Gripe Day
10/24/08 07:54 PM
I had three run-ins today: with the Taxi
& Limousine Commission, with Verizon Wireless and
with Lingo. I’m starting to get pissed off.
I took a cab from Times Square to Javitt’s Center to see the PDN Photo Expo (which was pretty good, by the way). As I usually do, I turned off the TV. Or I tried. For the second time the OFF button disappeared and I was force-fed 20 minutes of pseudo news and moronic advertising. When I arrived at Javitt’s I dialed #311 and complained, another waste of 20 minutes. The operator didn’t even know where Javitt’s Center was because it wasn’t on her list of New York landmarks!
The TLC calls these Passenger Information Monitors, or PIMs, but they’re really PAMs (Passenger Advertising Monitors) since almost no information is conveyed. I wanted to make clear to the TLC that my beef wasn’t with the driver but with the owner of the cab (and the idiots who put these TVs in the first place). I’m not sure if this fine point will get lost as the gears of bureaucracy slowly turn. I told them that since I was forced to watch their advertising show against my will, I wanted to be compensated for my time by refunding the cost of my trip. Let’s see what happens.
I had an America’s Choice family plan with Verizon Wireless until I recently upgraded our phones. It was time to get unlimited texting for $20 a month, but in order to do that they switched my to Nation’s Choice, or something like that. The difference is that “internet access” used to come out of our minutes; now it was being charged $1.99 per MB (plus taxes and fees). What counts as internet access to Verizon is their “Get it Now” service, and listening to ring tones that you MIGHT want to buy is downloading files! So I went from nothing to $30 in data charges in one month. I demanded and received a partial refund for the charges and blocked further “accidental” access to Get it Now. I hope stores don’t start charging admission when you want to go shopping.
I hardly ever use my VOIP line any more, mostly because it’s down every other day and my cellphone reception keeps improving. This isn’t Lingo’s fault, really, but because the internet has to run through their modem before it reaches my computer, when I loose a dial tone I loose the net. And since internet access is more important to me than a dial tone, their modem is usually disconnected. This is too bad, because of all the VOIP services, Lingo is the best buy. Until three months ago. I think that’s when the Amazon law went into effect in New York. Suddenly my taxes and fees doubled with the addition of $6 in new state and local taxes. My taxes and fees are 51% of the bill. On some smaller bills, like their $8 plan, taxes and fees are nearly 100%.
Taxi sPAM
I took a cab from Times Square to Javitt’s Center to see the PDN Photo Expo (which was pretty good, by the way). As I usually do, I turned off the TV. Or I tried. For the second time the OFF button disappeared and I was force-fed 20 minutes of pseudo news and moronic advertising. When I arrived at Javitt’s I dialed #311 and complained, another waste of 20 minutes. The operator didn’t even know where Javitt’s Center was because it wasn’t on her list of New York landmarks!
The TLC calls these Passenger Information Monitors, or PIMs, but they’re really PAMs (Passenger Advertising Monitors) since almost no information is conveyed. I wanted to make clear to the TLC that my beef wasn’t with the driver but with the owner of the cab (and the idiots who put these TVs in the first place). I’m not sure if this fine point will get lost as the gears of bureaucracy slowly turn. I told them that since I was forced to watch their advertising show against my will, I wanted to be compensated for my time by refunding the cost of my trip. Let’s see what happens.
Verizon Wireless
I had an America’s Choice family plan with Verizon Wireless until I recently upgraded our phones. It was time to get unlimited texting for $20 a month, but in order to do that they switched my to Nation’s Choice, or something like that. The difference is that “internet access” used to come out of our minutes; now it was being charged $1.99 per MB (plus taxes and fees). What counts as internet access to Verizon is their “Get it Now” service, and listening to ring tones that you MIGHT want to buy is downloading files! So I went from nothing to $30 in data charges in one month. I demanded and received a partial refund for the charges and blocked further “accidental” access to Get it Now. I hope stores don’t start charging admission when you want to go shopping.
Lingo
I hardly ever use my VOIP line any more, mostly because it’s down every other day and my cellphone reception keeps improving. This isn’t Lingo’s fault, really, but because the internet has to run through their modem before it reaches my computer, when I loose a dial tone I loose the net. And since internet access is more important to me than a dial tone, their modem is usually disconnected. This is too bad, because of all the VOIP services, Lingo is the best buy. Until three months ago. I think that’s when the Amazon law went into effect in New York. Suddenly my taxes and fees doubled with the addition of $6 in new state and local taxes. My taxes and fees are 51% of the bill. On some smaller bills, like their $8 plan, taxes and fees are nearly 100%.
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