The Trans-Siberian roared through the neighbourhood last night. You could feel its rumbling as it hurtled through. Our quaking house was squarely tied to the tracks as it ran over us.
Via satellite you could see the long curving arc with its caboose somewhere out of sight beyond Alaska, snaking over the frigid climes of northern Russia then loading tank cars over the Pacific and picking up a full head of steam as it plowed into the left coast. Side spurs were formed as it splintered onto sidings and sub-routes.
This wasn't a large flaked, gentle steam train excursion of childhood memories, but rather a full throttle, angry runaway and watching track-side earned you an icy, stinging face-slap. Occasionally the engine would surge forward, sharply jostling the anxious dreams of sleepers as bedroom windows rattled.
Its now morning and all that remains is white wreckage spilled across the landscape.
Rush hour is derailed.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Getting Credit Card Warranty Service Without Going Broke
Do you have a credit card that offers an "extended warranty"? Many cards, including Visa, Master Card and American Express offer this as a service.
It may not be worth your while. I'm sure VISA hopes it isn't.
Here's my (abbreviated) story so far:
I wanted to submit a warranty claim for a Canon all-in-one printer that stopped working in August. All-in-One printers are great in that they combine a printer, scanner and fax machine all into a single machine with many, many more parts that can go wrong.
I need pay to ship this 40lb. printer which is the size of an aircraft carrier,
destined for a local landfill, to you, so you the adjuster, can determine that its worthless and should
go to a landfill in Indiana?
Or in other words,
`Dear Potentially Scamming Cardholder,
We feel you may be in cahoots with the repair shop and might be trying to extort $140 out of VISA and
buy a house in the Bahamas.
Only we can determine junk when we see it'.
I had, in fact, kept the original box that I kept in the attic for warranty purposes so packed everything
up and $45 later in postage, what I was now calling, the Canon 140-BA ($140 Boat Anchor) was on its
way to Indiana.
...
Amazing. Its been another week and I haven't heard anything back from claims
department, even though I have post office confirmation that the package has indeed
arrived. I imagine it will take CSI Indiana some time to do a post-mortem on the all-in-one before it
gets a proper burial.
Total time wasted so far is 46 days, cost $75 so far, and its fairly plain that VISA wants
the process so be so cumbersome that people lose hope and bail out at some point.
Sorry VISA. I'm sticking it out just so I can break even on warranty service.
--
Update - Nov 13, 2010
Finally! A check finally arrived today for $174.99 which covers the original cost of the product plus the cost of the diagnostic, but not the cost of shipping the broken product back to the insurance assessor. Still, its $120 net dollars I can put towards a new printer, which this time will be an EPSON Artisan 810 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine. The date I first contacted VISA about this problem was August 17, 2010 so almost 3 months to get things sorted out. Glad its finally done.
It may not be worth your while. I'm sure VISA hopes it isn't.
Here's my (abbreviated) story so far:
I wanted to submit a warranty claim for a Canon all-in-one printer that stopped working in August. All-in-One printers are great in that they combine a printer, scanner and fax machine all into a single machine with many, many more parts that can go wrong.
I need pay to ship this 40lb. printer which is the size of an aircraft carrier,
destined for a local landfill, to you, so you the adjuster, can determine that its worthless and should
go to a landfill in Indiana?
Or in other words,
`Dear Potentially Scamming Cardholder,
We feel you may be in cahoots with the repair shop and might be trying to extort $140 out of VISA and
buy a house in the Bahamas.
Only we can determine junk when we see it'.
I had, in fact, kept the original box that I kept in the attic for warranty purposes so packed everything
up and $45 later in postage, what I was now calling, the Canon 140-BA ($140 Boat Anchor) was on its
way to Indiana.
...
Amazing. Its been another week and I haven't heard anything back from claims
department, even though I have post office confirmation that the package has indeed
arrived. I imagine it will take CSI Indiana some time to do a post-mortem on the all-in-one before it
gets a proper burial.
Total time wasted so far is 46 days, cost $75 so far, and its fairly plain that VISA wants
the process so be so cumbersome that people lose hope and bail out at some point.
Sorry VISA. I'm sticking it out just so I can break even on warranty service.
--
Update - Nov 13, 2010
Finally! A check finally arrived today for $174.99 which covers the original cost of the product plus the cost of the diagnostic, but not the cost of shipping the broken product back to the insurance assessor. Still, its $120 net dollars I can put towards a new printer, which this time will be an EPSON Artisan 810 all-in-one printer/scanner/fax machine. The date I first contacted VISA about this problem was August 17, 2010 so almost 3 months to get things sorted out. Glad its finally done.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Hybrid Diesel - its about time
I know its Peugeot and the last thing we remember seeing from that car company in North America were some pretty crummy vehicles that stopped being shipped here 1991, but they seem to have a great idea with a hybrid turbo diesel on tap for sale in Europe next year. The car purports to get somewhere between 62-74 mpg.
Now if somebody in North America could devise a stylish 7 passenger, 4000lb trailer towing turbo diesel hybrid? I'd be checking it out for sure. Here's a look at Peugeot's Hybrid Turbo Diesel
Now if somebody in North America could devise a stylish 7 passenger, 4000lb trailer towing turbo diesel hybrid? I'd be checking it out for sure. Here's a look at Peugeot's Hybrid Turbo Diesel
Welcome to GentlerAnt
I've just landed on the shores of turning 50. Wow, did that come up fast.
New writing projects are underway for me and there's a lot of discovery going on as part of the research that accompanies developing five projects. I want to share some of that as well as commenting on some of the delight or disdain on subjects as the cross my path.
Welcome. Hop in and c'mon along for the ride.
New writing projects are underway for me and there's a lot of discovery going on as part of the research that accompanies developing five projects. I want to share some of that as well as commenting on some of the delight or disdain on subjects as the cross my path.
Welcome. Hop in and c'mon along for the ride.
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