Damned Liberal | You do not have to be a Democrat to be a liberal. You do not have to be a Republican to be a conservative. Our two-party system is corrupt and uses propaganda to manipulate you.

Samsung Phone Burns Up. Samsung Wants Customer To STFU.

December 10, 2013 Damned Liberal

Hopefully, you’ve noticed how big companies try to impose their demands on you, in the form of legal contracts.

It often happens with an arbitration clause buried somewhere in the contract. The arbitration clause deprives you of your right to sue — you have to go to arbitration. That’s good for corporate America because arbitration is a sort of kangaroo court, and arbitration decisions are not published, and you probably won’t be able to appeal when you get screwed.

Now comes Samsung, which approached a guy whose Samsung phone started smoking in the middle of the night. He had plugged it into the charger and went to bed.

Samsung wants him to not talk about it, take down his YouTube video, and accept whatever sort of phone they decide to give him in exchange.

What did he do?

Well, he posted another YouTube video about the way Samsung was trying to screw him. It has gotten over 660,000 hits in less than 5 days.

Samsung, the word’s getting out. You screwed up.

And you deserve it.

Big Business, Consumers Leave a comment

There’s A Room In Hell Labeled “Traveler’s Claims”

December 10, 2013 Damned Liberal

I earlier wrote about the neighbor who drove her car into my house.

Adding insult to injury, I’m having to deal with her insurance company, Traveler’s.
Traveler’s phoned me (I live 700 miles away) to tell me about the crash, even if their description was inadequate (“she drove into your garage door”). Traveler’s also told me, at about 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 5, that an adjuster would go to the house within 48 hours. Actually, it took four days — the adjuster arrived about 4:30 p.m. on December 9.

Partial payment: Based on what Traveler’s has said, they may offer to only partially reimburse me to repair their insured’s destruction. They will apparently write down the reimbursement they pay based on “depreciation”. I was told they do this if it involves an automobile insurance policy but not if it involves a homeowner’s insurance policy. WTF?

I may end up pursuing legal action against the woman who caused the damage if I’m not made whole.

Word to the wise: Stay away from Traveler’s and hope like hell your house is not driven into by someone insured by Traveler’s.

Big Business, Miscellany Leave a comment

What Is Bitcoin?

December 7, 2013 Damned Liberal

There has been much discussion lately about Bitcoin, and alternate currency.

If you’re interested in a detailed explanation of what it is and how it works, click here.

Technology Leave a comment

Comcast Customer Service: One Of The Rooms In Hell

December 6, 2013 Damned Liberal

I have a new “greatest fear”.

It is that when I go to hell they put me in the room marked “Comcast customer service”.

I have Comcast service for cable and internet…long story, but it was really the only choice available to me. Last night, the internet died. I phoned Comcast’s 800 number for customer service. What followed was a four and one-half hour preview of what hell is going to be like.

Comcast’s customer service is in the Philippines. During my preview of hell, I had to call that number four times and spoke with five people. Three of them had strong accents and were difficult to understand. One of them disconnected my (Comcast) phone connection as we spoke. And he never bothered to call me back. All of the “account executives” (probably being paid a few bucks an hour) insisted we had to proceed through their scripts step by step, starting at the beginning each time. The end result, at 2:00 a.m., was that I still didn’t have internet service.

Fed up, I today called Comcast’s corporate office in Philadelphia and was put in touch with a couple of people who finally addressed and solved the problem, about 14 hours later. Oh, and I had to go to a local Comcast office to pick up a new modem. It opened at 10:00 am. and I got there a few minutes early. There were already 8 people waiting in front of the locked door. I wondered if they had also been speaking to people in the Philippines until 2:00 a.m.

Everything I’ve been reading lately about capitalism and corporate callousness came to mind. I’ll bet Comcast’s CEO bragged about how much money they were going to save when they outsourced customer “service” to a call center in the Philippines. And he probably regaled shareholders with his assurance they’d be seeing more dividend money, too.

The customers? Well, they were of secondary importance. So what if they have to speak to people somewhere else in the world whose accents were difficult to understand? So what if there was nobody there with enough technical knowledge to solve problems? So what if customers spent hours on the phone? Those really weren’t significant concerns, I suspect.

What mattered: “We’re gonna make more money!”
Get rid of the $11 per hour greedy Americans.
Pay the Filipinos maybe $6 or $7 per hour.
“Free trade” (lowest available wages and costs) is what it’s all about, y’know.

This is the world we’re now relegated to, thanks to greed (some call it “capitalism”) and “free trade”.

If you go to hell, do NOT let them drag you into the room with the sign, “Comcast customer service”.

But if they do, say hello to me.

I’ll be the guy holding the phone to his ear for eternity, listening to someone speaking to me with a strong Filipino accent while futilely trying to log onto the internet.

Related:

Comcasts’ CEO was paid $30 million last year.
Imagine that. $30 mil for relegating customers to a hellish experience.

I see I’m not alone in experiencing a preview of hell.

Big Business Leave a comment

Interesting Information About ALEC

December 6, 2013 Damned Liberal

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is an organization which brings together state legislators (mostly Republicans) and corporations, in order draft corporation-friendly bills for state politicians to introduce in their state legislatures. IOW: Corporatocracy.

The Center for Media and Democracy reports some interesting stuff about ALEC losing members, lying about it, and other sinister aspects of ALEC.

Read it here

ALEC Leave a comment

Republicans More Likely To Represent Food Stamp Recipients

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

As Republicans are hard at work cutting food stamp spending, Time reports that Republicans are more likely to have food stamp recipients in their districts.

Imagine that.

Click on the map to go to Time’s interactive map:

Right wingnuts, Society Leave a comment

Right-Wing Assault On The Working Class (Continued)

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

Their objective is to create a huge class of paupers in this country, people so desperate to survive they will accept the most meager compensation, because they will have to.

The Guardian reports:

Conservative groups across the US are planning a co-ordinated assault against public sector rights and services in the key areas of education, healthcare, income tax, workers’ compensation and the environment, documents obtained by the Guardian reveal.

The strategy for the state-level organisations, which describe themselves as “free-market thinktanks”, includes proposals from six different states for cuts in public sector pensions, campaigns to reduce the wages of government workers and eliminate income taxes, school voucher schemes to counter public education, opposition to Medicaid, and a campaign against regional efforts to combat greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

The primary right-wing group, of course, is the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a coalition of corporations (now including Google) and right-wingers, serving the interest of plutocrats and corporations.

ALEC, Batshit Crazy, Big Business, Right wingnuts Leave a comment

Saying “Someone Should Shit In Sarah Palin’s Mouth” Could Cost You Your Job

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

Yeah, that’s what Martin Bashir said, and he’s now out at MSNBC.

There seems to be a double standard at play here.

Where was all the uproar about stuff like this:

Media, Politics - Politicians Leave a comment

Pew Reports Income Inequality At Highest Level Since Great Depression

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

Of course, we already knew this:

There are a lot of ways to measure economic inequality…, but one basic approach is to look at how much income flows to groups at different steps on the economic ladder.

Emmanuel Saez, an economics professor at UC-Berkeley, has been doing just that for years. And according to his research, U.S. income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s, and now has reached levels not seen since 1928.

Read it and weep

Class Warfare?, Economy, Society Leave a comment

Generational Skipping?

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

I am one to repair stuff around the house and on the car, when I can.

Many years ago, before there were Jiffy Lube shops on every block, people used to change the oil in their cars, and I did that. I was changing the oil in my car one day and asked my son, who was about 14 years old, if he’d like to help so he could learn how to change the oil. He said he wasn’t interested: “I’ll pay somebody to do it”. Hrmmmph.

A few days ago, a headlight bulb burned out on my son’s car. Left to his own devices, he would have taken it to a repair shop and probably would have paid $60 or more to have the bulb replaced. I went to the auto parts store and bought a new bulb (cost: about $12). I brought the new bulb home and asked my grandson (age 12) if he’d like to help replace it. “Sure!”, he said.

So last night my grandson replaced the headlight bulb in his dad’s car, and I’m proud of him.

I guess some things skip a generation.

Miscellany Leave a comment

I Wonder What Her Parallel Parking Looks Like

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

We’re selling a house, and closing is scheduled for Dec. 13 (8 days away).

This morning I got a call from Traveler’s Insurance, to tell me one of their insured (a neighbor, two doors down) pulled into our driveway and “hit the garage door”.

I’m currently in another state and asked my realtor to take pictures of the damage. She sent the following, showing what the neighbor’s idea of “hitting a garage door” is:

Amazing.

I would like to watch this woman parallel park.

Miscellany Leave a comment

Corporatocracy Wants To Penalize People Who Install Solar Panels

December 5, 2013 Damned Liberal

In an example of how upside-down the right-wing and corporate universe is:

An alliance of corporations and conservative activists is mobilising to penalise homeowners who install their own solar panels – casting them as “freeriders” – in a sweeping new offensive against renewable energy, the Guardian has learned.

Read more about these sick bastards

Related:

That’s right: The “we hate taxes” right wing wants to TAX people who install solar panels!

ALEC Exposed

I dropped State Farm as my insurer. If you don’t like corporations writing legislation, you should too.

ALEC, Batshit Crazy Leave a comment

Is The Next Crash Approaching?

December 3, 2013 Damned Liberal

Economists, as always, disagree about whether or not conditions indicate a coming economic crash.

But those who warn about a coming crash have some valid points.

Read more

Economy Leave a comment

The Future Of Web Search?

December 3, 2013 Damned Liberal

Google wants to know every damned thing about you:

Just IMAGINE how valuable this will be for marketers (and maybe the NSA).

Privacy, Technology Leave a comment

Recovering Economy? Thanksgiving Sales Down

December 3, 2013 Damned Liberal

Sales over the Thanksgiving weekend dropped for the first time since 2009 despite longer opening hours and a record number of sales, according to the retail industry’s main trade group.

Aggressive discounting and a controversial decision by many retailers to open earlier on the Thanksgiving day holiday appear to have failed to entice shoppers, as estimated total spending over the weekend fell to $57.4bn, down 2.7% from a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). The NRF still expects total holiday sales through year-end to rise by 3.9% from a year ago.

The Guardian

Economy Leave a comment


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