Please Stop Calling

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Wow. I can finally say today has been a nice normal day except for the fact the dog is sick and has puked in every room of the house.  Poor guy’s stomach is all messed up, but it’s not something new that worries me.  He’s got some serious allergies, and when his allergies flair up so does his stomach.  I called the vet to double check, then I gave him his usual dose of Benadryl.  He’s not running a fever, so we’re not going to give him anything else unless we have to.

Now if my phone would stop ringing I’d probably be able to lay down for a nap, but I’ve gotten 4 calls today from a company trying to sell us Medicare supplement insurance. That’s all fine and dandy, but I don’t need it because I’m not with medicare. I applied for medicaid since we don’t have insurance to cover the pregnancy, but other than that we don’t have anything to do with medicare.

I have a feeling it’s probably got something to do with my sister-in-law. She’s on disability, and she has medicare. She used to live with us years ago…and I mean like 6-7 years ago…when we had an apartment, but that was not only in another town but was in another county. For some reason we still receive hospital stuff for her, though, and sometimes junk mail from companies trying to sell her supplemental stuff. I can understand that, but I don’t understand how these people got my personal cell phone number and think I’m on medicare. I explained I’m not and to take me off their list, but they’ve called 3 more times today. Each time they’ve told me it can take up to 48 hours for my number to be removed from the system, so they keep calling back.

Honestly I think it’s one of those work at home things where the people get a list of numbers to call that day, and half the time 10 people have the same list. I know how that works because I did a short trial as a cold caller for one such medical company, and it only took me a couple weeks to realize it was something I definitely didn’t want to do. I got tired real quick of getting yelled at because I was the 4th or 5th person to call someone that day. Now that I think about it I do think it was one of those type companies because I definitely remember hearing something that sounded like a kid in the background of one of those calls.

Ya know I have no problem with a stay at home mom trying to make a little extra cash anyway she can. Honestly look at me. I do the same thing, and I’m not even a stay at home mom yet, but when it comes to the cold calling, don’t call me, especially on my cell phone.

PayPal Rant

I’m so ill with Paypal right now.  My Paypal debit card expires in 8 days, and it looks like I’m not going to have my replacement card in time.

Back in February, on the 24th actually, I received the email from Paypal telling me they would be sending out my new card so that I would receive it before my old card expires.  I was to give it 6 weeks to arrive, and if it didn’t show I should contact customer support.  At the same time the reminder popped up on my “To Do List” inside Paypal to activate my new card.  It’s been there since driving me nuts every time I login making me wonder where my new card is.

Two weeks ago on the six weeks mark I called Paypal customer service to inquire about my new card.  I was told by someone who barely spoke enough English to deal with me that she didn’t understand why I received the email in February because my card had only been mailed out 4 weeks ago.  She even accused me of “misreading the email date”. Ok I’m not exactly an idiot here.  I know if the email arrived in my inbox in February or March.

Today yet again marks 6 weeks according to the customer service woman’s time frame, so I yet again called Paypal.  I went through the whole spiel about my card not arriving, getting the email in February, offered to forward a copy of the email, explained my last phone conversation with customer service, and it got me no where.

I’ll give you 3 guess what the customer service guy said in broken English, and I’m sure you’ll get it right on the first try.  “I’m sorry, mam, but you were misinformed.  Your card was mailed out 2 weeks ago when you called, and you should be receiving it within the next 4 weeks.”

Seriously Paypal?  Why do you have to make this so difficult?  All I want is my replacement card so my hosting account isn’t put on hold temporarily when my card expires!

Someone else mentioned to me she had problems getting Paypal to issue her new card until she finally gave up and used the lost or stolen card option to get a replacement.  I’m giving them until the end of the week then I think I’ll try that route.

This is seriously getting old!  First Paypal supposedly randomly selected my account for a temporary hold while they checked things out last week, and I didn’t know about it until I attempted to purchase a rubber stamp. The “transaction cannot be completed” threw me off since my card wasn’t denied, so I called Paypal and was told I was randomly selected for an account hold and check…something I’ve never heard of them doing before. Now I’ve got to deal with this, too!

Trust me Paypal, I would totally ditch you if a majority of my customers as well as companies I work with had some other option to pay me.

Live It With Charter Redemption Days

This is just a quick note for those of you who asked me to let you know if I did happen to actually hear about any of the Redemption Days for Live It With Charter.  I finally got my first email from Charter telling me their running Redemption Days for some tv show swag now through December 21st.

There are 2 pages of swag listed, but none of it is interesting to me at all.  With my points all I can afford to pickup are a set of fake plastic lips from TV Guide or an Award Season 08 button from TV Guide.  I think I’ll pass.

If you’re in the 12,000 point range you can pick up Mad Men Season 1 on Blu Ray or DVD or the Extras Season 1 DVD.  There are a couple DVDs in the 28,000 points range, and that’s it.

Live It With Charter Sucks

A few months ago Charter Communications came out with their Live It With Charter promotion. Basically for every dollar you spend on their services you earn so many points. Since we’re still stuck with Charter as our only option for our cable tv and internet I figured I’d sign up for the promotion. I’m giving them my money anyway, so why shouldn’t I earn the points, right?

Well it’s a total crock of shit. We’re considered level 3 Gold membership because our services cost between $95.00-124.99 a month. This means we’re entitled to what they consider certain “perks” for our membership level.

Membership Only Perks:

* Access to the Live It with Charter web site.
* Digital Remote Tutorials and Educational Information.
* Special BONUS Live It with Charter points throughout the year.
* On-time service guarantee including 100 BONUS Live It Points if late.
* Charter partner discounts.
* New service BONUS - 300 Live It with Charter points awarded at 75 points per month over 4 months ( must maintain service to receive bonus); includes wire maintenance, Digital Video Recording, High Definition, additional purchased Digital Boxes, Wireless Home Networking.
* Electronic Funds Transfer BONUS - 300 Live It Points.
* $4.99 bill credit with 6th Video On Demand if all six purchased within 2 months.
* Your membership level will automatically be UPGRADED when you add new qualifying products and services.

Redeem For Exclusive:

* Charter products and receive special promotional pricing.
* Entries into Members-only Sweepstakes for exciting travel and great prizes.
* Merchandise and items from our partners during Redemption Days.

The first thing I find total shit is the on time service guarantee. That’s because they never show up on time. In the 5 years we’ve had service in this house we’ve been lucky if they show up on the right day, much less during our time slot. What’s the time slot? As with most companies like this we either receive an 8am-noon or a 1pm-5pm time slot. Twice I’ve requested my 100 points because they didn’t show up for my appointment at all, but not once have they credited me. Each time even though I have a confirmation # for the scheduled appointment I’m told there’s been a “computer error”, and we have no scheduled appointment.

I’m used to that though. I’m just happy that they do eventually show up because after 5 years of horrible service, we’re lucky if they do. I’ve had people call me directly from the corporate office trying to figure out what was going on because they worked on a simple problem for over a year, but the techs still couldn’t figure it out. I end up telling them how to fix it most of the time, but that’s another rant I’ve already written about many times.

So, what else tells me the Live It With Charter program is a total crock of shit that was made up just to convince naive customers to sign up for additional services they don’t need?

Let’s look at what I can spend my points on. I have accumulated 4,510 points since July. The cheapest thing I can spend my points on is an F-81 barrel. That’s the screw thing on the end of the cable that plugs into the back of your tv, and it costs 400 points. Why am I going to waste points on something like that? The only time it’s going to be replaced is when a tech comes out and replaces a bad one with a new free one! Just about everything in the entire “Charter Mall” is something that is supplied for free by the techs when they fix shit. What’s the most expensive thing I can buy with my 4,510 points…$451 worth of points?

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That’s right. I can spend 4,000 points….what cost me $400 to earn on a 6′ A/V cable that I can pick up for about $15. Or I can spend 3600 points on a $10 3 way splitter that the techs provide for free!

What’s even worse is that Charter is trying to do their own version of Mypoints and similar sites. They’ve set up a list of stores where you can shop, and you’ll earn so many Live It With Charter points for every dollar you spend. Who wants to shop through Charter when the “prizes” you can redeem your points for are so shitty?

Yes, they do at least offer gift cards to various stores and restaurants, but the catch is you can only receive those for signing up for new services. The gift card amount depends on the number of services you sign up for.

Charter does offer “Redemption Days” when you can use your points to purchase “some great merchandise from programming partners, ranging from branded clothing and accessories to popular electronics items such as iPods.”  They claim to notify all Live It With Charter members well in advance so they can partake in these days, but I haven’t seen a single “Redemption Day” happen since becoming a member in July…and I do login everyday just to check.

I’m not knocking the fact that Charter is at least offering to give me something in return for all the cash we’ve spent on horrible service, but they should at least take a look at the things they’re offering. Don’t ask me to earn points just to spend on items your techs provide as part of our line maintenance.

Tags: charter communications live it with charter program, charter communications promotions, charter sucks, live it with charter, shitty charter