Annoyances

[hollywood]

charter communications (sic) has trained me to believe that even if my call is extremely important 50 minutes is not a long time to wait.

Charter amazes me with the ways they can have breakdowns. I've basically become resigned to the once a month failure of the DSL line (calls about which invariably result in the "answer" being that I have done something wrong or my computer is bad, but in fact turn out to be their system failure). But, no, that's too easy now. So what happened yesterday night just before the BCS game was to begin? Of course, no cable TV. WTF?

[hollywood]

And the great thing is, Charter can truthfully say, "Hey, we're fucked, but we're better than Adelphia was!"

[Rail Paul]

My car saga continues. It turns out the timing belt skipped but miraculously did not destroy my engine. I don't know much about cars so trust the mechanic that I narrowly averted a disaster by having it towed in the moment I turned on the car and heard a weird noise. Apparently I need a new timing belt, water pump and assorted crap, which will be almost $1,700.

 

This after spending almost $600 in October and $800 in December. This car has cost me a fortune and once fixed I will sell this VW Passat and be happy to see the end of these bills.

 

There's a school of thought that suggests holding a car beyond 75,000 miles is an expensive proposition if you don't do your own mechanical work.

 

Timing belt replaces at 60k to 75k, new brakes (2nd set), new tires (2nd set), fuel injectors, battery, etc all add up.

[Guest Aaron T]

This car has 88k miles, which is not a lot for a car that will turn 9 in April. Basically 10k miles/yr, which I believe to be significantly below the average.

 

I am hoping my Prius will be like many Toyotas and be like an appliance. Not the most exciting, but very reliable and low maintenance.

[Rail Paul]

This car has 88k miles, which is not a lot for a car that will turn 9 in April. Basically 10k miles/yr, which I believe to be significantly below the average.

 

I am hoping my Prius will be like many Toyotas and be like an appliance. Not the most exciting, but very reliable and low maintenance.

 

The timing belt replacement varies by model, but 65k is typical for many cars, and most Toyotas. Brakes tend to last from 20k (lots of stop and go) anywhere up to 50k (lots of expressway driving with few stops). Tires are the opposite, in my experience.

 

Good luck with your Prius. Several of our neighbors have them, and have been delighted with them over the years. I may be in a minority, but I think having a great dealer / mechanic means at least as much as the quality of the car itself. My 1996 Audi found its life shortened by really shitty mechanics at the dealership. Which eventually went out of business.

[The Scream]

Charter amazes me with the ways they can have breakdowns. I've basically become resigned to the once a month failure of the DSL line (calls about which invariably result in the "answer" being that I have done something wrong or my computer is bad, but in fact turn out to be their system failure). But, no, that's too easy now. So what happened yesterday night just before the BCS game was to begin? Of course, no cable TV. WTF?

 

Insist that a tech come out for a service call. If you still have problems after, maintain the cycle until they finally find the problem. Oh, don't forget to add the $5 per month wiring insurance plan first, so that you aren't stuck with a big wiring bill.

 

We recently had problems with our cable internet line with Charter. It turned out to be a series of problems that were fixed one at a time over several visits.

 

First, the modem was replaced (and we also purchased a new router, because it was a pretty old model). Second, an inside wiring problem was found and resolved. Third, the splitter (or some such) outside was screwed up, so they replaced something. Finally, the main signal feed was occasionally diverting our signal to our neighbors internet lines, so they fixed that.

 

No more problems, um, for now.

[TaliesinNYC]

being put on hold for 5+ minutes by clueless U.S. Senate staffers ranks up there.

 

I just want to ask ONE question. the timer is now at 8:30 and counting.

 

your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen.

Is the "5+" a typo? Did you mean 50+?

 

If an intern answered the phone, they may have had to find the proper person to answer your question. The Senate staffers I know are very hard-working and helpful, but I know better than to demand they talk to me on my schedule. For instance, one guy is counsel to a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I'd be appalled if he were talking to me while there was pressing committee business to be done.

 

Unless your question was extremely important and time-sensitive, 5 minutes isn't a long time to wait.

 

 

8 minutes to look up in a computer to find out whether Joe Schmuckatelli is still working for Senator Muck-a-muck? Really? I know you want to be the voice of reason but I feel like complaining.

 

I was like...Senator So-and-so has 9 offices statewide...you're telling me that no one is answering the phone in FOUR of them? After 12 rings each? Holy mother of god.

[Wilfrid]

I have had marathon annoyance with the cable service over the last week.

 

Cable box gets locked into rebooting itself. Nothing to be done. Call out a technician. I wait. No show.

 

We do it a second time. Technician replaces cable box. It seems to work. I have no reason to raise the volume before he leaves. Turns out that I can't raise the volume.

 

Third appointment. Technician fixes the volume problem. Then he yanks a cable out of the box telling me, you don't need this. Okay, fine, everything seems to be working, bye.

 

Wait. That's the cable which connects my VCR to the TV (I have a DVD connected up in a different room). I reattach the cable. Phttt. Everything goes.

 

I spend thirty minutes on the phone while someone has me disconnect and reconnect countless colored wires. Nope.

 

Fourth appointment, whoo-pee-doo. Now this new technician explains to me that I need to have that cable disconnected to watch my HD channels (which I can never be bothered with). But I want to watch the VCR I explain. Nobody watches VCR, everyone uses DVR these days. Things get a little tense as I explain that while I have no interest in recording and replaying a bunch of poxy TV shows, I do have about two hundred video cassettes which I like to play. We achieve a compromise.

 

I don't like to think how many hours I devoted to this, given that all I needed was a new cable box.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Broke a drill bit in a commission piece that has to be mailed on Monday.

[Chad Ward]

Broke a drill bit in a commission piece that has to be mailed on Monday.

Can you cover the drill bit hole with a gem or ornament and call it a feature? Perhaps charge extra?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Broke a drill bit in a commission piece that has to be mailed on Monday.

Can you cover the drill bit hole with a gem or ornament and call it a feature? Perhaps charge extra?

 

Unfortunately, the hole is for a rivet and is one of eight (evenly spaced) in a piece.

[Guest Aaron T]

My car is still not ready. Apparently the mechanic who was working on it was out today. I brought it in at noon on Thursday. I told them I don't care who works on it but it must be done tomorrow. We will see.

 

In an unrelated annoyance two friends are coming to town and so I booked us a reservation at Church & State, the downtown LA restaurant. Open Table showed no availability and in fact is not set up to take reservations for parties of 3 on OT (there is no availability for parties of 3 for the next 8 weeks but plenty for parties of 2 or 4). So I booked us a table for 4. WTF?

[The Scream]

My car is still not ready. Apparently the mechanic who was working on it was out today. I brought it in at noon on Thursday. I told them I don't care who works on it but it must be done tomorrow. We will see.

 

In an unrelated annoyance two friends are coming to town and so I booked us a reservation at Church & State, the downtown LA restaurant. Open Table showed no availability and in fact is not set up to take reservations for parties of 3 on OT (there is no availability for parties of 3 for the next 8 weeks but plenty for parties of 2 or 4). So I booked us a table for 4. WTF?

 

Is Church and State good? At one point about half the kitchen staff (or so it seemed) were former students of his.

[Guest Aaron T]

Is Church and State good? At one point about half the kitchen staff (or so it seemed) were former students of his.

 

yes, it is good and has been since walter joined.

[The Scream]

Is Church and State good? At one point about half the kitchen staff (or so it seemed) were former students of his.

 

yes, it is good and has been since walter joined.

 

Oops, I didn't complete the sentence. I meant former students of my husband. We have to get over there one of these days soon. I should have him find out who's working in the kitchen now.