UserIntervention

I do not plan to get into a habit of using this blog as a soapbox to complain about poor customer service. However, if I can help save someone else the misery of dealing with a company that lacks common courtesy and basic customer service skills, I will do just that. One such company has crossed my radar and they have decided that negative attention is good for them. How unfortunate for them.

Here is a basic rundown of what occurred and with whom:

I needed a stand for a 45″ LCD TV that I acquired from a good friend. He did not have the stand so I needed to purchase one. Since the TV is more than three years out of production, I was only able to find the part at one place online. That company is PartStore.com. I bought the stand for just over $130 and when I received it all I got was one piece. The TV stand was in the box but no mounting brackets or screws were included. When I contacted the company to explain this, they said that all those extra parts are sold separately. Not once did they inform me of this during my purchasing process. The person I spoke to checked on the additional parts and found that they no longer sell the brackets which is absolutely required to make the stand work. So not only are they not very informative and they lack communication skills, but they are selling something that nobody can use. I had them process a return and they sent me a shipping label to return the useless stand. I shipped it back and they received it in a matter of days. When I called them to check on how soon I would get my refund, I was told it would take two weeks for the refund to be processed. This apparently because they had to inspect the returned product. What type of inspection takes two weeks when they had a single part to look at? There were no screws, additional pieces, or anything. It was one solid piece and that was it. Open the box and take a look at it, inspection over. This did not make me happy, obviously, but they did not care. They offered no other options other than to wait. So now not only are they selling parts that nobody can use but they will keep your money for nearly a month (from the time it took to ship the item to when it was returned plus two weeks). It is funny that they withdrew the money from my account right away but now I must wait to get it back even though they have the part back as well.

This company should be ashamed to be doing business like this. Not only did they show they have no communication skills but they also lack the interest in making sure all customers are satisfied. Their motto should be “take it or leave it” because that is exactly how they treated me and probably countless others. I will never do business with this company again and I highly encourage you to follow the same practice. Even if they are the only place that sells a specific part, there are other options available (as I found out) to still use the product you were intending to use. Since PartStore.com does not care about their customers, I am making sure that any future prospective customers know this ahead of time. Buyer beware!

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Mark Blair
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iammarkblair

Update as of December 22, 2009:

I contacted PartStore today and I was told it might take an additional two weeks to get my refund. This on top of the two weeks I have already waited and also the previous time it took to receive the unusable TV stand. I was not happy with the previous wait but this is going too far. Unfortunately I had very few options for getting a refund outside of dealing with this vendor. Instead of trying to deal with the Customer Service department, I started searching for names and numbers of other more important people. I found that information and after trying to call those people and eventually e-mailing them, I have now been issued a refund. It will take between 24-48 hours for the money to show up in my bank account but I fully expect that will happen. I do appreciate the quick action that was taken by the individuals I contacted today. It should have never gotten to this stage and communication from every level from the purchase to the refund stage should have gone smoother. If a policy exists that states it takes time before a refund is processed I should have known that at the beginning. At this point the issue is resolved. Hopefully others will not need to go through a process like this to purchase something they need or to receive a refund when that merchandise does not work out. Good luck all!

In the weeks ahead Facebook will be adding additional privacy settings that will enable their users the ability to specificy which friends can see their updates. This change is intended to make it possible for users of the social networking site to decide, when posting something, if they want all 500 of their friends to see that post or pictures or maybe a smaller group. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced this change on the site earlier this week. Another change includes the loss of geographic networks. Since many people join these networks just to join them, it has become obvious that they are less needed. These changes should be received well as they are intended to make your privacy on the site more secure.

What do you think about these announced changes? Do you think more needs to be done or is Facebook right on track with this?

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Mark Blair
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iammarkblair

As the holidays are quickly approaching us, this is the time of year when many computer purchases will be made. People will be buying desktop and laptop computers as gifts for their children, spouses, or favorite tech guys like me. I am sure we can all appreciate the excitement of opening a new computer box and unwrapping the shiny new computer that will help you get to the Internet faster or access e-mail, stocks, or even play the most explosive new games at lightning speed. Prices of computers are coming down faster than many of us can blink. And trust me I have tried blinking faster, it simply cannot be done. So what are you to do with your 8-year-old ancient dinosaur of a computer that is still running dial-up software to get to the Internet? If you do not plan to force that computer onto your kids then the obvious choice is to properly dispose of the computer.

Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic Products?

I went searching online for places that would be happy to recycle your old computer and I found a helpful site which is run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. There are many helpful tips on how to properly recycle your old electronics. Since many of these devices contain metals and components that could be hazardous to our Earth, let alone who wants to fill up landfills even more than they already are, you will want to make sure your old computer is properly disposed of. There are many valuable links on the U.S. EPA site that will get you right to where you want to go. You may also check with local agencies to find out their recycling opportunities. Many cities offer a service like this as well as they are eager to help protect the Earth.

Donating your computer is also an option. There are many organizations that will find a good home for your computer that may help someone who would not have the opportunity to own a computer any other way. Computers With Causes is one such organization. Instead of keeping your computer in the basement to collect dust for the next two years, donate it to a charity group like this to help others in need.

No matter what you do, you do not want to simply throw away anything that can be recycled or donated. Even if you no longer find value in the device, someone else will. If you know of any other organizations that can help with recycling and/or donation efforts let me know. I would love to highlight them here.

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Mark Blair
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iammarkblair

Do you use Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace to post information to your friends and family?  Many people do and this is not something that will be going away any time soon.  Social networking websites are extremely popular nowadays and even many companies are using these sites to advertise or market their products and services.  I use Twitter, as you can tell by looking at the main page of this site, and I find that it is a nice way to send quick updates to the people that have chosen to follow me.  There are some things that you should be aware of though to protect yourself and your identity when using these sites.

Personal Information

Be very cautious about entering personally identifiable information on any social networking website.  Saying something like “I cannot wait to go on vacation this weekend.  It will be nice to be away for an entire week.” only tells your followers that your home will be vacant.  While this might not be a big deal for those individuals you know and trust, if your account on these social networking sites is not restricted in any way, other people who are strangers to you might see this.  If you intend to post updates like this, understand that Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace offer security features that restrict who can view your profile.  It is a good idea to leave out cell phone numbers and addresses as well, for obvious reasons.

“Someone has a secret crush on you! Download this application to find out who it is.”

I have seen these type of notifications quite often on Facebook and it requires you to access a third-party application in many cases.  Some of these applications will install spyware or adware on your computer potentially allowing them to access personal information or control how your computer operates.  It is better to skip these type of messages altogether.

“Did you see this video of you?” scam

A recent scam on Twitter was sent to many people with those exact words.  If the “tweet” was sent by a friend, you are much more likely to click on the accompanying link.  However, this would have taken you to a website that looked like Twitter but was not.  Entering your Twitter account information then provides your details to the bad guys.  If you think “Hey my Twitter account is restricted” remember that there are incidents of hacked accounts happening on both Facebook and Twitter all the time.  Beware of this trend and always use a solid password that is not easy to guess and that is not only a few characters long.  This scam has also popped up on Facebook with slightly different wording.

Test your IQ

If you recently clicked on a link offering an IQ test on Facebook you would have noticed that to get your results you would have to enter your cell phone number.  Doing so also enrolled you in a $30 per month text messaging subscription service.  Using the “applications” feature on Facebook gives third-parties access to your profile.  In many cases, as also noted above, they could also install spyware or adware on your computer.  It is better and safer to not use this feature at all.

“Prayers are requested for Avi Ben Stella, a 12-year-old crash survivor now in a coma. Update your Facebook profile for 1 day.”

Messages like this are popping up on Facebook all the time.  It is good to note that no such person exists although there was a similar story reported but the child’s name was Avi Amenov.  While some of these prayer requests may seem legitimate, many are not.  This is simply another way that people with bad intentions are using the generosity and hearts of unsuspecting Facebook users to spam their messages across these social networks.

While it is very popular to use social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, you should do so with a certain level of caution.  Just because these sites offer tons of features does not mean you have to use all of them.  Do not be so eager to get right in and test out everything.  At the very minimum, know who is sending you requests and what certain features mean and will do in regards to your account at these sites.

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Mark Blair
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iammarkblair

One of the worst things to happen to computers is when they acquire spyare/malware/adware.  These terms are used to describe the unintentional, unwanted, and unjustified installation of applications that can cause many problems for your computer.  Spyware might consist of less harmful tracking cookies which are meant to track your every move on the Internet.  Some tracking cookies can record the information you type in online forms (maybe when accessing your credit card account) and then sending that information back to the spyware author.  Obviously that can be very dangerous and is one possible way to have your identity stolen.  Other forms of spyware come in the form of applications that mysteriously show up on your computer and wreak havoc possibly causing your computer to stop working.  Nothing is more frustrating than trying to use your computer and having 50 popups appear for some off-the-wall antivirus program that you never installed.

There are various ways in which you can rid yourself of spyware.  And no buying a Mac is not one suggestion I will make.    Recently I have been using a program called Malwarebytes.  This handy, and free, application seems to be able to rip through most spyware and eliminate it in their tracks.  There are many options available to you for scanning and removing spyware.  I will link to those other solutions at another time.  For now, check out Malwarebytes.  Even if you are not having any problems, I would download the program and scan your computer anyway.  Remember, it is free and you might be surprised at what it finds and is able to remove.

Good luck!

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Mark Blair
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iammarkblair

Hello and welcome to UserIntervention.com.  Some people may remember this site from the past although it was setup a little differently.  From 2004 – 2008 this site was run using vBulletin (a forum application by Jelsoft).  I enjoyed providing computer support and assistance to anyone that visited however ultimately the site was not very well known.  It takes a lot to run a successful forum and from many people I have come in contact with, I know quite a few that do not last that long.  The forum name was changed from ‘userintervention’ to ‘PostReboot’ during the final year.  As you can quickly tell by accessing this site, you can return here by either going to userintervention.com or postreboot.com. 

I am happy to say that I am back with what hopefully will be a successful relaunch of UserIntervention.  However, this time I am doing things a little different.  Instead of a forum I am going to use blogging software (WordPress) instead.  There will still be plenty of opportunities for people to comment on what is posted here.  And maybe in the future I will also be looking for guest writers.  As the dust settles you will see more organization and links to various tech solutions that will help you along the way.  I hope you return often and I will make sure to keep this site up-to-date with the latest news and information as it relates to the world of computers.  I look forward to being able to communicate with you again.

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Mark Blair
Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iammarkblair