Why I have a business... or... stupid things technology companies do... or *don't* do...

So I'm curious about how much I'm using my Blackberry. Heaven forbid I go over the 1MB limit and start gettin charged an arm and a leg for getting messages... most of which I can't control getting...

What do I find out... the provider -- a company in NJ bought out by Cingular to provide Blackberry service -- has no way to tell me what my usage is until after the invoice is generated!

Can you believe that?

The bottom line is that the only way I can manage my usage is AFTER the invoice. In other words, I can't be proactive in managing costs, I can only be reactive. I can only look at my usage after I'm billed for it and then raise my level of service, if necessary, or do something else to figure out how to use the service less.

Since the only thing I can do to use the service less is to turn off message forwarding, in other words, to stop using the device, the only way I know to do that is after I know I'm heading for the limit. Unfortunately, again, I can't know I'm heading for the limit because according to your tech support, there's no way to see how much I've used the system until I'm billed for it.

How messed up is that? The technology service their company sells is entirely capable of seeing into the system, in real time, how much data is passing through it. And yet, what I'm getting is that the company isn't interested in helping clients proactively manage costs by using the very technology they sell to give us the ability to meet our needs.

As a technology consultant, not being able to manage the cost of technology is not acceptable and, in fact, quite pathetic, if I may be so blunt.

.... and the reply... (follow-up from below)

Hillel,

Of all the rejection letters I've received about my "use of technology". I thank you for giving me useful and constructive advice. I appreciate you taking the time. My approach will definitely change. Again thank you.

Doug

Is it wrong? Am I bad? This felt too good.

This is the e-mail I sent hapless Doug who made the mistake of sending me unsolicited information.
Why I took the time to address this SPAM is because he's local. He's doing this by hand and not using a SPAM agent, so it's really not fair to let him continue on his way to making a fool of himself.
******
Doug,

I'd like to recommend a few things to you.
As one Entrepreneur to another.

1. You don't know enough about my company to solicit business from me.
2. Not knowing what you need to know about my company and still soliciting business makes you look like you don't know enough about selling to know how to research possible clients. (This is a typical, but sad, comment on 'traditional' sales.)
3. Assuming you found my information on smallcompanies.com, and knowing little else, you sent me a large attachment. If I were on dial-up at the moment, I'd be really pissed.
4. You used e-mail to solicit a company who's mission you obviously don't understand, and therefore you don't know what you've gotten yourself into. So let me point out that my company advises other companies on how to use technology effectively. You failed.
5. I'll tell you what you needed to know that would have saved you the four points I made above: My company is too small for your target needs. You're not the first AFLAC agent I've run into. You can't go 20 feet in a business event and not rub shoulders with at least 3.

If you'd first taken the time to use the e-mail you got (from smallcompanies.com?) to just say, "I'd like to introduce myself and see whether I can send you some information. But before I send you anything, it may not be a good use of your time or mine if you're not in our target market. Do you have employees and, if so, how many?"
This simple introduction is an example of how to use technology effectively. Otherwise... IT'S SPAM! Yes, Doug, you're a SPAMmer. Welcome to the Internet.

Your e-mail was filtered out by my SPAM filter.
I took the time to write this message in hopes that it will help you in the future.

Good Luck,
-->> Hillel

Must be popular...

I don't know for sure, but it seems to me that I must be getting more popular... well... at least I must be in a lot of people's address books...

I'm getting inundated with whatever that virus is that's going around...

Of course I'm running anti-virus software and anti-SPAM software, and I've set up several layers of protection...
So I'm not in much danger...

But what's interesting is to see the domain names this virus/worm is spoofing... so now, I know who's address book I'm in, but I also know who doesn't do enough to protect themselves...

It's pathetic that a lot of the domains are technology companies...

I guess they don't teach their sales people safe surfing.
Geez..

Enough with Capital One

OK, I'm a bit peeved... or maybe a little more than a bit...

First some background: Rewinde to earlier this month.
I've never really paid much attention to the spending limit on my credit cards because I've never had to worry about them. But now I do. I have a business credit card for Entinex and have offered several clients to help them make purchases.

Suddenly I'm over the limit. Why? Because my limit is only a measly $5k. So I called them up and they said I have to go 90 days without missing a payment or going over the limit. That's 90 days from my last "infraction." The clock started on that when I went over the limit. Forget that I immediately paid off $1000 of the balance and that up to that point I went umpteen months without as much as forgetting to make my payment on time. The dude on the phone (I swear they outsource customer service to India) said that my being good all this time and making a fast payment wasn't going to change their policy.

That was annoying.

So, fast-forward to yesterday.
It's about time for the statement payoff from last month... it wasn't necessary because I'd already made a payment but because I'd gone over the limit again I needed to bring it down some more... so I dropped another $1000 into the account.

Today I go to buy something on Amazon.com and get an e-mail that there was a problem with my credit card.
I log on to the credit card and see that yesterday's payment was applied. When I tried to look up my statement I get an error. Not a good sign.

I go to Amazon and change the card used for the purchase. Which is annoying because I don't like using personal credit cards for business purchases.

I call the credit card's customer service and their automated system doesn't acknowledge the payment the way their Web site does. When I get a human on the line (another Indian-sounding person, a female this time) she says that their was a technical problem and that all payments will be applied tonite at midnite... fat lotta good that does me... I'm assured that I won't be penalized for their technical problems. Yhuh! No kidding! Better not be!

I'd had it with these bozos...

... I applied for the American Express Blue card on the Open Network Small Business.

Eureka!

A-Ha!

I've learned something!

Looks like the settings only really kick in when you attempt a follow-up post.
As though the FTP settings are somehow saved with the post so when you attempt to re-publish without creating a new post, it uses previous settings.

Very strange.
I'm going to point the blogger folks towards my blog to read this.

Another test....

For some reason, the settings I've saved don't seem to be 'taking' as evidenced by the fact that I erased the userName and passWord but the app isn't asking me for them.... odd...

OK... I screwed up the first blog... I was too quick on the trigger with the username and password... I entered the wrong ones for my own FTP site and now I'm having trouble getting to where I can make changes... AH! I have an idea... I'll "redo" my settings and it should ask me for username and password again... let's see...

OK!
This is my first blog attempt.

Let's see if it works!