adt, it still sucks, *proof*...

in a follow up to why adt sucks, i give you this beaut (oh, and now? comcast sucks, too, but we already knew that), False Sense Of Security?:

adt customer’s alarm found lying on the floor, beeping, after her house is burglarized.  adt never called her nor the police.
another adt customer found her system wasn’t working either.
comcast customer sets off his own comcast alarm accidentally… no response by comcast.

“You may have service. You may not. Play Russian roulette and find out,” said Dan Parsons, president of the Houston Better Business Bureau.

Parsons said it’s not what consumers expect when we pay for a service.

“People are doing this, thinking they are doing the right thing and counting that that expenditure’s protecting them,” he said.

in the case of the comcast customer, his account was accidentally placed in “inactive status” for 15 months.  15 months that he’d been paying for service.  (comcast did credit the customer for those 15 months.)

one adt customer was told that the ~adt authorized dealer~, protect your home, (seriously, don’t get an alarm from some guy in a back alley) had placed her account out of service.

the other adt customer…

When ADT refused to give McDaniels any answers, her insurance company hired an alarm expert to test her alarm system.

We obtained a copy of the investigator’s report that says ADT improperly installed the cellular backup alarm in McDaniels’ home. When the burglars ripped out the alarm hooked to her telephone line, the backup never sent a signal to ADT.

The investigator wrote, “ADT’s actions and inactions in this matter were deceptive and a deliberate disregard to the safety and security of Ms. McDaniel”—what he believes is a violation of the Texas Occupations Code.

“They provided me with a box that beeped when I went in and out of my house to make me feel a little better,” McDaniels said.

McDaniels’ insurance company is now battling with ADT to recoup the $14,000 in damage and stolen property from the burglary.

both adt and comcast put the onus on the customer to test that their systems are working properly (btw, so does broadview security).

“You’re doing your part in paying the bill and turning it on isn’t enough,” Wilson said.

Local 2 Investigates got the same information from alarm companies. Both ADT and Comcast told us it is the customer’s responsibility to test their alarm every month.

Comcast’s customer contract actually reads that the subscriber shall “carefully test the system daily during the term of this agreement” and “notify the company in the event of any defect.”

“The company’s getting paid to do this,” said Parsons. “And you’d like to think that you shouldn’t have to worry and then have a false sense of security. It’s more than a false sense of security. It’s letting the ball drop from someone who’s in the business to do this.”

in other words, make sure you’re testing your alarm, because the alarm companies aren’t really as interested in protecting your home as much as they are in collecting your payments.

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Tagged as: home,day2day December 02, 2009 @ 07:19 pm

fuck first impressions. or excuse me, i’m coping.

you’re walking down the street and suddenly you’re overcome with the feeling that everyone is watching you walk - commenting on your looks, your clothing, the way in which you walk, just waiting for you to do something stupid.  so, of course, now, you’re aware of every step, repeating “don’t walk like a duck” in your head, then *bam* you trip over your own foot and stumble.

you’re next in line ~anywhere~ and realize that everyone is looking at you - just waiting for the moment you get up to the counter and prove that you’ve no idea what it is that you’re doing, willing you to just screw up, so that they can have a #FAIL story to tell.  so, of course, now, you get up to the counter and you can’t speak without stumbling over every 3rd word.  you don’t know the ~correct procedures~, so the clerk is annoyed at what is obviously a babbling idiot in front of her.

you’re minding your own business acutely aware of *every move you’re making*, then suddenly become aware that other people *are* actually monitoring you, questioning you.

no matter where you go, you are acutely aware of the judgments people are making, so you scrutinize your every breath, your every step, every movement, every hair that may or may not be out of place.  you watch what everyone else is doing and try to mimic them, so that you won’t do something utterly crass and impolite.  you monitor every sentence that you utter, listening as you stumble over the simplest of words (and for god’s sake, stick to the simple words, because lord knows, you’ll never be able to say anything with more than one syllable without completely mispronouncing it).  all the while, you *know* that the only thing you’re doing is succeeding in stretching yourself into one helluva taut rubber band.  one misstep and you will be completely undone.  no longer able to hold it together. 

so just. shut. up.

stand in the corner, back to the wall, and try to look as inconspicuous as possible. otherwise, risk a panic attack or, in some extreme cases, a loss of temper.

this is my life.

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Tagged as: day2day,personal November 22, 2009 @ 04:20 pm

it’s a miracle!!!  i can SEE!!!

okay, first?  i’m blind.  well.  i’m blind without my glasses.  or close enough, at least.  everything further than a foot away from me looks like this:

real view here

i’ve needed new glasses for about a year now and because i have odd “issues” with my eyes, i go to the u of h’s eye institute.  i’ve gone there since i was a kid and they are *excellent*!  though for me, it usually means at least a 3 to 4 hour eye visit - the intern has to examine my eyes, then bring in the doctor to go over the examination, and then THEY bring in other interns who “ooh” and “ahh” over my freaky eyes.  this time was no exception.  almost.  ‘cept, this time, they wore my eyes out. 

my exam includes lots of “how many squares do you see on the wall?  *adjustments*  tell me when you see two squares.  *more adjustments*  now, tell me when the squares are on top of one another.”  my eyes were finally too tired to get the images to be still (they were bouncing all over) and since i couldn’t complete the exam, i had to go back.  THEN, they decided i need to revisit ~vision therapy~, so yet *another* eye appt. 

i not only can’t see… but i have “strabismus”, which causes one eye or the other to wander off to the side when i’m tired and/or relax my eyes and is apparently causing me to suppress vision in one eye or the other, depending upon what i’m doing.  also, i’ve what *could* be retinal tears (they can lead to a retinal detachment which can lead to blindness).  they’ve called them tears in the past, now they say they are “pre-tears”.  near-sighted people are more apt to have thinning of the retinal wall due to the way their eyes are shaped and that’s what i’ve got.  nothing to be done about the retinal “pre-tears” but be aware of the symptoms of a retinal detachment; however, there *are* things i can do to improve the strabismus (weak eye muscles).

enter physical therapy for eyes…

when i was a kid they had me use a machine that was very much like the antique viewfinder my grandmother owned:

you looked through the two windows at a card that had an object on the right and an object on the left.  the viewfinder made it appear that one image overlayed the other and gave it a 3D effect. 

same theory behind the vision therapy machines.  they split your vision, then make you cross your eyes, strengthening those muscles, so that you gain better control of your eyes.

thankfully, i’m able to do the exercise they gave me as a kid (an exercise the eye doctor had never heard of, but plans to suggest to other patients), so i won’t have to go for more appts.  yay!  they’ve added prisms to my glasses to help me keep my eyes aligned together (and which helps keep me from suppressing an eye when i’m tired), but unfortunately, this is causing me a bit of an adjustment - basically, moving my head makes me seasick.  i didn’t realize how much i was suppressing vision in one eye or the other and suddenly, i’m seeing more depth than before and things seem to shift oddly.  it’s a ~whole new reality~.  i feel like i’m walking through some alternative universe at times :O this, too, shall pass… as my eyes become more adjusted.

so,

try this at home:

hold up your thumbs about 12 inches apart and about 12 to 18 inches from your face.  cross your eyes, until you see 4 thumbs.  neato, hey?  now, keep crossing them until you see 3 thumbs (the 2 in the center merge together).  and ~voila~ you’ve done the exercise that i taught to the u of h doctor!  now, spend 15 or 20 minutes doing that, increasing the distance between your thumbs and your face… best sleep you will EVER have.  caution: i cannot and will not be held responsible for the chorus of guffaws that may break out upon being seen attempting this!

and see?  I haz new glasses!

see?  they look exactly like my old glasses, almost.

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Tagged as: day2day,personal July 24, 2009 @ 02:29 pm

why adt sucks and how to drive an arin to drink.

so recently, i had the condo’s back door replaced (aka, “house rebuilt from ground up”)... and let me say, the door works ~magnificently~.  it does all the things a door should do - opens, closes, stands stalwart against home invaders like GINORMOUS tree roaches, AND has won every staring contest i’ve put it to. 

why am i staring at the door, you ask? 

i’ll tell you!  because when they finished it, they painted it.  there are 70 gabillion whites in the paint spectrum and somehow they managed to find the two (door and trim) that looked most awful with what i already had. 

this is called “matching”.

well, okay, the walls were repainted when they leveled the building foundation a year ago, but they didn’t repaint the trim, so it was probably due to be painted.  ~no problem~, i’ll just repaint all the trim downstairs.  and seriously, by “repainting all the trim”, what i really mean is “dunking myself in paint and throwing me at the trim, doors, and bookcase”.  a week to paint, it’s done, and thankfully, paint DOES come off tile floors… and i appear to be washable.

but WAIT.  see, when they fixed the door, they broke my burglar alarm.  so i call brinks broadview security.  i can either pay $95 to have them come out to repair it or i can pay $95 for a wireless system, which would mean i could get rid of my landline… so YAY, i’ll take the wireless system.  guy comes out to install the wireless system… and informs me that by “wireless system” what THEY really mean is “the control box is wireless, but we’ve to hardwire all the connections and YOUR wires are bad, so they have to be replaced, but we can’t run them the way they’re run now, so we’ll have to flop the wires all around the walls, from the control box to the doors and windows.” 

me: 

ok, that’s not going to work.  i want *wireless*.  “well, see, wireless is $300 to install, $15/mo more, and we don’t have the equipment to do that.” 

me: 

i talk to customer loyalty at brinks broadview security, they give me a cheaper price, reschedule for 2 days later… when they’ll hopefully have the equipment with them.

in the meantime, i call ADT.  may as well get a quote, since it’s already costing me more than i’d planned on with brinks broadview security.  they send a mr. warren perrilloux out, who proceeds to walk through my house, badmouthing brinks broadview security (nevermind that i’ve never had any trouble with brinks broadview security… i hate when salesman badmouth their competitors.  sell me on YOUR product, not why the other guy’s product is terrible.)  but he walks through commenting on my belongings, asking me where i keep dog treats, etc. and totally not in a “neato!” kinda way, but a flaky “i’ll be seeing you later tonite when an army of GINORMOUS tree roaches and i do the ~home invasion~ thing” kinda way.  (this is called “fear tactics” - bring attention to items that are likely to be stolen in a burglary in order to sell the customer on a burglar alarm.  the dog treats thing was a nifty addition, but heart ellie who will NOT take a treat from strangers but instead races around the house barking like the demons of hell are hot on her heels.)

once he finally gives me the prices, he tells me that i have to SIGN RIGHT NOW or those prices won’t be valid.  i hate that.  if you can’t quote me a price that’s good today AND tomorrow, ...or even next week, then seriously, don’t be wasting my time and your’s.  i despise high pressure salesmen and, since i’ve gotten the flaky vibe off of him, i’m not signing anything with him.  but WAIT… see, by SIGN RIGHT NOW, what he really meant was “this price is good only for right now, unless i call my supervisor later and get them to approve that price at a later date, which i can totally do, so really the price is good all the time, but i can’t say that or you might not SIGN RIGHT NOW”.  at this point, i’m seriously eying the broom and 12 cans of raid.

i don’t sign.  i won’t sign.  ever.  take your flaky fear tactic type ADT salesmanship out of my house and stay gone.  (i’m not the only person, apparently, to have trouble with ADT’s warren perrilloux. )

but all is well.  brinks broadview security is coming at 8am that thursday! (and just as an fyi: the brinks broadview security wireless is a much better system than the ADT.  it works off cellular phone towers, which ADT’s does not.)

brinks broadview security comes.  5 hours late.  and they don’t have the part.  they’re going to send someone else out.  that guy comes and by 7pm, he’s still “installing” the system, only he can’t make it work.  they’re going to need to send someone else.  they send out the next guy on the following day…. and guess what?  the control box still won’t work.  they’re going to have to send someone else.  ok, i’ve been pretty patient through this (after all, this was all because i’d wanted the condo’s door rehung), but they’re beginning to press their luck.  to make a long story short: 5 days later, they sent someone else out, installed the system, they’re giving me discounts all over the place and IT WORKS.

WOOHOO.

also, the pest control guy was out for his scheduled appt and i should no longer see GINORMOUS tree roaches on my patio.  or in my house.  he is mah hero.  forEVER, or at least until i see the next live bug.  but, in the meantime, Chem-Tech RAWKS. 

of course, this means i’ve overstocked on tequila and xanax, but i’ll cope.  somehow.

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Tagged as: home,day2day,personal July 24, 2009 @ 10:53 am

a day in the life…

so recently, while i was on mah mad decluttering phase (no, i’m not done, i still have the 2nd floor to do, but i’m biding my time til i can sneak up on it and *attack* muahaha?)...

anyways. 

while i was going room by room, i called the condo association and asked that my back door be rehung, as since they’d leveled the foundation, it had begun to hang crooked, leaving a one inch gap at the top left. 

air-con leaking out, heat coming in, yeah yeah.  no.

BUGS.  came through. 

not just any bugs, either.  GINORMOUS tree roaches came through that gap.  HUGE.  GIGANTIC.  GARGANTUAN.  i’m not sure any of those even comes CLOSE to describing what came through that door gap, though i’m pretty sure that SATAN SPAWN comes close.  if you don’t know what a tree roach is, it’s a 2 to 3 inch FLYING cockroach.  they typically live outdoors, but every now and again, they declare war and make their way into a house.  i have a completely irrational fear of the things, which has resulted in what appears to be a heightened radar… i’m aware almost immediately once one has breached my home defenses. 

at that point, there’s only 2 options… run SCREAMING like a little girl to whatever male you can accost and drag back to deal with said monster OR… should you be forced to defend yourself and your home alone, you’ll need a case of raid, a large broom, a shovel, preferably a beekeeper’s suit, a large box of kleenex, a bottle of tequila, and some xanax. 

don the suit.  spray the roach with the raid.  as it flies DIRECTLY AT YOU begin beating at it with the broom, all the while keeping a steady stream of raid aimed at it.  pace yourself… this will not kill it, it will only make it more determined than ever to land on you (this is where the beekeeper’s suit comes in).  prepare to begin *the dance* - while simultaneously shuddering, hopping, cringing, blubbering, ducking, and doing moves that would have made michael jackson proud, you’ll continue to fend off it’s air combat, using whatever means is at your disposal - broom, raid, shoes, books, large boulders, small children and/or pets - all in the hopes that you can daze it somewhat.  within an hour or so and by the 12th can of raid, you’ll see the demon spawn beginning to show signs of inebriation.  bide your time.  THE END IS IN SIGHT.  continue smacking at it with the broom and soon, the hellion will finally succumb, flipping itself over onto it’s back during it’s final death throes.

at this point, you can use the shovel to scoop up the corpse and carry it outside while screaming, “VENGEANCE IS MINE”.  i suggest cackling wildly as well, since you want the roach’s friends to see that you ARE indeed a force to be reckoned with. 

now, go back inside.  get the box of kleenex.  swallow the xanax and suck down the bottle of tequila as you devolve into a blubbering snotty mass of jelly repeating “uggy buggy, uggy buggy”, as you hug yourself, rocking to and fro.

fast forward… they finally show up to rehang the door.  apparently by “rehang the door”, you’ve meant “rebuild my home from the ground up” without realizing it.  they take the door off.  hang another door.  tell you that nope, the entire door frame has to be rebuilt.  so they rip out your door frame.  replace that.  then tell you that nope, the entire threshold has to be redone.  now they’re having to pour concrete.  then you find out that the tile inside no longer goes all the way to the threshold.  there’s a one inch gap.  so you’re going to need tile work.  along with needing to paint the door frame, threshold, etc. 

three days later before your door is finished and GUESS WHAT?! 

your burglar alarm no longer works.  when they ripped out the door frame, they ripped out the wires to the alarm.  so now you need the alarm company to come out.

you step out onto the patio, intending to clean up the mess that’s been left behind and you hear a sound…

you look up at the large tree shadowing your patio and you swear you see a mass of slithering, scurrying, chittering *things* and they’re cackling wildly…

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Tagged as: home,day2day,personal July 10, 2009 @ 07:06 am