Update: 28 Aug.

Got a full refund today.

S

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And while I am on the subject of customer service.

I need to warn people about Echosign.com.

They provide a truly excellent service, which I used to recommend heartily, but I have had an extraordinary Customer Service experience.

I signed up, they sent two invoices by email, and I forgot about it. I did not have need of the service so I would have cancelled it if I had been receiving invoices. Eventually six months later, I was doing my accounts and spotted the recurring billing. I sent them the note below asking them to sort it out by a) cancelling my subscription and b) refunding the charges they had not invoiced for.

8 Days later, and no action.

And, it is impossible to cancel your account via their website.

And to think I recommended them to loads of people.

Hi, Can you please cancel my account immediately. I notice that I have not received an invoice from you since the 3rd of February but you have continued to merrily bill me away. If I had received invoices from you I would have cancelled my account a long time ago. You will see from the usage that I have not used it this year at all. I have recommended your service to a number of people, in fact I have raved about it to people. Right now I do not have a need for the servcie, and I am very dissappointed at the customer service I am receiving from you. I would be greatful therefore if you could not only cancel my account forthwith, but if you could refund the debits on my credit card after the last invoice received on Feb 3. I would also recommend that you put an unsubscribe button on your website. Many thanks SHane S

Dell's Chat Support

I had my first interaction with Chat based tech support and I think itis wonderful. None of that cheesy "how are you" and "getting to know you" stuff, coupled with repeating yourself to someone whose native language is not English. Instead, crystal clear communication and all over in 10 minutes. Well it would have been 10 minutes except they kept asking me if there was anything else they could fix and is there anyway the service could have been better.

They also scheduled an engineer to call tomorrow to fix it.

Incidentally, I held off getting the keys on my keyboard fixed for over a year because I could not bear the thought of a half hour tech support conversatoin.

Well done Dell.

S

The Irish Internet Association and Tiny Grey Type

It seems increible, but the Irish Internet Association si touting its conference via an email wiht 6.5 point mid grey type. The impression this gives, is that the IIA does not know the first thing about the internet. I sent them some feedback, and maybe it is a technical glitch, but still, a test mailing might have been an idea.

Unfortunately, pasting does not work, so I cannot show it.

S

Warren Buffett blew a quarter of a billion on Irish bank shares last year

Guess what,

Warren Buffett blew a quarter of a billion on Irish bank shares last year.

This quote is buried in the piece below.

“In 2008, he purchased $244 million worth of shares in two Irish banks, leaving him with an 89% loss at year's end”

But having said that, he thinks banks are good buys right now.

See this link.

http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-income/2009/03/11/buffett-likes-banks.aspx

S

Bring Back Alan Dukes to Lead A Government of National Unity - Again

Sir/Madam,

The concept of a government of national unity has been floated in various quarters, however, there is related question that needs to be answered before this idea can gain real traction. That is, “who should lead this Government of National Unity. To me, the answer is obvious. We should put the same person in charge as was in charge of our Previous Government of national Unity. I refer of course to Alan Dukes.

For those not familiar with the 1980s, Alan Dukes was the Fine Gael leader who implemented the Tallaght Strategy whereby Fine Gael would support the Fianna Fail government as it implemented unpopular measures required to stabilise the economy, and indeed, lay the foundations for future prosperity.

So here is the plan. Fine Gael put Alan Dukes on the ticket for the Dublin South by-election. Enda Kenny moves aside and becomes Fine Gael’s prospective Presidential Election candidate while Dukes takes over as leader. The current president then calls for a government of national unity.

Now if we could only get Ray McSharry to run in the Dublin Central by-election and take the role of Minister for Finance...

Shane Hayes
Shankill
Co. Dublin