I recently became seduced by all the Geico ads bragging that 15 minutes would save me a lot of money by switching my car insurance to them. I filed a query on line and answered all their questions involving my 1998 Volvo Station Wagon in very good condition with no accidents. I even entered my credit card on line for the first low cost payment. But then it was BAIT AND SWITCH! The quote from Geico was three times what I had been paying with All State Insurance. It took some time to back away and retrieve my credit card numbers without a deduction. Geico tried to hold on to me with a series of pleas to return and join them. No chance. I switched to Liberty Mutual for the lowest and best rate ever.
My next encounter was with Charter Communications. I had a two year bundle contract that included telephone, computer and television. The $160 a month charge was locked in and I tried to lower that, especially with all the ads from A. T. & T, Cox TV, Filos, Direct TV and Dish TV. It turned out that only Charter offered a bundle deal in CT where I live. All the other company ads were deceptive, because they promised the sun and moon at rock bottom prices. But none were operating in my neck of the woods. That is, except for A.T.& T. They offered telephone and computer hookups at a modest price; but I would have to get TV transmission from Direct TV, jacking up the total bundle cost. Charter had a strangle hold on customers in my CT area.
During my two year contract with Charter, I found that when we had a power blackout, my telephone wouldn't work. (A. T. &T. has its own fiber optical lines that are impervious to blackouts). When I needed tech support from Charter, a young lady in the Philippines tried to help me get back on line. After two hours of pulling out all connections, on her command, nothing worked. She concluded I needed a new router to solve the problem. Where am I going to get a new router or modem at 2 am? That was my problem, not hers. Anyhow, I played around with the various connections, finally gave up at 3 am and slapped the modem in anger. I was suddenly on line!
I know we're in the age of digital electronics and fiber optics. Magazines, newspapers and books are all giving up the high costs of printing hard copies. They all only need one lone copy of an E-book to reach millions for down loading. And at modest cost. They can sell their warehouses, fire employees and have more money for executives' bonus' at Christmas.
But I'm still not giving up my horse and buggy. Yes, I have a computer for emails, research and word processing. Ben, a friend of mine in Ohio, had one of the early computers during the 80's. He manufactured accordians that sold for $998 retail and cost $398 wholesale. So, with the computer and an intern he decided to furlough his 12 employees. The first shipment of 75 instruments were scheduled to ship to KCMO. The intern sent them to Knights of Columbus Missouri. Then she billed each of the accordians at $3.98. It took three months to unravel this mess. Yes, the stores paid $3.98 for each instrument and those payments had to be honored. Ben put a black cloth over his computer, let the intern go back to college and welcomed his 12 employees to return to work. More blogs later.
