Author Archives: David

Return Processing Fee

I purchased some software from amazon.com a few weeks ago … then I found it cheaper at a B&M locally.

I purchased the cheaper copy and tried to cancel the order on amazon… sadly, it was too late to cancel.

I requested a refund and got a shipping label.

As soon as the item arrived, I slapped the shipping label on the box and sent it right back.

I just got an email from amazon indicating they had processed my refund … here’s the refund breakdown…

The following is the breakdown of the refund:
——————————————————————————-

Item Returned Item Refund 86.99
  Per Item Shipment Refund 0.99
Other Costs: Per Shipment Refund 3.99
Non-refundable Deductions: Prepaid Return Label -4.98
  Return Processing Fee -43.50
  Promotions -4.98
Refund Issued   $38.51

<THUD> (sound of jaw hitting floor)

I sent the software back to them unopened, in completely resalable condition … Needless to say, I immediately sent a message to amazon.com requesting a full refund. If I don’t get the refund, I will contest the charge and refund with the credit card company. A 50% refund fee is absolutely unacceptable.

Update 12:00 — Amazon said the fee was a mistake … and they are refunding me the full amount of the purchase … including the shipping. Case closed.

[tags]amazon.com[/tags]

A Comedy Tonight!

We went to see “A funny thing happened on the way to the Forum” yesterday at Marriott Lincolnshire Theater.

It was very good. Lots of energy, good singing, and dancing.

The actor who played Pseudolus was hilarious. He played with the audience, mugged with the other players, and was generally fun to watch.

I highly recommend this play.

As a side note … I finally found out where the tune “A Comedy Tonight” came from. The only time I had previously heard it was when I was a kid on WGN Channel 9. They ran commercials for a block of sit-coms that included Hogans Hero’s and the Dick Van Dyke show. “A Comedy Tonight” ran on the commercial as the theme.

[tags]Theater, Comedy, Musicals[/tags]

Post Office Efficiency

I gotta hand it to the United States Post Office … they are very efficient.

Yesterday we received an envelope, from a bank or insurance company, addressed to one of the previous owners of our house. The envelope indicated that the sender wanted return service, so I put a sticker OVER the address window that say “RETURN TO SENDER — ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN” and dropped it in the mail slot at my office.

Today the same envelope arrived, with the sticker still covering the address window, back in our mailbox.

I gotta hand it to the post office … it only took them one day to COMPLETELY IGNORE the sticker that COVERED the address window and deliver the envelope back to the wrong address.

I mean please, give me a break … the postal worker who sorted that letter had to move the envelope around to find out our address … because the sticker I put on it was deliberately obscuring the address window.

[tags]USPS, Post Office[/tags]

GVisit

Found a new online service that looks pretty cool.

It’s called GVisit. It uses Google Maps to track where people, who visit your website, are coming from.

Click here to see where visitors to Geeky Ramblings are coming from.

[tags]Google, maps, cool[/tags]

Downtown Chicago

As previously posted, I had jury duty today … luckily the court I had to go to was at the Daley Center in downtown Chicago. Easy to get to by train and less than a miles walk.

One of the best things about going downtown is people watching … and at the Daley Center, there is plenty of opportunity.

Here’s a quick synopsis of what I saw …

  • A cute couple … he was 7ft tall at least, she was about 4ft tall … I could tell they were a couple because they were BOTH wearing purple shirts, black pants, and 70’s style sunglasses.
  • A Chicago cop on a segway. Way cool to watch.
  • A group putting on an East Indian cultural demonstration. It was pretty nice … after the speeches were over, there was some dancing demonstrations. One of the dancing groups was quite good and enjoyable to watch. The other, which was comprised mostly of older women, took about 10 minutes just to figure out what they were doing.
  • A woman on a cell phone who held an extended conversation … and seemed to run through all the possible emotions known to man. At one point she was bawling her eyes out, the next she was shouting angrily into the phone, after which she was laughing her head off. I wonder if she had MPD?

[tags]Chicago, People, Downtown[/tags]

Jury Duty

Yes, I got summoned … kind of a pain, but it’s the price you pay for our form of government.

On the bright side … they have a wireless network in the jury room … so at least I can use my laptop.

I’m on panel #1 … so that probably means I’ll be one of the first to be called. Much as I understand the need for jury duty, I really hope I don’t get en-paneled … it would really screw things up at work.

Update 5pm: Didn’t get en-paneled … we waited a while in the courtroom, then they sent us out for lunch (very nice day in downtown Chicago, so I enjoyed lunch) and returned at 2pm. We stayed near the courtroom for about 30 minutes and then the judge came out and thanked us for comming down for the day and that we were excused. The balif was back about 5 minutes later with our ‘pay’ for jury duty.
[tags]Jury Duty, Court[/tags]

Katie the Wonderdog

We had our friend Jill’s dog, Katie, stay with us this weekend … Jill went out of town and we volunteered to take care of her.

Katie was, of course, quite well behaved and fun to have around. She even put up with Ginny and I taking a lot of photos of her.

This picture was taken of her on our dark brown leather couch … she really loved the red pillows. Using my external flash I was able to bounce the light nicely off the ceiling to get the rich, warm, tones I was looking for.

Have I mentioned that Ginny and I are contemplating finding a new four legged friend … perhaps of the canine variety? We need a fence around the back yard first, however.

[tags]Dogs, Animal, Photography[/tags]

Boycott IE

Boycott IE. It’s a cancer on the Web that must be stopped. IE isn’t secure and isn’t standards-compliant, which makes it unworkable both for end users and Web content creators.

– Paul Thurrott

I’m all for it.

I haven’t used IE for anything serious in months.

I think I worried my dad once, when he wanted to show me a remote access system he uses that’s browser based … but it wouldn’t work with Firefox. He wanted to launch IE but I wouldn’t let him. Especially when it would install an activex component. I was quite adamant.