A Better Business Bureau Response

Just to update you on my Television Saga. After having complained to the Better Business Bureau for not doing anything substantial to facilitate a settlement on the claim I made, they sent me a brief letter which basically said that it’s not their fault. They don’t have any teeth and if the company says the matter is settled, it is; at least so far as they are concerned. They promised to put this on the company’s file for 36 months to serve as a warning to others.

That is actually a pretty lame punishment, as few people check on a company’s repair center web site before they do business with the parent. Walmart is the one who needs to take some action on this and I haven’t heard nary a peep from them on this matter yet. I may call on MasterCard to see if they can offer some support on this situation. They have purse string power over all retailers.

An American Hero

Four Star General David Petraeus, confirmed without dissent by the US Senate to be the coalition commander in Iraq was an American Hero before he came to present his report to the Congress this week. A Soldier who has served with distinction since the days of Viet Nam. After this week, General Petraeus deserves a Purple Heart for the shots he has had to endure from the very people who confirmed him.

Moveon.org labeled him General Betray us in a full page ad published in the New York Times. Where is the humanity in our elected officials? Do they possess any dignity any more? It was always my understanding that the Congress worked for us, the American People. It seems that they are now on the payroll of liberal political action committees. It is certainly not the American People who are pulling the strings of the puppets in Washington.

Thankfully, General Petraeus has the guts and the presence of mind to answer their rants calmly and directly, showing them to be the the fools they are. Meanwhile, Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich has been busy getting face time on television bad-mouthing our presence in Iraq. Well, that is face time on Syrian Television, the only place he can find anyone to give him any on air time.

Along with spending most of their energy bad mouthing our General, they spend their spare time trying to get on Osama’s good side, by pointing out that there just haven’t been enough votes in Congress to get us out of Iraq like he wants.

A Day that Should Live in Infamy

Here it is September 11, 2007, six short years, only seventy-two short months after the brutal attacks on our nation by a group of barbaric imbeciles. I don’t mean imbeciles in the sense that they are stupid, far from it, but they are totally ignorant of the American People and our determination when we make up our minds about something. We can, and will be a formidable enemy when challenged.

Unfortunately, they are not done. There will continue to be attacks and attempts to destroy our nation and way of life until they are killed and their means of making war on us has been destroyed. I like the motto of the Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Calvary: Vigilant and always ready. This should be the motto of every American. Not just watching for terrorists, but illegal aliens, drug dealers, and nefarious doers of dastardly deeds.

Remember, this is our country, and I for one have not intention of allowing some turban headed camel jockey from the 14th century to destroy it, or our way of life. If you see something that is going on that you know is wrong, don’t sit on the sidelines. Let’s work together and make criminals afraid to practice their trade in our neighborhoods and cities. They are ours after all.

Butterbur

Warren Buffett and Terrorism

A saying that I like from Warren Buffett goes something like this, “When people are buying, I worry, when people are worried, I buy.” He is talking about the stock market and the fact that people’s human nature causes them to jump on the bandwagon just because it is going in the general direction they want to go, and that is up. When people start to worry about the market, they divest themselves, afraid of being the last one to react and losing their shirt.

Buffett is wise enough to know that the market goes up, and the market comes down, when it is going up, he doesn’t buy, but when it comes down, he is ready to pick up the bargains.

In the same manner, when we get complacent about terrorism that is the time to start worrying. When we are concerned about the threats of terrorism, then we can relax a bit knowing that people are more on guard and vigilant.

Tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, we need to redouble our vigilance as our enemy has vowed to destroy us. Believe that they mean what they say.

Bullies

What is it about the Left in this country that makes them want to get cozy with bullies in the world? They act like the kids in school who gladly swapped their lunch money for one more day without an ass whupping. People who are blind to the fact that something far worse than an ass beating is taking place as they are giving up their lunch money. They are losing their freedom.

They might try to argue that they are trying to preserve their freedom by appeasing the bullies of the world, but they can’t seem to step back away from the situation far enough to see that the very act of appeasement is in fact a relinquishment of our sovereignty. When we appease a bully, we are giving him the power to control our life, to dictate policy, and to determine our future.

Bullies are all bluff and bluster. If they can convince one kid on the playground that they will receive a beating if they don’t give in to the bully’s demands, the bully has won. If on the other hand, the bully is challenged when a demand is made, they have lost. President Reagan seemed to understand this intuitively and acted accordingly. He was aware that there was no real substance to the threats of the Soviets.

The Soviets could not possibly keep up with the spending that Reagan was talking about, and if the plans for SDI came to fruition, their entire stockpile of nuclear weapons would be useless against us. We didn’t make threats, we made promises, and historically our promises were kept. Capitalism and a free market wins the Cold War. Yea us!

In our current world of political correctness, we are afraid to be seen as bullies, even by the bullies of the world. We tremble in fear of world opinion and let that fear dictate our policies. We have allowed a handful of extremists to challenge our sovereignty and get away with it. In short, we have allowed the bully to take our lunch money. I for one, want it back!

We have allowed a group of barbaric nomads to challenge us, to sit back in caves and taunt us and our way of life. We have allowed them to use our media, our sense of fair play, and our compassion against us. Meanwhile, they use commercial airplanes full of civilians to destroy our cities and to kill our people. We have allowed them to win. We call them terrorists and the fact that we live in fear gives them the victory. We can change that.

Surgery is not pretty. Anytime a surgeon cuts someone open, for any reason, there is collateral damage. Scar tissue, bruising, loss of blood, there are a myriad of things that happen when a surgeon operates. The purpose of the surgery is not to create collateral damage, but to cut out the diseased tissue, or to repair some defect, but the collateral damage is there as well.

War, like surgery is not pretty either. There will be collateral damage, people will die, others will be hurt, many will lose their homes and property. That is the way war has always been. That is part of what war is, you cannot separate the collateral damage from the intentional damage. All you can do is to try to minimize the collateral while maximizing the intentional.

Our enemy takes a very long look at history. In doing so, they are perfectly happy to sit back and just sting us like some sort of insect. It is time for us to let go with some roach bombs in Iraq, and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, when you set off the roach bomb, the people in the house may suffer ill effects of trying to rid them of the roaches. But the roaches carry disease and they consume and destroy the resources of the household, they must be gotten rid of.

Liberals want to know why we can’t live with these extremists. Why can’t we all just get along? It’s not Osama’s fault that he is a terrorist, it is our fault for not providing for him a nurturing environment in which to spend his youth. It is our fault, and we brought the events of 9/11/01 down upon ourselves by having more than the other people of the world. Naturally they are jealous and rightfully so. There should be no difference between the haves and have-nots in the world.

When our enemy hears such drivel, they have to hold onto their turbans they are laughing so hard. Their plans are working. Their enemy is fighting itself, they can sit back and just keep things stirred up while making plans for a new strike. We need to stop this and get on with the business of killing our enemy. Yes, killing him. That is what his intentions are for us, and if we do not utterly destroy him, that is what he will end up accomplishing.

We need to stop pussyfooting around with these barbarians, and start destroying them. Destroy their will to fight. If we cannot do that, we must totally destroy them. They are very aware of our limitations, the self imposed rules that we play war with. They do not have a concept of our capabilities. We need to become as ruthless as they are, anytime a rule is written that limits what we can or cannot do in war, we are tying our hands. We cannot have our soldiers fighting in fetters.

These extremists have declared total war on us, and have vowed to destroy us and our society. That is their announced game plan. We can believe it or not, but the thing is, if that is what they have declared, we need to act in accordance with their declaration, and destroy them. They must go in fear of the United States, they must tremble at the thought of American forces coming after them. In short, we must terrorize the terrorists.

When we clear a town of terrorists, decapitate them and pile their skulls on the side of the road leading into the town. We are fighting with an enemy that is not afraid to die, but there are things that they fear. We should be using the things our enemy fears against them. How about something simple, taking our ammunition and changing it from full metal jacket to jacketed hollow points, with the hollow filled with gel-caps of pork fat. Let these extremists know, that if they are shot and killed by one of our troops, the last thing they touch before they die is fat from an unclean animal. We have to use their fears against them.

When they are captured, let’s worry less about their treatment and more about their cooperation. They wear no uniform, they are working to kill us, any privileges they get should be earned. No books, no prayer rugs, no special diets, and no media coverage. They should not be able to get out until hostilities have ceased, if then. We need to remember that these are the people, bullies if you will, who kidnap civilians then torture and murder them. These are the same people who take planes and passengers and crash them into skyscrapers. They deserve nothing, and I would prefer it if that was what they received.

Walmart, Televisions, and the BBB

It was back in March, the year was ‘07 our television set was shot, we had purchased it in 1983. I remember when we moved into our current house the cable guy just snickered as he hooked up our cable box. The TV was older I think than he was. We knew it was going out, the color had faded and we were watching black and white pictures now, but you don’t just chunk it because it is getting old.

We finally broke down and headed to Walmart to look at new television sets. Well, I take that back, they don’t call them sets any more, they are tuners. At any rate we went looking for a new screen to show us pretty pictures while we sat sipping a cool beverage.

We found one. It was a 32″ HDTV from ILO, which happens to be Walmart’s store brand. Compared to the other tuners we looked at there didn’t seem to be a major difference in picture quality. Bear in mind we were coming from a 24 year old set that had given up the ghost on color, so we were probably not the best couple to discern the finer points of picture quality.

The price was pretty good we thought comparatively so I said let’s wrap it up and take it home. It ended up costing us just under $600 with tax license and dealer prep, ooops that was my first car, but the cost is still just shy of $600. We got it home and I managed to get it hooked up and everything working and we sat back and watched as the pretty pictures scampered across the screen.

Being in Nirvana, we barely noticed as the calendar changed from March to April, May and then July. We were busy staring at the pretty pictures when all of a sudden, without any warning, the picture went blank. I checked with cable and they were good. Nothing, it seemed made any difference to our picture, the power was on, but we had nothing but a black screen.

I called Walmart and asked to speak to the manager. He dutifully answered the phone and I explained to him that we had purchased the television on March 25th and it was the first weekend in July when it died. I wanted to bring it back and swap it out for a new one. Not so quick there buckeroo! That television is 105 days old (thereabouts) the in-store replacement warranty only goes through 90 days. My television had to go back to the manufacturer.

Well RATSPIT! I started making phone calls and getting the information to send the thing back to the manufacturer in California. They don’t make them there, they just fix them there. I had to purchase a box to ship it in and that cost me $10. Other than that, smooth sailing. Except for the fact that we were now without a television and it looked like we would be for another fortnight.

We got the television packaged and over to the UPS store to ship it back and then we sat back and waited. That was all we could do since we didn’t have a television anymore. They were absolutely correct when they told me it would take about 2 weeks to get the television back, and we did the happy happy joy joy dance when UPS brought it to us. A little more careful this time to make sure I didn’t throw away any of the packaging, I got it out and plugged it in.

Yea! We had pretty pictures dancing in our living room again! The excitement was somewhat short lived however, when about 10 minutes later the screen went blank again. I sat there with the remote pressing buttons and trying to get something to appear back on the screen. My wife pointed out that it seemed to her that this was the same problem that caused us to send it in for repair in the first place. Actually I knew that, I just wasn’t ready to admit it yet.

I got on the phone with customer service in California. Now I use the term “customer service” because that is how they answer the phone not from any real service experience that I had had. I was quite angry when I called and wanted them to fly a technician to Memphis that night to fix my set, and this would not have been the best time to point out that it was a tuner, not a set. Long story short, I made a general pain of myself on the phone.

The customer service person I was speaking to assured me that they would email me a new call tag, and that our television would be replaced, not repaired. Well, that calmed me down a bit, but not a lot. I checked my email off and on all night and into the next day looking for my call tag. It never showed up. That afternoon, I called customer service again and asked where my call tag was. I was informed that it would be coming in the US Mail. Well, strangely enough, I do not take well to being lied to by customer service people so I asked whether she was lying to me or whether it was the young man I spoke with yesterday who was lying.

We finally arrived at the truth of the matter which was that they didn’t email call tags. I was a little confused, these were the very people who were supposed to be taking care of customer problems, not the ones creating new problems. I told them that this was not satisfactory and that I would be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

After getting off the phone with customer service, I went to the BBB to file a complaint. This was not the easiest thing to do either as there seemed a maze of different options to navigate and none of the descriptions really seemed to fit my problem. Anyway, I filled out the forms and said that I wanted a written apology for their people lying to me ( or not knowing their job well enough to avoid this situation ), and I wanted $75 to cover the cost of my wasted 2 months of cable service.

Here is their response:

I am not sure what this customer is asking for. We are a repair center and can offer to repair the tv again; we cannot and we don’t make promises to replace anyone’s tv. I can assure you that when his tv was sent in for repair, it was also QC’d before it was returned to him. We would not send it back without checking to see if it was working or not. Unfortunately, we deal with electronics were consistent rough handling can cause minute damage during transit. As for emailing a shipping label,we do not offer that anymore.We tried this route before & each time it failed so we removed this service a few weeks ago. I humbly apologize if a rep said he would and we did not. I apologize if the postal service took too long to get the shipping label to him, this is a courtesy that we offer to the customers so they do not have to send their tv to us for repair at their cost. The shipping label allows UPS, once they are in possession of the unit, to deliver it to us within 5 business days. Once we have it in for repair, we try to repair and QC within 3 business days. Once it is ready to be returned to the customer, it takes UPS another 5 business days. In all, once we have it in our facility, it takes approximately 7-10 business days for the unit to be returned to the customer. If we can be of further assistance, please have the customer contact us. Thank you.

Initial Response Summary

Customer claims we promised him a new tv.We are a repair center,we can only offer to repair the unit.We don’t email call tags because that service doesn’t work

I would like to point out the bolded line above, here they state that they can’t seem to get a television out without damage. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems to me that if they can’t get a television delivered to a customer without damage, they might look into a new career, maybe anvil repair.
I told them in my response that it wasn’t my job to educate their telephone staff in their company policies, and that this explanation did not do anything to rectify the problem.

I finally got the second call tag and got the television boxed back up and to the UPS store. Now I am waiting for the television to be returned, note the second lie that they do not replace televisions only repair them.

Meanwhile, I get a letter of closure from the BBB. They seem to be happy as a lark that this situation has been successfully solved. I wrote them back to let them know that the problem has not been solved in my opinion.

Next, an email to Walmart’s corporate offices in Bentonville, to complain about the service I have received first from the store manager and then from the repair center. They are the biggest retailer in the world, they have the most clout with vendors of any customer in the world and they can’t seem to take care of a small little television that won’t work. I find this ludicrous.

I’ll update this when I either get my original television back or a new one, and see what Walmart has to say, if anything.

Political Correctness and the Speech Police

I remember a time before the Speech Police were formed. A time when a person could say anything they wanted, just about anywhere they wanted. Oh sure, you couldn’t yell Fire! in a movie theater, but this was also back in the day when common sense was a lot more common than it is now.

Back in the day, you could call someone a nigger, spic, wop, kike, cracker, faggot, or queer. Really anything you wanted to call them. You might get the bat crap beat out of you, but it was still your choice. You also had the choice to avoid situations where you were apt to be called a name that you didn’t like. It wasn’t always possible, but for the most part you could manage it.

People used to have enough sense to not go somewhere that would create a confrontation, or at least know that if they did, they might be offended. That’s not to say it is right to call people names, but our nation was founded on the principle that we have the RIGHT to do so if we choose.

Where does the media get off trying to tell me that something is ‘hate speech’ ? Hasn’t anyone read Orwell’s 1984? Americans are being stripped of their right to free speech incrementally and quietly. We blow up at a comedian for screaming nigger at some hecklers, we blacklist him and label him a racist.

We take a shock jock who doesn’t even say one of the previously listed terms above and get him fired from a national network because of his insensitive and racists remarks. This was exactly what his contract required of him, to create controversy. Obviously it hit someone the wrong way.

It is not even considered politically correct these days to call an illegal alien by that term, they must now be termed ‘undocumented workers.’ When will the BS stop and people wake up to the fact that they are losing their very freedom?

Every time there is someone upset about the words of another we all want to jump on the bandwagon with Al Sharpdon and Jesse Jackson to stop this vile racism. If Michael Richards said something to offend someone, let him apologize to them, not the American People at virtual gunpoint by the media and the Justice Brothers.

By the same token, Don Imus may have needed to apologize to the Rutger’s Girls Basketball team, but that is all who needed an apology. Sure it should have been public, after all, the comment was made on the air, but should he have lost his job? I don’t think so.

We have recently had a situation here in Memphis, TN where some people were fired from the community theater for using a hangman’s noose in the backstage area for whatever it is that they use ropes for. An employee, far too young to have ever even witnessed a lynching, was offended by the sight of the noose and complained. It would seem to me that if anything was called for, it would be to call the alleged offenders into the office and suggest they use a different type knot in the future. But instead, they are labeled racists and fired.

I guess by the same token, since I am a white male who lives in the south, I should be able to force Sunshine and Nabisco to change their saltines to read something other than cracker, because I find that term offensive.

Folks, we live in a squirrelly world!