Odds and Ends

I feel that there are a few items that I might comment upon that I have left hanging:

The first has to be the continuing comments about MagicJack; there have been a few complaints that were similar to my own, more about the way that these people conduct business than the nature of the product; then there have been a couple of really funny comments by people who work for the company, I hesitate to call them lackeys or lickspittles because I don’t know them other than through their abject admiration for the guy who is steamrolling the company. I wonder if they realize that anyone in the world can read their devotional messages to The Great Chief? I was hoping that the whole issue was behind me, but perhaps it has a ways to go yet.

On a positive note: For those who have been following my fibromyalgia (now re-labeled rheumatism by me) the decision to go and see my internist, to tell him that I wanted alternatives to what was not working, was a good one. He wrote the order that I have a consultation at the Chronic Pain Clinic as I have written previously; the first visit was an evaluation, the second was a series of meetings with the different specialties involved in pain management. I will be visiting the clinic once a week for up to five weeks.

The change in medicine to Cymbalta continues to give me back the energy and stability that I had lost when taking Lyrica; the side effects seem to be some acne and a definite absence of activity between my legs. That last thing would be of greater interest a decade or two or three previously, but I turn seventy this fall. I have had little or no knee and leg pain, my rheumatism has been at level 2 or less since beginning this stuff.

There will always be some degrees of pain and discomfort, no one is arguing that that will be the case; this management is to minimize what can be reduced, and to stop the remaining pain from being such a big part of my life. The biofeedback part is new to me although I have been doing breathing exercises as part of yoga, the feedback takes it a step or two beyond those simple exercises. There are a group of physical exercises which have made an improvement in how I feel in general, pain reduction in particular. So that’s pretty much how that is going.

Again, the big point was that I decided to request alternatives to what had stopped working; that is always the case, I hear too many bitching stories from people who are waiting for the people in the white coats to open the magic box and release the instant cure. There ain’t no instant cures except in children’s story books, the people in the white coats wait to hear when the patient wants something.

I write this in the midst of doing three loads of laundry, something I would have not had the energy to do at one time just a few weeks ago. A thunderstorm is roaring through, dropping a lot of water and thunderbolts; Bach’s piano and cello concertos are going on in the other room.

That’s it from Chicago this Friday morning.

MagicJack case closed

Yesterday’s mail brought a check for $46.90 from magicJack, a complete refund.

That the check was hand-signed shows that they don’t do that much check writing.

Blogs and WordPress do have a practical value, if you are being stiffed make it public, and do it again until the right thing is accomplished.

This case is closed and being forgotten.

Beware of magicJack

More about magicJack: This $46 business has become bigger than it ought to be, and one way or another it will be a memory in a week or two, I have spent more time on it than it deserves.

I received one comment about my previous magicJack post from a guy who said that he worked for the company, that he would see to it that I received my promised refund. Later on another comment came in from a very satisfied magicJack user who told me that it was the president of the company who had written to me previously, that this president monitored and answered all his email, this fellow who had promised me my refund; and didn’t this just prove that this was a great company and a great product, and that the president was a great guy!

I have never been the president of a company, but if I was I imagine that I would have people who do things, that I would oversee, direct, put emphasis where I thought it should be; I never pictured that I’d be the guy sitting around watching the screen for mail, I just never imagined being president that way. Perhaps this guy could pay some attention to a couple of other areas that might benefit from his attention.

I think I should put in a couple of other points, to pierce this punctured balloon even further:

One of the men at work had heard about magicJack, that for $20 a year a person could have phone service; a bunch of us were interested, some friends outside of work were also interested when I talked about it and after I had read the circus-style ad on their website. It was decided that I would be th guinea-pig, would be the one to lay out the money, give it a try, and if it worked there was going to be a bunch of people signing up.

I have a pretty good computer: it is a Sony Vaio with a Pentium 4 processor, running on the Sprint wireless link, my upload and download speeds have always been high whenever I check them; and about a year ago I used Skype for a short time, it worked very well, sound was clear as a bell, or a Bell. It turned out that I didn’t need the long distance service, so I just dropped the Skype.

That is the background on this business; I was a hopeful guy who laid out a few dollars, went into this with hope and encouragement; and what if it didn’t work? they promised me my money back.

The gadget doesn’t work on my system, I spent about twelve hours in total trying to get something out of their tech service people in India, I finally got a returned goods authorization number and address to where I sent the gadget. Then nothing. The email address that worked once was now gone, the guy who promised the return is silent, and I hear that he is the president of magicJack.

Anyone who is thinking of trying this gadget should beware; this one person’s experience has turned out to be a pimple on my ass, one that I plan to be rid of and forget soon. There are a lot more interesting things in life than this.

More on magicJack

Another comment has come through from a customer, it is published on my first magicJack page.

It is important that whenever we come across something like this experience, that we let others know; just as we would let friends know when something good happens, when we find a good bargain.

Every time that someone takes advantage, tries to rip one of us off, we need to make a fuss, let everyone know what is going on.

We all like to explore something that might be good, something new or a good bargain; on the other hand there is no reason to keep quiet when someone takes advantage of our hope.

Roger

Avoid magicJack

I want to let everyone know that I have had a bad experience with “magicJack”, that others ought to beware so that they don’t lose money, and experience the aggravation that I have had.

The internet phone service that calls itself “magicJack” charges $20 per year to call around North America. I decided to try their service because it sounded like something that would work for me; I found that the $20 annual fee is added to another $20 for the device, another $6 is added to mail the device that is inserted into a USB port, a regular telephone jack is put into that; everything proceeds automatically from there……Except that it wouldn’t work, calls I placed became one-sided, calls were chopped up so that words were not started or ended, or the service would stop entirely for various lengths of time.

They have an online chat technical service that I tried to help solve my problems, used this service about eight separate times; spent about twelve hours in total trying to make this work. It wouldn’t.

I finally asked for and received a return goods number and address, was told that upon receipt of the USB gadget my money would be refunded. The email address for that transaction has now disappeared; the tech service chat service now has no connection to the sales department. I am out $46, 12 hours of my time, and promises broken. Five weeks gone by with no sign of refund.

If anyone is considering this service think again.

If you know of anyone who is considering magicJack tell them of my experience.

Tell everyone you come across that magicJack is to be avoided, and why.

A few degrees above freezing

The weather forecast says that we will have temperatures 6° above freezing today; tomorrow and the following handful of days will be below freezing again, but today looks like a good day for a walk. I splurged a small part of my tax return on a good hat, my first good hat, today would be a good day to take it for a walk, let the brim shield my eyes from the hazy sun.

It isn’t that previously the temperature was too cold to be outside, the problem was, and is, the ice on the walks, there is ice everywhere, there is new ice where the sun has warmed a section of concrete, melt-water freezes again when in shadow returns; there is also the ice that forms over old ice, water flowing over old and polished ice freezes. People walk around with their arms held out for balance, my ankles are sore from continuously handling the skids and bumps. I have a bad knee, a partial knee, it doesn’t like the twisting and skidding any better than the ankles; the knee was wrapped in the Ace bandage that was on my wrist, from that sprain last week. All of this is standard stuff of a long winter, one that has some ways to go yet; but today might be a good day for a walk.

I’ll let the sun warm the walks on the west and north sides of the streets, let the concrete absorb some heat and melt the thinnest ice, provide a dry path to navigate.

My neighbor just went down the walk to the garage, tottering, arms and hands held at a bit of an angle, she is wearing boots with a low flat heel, those high-heeled boots have become rare this last few weeks.

Partial sun comes through the haze, there is a Bach Double Concerto being played for me by a small orchestra in the front room, the coffee was made right this morning, and there you are. I have to keep remembering to stir the mixture in the French Press Pot, and stir it again; it is when I don’t stir it enough that I end up with a thin brew, find a reason to complain, although it was my oversight.

About 3 this morning I awoke with a case of the heebie-jeebies from a few things that I had been going on these last few days, nothing earth shattering, just a case of 3 a. m. heebie-jeebies that we have all experience whether we admit to them or not. I was feeling more and more uncomfortable, thought of getting up and watching some infomercials, or playing solitaire on the computer, something other than feel what I was feeling; then I remembered the mindfulness breathing exercises that I have been doing for about a year now–and damned if they didn’t work, it took about 15 minutes or so, my mind would wander for a while, the usual stuff.

I remembered all this when I awoke again, about half an hour ago, like stirring the coffee mixture, something that I have learned but don’t always remember right away.

I was reconsidering whether I should admit to what went on in the middle of the night; would Hemingway have admitted to something like that in print? Probably not, but then again, Hemingway ended up at the nasty end of a shotgun.

Sparrows sit in the bushes waiting, like silent accusers in some French movie, in dark suits and berets they sit, their silence and stillness displays their accusation–you have not put seed in the feeder. I do plead guilty, feel their condemnation, open my soul in abject guilt; another reason to dress soon and get out there.

That is the way of it all: Go for a walk on days when the walks are in better shape; remember to stir the coffee thoroughly if I want the best flavor and strength; face the heebie-jeebies by living in the moment; accept that the birds will be fed, not right now but in a little while, they don’t need immediate breakfast; if there is a favorite piece by Bach, then put it on.

On another note: I have to write a dirty letter to the MagicJack people, they are the ones with the $20 per year phone service over the Internet; the phone doesn’t working right, they have refused or are unable to make it work; they lied to me twice, and their technical service person hung up on me last night–yes, I was still being polite. I was polite and patient, hoping to work with them to solve the problem; they are a new company, with a new gadget, one that looked good. Lying and hanging-up just make everything worse. I am going to tell all my friends and co-workers who are waiting to see if this thing works for me–tell them how they handled a tough problem.

That is the right thing to do, don’t let it fester, don’t make more of it than what it is, and then move on; it’ll become one of those ideas that looked good, wasn’t, keep walking on the sunnier side of the street, enjoying the sun and today’s temperature, navigate the dry path.