Frosty the Snowman?


We saw Frosty before the Hallelujah! concert at the North Heights Church in Arden Hills. Zena and I were the Tour Guides for the Hastings Senior Center. It was a good time!

Charter TV Issues. You tell me. Is it a bait and switch?

According to Wikipedia - a bait-and-switch in retail sales is a form of fraud in which the party putting forth the fraud lures in customers by advertising a product or service at a low price or with many features, then reveals to potential customers that the advertised good is not available at the original price or the list of assumed features is different 

Click here for the Follow up Post on this Post!

On Wednesday December 2nd, I received a call from Charter Communications. The guy tried to get us on one of those Phone/Internet/TV channel packages for around $110. Being unemployed, I just couldn’t bring myself to go there. He asked me about my phone service and I told him it that we only had cell and no land line. He saw that we were getting only the basic channels and said for an extra $5 per month we would get more channels that included USA network and TBS and, they would include the Digital Converter for free. I re-verified that the digital box was free and the installation was free. For a potential job network lead,  I asked him his name and where he was located. His name was Twyan Hodges.
 Today, the installer came, did some things on the telephone pole with the cable wires and installed the box in the house. After the installer left, I started surfing. I notices that I wasn’t getting any of the channels that Tywan had said I was going to get. I checked my on-line bill and indeed that $5 was charged to my account. So I decided to chat with a person from Charter.
Here is the transcript:
Thank you for choosing Charter Chat Live! A Customer Care representative from Cable TV Support will be with you shortly.
You have been connected to TTD Ruby .
TTD Ruby : Hi John. Thanks for contacting Charter Communications. How can I help you today?
John Stefani: I would like to know what the specific channels I'm paying for within my TV service with your company?
TTD Ruby : I would be more than happy to look it up on the account and check your channel line up.
TTD Ruby : I was able to pull up the account using the phone number you entered. Please verify the service address and the Security Code. The Security Code is a four-digit number located at the upper right corner of the billing statement.
John Stefani: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
John Stefani: Rosemount, MN 55068
John Stefani: Security Code XXXX
TTD Ruby : Thank you. The email address you entered matches the one on the account. We’ll be sending important updates relating to your account to this email address.
TTD Ruby : Thank you for the information, John.
TTD Ruby : Give me a moment to check your channel line up.
John Stefani: I just chatted with someone from your company about 3 minutes ago and they said the same thing. Please don't send duplicates of e-mails
TTD Ruby : Okay.
TTD Ruby : These are the list of channels that you currently have.
TTD Ruby : Basic - 21 Channels
2 KTCA - PBS
3 WFTC - MyTV
4 WCCO - CBS
5 KSTP - ABC
6 Local Access
7 QVC
8 CSPAN
9 KMSP - FOX
10 Educational Access
11 KARE - NBC
12 Public Access
13 WUCW - CW
14 Charter Media
15 TV Guide
16 Government Access
17 KPXM - ION
18 KSTC - IND
19 KTCI - PBS
20 Home Shopping Network
22 Educational Access
23 WGN -

TTD Ruby : You can also get On Demand movies on channel one.
John Stefani: Tywan Hodges from your Wisconsin Call Center said I'd get additional channels with the digital box they installed today for the $5 month extra.
TTD Ruby : These are the channel line up for $5.00 additional.
TTD Ruby : gital View - 31 Channels
100 Nick Jr.
104 Teen Nick
106 Nicktoons Network
107 Sprout
108 Nickelodeon Too-West
130 ReelzChannel
136 Do It Yourself
178 American Life TV
184 The Church Channel (Olympusat)
185 JCTV (Olympusat)
186 Smile of a Child (OlympuSat)
187 Daystar
188 FamilyNet (Olympusat)
189 3ABN -
190 BYUTV
230 Bloomberg
232 Fox Business Network
236 CNN International
302 Lifetime Movie Network
307 Women's Entertainment
317 MTV Hits
318 Tr3s
320 MTV Jams
322 VH-1 Classic
324 VH-1 Soul
326 CMT Pure Country
327 mtvU
328 Centric
330 Great American Country
402 ESPN U
408 Fuel TV

John Stefani: That's in the extra $5 am already paying?
TTD Ruby : Those channels were not added yet on your account.
TTD Ruby : The cable box was just added up today right>
John Stefani: Yes It was just added today.
TTD Ruby : The channels that you will get for the box is the On Demand movies on channel one.
John Stefani: I'm not planning on using the On Demand feature. Without extra Channels paying an extra $5 per month I don’t see any benefit.
TTD Ruby : Actually, those channels were not added yet on your account.
TTD Ruby : It is your choice if you would keep the same channels or if you would like to add.
John Stefani: OK, so what Tywan Hodges said is true. I'll be getting those with the Box?
TTD Ruby : Are you referring to the 31 channels?
John Stefani: Yes
TTD Ruby : You have to subscribe to those channels first before you can have it. It is $5.00 per month.
John Stefani: The box was free right?
TTD Ruby : No. You are renting the box for $5.00 per month.
John Stefani: I think what we had there was a Bait and Switch. Tywan said that I'd get those extra channels for $5 with the box and the box was free.
TTD Ruby : The only channels that you have are the 21 channels.
John Stefani: Then I don’t want the box!!!!
TTD Ruby : I'm sorry to hear that you want to remove the box.
John Stefani: This is a definite bait and switch.
John Stefani: Boy do I have something to write about on facebook!!
TTD Ruby : I’m sorry to hear about the confusion of the channels that you suppose to have.
John Stefani: You going to send someone to pick up the box?
TTD Ruby : We can send someone to pick up the box, however there will be a fee. You may also return the cable box to the local office anytime.
John Stefani: Sure -- The office is still in Apple valley?
John Stefani: Last time I accept any call from a Charter Sales Rep.
TTD Ruby : Let me check for the office address.
TTD Ruby : Thank you for patiently waiting.
TTD Ruby : Charter Office
TTD Ruby : 16900 Cedar Ave South
TTD Ruby : Rosemount MN 55068
TTD Ruby : Monday 8:30 AM- 5:30 PM
Tuesday 8:30 AM-5:30 PM
Wednesday 8:30 AM-7:00 PM
Thursday 8:30 AM-5:30 PM
Friday 8:30 AM-5:30 PM

John Stefani: I know where that is.
John Stefani: You are going to take the $5 I was charged for off my bill?
TTD Ruby : Yes, once the box is already retunred.
John Stefani: You'll get it back Monday Morning.
TTD Ruby : Okay.
TTD Ruby : That will be noted on your account.
TTD Ruby : Is there anything else I can assist you with before I transfer you to the Telephone billing Department?
John Stefani: One moment please...
TTD Ruby : Okay.
John Stefani: Hmm... I'm not sure I need to be Xfered to the Telephone billing Department since, I don't (or shouldn't) have telephone service with Charter. Did Tywan Hodges sign me up for that too?
 --
I'm sorry I cut off the very end of the transcript. Basically he apologized for sending the wrong send and we ended fairly normally. 

This is a Bait and Switch or Tywan needs some major coaching!  

Click here for the Follow up Post on this post! 

2010 Hastings Community Education Holiday Light Tour Video - Grand Finale



As you can see, it was a good time for all!

First blog post in a long time!

Boy, it looks like I haven't had a post on here for over a year. Many things have happened. I've lost my job at and I'm currently in the job search. I got let go at the beginning of July. It's funny. When I interviewed for the company I got let go from for that entry level job, I was going to college and said to Ron, the interviewer who would become my supervisor for the position, "I'm only going to be here through the Summer and then I'll move on to a better job." That was 24 years ago last March.

Boy, it looks like I haven't had a post on here for over a year. Many things have happened. I've lost my job at and I'm currently in the job search. I got let go at the beginning of July. It's funny. When I interviewed for the company I got let go from for that entry level job, I was going to college and said to Ron, the interviewer who would become my supervisor for the position, "I'm only going to be here through the Summer and then I'll move on to a better job." That was 24 years ago last March.

Since then, I have been going to networking events, and classes at the local Workforce centers. I've worked for 12 days at the Minnesota State Fair at a booth for a company called "Carpet Court". Good company. Anyone looking for any type of flooring (carpeting, tiling, wood flooring) and Silestone or Granite counter tops should check them out. They were good people to work for and they have some great products. I have also volunteered through the Minnesota Jaycee Charitable Foundation with their Bingo operation at their Hasting Eagle's site and a few days before elections calling for a political party for their get out the vote campaign. The phone calling experience was fun but that could be a blog post right there.

I had a about six phone interviews and three face to face interviews. Things have sure changed since I had to look for a job. In that time with that company I had to interview for the entry level position and a second time for the Buyer's position with the company. Now people apply on-line. You send it off and "Poof". Who knows where it goes.  If they don't want you, you may not even get a response.   This type of on-line job application process pits the applicant against at least a hundred other applicants. These companies have computer programs that would scan your digital resume and looks for the certain key words the company is looking for in their candidates. The resume has to be customized so the skill words the applicant has on it that relate to the companies skill words need to match as close as possible. On top of that, if the job description show that there are ten skill requirements and you only have nine? Forget it. In this job market there is a person that has all ten and, if you have nine of the requirements, then it's not you.

I've been mainly focusing more of my time networking then searching the internet for jobs. The way I get the networking process is that you have to help others out, but you can't just expect them to help you. It's where you get people thinking about helping me in my job search because, they want to help me since I've helped them out in their job search. I've heard some network presenters say that one should connect with five people per day. I have done that. I have quite a few people on Facebook (356 people) and Linkedin (186 people) as well as a few on Twitter. I just have to keep the network healthy. Increase the quality rather then working on increasing quantity of people. Of course, as I meet new people I'll connect to them on those sites. It's all to get at that hidden job market.