Since 1971, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has offered a service called the Mail Preference Service (MPS). The alleged purpose of the MPS is to allow consumers to register which kinds of direct marketing mail they want, or to opt out completely. DMA members are then supposed to scrub their mailing lists against the MPS… Read More »
(Simulblogged on universalhub.com.) Long-time readers of my blog know that I have been trying, for almost two years, to eliminate junk mail — the paper kind — from my mailbox. I’ve registered everyone in my family with the DMA’s MPS, tried out various Web sites that purport to help you stop junk mail, and most… Read More »
For the past week or two, we’ve been having a problem with a slow leak in one of our tires. Well, at least, it was a slow leak until this weekend, when it turned into a fast leak, and we’re going to have to get it fixed tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ve stopped at a… Read More »
Apparently it’s a good week for customer service. Following up on my compliment to CVS, I also want to single out the Shaw’s at 1065 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston. Here’s the letter I sent them through their Web site: Greetings, I want to commend the performance of the cashier, [name elided], who rang up my… Read More »
We go through a lot of Pampers diapers, so we buy them in large-count packs to save money. At CVS, we always buy the larger “Jumbo” size. At least, we did until recently, when the Jumbo packs suddenly disappeared from the shelves, leaving only the smaller “Mega” size, whose per-diaper cost is 11% higher. After… Read More »
Citizens Bank “upgraded” their online banking site over the past two weekends. This morning, when I attempted to log in, here’s what I experienced: 30 seconds to load the initial login page 72 seconds to load the identity verification page (i.e., “you’re using a computer without one of our cookies already in its browser cache,… Read More »
I was delighted to discover a few days ago that the problem with the MBTA’s on-line route data that I’ve been trying to get the T to fix for over six years and almost got arrested over is now fixed in Google Maps. Alas, it’s still wrong in the MBTA’s own Trip Planner. Go figure.
(I just sent this letter to Matt Fleury, the president and CEO of the Connecticut Science Center.) Mr. Fleury, On Friday, August 21, my family and I were “stranded” in Hartford for the weekend. We are observant Jews, and therefore riding in cars is forbidden to us during the Sabbath, from Friday evening through Saturday… Read More »
August 27, 2009 [name elided] Hotel Manager Hartford Marriott Downtown Dear Mr. [name elided], I am writing to compliment your hotel and its staff for a wonderful recent stay by my family.
From “MBTA announces latest arrival: Google mapping tool for riders“: But not everyone at yesterday’s news conference was trumpeting the partnership. Jonathan Kamens, 39, of Brighton said Google Maps’s public transit routes are faulty because they rely on schedules provided by the MBTA, which are sometimes wrong. Kamens, a software engineer, said his complaints to… Read More »