Until Further Notice

I rented The Outfit for Xbox 360 and didn’t like it.  I’m not big on third person games and to make it worse, this one seems juvenile and silly in a lot of respects.

One third person game I’ve liked is the Hitman series, so I rented Hitman: Blood Money for the 360, too.  I like it, but I don’t like the camera angles when it is making you watch the “drag a body” or “silent kill” type things.  That’s a small annoyance, since it at least gives me the “first person” view option and has the elements I’ve always liked about them: stealth, thought/puzzles, and not just a shoot-em-up.

I had been trying to play Halo2 and it would play ok on the offline version, but couldn’t work on the “Live” version.  It would error out.  I had bought this one used at Blockbuster and didn’t know it was damaged.  By the time I got around to getting my 360 and then playing it, it was 6 months since I bought it.  So, I decided to try the repair kit I have for CD/DVDs and it actually worked.

There was an article in the local paper that was done by an AP writer about how my town is dying.  I dunno…. but I don’t really have a reason to move anywhere else anyway.  So, it looks like me and my town will die together.

Rode the motorcycle today and saw a deer in a field of corn, a flock of turkeys in a big field, a deer beside the road, and a mama deer with 3 fawns in the middle of the road.  It was a nice ride overall. Thought about people I’ve known and things I’ve seen. 

Just finished watching “Dark Water (Unrated Widescreen Edition)” on DVD.  It is a “horror” movie with Jennifer Connelly and some other very good actors.  I’ve always found Jennifer to be intriguing, beautiful, and an extremely under-rated and under-appreciated actress.  It is not a typical “scarefest” type film.  It is more an emotional or psychological thriller.  I’d like to see the original Japanese version, too.  This was a good film.  I’d say 9 out of 10.

I am a computer repair technician who runs my own small business.  One of the things I pride myself on is the extra attention and help that I give to my clients.  DLink is refusing to be even half as helpful.

In February of 2006, I recommended to a client that they buy a DLink Wireless Router and PCMCIA card to make their two home computers able to be used on the Internet at the same time.  They took my advice and purchased the two units.  A couple of weeks ago, the client called me to troubleshoot a problem they were having after being told by their ISP that it appeared as though the router was bad.  After my troubleshooting the unit for them, I informed them the unit was bad and needed replaced under warranty.  They decided to find the original paperwork to return the unit.

The client could not find information on where to send the unit for warranty repair, so I decided to check the warranty replacement procedures on the D-Link site for them.  On the site, owners needing warranty tech support are instructed to call “or” email.  So, I sent D-Link an email on behalf of the client informing D-Link that the unit needed returned for repair as the lights continued to just blink after a factory reset and that the unit never initializes properly. 

On 7/18, tech support responded, giving me a case ID and telling me “the unit may be defective” based on my description and that I need to **call** tech support because they can’t handle the problem via email.

Ok…. now they are wasting my time by telling me the warranty support can be handled via email when it can’t.  So, I call the phone number which has a voice prompt for RMA’s if you have a Case ID.  If you have a Case ID, you should go to the website address given and get your  RMA.  So, now I’ve had my time wasted twice.  I hang up, go to the url given, only to be told that my number is no good, and that I need to call tech support for an RMA.  So, I call to get an RMA **again** only to be told by the woman who answered that my Case  ID number isn’t valid because it comes from an email and email case IDs are not valid for RMAs, that I need to troubleshoot the unit with tech support.

Do we see a pattern here?  Multiple redirects to dead ends that result in nothing more than time wasting. The first sign of problems is when they falsely direct you to email to handle a problem that they can’t handle via email.  If they can’t handle something via email, don’t tell the user to email in the first place.  Just put the phone number there and tell the user to call.

At that point, I tell the woman on the phone that I need to file a complaint about the very inefficient and poor handling of something so simple as giving someone an RMA on an obviously malfunctioning unit which I have already done the troubleshooting on.  So, I file a complaint by phone. In the meantime, I had already complained to the email tech support rep concerning this matter.  I got a response back that, “….you need to talk to someone in Tech support Live to get help on this because it is Broken and it is going to have to be RMA’d and it cant be done by email.” 

So, I call D-Link again to talk to tech support.  I tell the person who answers that I need an RMA on a dead unit.  I give him the case number, which he reads and I tell him that when power is supplied, the unit either flashes all the lights or all of the lights stay on, even after a factory reset; which is obviously a defective unit.  To this, he responds that I need to troubleshoot the unit.  I informed him that I am a computer technician making my living doing just this sort of thing, that I had already done the troubleshooting, and that it is a dead unit.  He informs me that he can’t help me unless I troubleshoot the unit.  I tell him that I am not going back to the client’s location to hook up and troubleshoot the unit, as it is a waste of time and of my client’s money if they have to pay me another service call to do something that is a waste of time for an obviously dead unit that their email tech support has already acknowledged is dead.

He asks if I want to be connected to customer service to file a complaint.  I instruct him to connect me again, as I have no problem complaining again. 

I never got connected to customer service again despite repeated attempts to call and having sent email to customer service complaining about the handling of this situation. As of late evening of 7/20, D-Link still has not replied nor given me an RMA number to return this dead unit.

I intend to file complaints with the BBB, the Attorney Generals of the involved states and with the Federal Consumer Protection Agency.

One would think that I am a hard core gamer.  I either own or have owned most game systems.  Right now, I have a Nintendo 64, Atari Jaguar, Dreamcast, PS2, PSP (which I traded my Xbox on, but kept the games) and the 360.About a month or 2 ago, I bought a Nintendo DS, but ended up selling it after about 2 weeks because it didn’t impress me.  I play the PSP more and like it lots better.   I do like to game, but rarely have time for it.  In fact, I have lots of games that I’ve bought, but never played.  Of late, I have taken more time to play.  I mentioned Call of Duty 2 for the 360 before.  Well… a couple of weeks ago, it started acting up.  It wouldn’t play properly, sometimes wouldn’t load, etcetera.  So, I looked at the disc to see if it needed cleaned.  It was cracked… starting from the center out.  It finally stopped loading.  So, I am without it.  Hopefully, it won’t be for long; as I sent it to Activision to get it replaced.

I decided this morning that I am going to get into better shape.  So, I worked out some with the weight machine.  It just so happens that I also ended up mowing later in the day.  So, I mowed, and mowed…. and mowed… and I think between the two, I over did it, today. I am feeling it.  But, I took a shower and then went for a ride on the motorcycle at about dark.  It was still really warm and it gave me a chance to get out some and get my mind off things and just ride.

I was at EBGames the other day and was going to buy another game for the PSP, but I had already picked out $30 worth of $3.00 movies.  So, the game has to wait.  It is puzzle games: crosswords and such.  There was another that I saw that looked good, but I forget what it was.  I also saw advanced orders on Call of Duty 3.  That looks really good, too.

So…. I’ve been playing Call of Duty 2 on the Xbox 360 in online multiplayer games.  Now…. I like a competition, also…. but I don’t like when people are rude, obnoxious, mean, etcetera.  I have typically gotten less than 10 kills, (a lot of times less than 6) but killed about twice that much or more.

I’ve met some people that are really pleasant to play with, even if they are much better than I am.  Those are the pleasant games… where you can have fun without being nasty.

Some people are just jerks and are ridiculous with their behavior and vulgar comments.  One group of players that had the same beginning name played as a team.  As soon as the game was finished, they made crude, vulgar comments to me and booted me out of the game. 

But, tonight was a bit different.  I played better and actually won my first game.  I had 20 kills in Deathmatch.  I was surprised.  I was looking for my name near the bottom and it was on the top.  I had a couple of games with only 4 kills… but had quite a few games where I scored over 10. So…. I think I’m getting the hang of it.  I said I was surprised I was doing as good as I was… and one of the guys said, “You’re not bad.”  So… I’m improving at least.

Wow.  This custom motorcycle is on auction at ebay.  It’s amazing.

H.R. Giger Motorcycle Custom

Watched “Hitch” the other night.  It was funny and was worth watching.I liked it.

Found out yesterday that “Perfect Dark Zero” is online co-op capable.  Also, saw some wireless headphones for the 360 that also have the microphone on them.  It’s funny I saw them today, since I was just thinking yesterday how it would be nice to have stereo sound when playing online, because the headset blocks the game sound from one ear.

This is funny and mean all at the same time.

http://www.break.com/index/alien_scare_scream.html