Citizens Bank FAIL
At 9:45am on a weekday:
GoComics fixed in comics aggregator
For those of you who use my comics aggregator, please note that the charming folks at GoComics.com mucked with their site again, possibly to make aggregators like mine more difficult to implement (they want your eyeballs and your clicks on their ads!), and I’ve just fixed the aggregator to compensate for their changes, so their… Read More: GoComics fixed in comics aggregator »
Virgin Mobile Auto-Topup broken for months
My wife still uses a Virgin Mobile prepaid phone, despite our previous run-in with their rampant stupidity (we stuck with them because they solved our problem in the end). Unfortunately, their stupidity is on parade again. My wife’s account is configured to auto-topup, i.e., every time her balance drops below $5, they’re supposed to automatically… Read More: Virgin Mobile Auto-Topup broken for months »
Terrible UI Design of the Day
The Citizens Bank Web site recently added a new feature: bill payees can be put into groups. When you first visit the “Add/Manage Groups” page, it looks like this: The first stupid UI decision should be obvious after a moment’s thought. Once you’ve set up your groups, you will rarely if ever create new ones,… Read More: Terrible UI Design of the Day »
Bye Bye, Citizens Bank
Last July, when we were preparing for our trip to Israel, I called Citizens Bank and asked this simple question: “What is the least expensive way for me to get Israeli sheqels out of my Citizens Bank checking account?” In response, the customer service representative told me the following: The fee for withdrawing currency from… Read More: Bye Bye, Citizens Bank »
An open letter to Tony Mitchell
UPDATE [August 30, 2011]: Tony Mitchell has threatened to sue me for criticizing him on my blog. Read all the details here, and please consider chipping in a few bucks to help cover my legal defense. Thanks! Dear Mr. Mitchell, A few months ago, I posted a voicemail message my wife and I received from your… Read More: An open letter to Tony Mitchell »
When “Constant Contact” Isn’t
Yesterday, my wife forwarded to me an email message she had received from our children’s school to ask me a question about it. I should have received the same message, but I hadn’t. A little research in the mail server logs revealed that she has received seven messages from the school in the past three… Read More: When “Constant Contact” Isn’t »
FedEx follies
FedEx tried three times over the past week to make a delivery of two packages to our house. Two times, no one was home, and the third, my wife didn’t get to the door fast enough and the courier left. The door tag left after each attempt said someone had to be home to sign… Read More: FedEx follies »
Copying “Sent Items” on the mail server
Mail clients nowadays offer you the option of saving a copy of outgoing messages in a Sent folder, and in fact most modern mail clients do this by default (that sure wasn’t the case when I first started using email, 23 years ago!). Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work so well. Here’s another option to for… Read More: Copying “Sent Items” on the mail server »
Microsoft Outlook and IMAP: When a Message ID isn’t a Message ID
You would think that when your email client saves a copy of an outgoing message in your “Sent Items” folder, that message would be an accurate copy of the message that was sent, right? Well, in the case of Microsoft Outlook and IMAP, you’d be wrong. For some entirely inexplicable reason, Outlook assigns one message… Read More: Microsoft Outlook and IMAP: When a Message ID isn’t a… »