POV

The 2008 Chain Off takes place 2008, June 27 – July.
“What is that?” you ask.
Click below for answers

Chain Off 2008 • Unchain our World!
Freedom for Chained Dogs the World Over

Helen

USA TODAY
FDA vet tracks dog deaths, gets smeared in the process

June 17, 2008

ProHeart 6 — a controversial heartworm drug for dogs — came back on the market last week, almost four years after it was pulled when hundreds of dogs died and thousands more suffered adverse reactions. Ordinarily, this might be of interest mainly to pet owners and veterinarians. But this is much more than a dog story.

…click for rest of the story.

I like books, and I like bargains. Being amazon.com has them both, I zeroed in on them years ago. They have discounted books and free shipping on orders of $25 or more on most of their products. I’d never had a problem ordering from them. Until now.

My scope of ordering has recently gone beyond books. Amazon has branched out, and due to the solid experiences I’ve had ordering from them, so have I. I ordered an external hard drive from them last year.

This one. It’s a Seagate 160 GB external hard drive. I’ve been having computer troubles, and this suitcase has been my saving grace for keeping all the good stuff, like my pictures, safe for me when the computers smoked up and crashed. Yes, more than one computer has up and left me. I ordered that drive directly from Amazon. All was fine.

Recently, I decided I needed another suitcase for various reasons. The original Seagate worked so well, I wanted a duplicate. I went back to Amazon, and found that they were all but obsolete. One vendor on Amazon still carried it – Endless Variety. I ordered it.

A week or so later, a box came in the mail. When I lifted it, I knew the weight of that box and the weight of my current suitcase did not equal. Sure enough when I opened the box, I found this.

It is an 80 GB Seagate internal hard drive. It sells for $25 less than the drive I ordered.

According to the packing slip, I needed to contact the seller to get an RMA# before I sent the item back. I called, and the number led me to what sounded like a personal voicemail system. I e-mailed, and the e-mail bounced back. I filled out the form on Amazon, and still no response from Endless Variety. So through my bank, I got Amazon’s phone number. That is not easy. For future reference, it is 800-201-7575.

The bottom line is that Amazon has an A-Z Guarantee and I have to wait for another few days, but Amazon itself will refund my money. That will definitely keep me as a customer.

I would not do business with Endless Variety ever again, though.

Helen

This is the link to J.K. Rowling’s Commencement Address at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association. You can watch it or read it, but either way, it’s a phenomenal piece.

Click: “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,”

Helen

This is regarding two posts in December 2007 that were unresolved in my book:

1.  Sirius Radio Channel 2 – Anti-Pet People?

2.  Sirius Radio Replies 

May 23, 2008

Scott Greenstein
President, Entertainment and Sports
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.
221 Avenue of the Americas
New York, New York 10020

Dear Mr. Greenstein:

This is in regards to the two e-mails I wrote through the Sirius customer service section of its website in the month of December.

Sirius offered a chance for listeners to call into record a Christmas greeting on channel 2.   I did so early in the process.  When I did not hear my greeting air, I recorded it again. (Exact words are below.)  Still, I did not hear it, so I wrote the e-mail below, and received a response from the customer service department that hinted at the possibility of someone caring enough from channel 2 to respond further.  No one did.  I heard nothing more.

I have been holding onto this letter writing task for months, and because of the recent commercials airing on my favorite and very pro-pet channel, the Martha Stewart channel, I had to write this letter.

Sirius, as a whole, purports to be pro-pet on those commercials; however, through the lack of response to my query, it appears not.  Channel 112 is definitely a pro-pet winner, and Tuesdays with Sonya on 102 is also in line with the claims in the airing commercial.  But all of Sirius is not pro-pet.  Otherwise, there would not have been such a severe prejudice regarding my holiday greetings message, which was meant for the pets of America and the owners who care for and love them.

The fact that there was no response from channel 2 gave me a very chilly holiday message that Sirius, in some respects, turns a deaf ear towards the millions of pet lovers in the country.

Had I been privy to a proper response through the on-line channels created for the Sirius listener to use, I’d not be bothering you with my complaint.  The system failed; hence my letter.

Sincerely,

Helen