Capital F-You Capital One

 Back in 2019, I ranted about Capital One's devious practices related to the Online 360 savings account.  I am happy to report that Capital One was sued in a class action lawsuit regarding this unsavory behavior and a settlement has been reached.  As always, the settlement is not big enough to dissuade companies from such practices, but it is better than nothing.  I feel vindicated.

 

Chipotle Rewards

Trying to deal with the Chipotle Rewards program recently had me pretty steamed.

I had enough points for two burritos, so I redeemed the points. Then when I went to place my order, I found out that (for no reason) you can only use one reward per order. I was annoyed but figured no problem, I'll just save the other one for my next order. But since I had now "redeemed" the reward, it had a very short expiration date. So I had to order Chipotle again a week later, which I'm sure is exactly what they wanted.

The whole reason we were ordering Chipotle in the first place was because there was a school fundraiser. I couldn't find the place where you enter the fundraiser code. After much research, I finally figured out that they don't let you use any rewards if you're doing a fundraiser (why?). So now I had to skip the fundraiser.

I also observed that if you use a reward for an item, and then you add a cheaper item to the order, it immediately "swaps" the reward so that it applies to the cheaper item. Now I had to change around my order to avoid getting taken advantage of.

Notice that for all three issues noted above, Chipotle forced me to change my behavior to deal with their rewards program. I think a good and honorable rewards program should give you a free item without having to be coerced into doing what you didn't want. I've never had this sort of problem with Chick Fil A, for example.

Not so Progressive Car Insurance - saving dollars in stupid ways

I recently started using Progress Car Insurance and I come to find out that they don't send you a copy of your policy or an insurance card.  You can get digital copies if you need them.   The part of that which annoys me the most is having to print out the insurance card to keep a copy in my car.  For the amount of money they save by not mailing me a copy of the card equates to many more dollars wasted for me.  It's a stupid pain-in-the ass policy.

They will tell you that you can just look it up in their app.  Guess what, I don't want their app on my phone.  I don't need another app on my phone. (Ah, this is the real motivation, to force me to use their app).

I also don't want to be fumbling with my phone trying to find the insurance information if I am in a car accident.  There is always a chance your phone will go missing after a car accident.  I was once in a car accident where another passenger in the car couldn't find the glass they were wearing because they were thrown out of the car.

This seems like an unnecessarily cut back in service.  If there is another insurance company who wants to sell me car insurance that costs $2 more than my current service, but offers to provide a printed copy of the insurance card, please reach out.

Linked-In has jumped the shark

It's time to recognize that all social media websites degrade over time, converging into similar crapified states that makes them pointless.  LinkedIn may have just jumped the shark and is headed into the downward spiral.

Today I received a sponsored message in my LinkedIn Inbox inviting me to find a love match at Selective Search Matchmaking (no link provided, intentionally). 

 LinkedIn, do you have no standards for appropriate sponsored content?  Shame on you.

There is an option to report undesired ads, but this is too little, too late.

DSW Coupons are Worthless and They Know It

My wife earned a coupon from DSW rewards for $30 off any purchase of $49 or more (some exclusions apply). I needed some shoes too, so we went to DSW.

I picked out a pair of shoes for $75 and she found a pair for $69.99.

When we got to the register, we could not use the coupon at all. My shoes were excluded because they were Nike. Her shoes were 30% off of the $69.99, which after the discount came out to... wait for it... $48.993, what a coincidence, just shy of the $49 minimum.

What a bunch of malarkey. I went home and bought my shoes on the internet for the same price.

Instead of "$30 off one item" the DSW coupon should really say "Come to the store and buy something for full price and get angry and disappointed at checkout"

I have no sympathy for these fraudulent and deceptive stores going out of business.

NVIDIA GeForce Experience is Lame

 

Dear NVIDIA,

How about taking some of your huge AI earnings and investing in some of your other products?  Your GeForce Experience tool is lacking in a major way.

GeForce Experience recently invited me to download new GeForce Game Ready Drivers for my NVIDIA graphics card, which immediately failed to install.  Why did it fail?  No clue is given by the generic "Error installing drivers"  message displayed.

The reason is that my GeForce Experience tool needed to be updated first.  How do I know this?  Not because GeForce Experience checks for updates, or tells you that new ones are available.  I had to figure it out on my own by going to the NVIDIA website and downloading a newer version manually.  After I did that, the newer GeForce Experience version was able to successfully install the new drivers.

This is simple to fix and unfathomable behavior from the NVIDIA GeForce Experience tool.

This really ruins my NVIDIA experience.

Venmaybe

 I don't understand Venmo.  Why does it exist?  Why do people use it?

One thing that is an absolute must for a financial service is that it has to be reliable.  Venmo is anything but reliable.  I will give a recent example from my experience.  I just moved to a new home.  I used Venmo to pay the movers 50% of the cost when they picked up my stuff.  When I went to pay them the remaining 50% on delivery, Venmo refused to make the payment.  Explanation given:  none.  I contacted Venmo customer support, and this is what they said:

I can see that you’ve attempted a payment, but our system will not be able to process this transaction. 
 
Although I don’t have a specific reason for why declines like this happen, it’s typically for the safety of our customers. 
 
It’s worth noting that this decline is only impacting this specific transaction, so you may not encounter this problem with future transactions.
 
If this issue continues, your next best option will be to work with the recipient so you can send this payment outside of Venmo. Keep in mind you can still receive payments and transfer any funds in your Venmo account to an eligible bank or card if needed.
 
If you have any additional questions, please let me know! Looking forward to hear from you.

If you can't trust Venmo to make a payment when you need it, and you aren't given any explanation for why the transaction was denied, it seems like a useless service to me.

 The other thing I don't get is the social aspect of Venmo.  Why do I need to see what my friends are using Venmo for?  I really don't care to see that "Bob paid Jerry for H
hemorrhoid cream".

Dark Pattern Parking Services and Fees

Photo courtesy photos-public-domain.com

The latest trend in paid parking is that you must pay using your cell phone.  This practice of not providing an alternative method, such as a lot attendant or a machine to collect payment is quite annoying.  This is especially true when you need to install an app to make the payment.  I currently have 5 different parking apps because everybody seems to have their own app.  Text-based and web interfaces aren't much better, often requiring account creation, two-factor authorization, and credit card information gathering, just to park in a lot.

The worst part of the practice of phone payment is the service fee that is added above and beyond the posted rate.  This is an ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT hidden fee.  When there is no other option or method to pay, the posted price should be the total price charged.  Please, parking folks, stop this dark pattern and just post the entire rate, including any service fees.

 

Kudos to Carbonite. Underneath the password box on their login page, they include a reminder of their password rules to help users remember what their password might be for the site.

Looking forward to more sites providing this information that we have wanted for years!

Marketers love the false dichotomy. Here I am faced with the classic dilemma for the $2 cable that I just purchased on ebay - pay $2.99 to Allstate or go out and find my own protection plan. Wow, that second option sounds like a lot of work. Maybe paying the $2.99 would be a better use of my time.

If only I could think of some third option where I don't pay $2.99 or find my own plan...

The other one I like is when you go to a website for some cause like animal cruelty. When you go to click on the X to close the browser tab, a pop-up appears with the choices of either "Donate now" or "Close tab - I don't care about abandoned puppies".

 

 

I get so many e-mails from Carbonite, but am always glad when they find a great reason to send me yet another one. Thank goodness they alerted me to their World Backup Day sale. I didn't even know about this important holiday, but now I can ask my company to add it to our annual holiday schedule. And I'll be sure to add a computer to my subscription at 30% off.

Why It's Delicious

I'm glad the Stouffer's website explained to me all the reasons that their Macaroni & Cheese is delicious. My favorite is that the trays are made with 30% recycled plastic. There's nothing like the taste of good-ole recycled plastic.

Dominion Energy Security Theater Failures

I recently had to go through the nine circles of hell to pay my utility bill online.  What kind of sadistic individuals work for the utility company and fear that countless numbers of hackers want to hack my energy bill?  Oh no, they hacked in and paid my bill for me!

Here is a short list of the unnecessarily difficult hoops I had to jump through as a returning customer who was made to re-validate my credentials to access my account and pay my bill.

• I was required to enter a new password.  After entering my first attempt at a new password, it was rejected because it did not follow the undisclosed password rules.  Oh wait, the password rules were available, just difficult to find.  They were shown as a popup box while typing the password and disappeared when you finished typing.  My bad.  To make it less confusing to the user, why not show the rules all the time or have a help icon that shows the rules when you click or hover over it?  Also, the password is rejected only after you submit the entire form, instead of telling you instantly if the password is OK by using client-side validation.
  
• Matching the stated password rules is not enough, there is extra undocumented validation.  In addition to the specific stated rules (use lowercase, uppercase, number, special character), Dominion also performs a library check to see if you have any "words" in your password string anywhere.  Long passphrases, a commonly password approach, is not permitted.  Also, don't try using Bite#Me3Dominon! as your password.  It passes the bulleted list of rules, but will be flagged by the dictionary checker.
• You have to enter your password twice, and you are not allowed to paste it from another window (like, say, from your bank site).  If you use a random  password generator, like the one in Bitwarden, you will still have to copy the password manually on the Dominion form.  And given the unnecessarily complex rules, it will be something difficult to type in like XN^t&j5m7e4M*q.  This is more of an exercise of your reading and typing skills than actual useful security.
•  The rule against copy and pasting in your credentials also applies to entering your bank account information for paying your bill.  You will need to type in your account number manually, and you will need to do it twice.  They have a second confirmation entry to make sure you didn't screw it up the first time.  And, get this, to add some more skills challenges, you can't see the account number while you are typing it in (twice).  It is hidden like a password entry.  There is a "show me" icon you can click on, but it only shows the account number field as long as you hold down your mouse click on "show me" icon.  As soon as you release the mouse click, the account number is hidden again.  No looking at the number while you are typing it in, and you can't compare what you typed in the first or second validation entry box.

It took me so long to fill out this form, I used extra energy and my payment was late, resulting in a late fee.  Maybe that was their strategy!

Cuisinart Customer Service Rocks!

I was pleasantly surprised by the results of my customer service claim with Cuisinart (a Conair company).

My two year old Cuisinart Coffee Maker recently started to leak.  It was a slow leak but became apparent when there was a puddle of water accumulating on the counter.  While looking for troubleshooting advice in the user manual I was reminded that there was a three year warranty on the product.  I called the Cuisinart customer service phone number listed in the manual, and after describing the situation, and concluding that the leak was inside the main unit itself and not the replaceable water reservoir, they agreed to replace the entire thing.  I was told that I would have the replacement unit within 70-10 business days.  I received it in only three days.  

 Kudos to Cuisinart on the great customer service!

 

World Backup Day

I was already having a really good World Backup Day, and it only got better when I received this great offer from Carbonite:

Of course, it's a joke how many e-mails I get from Carbonite trying to upsell me on their already-expensive service. But this one seems particularly annoying. I'm annoyed that I have to waste a keystroke to delete this email because you invented a holiday to peddle your product. I'm annoyed that you think I have a bunch of computers sitting around, and I'm just waiting for the right offer to pull the trigger and start backing them up.

C'mon Carbonite. We both know you're going to send me 6 more 30% discounts before the end of the month. Your faux holiday gives me no urgency to panic and purchase more of your service.

Spam Meeting Invites

We all find it annoying when our co-workers spam us with too many meeting invites. But lately I've been hit with a new problem - literal spam meeting invites!

I hadn't noticed this until a few weeks ago. I have meeting reminders popping up in my email, except they are not for meetings. They are spam coming in as meetings instead of emails.

Below are two examples:

They are particularly insidious. I'm hesitant to delete them, because maybe they are real meetings? Who knows, maybe Joe from Accounting wants to talk about Anti Virus protection. And I certainly don't want to click to open them to make sure. Clicking on one of these things will probably knock out the entire Mid-Atlantic oil pipeline, which the media will surely trace back to my inanely opening this obvious malware. So I just sit here staring at these meeting invites, wondering what to do with them.

I'm Doing Okay

Every once in a while, I get random emails from Verizon that tell me how I'm doing with regard to my monthly data limit:

My initial reaction is slight annoyance, because why do I need an email if I'm doing okay on data? But ok, at least they're trying to give me some information so I'll accept it. Even though (oddly) they sent it at 4:20am.

However, there's a terrible problem with this email. See if you can figure it out before reading on.

The email doesn't say what day the month ends! The email is dated March 4th. If the month ends on March 31, then I most certainly am not doing okay on data. So when does my data reset for the next month? I honestly have no idea.

Remember to Use Your Garage

Check out this patronizing item from our HOA community newsletter: 

I'm imagining my neighbors reading this and then thinking to themselves "Holy Toledo, it never occurred to me to park my cars in my completely empty garage and my driveway. Starting tomorrow, I'm going to start parking my primary car in the garage and my secondary car in the driveway so there can be more available parking spaces for everyone else."

AirBnB Bait and Switch

I used to be a big fan of AirBnB. I mean, what's better than sticking it to the hotel industry by staying in a spare room in someone's house for $25?

Sadly, like most things, AirBnB was too good to last. Nowadays, I find that a decent AirBnB may run me as much or more than the local hotel. But I still like to use it when I can. It's still more interesting than staying in the same stuffy hotels all the time.

What I really find annoying is the bait and switch you get when trying to find the cost of a reservation. For example, here is a typical search that I did recently:

Notice that in the map on the right they (supposedly) show you the prices of available units. Then when you click one it shows up on the left. But the real price is usually much more than what it says on the map. Here I clicked on the "$65" item shown on the map. But if you look on the left, the actual price of that unit is "$131 total" (more than double what I expected!). This is ridiculous. The $65 on the map is meaningless. It should say $131 on the map. You can see the same issue with the other two units shown.

Finally - A Truly Unlimited Data Plan

Like most Americans, I'm tired of my limited data plan that always has me scrambling to look for Wi-Fi hotspots in mortal fear that I exceed my monthly data limit. I've been waiting years to find an affordable service that gives me unlimited data.

So of course I was thrilled to see this ad for T-Mobile's new "Truly Unlimited" plan:

Wait, what's this I see in the fourth bullet? "If congested, customers may notice reduced speeds that may be further reduced for a small number of customers who use >40GB".

So apparently the real name of this plan should be "Truly Limited to 40 GB". I guess the marketing folks didn't like that as much.

Facebook Ads

 I feel like the ads in Facebook are getting increasingly sketchy recently.

First off, I used to scroll through Facebook and see mostly posts from friends with a few ads mixed in. Nowadays, when I scroll through, about 50% of the posts are from groups I’m a member of. I don’t enjoy most of these posts because people have strong opinions and argue with each other. Another 40% of the posts are either ads or inspirational videos from things that I never signed up for. Finally, maybe about 10% of posts are from friends (mostly the same 5-10 friends who regularly post on Facebook).

Today I saw this ad which I was very troubled about:

 

The whole thing is dubious. The fact that they are selling stamps at that steep of a discount. The “U. S Postal Service” at the top. The URL “USPSSTAMAPS.COM” (why STAMAPS and not STAMPS?). The “ONLY $39.9!” price. I googled the site and it said the domain USPSSTAMAPS.COM was just purchased a few days ago! But there were many comments on the post with “people” saying they received their stamps and they were great. No way I’m ordering from these clowns.

Then a minute later I see this:

 

Same concept, completely different trashy URL. “TODAYIS LIMITED TIME”. Yikes.

I’ve heard that Facebook is really suffering because Apple and Android are both implementing policies that block Facebook from getting everyone’s data by default. Apparently their ad revenues are plummeting. I don’t know if this is related, but after seeing this I am extremely leery about ordering anything I see advertised on Facebook.

I think it’s sad what happened to Facebook because many people have all of their contacts in Facebook and nowhere else. Even if another site came along that was not evil like Facebook, I doubt most people would be willing to go through that exercise again to connect to all their friends.

  

Two Most Annoying Recent Internet Trends

 Pushy and intrusive interactions that could be avoided using opt-in or other approaches instead...

#2) Micro-Feedback

The constant requests for ratings and feedback are becoming ridiculous.    Why do I need to get an email or pop-up from every online vendor for every single transaction asking for feedback?  I appreciate striving for quality and improvement, but somewhat fewer prompts and requests would be appreciated.  

I should try this approach at work and constantly barrage my boss for feedback. "How would you rate my participation at that meeting yesterday, on a scale of 1 to 5 stars?  Was satisfied were you with my on-time delivery of that report [picture of me delivering report attached]?"

#1) First Visit Interruptus 

Who decided that every first visit to a new website (or first visit on a new browser) should be interrupted by a pop-up requiring you to declare your cookie preferences?  Your options is to accept everything (which invariable involves accepting highly intrusive tracking cookies) or take the time to read and interpret a list of frequently non-informative options.  

This should most definitely be an opt-in feature that defaults to all cookies off and you can click a button to activate the selection pop-up if you want to activate the cookies.

Dell Support Assist

UPDATE:  It has been a month since I deleted Dell Support Assist from my computer, only to find it reinstalled complete with new icon on my desktop.  Grr, this is harder to get rid of then I expected.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dell may have good intentions in providing Support Assist on their Windows PCs, but I have found this application to be a nuisance.  Let me provide examples of why this app is problematic.

It started when my computer was acting very unresponsive, taking minutes to open a browser window, delays in registering mouse clicks and typing.   So I open the task manager (which also takes a while to open) and it says a process called PC-Doctor Module is slowing down my CPU and eating up a ton of RAM.  

PROBLEM #1 - Why is the process called PC-Doctor when the App is called SupportAssist?

I had to search the internet to figure out that this process is tied to Dell's Support Assist program.  Also why doesn't Dell call it Dell Support Assist?  Searching my local machine for Dell or Assist or Doctor would not find it.  I had to search for Support.

PROBLEM #2 - This App was running on auto-schedule at 2pm

This is a time when I might be (was) actively using my computer.  Why did it pick that time for the auto-schedule.  I most certainly didn't pick it.

PROBLEM #3 - This App does not sufficiently warn you of problems

Once I tracked down that this app was my problem and opened it up, it reported a failed diagnostic test. Other than giving an esoteric failure statement, there were no details or suggestions on how to fix the problem. Also, why didn't it notify me of the issue?  I didn't even know it was running and would have never opened it up if it wasn't causing general issues with the PC.  There is a checkbox for notifications (which was enabled).  Perhaps there is something else blocking notifications that I haven't realized, but if I never know that it found an issue, then I don't need it running and slowing down my computer.

 

Mandatory Opt-In

I came across this "opt-in" checkbox recently when filling out a registration form to download some technical software for evaluation.  Apparently the vendor does not know the meaning of the term "opt-in".

 

Rank Choice Voting - Follow Maine's lead

It is about time that Americans demand a better voting system, rank choice voting.  But it will only happen if people speak out and demand it.  As of today, Maine is the only state that uses rank choice voting in the presidential general election.

In rank choice voting, you rank the order of the candidates, picking your first choice, second choice and so-on.  This is mathematically superior method of voting when there are more than two candidates to chose from, because it provides a method to determine a candidate that has the vote of the majority of the population.  This is not unlike holding a run-off if nobody wins the clear majority, but the second choice voting is done simultaneously during the first vote instead of holding a second vote. 

The U.S. Presidential Election is a good example of a system that could benefit from rank choice voting.  You often hear people say that they don't like either the Republican or Democratic choices, but also that they don't want to "waste" their vote for an independent or smaller party candidate.  Often, an independent candidate may have a platform very similar to one of the primary candidates and can have an impact by splitting votes with the primary candidate.  In a close election, this could sway the outcome to the less popular choice.  

Rank choice voting enables a voter to use their 1st choice for the candidat

e they truly want rather than strategically voting for the "lesser of two evils" and still know that if their favorite doesn't win, then their 2nd choice vote will still be applied to pick from the best of the r

emaining candidates.

For more information on how rank choice voting works, or what you can do to support rank choice voting, visit  a site like FairVote.org.

Wallet Security

I found this strange "sticker" in my new wallet, which is actually an RFID that I assume was put there for store security purposes.  I am puzzled that they would put it there, because of the features advertised for the wallet. Either this RFID is completely useless, or the wallet doesn't work as advertised.

Trader Joe's Serving Size Math

Trader Joe's Chicken Piccata comes with two skinless boneless chicken breasts and a serving size for three people.  Apparently everybody will get 2/3rds of a cutlet.

Why I Am Closing My Capital One Bank Account

I have a Capital One 360 Online Savings account.  I periodically review the interest rate to make sure that it is comparable to the market.  At this time, the interest rate is 1.7%.  However, when I look at my own personal account, it is only 0.6%.

Why is that?

Capital One offers a "Performance" Online Savings account at the new 1.7% interest rate.

The account I have is no longer offered and is at 0.6% rate.

Why did they not tell me about the new interest rate (I think the answer to that is obvious).

What is the difference between the new and old account?  Just the interest rate.

When I called them, they would not increase my interest rate.  They told me I could open a new "Performance"  account to get the new rate.  They don't do updates "automatically".

OK, so why did they recently update my checking account, forcing me to start using a new account# and routing number (making me have to change my direct deposit and checks)?

When I told the bank representative how disappointing this was, his answer was "OK".  He really didn't give a shit.

FUCK YOU Capital One.  You just permanently lost me as a customer.  You will lose more potential earnings from me than you gained by messing with  my interest rate and wasting my time.

I urge everyone to drop Capital One as they do not give a shit about their customers.

Favorite Podcasts

We are often asked what our favorite podcasts are.  Podcasts are a great way to learn something new when you are commuting to work, waiting in line at the post office, riding the metro, or walking the dog.

Here are Brian's top five podcasts as of August 2019.  All of these are available for free (some have special premium versions) and can be downloaded to your phone in your favorite podcast app. 

1)  Skeptics Guide to the Universe
2)  Radiolab
3)  Rationally Speaking
4)  Skeptoid
5)  Dan Carlin's Hardcore History

Maybe Mike will also post his?

Bad News: Fake News, the Game

In this day and age, it is important to be aware of the use of social medial to propagate fake news.  Check out this game, Bad News, where you can try your hand at creating fake news.  This website cleverly helps you be more aware of the techniques used to distort and twist the news to suit your evil needs.  Your goal is to get as many followers as you can to support your fake credibility.

In the very least, it is fun and doesn't take that long to play.  Click the link below to start playing.

Bad News

Guess Up Emoji

About two years ago, I was looking for a new game and installed an app called "Guess Up Emoji" on my phone. It was pretty mindless, but reasonably entertaining to play with the family while we were on a train or waiting for our food at a restaurant. You had to guess familiar phrases by looking at a few emojis that were provided.

Over a two year span, I was able to work my way up to about level 150 (each level required solving several puzzles to advance). I also had amassed thousands of "coins" by opening the app each day for a daily coin bonus. These coins can be used for hints and other in-game purchases.

Today I noticed that Guess Up Emoji had apparently updated itself. It is now called "Guess Up", with a new icon. The bigger issue is when I opened the app I am now back at level 1 and all of my thousands of coins are gone. I googled the app, and apparently this happened to other people also.

Looks like the appropriate emoji for today is this one:

Jeep Uconnect Incorrect Software Upgrade

Recently, my Jeep Grand Cherokee notified me that there was a software upgrade to my Uconnect® system, which is the in-dashboard interface to the radio, climate control, navigation, etc.  To put it in their words, its "the feature-packed navigation, entertainment and communication system that lets drivers live their lives, connected."

There are a few obviously annoying points about how this upgrade worked...

1.  The upgrade was mandatory - Pressing the later button only postponed this pop-up warning until the next time I drove the vehicle.  So, my options were to press later every time I drove the car, forever, or let the update happen.
2. The update could not happen while you drove the car - Jeep expected me to sit in park and let my car idle for 15-20 minutes while the software updated. What a waste of fuel.  Why did the engine need to be on?  For what it's worth, I had the brilliant idea of leaving it parked while I went inside for 20 minutes, only I got distracted and let it run for hours before I came back.
3. The Update couldn't be interrupted -  When you start the update, another screen pops up warning you that if you stop it, you will have to start all-over.

A much smarter update protocol would have been if the update was downloaded to the car in the background, any time the car was on, and then the software update could be installed quickly after the download was completed.

I also read online, afterwards, that I could have downloaded the update from the Jeep website onto a flash drive and installed it manually.  It would have been nice if that option were mentioned in the pop-up instructions.