bank of america Archives - Where Is The Outrage?

Corporate America Hates Me

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I’m sure that the hatred that I have for corporate America is mutual. I have plenty of recent evidence.

Just a couple days ago, I was called by Bank of America. They wanted to know when I was going to pay the $150 that I owe them. I got this call on Monday – Veterans Day. I happily told the Bank of America employee that I’d already paid the money that I owed plus an extra $50 at the branch on the previous Friday. Then he read a standard statement which said something about how I would continue to get calls from Bank of America until they had received the funds. Wait a minute! What do you mean? I’ve already paid you. I didn’t put the money in the mail. I didn’t pay you via carrier pigeon. I went to the branch and paid you on the spot. The money is in your bank. Why should I get any more calls? Well, he explained, it was not in our system. I asked, logically, why should I be penalized with more calls because your system is slow? Needless to say there was not a satisfactory answer to my question.

Last Friday, after working a 15-hour day, I got a lovely call from Sirius XM satellite radio. I owed them $260. What ensued was a bunch of confusion that can only be laid down by corporate America. It turns out that I have three separate accounts with Sirius XM. I stated that I would like to combine all three accounts into one simple account. In order to get this done there was some $20 fee. I really had no idea why they were charging me the $20 in addition to the $260 fee to renew my contract. The whole process wasted 45 minutes of my life. On Saturday, Sirius XM called again. What? Plenty of apologies and I thought we were done with the saga. Yesterday, I got an automated call from Sirius XM. My account would be terminated in 24-48 hours because of nonpayment. I needed to call immediately. Dammit! This was going to be ugly. So I called. I owed nine dollars. For what? I spent 45 minutes on the phone with you guys just the other day. How can I owe you nine dollars now? I never got a satisfactory answer. I asked to speak to a supervisor. After being on hold for more than five minutes, I was told they were going to waive the nine dollars. How magnanimous. I’d wasted over an hour of my life on something that should have taken five minutes. This is why I can’t stand corporate America.

So, let me follow up and tell you where we are with my 51-inch Samsung TV. My beautiful TV has been sitting on my floor, dead, for more than 10 weeks. Samsung has decided to replace the TV. The exchange program does not let you upgrade to another TV. It does not let you pay the difference. Basically, you accept their deal or not. I get a new TV with a 90-day warranty, not the year warranty that I had before. I’d also bought an extended warranty on the TV, which I suspect is money that I flushed down the drain.

Don’t you love corporate America? I know I do.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-11-13T21:17:45-04:00November 13th, 2012|Business|Comments Off

from WaPo

I’m sorry, but I continue to get the overwhelming feeling that the media is playing us. In order to keep this contest going, the media is pushing Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. They’re making them seem more popular than they really are. Therefore, they get more votes and before you know it we have a “real contest.” This thing is going to go on for months. Oh, by the way, Rick Santorum won both Alabama and Mississippi. Mitt Romney can take some solace in knowing that he won Hawaii, I guess.

North Slope oil well hhad been gushing well for several weeks. It has finally been plugged.

Wells Fargo and Bank of America may face fines for fraudulent foreclosure sales. This is a real tragedy. How do you fraudulently foreclose on somebody? It is unbelievable that fines are all they get.

Sarah Palin wants to be relevant, again. She has challenged President Barack Obama to a debate. All I can do is smile.

Speaking of challenges, Jon Stewart has challenged Grover Norquist over his anti-tax pledge. I suspect after getting roasted by Samantha Bee that he probably will not accept the challenge.

Our aging nuclear reactors are probably cause for safety concerns.

A cancer patient has been kicked out of the hospital for using medical marijuana. The problem is that there is absolutely no clarity in this case. Specifically, although medical marijuana is legal in California, the federal government has taken a different stance. This leaves hospitals in a significant bind. No hospital wants to see itself on the evening news as federal agents are raiding it for allowing patients to smoke medical marijuana. Hospitals, like most large corporations, are risk-averse.

I haven’t mentioned Afghanistan. For some time, I used to talk about Afghanistan as the “good” war, like there is such a thing. For the last several years, I have been wondering what we are truly doing in Afghanistan. Whenever we ask that question, we seem to get the same knee-jerk answer – we are preventing Al Qaeda from establishing another safe haven. Okay. How many troops does that take? The fact that Afghans have murdered American troops and what appears to be a lone American soldier went on a premeditated shooting spree is tragic. It is clear to me that Afghanistan has some issues. We are not going to be able to turn Afghanistan into some type of American democracy. They don’t have the infrastructure. I’m not sure that they have the desire. We don’t have the will to spend the money and resources to get that done. So, we are going to have to settle for something less, something that is relatively stable and strong enough to protect itself from al Qaeda and the Taliban. The question is whether we will be able to get to that place sooner rather than later.

What stories are you following today? I’ll have more on our discussion on race later on today. I appreciate your stopping by.

By ecthompsonmd|2012-04-05T20:48:53-04:00March 14th, 2012|Afghanistan, Healthcare, Obama administration, Party Politics|Comments Off

Thursday Evening News Roundup

There seems to be a question as to whether the Republicans are going to renege on their budget deal which was agreed upon last August. House Republicans are looking to stir the pot. I thought that the Republican Party was the party of honesty and moral values. I guess not.

After a ton of hype, this double secret tape that will be devastating to the president has been released. Did you feel that? The earth shook. Or maybe not. This is more nothing than usual. This double secret tape has been widely available on PBS and YouTube for more than three years.

The clock is ticking on Greece’s debt deal. Greece needs private investors to agree to debt reduction. The deadline on the agreement is 1 AM Eastern Standard Time. Greek debt deal is critical to the stability of the European Union and the stability of the European Union is critical to American exports.

Senate defeats a measure to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

Microraptor, a small four-winged dinosaur that lived approximately 130 million years ago appears to have had feathers. There seems to be some evidence that the feathers were glossy and iridescent. Totally cool.

There was a shooting today at Western Psychiatric Institute in Pennsylvania. Two people are dead and seven injured.

I would like to encourage everyone to take a look at this book by Michelle Alexander – the New Jim Crow.

It appears that Bank of America has made a deal with 200,000 financially strapped households in order to restructure their mortgages. This seems to be a nice step in the right direction.

I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about this article in the New York Times. It deals with the study that I talked about several weeks ago in which a significant number of physicians admitted that they did not tell the truth to their patients. The backbone of our medical system is a doctor-patient relationship. If this relationship doesn’t work, everything falls apart. Honesty is required from both sides. Patients have to honestly tell their physicians about their symptoms and about their thoughts and feelings in order for physicians to be able to give the appropriate advice. It is crucial for physicians to be honest with their patients. This means you can’t shirk off that duty to a nurse or physician’s assistant. This requires the doctor to be at the bedside with the patient. Sometimes, it requires the doctor to say the same thing, in different ways at different points in time in order for the information to sink in, not only to the patient but also to the patient’s family. Unfortunately, when dealing with the English language, there’s lots of nuance and opportunities for miscommunication. It is extremely important for both the patient and the doctor to seek perfect understanding.

Sarah Palin is truly special. That’s all I can say.

Mitt Romney seems to be more than happy to display his awkwardness in front of crowds, just like an NBA star shows off a fabulous jumpshot. The fact that he is “learning to say y’all and that he likes grits” just makes me shake my head.

What’s on your mind this evening?