Sunday, July 27, 2003

trackback []

Getting Fees Waived Banks, creditors, etc. are getting ever more aggressive about assessing fees of various kinds. The kind you would only think about if you studied the fine, find print on your agreement or contract. The little secret, though, is you can often get them waived, if you just take the trouble to make yourself the squeaky wheel. One of our creditors keeps sending bills to our old address, even though we have informed them several times of our change of address. Recently, we didn't receive the forwarded bill until after it was already due. Beth called to complain, and the CSR on the other end immediately agreed to waive the charge. Then, as he was processing the transaction, he informed Beth that there would be a $10 service fee. She started to complain about this, and he quickly broken in and said "okay, we'll waive it". It usually takes more effort to get to the "waive", but the pattern is common. Threaten, plead, cajole enough (it is usually a good tactic to let the CSR know you understand they are just doing their job, and that you don't fault them personally), and you can frequently get the fees waived. But Americans hate to haggle in this way (plus finding the time for it is an impediment), so many don't do it, and of course many others just have no idea that it could work. 11:11:29 PM    comment []

trackback []

Try Sitting in Your Own Backseat It's always good to sit in the back seat(s) of your vehicle occasionally. When we bought a new mini-van, we deliberately sought out one that had a split-bench rear seat, for its versatility. Well, I sat in the middle seat last night for the first time. It is not comfortable! The moldings for the female seat belt latch poke into your back; there is really no way to sit that they don't. Fortunately, I don't envision having a van full of 7 adults, and the kids have not compalined about it! 11:00:06 PM    comment []

trackback []

Beware Keystroke Logging on Public PCs Good article on the security risk of using a public (or other untrusted) PC: what if someone has installed keystroke-logging program on it? These programs are the ultimate security breach. One work-around might be to type the entire alphabet (multiple times, for good measure), and then use the mouse to cut-and-paste, character-by-character, your password. Though it seems like a keystroke logging program could also be written to peek at the contents of the clipboard, defeating this counter-measure. 10:59:55 PM    comment []