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Slate: how to get a refund on Amazon and other helpful customer service info

Back from a long weekend of Thanksgiving merry making and Black Friday weekend shopping…


Leave it to a new article on Slate.com to help me get a refund when I see the price drop on that new widget or whachamacallit that I just purchased on Amazon…



Timothy Noah, tired of companies hiding from their customers—by creating Web sites that offered no contact information for consumers in distress, for example—took on a mission: “to compel Web-based retailers to take phone calls from the public.” With the holiday shopping season upon us, and with consumers in need of these numbers more than ever, Slate presents his findings once again.

In 2003, after diligently probing Amazon.com’s SEC filings to locate its corporate address, Noah tracked down the Web site’s elusive customer service number. That January, still in the sleuthing spirit, he revealed Amazon’s 30-day price guarantee, just in time for post-holiday markdowns: If you buy an item from Amazon and its price drops within a month, the company will refund you the difference. Last year, Noah triumphantly unearthed the even-more-elusive iTunes customer support number, and he details the six simple steps needed to get an actual human being on the phone.


Also of interest, see Seattle Times: Via phone, MS is “worse” than 2005, but better than many, which includes a link from the Seattle Times to a compiled list of shortcuts for thwarting the phone systems at 60 local and national companies and government agencies. The complete table of companies surveyed by the Seattle Times (many here in the pacific NW are listed) can be found in this list (PDF).


Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.

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News: Venezuela to change to a new time zone on December 9

We have reports (thanks, Jose!) that Venezuela will move to a newly created time zone, shifting by 30 minutes to -4:30h UTC on December 9th. For those of you keeping score, that’s at least the seventh change to the start date.

According to news reports on the official Venezuelan government news site, (see http://www.windowslivetranslator.com/BV.aspx?MKT=en-US&lp=es_en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abn.info.ve%2Fgo_news5.php%3Farticulo%3D111435%26lee%3D7 for an English translation) Venezuela will change to a new time zone on December 9th, subject to “constitutional reform.” 

As previously noted, the updated Venezuelan time zone is included in the hotfix available via KB 938977 (see below).  We expect that customers should move their Windows clients to the new time zone after this new time zone goes into effect: at that time, clocks should be moved back 30 minutes, from UTC -4:00 to UTC -4:30. We expect that this change will begin at 11:59:59 PM local time on the start date, when non-system clocks should be moved back to 11:30:00 PM rather than advancing to 12:00:00 AM (midnight).  

[Correction (112907): the change will occur at 3:00AM on Dec 9th. More info coming soon on the DST & TZ hottopics page at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_hottopics.]

Further, we expect that December 9 will be the official change date for the time zone and will follow up with more detailed information as it is available, around Dec 2.

What to do now: 


KB Article 938977 provides more information on how customers may request the hotfix update for the Windows operating system (available now) to allow customers and partners to test and implement the new time zone for Caracas, Venezuela, prior to an official move to the new time zone.

Updating Calendar items following the change with the Outlook TZ-DUT:  As previously noted, documentation is available around how to remediate regions such Venezuela using the Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool (affectionately known as the “TZ-DUT” or “Outlook Tool”) for the upcoming change in the blog post on time zone moves at http://blogs.technet.com/dst2007/archive/2007/10/04/time-zone-move-and-the-outlook-time-zone-data-update-tool.aspx.  

In Venezuela, after moving a Windows client to the new time zone, Outlook calendars will display items in the “wrong” place after the time zone move.  As such, “rebasing” of the items will be required to allow them to display at the proper time.  Here are detailed instructions for using the Outlook TZ-DUT to move your calendar items to the new time zone.  These instructions will be included in a future knowledge base article (currently being written). 

Please see the top-level customer guidance/ information provided on the DST & TZ hottopics page at http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_hottopics on potential challenges customers may have during this change.  

News articles:  


http://www.el-nacional.com/www/site/detalle_noticia.php?q=nodo/3284 http://buscador.eluniversal.com/2007/11/23/ccs_art_estudian-cambiar-hus_609836.shtml http://www.minci.gov.ve/noticias_-_prensa/28/16725/venezuela_podria_tener.html http://www.mct.gob.ve/publico/noticias/det_noticias.php?co=1249 http://www.abn.info.ve/go_news5.php?articulo=111435&lee=7


Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, DST. 4,020,000; 10,600,000; 649,000+

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Your questions: “How do I archive mail in Microsoft Outlook?”

Lisa and Jeannie asked…

“How do we archive our mail in Outlook?”

Look no further than Microsoft Office Online website for more info on how to file or archive your e-mail on your own computer.

“Learn the different Microsoft Outlook methods for storing e-mail on your own computer. Understand their benefits so that you can make an educated decision about which method will work best for you.”

Quite simply, you can use the AutoArchive feature to save or delete old e-mail messages from your In box by creating a new .pst file.  See this page on how to turn AutoArchive on and off.

To turn AutoArchive on…

  1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Other tab.
  2. Click AutoArchive.
  3. Select the Run AutoArchive every n days check box.
  4. Type or choose a number in the box for how often you want AutoArchive to run.
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Turning down the spam comments on my blog

Just a quick note that I am reducing the timeframe for comments as I’m getting way too much spam comments on older posts.  If you have a specific comment, feel free to use the “email me” feature in the left-hand nav.

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My next PC may be an all-in-one from Dell, not Apple

As I’ve noted previously, some of the new crop of Windows Vista PCs all-in-one PC (AIOs), are attractive from a design perspective. And ‘though I may suffer from Mac hardware envy, Dell has a new remedy: The new Dell XPS One.

For our next computer at home, I have considered somewhat sleek AIOs including HP’s TouchSmart IQ770 and the Sony VAIO VGC-LS25E (as well as the range of Sony all-in-one PCs). These AIO PCs are usually comparable in price to an Apple iMac with a 24” display, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 1GB memory, and all with fewer cables than my current PC at home.

And I really thought that from a value and usability view point, my next PC would be an iMac running Vista. Especially when you consider that PC Connection recently offered a new Apple iMac 24-inch with 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 250GB, 1GB RAM and SuperDrive for a stunning $1,299. (As previously noted, we have both Macs and PCs in our home, as I have used both platforms since purchasing my first Mac 128K in 1984, along with PCs through all iterations of Windows.)  I nearly pulled the trigger on that purchase.

Monitor Angle

But then, that was prior to the public disclosure of the new Dell XPS One.

Ooh.

As noted in the new PC Magazine review by Joel Santo Domingo, this is an “attractive all-in-one form factor” with lots of bells and whistles plus a two year warranty.

So far, so good.  Sad to see that there is a single drive bay but I can deal with that. 

And no 24″ display model to go up against the Apple.

So, how does the new Dell compare on paper (or the web page) with offerings from Apple?

From Dell, for $2,399 you get a 20″ display, 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, 2GB memory, 500GB hard drive, Blu-ray Slot Load Drive (BD/DVD/CD burner w/double layer BD write capability) and 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO.  Plus a hybrid Analog/Digital TV Tuner with remote, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Adobe Elements Studio and an 8-in-1 media card reader. 

Oh, and a two year warranty.

For $2,299 from Apple, you get a 24″ screen, faster processor (2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme), same memory and HDD footprint (2GB memory + 500GB hard drive), an 8x double-layer SuperDrive and the ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory.  Add the cost of a copy of Windows Vista Home Premium and you’d be a little north of the Dell XPS One, but without the TV tuner, Office, Elements or card reader.  And add the cost of a year of AppleCare at $169, which then compares to the extra year of support from Dell.

For just under $2K you get a 20″ Dell XPS One with a slightly smaller HDD (320GB), 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, and a 16X Slot load CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW).  A similar configuration from Apple — without the second year of warranty coverage, Office suite, Adobe software or media card reader — runs $1,499.

For us, having a TV tuner, Microsoft Office, Adobe Elements Studio and an 8-in-1 media card reader are all parts of the value proposition.  Plus that it runs all of our current software investment.  And the extended warranty is attractive.  But I would like to see a closer, comparable system from Dell to the current line of iMacs.

I’ll take a look at this new PC as compared to the offerings from HP and Sony over the long holiday weekend in the States.