» Smart Phones, Web Design, Google or whatever
Archive for December, 2008
Circuit City on Hard Times and Hard on Consumers?
Dec 3rd
As reported by TG Daily just yesterday there may be more trouble at Circuit City who has filed for Chapter 11 Protection than the recession. Reportedly a Circuit City customer made a purchase online with Circuit City’s “24-minute in-store pickup guarantee” and the store tried to charge their customer for “System optimization and installed software.”
You should read the whole story since it is very interesting (just click the link below the quote). Its bothersome that a store the size of Circuit City would be pulling stuff like this. Here’s an interesting chunk from that very article:
After the credit card was scanned and the receipt was printed, the consumer was getting ready to sign it. He noticed it was about $184 more than expected … When asked “Why the extra expense?” the new clerk … asked the consumer if the original clerk had explained the additional charges incurred due to Circuit City pre-optimizing the notebook? The consumer said, “I didn’t order or want the optimization.” She continued to explain that it had already been installed. As such, he was required to pay the full amount of the installation if he wanted the purchase … At this point the notebook order had already been placed online and held with a credit card for the advertised amount of $549. These were new charges showing up at the store.
- TG Daily (More shady dealings at Circuit City, this time on Black Friday)
Maybe there is more to Circuit City’s financial woes than just a faltering economy? Maybe there are some base issues with training or basic honesty. It seems, as TG Daily’s post mentions that the optimization and installation of software is a Circuit City policy. If that’s the case it should certainly be disclosed at time of purchase online, or even better, since stock is being checked while the customer hits the Circuit City website the price should have been adjusted online – in bold, red print.
Cricket Wireless – My Cricket Adventures 12/3/2008
Dec 3rd
CRICKET 12/3 Take One
Today’s Cricket adventure started out trying to activate the phone Cricket EZ cell phone I blogged about buying last night at Wal-mart. I noted in this previous post that the Live chat operator on the Cricket website priced the Cricket EZ at $49.99 (minus $20 rebate after 45 days service = $29.99) and the via phone Wal-mart quoted me $19.99 for the very same phone.
So, we begin today with me calling Cricket to activate my new phone for their famous monthly plan that does not require any contract, its simply month-to-month paying in advance for unlimited talk ($25/month plus tax is $29.75) which is a perfect way to try out a new oufitlike Cricket to see if I like what I get – and no 1 year or 2 year legal tether to them. So having the necessary info handy I dial their toll-free number and I’m told that the phone I bought is for their PAYGo service, and not the plan I want.
CRICKET 12/3 Take Two
I hop into my SUV during lunch and drive over to the local corporate Cricket store (those are full-service unlike some of the other places that sell Cricket products like local cell companies, Wal-mart and the like) to get the Cricket EZ and the $25/mo plan, and the phone costs the same as if purchased online. Below are pros and cons I’ve noted between buying online and buying at the Cricket store.
PURCHASING AT CRICKET STORE
- (pro) purchasing in the Cricket store means I get my cell phone and service right away
- (con) purchasing in the Cricket store means I have to send in a mail-in rebate which will be validated at 45 days of service and mailed out within 60 days of mailing the rebate (45 day holding period + 15 day for rebate check to get printed, mailed and received at my mailbox). I dislike mail-in rebates
PURCHASING ONLINE
- (pro) purchasing online means I get a $20 rebate automatically after 45 days of service
- (con) purchasing online means I would have had to wait 3-5 days for cell phone delivery
So into the Cricket store I walk, pay for another Cricket EZ – since they understandably cannot refund me for the phone I bought at Wal-mart and cannot use it for about 2 more days for a monthly plan since its a PAYGo phone – select the $25 monthly plan with the first month free, and pay a $15 activation fee. The total is $71.40 with tax and I walk out with a functioning unlimited talk cell phone, and a due date of January 2 for February’s payment.
CRICKET 12/3 The Cricket EZ
The least expensive of the Cricket-supported cell phones, the Cricket EZ is a basic smartphone, possibly not even smart, I don’t really know. The phone’s box touts the following features:
- Text Messaging capable (non-QWERTY keypad, of course)
- Color LCD
- Preloaded polyphonic ringtones
- Preloaded wallpapers
- Stores up to 300 contacts including names, addresses, phone numbers, emails and notes
- Speed dial
- Calendar, alarm, calculator, to-do-list, world time
Inside the box was the EZ phone, Lithium Ion Battery, Battery Door, AC Adapter, User Manual, Quick Reference Guide, Quick Start Guide and Warranty card. Of note, both sales people I spoke with at the store at different times suggested purchasing the $4.95/month handset warranty. In the Cricket New Customer Kit there is a Manfacturer’s Warranty section that begins “Manufacturer’s phone and accessory warranty is generally 1 year,” however this section does not apply to the Cricket EZ. Instead the sales person sraws my atention to the What is Classified as “Out of Warranty”? and What is the Warranty Exchange Program? noting that scratches on the phone or dropping it even once would void the warranty, and that I should check the phone out to make sure it worked okay, but in less than 30 minutes since at that point you cannot exchange it for a new phone (same model or otherwise).
Personal observation : the positioning of the tiny earpiece on the phone is terrible, a mere 1/4 inch or less from the top means your ear easily slides off of the phone while talking. Yet another good reason to take this phone back for an upgrade. The Samsung u340 – RefurbSamsung u340 – Refurb looks promising, $69.99 and if I can return the Cricket EZ I will go for that!
Here is some technical info about the Cricket EZ.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: BUYING PHONES USING THE MYCRICKET.com WEBSITE
If you want to use the Cricket website to aid in your choice of which cell phone to buy you’d better get out some paper. Unlike some other wireless companies (like AT&T/Cingular, Verizon and Virgin Mobile) there is no comparison feature on their website to compare prices and features of the phones you are interested in. Instead you need to rely on a) that piece of paper I mentioned earlier and writing down all of the pertinent details to make your own comparison, b) a good memory or c) a Cricket online sales person who gets paid for making sales – I’m thinking there might be a little bias there.
If you want to use the Cricket website to aid in your choice of which cell phone to buy you’d better get out some paper. Unlike some other wireless companies (like AT&T/Cingular, Verizon and Virgin Mobile) there is no comparison feature on their website to compare prices and features of the phones you are interested in. Instead you need to rely on a) that piece of paper I mentioned earlier and writing down all of the pertinent details to make your own comparison, b) a good memory or c) a Cricket online sales person who gets paid for making sales – I’m thinking there might be a little bias there.
Cricket Wireless – My Cricket Adventures 12/2/2008
Dec 3rd
Today while checking out news about Blackberry Storm, T-Mobile G1, iPhone etc I ran across the Cricket Wireless website and thought what the heck, $25/month for unlimited wireless sounds good so I’ll give them a shot and compare to my Virgin Mobile plan.
A customer service rep via their site’s Live Chat answered my many questions and seemed very patient, maybe too patient. at the time I thought what great service. I was trying to find the least expensive phone and wasn’t really sure what I wanted since I found the site accidentally so the Cricket rep discussed all of my otpions and was patient when I kept repeating that the prices were higher than what I expected to pay considering my current cell phone (my very basic, very uncool and very ungeek-like cell phone) was only $10-$20 depending upon where I bought it. I settled on their basic phone the Cricket EZ for $49.99 (minus $20 rebate after 45 days service = $29.99) since the one I wanted with MP3 player and the one with the camera was more than I needed to just test the service out. So I called a local store I found on their site while I was waiting for a Live Chat answer and found the very same Cricket EZ was only $19.99 and I didn’t have to wait 45 days for a rebate or 3-5 days for shipping. Then I told the Live chat operator at which point she said “Thank you for letting me answer all of your questions for you and not giving me the sale.”
Wait, what? Although I can understand disappointment on the part of the salesperson its not my fault that Cricket doesn’t give their reps decent information (probably on purpose) and I think that sucks for their sales force, but it doesn’t mean I’ll pay extra cash to wait for a cell phone I’d like to start using tomorrow.
Well, I went and picked up my Cricket EZ at the local Wal-mart and caled the toll-free number inside of the Welcome to Cricket PAYGo pamphlet and my call to activate the phone was dropped. No big deal, my cordless phone has dropped calls before (I guess, right?) and I called back. This time a person answered right after the automated service and told me they were closed, so I need to call back tomorrow morning.
So, I’m very hopeful to get my new Cricket Wireless service started tomorrow, and I’ll be blogging about that later.
CRICKET WIRELESS COMMERCIAL JULY 2008
Google Android Gets Boost from Kyocera, Wind River
Dec 3rd
Kyocera will be building a smartphone using Google’s Android operating system, as reported by CNET News dept’s “Kyocera joins Android phone bandwagon“. Plus, according to the Android Community’s “Kyocera announces development of Android platform” Kyocera, who was not part of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), will be working with Wind River to incorporate Android OS in a “new product platform” (as of Oct. 21, 2008 – Wind River).
Hopefully by 2009 Kyocera will have completed their “new product platform” and we’ll have another Android-based cell phone on the market. Now if only there was a cell phone that could run Android, iPhone OS, or Storm (Blackberry) OS.
CURRENTLY THE ONLY CELL SPORTING ANDROID
