Cavs vs Knicks Behind the Box Score: Even ugly wins count as wins
December 4, 2014Indians and As expected to make a deal Friday
December 5, 2014Hi guys! It’s Friday and it’s my day to talk to you “While We’re Waiting…” The first week back after holidays is always a bit tough, so I hope it’s treating you well. Now, go finish that holiday shopping already. The stores are no place for civilized people the closer we get to the day, and you’re starting to flirt with shipping blackouts. What are you waiting for?
How short is Brian Hoyer’s leash?
The Browns made their choice to start Brian Hoyer this weekend, and it’s one that I agree with, but even I’m not that sure. I didn’t write it in the post, but I said it in a podcast later that while I’m in the Hoyer camp for this weekend, I’m only about a 55-60 out of 100 in that choice. If the Browns had chosen to go with Johnny Manziel, I’d be far from outraged, shocked, surprised or even disappointed. I know what I know and I know what I don’t know.
I don’t know how long a leash Brian Hoyer has for sure, but I’m assuming it’s pretty short. I mean I don’t think Hoyer has to go out and grab touchdowns on each of his first three opening drives or get benched, but he’s going to get some time on his butt if he’s turning the ball over. That much I’m pretty sure of.
It may be a long-shot for the Browns to make the playoffs, but this is like a playoff baseball game already. There’s no reason to save a pitcher who might not have a chance to pitch later. Bullpen shmullpen. It’s time to pull out all the stops. So, while I don’t know how long the leash is on Brian Hoyer, I kind of do think I know and it has to be pretty short.
Speaking of chasing the playoffs…
Pro sports teams don’t believe in jinxes…
I consistently say that I’m not superstitious, except when I am. In my brain I actually don’t believe in any of it, but in practice I still partake in stupid ritualistic things from time to time just in case there’s a cosmic whammy that I can avoid by wearing a certain shirt.
When the Indians are within spitting distance of the playoffs, they charge you for playoff tickets ahead of time just in case. Apparently the Browns are close enough right now at 7-5 with four games remaining that they also want to get their hands on playoff ticket money. The Browns are out seeking commitments right now on the if / come. I get it. It makes sense from a business planning standpoint, but it’s still makes me feel kind of goofy like I’m tempting fate.
In a world where athletes won’t shave if they’re in the hunt and where fans won’t change their socks, for example, it strikes me as odd that teams have no issue at all asking for playoff ticket money. I’m lying. It doesn’t strike me as odd. Like not really all that odd at all that pro sports teams would want to collect money up front for potential playoff berths.
Still, even if I don’t actually find it “odd” it is a little bit at odds with the personality of many of the athletes and the fans who watch.
I mean, I love the Browns. I want them to make the playoffs. They even chose my choice for quarterback this week as they chase an unlikely playoff appearance. Still, I wouldn’t bet on it right now, even given all those facts. And now that I know they’re jinxing themselves by printing playoff tickets?
Verizon Wireless upgrade fee, Sirius XM renewals and canceling DirecTV…
I know this might not necessarily be the normal forum for this, but I know you all deal with the same garbage, so I figured I’d bring it up. I had the good1 fortune to have experiences with both Sirius XM and Verizon Wireless in the same day, only a day removed from canceling my beloved DirecTV. As much as I brag about where we are technologically and crow about how lucky we are as a society to have access to the conveniences that technology gifts to us every day, the customer service organizations behind these technologies couldn’t be more regressive. This isn’t a rant about overseas employees either. The location of the employees doesn’t matter. It’s the policies of three companies whose services I really do like a lot.
DirecTV is up first. I’ve talked about how much I love DirecTV, but there’s no doubt it’s a premium service that costs a premium price. It delivers more than cable to be sure, but they can’t compete from a pricing standpoint due to packages. In my case, cable holds the internet speed ransom at the request that you also buy TV service. Right now, after moving, we’ve decided to opt for the cheaper option, although if resources allow down the road, I’d love the opportunity to have DirecTV again. Except that they work so very hard to make you mad with their retention practices.
This is basically what I said to the DirecTV person…
“I love DirecTV and I will most likely return in the future, but right now we’ve made a choice to go with a lesser service simply based on price. So please understand that I am fully informed and nothing you can say to me will make me change my mind right now. As long as this conversation goes well and you guys respect my choice, I’ll be willing to return in the future.”
Service rep blathers on about promotions and deals they can give me because they didn’t listen to a thing I actually said. Two hours later, a retention specialist calls and tries to “understand” why I switched and tries to pitch me to keep me as a customer.
If they were paying attention, I gave them that path but they didn’t listen. I might still come back, but that’s not an excuse to knowingly annoy someone who likes your company.
Sirius XM is next up and they might be the worst of all. Nobody pays full price for Sirius XM Satellite Radio. Nobody I’ve ever met pays full price for their service. Everyone is on an annual promotion deal and then when the year is up, Sirius XM renews you at the regular rate (that’s so expensive that almost nobody on earth pays it) and you catch it and call them and get the promotional rate again after berating the customer service person.
SIRIUS XM’S BUSINESS MODEL IS BASED ON TRYING TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS BY SNEAKING RENEWALS PAST CUSTOMERS. SIRIUS XM MAXIMIZES PROFITS BY TRYING TO SNEAK PAST THEIR CLIENTS AND ONLY GIVE THEM THE REASONABLE PRICE BY WASTING THEIR TIME. EVERY YEAR.
Last but not least, I visited Verizon, whose coverage network and service I really love. I was due for a phone upgrade and agreed to it and ordered a new phone and then looked at the bill. There was a $30 upgrade fee. What’s the upgrade fee? Let’s ask Verizon themselves!
What is the upgrade fee?
The $30 upgrade fee applies any time you purchase a new device at a discount, with a contract extension, to replace an old device. This fee is in addition to the cost of the new device and applicable taxes. The upgrade fee does not apply when a new device is purchased at the full retail price.
O.K. That said absolutely nothing. What’s this fee for? Let’s go to MarketWatch for some answers…
In recent weeks, Verizon started charging existing customers $30 to upgrade to a new phone when they renew their contract. AT&T and Sprint charge $36 and $18 for the same thing, respectively, so one might forgive Verizon for just doing what everyone else is doing. But Verizon’s excuse for adding the charge is pretty rich. The millions the company rakes in from the fee will be used to offer customers “wireless workshops” and “online educational tools,” among other things, spokeswoman Brenda Rayney told SmartMoney. According to the press release announcing the fee, there will also be “consultations with experts who provide advice and guidance on devices that are more sophisticated than ever.”
So, what you’re saying is that you’re charging everyone $30 so that you can make an extra $30 every time someone upgrades their phone? Sounds great.2
And I know that these are all first world problems. I’m complaining about the leading carrier of HD TV channels, one of the leaders in wireless phone and data coverage and someone who offers audio via satellite to your automobile. None of these are necessities and they all offer good services. It just doesn’t seem to me that these services ought to be mutually exclusive with, you know, customer service.
All this is coming from a guy in the insurance industry, so I know I’m one to talk…
Your weekly moment of soccer zen…
TRICK PENALTY KICK!!!
The modern world is a weird time for music…
One of my favorite albums of 2013 was Sunbather by Deafheaven. It was also one of my favorite live music experiences of 2014 when I saw them at the Grog Shop. They made a TON of year-end best-of lists and it struck me as odd because it was this black metal, hardcore, post-metal amalgamation of beautiful noise. I love it and I will defend it to anyone as art, but I also know it’s totally niche. But there it was on year-end lists.
Another year and another band making year-end lists that strikes me as plainly odd. It’s an album called Heathen by a band called Thou. It’s sludgy, nasty hard, heavy music from down south near the bayous. It reminds me in tempo and sonically of old school Acid Bath who were underground death metal kings in the 90’s. (They were also monstrously popular in Cleveland to the point that the city was thanked in the liner notes of their second album.) Anyway, it just strikes me as plainly odd that Thou is being featured on best-ofs even as much as I love the music.
Shrug. Can you believe this is making best-ofs?
That’s it from here. Make sure you go out and see the Ohio City Singers somewhere this holiday season. I’m taking the family to see them at their all-ages show on Saturday. If it’s not sold out, you should come. Cleveland has a phenomenal group of musicians and this collection featuring Chris Allen and my friend Brent Kirby is one of the best.
17 Comments
The Browns are actually not printing any playoff tickets. They are just trying to get season ticket holders to reserve their tickets. They even offer a pay as you go if we make it option. So I wouldn’t worry about any jinks, they have not printed any tickets. Sounds like they will only be offering E-tickets to the playoffs as well. So no printing jink.
SIRIUS XM’S BUSINESS MODEL IS BASED ON TRYING TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS BY SNEAKING RENEWALS PAST CUSTOMERS. SIRIUS XM MAXIMIZES PROFITS BY TRYING TO SNEAK PAST THEIR CLIENTS AND ONLY GIVE THEM THE REASONABLE PRICE BY WASTING THEIR TIME. EVERY YEAR.
I do believe that they are sneaking, but also believe that they bank on the fact that people are lazy and won’t call to negotiate. I called to negotiate a price and told them to send me a bill and I will send them a check. I sent them half of the thing (just for principle) and told them that I would pay the other half in 30 days. This blew their minds and they sent about 4 letters in the next 3 weeks with shutoff notices and so forth. I sent the other check in 30 days like I said, but man was it a pain! I pay by check and not credit card to them for that very purpose. “Oh the rates are now $50 a month so we charged you $600 for the year….” such a scam.
How do you frame an E-Ticket? One of those photo picture frames?
Sirius is a joke. I have them for 6 months at $30, then I cancel when they tell me I have to pay full price, then a month later I get a letter in the mail begging me to come back…its a humongous waste of time. And now you apparently have to pay extra for Stern’s channels (not that I am an avid listener, but its not bad when you’re on a roadie).
As far as Verizon goes, my wife got a new i-Phone earlier this year. 2 weeks later, she had it out of the case and dropped it and cracked the screen. I did some research and fixing the screen was actually more costly than getting another new i-phone through Verizon, so, we got her the new phone. They tried charging the $30 upgrade fee. I went through 3 phone calls, 3 agents and two managers each time asking them “how can it be an upgrade if Im going from an i-Phone 5c to an i-Phone 5c?” I told them I’d be happy to pay the fee if they could tell me how that was an upgrade, but not before. Eventually, the last manager I talked to relented and gave me a $30 credit on my bill (still had to charge the fee, but the credit made it a wash). Problem is, I probably wasted more than $30 of my time. Verizon sucks, but they suck less than Sprint or At&t. It’s kind of like choosing between the measles, cholera and diphtheria.
1. Okay, we might make the playoffs. But to get a home game in the playoffs? Can’t see it.
2. I know there’s not supposed to be any whining on the yacht, but sometimes ya gotta. I had a similar experience when I grew tired of Time Warner Cable raising prices and cutting programming and switched to AT&T (yeah, I know, switching from Lucifer to Satan. But so far so good.) After I cancelled TWC, I received several calls from them offering me everything but a free pony to come back. Said the same thing as you: “Sir, you can talk all day and it’s not going to make a difference. It’s done.” They gave up only grudgingly.
3. Let me see if I understand this. If you buy a new phone at full price, there’s no upgrade fee. If you buy a new phone at, say, a $30 discount, there’s a $30 upgrade fee. Sometimes you just have to sit back and admire the blatant, unapologetic sliminess of some companies.
Yes, Sirius XM is a joke. Every year it’s the same dance. I get the renewal invoice at full price (no CC on file — I pay by check). I call the 800 number and threaten to cancel. They offer a small discount. I say “no thanks” and tell them to cancel which transfers me to a retention specialist. I tell them I want to cancel and which point the negotiation starts and the special 1 year deal is offered. Complete waste of my time and it pisses me off every year that I have to waste 45min to get the deal they give everyone anyway.
I do the exact same thing with Sirius. Cancel it and a month later they come back. I’ve found the best price can be had when they call to solicit. It takes a few months of off service and ignoring a few sales mailers, but I usually get 6 months for $20. On the phone with the rep they offer me “6 months for just $5 a month” and I usually counter and say their service is worth about $3 a month to me. It’s a pretty fun game that sometimes works.
I got sick of Verizon’s BS and switched to T-Mobile after being a vzw customer for 10 years. Could not be happier about the switch. I don’t get great data coverage in 100% of areas I did with Verizon, but overall the T-Mobile network is so much faster. I live out of state now, but last time I was in the Sandusky/Marblehead area the t-mo coverage was pretty bad though… I guess we can’t totally win.
yeah, even though it’s a zero sum game, it’s still a far cry from having to go outside to manually turn the pole the TV aerial was hooked to to try and get better TV reception, as I regularly had to do back in the 80’s, so hooray progress?
yes, also on T-Mobile and their customer service and rate plans make it worth it alone. That and they have an actual global coverage network that they provide “for free” which makes my trips easier (able to call/text home as if I was just in another state).
we just need to win the division. pitt beats cinci twice, but loses the other 2 games. we win 3 of 4 including Cinci & Baltimore who loses to Miami this weekend.
it’s not out of the realm though unlikely.
If it weren’t for the Browns, I would not have DirecTV.
Yeah, I don’t have any issue with the Browns’ approach (and they note repeatedly that the NFL makes them start this process, which is interesting). I immediately signed up for pay as you go (not sure why anyone would lay down the cash now) and this way if they do make it they’ll charge me and I know I have my tickets.
I got the iPhone 6 w/ verizon when they were running the $200 trade in your old iphone promo. got $36. wtf, i hate them. i researched like crazy to prepare the phone properly for trade in bc i heard about people getting screwed. didnt matter. it also took nearly 2 months to receive the new phone.
Cincy goes 1-3 we get home game (if we go 3-1). We would have tiebreakers over Pitts and Baltimore.
All of that does not need to happen. If we are tied on top with Pitts and Bal, we win tiebreakers! If we go 3-1, and so does pitts, balt, and cincy goes 1-3 (Loses 1 to Pitts, 1 to CLE and 1 to den), we are div winners
http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/machine/_/results/400554374~1~400554402~2~400554405~2~400554392~1~400554422~2~400554449~2~400554441~1~400554346~2~400554382~1~400554434~1~400554398~2~400554419~2~400554379~2~400554384~1~400554388~1~400554416~1~400554433~1~400554432~2~400554431~2~400554430~1~400554428~1~400554426~2~400554424~1~400554429~1~400554342~1~400554390~1~400554350~1~400554418~1~400554420~2~400554353~1~400554376~1~400554415~1~400554423~1~400554380~1~400554425~1~400554427~2~400554386~2~400554373~1~400554439~1~400554442~2~400554401~1~400554444~1~400554447~1~400554406~1~400554356~1~400554410~2~400554366~2~400554361~1~400554436~2~400554448~1~400554435~1~400554407~2~400554438~1~400554404~1~400554409~2~400554413~1~400554446~1~400554445~1~400554412~1~400554411~1~400554440~2~400554443~2~400554437~1
me too….sigh sooo much wasted money