Friday, July 27, 2007 Continued

Bob's Blah Blog

Ok, I'm back. If there are any errors in the earlier blog, its because I had to logoff before I could, or should I say, Corinne, could proofread it. Please excuse.

Ok, back to Dish Network. Remember the problem I was having with getting a new receiver shipped to me in Walnut Grove? Well, it just didn't get any better. On Tuesday, I started calling to find out where my receiver was. Some person told me I would get it the following day. I wasn't satisfied with that answer, so I asked to speak with a supervisor, having been one myself for a couple of minutes of my life. I got put on hold, then disconnected. I knew that would happen when I told the clerk when she asked why I wanted to speak with a supv. and I told her "because I want to, that's why G## D%$# it!

Next, I callled customer service to verify the previous info and to speak to a supv. about the crappy service I was getting from their crappy company. I got ahold of someone and verified the info and and told him if he was lying to me, I was going to make it my life mission to see to it he gets fired from Dish. I wanted his supv. name and he said it was Glee (sounds suspicious, doens't it). I wanted to speak with Glee, he asked why and I told him I wasnt't going to talk with him anymore, I wanted to speak with Glee, and if he lied to me I would make it my life mission to get him fired and that I was retired and had all the time in the world to make it happen. After several failed attempts for him to find someone named Glee, I told him to find me a manager. Shortly thereafter, Ruby Fernandez, who sounded more Pakistani than hispanic (I know, don't profile) got on the phone. I gave him a ration of poop about hiring incompetent people, people who lie, people who...well, you know, people who. I also told him I would make it my life mission to see that he got fired, too, if he lied to me. Surprising enough, he didn't lie to me, or not so I could catch him. He did advise, the receiver being delivered the very next day was going to be delivered to the house in Phoenix, not Walnut Grove. Well, that little tidbit really set someone (I mean Corinne) off. She hadn't been angry up to that point, but some dumb@#$ clerk decided the receiver needed to go to Phoenix, not Walnut Grove. That also got me fired up (like I already wasn't) and I gave old Rudy an earfull of "Ol' Bob." I got to say, he did get things worked out. We did get a receiver in Phoenix on Wednesday and we did get a receiver in Walnut Grove on Wednesday. Courtney, my father-in-law, and Corinne's dad, refused the delivery, as instructed, even tho I asked Rudy if he had any problem with me holding onto it for two or three weeks like they did by not resending it as they had promised. He said he was ok with that...yeah, sure he was. I did also get credit to my bill for 3 weeks of non-use of the reciever. What a clever Bob.

Wednesday night, Corinne and I tried to install the new receiver, but guess what...it didn't work. I got right on the phone to Dish and tried to get it authorized to use, as the directions said I was to do, but the lady, lets call her Jana, said there must be something wrong with the actual dish or the wiring between the dish and the receiver. I told her a Dish Network technician told me the receiver was bad, thats why I was getting a new receiver, not that the wiring or dish itself was bad. She said, thats too bad, but the receiver is good, the wiring is bad. I asked her to have a technician come by and check out the system since it is covered by our warranty. She said, and get this, the warranty only covers them coming out to the house, not anywhere else, such as a motorhome or coach traveling about. "I should just go home and have them come out to the house and fix it." That is the prefect answer. I told her I wasn't going to be back in Phx. until November and was planning on dropping Dish in favor or Direct TV. She reminded me I had 7 months left on my contract, but would be glad to give me to billing so something could be worked out. Guess I got hosed, didn't I.

Anyways, she gave me the phone numbers of 3 technicians in the Sac. area whom I could contact. Of course, any repairs would be at my cost, not theirs. I am going to wait until we move the coach to a better location and see if its just not a clear view to the satellite we are missing and not something wrong with the wiring, which I don't think is the problem. We can get satellite #110 but not #119. For some reason, I need both to make the system work, although the screen on the TV says if you have satellite #110, I don't have anything more. I think I am still ready to come home and kick some serious booty. I thought retirement was going to be fun, not wasting all day on the telephone trying to resolve issues with Verizon, Nationwide Retirement Solutions, Dish, Ford, on and on.

Now, back to the truck issue. On Wednesday, we took the truck to Geweke (pronounced give-a-key) for the engine light problem. They got us right in, offered us a ride back to Walnut Grove, even though the advisor didn't know where that was (about 40 minutes away). I asked about a rental car, a nearby Wal*Mart, the waiting room and a movie theatre. He said it would take a few hours for the tech to diagnosis the problem. We decided to just wait a bit to see if they found something quickly, which they did. There was something with the Turbo that was stuck open or closed, and they could have it fixed by around 1 or 2 pm. I asked for a ride to the movie theatre and we went to see Ratatouille, which was funny, but a bit long. Just as the movie ended, we gota call from the advisor saying the truck was fixed. I asked him to send a car to pick us up at the theatre and he said will do. We really felt like BIG-SHOTS getting dropped off and picked up by a shuttle van in downtown Lodi. Corinne even started talking like she was from the Hamptons or some where like that. You know, "Charles, take be back to the dealership." All this work on the truck was covered by warranty, so not everything about this retirement thing is all bad.

Corinne just told me about the two news helo's crashing in Phx. Dang, thats not good.

Today is Friday. We plan to move east on Sunday. First stopover will probably be Winnemucca, thats right, Winnemucca NV. Oooo Ahhhh! After that, probably Salt Lake City - where the girls are all pretty. Then to Cheyenne WY....why? because we like it there, even tho we have never been there. Wasn't there an old western tv show about Cheyenne?

Ok, all for now. My fingers are tired of typing. My pea brain is tired of thinking, and the beer from lunch has worn off.

As Arnold sez: "Hasta la Vista...Baby!