Great customer service. NOT!

My dishwasher finally gave up on me. So I started looking around. Finally found one at homedepot.com and bough it. Great. It even allowed me to pick the delivery date. So I picked Friday. It originally said that they would call me 4 days in advance to let me know what time of the day they can deliver within a 4 hour window.

Today, I finally called them to see when they'd actually deliver. Mind you the delivery is on Friday.

They are actually worse than the cable company that gives you a 6 hour window, which basically means any time of the day.

They said that they will call me on Thursday, day before, and let me know of the four hour window. Basically I have to keep my entire day open.

Amazing customer service. Thanks for delivering it to my home and actually charging me on top of all this.

I wonder what time they will show up on Friday. I am betting they will actually miss the window. Any takers?

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Family Guy: The must see episode: McStroke

My amazement with Hulu's high quality videos continues.

If you have not seen any episodes of Family Guy before, you are missing alot! This is the best episode I have seen so far. Spare some 20 minutes to watch it. There are so many amazing references to funny things that happen around us: from stem cell research to social networking. It is worth 20 minutes of your life.

Really?!?! Govt Spitzer

One of my favorite segments in SNL used to be Really?!?! with Seth and Amy during Weekend Update. They haven't had one of those segments in a while. I think all-in-all they only had 3 of them. However, they are hilarious.
This weekend they had one about the infamous former NY Governor Elliot Spitzer.

My favorite one is 1 minute 8 seconds into it about Governor not wanting to wear a condom. Brilliant!

Eye-Fi: Upload pictures to web as you take them

Now this is a really cool product.
Eye-Fi is an SD memory card with a built-in WiFi card in it. As you take pictures with your camera, they get uploaded to your favorite online picture manager (Facebook, Picasa, Flickr, Smugmug, etc...)

It is very easy to set up. You plug it to your computer once, and configure the wireless network(s) it should/may use, then the rest of it is magic. Just take pictures.
The SD card connects to Internet via WiFi and uploads the pics. If your computer is on, it also downloads them to your PC.

A really cool use of Eye-Fi would be for live blogging from various events/parties. Imagine the possibilities if you live in a city with city wide WiFi availability.

Here are some pictures I took at the office as I was testing the product.

Pure Genius!

PS1: At this point it does not handle video files, however I am sure that is a feature in their to-do list.
PS2: It supports WiFi encryption, however cannot handle hot-spot style authentication.

Great quote about conservative Christians in the US

I am reading the latest John Grisham novel, The Appeal. The first novel he has written in a long while. At least a novel that is around the law and lawyers.

Not a spoiler: In the book at some point, he describes the mentality and rationale of conservative Christians:
"...Abortion? Opposed. All abortions? Opposed.
Death penalty? Very much in favor.
No one seemed to grasp the contradiction between the two."

After reading those lines and thinking for a moment or two, it hit me. I guess it is all about winners and strong ones writing history and the law. Don't look for reason, because you will not find a rational one. It is all about "because I say so"

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Hulu

I really like Hulu, the video site that Fox and NBC set up. They have pretty good quality video and basically everything from NBC's and Fox's archive.

I do not think Hulu will upset YouTube traffic much. However, it definitely has a promising future.

I have been using Hulu for a while and will continue to do so. However, there are some usability issues they need to sort out, like play lists and managing them.

Here are some hilarious SNL clips I found on it.

Can you spell CREDIT CRUNCH

I guess many banks are in stress due to current financial landscape. Here is a story that would have been very different a few years ago. I could have almost pictured the customer rep begging me not to close my account. However, things were very different yesterday.

I use Paytrust to pay all my bills. Paytrust is very different than many online bill payment services that are offered by the banks. I can actually have all my bills sent to Paytrust and they automatically pay them for me without me even having to log on. Perfect service for someone who has moved 12 times in the last 11 years. No need to call everyone and change mailing address.
With some of my bills I even went fully digital, no paper mailed. I provide Paytrust with my login information and they pull the bills every month electronically.

In my wallet, I only carry two credit cards: an Amex Blue, and a Yahoo! Visa. Got them at the same time right after graduating from college. I use my Amex day-to-day and every once in a while when some store does not take Amex, I present them my very cool Yahoo! Visa card that has a psychedelic Yahoo! logo on it.

Apparently in January, Chase, my Yahoo! Visa provider, changed the login procedures to their website. Therefore, Paytrust wasn't able to login and fetch my bill and therefore pay it. I did not notice an email from Paytrust warning me among all the spam and most likely deleted it. However, yesterday I realized that I haven't paid my Visa bill and wondered why. So, I found out why when I had to log in to Chase site and update some stupid security questions. After updating them, I realized that I missed my February payment by 2 days, and now on my bill there are two charges, $5 finance charge based on a ridiculous 19.99% APR and a $39 late payment penalty. Just like every citizen with a great credit history I called Chase. The conversation was kinda like this:

Me: I noticed this late fee, sorry I missed the payment, check out my account history, this is the first time since 1999. Could you please take that $39 off?
CSR: Sorry, even before we can consider something like that, your account needs to be current.
Me: Ok, let me pay it now, here is my checking account number and routing number
CSR: If you do it via a CSR we take a $15 fee, via automated phone $5, it is free via internet.
Me: Fine! I am paying it right now via your website. Done. Refresh and you'll see the payment
CSR: Thank you for your payment. This one time only we will take that $39 off.
Me: How about that $5 finance charge
CSR: I am sorry, that is a legitimate charge, I cannot take that off.
Me: Fine! then do something about that ridiculous 19.99% APR.
CSR: Sorry sir, that is best we can do at this time for your account
Me: Really? Even with someone with almost perfect credit history? There are so many people willing to offer me low APRs, and I keep rejecting them. Can I talk to a manager?
CSR: Sorry. This is best we can do
Me: Then I would like to close this account, I do not want to deal with such a bank. Please connect me to whoever handles the account closing.

At this point I am counting on the good old department which handles the account closing and begs you to stay with them.

CSR: Ok sir, your account is closed.
Me: What?
CSR: Per your instructions I closed your account. You will receive your final statement within a month.

WOW! I guess nowadays the banks are doing all that is possible to reduce their outstanding credit lines.

Who is the victim? My poor very cool looking Visa card with a Yahoo logo on it.
I spent the next 10 minutes surfing to find a legit Visa with a low APR that will only process my purchases from Amex hating merchants.

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