Verizon's Upgrade Fee

Damn you Verizon Wireless! This is a conversation I just had with a Verzion customer support person regarding their new $30 device upgrade fee. 

Amanda W: Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service.  May I help you with your order today?

Me: I'm really aggravated at Verizon's new $30 upgrade fee.

Amanda W: I understand, as it's a very sudden change. However, Verizon's upgrade fee is less than companies such as AT&T and Sprint and will help to benefit the network and coverage.

Amanda W: Also, I can check to see if you're able to bill this to your account and if so, nothing will be due today.

Amanda W: Would you like me to check that for you?

Me: My new upgrade date was 4/20. The fee went into effect 2 days later and I missed upgrading before the fee was in effect.

Me: "Also, I can check to see if you're able to bill this to your account and if so, nothing will be due today."

Me: I don't understand what you're asking

Amanda W: Purchases and fees can be billed to your account so that you'd pay them when the next bill is due instead of at the time of purchase.

Me: I pay Verizon over $210 per month. I've been with Verizon over 7 years now. I think the new $30 fee is petty.

Me: "Verizon reports 'strong' Q1 earnings: $27 billion revenue, 2.2 million iPhone activations" do you really need $30 more from loyal customers?

Amanda W: Verizon is interested in keeping you as a customer which is why the upgrade fee is lower than other carriers. However, there are many services that could use improvement and the upgrade fee will be able to provide that. Verizon's coverage area is larger than most other carriers because they invest more in their network.

Me: Verizon was making record revenue before the upgrade fee. I reject your explanation. I feel like I'm stuck. We're locked in because of our family plans not being on the same schedule and can't switch together. This is supposed to be a free market but I'm forced to pay and can't switch.

Me: There is no explanation you can give me that will make me okay with this fee. I will have to be forced to pay it and be soured at Verizon (which I have almost never had a problem with) or I will be forced to keep a 2 year old phone that doesn't run as well as it used to.

Me: I didn't like Time Warner's service for cable and switched to DirecTV. Unfortunately I don't have that option here. Verizon will force this fee on me, customer satisfaction be damned.

Amanda W: While I'm unable to waive this fee, we have a contact section on the site (the link that says Contact Us) and you can send an email or call someone that might be able to discuss further the fee and what options there are for the upgrade.

Me: Besides I already said I only had a 2 day window before your new upgrade fee went into effect.

Me: I AM CONTACTING YOU! So I've been wasting my time here talking to you? Boy this is awful. Amanda Verizon should be ashamed of itself. I will be contacting my congressman. This is a monopolistic extortion being conducted by AT&T, Verizon ect...

Amanda W: I understand your frustration but I'm unable to change that for you. If you would like to discuss with someone who might be able to do that, you may use the link I mentioned.

I have since contacted Congressman Brian Higgin's office with my complaint. Let's see what happens. 

Damn you Verizon Wireless!

Easter Thoughts

The folowing is a slightly expanded series of tweets from earlier today.

When I see someone on social media say "He is risen" I want to say "Yes I had a coffee in my hand at 5:45 am today." But I don't out of respect for other's beliefs. Having said that I wish ALL religious people had the same level of respect for other's beliefs, or lack thereof. Having said THAT, I am not saying that there aren't religious people who don't respect others beliefs. Triple negatives aside, yes there are tolerant religious people. In my opinion there aren't enough. Religion is, at its heart, intolerance. Sure you might feel tolerant but do you get scared when you look at a Muslim? Does it irk you when all Catholics are disparaged with the priest child molestation scandal? Do you cringe when you hear someone say "religion is the opiate of the masses?" How else can you believe that your way is the one true way and everyone else is wrong?

Only if one removes themselves from their dogma long enough to be pragmatic can they be tolerant. Then it's a slippery slope from dogmatic religious devotion to personal spirituality. I'm not saying there is no god or that all religion is inherently evil. I do think humanity would benefit from more free thought and private personal religion rather than my god is better than your god arguments.

Thanks for nothing GOP

So we finally filed our taxes and because Republicans in the House of Representatives don't believe in climate change or energy efficiency (or the middle class) and didn't renew the energy tax credit we got nothing back for the very expensive energy efficient air conditioner and door we installed on our house last year. Tell me again how you care about the working class.

Sabres Season (so far)

Quick entry on the 2011-12 Buffalo Sabres .

First 15 Games 10-5-0 = 1.33 ppg

Next 33 Games 9-19-5 = .70 ppg From Lucic hit until All-Star Break. Ryan Miller is hurt and not on his game.

Next 25 Games 15-5-5 = 1.4 ppg With 9 games left. 2 points out of 8th place Washington.

No reason to think the Sabres can't play out at 1.4 PPG which would be 6-2-1 and good for 13 points. It would get them a season total of 91 points and should be enough to pass the Caps for 8th place. According to Sports Club Stats gives Buffalo a 66% chance of making the playoffs. Now let's hope it happens and that Pittsburgh doesn't finish 1st!

X-Mas 2011

I swear having children makes X-Mas even more fun than it was when I was little, if that's even possible. Audrey had so much fun these past two days. She pretty much passed out tonight when we put her in her new big girl bed tonight, much to our relief. We always pictured her first night in the new being her running around in her room and us having to put her back to bed 100 times. Luckily for us she's awesome and exhausted.

She is such a lucky little girl and we don't take that for granted. She already had more toys than she could play with and now it's had a significant percentage added to it. I think the real challenge as she grows older will be how to get her to truly appreciate what she has and to never take it for granted. We want to have her donate some of her things to charity and see that there are people less fortunate than her and show her how she can help them.

As for the big girl bed. We converted her crib into a toddler bed with a bumper rail on the side so she can now climb in and out. It's hard to believe she's there already. I know it's cliche to say that kids grow up fast but it's so shocking as an adult of static size and intellect to see how much and fast a person can change.

Well I am totally drained from the weekend's festivities and from playing Rocksmith so this entry will be brief. It was just some thoughts I wanted down for posterity.

Rubber Band Effect.

So I think with the Winnipeg Jets re-entering the NHL you are seeing an undeniable NHL rubber band effect. With the massive expansion of the NHL from 18 teams to 30, to the move south of a few teams in that time in the late 80's early 90's you are finally seeing where the NHL has overstepped its bounds.

Do or donuts, there is no try.

So my daughter has a severe peanut allergy and thus cannot have any bakery goods, especially donuts, due to the proximity to loose peanuts. It's really sad; not only will she never be able to eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or PB&J, she can't have a Timmy Ho's donut.

Well we've decided not to let her live deprived of some of the tasty treats we all get to enjoy. So we bought a donut pan and last night I made some for the first time. I spent some time finding a good recipe to try. I settled on this recipe. It was a challenge since it involved using yeast, which I've never cooked with before. Jaime helped me out a lot figuring out some of the more confusing parts with the yeast and getting them ready for the oven.

I started the donuts after we put the baby to sleep, around 7:30 pm and didn't finish until 11:30. I made about three dozen. There was more dough but I figured how much more do we need? In the end I decided that the dough looked and tasted a lot like pizza dough so we may just wind up buying a ball of fresh dough from Wegman's next time and using that instead.

I did make them with organic flour and sugar plus there was not a lot of sugar in the recipe, so I felt better about them than most donuts. I did coat them in sugar glaze or cinnamon and sugar, so it's not like they were sugar free. But they're donuts so they can't be too good.

It was a very gratifying and educational experience and they baby devoured them in the morning which was awesome! Next time I make them I want to focus on presentation. These donuts were a little busted looking and had very plain toppings. Next time I'd like to try my had at something like this. I also want to make a gourmet cake, from scratch, for her birthday.

I have a fantasy to start a bakery that specializes in making goods for people with allergies so they can enjoy safe and delicious treats like the rest of us. As far as I know there is nothing catering to that niche in Western New York.