Alsop's Small Thoughts

And I Thought I Was Free!

Remember when I cut up my United Mileage Plus Visa card and celebrated by posting here? I wasn't as free as I thought!

I got a monthly statement a few days ago from United Mileage Plus (which really is Chase) more than nine months after I cancelled the card, reflecting a charge for $29.95 from a magazine renewal from "&AEP" in Thank You, NY. (The first rep did say, somewhat humorously, "Gee, I've never heard of Thank You, NY.) So I called customer service. (That's what they call it, anyway.)

The first lady I talked to, basically said that I must have subscribed because the credit card company wouldn't just charge me. So she transferred me to "Disputes".

After I sufficiently identified myself (for security purposes) to the second lady, I told her that I didn't want to dispute the charge. I told that I wasn't paying for a charge on a credit card that I didn't actually have. She began to argue with me, to talk over me when I was explaining for the fifth time that I did not order this subscription, that the card was canceled and that I did not have any legal obligation to pay for the credit card company's mistakes. She transferred me to "Fraud" right in the middle of sentence (but at least she didn't hang up, as other Chase representatives have done).

With the Fraud lady, I established some rapport. She established that I had indeed closed the account in May, 2007. (Initially, she claimed that the account had been closed in May, 2008 and then acknowledged her error.) She also reported that Chase had rejected subscriptions from People magazine (and proud of it!) and just this part week from Portfolio magazine, both of which I had on auto-renewals. So she admitted that Chase had rejected legitimate subscription renewals from well respected companies but had passed through a fraudulent charge from an unknown company with whom I had never done business. Quote: "I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot explain why this charge went through."

Doesn't it just give you enormous confidence in Chase as a credit card company? I wonder if I will ever be truly free of this incompetent organization.

Complaining about Nikon Coolpix

It's my fault. Just like it's any consumer's fault -- for buying a product without adequately researching it. I lost my last digital camera: left it in a hotel room or rental car or whatever. So I decided to buy a new one on a whim. Went to BestBuy. Looked for the following: Digital camera that was small enough to be pocket sized, had 5x or better optical zoom, and 6mp or better resolution. Ended up with a cool looking, black Nikon Coolpix S550.

So what's my problem? I hate the Nikon Coolpix S550. The shutter speed is fine but the functions of the camera are so slow that I have missed really important shots. (Like my girlfriend's son's graduation from 8th grade.) These are functions like the time it takes the camera to wake up (not turn on, which is relatively fast); like the time it takes to react to zooming in (to refocus and set up the photo); like the time it takes to store the image to flash disk.

It keeps on going, though! The Coolpix S550 comes with a stupid little USB adapter that means the only way to move the photos off the camera is to remove the flash disk, put it in the adapter and put the adapter into the computer; at the least a laborious process. (Couldn't these people take a clue from the designers of the Flip video camera.) And why do digital camera designers insist on putting the on/off button right next to the shutter button? I turned the camera off at least three times today when trying to take a picture. And then, when you want to recharge the battery, you have to remove it and put in a little dock that itself has an entire power cord. (The camera I lost, from Lumix, had a battery dock that plugged directly into a power plug; no cord!) 

Thank you, dear reader: Now that I've got that off my chest, I'm going to buy another new digital camera.