Space Docks Things I love and Hate section

Things I love list:
1) Samsung

 I had a hard drive fail, after one phone call and less then 1 week, I had a new hard drive.
Awesome job and excellant customer service. We need more of this in this world!





Things I hate:

 1) HIP/HMO

 They have that TV commercial that makes it seem like almost every doctor is in the program.
Well none of my 3 doctors were. I am supposed to have perscription coverage where they pay 80% and I pay 20%.
I have used the coverage twice and both times at least one of the medications perscribed by my HIP doctor was
NOT covered. After 2 or 3 phone calls, nothing was accomplished! Boooo! HIP SUCKS!

UPDATE: Well, it's been about 2 months since I had those problems. Here is the new one. I had my tonsils out and HIP should have covered the entire procedure. So what happened? Well, my surgery was on 2/8/2000, my insurance was supposed to be canceled on 4/1/2000. They canceled it on 2/1/2000 thus did not pay for a single thing. Here it is 5/12/2000 and still haven't solved anything. No one has been paid yet! Thanks HIP for the stress!


2) ATI

For those who don't know who they are, they make video cards for computers. They usually work really well
with most any systems but when they update drivers or when you have a problem good luck trying to contact them. I
spent 5 days between two systems (see my hardware page) trying to get new drivers to work. Here is the actual email
I sent to them just today (4/15/2000). As always, comments welcome.

Actual email sent to ATI:

I have been a computer tech for almost 10 years now. I have worked in retail and service for that long.
I have recommended and sold your cards to many people because of the ability for your cards to work with
most all systems and hardware. Well, this has changed. I have a Rage Fury and a Rage Xpert99. I tried updating
the driver for the Fury card and it locked the whole system. Tried every version between the one that came on
the cd to the newest betas on your site. They all lock the system except the one that came with the card. I sent
a problem report in and after 15 days I got an email back saying did I uninstall the old driver before trying
the new one. I mentioned in my email everything I had done including the above as well as completely reinstalling
a fresh copy of win98se. Doesn't anyone read the emails before answering? Today, I am re-doing win98se on my
other machine with the Xpert99. I used the newest downloadable driver from your site. Installed the ATI DVD player
and surprise (well not really)! Error message saying cannot locate some damn file. I checked your page and it said
the newest release of the player was 3.1, but my player says 6.0. So I am now back to my original drivers again.
I have not been able to run a game on my FURY (Soldier of Fortune, Drakan, Messiah and others) because of
unplayable rendering for over a month now. I have 2 Creative Voodoo2 1000's (12 meggers) in the system and
most of them will run on the Voodoo cards (at slow ass PCI speeds) and yes I did try removing these cards and
drivers. I am so disappointed in your tech support and drivers that I will no longer purchase any ATI cards
and I will be sure NOT to recommend your cards to anyone else in the future. I will also recommend my store
not stock your card as our main video card line. I have been on the phone 3 times and was on hold so long I had
to hang up all 3 times at 3 differant times of the day.
I spent 3 days on the fury (just to end up using the driver I started with) and 2 days on the Xpert99 (and ended
up reloading 98se again). Well, it's working now but it says i'm using an 128 Xpert 2000. I know this driver is
probably the same, but it's NOT an Xpert 2000 (using driver version 4.11.6114). I sent the first two emails with
the problem report. I am running totally standard systems (VIA chipset MB, Pentium 2-400 CPU, WD HD's, awe64 sound
and Intel 440bx MB, Pentium 3-450, SBLive audio, WD hd's). I'm sure not everyone is having this many problems, but
I am and all I ask (after I have already waisted a total of 5 days) is for some help from YOU with YOUR product. Can
you imagine how annoying it is when there was none around?

From a totally pissed of ex-customer,

Karl

I have better performance from an old VIPER 550 with new drivers. I already ordered an Asus V6800 and an Guillemot
3D Prophet for my systems. The ATI's are going in the trash where they won't waist anyone elses time! I guess it's
true, you get what you pay for!


3) Optimum Online (Cable internet service)!

 I have had cable internet service since it was available in my area. Over the past month, my internet service has been down at least 10 times. Today (5/12/2000), I was home from work. It is now 9:32pm and I still haven't been able to get online! When I called they said "oh yea there is a problem in my area". NO SHIT ASSHOLE! They claim they are upgrading the email server. Over the past month, on and off I can't even count how often I can't send email out and end up sending it hours later. I am doing this update using a 56k dial modem. For $34.95 per month, you would think you would be able to get online. What happened to their motto "connect once for the rest of your life"? I can't even connect! When I call customer service about the email, they say "there is a problem in your area, it should be fixed soon". But they don't know when. CABLE SUCKS! I had dial up with Mindspring and in the two years I used them, I was never once down. I am using them now while cable is down. So not only do I have to pay $34.95 a month, but I have to maintain my dial up for when cable is down which is all the time! Do they offer money back for the down time? Yea right! I hate fucking Cablevision of Long Island!