March 25, 2008
Just so this isn't the Cracking Foxy Complaints Blog
We saw The Magnetic Fields at the Herbst recently (W caught one show, Rob and I saw both nights, other friends came at various times). They were perfect. Ethereal. Sublime. And fucking funny. Utter joy.
Go get their new album, please, if you like them (or think you might like them) even the tiniest bit.
This is now the Cranky Consumer blog, apparently
So Kayak deleted their bad-judgement blog post in record time, and the comments on my last entry include a big "whoops" from one of their founders. Go kayak. I'm glad my good feeling about them seems still to be based in reality.
And now I'm annoyed at American Express. W and I stopped by an Apple store at a mall near SFSU, which is, as it happens, in a neighborhood where many brown people live. Bought a $49 iPod-to-AV cable. Tried to use my Amex. (I have a Starwood points card and a full-on platinum card with them.)
Apple store guy swipes my Starwood card and tells me in that awkward I'm-so-embarassed-for-you way that my card has been declined. WTF? I only have like tens of thousands of dollars in available credit on that card. I figure it's because I've been traveling too often and pull out the Visa I haven't used this week. It clears. We leave.
Heading home, I dial their 800 number. 10 minutes of phone-tree hell and hold messages later, I get a rep. She tells me (paraphrased) "Our fraud department will sometimes decline a charge. Your account is fine." Me: "So you'll just randomly decline charges I try to make and there's nothing I can do about it?" Rep: "Our fraud department makes the determination. Usually it's based on the store location. All you have to do is give us a call and you'll be fine. We're very sorry for the inconvenience." Me: "I'm supposed to call you? It took me ten minutes to get through to you. I was supposed to wait at the cashier for ten minutes so you could correct your error?" Rep repeats apologies.
Uh. Yeah. Think I'll be using other cards more often now. I love me some Starwood points, but there is no way I'm repeating that random "declined" scenario again if I can help it. I don't have time to stand in a store waiting for ages on my mobile to approve a $50 charge. And what if I were (gawd forbid) taking a client out for a meal in a zip code that Amex decided was sub-par?
I've totally left the house (or the city) with only my ID, a handful of cash, and my Amex in the past, thinking I was covered. That won't happen again.
[hour-later update: just opened my email to find an offer for American Express "Blue" for my business. hah! nooooooooo way]
March 21, 2008
I'm about to sound like Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons here...
... but seriously, dude. Worst. Marketing. Post. Ever.
Kayak.com posted the most bizarre
"dumb question" from a user on their corporate blog.
The reason I think the question is very very UN-dumb is that the competition (orbitz.com) offers exactly what these users are asking for.
I left a comment. Let's see if it passes moderation. I'm a serious kayak fan, so I hope it does.
