fetjuel’s Neighborhood

1. Foxnews
2. Drudge Report
3. Futures Industry Association
4. NdNation
5. Irish Eyes
6. Irish Round Table
7. Domewire
8. Sheldon
9. Bloomberg
10. Rivals ND Page

That's ten pages popping up magically every time I launch Firefox.  2 specifically for work, 2 news, 1 comic strip, and the other 5 Notre Dame football related.  Not sure how I should feel about that.

BBC came out with the top ten most watched "Viral Videos."  How many of these have you seen?

I have been using Amazon since its inception.  No more.  I can't even begin to tell you the frustration Amazon has caused me over a $20 camera charger.  Plus, I still have like 49,000 words to go in my novel, so I don't have much time.

It started when I tried to order a replacement charger for my Sony camera so I can take some sweet pics of my little buddy and 4 month old son, Quinn.

I ordered through Amazon, but the charger never came.

So I send Amazon an e-mail(very hard to do since their site is ridiculously cumbersome to navigate. 

Dudes,
Where is my adapter?  I haven't received anything and I ordered   
this a long time ago!

They wrote me this reply:

 Status:           
 Undeliverable as Addressed
 Your item was undeliverable as addressed at 12:40 pm on June 12, 2006   
 in  
 CHICAGO, IL 60613.
 It is being returned if appropriate information is available.
We used the address:

[name and address omitted]

Please, confirm.
Regards,
Eurus-wings

This reply is not from Amazon, but from one of their sub-vendors.  Great.  Now I am dealing with completely different assholes.  The address they used was my exact address.  So off goes the next e-mail:

That is the proper address.  Not sure why UPS had a problem delivering it. 
Thanks,

    Joe    

They write back:

     Hello,
Thank you for your letter.
We are ready to resend you the item in case you pay additional $5.00 to our paypal account info@resurs2.com
and please, give us your sufficient address.
Please, e-mail us your decision.
Regards,
    Eurus-wings

F-bombs, I already gave you the right address in the first place.

Eurus-wings,
That is the right address.  You guys screwed it up somehow.  Please resend the package ASAP.  It is either your fault or UPS's fault.  You guys work it out and get the package to me.  You should send me $5.00 for the time lost not owning the product.  Get your business in order.
  - Joe

This is what they have the audacity to write back after roughly 2 months with no charger and no camera.  This entire time I'm missing out on taking pictures of my newborn son:

Hello,
Thank you for your letter.
We believe, it is not our fault that USPS failed to deliver you the item.
So, we prefer to make you a refund without shipping cost and fee we
paid Amazon for your purchase.
Please, e-mail us if you have any other questions.
Regards,
  Eurus-wings

You have got to be kidding me.  So now I try to send a complaint to Amazon, but try getting any info to these schleps is like trying to get info out of Berlin in the 60s.

Amazon is stinking up the joint lately.  I used to like working with Amazon.  But the fact is that I don't feel confident in you anymore.  That is bad business for you considering my $3,000 purchase of a plasma TV will be going through someone else.
The lack of resolution from the following Amazon order is perplexing.  Until you do something to make this order right, I'm done with you.
Good Day,
     Joe

But this e-mail doesn't even go through.  Instead I get this crap form some douche named Varun:

Thank you for writing to us at Amazon.com.
I offer my sincere apologies regarding this situation, and assure that we will help as much as we can to make this shopping experience as satisfactory as possible.
Unfortunately, I was unable to determine the exact item name from the content of your e-mail message.
Please click the following link to write back to us with the exact name of the item or the order number, so that we will able to assist you better in this regard.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html
 Please copy and paste the URL into your web browser to reach the specific page.
 When we receive the email from you using the form above, we will investigate and take any actions available to us to resolve the problem.
 Please be assured that all of us here are working very hard to provide a thorough, personal reply to each of our customers as quickly as possible.
Please let us know if this e-mail resolved your question:
 If yes, click here: http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=huugfbvy3347317689
 If not, click here: http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=huugfbvy3347317689
 Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail.
 To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.
Best regards,
 Varun S. Amazon.com Customer Service

Are you freakin serious?  I just sent you an e-mail with all the information and you want me to take the time to re-enter it into your crappy web-based e-mail system?  Get bent.  I have already wasted hours on this and missed hundreds of photographic moments with my family.  I am done with Amazon:

You guys are ridiculous.  I can not stand Amazon anymore.  Please close my account.

I can't even send you an e-mail?  I have to use your crappy, unwieldy website that is a freaking maze of useless links.

Here is the e-mail I tried to send three times but every time it gets bounced back to me and I am done.  Have a nice life, Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and the corporate idiots that came up with this customer "service" crap.

[previous e-mail string attached]

I'm shorting Amazon stock first thing in the morning.

 

I found Prestige Camera on the internet in researching a tv. There web site for the tv clearly states that it comes with a one year warranty. When I called to place the order the salesman was very upset that I wasn't buying any other merchandise ie cables or mounts. So then he tries to sell me a three year warranty. I refuse and he clearly becomes upset. I mention that the one year warranty will be fine and he mentions that there is no one year warranty. When I tell him the one year warranty is on the website he agrees with me but says he needs to cancel the order. He didn't want my order anyway since I wasn't buying any of the overpriced accessories.

I basically told him I would be bashing him on the internet all day.  He seemed shocked at that.  So far I have logged complaints with the Better Business Bureau, complaints.com, and some other blogs/websites.

This is a scam going on all over the internet. But these guys are located right in the middle of New York city. It figures that they are from New York.

Website detailing similar tactics from the same company
Website of the actual product I was trying to purchase. The warranty information is under the "included accessories" tab.  

Prestige Camera also does business under these names:

• A&M Photo World
• Broadway Photo
• Cameratopia
• Digital Liquidators LLC
• Ghu, LLC
• Preferred Photo
• Regal Camera
• Tronicity

Word count: 0.  All right, I've decided to start over since I really didn't like where things were going.  I just felt like I had taken things in the wrong direction.  As soon as Billy Joe was released from prison only to find employment in a soap production plant, I knew things had taken a turn for the worse.  So I'm starting over from scratch tomorrow morning.  

Word Count: 102.  Well, I hit a bit of a road block today.  I had typed out the first half of the story.  I was up to 25,000 words when I was like, "Hey, I'm up to 25,000 words.  I better save this."  when all of a sudden my dog came into the room and placed his paw on the power button of my computer.  Whoosh.  Just like that it was all gone.

Man, I had some good stuff in there too. 

Word Count: 102.  Things are going great.  I introduced a character.  I named him "Billy Joe."  See, now every time I refer to him as "Billy Joe" it counts as 2 words.  That will help me catch up.  OK.  Back to work.

All right, I'm a few days late here but I figure I can still pull this off.  It's National Novel Writing Month where I have to write a 50,000 word novel in a month.  Actually, since I'm starting late, I have more like 16 days.  OK.  I better get cracking.  That's 3,125 words a day.

UPDATE:   Word count: 23.  Things are going great.  The story has really developed with an opening scene and everything.  I even came up with some weather.  All right, I better press on....

Here is my list for the five worst people ever:

5. Henry VIII- He was a freakin, crazy Brit who had 70,000 heads lopped off.  3 or 4 of those unfortunate people were his wives.

4. Kim Jong Il-  This Korean Krazy is a total nutbag.  Now he has nukes.  Great.

3. Parsons- This is my buddy who never killed anyone, but he's still terrible.

2. Stalin- From what I heard he was not a nice person. 

1. Hitler-  This guy is the ultimate loser. 

What's the most drastic change you've ever made to your appearance?
Submitted by Laurie.

I once clipped my toe nails.  But seriously, it has to be when I gained 20 pounds in the last year.