O O Ø O O O O
More New Math
I went to my liquor store this weekend, and the price of Guinness has increased. It’s also increased at the local pub to a whopping $7.00 - plus tip - for something that is passed off as a pint, and is poured in one go. I asked people about this, and they said they were just passing on recent price hikes from the distributor. This baffles me, a little.
The last time I checked, Guinness was an import. The country we import it from is Ireland. Our currency has gained about 15% on their currency in the last year. Shipping costs are about the same as last year, and in some areas have even declined. Yet, the prices go up. Maybe those shiny new cans and the sponsorship of Rugby Canada were considerably more expensive than I thought.
Or, maybe someone’s just screwing with us, like they will on Friday when some places will charge $8.50 for Guinness in a shudder 14oz plastic cup. I am sad to say, the number of Guinnesses I ingest at pubs moving forward will be curtailed. I can get a nice single-malt for less, fer cyin’ out loud. Having four “pints” and receiving a close-to $28.00 bill makes me feel a little more ill than the beer ever has, so we’ll move to something a little more domestic. Unless of course, someone can explain and justify how 14oz of Ireland’s finest is worth the $7.
Roger’s Wireless has a method of counting that is quite different from mine. I have a crackberry. Unlike most addicts, the fees are out of my pocket, so I pay attention to the bills. In February, my 7290 sat on my desk for the entire month. I didn’t see any messages from anywhere, but Rogers’ bean counting system did. My monthly bill showed a daily volume of between 7 and 8KB, for every day of the billing period. That doesn’t sound like a whole lot until you realise that it represents one-quarter of your monthly quota.
The only information it provides on what was transferred is “OD”, which stands for “Other Data”. I’ve asked the helpful Rogers customer support representatives what this is, and they clarified what it was by saying “that charge is for other data”. Note the use of lowercase “d”s. It just makes sense now, so thank you, helpful support person!
I’m guessing that Rogers’ magical billing formula charges it’s customers for all of the overhead data that has nothing to do with message transport. 25% of my quota for overhead that is required to operate their system and not directly related to receiving content I want seems excessive, and I’m not sure why I’m paying for it. My hunch is that it’s because I’m the customer, and Rogers likes nothing better than ensuring their customers feel reamed at the end of the day. But that’s only a hunch, and hopefully someone will call me back and explain their calculations to me.
In any event, the crackberry is history, as the monetary cost of its service, and the emotional and mental cost of dealing with their “support” org have taken their toll. Look ma, no wireless!
My electrical, water, and gas bills have been a source of puzzled entertainment this past year. I notice if I am a day late or more with my payment, my friendly utility dings me with an administrative fee and/or interest charge for late payment. Fair enough, as they generally give me a month to pay, and if I’m lazy, a convenience fee for being lazy is ok.
However, I’ve also noticed they have very interesting methods of calculating how much of their product I will use on the month(s) they don’t take a meter reading. They have become quite adept at over-estimating how much I will use by over 100% or more on a fairly regular basis. When this happens, there’s no “sorry, we over-billed” or any kind of credit for taking more of my money than they should have. If they collected a late payment charge based on the amount they thought I used, and then discovered I hadn’t used anywhere close to that, they don’t give me anything back, either.
It hardly seems fair, and I’m wondering what kind of braniacs are doing the math for the estimates. I mean, they wouldn’t deliberately over-estimate so that the bulk of their subscriber base pays for more than they actually use, would they? What benefit would that serve? Surely the extra monies in interest and the like for thousands of households don’t amount to that much, do they? I’m sure my utility demands, which are strangely consistent month after month, are too complex to estimate reliably, and I wouldn’t want them to run out on my account. I’m also sure they do what’s in my best interest, and not theirs. Yes, that was sarcasm.
Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out how to effective stop using their services. Right now I’m kind of stuck, but the future shows some promise. Until then, I guess we’ll have to make due with something to help ease - but not end - the suffering.
All this new math. All these new and fun ways to count and add, but never subtract. All these great new equations that ensure a customer is handed the earth-toned end of the stick whenever possible, because they really don’t have a choice. They must’ve invented some neat new ways of figuring over the last few years, and I’d sure like to find the class that teaches it.
Because, you know, the teacher needs a beating.
Kev Needham
March 14, 2006
OOØOOOODCCXLVII
March 15th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
How dare you get yourself addicted to something like crackberry and not expect a drug habit to be expensive! Besides it’s being served up Canadian style, just like Shaw adding an 8.95 service charge each month to customers using VOIP. We don’t have the population the States have so of course they have to squeeze more $/capita out of each of us…shame on you for expecting more.
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March 15th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
See, now the charge for VOIP is interesting, and I’m of two minds about it. At first glance you could make an argument that it’s anti-competitive, especially in light of them having their own offering. On the flipside, because they’re charging you for it, it gives an expectation that they will deliver a level of service that will support VoIP. My biggest qualm is that you don’t have the choice, and the whole bandwidth thing (8-12kbs, usually) pales in comparison to all the leechers downloading stuff incessantly.
WRT the crackberry, my problem was that I wasn’t addicted, and in fact was cold turkey for a month, yet still had needle marks because Rogers dinged me for the equivalent of a GPRS carrier, which most providers don’t bill (i.e. when I roam in the US or Europe and don’t get messages, I don’t get billed the 7-8kb day, which is interesting).
March 16th, 2006 at 11:21 am
No, it’s just wrong. If an ISP is a common carrier, then they should not distinguish between bits. Offer an additional level of service, sure (with minimal latency), but you can’t care what is carried, lest you become liable for everything that is carried.
March 16th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
The whole Rogers 7-8kb thing is bizarre. Most cell phone plans don’t charge for checking voicemail so I would have expected that the keep alive polling type behaviour the crackberry needs to do should fall into the same category. To actually charge you for what I would consider it’s base service is ridiculous. Between providers, plans, bundles etc it’s getting harder to figure out what is the best option for all these services…
March 17th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
Speaking of Guinness, have you seen the Guinness surger?
http://www.guinness.com/gb_en/surger/how_f/
March 18th, 2006 at 6:49 pm
Eh? All my cellphone plans charge regular minutes for voicemail.
March 20th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
Mine too, even if you don’t use your cell phone. WTF!?
March 21st, 2006 at 4:13 pm
Did everyone spot what was wrong with that surger ad?
Guiness is now recommending their beer be served at fridge temperature. (shudder).
March 22nd, 2006 at 10:18 am
I like Guinness at room temperature. I like Guinness cold. I like Guinness Extra Cold (only across the pond!).
I like Guinness.
June 15th, 2006 at 5:42 pm
Maybe it’s time to switch to another malt liquor beverage. Get yourself a deal:
http://www.bfcgroup.com/helluvatough/coltnationwide.html