Thursday, September 26, 2013

I'm Bringing Classy Back...

Let's talk about classic things. While I am a huge fan of technology (massive fan really), I can't help but feel that our society is getting more and more disconnected. Separated from... not necessarily traditional values, but rather traditions them selves. How many people actually look for a barber any more? I'm not talking about a beautician in a chop shop with some clippers. An actual certified barber. One who's been barbers school. One that you can establish a relationship with (of the friendly sort). It seems to me that they are a dying breed, being replaced by those who value convenience over an experience.
 
My favorite example of how I like to add a bit of classic into my daily routine is my shaving routine.  As you can see from the picture to your right, I've gone old school. That is a very nice straight razor that does a fine job of keeping my face smooth. I generally shave after my daily shower because my face is nice and soft from the nice hot water and steam. A bit of pre-shave oil goes on first to give the blade an easier time as it glides over my skin. Next comes the rich later, followed by the shave itself. All in all, from start to finish, it's about 20 minutes for me to shave. For me, it's a rather enjoyable process and one that I love doing.
 
It doesn't end with shaving. As I mentioned in a previous post, I enjoy the process of brewing... er... steeping coffee in my French Press. Sure, it takes longer, but I am able to control every aspect of the brew. From the water temperature, the amount of grounds, coarseness of the grind, to the length of time it steeps, I am able to brew an amazing cup of coffee. In today's fast paced world, we need to stop and take a few moments to reflect back on what got us to where we are. For some, we find that we enjoy some of the more traditional things in life. With everything designed for our convenience, we have become acclimated to instant gratification. Hopefully, you can find something you enjoy doing that's a process and a bit of a throwback to the olden days.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Dear Time Warner Cable...

Dear Time Warner Cable (TWC),
 
I am posting this today to vent how I feel about your great Internet service, customer support and the general attitude of your employees. Not to mention the competency of said employees. Since August 1, 2013, I have been a subscriber to your service for the sole reason that it was either you with "Extreme"Internet speed of 30Mbps or Verizon DSL with speeds up to 15Mbps. I kinda like things fast, so I went with you. Added bonus: no contract! Which means that I can drop your "amazing" service anytime I want to! What I find to be irritating is that my speed fluctuates wildly. According the the innumerable techs that I've talked to, my speeds are supposed to be anywhere from 28 to 33Mbps. Sadly, that is not the case. I routinely see speeds hover around 10-14Mbps. If I wanted those speeds, I would have gone with Verizon. I'll post some speed test results in a bit. And not the speed test that's on your site. I dont' trust your site. I have never seen a ping rate of 25ms ever. Not even when I was with TDS on fiber. I'm calling bullshit on your speed test. Here's another reason for the BS flag. When your tech swapped out my modem/router the other day, a little bit of script was added to my PC. Every time we ran the speed test on your site, perfect speed. When we clear the cache and open an in-private browsing session to check again (on your site), the speeds matched nicely with what speedtest.net showed. As a point of clarification, Ookla is the company that own speedtest.net. The same program that's on your site. But, since I don't trust your site, you'll forgive me if I choose not to use it and trust speedtest.net instead.
 
 
Now that we've established that I don't trust you and your speeds aren't anything near what they should be, let's talk about people. Starting with the folks in your call centers. When I first call in, the initial CSRs (Customer Service Reps) are nice and friendly. It's only after 45 minutes of being on an iPhone that I realize that I am no longer feeling charitable. But I am still polite since she hasn't been rude to me. What I find irritating is when the L3 tech comes on and acts like a pompous condescending ass hat. Oh, the computer running Windows XP is jacked to hell? That belongs to your incompetent tech that's out here who gave us the phone because he doesn't have a clue what's going on. Out of the three techs that have visited my apartment, only one has bothered to do anything right. The first tech just plugged his laptop in and said we're good. He didnt' do a damn thing. The second tech (a week later) actually fixed the issue. He walked us through everything he was doing and kindly offered advice as to help with any further issues. Out of the 3 techs, he's the only one who received a tip.
 
I'm tired of your shitty speeds, shitty service, and lack of knowledgeable employees. Sadly, you don't care. You ranked just above Comcast as the worst ISP in the country. Seriously. Are you even trying? You only offer competition when you're threatened by someone who will stomp your business into the ground. And you can't even do that properly. In response to your company's statement about there not being a demand, let me officially go on record. I WANT gigabit Internet service. I DON'T want to pay out the ass for it. I know you won't deliver. You can't even deliver those speeds in the communities that are dumping you for Google fiber. TWC, I've only had you for 2 months and I'm already tired of you.
 
Thanks for not caring,
 
Brenton Delfosse