Aim Your Canon

We sent a Canon camera for repair in the beginning of April. It came back with all the repairs done. However, unbeknownst to us, none of the little stainless screws that hold the camera together had been properly tightened. We only noticed this about now when a couple of the screws fell out. I took a tiny hobby screwdriver and tightened all the screws, except we had lost one who knows where.

Yes, this is another customer service rant. I went to the repair order and called the Factory Service Center in Illinois. I explained my problem and told the representative that all I needed was a couple of screws, no need to send the camera back. She took my repair order number, verified I was who I said I was, put me on hold. The line went dead.

I called again. Got another person, Leticia. Told her the same story. Gave her the repair order number. She said she would connect me with the repair department and they would handle it. Hmm, the repair department. Guess I thought the number on the repair order for the Factory Service Center and the “listen to these options since our directory has changed” correct number for repairs wasn’t enough.

Got to next woman. Told her same story. Told her repair number. Told her I didn’t need to send camera in, just needed a couple of teeny, tiny stainless screws. “Oh,” she said, “you have to call our parts department in New Jersey to get parts.” She put me on hold, retrieved the number, and gave it to me.

I called New Jersey. I got through their numeric switchboard to the parts department. I told my story again. He said that I should be talking to the repair department in Illinois. I told him they had said I was to talk to parts in New Jersey. I was asked how many screws I needed and said two should do the trick. He paused and said, with shipping, the cost would be $6.40. I reiterated that this was as a result of Canon’s repair department not tightening screws during service and that the camera had come back to me in early April with a 90-day warranty. He said I really should be talking to the service center. He put me on hold.

In a few minutes, a person I had been talking to in Illinois (Leticia … see above) came on the line. Yes, I was the person she had been talking to earlier. She wondered why her service department had referred me to the parts department. Hey, I’m clueless on that one. She put me on hold and had a conference with the New Jersey guy. Back on the phone, she asked me how many screws I needed. Two. She verified my address and told me they should be put into the mail tomorrow since the New Jersey guys had left for the day (it was 4:30 Eastern at the time).

Thank you for calling Canon. Your screws are forthcoming.

Ancestry or My Family?

My daughter-in-law has an account with Ancestry.com and is working on a family tree. When stuff is added, I get an email alert telling me to click on a link to see the new information, pictures, stories, etc. This past week, something changed. When I click on the links in the email, I am taken to a screen that forces you to join for a “free 14-day trial.” There is no way around this screen. If you want to go forward, you click on “Continue,” which takes you to a screen where they want your information in order to join … which is something I do not want. All I want is to see the family tree.

So, I called the Ancestry.com customer service line, waited about five minutes for a representative, and told her my story. She said she knew there had been some updating on the web site, but she could not answer my question. So, she transferred me to technical support. After about 15 minutes, a representative answered. I explained my problem to her. She looked up my account. She put me on hold to consult with others. She came back and asked from whom I had received the email. I looked and it was from myfamily@reply.myfamilyinc.com. “Oh,” she said, “that’s why I can’t find it.” She went on to explain that she was technical support for the ancestry builder part of Ancestry.com and that My Family was something else … for viewing a family tree.

So, she transferred me to the My Family technical support team. After about 10 minutes, a representative came on the line. I explained my story to her. She looked at my account and the main account. She said that the alert I had received was really from Ancestry.com and that the “myfamily” stuff was an old name, but they were all the same. She said she was going to transfer me to the technical support at Ancestry.com. I told her that they had transferred me to her. She laughed.

After spending some time on hold, she came back to ask that I just go to Ancestry.com (don’t use the links that they had provided me in their emails) and logon as me. She gave me a password to use. Sure enough, I could get to the family tree without having to join for a free trial.

By the way, all the representatives were cheerful and tried their best to help. Seems like none of them had been told of this free offer deal that sales had inserted into the web links.

"You May Not Talk to Your Mother Like That"

It’s taken me almost forty years to understand what my father meant when he told me this. We were in East Africa on a photo safari. It was 1969. I was 28, Marian 26, Mother 56, Dad 63. Marian and I remember two different accounts of how this all happened. However, what we both agree upon is that I had gotten angry with my mother, and told her so in not a nice way.

The next day, Dad took me aside. While we walked along, he made it clear I was never to speak to my mother like I had. It was unacceptable.

At the time, and whenever I would recall that incident, I always defined it as my father not wanting me to express any anger toward Mom – that you just didn’t articulate those feelings. Somehow, I also translated it into his saying I should never be angry at my mother.

What I now realize is that his admonition was mainly aimed at my tone of voice and the words I used in expressing them to Mom. That’s what was inappropriate. You just shouldn’t talk to your mother that way.

Gas - The New Gold

Got a call from my credit card company that someone has forged my card and several copies of it are being used around Florida for the purchase of gas. So, they closed my card number and will reissue me a new card and number, which will arrive in about five business days.

First thing I had to do was go to a list I have made of regular accounts that charge to this card (e.g., telephone, TV). Thank goodness I have such a list, even if I found it a little out of date. Then I looked at my bills to see when those automatic bills were due. For those due within the next week, I had to call them and tell them to suspend my old credit card and that I would call with the new one.

When I get the new card, I’ll have to go online and change lots of stuff there with merchants with whom I trade. Which gets me to the next question: Whose database was hacked so they could get all my credit card information and create forged cards? Was it one of the online companies? Was it some other merchant (grocery, gas, clothing store)?

And what were the thieves buying? Gas. All the fraudulent charges were for gas purchases in Florida. No one went out and got a new TV or digital camera, a sofa or some hooch. Gas – the new gold.

I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm Found

I got into my car after lunch today and turned on the GPS system to aid guiding me to a meeting. The map the system displayed showed I was miles away from my current location and heading in about the opposite direction. Not having time to fool with it then, I turned it off. After the meeting, I turned it on again, and the same thing happened.

I called the dealer and was asked whether anyone had done any tire work for me recently. I replied I had just had the state inspection on the car, that they probably took off one or two wheels, and the system was confused after that. I was told that all the systems are related to one another. So, when you take a wheel off, everything resets (all the computer alarms and other gizmos) and has to relearn. Perhaps that would take 20-30 miles. If not, bring it in to the dealer.

Driving home, I looked at the map from time to time to see where it thought I was and where I was heading. It consistently told me I was nowhere near my actual location and heading east when I was going west. About two miles from home, it found where I really was. Ah, cognitive dissonance relieved.

Never know the effect of doing one small thing on the rest of what's going on.