adrian's home: January 2007 Archives

Lately, it has been quite disheartening to witness evidence of a significant decline in common sense in the general population. Personally, I can't help but think that evolutionary processes have shifted into reverse, and in tens of millions of years to come we will once again be reduced to single-cell organisms. Truth be told, I'm quite certain that this re-evolution is a requirement for survival and it has become apparent that as an allegedly intelligent species we are becoming more incapable of rational thought and action, yet excel at programmed and reactive behaviours. To further the notion of re-evolution, albeit with little to no scientific studies, I'm almost certain that a rising percentage of our species already operate with the arguably decreased mental capacity of an amoeba; there are of course those who would argue that amoebas are more "fit" and actually have an increased mental capacity with relation to a subset of our species. Let's examine some real-world examples:
Once Upon A Child:
Someone recommended we check out this chain of stores, which specialize in "gently" used and new goods for babies and children. So, we went to check it out. The store isn't bad, your typical run of the mill used store, with lots of clothes, toys, strollers, etc. I checked out their website which had a couple of items that caught my attention. The first was a moonlight madness advertisement which says something about 10% off, and lists store hours during which items are discounted to different amounts. There's no date. The second was a 10% coupon which you can print out and bring to the store. Good until end of January 2007 sometime. We'd seen a glider and ottoman for a decent price at the store, and decided to go back and pick it up. So I printed out the coupon, forgot to get it from the printer, and then while we were out, we decided to drop in at the store. There were two women working at the store, and realizing I'd forgotten to bring the coupon, I explained to them that I'd printed out the coupon, and forgotten to bring it, did we really need to drive all the way home to pick it up and come back, or could they just print one out. Of course, the answer was, you need to bring the coupon in. As we're leaving the store, the second woman wanted to confirm where the coupon was from, and we told her it was from the website. So she answers, "yes, that's valid". Off we go, back home to pick up the coupon. Later, back at the store, we hand in the coupon to get our 10% off, and they ask if we can print a name on the coupon and sign it. There's no spot on the printed coupon to do this, so you need to randomly pick a spot and sign your name. I imagine this is for the "limit one coupon per customer". The coupon is readily available on the website. There's nothing special about it. It's a big page you print out that says "save 10%". Anyone could print it. In fact, I could have printed it right in the store had I had a bluetooth printer to connect my blackberry to, since I could easily bring it up on my blackberry. But brains work best in small boxes. I'll remember to print out a 500-page stack of coupons and leave them in the store if we ever decide to go back.
The CRA:
The Federal Government has a wonderful online service called MyAccount. Using it, you can check on the status of your tax return, change your address with the CRA, check to see what your RRSP deduction limit is, and perform some other useful administrative items. Putting aside the fact that the Ontario Government just last year saw it appropriate to stop using social insurance numbers as employee identification numbers, the Federal Goverment sees security and confidentiality as an issue not to be taken lightly. MyAccount requires what the government calls an "ePass" -- it's a fancy term given to the idea of throwing lots of money at a commercial product which promises security. After signing up for an ePass, you need to wait for a security code to be sent to you in the mail. The security code then gives you full access to the services behind MyAccount. I must have signed up for ePass accounts for both Kelly and I just prior to us moving back in March. So, we never received Kelly's CRA security code. Figuring it pertinent to change her address on file with the CRA, I decided I'd try and find out what we'd need to do to have the security code reissued in the mail and her address updated. To save some time, while realizing that ultimately she'd need to be the one to call in the make the request, I called the CRA's MyAccount helpdesk.
- "Hi there, I'm calling on behalf of my wife, who needs her authorization code reissued. I'm not asking for you to make any changes, or for any information with regard to her account, just wanting to know what she needs to do to get this done"
- "Well, for one, she needs to call in to make the request. And why is it that you don't have the authorization code? Did you move? Lost it?"
- "I think we moved shortly after requesting the account be created, and Canada Post chooses to redirect only certain items that you guys send."
- "Canada Post isn't supposed to redirect anything we send."
- "Ok, so to change our address and get it reissued, do we need to call that other 800 number?"
- "First, your wife needs to call to make the request and we'll ask her some security questions. We can change the address here."
- "Okay, great. So when she calls in later, is there any particular information or documentation she should have on hand that you guys might require aside from a SIN number?"
- "Sir, I can't tell you what answers she's going to be asked to give because that would be a breach of confidentiality."
- "I'm not asking for the questions you're going to ask, but for example, is she going to require last years tax return?"
- "I can't tell you that sir, but it might be handy to have."
So they won't tell you what information you should have at your disposal. Suppose she'd called in and they'd asked for line 247 from last years tax return -- that's about a 20 minute job to find. Moreover, if she doesn't do the taxes, what are the chances she even knows what they're asking for? And why is it confidential that you might need last years tax return? Identity theft is on the up and up, and yet the Federal Government thinks a tax return is going to protect someone?
We decide to call in after work since the line is open till 8PM, and obviously, Kelly needed to make the call. So Kelly put the phone on speaker, and called in. A representative answered eventually, and Kelly proceeds to tell her that she needs to change her address and also have the authorization code reissued. The representative says that they don't do that at this number. So I said I'm looking at the webpage and it says to call this number to have the security code reissued. The individual then tells Kelly that she needs to get off the speaker phone, or I need to leave the room for security purposes. So Kelly switches off the speaker phone and then proceeds to give the woman some information which I'd deem common knowledge even for people outside of our household, and the woman tells us that the code should come in the mail to the address we just gave her in about a week. Turns out the address was already up to date in any case.
RBC VISA:
When I ordered my laptop, Lenovo told me that the credit card validation wouldn't succeed if the ship to address didn't match what the bank had on file; they recommend that if you are shipping to an address that differs from your address on file with the bank, you call the bank and have the additional address added to the card. So, just to be sure I didn't have to wait any longer for my laptop due to payment delays, I made sure I did this. Not only did the bank manage to add the additional address to the account, they've actually made it the primary address, and now my statements all go to that address too. Nevermind that the registered address for the credit card as appears in online banking is our proper home address.
Sears:
We spent the weekend registering for baby gifts. One would think that a store that stands to make hundreds of dollars, perhaps even thousands just by virtue of the fact that someone has chosen your store to register with would have the foresight to dedicate some staff to those wanting to open or update their registry. Instead, there is one staff member working in the baby section on a Sunday. There are 5 others behind the customer service desk, which is in the baby section, none of whom are offering to help customers. So, there's a huge line of people waiting to speak to the single staff member who is going into grave detail about each and every product she's asked about. Great if you're the one asking the question, not great if you're waiting in line. We were waiting to ask how you register for particular colours of clothing items and blankets when the SKU is exactly the same regardless of the colour. Apparently you don't. You get whatever random colours people decide you want. My favourite recollection of this particular experience is when someone approaches one of the staff members behind the customer service desk and asks if they can help: they continue to rifle through whatever paperwork they're immersed in and say that someone else will help. Welcome to retail. You are in customer service. Service the customer, your paperwork isn't going anywhere.
Home Depot:
- "Would you like cashback with your purchase?"
- "Yes please, how about $100?" <cash register opens>
- "Oh, not many people have been paying with cash today. I hope you like change."
- "You're kidding right? Can't you get change from someone else?" <proceeds to count out $60 in 5s and 10s, then proceeds to start counting out $40 in twoonies>
- "No, unfortunately we're all responsible for our own tills."
I left the store with $60 in 5s and 10s and 22 twoonies. I didn't complain.
Seagate Technologies: I decided to buy Seagate hard drives recently for our PVR solely because they have 5 year manufacturer warranties. Little did I know that Seagate, unlike Western Digital, has no advanced exchange program. So unlike Western Digital who will ship you a drive in a couple of days and ask you to ship the old drive back in the new packaging, Seagate expects you to send them your old drive first, to very exacting packaging specifications. They then process your RMA and say that within 3-5 days after receiving your drive, they'll send you a replacement.
Drive failed on 2006/12/27. They received it at their warehouse on 2007/01/03. As of today, I still haven't received the replacement, although their online RMA system says the replacement has been ready to ship for a week and a half. I called them today, and they say that they don't have any of these drives in stock. Nice of them to let me know. They expect them next week sometime, and then within 3-5 days after that, they'll ship it out to me. So that's almost an entire month for a replacement drive.

January 2007 Archives

January 2, 2007

Happy GNU Year!

January 17, 2007

The Sky IS Falling.

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