Mokka mit Schlag » 2006 » May

While surfing the Web to find the exact text of the Tennessee law that requires companies to extend warranty protection for the amount of time a product spends in repair, I found this gem on the website of the Tennessee Dept. of Commerce and Insurance:

LexisNexis Law publishes the Tennessee Code Annotated. This is the only company authorized to publish Tennessee Consumer Laws on the Internet.

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I was glancing at my AppleCare contract today before I filed it when I noticed this surprising clause:

Tennessee Residents

This Plan shall be extended as follows: (1) the number of days the consumer is deprived of the use of the product because the product is in repair; plus two (2) additional days.

How civilized! Doubtless this is the result of some specific law in Tennessee; but why couldn’t Apple (and other manufacturers and warranty providers) extend this same courtesy to non-Tennessee residents? It seems like the least they could do if we’re losing time due to their faulty products. It would also be a small incentive for them to expedite turn-around and make sure they have an adequate inventory of spare parts.

The Federal Trade Commission appears to have statutory authority to impose similar, though not quite as stringent, requirements on all U.S. providers of warranties and service contracts. However I don’t think they’ve done so.

I’m afraid this is likely a relic of earlier, more democratic state legislatures. I find it hard to imagine the bought-and-paid for legislatures you find today enacting such a sensible and fair provision. Even if one or two did, doubtless the lobby pigs would simply pay the U.S. Congress to preempt stronger state legislation with some nice-sounding bill that promised to protect consumers and in fact did the exact opposite. Still, I’d love to be proved wrong.

Wow. $599. That’s a lot. I didn’t even buy my PS1 until the price came down to $199. And here I was thinking the XBox 360 was overpriced at $200 less. All I can say is that this better be one hell of a gaming console, and have some really spectacular games.
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Roxio (or Sonic Solutions, or whatever they’re calling themselves these days) is running a survey about Toast. Perhaps because of the options I chose, the survey was refreshingly brief. The main thing I told them was that they still owe me money from unfulfilled rebates on previous versions, and they won’t be getting any more of my money until they pay up. Perhaps if enough people tell them that, they might get the message that upgrade rebates are a good way to lose loyal customers.

They may have already gotten the message. Popcorn 2 is the first product I’ve seen from them in a while whose upgrade price (though still excessive) doesn’t require you to first pay full price and then apply for a rebate. On the other hand, it’s electronic only and you have to pay extra (nearly full price in total) if you want a CD or a little less if you’d like to be able to download the software more than once.

Wow. Yesterday was a quite a day in Prospect Park. 96 species total (reported by several different observers) including 10 year firsts. I personally picked up two life birds (Yellow-throated Vireo and Golden-winged Warbler). I spent two hours in the Vale of Cashmere near the start of my route because I just couldn’t get myself to leave. New birds kept showing up. I don’t know if today will be as good, but I’m going to try.
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Unlike some, I don’t particularly object to outsourcing. If Office Depot wants to hire Indians instead of Americans to answer their phones, that’s OK with me. Working in technology and science for the last twenty years or so, I’m pretty used to Indian accents, and don’t find them any harder to understand than a Texas accent (and considerably easier than a Scottish accent). I do object to bad service, but experience has taught me that an American isn’t any more likely to be able to tell me why they’ve missed two confirmed delivery dates than an Indian is.

However, I really, really hate being lied to. When I talk to someone on the phone, I want to know their name. I can recognize an Indian accent within a few syllables, and I know that Indian men are not customarily named “John Kelly”. Does Office Depot really think I’m that stupid? That just because someone introduces themselves as “Eugene” I’m not going to realize I’m talking to someone in India? The scam is so transparently obvious, it’s almost laughable.

Folks: stop insulting my intelligence. If the the person on the other end of the phone is named Bhaswan or Nirav or Amee, then tell me that. You’re not fooling anyone by insisting your employees use American names. All these little lies do is convince me I can’t trust you for the bigger things either.