The switch over was not too painful but thought I should outline a few points that will help future “home phone jumpers”:

- The do not support the Voicemail identification feature. This is the feature that identifies a waiting voicemail via a blinking light on your telephone system

- They get around the issue above by have you get email notifications of existing voice mail(s)

- I would thread carefully around giving them your Credit Card number for the one year service. Press them to send you a bill that way you control the entire process

- You have to initiate the Telephone Number Portability process once you have signed up with them. They do not fill the paper work out for you

- Even though this list is all about Comwave I felt it necessary to mention that Rogers is taking anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks to transfer your number to Comwave which means you will pay for one extra month of Roger Home Phone service

- Though once the number portability paper work reached Rogers I got a call the very next day telling me that a Rogers technician will be around in 4 to 6 weeks to pick-up my telephone modem/adapter

Home Phone Jumper = Someone like yourself who has decided to change home phone services from the expensive Rogers or Bell solutions to the more affordable third party options (Comwave, Vonage etc…) and in the process save a bundle of cash.

Hope the list above helps with your home phone jumping process!

Mr. Lobo

I realized yesterday that I had to give my American Express corporate credit card back and had my Shell easyPAY tag associated to the credit card.

I called the easyPAY customer service line and got Jane on the line. She was very helpful and changed my credit card number with no problems. In the end she tells me it’s going to take about 48 hours for the credit card to associate with my tag and that I cannot use my tag till Saturday (maybe).

To this I ask Jane if it can be done any sooner as I am leaving my place of employee as of Friday and want to have everything wrapped up by then. She say’s that it’s 48 hours and that’s as much as she can do at this point. I thank her and the conversation ends.

About 2 hours later I get a call from Jane who sounds her happy self and informs me that the new credit card has been associated to my easyPAY tag and I am good to go. Wow! I have never ever been given a call back by a customer service representative in this way. Kudos go out to Jane for an job well done. Now if we could only get some of the other CSR’ out there to follow suit!

Jane and her level of service make me want to stay with Shell (I know you environmental types are screaming about Shell’ not so great business practices but damn it folks I need gas to run my frigging automobile!)

Mr. Lobo

Woman fined $110 for using fake child in commuter lane

The Canadian Press TORONTO (Mar 23, 2006)

A sharp-eyed Ontario Provincial Police officer is being credited with catching a motorist using a fake child to travel in a lane reserved for vehicles carrying two or more people.

acura
Originally uploaded by Mr.Lobo.

The Story:

While happily filling in my timesheets at work today (@ 8:15 a.m.) I get a call from a number I have never seen before. I pick-up the phone and the person on the other end (Mr. Jordan) proceeds to greet me and then ask questions regarding my 2001 Acura 1.6EL that I sold a few months back (He has just started to have engine problems this week!). He is a nice gentleman and I try to be as helpful as possible knowing fully well that the car has been used by other people (of whom I will never know) who may have done a lot of damage to it. Since Mr. Jordan has questions for me I proceed to ask him (politely) how he got my information – he tell me that he has my home and work (with extension) numbers as well as my home address and the company I leased my car from. I immediately have this sinking feeling in my stomach that many a stalked victim has felt. I proceed to light fires under assess of all the people I know may have had access to my information and could have shared it.

The Players & Investigation:

Honda Canada – They do not give out any information about your car or ownership. They do not regulate Honda Dealerships and have no legal obligation to ensure that Honda Dealerships follow Honda Corporate privacy policies.

Note the legal birdseed: If you are an owner of a Honda or Acura brand product and you wish to obtain access to your personal information or prefer not to receive marketing information from Honda Canada, please contact Honda at 1-888-946-6329 and your Dealer.

Honda Canada Finance – Collects everything on you as they deal in financing and loans. They only share your information with Honda Dealerships & yourself.

MTO (Ministry Of Transportation) – Only provide vehicle VIN number, description, color, & history on the car – They do not keep any other personal information (I hope!)

The Owner – I have access to my information at all times (a very good thing)

The Honda Dealership (The entity that you lease a vehicle from an/or who buys back the car) – Is not governed by any privacy laws and operates true cowboy style. Notice how Honda Canada expects you to connect with your Dealership regarding privacy issues – Classic “I wash my hands of your information” technique.

Other ways to get your contact details:

- 411 online search
- The dealer is the buyers friend
- The dealer sells your lease information to the buyer
- The buyer lies and gets your information from Honda Finance and/or The Honda Dealer

Though everything does point to your Honda Dealership as the main culprit (for now).

I will be taking up this issue of information privacy with Honda Canada and will try (Call me “David”) to get them to put some much needed pressure on the Honda Dealership in question to plug the flow of personal information to other 3rd parties.

The Solution:

- Provide Honda Finance with the least amount of information (only that what is required nothing more)

- Check with Honda Finance on the total amount of times your car ownership has been requested

- Share the basic (I mean minimum) information with Dealerships