SteveWords

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Qworst wants to save you money!

I got yet another letter in the mail yesterday from Qworst (Otherwise known as Qwest-your not so friendly local communications monoply). The letter was offering me special savings if I signed up for a yearly agreement with them. I called the number and a clueless girl answered the phone who was trying to get me to switch to Qwest with MSN (YUCK!!!). I now use a local service that I like very much, thank you.

The even more interesting part of this whole thing is the scam behind the deal. Qworst sells a 1.5mb DSL connection for $28.00 a month at the regular price.  They wanted to sell me a 2 year agreement for only $22.00 a month-a savings of $6.00 a month. Here is the deal:

Save $6.00 a month = $72.00 a year or $144.00 for two years.

Here’s where it gets sticky! If you should decide to disconnect early interesting things happen! There is a fee of $200.00 for an early disconnect. So you could conceivably pay $200.00 to save $144.00. Sound like a good deal to you? Not to me! It’s just a marketing scam to trick you into locking yourself into their service! Either way they get to rip you off!

Some things to think about:

1. What will the technology be in two years? Most likely faster and cheaper. You lose!

2. Will the costs go down in two years and leave you holding the (expensive) bag? Most likely! You lose again!

3. Will getting the special rate actually save you money? This sometimes happens as the special rate requires “bundling” of services, some of which you will never use, but have to pay for to get the special rate. You lose again!

4. What happens if something happens? You lose your job and can’t pay the bill and have to turn off the phone. Congratulations! You owe Qworst an extra $200.00 (do not pass go!) and get nothing for it. ...and again!

Kinda makes you not want to do it doesn’t it?

Leave a comment or two!

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Chicago at Timmy’s Toy

Well-Mary and I went to see Chicago at Timmy’s Toy (The new name for for Tim’s Toyota Center in Prescott Valley) tonight. A very interesting and LOUD experiance! Chicago as a band is still very good. The sound guy, to put it sucinctly-sucked! The first several songs that they played were practically unrecognisable as to what they were because they were so loud that the sound system was in total distortion mode most of the time! He had lots of watts and used them all-all the time! There were a few songs in the middle that he came down slightly on and they became slightly easier to hear, but by and large the concert was a great dissapointment to me. In the beginning I wasn’t sure that the band on stage was really Chicago. They sounded a little like them, they were introduced as the real Chicago, but you couldn’t prove it by me. Even now they could be easily a fake. The sound was that bad!

Maybe I am too much of a critic. I have been in the sound and video business for almost 40 years. I know what I like and what I don’t like. I have been to many shows that were really messed up by a bad sound guy. I good example was a Beach Boys concert that I went to a few years ago. The same thing happened. It messed up the whole show for me, because it was just loud, not good. Having new, really good sound equipment doesn’t nessessarily make for good sound. The key is the guy who runs it. He will make or break the show.

The other side of this is shown by a show that I went to quite a few years ago at the Mile High Middle School. It was called Prescott Junior High then. There was this band that came in with this really raggetty sound system. The speakers were patched up and re-glued. The boxes were scuffed up. The microphones were an eclectic collection. You would think that these guys would sound bad. I was surprised when they started playing. They sounded really good! The sound was clear and you could hear all the instruments really well!

This proves to me that maybe the big boys should be a little more careful when they hire a sound guy. They need to remember that a good sound guy makes the show wonderful. A bad sound guy makes the show stink and gives the band a bad rep. Something to think about!

What’s your take on this? Were you there at the Chicago concert in Prescott Valley? Please leave your comments here or send me an e-mail at steve@angelfireaz.net . I would love to hear from you!