The Ownage

Well I just got my replacement card for my main checking account. And guess what, they screwed up yet again! I had a Platinum Check Card that had my picture on it, and they replaced it with one of the generic red debit cards. Seriously…can they do anything right?

So I’ve been having trouble with my debit and credit cards. The most recent of which are, I tried to buy some items at Home Depot on my HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) visa and it was denied. Also my main debit card expires at the end of this month, and I have not received a replacement yet. Lastly, and most minorly, when I access the online option to set ATM limits for my cards, my main debit account is not in the list.  So, I sent BOFA a customer service email (using their submission form/process), about each of these items. Here is their responses:

Me: ” My card is expiring at the end of the month and I have not
yet received a replacement card. Please advise. ”

BOFA: “Thank you for your inquiry dated 1/14/10 regarding the debit card. We will be happy to assist you.

Our records show a current replacement card was sent to you with an updated expiration date on 1/4/10…Please note that replacement debit cards are automatically mailed thirty to thirty seven calendar days prior to the expiration date.  As you have not received it a block has been placed on the debit card. If you would like a new card to be sent, please send us a message requesting a new card.”

So, they say that they send out replacement cards 30 days in advance, but instead they sent it out the same day that I emailed them, and then disabled it because I “have not received it”! FAIL!

Me: I do not have options to adjust my ATM withdrawal limits
for this account (but I do for my other card ending in ####). Can I get this option enabled?

BOFA: Thank you for your inquiry dated 1/14/10 regarding the ATM card limit. We will be happy to assist you.

Our records do not indicate a check/debit card for the account ending in – #### (my main checking account).

So…the reason that I cannot adjust my ATM withdrawal amounts for my checking account is because my checking account has no check/debit card??? WTF? What is this right in my wallet? This is the same card that they just sent me a replacement for, and cancelled it before it got to me!

Me:  I recently tried to use my Platinum Visa card associated
with this account (HELOC), and it was denied. Please advise

BOFA: We realize that these measures affecting your HELOC may be a significant inconvenience for you and we are committed to working with you. If you have not done so, we encourage you to contact a Bank of America Loan Specialist at 1.866.731.2688 with questions regarding the letter or your home equity account.

Gee, that sure is helpful. NOT! If I wanted to call in and sit on hold for 2 hours, I would have just done that instead of using their handy online customer service tool.

I had set a goal of “390 by Christmas”, which I did not quite reach. However due to my diligence of not partaking in all the sweets and fattening foods during the holiday I have now reached my goal with some pounds to spare!

Next goal is 380 by January 11th. Wish me luck!

Just walking around used to be such a chore, but today, wow…I don’t know if it’s because I slept all day, or my diet, or losing weight, but I just feel so strong and light on my feet, which should be impossible since Im still near 400 pounds, lol. NEED MOAR EXERCISE! I’m going out for a walk right now, at 11pm, that’s how much energy I have. And then when I get home Im going to grill a new york strip and eat it with a small salad….BOOYAH!

This weekend I will be migrating a domain to Google Apps. In other words, moving all the users from Exchange to Gmail. This will involve some DNS editing, as well as testing out the google-provided email migration tools. They have one tool that you can use to transfer your users emails to their new accounts via IMAP. I will be using this as well as giving the users the email upload tool, which allows them to transfer the email that they have stored in local PST files to their gmail account, as well as automatically reconfigures their outlook to access google instead (in case they want to keep using Outlook). It should be an interesting experience. The end result is moving onto a completely free (we are using education edition Google Apps) mail infrastructure, and no more headaches with mail servers, backups, etc.

After reaching a critical mass of almost 420lbs, I decided last week that I need to lose weight. I made some relatively simple changes to my diet, and as you can hopefully see by the “Bulk-O-Meter” on the right, it’s making a big and quick difference, 11 pounds in a week

Of course someone as overweight as me can quickly lose weight, so I don’t expect to be able to keep this trend up every week, but I’m confident that over time I will slowly but surely lose weight.

My first goal is to get to under 400 pounds, which I should definitely be able to reach by Christmas. As for the diet I am on, it’s nothing special, I mostly stopped drinking my daily habit of Coca-Cola. Even though I have drank some Fresca, its mostly because I like the way it tastes, but I dont want to drink to much of it because it has Aspartame in it. I have not cut out all sugar, but I’ve tried to cut down, and it’s obviously helping. As for the rest of the diet, I have been slowly moving towards the Atkins diet, as I know from past experience that is one of the only ones that works for me and my metabolism.

I don’t actually like to talk about what diet I am on, or even say that I am on a diet, because I am usually either flooded with advice, or informed how unhealthy the diet I am on is. Friendly advice is appreciated, but I know what works for me so I don’t like having to argue with someone over what I am eating. If it makes anyone feel better I do take vitamin supplements as well

Another thing that is helping is ironically, being out of work. Without the daily “where are we going to lunch today”, it’s been much easier to eat whatever I want, without having to deal with going to fast food or otherwise daily on a social basis.

Anyhow, with any luck, you will start seeing a lot “less” of me.  Wish me luck!

Well here is the latest BOFA fail. I was told (by BOFA) that since I lost my job I could qualify for a mortgage adjustment, rate adjustment, or at minimum a refinance.

So I call them up, and explain my situation, that I lost my job on October 30, and am doing some hourly contract work until the end of December.

They then tell me that I do NOT qualify for any loan assistance, because I HAVE NO INCOME (contract/self-employment doesn’t count) !! I was like, wait a minute, are you saying that if I walk down the street and get a job at Safeway, you will gladly adjust my interest rate etc? She was like yes, or if you are on unemployment, but you can’t qualify for that since you are doing contract work.

So again I clarified…If I just lost my job and got a shitty job, or unemployment, you will help me. But if I am just totally out of work, you will just let me default on my loan an start piling up the collection fees and destroying my credit?  YES.

Somehow, yet again, BOFA has surprised me with their lack of care for their customers.

So my CPAP mask broke again. Same exact failure as the last mask. The plastic fastener that the clip goes into just can only take so many uses before it breaks.  So I ordered a different nasal mask, that has a different kind of fastener to see if it would last longer. That mask and I did NOT get along, even though I did not have it fitting too tightly, it left horrible dents in my forehead and literally made my nose bleed!  To see the full horror, check out this picture that Christine took right after I woke up:OUCH!!

I also ordered another mask, a “hybrid” mask:

This type of mask fits over your mouth, and uses “nasal pillows” to get the air into your nose. The pillows are actually very comfortable, and don’t go inside your nose as much as just sort of “dock” against your nostrils

I immediately did a test sleep of 4 hours with this mask, and it is great! By far the most comfortable and effective mask I have ever used.

Reasons I like it:

• Because of the way the headgear fits, no lines on my face or forehead: PICTURE
• Also no irritation and marks to my nose (I was afraid the nasal pillows would beuncomfortable, but I cant even tell they are there)
• Fits over my mouth so takes care of any “mouth-breathing” issues
• Built in chin support – no more darn chin strap to deal with
• Strangely, this mask is absolutely quiet, it doesn’t make a sound like my other nasal masks do. No hissing sounds or whoosh of the air bypass.
• Didn’t wake up with dry mouth, since the chin support keeps my mouth closed, and even if my mouth opens a bit, the pressure keeps the nasal air from coming out of my mouth.

Things I don’t like about it:

• Since it covers my mouth, I can’t easily snag a drink of water from my bedside water bottle – but I may not need it anymore since my mouth did not dry out.
• Due to the air pressure and covering my mouth, its hard to talk. With my nasal mask I had mastered holding my breath and somehow closing off my nasal airway so that I could speak a sentence or two. With this mask I have to almost shout and can barely hear me as it is muffled.
• I am skeptical that the little plastic nubs that the straps connect to (and the strap connectors themselves) will last very long. My other mask had much more substantial fasteners and they eventually broke. Time will tell I guess.

Well BOFA has failed yet again. They have a history of screwing me over (just do a search in the upper right for “BOFA” for examples), so I don’t know why I am even surprised yet again.

So I get a letter from the “Customer Satisfaction Department”. At first I am thinking, oh wow, maybe someone finally became aware of my issues and have fixed them? NO! It’s actually a notice of them screwming me further!

It is a notice of increasing the APR on my credit card (the same card that they have been screwing me over with superfluous annual fees, etc), “because either you made a late payment or your balance exceeded your credit limit”. Neither of these have occured!

So they are increasing my APR to 19.99%. Get this, “You have the flexibility of rejecting the APR increase…if you reject the increase, your account remains subject to future APR increases to 27.24% if you are in default under the terms of your Agreement (e.g., if you make a late payment…You must call us and reject by Nov 6, 2009, or your rejection will not be effective”.

So let’s recap and summarize.

• BOFA is taking advantage of people who do not read their mail, by basically saying “Hey we are going to drastically increase your APR unless you call us and tell us not to” – WTF??
• If you “reject” this increase, if you give them any excuse at all, they are going to jack up your APR to almost 30% – again WTF?!

This is just ridiculous. I am setting a reminder right now to send that letter to the CEO of BOFA (according to my Google searches, this is the ONLY way to actually get a human to read your letter and do something) about my uncalled for annual fees, and this APR increase blackmail.

Wow, Microsoft (well, their marketing team), actually made some halfway amusing ads to push IE8 (which sucks no matter if the ads made me grin).  Check em out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aA_PEltVTw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjUzzxAKs20

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyQolo0Xdqw