Tiger Direct and TomTom GPS Fails to Map Out Promised Deal!

I purchased a Tom Tom ONE XL-S this past week with the text-to-speech feature from Tiger Direct, an on-line mail order vendor. According to their sales pitch, with this refurbished GPS, you get a free map update to the latest maps available. The statement on their site is as follows: (They for some reason are now calling it the TTS, although there is no specific TTS version in Tom Tom's litany of models...so I guess they just wanted to change it to delineate that it is in fact text-to speech. Note the specific text from their ad in red.

"TomTom ONE XL TTS GPS(Refurbished)
Enjoy safe, relaxed and cost-effective driving with the TomTom One XL TTS. And it works straight out of the box! The XL TTS boasts a large 4.3-inch touchscreen for the best possible view, offers easy access to the latest traffic information, and shows the latest U.S. and Canadian maps with details on addresses and house numbers, plus Points of Interest, including gas stations. TomTom also guarantees that if a newer map version is released during your first 30 days using the XL TTS, you can download the new map for free. The TomTom One XL TTS operates on a high sensitivity GPS chipset, has 64MB of RAM, a 1GB internal memory, a 266MHz CPU, and supports Bluetooth 2.0. For safe, relaxed, and economical driving, choose the TomTom One XL TTS."

Here's the link to their full ad: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3809124&CatId=3422

After receiving the unit, I attempt to update the maps through Tom Tom. No way. I call Tom Tom tech support and am advised that no refurbished units are allowed to have free map updates, regardless of what Tiger Direct says and to take it up with Tiger Direct since they are wrong in selling the units like this. I further find out that the maps in my unit are over a year old and are Version 7.10 and the new maps are Version 8.25.

I call Tiger Direct and am first disconnected. Then I speak with a very pleasant lady who states that had I read then entire page, Tiger Direct contradicts themselves further down the page with smaller, but in colored text, stating that the maps might be out of date, should be updated, and that each manufacturer has different policies on free map upgrades. Then tell you to check the owners manual, which says nothing about map updates on refurbished units. Hmm, all the while in large print they sell you the unit based on the premise that you're able to update to current maps at no charge. And way down the page, here's the small print:

GPS Maps - Please Note!
The maps pre-loaded on our GPS devices are the most current Maps and Software available at the time of their manufacture. Refurbished, or close-out older model GPS devices may have pre-loaded maps that are not the most up-to-date recent version. You are advised to update your maps after purchase.

IMPORTANT: Each GPS Manufacturer has its own terms, conditions, and availability, for map updates, beyond our control. This may or may not include a fee for map updates - please visit the manufacturer's website, or review your product manual for more information about downloading and updating your pre-loaded maps.

So Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware!

READ TIGER DIRECT MISLEADING ADS BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING!

Buying a refurbished GPS from Tiger Direct and then having to purchase updated maps is basically screwing yourself, since you can purchase a brand new GPS with new maps and a map guarantee for about the price of the refurb and an update. Plus get a full one year warranty rather than the shorter 90 days.

I'm actually very disappointed as I have purchased from them numerous times in the past and thought they were reliable to do business with. Also, I thought Tom Tom would stand up and help out considering how the economy is going, but alas, their answer was so sad, too bad, we're not going to help either. Then, when companies go down the tubes they wonder how in hell did this happen. They should remember their wonderful customer service and how they shill the customers and fail to stand behind the products they sell.

TomTom dumps thousands or perhaps tens of thousands of their various refurbished models out through Tiger Direct, (and yes, Tiger Direct makes the same claims on each ad for all the various refurbished TomTom GPS models), so you'd expect they would do more than pass the buck. At least make an attempt to mke a customer who has purchased several TomTom units happy, but no...screw the customer, and to hell with what our retailer says in writing. We don't care, says Matt of TomTom customer service, in essence. Deal with Tiger Direct and not with us.

Thus, when you spend your hard earned dollars, think about who really gives a damn about you as a consumer and not just about screwing you out of a buck to sell you an antiquated piece of gear. Sure, Tiger Direct will refund the cost of the unit but I'm the one inconvenienced, have to repack it, shag my butt to ship it back, insure it, as they say they are not responsible for transit damage or loss, etc. Just remember the company who cares about you as a consumer and treats you right, and who gives you service. Who tries to bull sh*t you in their ads and cover it up further on so they can shuffle and shuck like a Carney man. Then spend your money where it helps the honest business and not the business that screws others over.

Finally, when these businesses tank during these bad economic times, send them an e-mail telling them you saw it coming and thanks for nothing. Be sure to tell your friends too!

Thanks!

California Screws the Middle Class...Again, And Again

Wow...did we expect anything less than to get screwed by the State in this budget impasse? Those of you having a decent vehicle will see your annual vehicle tag costs double, while the illegals and the no-load welfare suckers are either driving unregistered vehicles and won't pay anyway, or have crapmobiles that have reached the end of the valuation scale, and also the smog index! Or, we're paying for their every cost so they don't give a damn in any case. And the heavy hitter politicians who make the big bucks by screwing us in the first place won't care, as they have state perks that cover their fuel and vehicle costs, so what the hell. Hmm, so the middle class digs deeper into their wallets to support the Granola State.

Increase income tax on the workers so we can support the no loads and the politicians? Wonderful! That's the most asinine idea yet, because it postulates that most Californians will still have jobs, and the way they run this state, most will be unemployed soon. Business is being run off as fast as they can get out the door, and other states are welcoming employers with open arms and tax breaks, land deals etc. But no, not here. Just tax people more.

I noted no welfare cuts being trumpeted. How could we even think of cutting free programs for lazy ass bastards when we can dump the costs on the working man and woman. Or cut into the free health care through Medi-CAL for the immigrants and illegals and welfare cases when we can't even afford our own health care? God forbid we ever do the right thing and make the no loads get off their asses and work! That's just not politically correct, is it?

Let every politician give up their pay for a year and serve the people for free. That's right, for free. Give them just enough for the basic food and basic shelter like we give the recruit in our military. It's a public service so let them act like it instead of a bunch of pork barrel stuffing, egotistical, greedy bastards. Oh wait, that would be so uncharacteristic, wouldn't it?

Hats off to Abel Maldonado for his vote in getting this mess behind us. He showed courage and deep-sixed the 12 cent a gallon gas tax as well as forced lots of concessions too. Instead of considering a bleak political future, maybe he should be looking to be the next governor?

DO NOT PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH

My suggestion is when you call for assistance...DO NOT PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH! PRESS the Key for Spanish...then insist on someone who speaks English! You'll get a US based person because they don't have Spanish speaking workers in the offshore call centers!

Maybe if enough people do this we can bring jobs back home to where we can have English speaking assistance and employ Americans to help us!

Where the blame resides....

Okay, time to stand back and be realistic about who's to blame for the deep trouble we're in right now. We can blame the jerks in Washington all we want, and believe me, they deserve all the blame we want to heap on them, because having them, and their counterparts in state legislatures guarding your finances, is like having the proverbial fox guard the hen house.

My take, for what it's worth, Corporate America, is that you screwed yourselves, and every American right along with you. The BIG difference is that we didn't have fat nest eggs to hide away money, golden parachutes and the ability to rip off money while the peons suffered. We have to live with your greed and miserable manufacturing practices.

You failed to build decent cars in our own country and forced Americans to look elsewhere for reliable automobiles. Thus the influx of Toyota, Datsun (now Nissan) and dozens of foreign makers. They made cars that lasted and could be bought at affordable prices, all the while you kept putting forth junk, and telling us it was un-American to buy foreign. Hell, it was un-American to keep making the crap you were making but nobody could tell you that or show you where you were heading! Even the first bankruptcy didn't open any doors in the brains of Chrysler, did it? You allowed the unions to run the show, and their labor costs priced what you offered outside the norm of affordability, while still shoving junk out the factory door. More fodder for the foreign car makers cannons.

Then you moved more manufacturing offshore and outside the country to become "competitive" with the crap we were receiving from China and third world countries. You established what you called "maquiladoras" or sister plants across the Mexican border to manufacture refrigerators, other major appliances and televisions and warehoused them in the US, putting foreigners to work for pennies on the dollar while laying off Americans. That's how you dealt with foreign competition rather than becoming united and making the god damned government close the doors to all the foreign crap! Current information is there are over 3000 of these maquiladoras along the US/Mexico border.

Then the corporate brains outsource their information and technology to India, the Philippines and to wherever they can get it cheap and fast. It's like fast food, cheap but usually not good. There's a menu and if it isn't on the board the worker reads from, it doesn't exist. Read my first blog about some of the problems with offshore call centers.

Warning about your personal information... It must make you, fellow Americans, really feel warm and fuzzy, knowing that your Social Security and other personal information is floating all around the world, because your bank and credit card issuer is too damned cheap to have a US call center, and not offshore source any of its customer service! Charge you 20 percent or higher interest on your credit card but use cheap labor to answer your questions...or wait.,.try to answer them from their script boards that they can only use. What's that you say...you need something else? Too bad. They might not help at all.

My suggestion is when you call for assistance...DO NOT PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH! PRESS the Key for Spanish...then insist on someone who speaks English! You'll get a US based person because they don't have Spanish speaking workers in the offshore call centers!

Folks, banks overcharged the public with high rates and shoved it in their pockets. They don't give you back much in interest. They charged you for everything they could, bank higher-ups made a bundle and bonuses and even when banks failed, they kept their jobs in many cases. Want to see the pinnacle of incompetency in my opinion...Washington Mutual Bank. Yet after the fall, the same people still running around just like it was yesterday. Now it's Chase who will take the dump with their new family members with them! Step into any San Diego County Credit Union and look at all the huge plasma TV's on the walls. They don't need them to hawk their services..it's pissing the members money away. Nor do they need to sponsor ball games and other events. They need to put the money they make back in the members accounts. But that isn't happening there or anywhere else. Yes, they're probably better than most, but still throw away lots of your money.

Bail out insurance companies? Come on! They've been screwing the consumer for eons and they want to be bailed out. Then the government helps out AIG, who continues to insist they are not really an insurance company anyway, and they screw everyone by holding a huge taxpayer-paid party? And the big-wigs still get their bonuses. Only in America, folks. If this was Russia or another country, we'd have dead bodies piling up in the streets outside those greedy bastard buildings as they were quickly brought to justice. Not that I advocate that type justice, but the kind we have here is like hot air from a broken men's room hand dryer...useless. In the good ol' USA only the worker and taxpayers will suffer.

As a final thought...remember that L.L. Bean shirt? Even that no longer says "Made in America anymore. My last one says "Made in Bulgaria" EWWWWWWWWWW!

A Slow Typist....surgery, and the octuplets

Sorry to be so slow in posting, but multiple men with knives have placed me out of commission for awhile. No worry though, they exacted payment through my medical carrier, and all was for a good cause...they were surgeons repairing damage number three to my shoulder, which for some reason refuses to remain uninjured and without multiple steel pins, bone holes, pieces of bone missing, biceps tendon removed and assorted holes and slices. I know, I know, more than you wanted to know, but the above has taken forever to type with one finger, plus corrections! Thus a lack of postings for awhile.

Don't ask what I think about the octuplets in California! That mother must be part male because she has balls the size of a world globe, when she states her and the six existing children don't get welfare, although they, and she, get food stamps and public assistance, and she leeches off her family besides. Her own mother states she gets Zip, Nada from her towards feeding and taking care of the kids, housing, etc. Now the almost bankrupt Granola State has 8 more to feed ,and the 3 million dollar medical bill besides. And the dumb ass used her Work Comp money to have a Beverly Hills doc implant all the embryos!

Ought to take his license and run him out of town on ethics charges..oh wait..doesn't look like he has any ethics! And they should have super glued the dumb ass octuplets baby squirter legs together way back when. And make the baby daddy step to the plate and pay, pay, pay 14 times over, since the baby mommy states all the eggs were from the same sperm donor, both this 8 and the first 6.

Makes you wanna puke. Freaking freeloader on the dole also thinks and states the "programs to help people in need" are not welfare. Illegal immigrants who commit murder are not murderers if you change the name to undocumented workers who perpetrated a felonious homicide? Hmm? Or a drug dealer is just an undocumented pharmacist? Hmm? She received a college education so she could learn semantics. You go girl. No matter how educated you think you are, your head is still up your ass doing what you did, and there must be a lot of room up there, because your doctor who implanted all those embryos is looking right at you!

Educated people are not necessarily smart people, and people without an education can sometimes be brilliant!

California Taxpayers - Screwed Again

Once again, the infantile mentality and downright lack of conscience of our state legislators leads the news in California. It's small wonder this state is known the world over as a bunch of freaks and assholes, judging by it's government. When you're governed by what is assuredly the greatest collection of buffoons and idiots ever placed in office, even worse than Washington DC, granted placed there by the votes of people in the highly populous counties who have not a clue what's happening in the real world, (read Proposition 103 that passed among others for a clue about how they vote!), you know you're in trouble. Add to that the 9th District Circuit Court and their outright crazy decisions, and it's small wonder this is known as the Granola State...Fruits, Nuts and Flakes. Don't blame me, I didn't coin the expression, nor did I create the aura that surrounds the state and makes people think of it as another planet!

The latest move by these bureaucrats, who have not been able to agree on a budget in seven months, is to withhold paying income tax refunds to the people who have them coming. They're now holding the refunds for at least 30 days and state they will issue IOU's to taxpayers, as they don't have the funds to return your money and meet other state obligations. But in the interim, the legislators and the Governor are getting their paychecks and their other perks. Now ain't that sweet!

The middle class taxpayer who supports all the welfare recipients, illegals, Medi-CAL recipients and lazy asses, including the politicians, all year can't get their tax refund money back so they can pay their own bills!

Then the State has the balls to tell you that no, you can't pay your income taxes with the IOU, nor can you stop paying your income taxes because you don't have the money, because they didn't refund it!

And, to kick you again, they won't give you interest unless they don't refund until after 45 days beyond April 15, even if you filed on January 25. But They want interest if you owe them tax, and didn't pay your estimated tax on time!

California taxpayers, you have my sympathy. You live in a place where the only perk is the weather, and if Sacramento could possibly screw that up, they sure would. Oh wait, that's coming too. As a measure to shore up the economy, some "brilliant" politician will figure out how to tax you on the number of sunny days in your region, multiplied by the number of average breaths you take and charge a "Life Tax" for living here. Of course, it only applies to the employed, and those who are on the dole, illegal or otherwise screwing the taxpayer will not be charged. You, the workling class will pay their share, so breathe deeply and enjoy the sunshine! What's that you say, the air has a putrid odor? That's politics you smell, my friend and in California it always smells rotten.