"This call may be recorded for quality control purposes."

Don't you just hate that.

You have a problem. You need to speak with a PERSON. But instead, you get a robot.

Don't vendors know that the WORST thing that they can do when a customer has a problem with YOUR product or service is to have them talk to ROBOT instead of a person?

The second worst thing that they can do is have a customer talk with a person who talks 100 mph and has a heavy accent.

The third worst vendor mistake is to have the FIRST thing that the robot says is "This call may be recorded for quality control purposes." 

Vendors, if you're going to IGNORE your customers' problems with YOUR product or services by having them talk to a robot instead of a person, then don't piss them off even more by having the robot say that you're actually concerned about their problem when you're not. If you were REALLY concerned about your customers' problems with your product or service, then you'd have them speak with a PERSON instead of a ROBOT.

Vendors who have their customers talk to a robot when they have a problem "talk the talk", but they don't "walk the walk".

AARP

Have you ever wondered how AARP pays for their operations, advertising and benefits with their low membership fees? 

AARP endorses products and services, such as Consumer Cellular and United Healthcare. Have you noticed that the cost for these services are going up? Those Ted Danson Consumer Cellular commercials aren't cheap! 

Maybe AARP's membership fees are low because of kickbacks from the products and services that AARP endorses, which means that AARP members are paying for those kickbacks in what we are paying for Consumer Cellular, United Healthcare, and other products and services that AARP endorses. 

AARP's membership fees may be only the tip of the iceberg.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/30771656@N05/5305394974/

attribution: Pascal Lee and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/deed.en

Woodstock Gardens (formerly Beaune Brothers)

 It's ALWAYS something with Woodstock Gardens. 

This is the way that Woodstock Gardens left our patio after mowing our lawn this morning. 

• this week the blower guy didn't blow the grass off of our patio
• a couple of months ago Woodstock Gardens decided to stop mowing a portion of our lawn 
• including around an underground drainage pipe that Beaune Brothers installed several years ago
•  the trimmer jockeys are the worst 
• every week I tell them not to trim next to the driveway, lead walk, front stoop, side door and patio
• if I miss a week, it's back to the same old, same old

I realize that there aren't many Einsteins cutting grass. I get it that turnover is high--but this is RIDICULOUS! We shouldn't have to remind these people every week to:

• cut the entire lawn
• don't step on and crush the underground pipe that we paid Beaune Brothers to install several years ago
• don't trim next to the driveway, lead walk, front stoop, side door and patio
• blow the grass off the patio before you leave

Navy Federal Credit Union

Navy Federal Credit Union has been our bank for 40 years. NFCU boasts:

https://www.navyfederal.org/about/corporate-fact-sheet.html 

NFCU "talks the talk", but NFCU doesn't "walk the walk". For example, take "transfer funds" on their website. In short, I've had to call for help EVERY time that I've tried to use it lately. Recently, the helpful person on the call line gave me the scoop:

Me: "it doesn't work."

Helper: "do you have a mouse?"

Me: "not in years. all my devices (laptop, tablet, smartphone) have touch pads."

Helper: "I have a mouse. transfer funds works better with a mouse."

WHAT?!? 

 

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! 

NFCU "talks the talk", but NFCU doesn't "walk the walk".

Walmart Pharmacy

I give Walmart Pharmacy a 5 out of 5. There's one small glitch however.

A few days before my wife's monthly prescription ran out, we received a text message from Walmart.

"Do you want us to refill your prescription?" YES

"Do you want us to refill your prescription automatically each month?" YES

"We will text message you when your prescription is ready to be picked up." That didn't happen.

I checked Walmart Pharmacy's website. It showed that the prescription was ready for pickup.

I mentioned this to Walmart's clerk when I picked up the prescription. She said that they were having to call people 7 days after their prescriptions were filled to come pick up their prescriptions. She also said that Walmart Pharmacy was "upgrading" (wink wink) their system.

Lesson learned: Use Walmart Pharmacy's website. Walmart's text messaging is unreliable.

RevUp/Valley Health

Our PCP suggested that my wife and I get RevUp. 

https://getrevup.com/ 

Based solely on our PCP's recommendation, we agreed. We didn't realize at the time that RevUp is a "remote care" service located in Solana Beach CA. 

I'll be 79 this year and my wife will be 77. Currently we live independently in our own home. Thanks be to God. We realize that there may come a time when we're unable to live independently in our own home. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Back to RevUp. We didn't know the cost when we got RevUp. We were told that medicare would pay for most of the cost. Then the bills came. For $198 a month we both get a 10 + or - minute phone call from RevUp. That's almost $5,000 a year! Medicare pays 72% and we pay the rest. 

When I got the bill, it read: "chronic care management visits at valley health primary care strasburg". Needless to say, I was confused since I hadn't visited my PCP's office in strasburg during the subject months. IMHO, calling these "visits" when I didn't visit my PCP during the months in question is misleading at least and fraud at worst.

Needless to say, we decided that RevUp is NOT for us. Unless you live by yourself, have serious health problems, and you aren't independently wealthy, then, in our opinion, RevUp is NOT for you.

RevUp should change their name to RipOff!

Now to Valley Health.

"As the head of Valley Health, Nantz oversees more than 6,000 employees and six hospitals, including two in West Virginia, as well as more than 70 medical practices and other facilities. The health system serves a population of more than 500,000 in the Shenandoah Valley, West Virginia and Maryland. It reported $77.8 million in revenue for fiscal 2023, after losing $71.8 million in revenue in 2022.

Before joining Valley Health in 2020, Nantz held executive roles at Bon Secours Mercy Health, including serving as chief administrative officer and president of the Atlantic Group, a role where he was responsible for 14 hospitals and other services in South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Florida.

Nantz has a degree in accounting from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a master’s in health administration from Pfeiffer University in North Carolina."

https://virginiabusiness.com/virginia-500-2024-health-care-biotech-pharmaceuticals-mark-nantz/ 

It's a lesson that I learned long ago. It's not like I don't know that large corporations care more about profit than their employees, customers, or quality of the products or services that they provide. 

Valley Health would like its customers to believe that it's all about quality of the medical care that they provide to their customers. It's not. Valley Health "talks the talk", but doesn't "walk the walk".

Like many other corporations, the qualifications of the person at the top of Valley Health aren't in the services that it provides. Valley Health's president and CEO isn't a doctor. He's a "bean counter". And all that bean counters want is more beans ($$$$$) to count. 

Valley Health should change their name to Valley Stealth! Feel the pain!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6736184859/in/photostream/

attribution: 401 (K) 2012 and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

In the future I will be monitoring our PCP's recommendations MUCH more closely. 

Dear DOGE

Elon Musk

Department of Government Efficiency

Washington, DC

Re: junk mail

Dear Elon,

Now that you've chainsawed USAID, the Department of Education, the Pentagon, etc., I would like to draw your attention to the poster child for government inefficiency--USPS, and in particular, junk mail. 

90% of our mail is junk mail. Instead of raising the price of a first class stamp to 73 cents, the USPS should raise the rate for junk mail to $73 per ounce. 

Not only would eliminating junk mail reduce the amount of mail handled by the USPS a hundredfold and reduce the amount of junk mail being sent to landfills a hundredfold, but also eliminating junk mail would be a great service to the American people. 

A hundredfold decrease in junk mail would allow you to chainsaw USPS staff AND reduce the cost of a first class stamp to a more reasonable 25 cents.

Talk about win-win!

Sincerely,

(your name)

cc Donald Trump, White House, Washington, DC

https://flickr.com/photos/stephenvandyke/96983232

attribution: Stephen VanDyke and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

PEretiredAD

Take a look at my new blog: peretiredad.blogspot.com

AD may be the worst assault on customers yet.

fundraisers in pubic schools

My wife and I are old timers. I'm in my late 70s and my wife isn't far behind. As a kid I went to private schools and my wife went to public schools. Many of my friends went to public schools.

In private grade school we sold magazine subscriptions for fundraisers. I didn't particularly like hawking magazine subscriptions door-to-door, but I did what I had to do. My friends in public school didn't hawk magazine subscriptions door-to-door and their parents didn't have to pay tuition like my parents did. Their parents (and my parents) paid taxes for their children's public education.

It began when our four kids went to public school. First it was for supplies--paper, glue, crayons, etc. They were even required to bring rolls of toilet paper to school.

Today we got an email from our grandson saying that he was helping our granddaughter raise funds for a "fun run" to remodel and buy new furniture for her classroom. Contributors were encouraged to pledge $$$ per lap. My granddaughter's goal (she's in kindergarten) is $360!!!

WHOA!!! In this state (and many others, I suspect) public schools are typically the responsibility of local government. One would think that includes school remodeling and furniture.

The fundraiser is very sophisticated. It looks like it was put together by a professional fundraiser/snake oil vendor.

What's this world coming to?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/howardlake/3698848347/

attribution: Howard Lake and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

brutal cold, heat pump and space heaters

The cold weather has been brutal. 

In 2017 my wife and I bought a new, relatively small home with a heat pump. It's our first experience with a heat pump. The problems are:

1. the fan unit is located just on the other side of our bedroom window. It's noisy.
2. the thermostat is located in a hallway towards the back of the house. When we set it to 70 degrees, it's 70 degrees in the hallway and colder everywhere else.
3. The heat pump itself is located in a utility room that is accessed from the garage which is located inside the perimeter walls of the house. The heated air from the heat pump is transmitted by ducts located in the crawl space under the house. When it's brutally cold, by the time the "heated" air reaches the back of the house it's barely warm--and that's with "auxiliary heat" from the heat pump (electrically heated coils similar to a space heater).

To solve problems 2 and 3 I bought two space heaters (dr. heater)--one for the front of the house and the other for the back. With them the heat from the space heaters goes directly to the spaces where the extra heat is needed. No more expensive, barely warm "auxiliary heat" from the heat pump. I save a little money by paying less for the direct heat from the space heaters than paying for the barely warm "auxiliary heat" from the heat pump.

Stay warm! (and pay a little less)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cold_day_in_Lagarelhos,_Vinhais.jpg

attribution: Lagarelhos Vinhais via Wikimedia Commons

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

phone tracking

Recently, there was a push by some apps on my phone to activate GPS tracking. The weather app stopped showing my little town as my location opting to show another nearby town instead. Merlin says "Location is essential for bird ID. For Merlin to work properly, location services must be enabled." BS! What difference does a few meters make? or for that matter, what difference does a mile make? it's a small town.

I'm sure that the weather app and Merlin people have many reasons why I should turn on GPS tracking on my phone. I have two good reasons NOT to: PRIVACY and SECURITY. My wife and I are retired. She's the ONLY person who needs to know where I am 24/7, and vice versa. 

I no longer use Merlin because of their ridiculous demand that I activate GPS tracking. 

PS I also ceased my monthly contributions to Merlin.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indoor_location_services_on_mobile_phone_(10928087126).jpg

attribution: Intel Free Press, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

Food Lion - recalled carrots

ATTENTION FOOD LION SHOPPERS!!!

https://www.grimmwaycarrots.com/status-history/?id=1102 

note the yellow banner at the top:

UPDATE 11/21/2024: GRIMMWAY FARMS EXPANDS RECALL DUE TO POTENTIAL E COLI CONTAMINATION

Why haven't recalled Grimmway Farms carrots been removed from Food Lion's shelves???

answer: Talk is cheap. It's easy to say that you're the best. Being the best requires commitment and hard work. Many "talk the talk", but few "walk the walk".

 

KIMECO

another botched delivery from Amazon Prime to add to:

• https://customertalk.blogspot.com/2023/10/balneolamazon.html
  
• https://customertalk.blogspot.com/2023/07/chatting-with-amazon.html

This delivery almost made it inside the house when we heard a CLUNK and saw the Amazon delivery guy driving away.

What makes this one unique is note at the bottom of the packing slip:

the tuna that we ordered was not the tuna that we received. It was also damaged. On the packing slip Kimeco stated that if there are problems with your order, then contact Kimeco directly and they will resolve them. We contacted Kimeco as requested. Kimeco didn't resolve the problems.

Kimeco "talks the talk", but they don't "walk the walk".

health care: drug companies, health care conglomerates, doctors, PLLCs, etc.

Health care in the USA is BIG business.  It's also a mess. 

Have you ever wondered about all of the prescription drug commercials on television (also insurance, automobiles, trucks, etc.)? Why are some prescription drugs so expensive (thousands of dollars per month)? Where does all of the money for these expensive tv commercials come from? From drug companies. Besides the tv commercials are we paying for kickbacks to doctors too? 

Everyone (including us) has their stories about their health care suppliers. Ours is too long to tell. However, I'll share a couple of things with you that we've learned. 

First, check out the google review and individual ratings (available through google maps) for your health care provider. Start from the bottom. High ratings may come from family or friends. The lowest google rating is 1. The highest is 5. Some health care providers have incredibly low google ratings (3 or below). 

Second, if your doctor is a PLLC or PLC, take a few moments to look up PLLC on the internet. Professional Limited Liability Companies are great for the doctor, but may not be so great for the doctor's patients or employees. Limited liability may mean that feedback from your doctor will be limited, including testing results, feedback from appointments, unanswered phone calls, etc. 

 

In short, much of today's health care business doesn't pass the smell test.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/135213460@N06/21473796202/in/photolist-5LNL8c-5uvhEc-hN1djZ-5Sqz9E-oWpjmC-8hqSWY-6hz4pa-iFiov3-c5aijs-KzfYk-fwJWW8-oQVhc6-oQV7tm-4YfsC4-oQWpQk-oQVKjd-LqUe-p8onb9-4N6YBr-KzfYi-5JhY7H-Q58Tt-5uvi7X-88biBa-4XJsz3-7NxQCw-5uzDTU-22jqDM-w55JD-yHyPty

attribution: mmntz and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

HOLTER heart monitor

My wife and I are in our mid seventies. Recently she was prescribed a heart monitor to wear for 30 days. It's hard for me to imagine how other folks in their mid seventies have the physical strength and determination to use this monitor.

The heart monitor includes a sensor and a telephone monitor. Each have batteries that must be recharged. It came with six patches that hold the sensor in place. The patches have to be removed and replaced when the sensor battery is low. Removing the sensor from the cradle on the patch requires both physical strength and determination.

The patches must be positioned precisely on the patient's chest. The adhesive is like gorilla glue. We went through three of the six patches (and two calls to help) before the monitor worked properly. Each time that the patch was replaced it removed another layer of skin. An area about the size of her hand was both red and sore.

Even then the sensor didn't work properly until I used an ace bandage to apply continuous pressure on the sensor. 

I pity those who are in their seventies whose doctor prescribes one of these heart monitors. Setting it up, getting it to work properly, and changing the patches so that the sensor battery can be recharged is an immense challenge.

more problems with AARP/UHC medicare supplemental insurance

Ever since United Healthcare (UHC) switched payment for our (husband and wife) AARP/UHC supplemental medicare insurance from payment coupons to online, there have been problems paying our premiums. Today's problem is the link, "UHC", on each of our online accounts on healthsafe-id.com, doesn't show up. We tried calling the help number. We couldn't understand the help person ("Claire") because of her heavy accent. 

Could this have something to do with it?

https://apnews.com/article/tech-outage-crowdstrike-microsoft-windows-7294e6c9356050cb095dad3353e9244c

Is there anyone in the world whose "secure" private information hasn't been compromised by "secure" data websites? here's just the latest example:

https://apnews.com/article/att-data-breach-text-cell-b5cdc8d6c9e1b980cb2163f34b297dad

it's a mess.

Apparently UHC, AT&T, CrowdStrike, etc. haven't learned: 

"IF IT AIN'T BROKE, THEN DON'T FIX IT!"

 

stupid dryer vent, stupid Alan Toothman

Clothes dryers have exhaust air vents that must be vented to the outside. In most houses the vent is located near an exterior wall. NOT in this house. The laundry room is located in the interior of the house with the dryer vent some 15 feet from an outside wall. ABSOLUTELY unmaintainable for the average homeowner. 

Builder Alan Toothman needs a middle school science refresher class.

Thanks, Alan Toothman.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/zenzoidman/3332708054

attribution: Samurai Appliance Repair Man and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Valley Health, Medicare, AARP/UnitedHealthCare Medicare Supplemental Insurance

I take prescription drugs for high blood pressure and cholesterol. I've been taking them for years. Each year I make a routine appointment with my doctor to get my prescriptions renewed. This year's was two months ago. During my 30 minute appointment I saw the doctor for less than 10 minutes.

A few days ago I received a message from Valley Health that appeared on their MyChart website saying that I owed them $240. This was a first.

I sent Valley Health the following message:

MyChart shows that I owe $240. as follows:

billed $359.,

insurance covered -$119,

balance $240.

 

Does the $119. "insurance covered" include both Medicare Parts A and B and my AARP/UnitedHealthcare Medicare Supplement insurance?

 

Please explain.

Thank you.

PS Part of the problem was because the claim wasn't showing up on UnitedHealthCare's website. Finally, after TWO MONTHS I received a copy of the claim in the mail.

I received the following MyChart response from Valley Health:

"Thank you for contacting Valley Health. We charged you $359.00 but Medicare said that we should have charged you $417.01. of the $417.01 Medicare paid $153.21 and applied $240.00 towards your deductible and then Medicare applied $23.80 towards your coinsurance.

Then your secondary paid the coinsurance of $23.80 but they do not pay your Medicare deductible so that is why you had a balance of $240.00. Please let us know if you have additional questions. Thank you"

WHAT?!?  

Medicare is a government program connected with Social Security. We paid into Social Security and Medicare with payroll taxes during our working years. Since when does Medicare tell a Medicare recipient's doctor that he should charge MORE for his services? Since when did Medicare become an advocate for the healthcare business? Why isn't Medicare advocating Medicare recipients?

TALK ABOUT THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG!!!

This being an election year we're hearing a LOT about inflation. Most of it is about low-ticket items--like gas, groceries, etc. 

What you DON'T hear about is HIGH ticket items like taxes, housing, transportation and medical care. 

That's because the tail is wagging the dog.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/richmondspca/10725295086

attribution: Richmond SPCA and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

government's calculations for inflation (CPI) are flawed

"The CPI represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. User fees (such as water and sewer service) and sales and excise taxes paid by the consumer are also included. Income taxes and investment items (like stocks, bonds, and life insurance) are not included."

https://www.bls.gov/cpi/overview.htm

https://www.marketplace.org/2021/11/22/whats-included-in-the-consumer-price-index-and-what-isnt/

There you have it. the CPI only includes "out-of-pockets". Big ticket items like federal and state income taxes, state and local property taxes, healthcare costs (including prescription drugs), education costs, etc. aren't included. 

why? 

Mark Twain said it all: "Figures don't lie, but liars figure." 

https://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2010/Murphygovernmentcosts.html

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_twain2.JPG

public domain via wikimedia commons

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Public_domain

Walmart Pharmacy and GoodRx

I'm retired. I have Medicare Parts A & B and supplemental insurance. I don't have prescription insurance. 

I live in Strasburg VA where there's a Walgreen's and a locally owned pharmacy. 

I take three prescription drugs for blood pressure and one for cholesterol. Last December I paid $144.66 (using GoodRx) for a 90 day supply from Walgreen's. 

I switched to Walmart Pharmacy. Yesterday I paid $70.14 (using GoodRx) for a 90 day supply for the same four medicines at Walmart. 

LESS THAT HALF!!!

Needless to say, I'm glad that I switched to Walmart Pharmacy. Thank you, Walmart Pharmacy and GoodRx. 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/walmart3/12331640945

attribution: Random Retail and flickr

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/