Tab wrap-up; FedEx sux
You'll all be happy to hear that Tery has received all her money back for my "Xmas present," so I won't have to open that particular can of whup-ass. That sound you hear is merimobiles.com breathing a sigh of relief.
Still madly in love with the Archos, particularly since discovering epub books -- I now have "The Walking Dead" and "Scott Pilgrim" graphic novels, "The Tao of Pooh" as well as all my favorite Stephen Kings ready to read. AWESOMENESS.
But I mentioned in my post about buying it from John that he called himself a "techie." I have to disagree with him, because the first thing I noticed when trying to set up my accounts was that his information was still in it. As in, his Google address and, presumably, an associated credit card for buying apps.
Were I a less scrupulous person I would go crazy on the Market at his expense. As it is, I just added my account alongside his because the only way to remove him is a factory reset, which might also remove my root access.
I love the Archos so much I shopped for a case for it (not easy, I might add; there's a glut of options for the Kindle, the Nook and (big surprise) the iPad. The Archos is just a little longer and narrower than all these, enough to make all these cases useless).
I settled on a CaseLogic adjustable thingamabob and ordered it through Amazon. The seller shipped via FedEx, and therein lies the problem.
According to the tracking page, it technically arrived in Denver on January 7. Then the weekend. I figured it would come Monday, which was the date FedEx themselves estimated.
Nope. Of course, I had to run an errand in the morning to get a key made (that's probably another post unto itself), but I was home by noon and I really don't believe they came that early.
Fine. Tuesday (today) then. Wrong again! I watched the tracking page, obsessively refreshing every 15 minutes or so, and nothing. The regular mail was here by 3 pm. Federal EXPRESS? Nyet.
Ladies and gentlemen, it does NOT take two days to get from Denver to Aurora. It doesn't even take two days to get from Denver to Wyoming. I would have called someone, but if you read the "FedEx sucks" Facebook page, that gets you nowhere too, even if you're lucky enough to reach a person.
(Facebook is where you will find horror story after horror story detailing all the ways FedEx sucks; most of them citing unforgiveable delays in Christmas deliveries, which FedEx blamed on "unexpectedly high shipping volumes." "Christmas is a planned event," one user commented. "They really don't know by now to expect higher shipping volumes?" Another user posited that FedEx had preemptively bought the domains "fedexsucks.com" and every variant thereof. How about focusing your energy on, I don't know, maybe sucking a little less? Never underestimate the power of social media, FedEx -- where there are enough pissed-off customers, there's a way.)
But that's not all. Looky at THESE shenanigans:
Can you read that? They scanned my package at the Aurora facility a full two hours in the future! They're so fast they've warped time and space. Let's not even ask ourselves why the hell they need a Denver AND an Aurora facility. More middle men to point fingers at, I suppose.
They are no longer allowed to call themselves "Federal Express." They are "Federal We Might Be In Your Neck of the Woods on Thursday, Does That Work For You?" Which I'll grant doesn't collapse down into a snappy logo as easily, but that's hardly my fault.
So, tomorrow for sure, right? Either way I'll be expressing my displeasure to Amazon (who DOES still care about happy customers), but making me wait beyond tomorrow will definitely have an adverse effect on the level of unpleasantness and sarcasm. Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Still madly in love with the Archos, particularly since discovering epub books -- I now have "The Walking Dead" and "Scott Pilgrim" graphic novels, "The Tao of Pooh" as well as all my favorite Stephen Kings ready to read. AWESOMENESS.
But I mentioned in my post about buying it from John that he called himself a "techie." I have to disagree with him, because the first thing I noticed when trying to set up my accounts was that his information was still in it. As in, his Google address and, presumably, an associated credit card for buying apps.
Were I a less scrupulous person I would go crazy on the Market at his expense. As it is, I just added my account alongside his because the only way to remove him is a factory reset, which might also remove my root access.
I love the Archos so much I shopped for a case for it (not easy, I might add; there's a glut of options for the Kindle, the Nook and (big surprise) the iPad. The Archos is just a little longer and narrower than all these, enough to make all these cases useless).
I settled on a CaseLogic adjustable thingamabob and ordered it through Amazon. The seller shipped via FedEx, and therein lies the problem.
According to the tracking page, it technically arrived in Denver on January 7. Then the weekend. I figured it would come Monday, which was the date FedEx themselves estimated.
Nope. Of course, I had to run an errand in the morning to get a key made (that's probably another post unto itself), but I was home by noon and I really don't believe they came that early.
Fine. Tuesday (today) then. Wrong again! I watched the tracking page, obsessively refreshing every 15 minutes or so, and nothing. The regular mail was here by 3 pm. Federal EXPRESS? Nyet.
Ladies and gentlemen, it does NOT take two days to get from Denver to Aurora. It doesn't even take two days to get from Denver to Wyoming. I would have called someone, but if you read the "FedEx sucks" Facebook page, that gets you nowhere too, even if you're lucky enough to reach a person.
(Facebook is where you will find horror story after horror story detailing all the ways FedEx sucks; most of them citing unforgiveable delays in Christmas deliveries, which FedEx blamed on "unexpectedly high shipping volumes." "Christmas is a planned event," one user commented. "They really don't know by now to expect higher shipping volumes?" Another user posited that FedEx had preemptively bought the domains "fedexsucks.com" and every variant thereof. How about focusing your energy on, I don't know, maybe sucking a little less? Never underestimate the power of social media, FedEx -- where there are enough pissed-off customers, there's a way.)
But that's not all. Looky at THESE shenanigans:
Can you read that? They scanned my package at the Aurora facility a full two hours in the future! They're so fast they've warped time and space. Let's not even ask ourselves why the hell they need a Denver AND an Aurora facility. More middle men to point fingers at, I suppose.
They are no longer allowed to call themselves "Federal Express." They are "Federal We Might Be In Your Neck of the Woods on Thursday, Does That Work For You?" Which I'll grant doesn't collapse down into a snappy logo as easily, but that's hardly my fault.
So, tomorrow for sure, right? Either way I'll be expressing my displeasure to Amazon (who DOES still care about happy customers), but making me wait beyond tomorrow will definitely have an adverse effect on the level of unpleasantness and sarcasm. Don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.