New #CastleDoctrine: Protect Your #Home From #Virtual Intruders #BroadbandPrivacy Block #ISP #Spying #Vote Against #Slavery

Congress sold you to your ISP. If that sounds a lot like virtual slavery, that's because it is what it is. ISPs do NOT have the right to your data without your consent regardless of what Congress rubber stamped. Take action! If you value your privacy, if you believe in the sanctity of your home (and that what you do behind closed doors is your business and not the purview of BIG business), protect your data NOW.

This is the new American frontier. Your home is your castle. You have a right to protect your home from intruders, including the virtual kind. Block ISP (and third party) spying, use a Virtual Private Network or VPN to encrypt all data whenever you go online AS A DEFAULT. Trust no-one and look out for you and yours.

Congress sold you to the highest bidder (the cable and telecom lobby) in what is the new standard for bad customer service and a new low for a promise to "serve the people." Refuse to be enslaved. Fight back. Escape from bondage. Protect your data NOW.

And then, vote the spineless bastards who approved this anti-privacy bill out.

Nosirree! I Will Not Shop @GooglePlay Not Tomorrow Not Today #PoorCustomerService #Error #Help

In December, I experienced an error with a movie rental on the Google Play service. The movie would not download. I would click [Download] and get a message saying that it was downloading but nothing would actually download. The error was specific to this rental as titles I had rented or purchased both before and after have downloaded without issue.

I tried periodically over a period of weeks to download the title, hoping it was a network "clog" that would clear itself. But as the 30-day window to begin watching the movie rental dwindled with no success in obtaining the download, I contacted Google Play support, which in itself was a convoluted ordeal of a process. (As is the case with many companies nowadays, there is no Customer Service email publicized. One has to ask for a callback or queue for a chat to get help. Ridiculous! I do not have time to sit & wait for support to pickup. There is a reason why email still rules the business day and has not become obsolete despite the myriad promises of many a workflow app: Timeshifting.)

I got in the chat queue and was eventually connected to a CS agent. (I won't say "a human" because it could have been a bot for all I know.) I explained the situation and asked for the download to be "reset" for my device so that it would stop hanging. The agent responded that he could not do this, cancelled the movie rental order and refunded the money (without asking, if I wanted a refund). I responded by saying that a refund wouldn't do me any good, because I had rented the movie under a promotion to "Rent Any Movie for $0.99." Putting $0.99 back into my account would not allow me to rent the movie again --- and ostensibly clear the hang by getting a fresh download --- unless I was also "refunded" the discount movie rental promo code. (It also happens that the $0.99 for the movie rental was paid with a promotional "cash" balance in my account.)

Obviously, the simple solution would have been to give me a "replacement movie rental" instead of automatically generating an order refund, as this would have been the equivalent value of what I received in the order (i.e., I originally rented a movie, refunding the net cost of the order did not give me a movie rental). The CS agent said he understood and would check on getting me another discount rental code. As getting this far in the support process had already taken more than an hour, I was out of time and needed to leave for a meeting. I stated as much and asked the CS agent if he could followup via email. He said he would.

I ended the chat and waited, and waited. I went about my business. I happened to be doing something else in my account when I noticed my Google Play balance was $0.00. I thought, "Where'd the 99-cents I was supposed to be refunded go? And, wait a minute, that support agent never did email me..." So on yesterday, over a month after the first chat, I contacted Google Play support AGAIN --- trying to find out why I did not have $0.99 balance in my account (the refunded amount) and why I never received any followup or discount movie rental code. Again, I had to first wait in the chat queue to be connected to someone. (Some AI chatbot?) I explained the earlier situation and was told in response that the refund had expired (the same say it was issued) because it was a promotional balance. The chatbot pointed to a nice generic "promotional balance offer terms" link. The gaul!

First, I did not ask for a refund and was awaiting the resolution on "getting a replacement movie rental that worked" which had yet to arrive.

Second, if you refund a customer's money and said refund has numerous conditions like a SAME DAY EXPIRATION, it might be HELPFUL to point this out to the customer at the time, especially if the customer is also waiting on a followup from you before he can proceed with a new order. (This omission of terms and the unresolved "bad download" issue were both completely ignored by the agent in the second chat.)

Third, if a customer contacts you with an issue where you've already dropped the ball, a repeated flagrant foul will not gain you a loyal customer.

The (second) agent could only repeat ad nauseum that the refund had expired and point to the "offer terms" link. As I stated (several times), I was not told any such terms by the first agent at the time I was given the refund and I was expecting a followup email from him in order to know how to proceed with getting a fix for the original hung download, so telling me this NOW over a month later was not helpful. The agent finally said "it was outside of her abilities." So I asked for a supervisor. The response was that a supervisor would EMAIL me. I laughed, and not with good humor.

I stated she would have to excuse me if at this point I didn't exactly profess faith in Google Play support. I asked for the supervisor's info and was merely given a name --- heaven forbid, you can't contact him directly! I ended the chat without optimism. I was not disappointed. His response was abysmal.

The email I received merely repeated the same details covered in the unhelpful overlong chat, namely that the refund had expired on THE SAME DAY ISSUED because it was a promotional balance. The supervisor did also tell me (unhelpfully) that I could always check any promotional balance expiration dates in my account under "Payments." Good one. As I was not originally informed that the refund was conditional, why on earth would I have checked for an expiration date? As I was awaiting a followup email (that never arrived) for the original issue (that had yet to be resolved), your blatantly ignoring the actual problem and harping on a "refund" that only existed on my account for less than 24 hours is NOT winning me over. I responded that the information being given NOW would have been helpful, if given at the time the first agent processed a refund without asking. I await the supervisor's response. I am not holding my breath.

Needless to say, this is a perfect example of a customer service FAIL. The original problem was never resolved. (I never got a movie rental download.) I was not contacted with further details as promised. When I am finally able to CONTACT YOU to find out what is going on, you do not apologize, you do not correct the original problem, you instead respond with further incompetence.

And Google Play wonders why I have yet to "add a payment method" to complete my profile. (I keep getting prompts to do so.) There is a reason why I only use promotional credits and gift cards for (most) online services like this, and the "customer service" example above is exemplar of it. Do you honestly think I'd trust the village idiot with my credit card? Sorry, Google Play. Nosirree! I will not shop at Google Play (not with "real" money, anyway) not tomorrow, not today. (Thank you, Dr. Seuss.)

This is what poor customer service begets you. I still haven't seen Sully. The movie was the hung rental download. This entire experience left such a bad taste in my mouth, that I haven't bothered to rent Sully, again, either on Google Play or elsewhere. It has been associated in my mind, unfortunately and unfairly, with a bad experience. I may never see it. Google Play support sucks. There, I said it. (Sadly, this type of "service" seems to be the norm nowadays, especially online.)

I have not received a satisfactory resolution to my case.

Oh noes! The Gravy Train Dried Up --- #SYWR + SYWMax

Sears Holdings Corporation (SHC) is finally making self-salvaging moves. The minimum order amount to qualify for the Shop Your Way Max shipping program was recently bumped up to $30.00. (When I first started my "trial" of the program it was only $5.00, then moved up to $10.00 about a year later, where it sat for roughly two years.) I often remarked on the fact that I would order a $5.00 or $10.00 item for free using rewards points and the shipping would have cost nearly as much as the item --- if it wasn't free also.

In other words, there is now way the program could continue bleeding loss like this. So it had to, of necessity, adjust prices to qualify for the free shipping. While this is a good business decision, it means that it will be more difficult for me (or other consumers) to score free items and have them shipped to me for free. I didn't say impossible, it will merely take more effort to stack up at least $30.00 value in rewards points (without making a purchase/s).

Alternatively, I can use the free store pick-up option to get low cost items (nearly) free, as I did yesterday when I ordered a coffee grinder for free using my rewards points and first discovered the minimum order price bump. Store Pickup is unfortunately a hassle due to inept store employees --- it's always a bad experience at certain stores --- and it uses time and gas. Besides, it's not nearly as fun as getting packages delivered right to your door. The freebie times are a-changing. Le sigh.

In all honesty, I'm surprised the freebie gravy train that was SHC lasted as long as it did. I have been a SYWR member for at least 5 years and have gotten hundreds, if not a thousand or so dollars worth of free merchandise. Compared to having spent approximately $20.00. It was a consumer bonanza for a long time. Way to crawl out of the red SHC...

New #Football #Batman #BarGlassware! #SYWR #Deals #StorePickup #Guarantee #Kmart #BadCustomerService

After Christmas, being that I was on holiday, I played a few games, entered a contest or two, and caught up on the telly. (I am the epitome of a time-shifting viewer, with the exception of news and sports, I seldom watch anything at the time it first airs.) One of the fun things I like to do in my spare time is to enter Shop Your Way Rewards Instant Win Sweepstakes, because these contests give one a chance to win random amounts of rewards points. Catching a Doorbusters period on a specific sweeps is even sweeter because points are earned merely for entering.

I can usually earn several bucks worth of rewards points per week just by fooling around. Add to this any surprise points I'm awarded and any relevant coupons I load to my account, and I can easily end up with a free $5-$10 worth of points available to use on a near weekly basis when time permits. Combine all this with free shipping on items $10+ as a perk of an ever-renewing Shop Your Way Max trial or free store pickup for items under $10, and it becomes very obvious that I get a LOT of free merchandise from Sears and Kmart. (And I'm not the only one, if the various freebie and deal sites are in any measure accurate.)

It's no wonder Sears Holding Corp (SHC) has been flirting with bankruptcy for years, it gives away far too much money value! Don't get me wrong, I love free stuff as much as the next guy and I've surfed the freerider wave along with all the other deal hunters. But you'd have to be obtuse to not recognize that giving away multiple times the amount you take in is not a sound business practice. I'd crudely estimate that I've gotten at least one free $5-$10 item (and often greater value ones depending on sales and promotions) from Sears and/or Kmart every other week for the last two to three years without even trying too hard. (Think of the deal hounds that actually work at it.)

Just a guess, but based upon my own personal experiences, SHC probably gives away at least $15 for every $1 it earns. You can't sustain that sort of loss and expect to be a profitable business. But I'm not a company executive, I'm a consumer who likes deals. So while I shake my head, it's not my fault if the company is being run by idiots. The fact that SHC also outsources most of its customer service operations to a call center that seems perpetually staffed with incompetent fools further complicates matters. When your hallmark is atrociously bad customer service, eventually your (presumed) customer base starts rooting for your demise.

Libbey Football Tumbler, 4-pc set

DC Comics Batman Tumbler, 2-pc set

Meanwhile the fire sale is quite fantastic! My latest SYWR scores are some nifty themed glassware sets, a 4-pc Libbey Football Tumbler ($7.99 on sale) and a 2-pc DC Comics Batman Tumbler ($11.39 on sale). I got the football set totally free (excepting the time and gas required for store pickup) using $7.99 worth of points. Then because the local Kmart store pickup was an abysmal nightmare --- as always --- and Sears/Kmart have a guarantee that you'll get your order in 5 minutes or less, most of those points were refunded, by which time I'd earned some additional points, and so was able to order the more expensive DC Comics set for free, too. And as this second set cost >$10, it was also shipped to me for free.

Both sets will make fun additions to my home bar. I've previously mentioned that my "basement entertainment complex" is being developed around a carnival/fair/circus theme, so novelty glassware is just the ticket! Besides, it's a family bar room, so there'll be as many EANABs available as there will be alcoholic beverages, perhaps more depending on the event. Watching the upcoming Super Bowl is gonna rock while sipping soda or beer out of the football tumblers. And Mardi Gras? POW! BLAM! Batman!

Order Process Shortsightedness @Amazon Ignores #AmazonSmile

Dear Amazon,

Why do you keep pushing me to shop in-app or order with Alexa when neither of these entry points allow me to generate AmazonSmile eligible orders? What was the point of creating a charitable program allowing customers like me to give back, if you weren't going to support this program across the board? I will not shop using the Amazon app. I will not ask Alexa to order items for me. I wouldn't consider it.

I start all my shopping sessions at the AmazonSmile portal for a reason --- to support a cause, a charity I've chosen. It was incredibly shortsighted of you to ignore AmazonSmile when developing your apps and your voice controlled platform. Get with (your own) program and fix this! Or simply accept that I will never use your apps to generate orders, so stop flashing those "download our app" advertisements at me.

Sincerely,

Uncharitably Peeved

#Review: Odd #Glitches Plague the 2015 @Amazon Fire Tablet #Fail

During Black Friday last year, a number of stores ran sales on the newly released entry-level Amazon Fire Tablet 8GB WiFi (MSRP $49.99) for ~$34.99. It was an great value at the regular price, but a complete no-brainer at $35. I ordered one, which due to the items popularity, didn't actually arrive until December. Unfortunately, its screen had a few dead/white pixels that made viewing video content which generally has a black background annoying, so I contacted Amazon for a replacement unit. Again, because the item sold so well, Amazon's stock fluctuated greatly, and I didn't get a replacement unit until January of this year. 

I have been a faithful user over the last 10 odd months, as I felt no qualms traveling with my Fire Tablet or taking it out to public spots like the library or coffee houses. I figured if I somehow lost it or it got stolen, I'd only be out of pocket $35. (Funny how we do that. We say well something only cost thus and so, so it's no big deal, if this happens to it... when value often has little to do with price.)

As a long time Amazon customer --- since 2014, on my current default account, but longer in reality --- I have a SIZEABLE digital content library. (By the way, I'm a member of Amazon Preview, a focus group of top digital content customers who are periodically asked to weigh in on Amazon projects in development.) I was buying ebooks long before Amazon had a standalone Kindle and digital copies of TV shows and movies long before the various form-factors of Fire hardware were a glint in Amazon's design engineers' collective eye. So $35 bucks for something portable that was supposed to seamlessly connect with Amazon's robust digital content infrastructure was a win-win. I specifically got a Fire Tablet as an easy way to start taking all the content that I've been accumulating over the years on the go with me.

In my experience, the Fire Tablet works better with third-party apps, than it does with Amazon's own digital content ecosystem.

But this has proved problematic as the Fire Tablet works better with third-party apps, than it does with Amazon's own digital content ecosystem. For instance, I have a print subscription for Sunset magazine that included a digital subscription which I could choose to activate on one of a list of platforms. I activated it on my Amazon account and downloaded the current issue via the Fire Tablet's preloaded Newsstand app which is specifically for digital magazine reading. 

However, when I launched the Newsstand app and attempted to access the magazine, I received an DRM (Digital Rights Management) error --- see the image below --- stating that I didn't have permission to view the magazine on this tablet. Considering the digital content should have automatically been paired to the hardware upon which it was downloaded, I found this laughable (in a "you've got to be kidding me" sort of way).

Newstand App DRM Error

It took some extended back and forth with Kindle support over several months, but eventually this error was corrected and I can now read Sunset magazine on my tablet. It was such an egregious error, however. The whole point of the Newsstand app is to facilitate reading digital magazines and it failed. How'd the software engineers miss that? (Being an engineer, I tend to be touchy when I'm on the receiving end of failed engineering.)

The next problem I encountered was seemingly a combination software/human error that became so frustrating to attempt to get resolved that I simply gave up and as a result Amazon lost an add-on sale. My Amazon Fire Tablet automatically downloaded and installed the Washington Post app the first time the device was synced with my account after registration. I got a notice saying that I could choose to uninstall the app or I could keep it and enjoy a free 6-month digital subscription to the Washington Post. (For anyone who apparently lives under a rock and doesn't know, especially after this past election season, Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. He also founded a little company called Amazon.com.) 

I figured why not? If I hated it, I could easily uninstall it later. I actually ended up quite enjoying it and utilized the subscription almost daily. The featured recipes alone would have made the subscription worthwhile.

At the end of the 6 months, I got a popup notice in-app stating that I could continue my digital subscription a further 6 months for only $1.00. At this price, I was willing to bite and so clicked through to subscribe. However, in spite of all the "6 months for $1.00" notices, the actual checkout page showed $3.99/month. Additionally, even though this was an in-app purchase, the checkout page did not give me the option to use my Amazon coins balance. (Amazon coins are a virtual currency specifically for in-app purchases, a substitute for real money.)

In spite of wording at the top stating that I could extend my subscription at a cost of $1.00 for six months service, the actual charge which appears on the checkout section is $3.99/month.

I contacted Amazon Customer Service via the chat function and entered Dante's Inferno with its attendant Nine Rings of Hell. I was transferred to NINE different agents during this chat, and the ninth tried to transfer me a tenth time before I said enough. Not until the ninth agent did I get an answer as to why I was unable to use Amazon coins for this purchase. (I was told that despite the purchase originating in-app Amazon required magazine subscriptions to be made using your default 1-Click payment method, which is generally a Credit or Debit card.)

Not one customer service agent was aware of the WaPo in-app digital subscription promotions. (Neither the original 6 months for free or the 6 months for $1.00 followup.) Not one could explain the billing price mismatch error, not even the specialized Kindle team members. If I'm told something costs $1.00 for 6 months when in actuality a charge of $3.99/month is processed, I am not going to be a happy camper. The ninth agent, a Kindle team member no less, went so far as to tell me that the promotion about which I inquired did not exist.

WaPo App  Promotional Ad

WaPo App Promotional Ad

Ludicrous! Nice to be told the equivalent of "you're delusional and making things up". I exited the chat with a vow never to go through such an ordeal again. It was a spectacular fail for Amazon Customer Service. Needless to say, I did not continue the digital subscription and promptly uninstalled the WaPo app from my Fire Tablet. Had I received competent technical support, I might still be a WaPo digital subscriber today. As it is, I get my eNews elsewhere.

The third major glitch which I've encountered has yet to be fixed. My Fire Tablet automatically deletes any video content I download for offline viewing (via the Video app) the next time the device syncs. This error started occurring shortly after Amazon pushed out an OS update which included "On Deck". 

When activated, the "On Deck" service is supposed to download Amazon Instant Video content in the background that one can watch for free. Available program content is curated by Amazon. It's basically a sampler program that gives you access to free pilot episodes of TV shows that Amazon wishes to promote. The service states that it will manage any content it downloads and delete items as necessary due to space constraints. It's billed as a way to "never be without something to watch" on your Fire Tablet. In theory, it's a great idea. The user gets access to free content automatically without having to lift a finger and Amazon can promote whatever it likes and (potentially) encourage sales as users discover new series, etc..

However, the "On Deck" content management system seems to be overzealous. Content that I download manually from my Amazon Video Library disappears. It doesn't matter whether or not I've watched the content. It doesn't matter that the Fire Tablet's external microSD card has GBs of space available. It doesn't matter that the content hasn't been downloaded as part of the "On Deck" service (it's content in my video library that I selected to download).

The downloaded video is automatically deleted upon the next device sync. It doesn't even matter whether "On Deck" is activated. (I toggled the service to "Off", but the issue persists to this day.) I have repeatedly contacted Amazon Customer Service to no avail. In spite of resetting the entire device, resetting the Video app, etc, etc., the issue persists and Amazon Tech Support is apparently clueless as to how to correct it.

I stopped downloading content from my video library. Nothing is more frustrating than spending hours downloading multiple videos --- and it takes hours because the Amazon download servers are not optimized as bandwidth for streaming is given precedence --- only to discover you have " zero downloaded videos" the next time you launch the Video app.

It's another spectacular fail on Amazon's part. (And yes, I've also lodged several complaints about the abysmal download times. I currently have video set to download at "good" resolution, because trying to get a "best" resolution HD download would literally take 5 hours for a 30-minute episode. The amount of time it takes merely set on "good" is still atrocious. I can get HD downloads from other services in a matter of minutes, so it's not a network speed issue.) Hopefully, it will be corrected eventually. Meanwhile, Amazon misses out on my buying more video content....

For a device that is supposed to work seamlessly with Amazon's digital content ecosystem and facilitate digital content sales as a result of this ease of integration, the Fire Tablet leaves A LOT to be desired. I continue to use my Fire Tablet because it works well with a plethora of third-party apps, including games, news and productivity items, plus it only cost $35.00, so I'm still winning. Amazon is the one losing out. Amazon failed in implementing its own apps.