Just came across a new iPhone App called tigertext that allows you to send text messages what have an expiration date. Of course if you follow what one of my favorite University Professors said about writing that , “Imagine everything you write will eventually appear on the front page of the New York Times” ,  you might not need this app.

Yeah Right.  Welcome to the real World.

Never before has it been so easy to ask for what you really want of other people.  silent and instant you bang out a text message (pun intended) and find out whether or not it worked. hey for anyone who like to “play a numbers game” you could highlight a few names and send the all the same message in the time it takes to craft just one.

Hangover.

so Sunday morning — OK Afternoon — it was a good night afterall you’re looking at your iPhone sent messages and it looks like somone must’ve slipped it out of your pocket and started sending all kinds of  SMS notes to your entire contact list.

Panic.

Not to worry you were using Tiger Text  Right? (I like that the authors oft his app have given their muse credit in the name of the app.  not to mention if you are a young lady who wants to send a hot pic out you can use this app to delete upon open so you can give a peek and nothing more to keep this kind of thing from ending up on whatever ex-revenge site at some future date.

Calm Restored.

So hit up http://www.tigertext.com/ and you can go on acting however you like safe in the knowledge that you have control of your texts.
unless you send it to the wrong contact. (see pic)

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Sprint has rolled out a few cities already on their 4G network. after looking I see that Las Vegas, Nv , Chicago, IL , and Philadelphia,PA are all listed on their site now along with Baltimore,Md I’ve read that they are planning on rolling out 10 cities this year and where I am Washington, DC is on the list. so I guess it’s a matter of waiting and seeing what is going to happen. I’m looking forward to see if a Verizon Wireless/AT&T competition will bring us 4G across the board or if it’s going to be a media/Marketing driven kind of campaign and we will be stuck with the older tech.  If Sprint can get the public informed to the fact that their 4G network is a lot like cable Internet access but over the airwaves it can certainly gain them more business. however if they don’t have the handsets that people desire it’s going to be tough to start grabbing market share from their competition. if you’re in the cities where there is service check it out.

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Ah yes, avoidance.

I suppose one of the side effects of being  connected is that you’re always connected and available. While being in contact with others is mostly good, there are times when you don’t want to actually connect in real-time but

need to get a message out about something.

for example:  you’re going to be late, calling in sick, want to avoid an awkward conversation.

There are some situations where a text message would not work well so what to do.

THE SOLUTION

Like the title of my post you could dial the number and pray. But if you’re hoping to avoid them no doubt they are looking to take your call.  This is obviously not the best option.  Luckily for you your’re reading this. Here’s how how to avoid reaching somone on a cell phone.  slydial – Voice Messaging connects you directly to the other persons mobile voicemail box. it’s currently available on blackbery and can certainly save you some awkward moments. without having to resort to the much less personal text message or email.  or you could dial the number and get lucky that they don’t answer their phone.

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I’m going to start off by stating something that a lot of folks will agree with, Verizon wireless is a good cellular provider.

As a company Meh- They are very much like every other company.  A couple of months ago I went out and picked up a USB wireless Internet card from them. Going with Verizon was an easy choice as I had been issued a Verizon Wireless Internet card (or whatever they are called these days) for my work.  It worked  great and all that so I figured since  I have a little netbook might as well set it up and have a portable where I can work from anywhere and have an always on ISP no more searching out Hotspts and that garbage. So I go to the Verizon store. Once there I talk to a guy who interrogates me as to why I’m there,  and proceeds to ensure that I enter in my name and info into a master computer. All this so I can wait for someone who will help me out with the specifics. Now I have grown up in the Washington DC area and in Virginia our DMV utilizes a similar system.  You go in, wait in a line where a person asks you in a similar accusatory tone “why are you here?” and unlike Verizon actually makes sure you have what you need to have to get your forms and plates that you are there for, then, they print out a number and you go to wait.  Back to Verizon-  I wander about the store for a few minutes  and eventually I hear my name and  I  talk to the guy who will help me. We sort out the details and he rings up the transaction , credit check etc… approval needed and comes after another phone call, I do more  shuffling about. no problem here nor with the subsequent return of said card which for what ever reason my eeePC just didn’t want to play with.  all in all true to the slogan they have about it being haslle free.

I know what you are thinking this article is  BORING!  so what he bought something, Verizon is great company and all that why the title? this is where the controversy is happening right here .. this next part is either sheer genius or utter incompetence. I’ve not decided which nor do I really care but I wanted to write about someting today and this seemed like a good topic.

WHAT HAPPENED?

I got a collection notice from Verizon yesterday. well not from Verizon but from an actual collections company. it was for less than $10 which is why I’m thinking it genius.  granted I’m curious lad so I started calling about and confused as I was about this notice since I don’t currently have Verizon service and didn’t receive any bills from them for the 4 months prior to this rather ominous looking notice going out.  of course my first thought is call the company who sent me the letter. dead-end just a recording reciting the applicable Federal law about how this is an attempt to collect a debt blah blah blah.  so I see they have a verizon account number great I’ll call Verizon and work it out with them.  so I find a customer support number and what is the first thing that the recording tele-bot asks for? my 10 digit verizon phone number. I don’t have one!  so I hit a few buttons which take me to a dead end of muzak and eventually hangs up on me. so I try the number again and this time navigate faster through to tell them I want english and eventually found a way to enter my account upon which I was connected  to pleasant sounding woman who was in their Recovery department.

(PRO TIP: when calling a compnay who thinks you owe them money BE NICE!  the person you are talking to is a lot more like you than you realize. when you treat me nice I act a whole lot more polite and accommodating than if you berate me and have an atitude about the whole thing. If that’s your approach forget it, these companies are set up in such a way that for you to talk to the beancounter who set up the computer system to rape your wallet you would have to hire him as a consultant.in other words you’re never going to get that satisfaction so let it go.)

our conversation went a bit like this

Verizon Wireless:hello how may I help you today
Me: (confused tonalty) I’m a little confused at the moment. I just Received a collection notice telling me I owed Verizon some money but you guys haven’t sent me any bills and I don’t have service, I’m just trying to find out if this is legitimate or not.”
Verizon Wireless: what is your account number?
Me: (reads them acount number from notice)
THe operator Verified the info in the letter. then offers me a phone number to talk to someone in another department to better help me.
Me: that would be great

Verizon Wireless: here is the number XXX-XXX-XXXX is there anything else I can assist you with….
Me: no thanks have a nice weekend

Verizon Wireless: have nice weekend
(end call)
I’ve now spent 15 minutes on this $10 collection notice. but now I’m invested so I’ll call the next number

Verizon Wireless system prompts me for info and I select English – “all agents are busy please wait and your call will be answered.” (wait 2 minutes – then line goes dead)
I call back select English then wait 3 minutes and have a nice conversation (I was not paying attention after being on hold for this time period so I won’t transcribe it) and they look up my account and tell me that since I had returned it within the time period that I don’t owe the money and that they will cancel the collections and that my account is fine now.
so this call took 10 more minutes. so a total of 20 minutes and I was online doing things while on hold so all in all I think it was less time wasted than driving over the Verizon store overall.

I’m on the fence as to what happened here, as a Technology Professional I understand all the things that have to go right to prevent this kind of hting from happening. I also wonder if Verizon is hoping to make a few bucks off of sending for collections accounts that are not really due in the hopes that people will see an amount under $10 annd just pay it. since it’s being done by ano outside company and it’s got to do with a collections agency people will figure it’s an old debt and just pay it out of shame or guilt or just simply because it’s easier to go online and anonymously pay the money and go about your day. Imagine if it’s just a dumb screw up and it nets a few hundred Grand for Verizon. Makes a little part of me want to own the stock.

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