I know I know that it is not what you would expect, but yea sorry today's topic is about toilet. So my new place is a 20 year old house and I really want to replace the outdated toilets. So I got Kohler toilets from Homedepot, each costs about $190. My contractor asks for $100 per installation. And I have to say that these Kohler toilets are the best I have used. It flushes with a strong pull, and it is very quiet in both the flush and water refill. It is just amazing. It just shows if you pay attention to details, you could really get things/products done in a way that would delight your customer. Kudos to both Kohler and my contractor.
Anyway, if you live in central New Jersey and you need to replace your old toilets and you are not a DIY person, I could give you my contractor's number. You cannot beat the $100 price.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Comcast horrible service
In my recent move, I have run into Comcast's atrocious service. It is a textbook case of how not to serve your customer. First it appears straightforward that you just login to your comcast account and then find the move service web site and fill in the information. so far so good, but then you discovered it just starts. Comcast asks you to have an online chat with an agent once you fill in all the information. I was shocked when I was asked to do that. I cried it loud wtf? I mean what else is preventing Comcast from completely automating this simple process? what could be so confusing? then I basically need to repeat all my information to the online agent which I told her/him bluntly that online chat is the worst form of customer service. it is slow, and you feel lost since you don't get any immediate response, you almost want to yell it loud. Then after twenty minutes or so giving the agent the information all over again, the agent told me this, "sir, sorry, I cannot transfer your service to the new address yet since the current owner hasn't put in a disconnect service request yet.". I was like, "are you kidding me? why does it matter whether the current owner has put in a request or not? He is moving out in two weeks and I am moving in. So it makes perfect sense for me to put in a transfer request and you should find a way to get it done". and all I got back was, "sir, sorry but the computer won't allow me do it. Please call me again in a week or two. Is there anything else I can help you with"? To that, I was like, "yea, you could help me to put in the transfer request". we went back and forth for another two rounds and then I have to call it quit as I realized that I am not going to get anywhere.
So a week to two later I called Comcast (I really hate the online chat) back and ask the phone agent to put in the transfer request. and after 5 minutes I got back the same answer that the current service at the my future home hasn't received a disconnect request yet so my transfer request cannot go through.
So after I moved in, I called Comcast back and the auto phone told me that their service is from 7am to 10pm and asked me to call back again during their business hour. Here is the interesting part. All the service (internet and tv) works fine for me. To be a good citizen I don't want to use the service for free, and I need to make sure Comcast did disconnect the service at my old place. So I went online again. it is another 30 minutes torture but this time it finally went through. I told the online agent that all services are working so no need to send a cable guy to my new place to which the online agent just told me that they need to send a cable guy to make sure the service is solid. I finally gave me and pick a time slot on Saturday.
On Saturday the cable guy came. and He told me the cable that connected from outside of the house into the house is too outdated and he is going to put in a new one. I was like, "mang, it is working fine. my TV and internet are fine. but if you insist then...". and he insisted. 30 minutes later he is basically done, he also replaced my five year old cable box with a new cable box (but they look exactly the same and function almost the same.) I haven't noticed any difference yet.
And at night when I was watching a on-demand CSI, I found there was issue with the signal. the picture would twist for a second every five to 10 minutes. At that point I was beyond angry.
Whoever in Comcast that is in charge of the information service, and installation service should be fired immediately. They are beyond incompetent. They are just simply outdated.
On Sunday I received a call from my real estate agent that the new owner of my old place was not able to get a Comcast internet service since I haven't disconnect my service there yet. I am not angry anymore. I just feel lucky I am not a Comcast shareholder. And I could barely imagine what a torture NBC guys must feel now that they are part of Comcast.
I am going to call Comcast to come to fix the signal first. then I am going to call Comcast to tell them that I want to cancel my service cause I am switching to Verizon FIOS.
So a week to two later I called Comcast (I really hate the online chat) back and ask the phone agent to put in the transfer request. and after 5 minutes I got back the same answer that the current service at the my future home hasn't received a disconnect request yet so my transfer request cannot go through.
So after I moved in, I called Comcast back and the auto phone told me that their service is from 7am to 10pm and asked me to call back again during their business hour. Here is the interesting part. All the service (internet and tv) works fine for me. To be a good citizen I don't want to use the service for free, and I need to make sure Comcast did disconnect the service at my old place. So I went online again. it is another 30 minutes torture but this time it finally went through. I told the online agent that all services are working so no need to send a cable guy to my new place to which the online agent just told me that they need to send a cable guy to make sure the service is solid. I finally gave me and pick a time slot on Saturday.
On Saturday the cable guy came. and He told me the cable that connected from outside of the house into the house is too outdated and he is going to put in a new one. I was like, "mang, it is working fine. my TV and internet are fine. but if you insist then...". and he insisted. 30 minutes later he is basically done, he also replaced my five year old cable box with a new cable box (but they look exactly the same and function almost the same.) I haven't noticed any difference yet.
And at night when I was watching a on-demand CSI, I found there was issue with the signal. the picture would twist for a second every five to 10 minutes. At that point I was beyond angry.
Whoever in Comcast that is in charge of the information service, and installation service should be fired immediately. They are beyond incompetent. They are just simply outdated.
On Sunday I received a call from my real estate agent that the new owner of my old place was not able to get a Comcast internet service since I haven't disconnect my service there yet. I am not angry anymore. I just feel lucky I am not a Comcast shareholder. And I could barely imagine what a torture NBC guys must feel now that they are part of Comcast.
I am going to call Comcast to come to fix the signal first. then I am going to call Comcast to tell them that I want to cancel my service cause I am switching to Verizon FIOS.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Nobel peace prize
I want to pay my highest respect to Xiaobo Liu, this year's Nobel peace prize winner. I have followed him for many years, reading his articles on the web wherever I could find them, mainly from cnd.org.
Now China is an all powerful country, has vast resources, being it military, economic, or propaganda etc at its disposal. It just seems ridiculous to me that the party and the government chose to put everything on the line in order to make one private citizen's life miserable. And I am really surprised that with a huge think tank base, no one could come up a wise solution to allow the party to save face and move beyond this case. Everyone that is involved in the fiasco should be fired. I mean, come on, it is 21st century, anyone that involved in the case should be put on trial. The outrage really drove me speechless.
Now China is an all powerful country, has vast resources, being it military, economic, or propaganda etc at its disposal. It just seems ridiculous to me that the party and the government chose to put everything on the line in order to make one private citizen's life miserable. And I am really surprised that with a huge think tank base, no one could come up a wise solution to allow the party to save face and move beyond this case. Everyone that is involved in the fiasco should be fired. I mean, come on, it is 21st century, anyone that involved in the case should be put on trial. The outrage really drove me speechless.
Basement
If you are buying a house and wants a basement, make sure you do your due diligence there before making an offer.
1. Make sure the height of the basement is enough for a nice finish if the basement hasn't been finished yet.
2. Make sure there is no water leakage
3. Make sure the sum pump is working, and sum pump pit is dry. (you might want to take a flash light with you for the pit inspection. dry means your basement is in good shape)
4. Last of all, make sure it is big enough for whatever activity you plan for it
5. You might also want to take a contractor (with a good reputation) with you if you are buying a old house (more than 20 years old) so they could give you good advice and good assessment if it needs to be finished or any repair.
1. Make sure the height of the basement is enough for a nice finish if the basement hasn't been finished yet.
2. Make sure there is no water leakage
3. Make sure the sum pump is working, and sum pump pit is dry. (you might want to take a flash light with you for the pit inspection. dry means your basement is in good shape)
4. Last of all, make sure it is big enough for whatever activity you plan for it
5. You might also want to take a contractor (with a good reputation) with you if you are buying a old house (more than 20 years old) so they could give you good advice and good assessment if it needs to be finished or any repair.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Change Address
So a very annoying thing need to be taken care of is to notify about 100 vendors, your employer, banks, credit cards, utilities, post offices, subscriptions, netflix, Amazon, eBay, you name it, and your friends.
And I am surprised that no internet startup is aiming to help us out there. Is it because there is no easy to monetize it? or no one thinks changing address is a hassle?
I hope my blog readers would follow through this idea and have a great run with it. Good Luck.
And I am surprised that no internet startup is aiming to help us out there. Is it because there is no easy to monetize it? or no one thinks changing address is a hassle?
I hope my blog readers would follow through this idea and have a great run with it. Good Luck.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
I am back
It is not an easy job to have a regular and interesting post going. I am back to give it another run. I just moved in to the "new" old house and sold my old one. So the following series are going to focus on buying, selling, and all the dangers they entail. Please come back after a break.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)