Pulp Free

It’s been a rough past few days for me. You see, I have a strange need to know what the weather is and what it’s going to be. So much so that I actually have three weather stations in the house that provide both 7-day and 3-day forecasts and current temperature. You’ve probably seen the 7-day models from a few years ago… Sharper Image had them available around Christmas time and I promptly put it on my Christmas list that year!

The 7-Day Forecaster continuously displays forecast data for 150 U.S. locations from AccuWeather.com — no PC or internet connection required. Always know daily high and low temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction, UV index, pollen, and air quality alerts. This 7-Day model also features pollen and air quality alerts. Back-light changes color to indicate temperature at a glance.

Now you have to be saying – “There’s a hundred different ways to figure out what the forecast and weather is going to be! Just stick your head out the window, turn on the TV or GASP! Look it up on the Internet!!” – and you’d be right. But I’ve just grown to love my colorful forecaster and all of it’s semi-accurate forecasts. I think they even have some humor… (Tropical rainstorm in Saint Louis? And I’m all for being Sunny & Delightful)

But late this past Sunday night – the data provider in Saint Louis suddenly went quiet. No more updates. And now my temperature and forecasts are no longer working! I did submit a ticket and promptly received a response back from customer support:

Dear Dave,

We received the first reports from the area this morning.  We have contacted the wireless provider so that they can investigate.  We do not have a time estimate yet, but we will work to get the matter resolved as soon as possible.

Best regards,

- Brian , Customer Support

Whew! Thanks Brian!! Glad somebody is on it! I’m having a hard time with my forecasts falling off day by day…

I suppose if you’re going to do something you didn’t mean to do… this would be one way of feeling pretty stupid about it. I’m talking about accidentally purchasing the TomTom iPhone application from the Apple Store while trying to test out application sharing with a friend of mine. Essentially the iTunes Store’s Terms of Sale state:

REFUND POLICY

All Sales and rentals (as applicable) are final.

Now I already have a TomTom ONE 130-S that has suited me perfectly for the last year. Small, compact, works great, cheap, includes Text-To-Speech – and if I happen to lose it or were it to get broken – I wouldn’t lose much sleep over it. But when my friend purchased the TomTom app I thought it would be interesting to try out after watching a CNET video on application sharing. (Watcher beware – I can barely watch much of Brian Tong… Your mileage may vary…)

Long story short – while my friend authorized my iTunes with his account, we debated on whose credentials to provide when hitting the download of the TomTom application. My account won out and instead of getting a second copy from his account, ka-ching happened and my credit card was charged $99.99 for this application…

Ahhhh crap I thought after we started debating on what actually just happened. I looked at my previous purchases and sure enough – I bought myself my very own copy. Thankfully there’s a button next to each purchase that allows you to submit a request based on each purchase. In my case – I clearly marked:

I inadvertently purchased this application

Since the whole effort of getting refunds from Apple have been laid out in the news in the last few weeks I was pretty sure that I had no chance of getting a refund. I tried to think “maybe this could be useful after all” but it wasn’t helping. Even after using it on a recent trip to Minneapolis did I find that it wasn’t even worth $10. (This particular entry isn’t about the application so I won’t go into it here…) So I waited a bit and sure enough, I received a response from Jeff @ Apple. I explained my efforts and intentions and then shortly a second response was received:

Jeff, here from the iTunes Store again. Thank you for clarifying things for me! At this time, and as a one time exception, I have reversed the charge for “TomTom U.S. & Canada,” as it appears you were not signed in to the correct account at the time of purchase. Although you may have authorized your computer for your friend’s account, you must also be signed into the account originally used to purchase the item in order to redownload at no charge. In three to five business days, a credit of $99.99, plus any applicable sales tax, should be posted to your Visa Card.

Please note that according to the iTunes Store Terms of Sale, all sales are final, so this is an exception which I cannot guarantee will be granted again in the future.

Whoa. I was on track for getting a refund. I quickly replied back to Jeff with this comment:

Thank you very much for your generosity in this one-time exception from Apple and the clarity in process for account management. I sincerely appreciate your effort in managing my request and assisting with my mistake.

And sure enough, a few minutes later, Jeff replied back:

Jeff, here from the iTunes Store. You’re more than welcome – my pleasure! Nothing makes us happier than to hear that we have helped our customers. I wish you the best and hope that you will continue to enjoy shopping the iTunes Store in the future. Have a great day, David!

With Warm Regards,

Jeff
iTunes Store Customer Support

So I’m very happy that I was able to get a fantastic Apple customer support person and that Jeff was generous enough to provide a refund. Now while seemingly no real impact for Apple for this refund – word on the street that developers can get taken for a ride doesn’t seem so fair… But in any case – I’m glad that the $100 is back in my account.

Thanks, Jeff!

I’ve been a member of Netflix since the time of caves and torches. I love the service… Dropping movies into my queue so that I don’t have to remember what I want to watch keeps my head clear for other, more important thoughts. However, lately – Netflix seems to be slowly less interested in keeping me happy. You see – I think I’ve been unprofitable to them. I essentially watch too many DVDs. How did I come to this confusion? I haven’t had a single movie ship from my queue in almost a week. Curious about this behavior – I Googled a few choice keywords and found Web sites have done calculations pinpointing such a phenomenon.

To save you from my own dribble – check on the background of such an unfortunate realization on these Web sites: Essentially:

• Tip For Beating Netlix Throttle
• Frequent Netflix Renters Sent To Back Of The Line
• Manuel Villanueva – My Opinion Of Netflix
• Netflix Customer Support On Throttling

So what am I waiting on? Something so esoteric that Netflix probably only has one copy of a DVD? Naaaa… Movies like The Bourne Ultimatum and Shrek the Third.

What annoys me the most is that I’ve had Bourne Ultimatum on my “Saved” movies queue since I heard it was coming out. It’s number 1 on my list and I’ve been sitting waiting for it to ship. Now perhaps since I have it listed as HD DVD it might be taking longer? But c’mon. People are waiting and Netflix can’t pick up a few more copies of a popular movie almost a month since it came out? Ugh.

I’ve only rented 14 movies in the last 30 days… And most of those only came from the bottom of my queue… I’m waiting a few more days with open slots until I’m pegged to cancel this membership… How in the world can I have unlimited movie rentals when my queue is full and Netflix isn’t shipping any movies? So I’m waiting now… to see when the first movie of 10 ship…

(Oops! Forgot to add my throttled tag…)