  This has been coming on for a while, but tonight I decided I've had enough.

We watched most of the game with the sound muted because the "National Call" is simply dreadful.  They vacillate between one team and the other being "the best ever".  They fawn over players to the point where you want to tell them to get a room from crap's sake. There's so much inane blather I want to throw things at the television.  It's too much. 

If one was at a bar where other things were going on it might be tolerable.  But sitting at home with only the game on, it's too dreadful for words.

Sadly the radio call here is even worse.  I have no idea where they got those two guys, but wow, bad doesn't even begin to describe it.

Of course then we have the game itself.  It's so full of show off showboaters I cringe after nearly every play.  So, a guy who makes a bazillion bucks tackles someone on the other team and he dances or does a little praying thing or points at the crowd, or flexes his biceps or whatever... Dude why are you showing off for doing your friggin' job???  It gets worse every year.  Pretty soon we'll have entire teams out there doing some sort of salsa dance after every play.  Just because the play is over and aren't they great...

Seriously?

What happened to the football games I used to watch with my dad all those years ago?  The guys went out and did their job.  If they won the game they celebrated.  Otherwise they played the game.  They didn't suck oxygen on the sidelines, they didn't dance in the end zone, and they didn't need a lawyer on the field to figure out which hits were okay and which were bad or did they really catch the ball or not.  

Oh and let's not forget about the play reviews... why do we bother with refs on the field?  Just have cameras do all the work.  Now that the guys in stripes know every play will be reviewed they don't even watch well enough to make good calls - the on field mistakes happen more and more often.  Of course it might help if the NFL would decide they want to be a professional sport and actually hire their refs full time... you know like other sports do. 

I'll stick with hockey.  It's way more fun to watch, the players are tough as nails and the local call is always good (no matter which team it is).  Of course now that hockey is getting more attention with HD TV it may go the way of football and baseball and become completely unwatchable.  I hope not, but I won't be surprised. 

I guess then I'll have to see if I can find some Rugby to watch.  Sheesh.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 11:38 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Phone? Alrighty Then

Yes we have phone service. No power no cable, but the landline phone service is back.  Of course if the generator is not running we have 2 phones that work (corded phones). One is upstairs the other in the basement. I won't be making mad dashes to answer.  

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 11:17 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Waterlogged

Rain... yeah we got it... lots and lots of it.  Not quite as much as they are getting in Peabody, MA where they had flooding, but enough to make me wonder when we will all turn into mushrooms.  

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 08:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Was Going to Post Something...Yet Again

Must must must start writing this stuff down as I think of it because quite honestly after about 10 seconds I can't remember what the brilliant idea was anymore.  Sheesh! Of course that might be a good thing...

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 09:38 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The Latest Catch Phrase

Well, it's been around for a few years, but it seems that lately I'm running into it more and more and it makes me want to scream.  It's the

Give yourself permission to....

Fill in whatever blank you want after that.

Can I tell you how much I hate that phrase. I want to take the person, smack them, and say "I'm not 3 years old!  I don't have to give myself permission to do things!"

It's a cop-out, but oh so very easy for self-help types. They only have to say something like:  all you need to do is "give yourself permission" and you'll be able to do "X" (whatever "X" might be).  How easy is that! 

If you can listen to that trite stupid phrase and then suddenly "X" is accomplished, they can say "see it works".  If "X" doesn't work for you, they say "it's because you aren't letting yourself do this".

Heads I win, tails you lose. I wonder how long we'll have to live with this particular bit of "wisdom" before someone finds a different catch phrase to snare the masses and sell their schtick.  Geeze.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:10 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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If You Aren't Chatty Cathy...

Looks like the latest thing in the world of airport security is oft touted but outwardly ignored until now - "behavior watch". 

New Security Measures Tested at Logan

The relevant bits:

Under the new program, behavior officers will ask passengers non-intrusive questions and look to see how passengers respond.  Those who exhibit suspicious behavior like avoiding eye contract and struggling with answers will be pulled aside for more screening.

So there you go. Not having a great day?  No sleep the night before a flight?  Fight with your significant other just before leaving home?  Well, suck it up and be prepared to have a nice little chat at the security checkpoint.  If you don't you may miss your flight - which would be even more annoying.  

While I think behavioral checks are the way to go on paper.  I'm wondering how they will work in actual practice. 

Grab your popcorn folks.  Should be a fun show.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:36 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Filing

I really really have to figure out a new filing system.  Or rather a new office configuration to make my filing easier.  David Allen of GTD fame was so so right when he said - anytime filing can not be done easily and immediately, it will pile up.

And thus I will spend a few hours this evening getting my filing done because I've been dumping papers in my closet... then telling myself I'll get it put away next chance I get. 

Right.

Out of sight is out of mind.  Well, until I walk in to set something down and the stack falls over. 

Ha - serves me right for putting it off.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 01:06 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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Mystery Water Revealed

Today the mystery water returned to the downstairs bathroom.  This time with a difference.  The shower tray was completely full of water.  The floor was all wet, the closet was all wet, the unfinished room was all wet... 

Time to call someone.

My husband suggested we start with the septic people instead of plumbers.  They very quickly got someone out here (I was impressed - excellent service).  And yes, it is the septic system. 

It was full of water.  Lovely.

First he had to pump it out - about 1500 gallons.  Then he scoped it out with a camera.  Turns out the pipe leading to the leach field had collapsed.  Water goes in, can't get out.   We don't know why - there is nothing heavy moving over that portion of the yard (even when the trees were taken down, they weren't near that section).  They may figure it out when they dig it up, or it may remain a mystery.

Thursday they come back to replace that section of pipe.  In the meantime I cleaned the bathroom, my husband got the unfinished part of the basement.  We'll have to call in Service Master to do the carpets properly since they had water in certain areas.  My husband did the shop vac to get rid of most of the water - but they should be properly treated.

As long as it's only the pipe with a problem, we'll have escaped pretty lightly.  If they have to do anything to the leach field... well that would be a really big deal.  We'll find out soon enough.

Are we having fun yet?

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 08:33 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Ah If Only I Was Adept At the Quick Retort

A few weeks ago I was at a function manning a table.  Various people from our group had done this over a two day period.  That day it was my turn.  Oh goody. 

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 09:12 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Event Id 5782

For anyone who stumbles across this looking desperately for a fix.  If it is in relation to a service like SMTP in IIS, the short answer is:

Go to Computer Management --> Services and check to be sure the service is not "disabled".

The long winded or winding story of the is answer is below the fold.


more...

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 11:39 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Was Going to Post Something...Again

But ended up working until about an hour ago (that would be about 10:30pm). Now I'm too tired.  My boss is still working and since I'm remoted into the session I'm still watching him try to tackle a very stubborn mail server.  Gah there are days I hate computers.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:36 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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My Spring is Sprung

/begin curmudgeonly rant

I’m so tired of all the “time hopping” can we just pick a time and stick with it? My preference would be for year round Daylight Savings Time, but at this point I’ll take Standard Time if we can just stop all this back and forth.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I'll reset my clocks tonight. *sigh*

/curmudgeonly rant

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 05:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Sunday... February Sunday... Ho-Hum

Yes we have arrived at the mid-February blahs. I dislike February. It’s the middle of winter. It’s cold. The prospects for warming up in the next 2 months are almost nil. It makes doing anything at all feel like a long slow slog up hill in cement boots.

Work. Exhausting unfulfilling work at that.

Valentine’s Day… meh. It does nothing for me.

One thing I saw yesterday did make me very happy. Kristine Rusch announced on twitter that her Retrieval Artist series of books is being reissued. She’s created The Retrieval Artist Website to keep track of the releases. Plus she has more stories coming soon! Excellent! I love this series of books and I guess I’m not the only one.

Like Orson Scott Card (read his review at the link. He has a terrific overview of the stories and it would be silly of me to try and rewrite it) I came across this series on Audible.com as my first free download. It’s read by Jay Snider who does an outstanding job on all the books. The man is a storytelling artist. The voices stay true to character through the entire series of 6 books which I find amazing.

Now they will be reissuing the books in paperback for those who prefer to read a “real” book. The Disappeared has already been issued. The series is out on Kindle (possibly Nook too although I haven’t checked). And new books are coming soon. That almost makes February okay. Yes, I’ve even gotten hold of the short stories on Kindle to read. Definitely worth it.

In his review Orson laments that the books aren’t numbered. I was able to figure out which order they were published without too much trouble, but Kris has the order listed on the new website to make it easy for people who don’t want to try and figure it out. I liked listening to them in order even if it isn’t strictly necessary. The back story does build through each book even if the books themselves are stand alone.

Orson mentions this, but I think I should too… If you are an aspiring writer/small business person - I highly recommend Kris’s Freelancer’s Survival Guide. I’m not a writer and I never will be, but her advice on the business side of writing is worth reading. It’s even worth a look if you are interested in starting some other type of small business. And she’s put it all out on her website for free. Pretty incredible.

So if you’re looking for some reading material to get you through the rest of this winter. Check it out.

Now I think I will listen to this series again. It’s that good.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 05:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Hand Cramps

That's what I have after scraping the driveway yet again yesterday.  Didn't get the entire thing cleared before the subfreezing temps set in, but did get enough to get the steep parts dried out.  OTOH it hurts to type.  

Some winters you just can't win.

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 10:56 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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To Get The Right Answer...

Ask the right question.

Or

To get the right response when doing an internet search...

Search for the right thing.

Of course it helps if you have some idea of what that thing is. 

I have spent a week searching for the solution to a problem we were having with some servers.  I found the answer by accident yesterday when something I read finally got me asking the right question.

One problem down - on to the next.  Yes, I'm now searching for the answer to yet another irritating problem on our work servers.  I keep poking at these search engines hoping I will find something worthwhile.

What I find are a myriad of people with the same problem along with a whole bunch of "helper people" who have no clue, but are throwing out all kinds of weirdass suggestions to solve things.

Reading all this crap reminds me of a time years ago when I stumbled across a forum where someone was trying to get rid of a file left by a virus (back when viruses were more benign than they are now).   The file attributes were set so it couldn't be deleted using windows explorer. 

The helpful "tech" guy went through a long involved explanation to get rid of said file involving rebooting in to safe mode among other things.  As I sat reading it, I was shaking my head wondering if the kid (had to be a kid) giving the tech advice even knew what a Command prompt was.  And that all the person had to do was open such a prompt, change the attribute on the file to +w and they could then delete it - all within about 10 seconds.  No booting into safe mode or any other time intensive idiocy.

It's a jungle full of muck out on the net.  At technical meetings too... Many people full of self importance and "good advice" most of which is to spend money for some software we don't need.  There is a very high testosterone level in this field. All these guys marking out their territory of "this is the way to do things - this way and only this way will do!"

Everyone thinks they are 1000% right and everyone else is wrong. Not to mention the software they like is 1000% better than anything else out there and everything else is complete crap.

All this cruft takes up search engine result space and must be waded through to find the one answer I'm looking for.

That's what I've been doing and it makes me tired. 

Posted by: Teresa in Ho-Hum at 12:36 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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