Whole Foods, Sam’s Club, and Bad Meat.
Though I don’t eat a lot of red meat, when I do have it, I want it to be good – really good. I always grill it. And, I know what I am doing. But you can do everything correctly, and if the meat is no good, nothing will help it. Like lipstick on a pig, you know.
Unfortunately I have just been through a spate of bad meat experiences. Here it is in a quick recap…
- Sirloin “fillets” from Whole Foods Market. They looked great, but were very tough.
- Sirloin steaks at Sam’s Club. Exceptionally tough.
Belkin N Wireless Router not reliable
Although it got a good review at CNET, I have found this router to be less than fit for the job. It seems to drop its connection intermittently, making it a pain in the neck to try to stream radio, video such as NetFlix, Skype phone conversations, and FTP.
Having done my Internet search, it seems that there are a lot of other people in the same boat. I was excited when I first found this article on the Belkin website: http://www.belkin.com/support/article/?lid=en&pid=F5D7230-4&aid=2437&scid=0. But having gone though most of the specific channels still did not fix the problem.
At this time, I am taking Belkin off my list of acceptable router products.
My Book 1 Terabyte External Hard Drive
After checking Frys.com and some other sites, I found a decent deal on a Western Digital 1tb external hard drive from samsclub.com. It was $124 plus $10 tax and around 6 bucks shipping. It arrived in about 3 days via USPS.
Hooking it up was simple; plug in the power supply; plug in the USB cable (USB 2.0). There were about a third of a gig of installation and manufacturer files on the drive that I see no value in, so I archived them for a few months until I finally deem them useless and delete them.
My purpose for the drive is to…
- Backup my family’s various computers using GoodSync backup program,
- Backup my family’s photo collection,
- Have adequate storage for the various video editing projects I am getting into.
There are a lot of sub-1tb externals out there, but I wanted to have at least 1tb to start with since more and more programs and technologies are promoting and using larger amounts of photos and video. Mine is black, but I see that WD has a 2tb white one on their website.
Blockbuster On Demand Video Download Box Not Ready For Prime Time
I started logging this experience when I first received my Blockbuster On Demand wireless video download set top box, thinking it would be a very short article. However, with all the headaches I have endured with installing and using the box, it is quite a bit longer that I had planned. However, hopefully it will help someone else in their own experience.
Week of December 7th 2008
Was excited about ordering the 2Wire On Demand settop video download box from Blockbuster. $100 buys the box and 25 prepaid movie rentals. I was even more excited when it arrived a few days later.
Monday December 15, 2008: After receiving the box, logged into my account at Blockbuster.com and put my mail subscription on hold. Getting ready to hook up my new 2-Wire On Demand video box for my new Blockbuster Access download subscription. If things go well, it will forever change how videos are rented.
Wednesday December 16, 2008 : Messing around with starting to install my new Blockbuster 2Wire MediaPoint super duper video download rental box. It keeps locking up. Will try tomorrow.
Thursday December 18, 2008
- With my wireless printer off and my notebook disconnected from the network, rebooted the Blockbuster box and got it to connect. But when it came time to register it on their website, blockbuster.com was taking downtime (for several hours).
- Got logged into Blockbuster.com, but I see nothing on the website prompting me for the PIN being displayed by the MediaPlayer on my TV. This is a sign of poor user experience design. Likely the reason I was not contacted by a recruiter in the past to work for Blockbuster is that BB did not want to spend the money to get a much-needed business analyst to work with their Information Architect (assuming they even had an IA). I’m also irritated that the BB IVR requires me to push 1 to continue in English. And the recorded wait message tells me that I can handle my business with them online; that’s the reason I’m even calling!
- Still on hold with Blockbuster customer service, I see a URL called blockbuster.com/settopbox in the poorly worded blurry text instructions on my ancient non-high-def TV. I try the URL and get “SITE UNAVAILABLE” or an error with some numbers. Customer Service Rep finally comes on and says she can do nothing to help me register my box and that I need to use the website. When I explain that the website is erroring out, she says she knows and that they are doing some updates. When I ask why they are updating their website in the middle of the day, she stammers and says she really does not know. I politely refrain from telling her that the reason is because somebody screwed up somewhere in the requirements/design/coding/testing/deployment phase(s) of the SDLC and they are probably trying to back off a series of “enhancements” or fix them since they are taking hard downtime and people are going to NetFlix or MovieLink or somewhere besides Blockbuster at the moment.
- Finally got into the blockbuster.com web page to enter my PIN. But it said that the PIN is now expired. So I basically have to start over with setting up the set-top box. With a 50 character network password, it is really becoming a pain in the posterior after 6 tries and counting.
- Finally got the blockbuster set top box setup. Now I am trying to understand their business model just so I can be a customer to them. Here is what I think I know and think I understand:
- Rent videos in a store
- Rent videos online and receive in the mail
- Rent videos to download to your computer
- Rent videos via your set top box
I just canceled number 2 above, and am seeing that the 4-some-odd movies in my online queue are not listed in my set-top Favorites. Nor can anything I do online affect my set-top experience. The “download rentals” on the website confused me by leading me to initially think they were discussing the settop download rentals; but not so! And in BlockBuster’s poor user experience design, this is not explained.
So now I must manually search on the settop box for each and every movie I had already spent time putting in my online queue over many month’s time, and I must do it using a very cheap remote control and a very klunky onscreen menu. The print on the buttons looks like it is already starting to wear off and I have not even downloaded a movie yet. The menu and remote combine to allow primarily control using directional arrows and an OK button. This can be a bit tedious for modern people - such as adults, teens, children, and seniors - who have ever used a keyboard or a PDA or even a telephone with letters on on the buttons.
As I relearn how to use this type of remote and menu, I now discover that many of the titles I had in my online rental queue are not available for settop rental - like Tropic Thunder which is coming soon, and The Bucket List which is not even found).
With the purchase of the box for $107 plus tax, you get 25 rentals. That is 4 bucks a rental. Then rentals vary in price from $1.99 and up (at least $3.99 for recent releases). My wife is already telling me to ship the box back for a refund and take our online-by-mail rental off of hold for $12/mo unlimited rentals with 1 out at a time and free in-store exchange. Though I love the idea of on-demand video rental, Blockbuster’s download model is more of “on-supply”.
Speaking as a software development professional who loves to see a job done right, I must say that I am less than impressed with Blockbuster today.
- Maybe Blockbuster is not so dumb after all. They have retained me as a customer to do user acceptance testing, and are even getting me to pay them!
- Blockbuster emailed me confirmation of the ordering and shipping of my set top box. So now I am confused yet again by Blockbuster… Is that communique about the box I received 4 days ago, or did Blockbuster decide I was ordering another one when I logged in this morning to confirm my PIN to register my existing box? I’ll have to visit my bank account to try to find out.
Wednesday December 31, 2008
Well, I am getting tired of blogging about the Blockbuster On Demand, and I am tired of the box itself. So, I have called customer service to get an RA number (return authorization - required in order to return a product via mail). After pressing 1 for English and waiting 12 minutes on hold, I was connected to a customer service rep (CSR) off shore in Europe or South America who then transferred me to an English first language CSR Stateside.
At first she tried to reason with me and talk me into keeping the box and trying to help me work out the bugs over the phone. But she could probably hear the frustration in my voice and she wisely decided to issue the RA number. I suspect there are quite a few others who have had similar customer experiences.
In short, here is a quick recap…
- Offering: 8gb solid state memory wireless/wired download box. $100 + tax for the box and 25 prepaid rentals.
- Difficulty with the wireless connection. My downloads (both of them) took over 4 hours each due to repeated broken connections. Actually, the second one never completed but I was charged for it anyway and had to have the CSR credit my account.
- Klunky human interface and a cheap remote control with sticky buttons. The security code is not hidden on the screen, and my kids could easily see what it is when I was trying to download their movie.
- Many expected titles (movies) not available for download, even though they have been out for years and can be rented online by mail - I mean that between 50% and 75% of the movies I had in my Blockbuster Rent-by-mail queue were not to be found for On Demand Download.
- Customer service has very limited call-in hours. An offshore model adds complexity. Online support is very limited. On-screen support is nonexistent except for instructions to call in during business hours.
- Overall rating: “D-” by this customer.
My response: Return the box for a refund. I was getting ready to reinstate my rent-by-mail membership, but then took a look at NexFlix. At this time I think I will give NetFlix a try.
Lasko Products to Pay $500,000 Civil Penalty for Failure to Report Defective Fans
Lasko Products Inc., of West Chester, Pa., has agreed to pay a $500,000 civil penalty. The penalty, which has been provisionally accepted by the Commission, settles allegations that the company failed to immediately report incidents about its defective portable fans.Rocker Window Swiches in US-made Cars Can Kill
Poor Leadership in American Auto Manufacturers and US Government Create Child Danger - Opinion
As a prudent consumer, I observed this a long time ago. But last night it became a personal matter when my 9 year old son’s windpipe was almost crushed by the power window in my family’s 2000 Ford Excursion.
The problem is that the rocker switches installed in the flat switch panels of many American cars such as Fords and Chevrolets are ready to roll up the window when any pressure is indiscriminately applied to the switch. That means when a child or a family pet puts their head out of a window, as children and pets do, and they support their weight on the arm rest containing the switch and they inadvertently push down on the switch, the window rolls up on the loved-one’s neck. This is what happened last night when we were parked at the store and my son went to spit out some candy. Fortunately he was able to make enough sound to get the attention of the other family members to alert me of the situation. At first I did not understand what was going on, but when I finally did I fumbled with the switches on the driver’s panel to roll down the correct window, though my son was still pushing down on his which was still trying to roll up the window. We got lucky - or blessed. But many others are not so fortunate.
The cause of the problem is, in my opinion, lack of leadership in the management ranks of US Automobile manufacturers. Speaking from personal experience, my 1994 Lexus sedan had many standard expected features that my ‘99 Suburban and 2000 Excursion failed to provide:
- Positive pull roll-up window switches: the passenger had to intentionally pull up on the switch in order to roll it up; there was no way that putting one’s weight on the switch could crush someone’s neck in the window. 1994 and earlier saw imports with it, and 2000 and later the American car companies were still putting faulty technology into their new cars.
- Rear door child safety locks: My old 1994 Lexus had them, but the ‘Suburban did not.
- SUV rear window wipers: My 1995 Toyota 4Runner had one, but the 1999 Suburban did not.
- Designed to drive like new to 150k miles and beyond: My 1994 Lexus drove like new with minimal maintenance needs to 176k miles, While my 1999 Suburban was beginning to have tons of costly minor and major problems at 100k miles (A/C, Power Steering, Fuel Pump, Door Locks, Stereo Failure, Interior lighting and wiring problems, and more). My 1997 Lexus is at 175k miles and runs and drives like new with no major repair expenditures and few-if-any minor ones (actually, no repairs - just maintenance such as battery, wipers, headlight bulbs, etc…). And my 2000 Excursion already has the door lock solenoids going out, CD Player problems, 4WD mechanism problems even though it has only about 92 miles and looks like it is in great shape.
OK, thanks for listening to my rant. But if the US Car companies want to do business, then they need to do it well. And if the US government is going to tax American car drivers to make laws and bail out US Auto Manufacturers, then it needs to make the latter do things well and do them safely. In this case, the US should have long-ago mandated a recall to replace all such faultily-designed (”irresponsibly-designed” in my opinion) switches with recessed-pullup ones.
Just my two cents!
Michael
