The 411

Keep up to date on what your competition is doing. Create a strategy. Increase your odds of winning.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Yes, One more time about being on hold

Ok, i really am finding that when i am on hold, it is a great few minutes to check dealdash and blog a bit. And surprise, i am on hold.  I'm bitter about the under $1 wins they have posted.  But that seems to be my norm.

But here is what i really want to say:

Has every single automated phone system in the world "recently changed their menu"?  You know what i mean right? "please listen carefully as our menu has recently changed." I don't think i have come across a menu that hasn't recently changed. Have you? I mean seriously??

I am so sick of recorded voices demanding me to pay attention because they did NOT change their menu in the last 5 years. They just say that so you pay attention. It is really not cool.

So what i am proposing is a National Automated Phone System regulation to be passed. There is a set amount of time you can have your recording say that the menu has recently changed. There is a time limit. Maybe 3 months or something. Because you usually don't have to call some of these places all the time. You don't remember what button to push so you are going to listen to the recording anyway. So i guess if you call on a monthly basis, you will need this information about a recently changed menu. But the rest of us who call only once in awhile are already going to listen to the darn menu options because we need to make the right choice. We actually don't care that it changed because we don't remember what it was like last time we called. So don't give us the b.s. "pay attention" moment. It wastes 2-3 seconds of our lives. We are already going to spend the next 10 minutes on hold waiting for you, so give us back this 3 seconds of life. And don't sternly tell me to pay attention. I'm not in kindergarten.

So after the set period of time, you are required by law to make your automated phone message no longer say that the menu has recently changed. Because it hasn't. Real people always tell us what to do, so don't have a recorded voice tell me what to do too.

Friday, November 18, 2011

DD411: Well well well - What do we have here....

Yup. I could possibly be the worst blogger ever since i post so infrequently now. I know i always give excuses but they are legit! I don't have time to watch DealDash any more, let alone re-join and play. it is a sad day for me to admit that. In fact, i was thinking i should clean out my accounts on all the sites i have been on. I bet i have bids left all over the place. if i can even remember which username and password i used for each site. that's the only problem when you change things up too much...
Contrary to popular belief, i do have a real job and have a major client who takes up every ounce of my time. Then, in my limited free time, i build two companies that i own. NOw i'm not patting myself on the back here....one has made a little money and the other has made a big fat zero. So when i get these companies up to an amazing level, i'll be the deal dash king. For real. maybe i'll have my own penny auction and make my own rules and anyone who annoys me gets a time out. i have monstrous ideas about how to makes a super fun PA.

Anyway, i have updates -
Kindle Fire fiasco part 1 and 2
Major frustration about certain stop signs
Rainboots

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

DD411 - Am I The Only One?

Yeah, yeah, people are bidding on stuff. I've been traveling and unable to follow deal dash with my usual zeal. And i am still super bitter when i see computers sold for $0.45. Remember i have regressed to the "it's not fair" view of deal dash. So i hate seeing that. It ruins my day.

So instead i want to throw something else out there.

Am I the only one (notice use of capital I - this means i am being super serious. See this all helps to create emotion and emphasis subtly) who thinks the new iphone is NOT ok? I mean they are basically creating a little personal machine that can kind of "think" on its own.   Is any one worried about this? Is it just me?  It is creeeeeeeepy. Has no one actually watched War Games and Terminator Series recently? Haven't we learned what can happen in an over computerized world? SKYNET! JOSHUA! We have already seen what can happen if a computer self-realizes and goes rogue. Did we not learn a lesson from Arnold? Everyone launched nukes at each other accidentally and then machines take over.  It's called Judgement Day people. I suggest you rent War Games, Terminator 1, 2, 3, (but not that random one that was stuck in there before Salvation came out).  Then you may look at your iphone differently.

I think the new iphone is getting too close to making machines too powerful. That is my thought for the day. I'm sure i will have more to say about this. I will end with a mangled quote from the late genius Michael Crichton ( i know i am butchering this quote - my apologies in advance).

"Scientists are so busy inventing all the things that they could, but they never stop to think if they SHOULD."

i'll have to look the real quote up later. But you get my point. Now go watch the world be destroyed by thinking machines and have a healthy fear of your new iphone.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

dd411: a Very Kindle Moment

so we have all seen that pre order for the kindle fire up on dealdash..since i am fully  bitter person now, i see that and say why the heck did i just buy a regular kindle only to have it totally shown up by the new kindle? this is something that makes me nuts. i finally say ok ill get the stinking kindle and now i cant even enjoy it without cooler stuff coming out. you maybe saying "well dude you are a few  years late on the kindle...so of course there are better ones now." to that i say "i never said i wasn't a moron. i was so into my discman even while everyone moved on to ipods and stuff."

remember when it was totally ok to carry around this giant discman machine? and you were so awesome if you got the  cassette tape hook up so you could use your disc man in the car? do they even make cars with cassette players any more? can you request one?  i cant believe i am finally old enough to start the "back in my day..." and i get shocked looks.  "wait....you used to hold that giant discman in your hand when you went running? i hope you switched it from hand to hand so you didn't end up with one giant arm muscle from holding that brick.."  or "what do you mean if you went over a bump in the car your discman would skip a beat??? what is skipping a beat anyway? how did you live like that?"    

                 ok back to the kindle. so a few months ago i bought  a darn kindle and i got that insurance thing from best buy because i am notorious for dropping all electronic items constantly. yes i went through many a discman and walkman.  my dog tends to eat all my things too so i got the free replacement plan with that in mind as well. 

What's worse than forgetting a book or kindle before you get on a long flight?? i will tell you...it is being on the actual flight, getting your kindle out and finding it the screen all messed up because your 100 lb dog stepped on it.... (so i deduced)...which just happened to me. I'm on the stinking airplane and find out my Kindle is toast. I mean toast. For some reason in my head, a kindle is like an extra sturdy little machine. It doesn't seem as fragile as an i phone or or computer or tablet. To me it was like a little sheet of cement. This is not true. Don't ask me why i thought i could toss this thing around like a frisbee. Actually, maybe once i realized i had the insurance, i realized i could toss it around because it was insured. In case you were wondering, i also have the insurance on my cell phone. I tend to drop that thing like it is my job. I do the drop followed by a kick sometimes too. I need the insurance for sure.

Anyway, back to the Kindle-airplane fiasco.  So now i am stuck on a long flight with no book to read, no games to play, and thank god i had just downloaded some podcasts onto my DealDash ipod, so at least i had a little something to do.

Upon my return home, i marched right into Best Buy all confident and proud because it was busted but I was smart enough to get the insurance. You may be thinking this story is headed down the path of "didn't read the fine print and any pet-inflicted kindle injury is not covered by the insurance." But don't worry. Before i got the insurance i asked a series of pointed questions to check this out:

Me: So if my dog chews on my kindle, i get a brand new one?
Clerk: Yes
Me: So if i run over it with my car, I bring it back and I get a brand new kindle?
Clerk: Yes
Me: What if it is in a million pieces.
Clerk: As long as you bring all the pieces with you.
Me: What if i forget one of the hundred pieces that it is in?
Clerk: As long as you have the majority  you're fine.
Me: So i drop it in the toilet and it gets water-logged, I still get a brand new one?
Clerk: yes
Me: What if i take it to the beach and a tiny grain of sand gets in it and wreaks havoc?
Clerk: new one
Me: What if i decide to open the back, take it all apart and try to put it back together again and it doesn't work. Will you replace that?
clerk: yes.
Me: I think i've done my due diligence. I'll take it.

So Best Buy/Geek Squad peeps check it all out. They are like "woah how did this happen?" You must have banged the poopies out of this thing." I told them i actually didn't bang it on anything. They said it somehow had to be crushed to make the screen look the way it was looking. I said it really wasn't crushed. in fact, I let them know that i believed my dog had stepped on it while i was charging it up the night before i left. I had it charging on the floor. (i never said i was a genius). I love it when they totally don't believe you and the dude gives me this look like "oh sure, that's what happened..." like i won't tell him how it really happened. He even reassures me by saying "it doesn't matter how it happened we will replace it no matter what you did to it." Like that would give me the confidence to spill the beans about what i was actually doing with my Kindle. What did he expect me to say? Oh I was playing basketball with it and hit the rim. Oh my friend hit a killer home run with it. Oh i was jumping on it with my pogo stick. Oh i was reading high up in a tree and it fell and hit a few branches on the way down. I was lost in the desert and tried to dig for water with it. I used it for archery practice.

They weren't buying my dog story at ALL. the guys says, with this look, "so how big is your dog?" Like i must have a dog the size of a Clydesdale to ruin a Kindle like that. i say he is about 100 lbs. He gave me the look again and then we moved on. He probably couldn't believe someone would be dumb enough to leave their kindle laying in the middle of the wood floor through the night for it to get stepped on. Oh but i did.
So they say what is music to my ears...."go pick out a new kindle." Score! I head over to the Kindle section and i notice that the price on the exact same one i had is like $80 less because it was "old." I started to feel that bitterness rise up in my stomach because i overpaid. And that the new Kindle Fire was actually only $10 more than what i had paid on my old school Kindle. So with my suave negotiation skills, I paid $10 and pre-ordered the Kindle Fire as my replacement. (ok no negotiations necessary - upgrade was part of the deal).
So i have to wait a few weeks, but now i get the Kindle fire. And yes, i will be getting the insurance on my new kindle. Just in case i get a flat tire and need to use my Kindle to jack up my car.

End Story. This was a happy story. I am actually shocked that it all worked out ok. Although i am still waiting for the ball to drop...things aren't supposed to be this easy. Maybe gremlins are going to steal my new Kindle and gremlin theft won't be covered by insurance....