Category Archive

New York:

Congressman Anthony Weiner held a grand press conference this weekend, complete with charts and graphs, calling on Government to double funding for the Workforce Investment Act: a federal initiative that pays for summer jobs and “job training” for teenagers.

He cited the recent reports showing that there aren’t enough summer jobs for teenagers these days.

But here’s the rub. If you simply take a gander at any one of the small business in the New York Metro area that would *normally* employ these scrappy, acne-prone young workers: construction sites, restaurants, retail counters, etc… you’d quickly realize that they’re mostly staffed with, you guessed it, illegal immigrants.

I’d call it New York’s “dirty little secret” only it’s so out in the open, so brazen that it’s neither a “secret”, or anywhere near “little”.

The sad truth is New York is so endorsing of this insidious brand of quasi-slave labor that all the “usual” summer jobs that teenagers used to flock to between school years are no longer an option.

And of course, due to the socialist-lite society we find ourselves living in these days, instead of saying “um, excuse me… but you’re not technically supposed to be here… and you’re taking jobs that our citizens would like to do… would you mind waiting in line like everyone else?”… we instead call on the GOVERNMENT to pump BILLIONS OF DOLLARS into some hair-brained PROGRAM paid for with MY tax dollars.

Really?

Please, wake me up when this nightmare is over.

e

And they’re taking the case!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the situation (long-winded spew here), I essentially asked my NYAG to see if the ‘ol Get-Out-of-Your-Cell-Contract “net legend” -where if you don’t have a WRITTEN contract, you’re only liable for ONE year-… was bullshit or not. Apparently not. Or maybe. Whatever.

Proof, here:

It just occurred to me that some of you might want to see the “legal forms” I filled out concerning my challenge of Tmobile, and their evil insistence.

Of course, some of you would rather see a snuff film than legal documents. And that’s okay. You don’t have to partake. However, it is just 2 simple pages… frankly, a surprise coming from Government. Enjoy.

 

e

 

I hate T-Mobile with every bone in my adonis-like body.

And I recently tested the technique detailed here (wikihow, among other places) which says, essentially, that if the Cell Provider CAN’T produce a SIGNED contract… then they can only hold you to 1 year, the maximum for a verbal, legal contract.

A quick back story:

In November ‘06 I switched to T-Mobile from AT&T (who I liked) because my company had a nice discount with them.

Last year, I started my own business, and for the first time in my entire life, I went over my allotted minutes. Way, way over.

Shocked and freightened at the prospect of paying several hundred dollars in overages, I called them to see if they could help me out at all.

And for all their hip jibber-jabber “Oh… TOTALLY… BUMMER… I would be upset too… WOW… yeah, that SUCKS… ” they apparently have “no process” for protecting their customers from overages. Even if it’s due to a life-change, or other “understandable” event.

And, of course, they charge, like, $2 per minute above your ceiling. Which is pretty nasty.

Now, it’s not like I expected them to excuse the charges. Not at all. After all, I did go over my minutes. But because it was such a sudden, and insane increase, I was frankly expecting them to do a *little* bit, to help a good, loyal customer ease the pain.

But no.

And everything I tried, begging, pleading, talking to supervisors, et all… still no.

So I asked them to set me up on a plan “where this would never happen again”. And, after some hemming and hawing, I did. And it worked for a few months… until last month. And then BAM!

Another $400+ overage.

WTF?!

Of course, I’m an idiot, I guess. Because I can’t rightly keep track of every due date and every level of minutes, and dollars of all my stuff. At a certain point I just need to be able to not worry about this stuff… past a certain level of involvement.

So I called them to see what went wrong. And apparently, my new big client wasn’t on T-Mobile (I pay extra each month for “free T-Mobile 2 T-Mobile” service), and I’d logged an un-Godly amount of minutes with him.

And once again, I asked if there was any way they could lesson the pain for a loyal, on-time-paying customer… and they said, simply, I was SOL.

So I asked them if there was any mechanism for them (or me) to notifiy me (myself) if I was approaching my minutes limit. And, not surprisingly, there is none (although Verizon actually gives you a courtesy call, and offers to switch your plan for that month… must be nice).

So, I said, you know what…? Enough is enough. I want out. And they said “fine, that will be $300+ for terminating your contract”… and I said “Oh snap! …I never SIGNED a contract!” (which is 10000% true, I did everything over the phone).

And here’s the crux of this post (finally): from all the “get out of your cell contract” info on teh internets, there’s always the passage that states “ask them to produce a copy of your signed contract… if they can’t, then you don’t have to pay an early termination fee.”

Sounds pretty simple.. and that’s why, in late January, I put in an ‘order’ for a copy of my signed contract. Just in case. And to this day, they have not found it. Although I did get a call from their legal department, stating they “were still looking for it”.

So I called back, and pointed out this fact to a supervisor, and while he neither confirmed nor denied that “rule” he said quite matter-of-factly “if you cancel your contract before November you owe us $300+ … if you feel you don’t have to pay it, you’ll need to get a lawyer.”

ARRGGHGHHH!!!

So I did the next best thing. I called my State Attorney General here in New York. And they sent me a form to fill out, and send in.
Essentially, I asked them for 2 things: 1) if this “can’t produce contract, can’t enforce contract” information is true or not, and 2) if it is… help me get the Hell out of this thing!

I’ve shared this information with one of my favorite consumer sites consumerist.com, which is one of the original sources of my “information”. So… we’ll see, I guess. There had to be a guinea pig for this little “trick”, and it just so happens to be me.

I mailed it yesterday (05/28/09) and when I get a response, I’ll update this post.

And for everyone out there who’s in the Hell I’m in… drink copious amounts of alcohol to numb the pain.

That’s all I can offer for now.

e

Lots going on in the consumer world… we’re preparing action items concerning our 3 favorites here, due out in the next couple of weeks:

“Lacie, redux”

“T-Mobile, OMG!”

And, last but not least, a new ongoing series entitled:

“The MTA owes me some muthafucking money!”

Or, some other title that *might* be more fit for consumption

Stay tuned, and thanks for the hits.

e

Explode. As in a good way.

A few years ago I got a low-rez .mp3 off of pitchforkmedia from a TVT band called Ambulance LTD. Which I immediately confused with Son, Ambulance, on Saddle Creek Records, but no mind.

After a few months of this sneakily catchy song, “Primitive”, creeping onto my iPod playslists, I decided to investigate further, and I immediately bought everything of this addictive young “Spanish Harlem” indie rock band I could get my hands on. Which, unfortunately, was not a lot: a self-titled EP, a full-length, creatively-titled “LP” (album-naming clearly taking a second billing), and a smattering of loose demos, three songs released especially for DKNY, and finally, in 2006, another EP: “New English EP”.

And then nothing. For two full years.

So last fall I went searching again.

And of course they have a website (not-often updated) and a myspace.com page (slightly less not-often updated), but nothing more. Just a lot of comments asking the question I wanted to ask: “where the fuck ARE these guys?”

Then, over the Holidays last year, I heard their song “Anecdote” on a commercial. Of course I had my usual reaction when I hear a band that’s near-and-dear to me show up in a commercial… “Oh hey… wow… FUCK!”.

I know, I know. Pretty conflicted for a marketing guy, but moving on.

What made their commercial debut slightly better for me was the immediate rash of metoo songs in commercials that rather blatantly ripped them off. A very good sign for a band, methinks.

And then, last week, I re-checked their myspace page: …”Oh hey… wow… FUCK!”

They announced a tour…! The first one in YEARS!

And it was last month. Great.

Anyway. Even though I am beyond super-bummed not to be able to see these guys live, even though it was at the fight-or-flight-inducing Mercury Lounge (drink or pee, the choice is yours)… despite many, many lineup changes (never, ever good) …and despite this video of the lead singer/guitarist/creator Marcus Congelton blathering SoCal-style in a grimy wifebeater (which, apparently, unfortunately, he wears a lot)… I am making the call. Right here. Right now.

The call: Very soon Ambulance LTD will be a household name.

A man was robbed at in New York City today. At gunpoint. Just south of Central Park, in front of a Starbucks. The thief made off with $100,000.00.

I’m not kidding. See?

linky

But what’s striking to me about this was not how unique, and brazen a crime it was (and, as a New Yorker, I must admit I am kindof freaked out), but rather how the foolishly, and recklessly politically correct is the description of the suspect was:

“Police were searching a suspect they described as a man between 25 and 30 years old who was wearing a black parka, black pants is about five feet 9 inches tall.”

Um, wha? …Really? We’re seriously going to continue this charade? Male. Average height. Poncho. Really? Are we really supposed to just pretend that this person wasn’t white, black, or brown? But rather a pure amalgamation of all the human races, with the skin tone of a just-past-perfectly baked sugar cookie? Gimme a break. How are we supposed to look out for this guy? More importantly, how are the Police supposed to look out for this guy? (Well, they won’t admit it publicly, but I ASSURE you they know what race and ethnicity this guy is).

I’ve got an idea. What about not saying “African American” or “White”? What about simply “light complected”? Or “dark-skinned”? More of a medical diagnosis?

And before you even say it, there’s a marked difference here between this and “racial profiling”. THAT is where you assume people of certain vague descriptions *could* commit a crime. This is very, very different. There is an armed, and well-funded maniac on the loose. In my hood. Yikes.

Well, either way, as a society we’ve reached a level of certifiable insanity. If we have to tiptoe around what a gun-toting maniac actually looks like, we’re doomed. Just doomed.

Doomed. 

The so-called “transit system” that supposedly “serves” New York City is an unmitigated joke. I really, truly, and honestly believe it is run by monkeys. Actual, hairy, poop-throwing monkeys.