Are we heading for an economic collapse?
Back when my in-laws were looking to buy their first home, first they saved for a couple of years to come up with a down payment of a couple thousand dollars. They then qualified for a mortgage with a twenty-five year term and an interest rate of around 5% for the entire term. New homes at the time were about double the average annual family income, based on the wife staying at home to raise the kids and Dad working. Dad was an electrician making about $6,000 a year and their three bedroom new home in Brampton was $12,900. Affordable.
Moving on to my first home. My first family home, a fixer upper, was $42,500 and our family income was just over $20,000. Throughout our more than twenty years of marriage and eight homes, the price we paid was always right around double our annual family income. Even our last matrimonial home was sold for $189,000; my ex was not working, but I was making about $90,000 as a computer consultant.
Fast forward to today. I am working at a call centre, making just over eleven dollars an hour, not an uncommon wage in London for people who work at the few jobs available here - The Tim Hortons, the Home Depots, Wal-Marts and so on. If you are lucky enough to work full-time that adds up to a whopping $23,400. Assume that two people in the same family are working, which is a stretch considering that 54% of people are now divorced. Let's round that off to $50k for the household anyway, so, if the same relationship is true we should be able to buy a home for $100k, right? Not a chance! The average new home price in most urban areas is at least $400k, four times what we earn!
The housing market has always functioned on the concept that young people buy their first home and throughout their lives they move up to bigger and better homes, gaining equity for that day when they retire and sell their last home. If no one is entering the bottom of the market the whole thing grinds to a halt. Prices will fall dramatically when there are no buyers entering the market for the first time.
The same thing is going to happen with cars. Car payments through a bank or lease payments were always affordable, even for those who wanted a new car every three years. Car prices today often require payments that look more like a mortgage payment on a small house. These car payments together with astronomical mortgage payments are what is pushing the average amount of debt through the roof. Older Canadians usually have no mortgage and no car payments, so that leaves all the rest of the younger population shouldering more and more of the debt load. A minor hiccup in interest rates is going to result in the kind of foreclosures we saw in the US and prices will crash the same.
Add to all this the costs of operating a vehicle. Interest rates on car leases are absurd. Buyouts are insane. Insurance costs are over the top. Repairs, particularly on parts for foreign cars are out of site. Now add five buck a gallon fuel and people are no doubt going to question the value of owning a car. Trips of any kind, whether to the local store or a Sunday drive in the country, must be rethought when the price of gas is factored in. When my kids were young we traveled all over Ontario and the north-eastern states for their hockey and soccer, all year round. Today I could never afford that and my kids would suffer if they wanted to play organized sports.
It's what's behind things like the Occupy Movement. More and more people are feeling disenfranchised because they see the rich getting richer and richer, yet the majority are falling further and further behind. It could all serve to bring on an economic collapse. Thoughts?
Think ICBC is a bad deal?
A few years ago I saw a small classified ad for a Ford Ranger. I was getting into renovating and needed a truck. After I went to the shop and decided to buy the truck I wanted to leave my car for some bodywork to sell it, so I needed plates and insurance to be able to drive the truck.
My Life - Inspiration
THERE WILL NEVER EVER BE ANOTHER YOU
The world has never seen anyone quite like you before, and it will never see another YOU again. And there is something you have to contribute to the world that the world needs from YOU, no matter how small or unimportant you may think you are, in the great scheme of things. You were born, you are breathing, you are here, because there is something you have to contribute to the world that the world really, really needs. At least in that place, at least at this time, at least with your style, at least with your character and stamp upon it. Someone needs you. Someone’s life has been, or will be, better because of you. Be you a health care professional, a scientist, an engineer, or techie, or digger of ditches, it doesn’t matter. The world needs all these things, but animated specifically by your spirit, your brains, your personality, beneath and in it all.
Your purpose in life isn’t just a matter of what kind of work you do. It’s a matter of who you are, what kind of person you are, and whether you choose to be the best YOU that you can possibly be.
- Richard N. Bolles (What Color Is Your Parachute?)
If I had a million dollars
Those of us who play the lottery often muse on what we would do with all that money. It depends on how much we are talking about, of course. If it's only a couple mil then that is barely enough to live out your life on, let alone afford any real luxuries like cars, yachts, or homes we wouldn't be able to afford. If it's an insane amount like the recent fifty million, well then the imagination runs wild. We could change the world, right?
I am one of those unfortunate people who got hooked by the commercials one of the lotteries ran featuring a guy reading the paper, and seeing his number had won but he didn't have a ticket. My numbers, 4 11 19 27 36 and 39, were based on my age and family ages at the time, so, now that I am 62, you can figure out how long I've played the same damn number. I've won a couple of $10 payouts, which is frustrating because then I think the chances of those numbers coming up again is remote. I never know whether to keep buying tickets or not.
Just to dream for a while, if I did win big, these are some of the things I would do -
Numero Uno would be to pay back the people who have helped me in my life, some more than others. Top of my list is two people who believed in me and through circumstances beyond my control, I could not pay back as planned. I lost everything and was forced to leave the country just to stay alive and I hurt them very badly when I left. I have felt terrible every single day since and I hope to be able to pay them back as soon as I can. Living on assistance obviously is not the way to ever get ahead with anything, but I hope to change that. They get a hundred grand. Next would come my true friend, Bianca, who believed in me when I was in Panama and invested in my business, which died when I was forced to return to Canada. She lent me two thousand dollars on blind faith, so she gets fifty grand. Next comes my best bud, Wade, who stepped in to help me with the disaster of a house that cost me everything. He said he got his money back, but he never told me the whole truth. He also gets a hundred grand, hopefully to help with his hunting lodge dream. I would also invest in anything he wants to do because I trust him with my life.
Next comes family, and that's a tough one. My son and daughter both abandoned me after I moved west, so, on the one hand, I feel they don't deserve anything. I wouldn't want them to get back in touch with me just because I now had money. On the other hand, they are still my flesh and blood, so I would want to help them however I could. I don't think I would outright gift them, but I would help them if they asked. My ex got ninety-five percent of everything we owned when we split, so she's off the list. My brother and sister have done enough to me for a lifetime, so they don't get a dime. My Mum and Dad are gone, so it's too late to help them. I've lost touch with whatever other family I have anywhere, but I'll bet they would find me if they thought there was something in it for them. I would help my cousin, Joan, in any way she needed for letting me stay with her when I came back to Canada.
Next would come friends and that's also a tough one. How do you give something to one without offending another? You can't place a monetary value on friendship, so I wouldn't try. I think I would throw a big bash and invite them all and maybe give them something like ten grand each to blow on something they don't need. If it was something like the fifty million I won, then the bash would be on a tropical paradise somewhere.
Silly things? My one compelling wish if I won the lottery is to go to the Corral and tell the manager that I'm paying for drinks for the women for the next hour. I wouldn't want them announcing anything; just tell them as they order that it's free. At the end of the hour they would just announce a thank you to me for buying the drinks in my favorite bar. If you wonder why only the women, well, I don't dance with guys and they get drunk and stupid enough on their own without my help.
I would also invite Teri Hatcher and her daughter to visit the Okanagan, just so I get to meet my fantasy girl. Maybe I could swing a fantasy sleepover with Teri, Marcia MacMillan, Diane Ladd, Sally Fields, Cheryl Hickey, Sara Richardson, Sandi Rinaldo and Hayley Bennett? Now, that would be an interesting group.
I would want a decent house on the beach in West Kelowna, preferably be able to design and build my own as I've always loved architecture. It would not be any elaborate palace, but would have some nice touches. My only luxury would be an indoor/outdoor pool for parties, a game room and home theater. I can't imagine any fancy expensive cars in the driveway; probably just a Honda Civic, which I've always wanted. I might want some kind of off-road wheels, plus, of course, a dirt-bike, a couple of sea-dos, a ski boat and a snowmobile - my "toys".
Business wise I would invest and work on many of the concepts I have had most of my life. My dream project was to develop a manufactured home park like no other and this would be a priority for sure. I would love to win enough to be able to help people start small businesses. Investments, not gifts.
Charity wise I would want to develop the assisted living facilities that I designed, to provide people in need with decent housing and help to get their lives back on track. It would be s step up from the shelters and give people back their dignity. I've been there and it's not pretty. The government wastes so much money on funding substandard living and I want to help to change that.
There would be some pet projects, like one life to save, a website where people can tell me their stories and we would help them to get back on track with whatever they need. It would operate similar to Extreme Makeover, with companies donating goods and services to people to help to change their lives for the better. Hopefully I could convince Ellen DeGeneres to work with me. It would be my make a difference while I'm here project.
As we learned with Steve Jobs, money can't buy health, but I would hope that I could get maybe a personal trainer and a decent doctor to help with my diabetes and all the challenges I've had over the past few months. I want to lose the weight I've gained and get back to being active like I used to be before all this.
And, finally, I hope to convince Cheryl to have dinner with me. It would be a very private affair, maybe on a rooftop somewhere, with lots of candles, flowers, wine and music to warm her heart and convince her that I now have enough money to make her happy and she will get over our age difference. lol
Thoughts on my 62nd birthday
People often say "I'm not in a good place right now", usually meaning that something has brought them down temporarily. Seldom is it a reflection of their entire life status; however, in my case, it is, sadly. I'm writing this on my 62 birthday, documenting where my life is today, in the hopes that this time next year things will be a whole lot better. Either that or I'll be dead, which is a good possibility as well.
I find myself alone, living in a place I loathe, as a result of yet another mistake with a woman. When I moved from Toronto I was full of such hope for the future. I was in love and believed that I would again be part of a family, which I missed so much. Things took a tragic turn and I found myself alone in a strange city, trapped by circumstances. I longed to be anywhere else but London and obviously regretted leaving Toronto and, even more, missed being out West where I was truly happy.
Through living in a rooming house, to sleeping on the floor of a colleague's office, to ending up in shelters, to an apartment I could not possibly afford, to finally getting into public housing, it has been a long and stressful road. Laying on my filthy bed in the shelter in oppressive heat, afraid for my very life, surrounded by the lowest of society, I knew I had hit rock bottom. Those were very dark days. Although I appreciate my little apartment I face the daily struggle of trying to get enough food to survive on the measly amount I get from assistance. The little things that I have always enjoyed in my life, like having a beer, playing pool, even a meal out at McDonald's are out of the question when there is no money. I have probably applied for at least five hundred jobs over the last few months, with no luck. I have done research on many companies and sent proposals out, again, with no response. I firmly believe that my age is against me and there is nothing I can do to change that. The economy is in the dumps and finding any kind of job, especially in a depressed area like London, is virtually impossible.
I long to return to the Okanagam and I apply for every conceivable job I see in the area. I have limited funding to help me to relocate if I can find a job, but this has not proved successful either. I came close with a perfect job, covering Kelowna north and the island, but was not selected for a final interview, despite being perfectly qualified for the position. I let myself get excited and put everything in place to be able to leave immediately, which only served to bring me down when I didn't get the job.
My family situation is unchanged and still a mess. A tiny glimmer of hope is that my son has reconnected through Facebook; however, his life is as much a mess as mine and he doesn't want to let me back into his life beyond these messages. My daughter has completely shut me out of her life, ever since I drove across the country to see her and she was hidden away from me. So cruel! I have never understood why she shut me out of her life and it's a knife in my heart every single day. Having lost my mother and father I am left with no immediate family, something I have always cherished.
My health is a disaster. I was always so happy that I was physically active and healthy. Whether I was busy renovating or climbing a mountain, I had tons of stamina and could do almost anything. Today my heath is in ruins, mostly because of my diabetes. I have put on thirty pounds, which has resulted in acid reflux and many other problems. I have no energy and sleep more than I ever have in my life. My feet are painful and swollen and I can barely walk. My shoulder, which has yet to be diagnosed properly, is painful and I have very limited mobility. My toes are so painful that I can't sleep. I tire easily and can't exert the smallest physical energy without resting. I feel so very old, for the first time in my life.
There is no one special in my life in the romance department. I have lost touch with all of my friends from out west and I don't know anyone in London. After forty-five years I have reconnected with the mother of my other son and she has been a great help. She has come to London and got me out of my apartment and done things with me that I haven't done in a very long time. She has most graciously paid for everything, something that makes me feel very guilty. I have always been the one to pay and it just reminds me how pathetic my life has become that I am a pauper. I have always been a hopeless romantic and I miss being in love. I think to find someone you need to first feel good about yourself and I certainly don't.
Regardless of what a mess I'm in right now, I hope that some luck comes my way and I can get back to the person I used to be. I think that this will only happen if I find a way to get back out west, but this may only be a dream. They say you can't go back and maybe that's true. I am hopeful I can reconnect with some of my good friends, but it may have already been too long being apart. It also takes money to live in Kelowna and it will very much depend on my financial circumstances. Living on assistance in Kelowna, even if that were possible, would be just as bad as here. I will not give up on my dream to get back there before I die, but short of winning a lottery, it will be an uphill battle. No matter what, my life will be much different if I get back. There won't be any boats or dirt bikes or snowmobiles and my life will be much different. One of my passions for years was to dance at the Corral, but my feet would make that impossible right now. Hopefully if I can lose the weight and get my diabetes under better control I may dance again.
I pray that I can write a much better story on my next birthday. If nothing has changed by then I will simply not survive.
Today would have been my forty-second anniversary
Yikes! That's a lifetime. I don't have any regrets that my twenty-three year marriage ended when it did. It was actually over long before I finally left. I made the same mistake that many people make - sticking around for the kids, when it didn't end up making any difference anyway. I remember someone saying that you know it's over when you wake up and you wish you were anywhere else. After twenty-three years of trying, hoping that someday it would all magically change, I realized it would not and I left.
A really cheap meal
One box of Loblaws' Butcher's Choice burgers (very tasty) on sale for $4.99 for box of eight. D'Italiano Crustini buns, on sale for $2.77 for pack of eight. Cheese slice, Kraft singles on sale for $2.00, bit of mustard and mayo. Splurge on dill pickles, $2.97 for a small bottle of sliced. Dinner for eight nights, although not a lot of variety. less than $1.50 a meal! If you can do without bread or milk for a couple of days, you can mix it up with bacon, No Name on sale for $2.99, or exotic things like mushrooms. What you can't afford is fresh vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes or onions because these have gone up 18% in the last year, with no increase in the food allowance from welfare.
* all prices quoted are from Adrian's No Frills in the Argyle Mall.
If you live in the London area Doris Family Produce at the Covent Garden Market sells a nifty little bag of prepared carrots and cele
The Joys of dealing with Rogers.
Michael A. Adams
Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer
Rogers Cable, Inc.
333 Bloor Street East, 7th Floor
Toronto, ON
M4W 1G9
Dear Mr. Adams:
Although, based on my experience with your company so far it is painfully clear that you don’t care what customers think, or things would change, I wanted to detail just what hell Rogers has put me through. Maybe someone in management will wake up and actually do something about your nightmare of a company.
After a months long battle over my services, mainly stemming from my request, made months ago, to cut back my services because I had lost my job and was now on social assistance, but your customer service staff just repeatedly told me to pay the bill and THEN they would look at changing my services, which makes no sense, I finally reached John in the Office of the President. After much back and forth, he finally agreed to cancel my TV service and reduce my internet service, as long as I remained with Rogers, because I had requested my account be cancelled and I was going with Bell, who offered a much better package.
Bell then called me back to advise that Rogers had refused to allow the transfer. When I got back to John he said his “offer” to eliminate all the incorrect back charges was based on me staying with Rogers, but he had not yet told me that. I reminded him that I never signed any contract and I simply wanted to be finished with Rogers, but he insisted if I cancelled that Rogers would “come after me” for the full outstanding balance. I asked if this wasn’t blackmail and was this the way Rogers did business?
The next thing was that I got a warning notice in my browser telling me that I had reached my paltry 15 GB limit. Not only that, but I would be charged an insane $4 per GB of overage. I fundamentally disagree with the greedy cash grab of UBB in the first place, as do thousands of other Canadians. I have filed protests with the CRTC against this regressive practice. Shaw and Telus have recently bowed to pressure and upped their limits and cut their overage charges in half. I hope that during the upcoming CRTC hearings that they will respond to angry Canadians and ban this practice. In other areas at least the caps are more realistic, at 150 and 250 GB. A limit of 15 GB is beyond absurd.
My rational for objecting to this UBB is twofold; one, it smacks of monopolistic practices and I don’t’ view it any differently than what Microsoft was convicted of with the anti-trust charges. How is Rogers capping internet usage, thereby pushing companies like Netflix out of the market, any different? Secondly, we have “bait and switch” laws in Canada. You pressure consumers to sign upon monthly contracts at set fees, then you encourage them to watch everything on Rogers “on demand”. Then you impose limits on usage, which flies in the face of your advertising, and then you have the nerve to charge obscene overcharges of $4 per gigabyte on top of that, as you told the CRTC, “recover costs”. What costs? An outright lie and certainly clear evidence of “bait and switch”. Hook them with set monthly fees, and then change the contract to add additional usage charges.
Bell again approached me to provide service and I told them if they could get you to agree, to go for it. They were successful and told me that Rogers had agreed to suspend my service as of July 25th and would send me a pro-rated bill, which you did. I hated that I had to stay one more minute with your company, but I was at least thankful that I would be done with you forever come July 25th.
First thing this morning, when I checked my email I got nothing but errors that the server could not be connected. Worse, my browser could not connect either. I went though all the steps to ensure my wireless internet connection was working and it showed “connected” and “excellent”; however I could not get into anything. I use Google Phone because I only have a very expensive Fido paygo that costs a fortune to make outgoing calls, but I had no choice. Thus started my saga of dealing with umpteen people at Rogers, all day long.
The first tech support person I spoke to said he could not communicate with my modem, so it must be defective. He told me to go to a Rogers store to switch it with a new one. I have an infected foot, so walking is very painful, but I made the trip to the store and switched my modem. The girl in the store said she had updated everything and I should only need to plug in the modem and everything would be fine. It wasn’t.
The situation was exactly the same with the new modem. It showed full connectivity, but I couldn’t do anything. I called back to speak to tech support, on my very expensive cell again and this time I was told that the “word order had not gone through properly from the store” so my modem was not “bound” properly. They were to put me though to customer service who could do this for me. First disconnect of the day, so I had to call back and go through it all again. This time, after again holding forever on my expensive call, the tech told me there was a problem with my account. I said I only just got the bill two days ago, so how could there be a problem already? He had no answers, but put me through to billing. Second disconnect of the day, so I called back and pressed all the numbers for “billing”. After waiting forever, again, the lady I spoke to said she understood my frustration, but she didn’t have the authority to reactivate my account, so she would transfer me to someone who did. I said I had been cutoff twice already, so please don’t transfer me. She laughed and said she would never do that, and promptly transferred me, and, yes, yet another disconnect.
Throughout all of this I had remained calm, but my next call was not. I demanded that the person I spoke to transfer me to the RIGHT person and not disconnect me. I finally spoke to a Damon who was very understanding of what I had been going through all day and promised to rectify the mess. He said he had a number of “frustrating” steps that he had to go though, but my service should be restored “by the end of the day”. I told him I had been through Rogers’ hell all day and I wanted the service restored now. He promised to call me back in an “hour or so” when it should be working again. Naturally, he never called back.
I called yet again around seven o’clock and spoke with a very snarky tech support person, whose name I can’t remember. He had me disconnect the modem and the cable, then started down the same road I had been through in my very first call in the morning. When I tried to point this out to him, suggesting that this was not the problem, he got snippy with me and said if I didn’t allow him to go through his procedures, how was he going to help me? After going through the same useless procedures he told me he could not connect to the modem and said it too was “defective”. He arranged for a tech call for Friday between two and five, but suggested I still had time to return to the Rogers store and exchange the modem yet again.
Knowing that it was not the problem with “defective” modems, I none the less hobbled back to the store,only to be met with a sign scrawled on the door saying that the cable centre was closed due to “technical difficulties”. I was obviously frustrated at this, so I tried to open the door anyway and found them open. I then went to the back counter, unpacked my modem and stood there as one of the employees was on the phone. After a few minutes he ended the call and started shuffling all the papers he had on the counter. He did not acknowledge me standing there or suggest he would be “right with me”, just ignoring me. After maybe ten minutes of me getting more and more angry, an employee, Brittney, noticed I had been standing there and asked if I was just exchanging something and then said she could help me at the front.
When she learned what kind of day I had thanks to Rogers, she acknowledged my frustration, but said she might not be able to exchange the modem because the systems had been “down all day”. I calmly said that after what I had been through and being forced to hobble over for the second time, I wanted a new modem. She offered to call and see if they could deal with it. After an unbelievable amount of time patiently waiting on hold, dealing with other customers and chatting with me, she finally got someone. She explained the circumstances and the person she spoke with offered to help. Brittney then most graciously offered to give me a couple of free rentals for my troubles. Very classy. I told her she was the first and only person with Rogers who knew how to deal with a customer and was competent in her job. Most refreshing.
Sure enough when I returned home and hooked up the third modem, nothing had changed, as I knew it wouldn’t. I had my fill of frustration for the day so I gave up and watched the movies Brittney had given me.
First thing Friday morning, knowing that the tech call was going to be pointless, I again called in and spoke with a Liza and related the whole mess to her again. She checked with her manager, who said they saw nothing wrong with the account, but they had no authority to bind the modem. She said she would transfer me to “level two” tech support, but, after I explained that tech support was pointless because they can’t check that the modem is bound to the account, she put me on hold and said she would talk to someone in the department that could. I stress with her to please not disconnect me and she said she was not transferring me, but just putting me on hold. I asked that she please call me back or get someone else to call me back, knowing I was going to be disconnected, and I was. Your phone system is pathetic and only serves to further angry already frustrated customers.
Knowing that if I called back I would never be able to reach Liza again, and would only get the annoying “we are experiencing a higher volume of calls today” message, which is the norm and not at all unusual, I hoped that Liza would call me back. I write this as I wait, so it will be interesting to see if anyone calls me back. At this point, given my experience, I doubt it. So I am left stuck at home, destroying any plans I had for going to the Canada Day celebrations today, waiting for a tech visit that I just know is going to prove as equally useless as everything I have been going through already.
During the hour I have now been waiting for a callback that I doubt is going to come, I attempted to go through the procedures to refresh my network, hoping that someone has done something at Rogers. To my considerable surprise when I went to refresh my network settings using my Dell Wireless program, my original network, named KING, was gone! Instead, when I viewed the available networks I now saw WLAN, which I had never setup and didn’t even know if it was mine. When I attempted to connect to this network of course it asked for the network key, which I don’t know. So, now I am left in an even worse position with no available network and no clue why my original settings are gone. Any attempt to reestablish any connection has failed.
No surprise that Liza never called me back after we were disconnected, but the tech did finally come, which was even more grief. The first thing he tells me, after spending at least ten hours with all the idiots at your company, is that the wire had been disconnected! No wonder no one could talk to the modem! Does nobody know this? What kind of useless system can’t even tell when there is no connection? All the hours and trips to the store were completely useless and a total waste of everyone’s time.
The tech immediately had reconnected me and got the network up on his computer, but then he handed me the setup disk and told I had to reconfigure my wireless network. I asked him if he could just make sure I got reconnected okay before he left, especially given what I had been put through. He refused and left. Sure enough as soon as I tried to reinstall the network the software reported an error that it could not configure my network because some other program was managing my network. Yes, my Dell laptop has its own network manager which has always worked perfectly. Why would your software attempt to override that? After many attempts to get it to work I gave up and went through the grief of moving everything around so that I could use the USB connection to the modem. Just more grief because of your idiotic systems!
I called back to speak to your cancellation department who, believe it or not after what you have put me through, said she could only cancel the account after thirty days. After a lesson in just how pissed off a customer can become, I told her I wanted the service cancelled on Monday so that Bell could also install my internet service when they are here to install my TV and phone service. When she said she was going to put me on hold I told her that I had already been disconnect umpteen times when anyone at Rogers did that, plus I was on my very expensive cell phone at thirty cents a minute. I asked her to do what she had to do and then call me back, but she insisted on me holding. When she came back fifteen minutes, or $4.50 for me, later, she said the department she needed to speak to was closed, but she had sent some emails and it should be dealt with. Yeah, like I believe anyone does what they say they will do at Rogers? I can’t believe she left me on hold while she wrote emails! Do your people have no common sense?
There are so many issues here and idiots that I was forced to deal with, it boggles the mind. Why did the first tech I spoke to first thing this morning not know that it was an account problem and had nothing to do with my modem being defective? Is that too much to ask? Why was I disconnected every single time someone tried to transfer me? Why did NO ONE know the wire had been disconnected in the first place? Why do staff not call back, which only serves to further infuriate the customer? Why are your staff not properly trained? Why is there no escalation procedure when a customer is clearly upset and getting nowhere?
When this all started hours and hours ago the stupid part was that I discovered my internet was down when I went to pay my Rogers bill. Now, after wasting an incredible amount of time with hours on my phone gobbling up expensive minutes I cannot afford, sending me to the Rogers store twice for no reason, and literally, the pain and suffering and emotional distress you have caused, not only will I not send you a cent, but I hope to be compensated for my time. If you chose to take me to court over this I will relish the opportunity to blast you in public in the hopes that I will save other customers from the horrors of dealing with you.
Somewhat related and curious is that I naturally wanted to be as vocal as I could about my disastrous experience with Rogers, so I visited the site IHateRogers.com, and attempted to post my concerns about UBB and my recent experience; however, all emails were returned as “undeliverable”. When I checked into who owned the domain, imagine my surprise when I discovered that you own the site! It’s this yet another despicable move to squash horror stories about your company? Looks heavy-handed to me? Yet another issue that the CRTC should look at.
I’d like to envision a meeting with your senior managers during which my letter is read out to them, and giving them thirty days to earn their fat salaries by solving these problems, or they’re fired, but I know from experience that nothing will ever happen and you will go on ripping customers off solely because of greed. This is deplorable. No wonder people hate Rogers. It is well deserved.
The Saga of my Boat (Published)
This is an article that was published way back in May, 1996 in The Daily Courier. The newspaper I have carried around with me all these years is starting to crumble, so I thought it best to get it saved on my site before it completely disintegrates.
The Heading was Society must review Young Offenders Act with a sub heading of Parents, police, teachers and other young people must act together to change corrupt attitudes.
Microsoft
Over TEN years ago, 1999 to be exact, I sent a proposal to Microsoft which was, essentially, the forerunner to what today we call "cloud computing".
As an account rep for Northern Computer, dealing mainly with small to medium sized businesses, I saw that many of these companies could not afford the heavy hardware and software costs of having their own in-house IT department, yet the needed the programs, connectivity, access to their data, and critical backups. At the time I was working with David Fowler, who was then GM at SILK Internet. He helped me tremendously by supporting a plan where SILK would fund the hardware costs of the shared servers and high-speed connectivity, in exchange for a percentage of the revenue generated from companies who subscribed to our service. This meant that everyone, from a small company to the road-warrior electrician could have secure access to their data, anywhere, anytime and on any device, such as a "smart" phone. The key was getting Microsoft to allow pay-per-use of their software, such as Office. SILK agreed to buy a licensed version for every server, just like a company would, but then users would share the cost by paying to access the program. Someone such as an electrician who needed to do a quote would only need to pay a few dollars for the one-time use, and not the hundreds of dollars to buy a suite of programs he did not need to own.
I somehow managed to get all the way up to a Senior Manager of Licensing who told me that Microsoft would NEVER EVER consider pay-per-use of their software. He literally laughed at me on the phone and the entire project died right then and there.
My how things change! This announcement from Microsoft today -
Available in select Microsoft Office 365 service plans, Office Professional Plus delivers the productivity of Office as a flexible, pay-as-you-go service. It’s a complete, enterprise-class Office experience that ensures you’ll always have the latest versions of all Office desktop applications. And with Office Web Apps, you can access your documents, email, and calendars from virtually any device*.
If they had just listened over ten years ago they would be a lot farther ahead today and I would be a rich man. Life ain't fair!