Banks vs. Consumers

The press has been hard on banks as they pre-emptively raise credit card rates in the face of coming legislation that will regulate the practice. And though they're under pressure to do payment workouts to mitigate foreclosures they rarely do. Sometimes it's too easy to write this off as other people's problems but yesterday I had an unusual conversation with my mortgage servicer Wells Fargo.

I received a tax bill from the town for about $4,000 so I contacted my closing attorney who said that the mortgage company had known about this at closing and had collected up front monies for it. He explained that it was the difference between the taxes for the unimproved property and the increase that would be demanded after the certificate of occupancy was issued. I explained this to the CSR at Wells Fargo and her response was, "Nope this must be paid out of your funds, not the escrow account."

So, again, back to my attorney who contacted the town and received what had been paid and what was due. After comparing that to the Escrow Account Disclosure I was given chapter and verse the exact accounting and exactly how to justify my claim that this should be paid out of escrow. The WF response was that It would leave the escrow short when they made the first payment in the new year. I suggested that they pay the $4K, do a new escrow analysis, and bill me for the shortage. They agreed.

So, I was left with these facts.

• The only reason there was any kind of shortage was because the bank's estimate at closing was wrong.
  
• Escrow was short only by half the amount that was due so they could have easily volunteered to pay half out of escrow.
  
• Throughout the conversation their only response was flat refusal and, if I had not had the experience of dealing with other mortgages, they would not have settled the matter through this standard procedure.

The ultimate question is, Why antagonize the customer for such a trivial amount of money? If they had held onto my money until the next escrow cycle it could have earned them what, $40?

IT Career Choices

I was talking to a friend yesterday who is a web administrator. He told me that the job has always been demanding but now, due to the recession, things had really gotten crazy. Apparently hiring more U.S. based support is strictly prohibited and there's a history of hiring junior off shore help that stay only for a short period before they gain enough experience to move on. So, why draw down your own resources to train someone who's just going to walk in 6 months?

Having spent time as a LAN administrator, and later, a Database administrator in the 90's this is a familiar refrain. Even in good economic times there's still a need to do maintenance during off hours and, of course, you have to be there during the work day to fix it when it breaks.

In IT today there are more administration jobs available just because they're harder to off shore. Sys Admins are the people that you turn to in times of crisis and many companies want to reach out and touch them.

But beware, as a network engineer, or desktop support tech, or any other job where you take responsibility for a critical moving, changing piece of the business you will not get to go home at 5 and your weekends are not your own.

If you want to be an IT professional with more regular hours consider systems analysis, data modeling, or even application development.

Boat Fixed

Back in July OnSite Marine tore down the starboard engine and said that the cylinder head would go to the machine shop for resurfacing. Had no communication from them until we got to the marina the weekend of Aug 29 and I made it a point to get an update. I was told then that they had the head back from the machine shop.

Got a call on 9/8 saying that the work was complete. I take responsibility for some of the delay because I didn't show any impatience until late in the game. Though I had fleeting thoughts about calling for an update we weren't at the marina for several weekends. Out of sight, out of mind. I know that the cylinder head rode around in their truck for a while before they got around to putting it back on. Then, once it was on, there were problems with the way the engine idled leading to a carburetor rebuild ($238).

The starboard head on the starboard engine was not fitting flat against the exhaust manifold and was sent to the machine shop to be resurfaced ($180). OnSite's labor to remove and re-install was $2,430 including their attempt to use their own tools to resurface the parts. Gaskets and coolant ran $293.

Federer's Shot

Recorded 60 Minutes yesterday and when I watched later saw that the first 20 mins were preempted by the US Open.  Of course I got sucked into the tennis match only to catch the INCREDIBLE between the legs return.  When i saw it the 1st time I thought he lost the point and then when they did the replay and made it clear that he returned it AND that it was in I just lost it.  Have never seen anything like it in my life.

Woke up this morning expecting them to show it over and over on the news but it got secondary treatment to Venus' explosion which doesn't strike me as half as interesting.

Has The Cash for Clunkers Deal Really Expired?

The "Service Engine Soon" light on my 2001 Suburban has come on several times in the last few months but became more persistent as we headed home from Boston on Saturday so... I took it to the dealer for service yesterday. Good news is that the remedy will only cost $320. The full story was

• "Service Engine Soon" light referred to misfires on several cylinders. Doesn't think it's electrical, like spark plug, so recommends cleaning the fuel injectors $320
• Driver's window motor, regulator, and the rubber channel that the window fits through is dry rotted $530
• Mechanic reports loud noise/rumbling coming from front and diagnosed worn hub bearings that should be replaced. Replacement includes ABS and wheel speed sensor $1167
• Lubricant in front differential "like molasses." Rebuild $830 + parts
• Transfer case is also bad. Doesn't know if he can get a used one but new one is $1900
  

Will do the window motor, injector/engine cleaning, and replace the front hub bearings. Never use the 4 wheel drive so will avoid the front differential and transfer case for now.

We're in it for the long haul so I have no complaints about doing this work on an 8 year old car that has almost 150,000 miles on it. A lot cheaper than buying a new car.

Underway

First day on the road we crossed into Canada at Niagara Falls on The Peace Bridge and stopped for the evening at The Holiday Inn in Burlington, Ontario.  Just nice to have a place to lay our heads after a long day on the road.

Chris and I were up early and managed some uncharacteristic exercise in the morning.  Chris went for a swim and I ran on the tread mill.  Later we played tennis and, when Kevie got up, she and I played ping pong.

Figured we had another 3.5 hours on the road to get to the cottage at The Bruce so we took time to check out the Huron lake front.  The picture is of Chris and I at the waterfront park in Burlington.

Stocked up on some goodies to share when we got to the cottage.  Got some bread from the bakery and an 8 pack mix/match beers (interesting concept) at the state run liquor store - LCBO.

The Network Problem

2.5 months ago Verizon FIOS was installed in my condo. While the tech was still on the premises I cranked up a browser and made sure that I could browse the web. Success!

I soon noticed that updates from Apple could not be installed on my Macbook. The message was that the downloaded files could not be verified. As the list of uninstalled updates grew larger I took the Macbook to the local independent Mac service place - Tekserve. The tech there successfully downloaded and installed an update then looked at me like I had a screw loose. He told me unequivocally that it was my network. Sure enough, I tried downloading other updates while I was still there connected to his wireless network and they all worked.

Other problems soon became apparent. The PlayStation couldn't download its latest software update. The Tivo couldn't download and install its update.

Did some research on the web and the problem is not ubiquitous. There are some reports of a similar ilk but few enough to make it obvious that this is not a generic FIOS problem. There was a lot of condemnation of the Actiontec M1424-WR router that comes as a part of new FIOS installs but I didn't pay much attention to the detail. Something about overflowing route tables.

A last resort call to Verizon support burned several hours of wait time and time with a tech but in the end there was no resolution and I was dumped off the call with him telling me that they do not filter any IP services. And how does that help me?

So I spoke with a fellow in the Accounting Dept and terminated my service. Ha, that'll show 'em! Then thoughts of it being a problem with the house cabling and/or having to fight Verizon r.e. early termination fees started to gnaw at me. An hour later I called them back and rescinded the cancel order.

Experienced a few afternoons at Starbucks downloading updates and then distributing them to different boxes once I got home. That gets old fast.

Next I tried replacing the Actiontec router ($50) via eBay. The replacement behaved exactly like the original.