Thursday, March 5, 2009

Verizon Customer Sevice SUCKS!!!!!!

I get my usually text message telling me my bill is ready for review. I am shocked when I see it because it is an additional $500 than the usual bill. This is very odd to me because I have unlimited text, data and voice minutes. So my bill is always the same amount. So I login to my account to see what is up. It says $499 for equipment charges. I think what in the hell is this, I haven't bought any equipment. So I think maybe some fraud on my account?? I email those wonderful people at customer service. Now, it took almost two days to get back to me. The reply was that fact that I did not return my broken device. I think to myself. Wow that was back in mid December when my Blackberry Storm stopped working so I got a replacement. I put it back in the box and two days later dropped it off at FedEx. Now the fun begins.

So I kept a copy of the tracking number because I always have such a great experience with Verizon (sarcasm if you did not catch that). So I go to FedEx.com and type in the tracking number. It shows I dropped it off two days after I got it. It shows it was delivered to Verizon three days later. It also shows it was signed for. Those great people at FedEx also have a downloadable pdf version of the signature. A few things are coming to mind. First why would they not email, or text message or call to say they never received it? They send text messages for everything else they are trying to sell me. I mean the instructions in the box said I had 10 days from receipt of new phone to return it. Wouldn't you think after 10 days they would get hold of me? Nope, let's just slap that on your bill. Now another thing comes to mind. Wow are they lazy, they didn't even check the number themselves? I have to imagine that they must have a way to link my account number to the tracking number sticker they put in the box for me to put on the box and send back to them. If they don't, then hey Verizon send me a text, I will write you some software!!!

At this point I am less than pleased with Verizon. So I reply back to the email with the tracking number included in the body and I even attached the pdf document which shows the tracking information (when it left, when arrived and when it was signed) with a copy of the signature. I then get an email back saying I have forwarded it to our investigations team and I can call and find out the status. I don't care what happens in your investigation…..clearly they have a thief working within. As far as my concern is, the status at this point is take the $500 off my bill. So I send another email saying, I could care less what happens in your investigation, the tracking number shows I sent it, you got it, you singed for it and who signed for it, case closed on my end. I get another wonderful email saying, sorry I can't take it off your bill until the investigation is over, oh and by the way we have new promotions that you qualify for. Are you kidding me? I am about to walk, and you are not resolving an issue that is clearly some s*** bag you have working for your company has stolen equipment and you are blaming me when I have the smoking gun in pdf format and you are trying to sell me on services????

My thought on this is if your IQ is below 2, you automatically qualify for a job at Verizon. So kids, when your parents said you better stay in school or you will work at the car wash, things are looking up. You can work at Verizon and get some sweet discounts on cell phone service.
What sucks about this is Verizon phone service is great. This is not the first time. They have pulled crap like this in the past. Seems every few months they do something ignorant. I had a problem before and I got a call from a local rep. I called her right back and all I heard while it should have been ringing was some rap music. I think, wow this is professional. She doesn't pick up. 2 days later she calls and said sorry she has been off work…..then why call me?? Then the district manager called & left me a voicemail telling me how bad his day was and how he was sorry he did not get back to me in a few days. I am like…I care about your day, let me tell you about the horrible customer service I got at one of your stores. I still have the voicemail saved & should post that on my site. I hope one of the other company's get some more cell tower coverage because I will be outie so fast.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Review of Alienware m15x

I have always wanted to get an Alienware computer. I heard about them in 2000 and thought man those are sweet, but expensive. Never was down with the desktops. I am not saying they suck, it's just I have always built my own and that's what I prefer to do with my desktops. Thought the laptops were fu-gly, until i saw this silver, Ripley design. I fell in love with it. So about a month and a half ago I ordered one.

First impressions. Well I must say when you get this thing via FedEx, becomes quite the un-boxing. At first the box is black (go figure). When you pull it out it is securely bundled up. I could have probably thrown this off my roof and it would have been fine (kids don't try that at home). So in the box is the laptop (obviously) a leather case which holds the documentation, software disks and an "Agent ID" card. I felt very much like I was one of the Men In Black. You can now call me Agent L. Anyway, the box also has a hat (which I would never wear) and the power supply. So far I am very impressed with my experience thus far.

My setup is as follows:
  • Design & Display: Silver Ripley Design
  • Display: 15.4" WideUXGA 1920 x 1200 LCD (1200p)
  • System Lighting: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting
  • Video/Graphics Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® Series - 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8700M GT
  • Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB)
  • Operating System: Windows Vista® Ultimate (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1
  • Memory: 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SO-DIMM at 667MHz - 2 x 512MB
  • System Drive: 320GB 7,200RPM (16MB Cache) w/ Free Fall Protection
  • Optical Drives : 8x Dual Layer Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
  • Wireless: Internal Intel® Wireless 4965 a/b/g/Draft-N Mini-Card
  • Sound Card : Internal High-Definition Audio with surround sound
  • Keyboard Options: AlienFX® Illuminated Keyboard
This thing is heavy, but it has a lot under the hood. The screen is amazing. I have been playing Crysis & Unreal Tournament 3 on this thing. Everything is set on high and this thing does not skip a beat. For those gamers who don't like bringing the whole rig to a Lan party this is for you. The lighting system is cool looking. You can change all parts of it to change colors for different things. Let's say when I open Ableton Live 7 I want the keyboard to turn green, and the screen trim to turn yellow. I can set that profile up in the software that comes with it. It has many configurations and many colors to choose from. Now the motherboard can handle 8 gigs of ram but at prices ranging from $240-$350 per 4 gig stick, well I will hold off until that number drops.
One disappointing thing about it is the case of the laptop seems very weak and thin. My assumption will go to the fact that to probably keep the weight of the laptop down this was necessary. Another part I don't really care for is the screen/lid part. When I type it kind of bounces a little if that makes sense.

Over all I liked it so much I got a friend of mine to get the 17 inch version. For me the 15 was good enough for my needs. If I need any bigger I would just use my desktop because that sports dual 22 inch monitors. It did live up to all the hype for all these years of waiting. One thing for sure is that whenever I pull this thing out at a coffee house, people do look.