In a struggle to be happy and free

Drystone Wall

Month: March 2013 Page 1 of 2

Khaleesi

I’m not in the habit of posting pictures of women and simply saying “Wow” but look at Emilia Clarke at the third season Game of Thrones premier. The outfit suits her perfectly. Lovely.

Emilia Clarke arrives at HBO’s Game Of Thrones Los Angeles Premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre on March 18, 2013 in Hollywood, California.


Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

Scene of the crime

I’m disappointed that I have no burnt-out wreck photos for you. Frankly, I don’t wish for anyone’s car to burn until it’s barely recognizable…but since it happened without my involvement, wish or otherwise, I wanted a photo!

On my way to the convenience store, I walked through the garage and easily found where the fire had occurred that I wrote about in my previous entry. The car wasn’t there, however. I knew I had the right place because police tape was warning passers-by to stay away, and the air was thick with the smell of gasoline. Oh yea, and the ceiling was jet black with soot. This was the view, shooting down the row of parking spaces:

Those two vertical black things hanging from the ceiling? Piping from the sprinkler system. Looks like it couldn’t keep up.

So there you go. Move along, nothing to see here…

All the sirens

I was watching television this afternoon when I heard a siren. It happens. Then I heard a few more. I thought I’d take a peek outside.

I’m thinking my car might smell a bit smoky as a result of this:

Happily, my car is not in the part of the garage from which the smoke is pouring. Twenty minutes after I took the photo, all the fire vehicles but one were gone and the air was clear. I’ll have to go down there later this evening and see how my car fared. Maybe I can get a photo of the burn-out car too.

Mars One

An organization named Mars One is the brainchild of Bas Lansdorp and Arno Wielders, two Dutch guys who have put together a long-term plan to start a human settlement on Mars. They’ll be funding the project with donations, investors, and the sale of the media rights. They compare the funding plan to that of the Olympics. Interesting.

Astronaut selection begins next year, and those selected will undergo eight years of training. The four-person Mars Team One will launch in 2022 and arrive a year later. A number of unmanned cargo missions will have already arrived so the astronauts will touch down to find a number of capsules containing their living spaces and life support equipment waiting for them. Some assembly is required and batteries are included, in addition to the solar panels required to charge them. Additional cargo missions will be sent and the four-person Mars Team Two will arrive in 2025. The plan is not clear regarding how many teams will eventually be going.

The thing is, the Mars One mission plan does not include returning the astronauts to Earth. Brent Bambury of CBC Radio’s Day Six interviewed Bas Lansdorp, and he said,

The technology to get humans to Mars and keep them alive there exists. The technology to bring humans from Mars back to Earth simply does not exist yet.

The plan is not to simply abandon the explorers, however. They’ll be able to generate their own oxygen and water from the soil, and grow their own food. Of course it’s possible that things will go very wrong and everyone will die, but not necessarily. There’s no denying that it’s a dangerous undertaking.

But you know what? I’ve already signed up for the astronaut application newsletter. I have a few things working against me, however. Most specific requirements have not been determined yet, but one that has is astronaut height. Applicants must be between 157 and 190 cm tall. I haven’t been accurately measured in years, but I believe that I’m 190.5 cm tall. Also, the minimum age is 18, and while no maximum age has yet been determined, I’ll be in my sixth decade by the launch date. That can’t be a huge plus.

Still, I’d go if offered the chance, and I’d run (not walk) to take advantage of the opportunity. Can you imagine how amazing it would be?


Image and logo courtesy of the Mars One Project.

Emotiva replies

You will recall that I sent a letter to Emotiva Audio Corporation detailing the failure of the USP‑1 stereo pre-amplifier I purchased from them, as well as the exact sequence of events their support people took to diagnose and (fail to) fix the problem. In addition, I printed the letter and sent it via Canada Post/USPS. I received a response yesterday via e‑mail (names redacted):

From: xxxxx@emotiva.com
Subject: Emotiva Letter
Date: March 15, 2013 6:24:02 PM EDT
To: <rpali@alienshore.com>

Hi Rick,

We have received your letter regarding your USP‑1. I am very sorry for the issues you have had with your unit. We are going to send you a quality checked brand new unit on Monday. Please let me know if you have any questions.

xxxxx xxxxx
Accounting Department
Emotiva Audio Corporation

I haven’t replied. Something bothered me about the message. The result is what I want, a working pre-amp, but there’s something about this resolution that just didn’t sit quite right.

Coincidentally, today’s episode of Under the Influence was named “Tales of Customer Service.” While listening, everything fell into place and I understood the reasons for my unease.

In Emotiva’s reply to me, they stated that they’ll do exactly what they must. They will replace my non-functioning USP‑1 with another that works. You’d think this would be the desired outcome, but it’s not. After not having the use of the pre-amp for ten months, while going through entirely ineffective channels to get it fixed, then finally having to get angry enough go through my records to assemble a timeline of the entire customer service clusterfuck and make my extreme displeasure known, the response is lacking.

Part of the reason is my own fault. I thought Emotiva was different. They’re a lean company that sells well-crafted audio equipment only on-line at very good prices. They also have their staff, including the company owner and product designers, participating in the forums on their website. They came across to me as a cool company, a different company. The message above, in just four sentences, reverses all the work they’ve done to make themselves stand out and makes me feel foolish for having believed it.

Look at the response. They’re sorry the pre-amp broke. This would have been a good thing to say when I first reported the problem in May. There’s no mention of the complete failure of their support process to deal with it. In fact, based on this reply, I’m given no reason to think my experience is anything but ordinary.

It’s also clear that the company is not at all different in the way that I thought they were. I entered into a business transaction with them, and they’re simply fulfilling their end of the contract. Nothing more. My happiness is not a factor in the transaction. I’m especially surprised because all the ‘eyes’ on their website come from the few ads they buy and word-of-mouth. I would think genuinely happy customers, and not merely satisfied customers, would be a big priority because happy customers generate the kind of word-of-mouth that ads can’t. They feel a relationship with the company. A caring and cool company keeps customers coming back, and bringing their friends.

Rather than telling all my friends, I find myself without reason to complain, and every company should know this feeling does nothing to generate sales. After such an experience at their hands, their doing only what’s required will bring this issue to a close and nothing more. Doing the absolute minimum tells me they don’t care that my experience was such a disaster and that could very well happen the next time I have a problem with their equipment.

Simply, there is no hint of “Holy crap, we really screwed up …” in their reply, never mind “… and we’ll make it up to you.”

Why would I consider their equipment in the future?


[Update: Emotiva wrap-up]

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