Beeman on Business

Just in case you haven’t heard - or weren’t paying attention - the airlines are back in the news again. Delta and Northwest Airlines are talking merger. The airlines would keep the Delta name, and create the world’s largest airline. The airlines think this is a great idea; the employees and some Congressmen don’t.

Of course, this news immediately started rumors of other mergers, which prompted other airlines, such as Continental and United, to say they were keeping their “options” open. Mergers like Delta-Northwest could fuel a stream of consolidations that lead to higher ticket prices, a loss of jobs, and generally unhappy flyers.

On the other hand, it could streamline the whole travel-by-air process. Only time will tell whether it will make things better, but don’t worry too much just yet. The merger must undergo federal anti-trust and national security reviews, which could take awhile.

. . . the more they stay the same - or so the French proverb goes (Alphonse Karr 1808-1890). But the rate of change I’ve been experiencing since my last post to Beeman on Business has been going wide open, and completely out of control.

Have things really changed? or have they stayed the same? Let me get back to you on that - right after I get all the boxes unpacked from the move my husband and I made 6 weeks ago; and right after I heal from the broken bone in my foot, which happened right after we moved into our new house.

There are lots of things to tell; lots of ideas to share; and lots of information to fill you in on. Just give me a few more days to catch my breath, and we’ll get caught up and move forward.

The dictionary defines “behemoth” as any creature or thing of monstrous size or power. I’d say that pretty well defines Hewlett Packard at this point. I can’t leave home because I’ve been promised a callback that so far hasn’t come. I’m being held hostage by a creature of monstrous size and power. I guess they’ll call me whenever they get good and ready — even though my case has been “re-escalated”. (See previous post “The Giga Monster Dies”.)

I need to go to the Post Office, the bank and the grocery store. But I’m expecting a call from HP, so I can’t go anywhere. When I asked the tech who originally “escalated” my problem to a case manager what time I could expect a call, he said he couldn’t give me a time other than “within 24 business hours”. When I pointed out that I had other things to do which required leaving my office, he suggested I give him my cell phone number as an alternate number for HP to call.

Right. Like I’m going to haul this Giga-monster around in a grocery cart, and have presence of mind enough to discuss the situation while I’m picking out nectarines, and deciding what to have for dinner.

OK. I need to use this time in the best way possible. I can’t leave home, so I’ll do some work on business-related matters.

Let’s see. I have some copywriting and correspondence to do. Oh, wait. MS Office Professional was removed in the complete system recovery done on Monday. I don’t dare reinstall it because it says I have only 2 legal installations, and I’ve used up one.

Well, how about working on my web sites? I have quite a few of them, and they need updated content. No; can’t do that. MS Frontpage and Expression Web, as well as my CSS program, TopStyle, were all removed in the system recovery.

I need to finish a tax return which is due in October. Can’t work on that either. QuickBooks and Quicken were both removed on Monday.

I need to get busy on the podcasts for my websites. Oops. No sound card on this puppy.

Well, what can I do? Oh, I know! I can blog! There are very few options open to me with the computer in this condition, but Internet Explorer is working (for the moment); my internet connection is working (thanks, BellSouth) and I can do some blogging.

We, the people, have few choices when a giant corporation like Hewlett Packard decides to place its Customer Service Department in a far-off country, which is in a different time zone, then holds us hostage waiting on someone up in the ranks to review our “re-escalated” problem. Americans have already become too complacent with corporations who are running roughshod over us, and if we don’t speak out — both for ourselves and for those in comparable positions — the behemoths will continue to have a blatant disregard for the customers who keep them in business.

I’m speaking out, and I intend for my voice to be heard. It will take more of us doing the same in order for large corporations to hear us when we have a valid complaint. Many thanks to my friend, Martha, of Martha’s Web for adding this blog to her BlogRoll.

If you’d like to add Beeman on Business to your site, please feel free to do so. I’ll keep you updated on the progress (or lack thereof) of this situation. If you have a similar problem, and want to contact me about it, email me at teresa @ beeman-communications.com. You’ll need to remove the space before and after the @. I just can’t deal with any extra emails from spammers right now.

More later.

… but no one is coming to its funeral. Following is my sad tale.

On August 21, I acquired a brand new HP computer - Model #a6167c; Product # GM276AA-ABA. I call it the Giga-monster. It has a 400 gig hard drive; 3072 mb system memory; SuperMulti DVD burner with LightScribe, and HDTV.

It sat in my living room floor, still in the box for days, because I dreaded the job of transferring files from my old computer, moving that computer to hubby’s office, and removing hubby’s 10-year-old computer. It was going to be a lot of work.

Finally, on August 25, I began the task of unpacking the new computer, setting it up, and moving all the afore-mentioned machines. It wasn’t fun, but I knew once the work of relocating everything was done, that I would be much happier. I’d be able to work faster, get on with my blogging (which had been sorely neglected), and start podcasting - something I was looking forward to.

I ordered new Vista-compatible software, began installing the new programs, and exploring my new computer. Everything was progressing slowly, but I was getting into the rhythm. Then on September 5, there was suddenly a fly in the ointment. My computer had no sound! This couldn’t be. The computer had only been turned on for a little over a week, and had been lovingly plugged into an uninterruptable power supply from the beginning.

There was an ugly red circle, with an even uglier white “X” in it, over my speaker icon. When I hovered over the icon, I got an error message saying , “No Audio Output Device is installed.” What???? There had been sound the day before!

I got online with HP tech support, and spent several hours following their “click here; click there” advice. No sound. So the next day, I picked up where I had left off, and got online with tech support again. After hours of no progress, and doing everything they asked, I still had no sound. I tried again on Friday, the 7th, without success.

To say I was getting frustrated is an understatement. But I had other things I had to do on Saturday and Sunday, so this would have to wait until Monday, September 10.

Now let me add one thing here that I forgot to mention before. I am self-employed. This computer (or any computer, for that matter) is not just a luxury for me. It isn’t just for hobbies, or passing time chatting or exploring the world wide web. It is essential to my business. It is crucial that I have a fully-functioning computer in order to produce income.

On Monday, September 10, I placed a call to the HP toll-free number, and of course, immediately got someone in India. I was already thoroughly annoyed, and that did nothing to improve my disposition. I gave him the reference number from my previous contact with HP, and after trying for 2 1/2 hours to fix the problem, he said we would have to do a total system recovery.

Now, I’m no expert technician, but I’ve been able to maintain my own computers for over 10 years. I knew what that meant. I also knew that I was at HP’s mercy. If I wanted their help, I had to do what they said in order to take advantage of the warranty.

I had been using an external hard drive since the switch-over, so I couldn’t think of any data I needed to save — until the recovery was underway. There went my all my email — including the license number to my newly purchased anti-virus software.

Since this was going to take some time, the man in India said someone would call me back in two hours. When the call came, my computer was back up and running, minus all my new software programs, and still with no sound.

I was then passed on to another technician, who asked for permission to take over my computer remotely. What choice did I have? At this point it didn’t seem to matter, so I granted her permission. She repeatedly attempted to install a driver for my sound card, crashing the computer not once, not twice, but three times.

She told me she would arrange to have the computer picked up and taken in to replace the motherboard. Oh no, she wouldn’t. Now I was seething. I informed her that she would make arrangements to provide me with a brand new computer - that I didn’t want this computer anymore. And in fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted another HP at all.

She transferred me to a supervisor who was pretty quick to catch on to the fact that my patience with this situation was at an end. He said he would put me through immediately to a “case manager”. I held for 15 minutes or so, only to have the supervisor come back and tell me he was unable to reach a manager, and would it be alright if someone called me back within 24 working hours?

No, it would not be alright. I wanted this situation resolved immediately. He assured me he would do his best. Did he? I don’t know. It is now 26 hours later, and I still haven’t had a call from HP.

Not one to let grass grow under my feet if I can help it, when 24 1/2 hours had passed, I called HP again, and got more people in India. I had to go through 2 techs before I got another supervisor who assured me that the case had been “escalated” to the attention of a case manager, but that he would “re-escalate” it, and that I should expect a call within 24-48 business hours. Goody. I hung up on him.

My brand new noise-cancelling headphones came today. I can’t try them out to do a podcast because my brand new HP computer doesn’t have a functioning sound card.

More tomorrow.

A few days ago I was looking for ebook conversion software. There are lots of choices out there, and I found something that I thought looked pretty good. So I bought it for $7.

Following the purchase, I was taken to one of those “one-time-only; you’ll-never-see-this-again” pages, which offered another product for $37. I scrolled up and down the page several times, reading what the site was offering.

The product looked good, and I was seriously considering purchasing it. Then, without warning, I lost the page due to “technical difficulties”.

Dismayed, because I had decided I was going to purchase this product, I contacted the site’s owner. I explained that I wanted the product, but had lost the page, and could he send me a link to purchase it.

His response was that when he said “one-time offer”, he meant it, and that I could not have the product for $37, but if I would send him $40 via PayPal, he would be glad to send me a link to purchase.

What???? He wouldn’t sell me the product as offered, but he would gouge me for another $3! He said his “credibility” required that he stick to his rule that I could see the page only once.

I say “ba-loney”. If a customer wants to purchase your product, you can try to sell them additional products, but you don’t try to make them pay more than you were advertising it for in the first place.

That is not smart marketing.

This has been a crazy month for business. First, the price of oil was up, but this morning the price fell below $65 a barrel. Of course, the American stock markets are closed in observance of Memorial Day, so there’s no way to gauge the effect on stocks. Markets are also closed in London for a bank holiday.

The euro was up from from Friday, and the U.S. dollar opened mixed against major currencies.

Most people don’t realize how things like this can affect their daily lives. Stick with me to see just how important it is to pay attention to the actions and decisions of people in positions of power.

Welcome to Beeman on Business. My name is Teresa Beeman, and I own and operate Beeman Communications. I am a professional writer, researcher and speaker.

This blog will report decisions made by businesses and politicians.

I hope you’ll join me on a regular basis as we explore the effect those decisions have on you, me and our world.