I Lost My Network Channels

I received a card in the mail yesterday from my satellite provider stating that I was going to loose my network channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, etc.) on December 1st . The card suggested that I call up Dish Network (the satellite provider I had) and discuss their options. So I called them up.

The only options they had for my location is for them to place a rooftop antenna to pickup my local broadcast channels. I can get ABC and FOX locally but my NBC and CBS stations are too far away except with the larger rooftop antennas. But, I had another problem. Since I rent my house, my landlord will not allow the placement of a rooftop TV antenna on the house. Therefore, there was no option to for me to receive NBC or CBS stations.

Dish Network recommended that I contact my local cable company about receiving "Lifeline" or basic network channels. So I called my local cable company and discussed this option. They could offer me a basic cable channel package but my home lease got in the way again. In order to have the basic cable channel package to get the networks and keep my Dish Network satellite system for the wide selection of channels offered, I would need to double wire to all TVs in the house, having one wire for Dish Network (which is already there) and the second wire for the basic cable service. Based on the terms of my rental agreement I cannot install the second wiring in the house, unless I ran them across the floor and along the walls. Not a solution as far as I am concerned.

So, I was left with two options. Either I will have to loose my network channels, something that I really did not want to do, or switch to the local cable company. After much thought and discussions with both Dish Network and my local cable company, I decided to switch to my local cable company. They offer similar packages and features for a similar price.

I understand why I am losing the ABC and FOX networks since both are offered in my area. What I do not understand is why I cannot get the CBS and NBC networks? Both of these networks are offered out of Quincy, IL and Hannibal, MO and many of my neighbors get these channels with a large rooftop antenna. Dish Network also offers these stations to their Dish Network subscribers in those areas. But, according to Dish Network, I am not in the marketing area for these Quincy and Hannibal stations; therefore I am not eligible to receive those channels.

So, if I want to keep my networks I need to switch to my local cable TV company. This is something I really didn't want to do, but I guess I must. Off to the cable company I go.

Still Getting Screwed By Dodge

I just had a conversation with the local Service Manager at my local Dodge Dealer. If you have been reading this blog you know that I am waiting for a replacement engine for my Dodge Dakota Truck since October. It is now a month later and I was hoping to have an engine by now, at least have it being installed. But, I was wrong, again.

My local Service Manager told me that they had ordered the WRONG engine but fortunately the WRONG engine had not arrived and the got the proper engine on ordered (hopefully). “Fortunately” is not the word I would use here. Maybe it was “fortunate” for them that the engine had not arrived as they would be stuck with the wrong engine but this is “unfortunate” for me.

This means that since they have now ordered the proper engine, I am back to the end of the waiting list. And guess what? The proper engine is back ordered also. So, I waited a month only to find myself put back to the bottom of the list for another engine. Who knows how long it will take.

I still hate Dodge.

Bad Restaurants – My Luck Has Turned

I cannot believe since I wrote a blog this morning about my recent bad restaurant experience I would be writing a blog entry about a good restaurant experience this soon, but I am. I stopped for dinner at a local restaurant chain, the same restaurant I had three bad services in a row. Why did I go back? I had a gift certificate for this restaurant from my office co-workers for my birthday. So, I decided to spend that gift certificate for my birthday on my birthday.

After my last three bad experiences I was a little cautious. But this time my visit was different. Our waitress was nice, friendly and prompt. Our drinks were ordered and promptly arrived. Our orders went in and came out just as ordered. The food was great. I had a “New Orleans Seafood” dinner which was delicious. Everything I expected from a restaurant of this caliber was experienced during this visit.

Halfway through my dinner our waitress brought out a 2^nd beer for me. I had not ordered a 2^nd beer. The one large 22 oz I had ordered with my dinner was enough for me. They said they drew it from the tap by accident and since I was drinking that type of beer (their special this month) and they needed to do something with it, so they asked me if I wanted it, on the house. Cool, a free beer on my birthday.

So, the service was great, the food was great, a free beer and on top of that, and because I used the gift card I had received, I somehow got $10 off our bill so I saved money also!

This was a nice way to end a day.

Happy Birthday To Me?

I think the message is clear. On the birthday card from my other half, the front of the card says:

“The answer is: Sex and Money”

Inside the card says:

“The question is: Name two things you’re probably not going to get on your birthday.”

Signed:

“I love you very much”

Happy frigging birthday to me.

Bad Restaurants – Continued

I guess it is not my season for restaurants. Bad luck seems to be following me to different restaurants. Recently my kids took me out to dinner for my birthday. We went to a national steak restaurant, 90 miles away from my home. 90 miles may seem like a long way to go to eat at a restaurant and I would not have traveled that far except that this is where my daughter lives and this particular restaurant is nearby to her. With my son driving, off we went to dinner.

We arrived early for our reservation and we only had to wait a little bit before we were seated. It was several minutes after we were seated before our waitress came by and too our order for drinks and appetizers. The appetizers and drinks were delivered and I told the waiter who delivered the drinks and appetizers (not the same person that took the order) that we needed silverware and napkins. The answer I received was, “I will see if I can do something about that.” Obviously he could not. We started on our appetizers which quickly left our fingers greasy. When you try to eat those fried flower shaped onions that are so popular with many restaurants now, your fingers get greasy.

After several minutes and no place to wipe our greasy fingers, I flagged down the hostess after she sat a couple at a nearby table and I asked her for some silverware and napkins. She went off to get them only to return several minutes later with them just when our appetizers were almost gone. Strike one.

Our dinners arrived and I noticed strike two. Now I love a good Prime Rib and this place is has very good Prime Rib. Strange as I am, I like horseradish with it. Not horseradish sauce, regular fresh horseradish. I had ordered horseradish with my meal and I told the waitress. She pointed to the small bowl of white colored sauce and said that was the horseradish sauce. I said I wanted regular horseradish. She went off to get it.

I really wanted some horseradish with my Prime Rib so I waited a few minutes for her to return. Finally, she came back with my horseradish. I started eating my great Prime Rib and nicely steamed broccoli when I noticed my Garlic Mashed Potatoes were missing. A few minutes later our waitress came by and I asked where were my Garlic Mashed Potatoes that was ordered as part of my meal. She said they were making a fresh batch. Well, she should have told me that little piece of information when my meal was delivered. So I continued to eat my meal.

It was not very long before I finished my vegetables and my Prime Rib, yet I still did not have any Garlic Mashed Potatoes. But, I saw other tables getting the ordered delivered and two meals had Garlic Mashed Potatoes on the plate. Strike Three. Suddenly, my Garlic Mashed Potatoes arrived as if the bowl of potatoes was a desert. I do not know about everybody else, but I prefer my entire dinner at one time, not in separate courses.

When the ticket arrived I did ask for the manager. I explained all the little things that I felt that nobody should experience in any restaurant. I also explained we had traveled 90 miles just to have my birthday dinner here. He apologized for the mix ups and he did admit that the Garlic Mashed Potatoes mix up was his fault. He said the potatoes he had were old and they needed to make a fresh batch. It did not appear he was going to do anything except to apologize and he left. He did come back and gave me a coupon for dinner for two at this same restaurant.

I guess the only advice I can give at this point is to warn you not to go to a restaurant with me. My luck lately has been filled with poor service. Now I know I will go to this restaurant again. I have been to this chain many times in the past and this particular restaurant location several times. But this time, when the dinner was special, the lousy service ruined this meal. No matter how good the food may be, when the service is lousy it will taint the entire evening.

Not a way to run a Restaurant

A few months ago a national restaurant chain opened a restaurant in our town. Our town is not big enough to have many of the national sit down restaurant chains here but this is the first of what we hope are many restaurants to come. That would mean our little town is growing.

Now I have been to this new restaurant on several occasions and I understand that they are a new restaurant. As with any new restaurant, they are training their new staff to be up to the standards that this restaurant chain expects. The first several times I visited were uneventful, the service I received was what I expected and the food quality was good as expected. But, on my last three visits I have had problems and I wonder if these problems indicate a growing problem.

My first problem was several weeks ago. I stopped for lunch and ordered. Since they have a great Bacon Cheeseburger that is what I ordered. I sat and ate my lunch in peace. My Bacon Cheeseburger was what I expected and it was great. Everything about the meal and service was as expected, up to expected standard of this restaurant, except when it came time to pay.

I paid with a $20 bill for a $10.xx bill. The waitress took the bill and my money and headed off. I assumed she would pay the bill and return the change since paying at the table is normal for this restaurant chain. After several minutes and not receiving my change, I tracked down the waitress. Apparently, she thought that I was leaving a $9.xx tip on a $10.xx bill. I did not agree with that assumption. She got my change for me and she appeared not too happy about it. I left a reasonable tip on the table and left. Friends later told me I should not have left a tip and reported the incident to the manager. Maybe I should of.

Incident two was about two weeks ago. I stopped for lunch and ordered the same thing. Hey, I said I liked their Bacon Cheeseburgers. I did not realize it at the time but I had the same waitress. Now whether this had an affect in the outcome of this lunch or not, I do not know. On this particular day I had taken an early lunch, at 11am, so the restaurant had just opened and was not busy.

While I was waiting for my food to arrive, I watched other people arrive, sit down and order their meals. I then saw some of them get their meals while I continued to wait. The waitress stopped by and said the kitchen is running a little slow. Ok, sometimes things happen.

I waited longer and saw the people who arrived, sat and ordered after I did, eat the burgers they ordered (I ordered a burger also) and then started to pay for their meals. I flagged the waitress down and she repeated “the kitchen is running slow” problem. I started to explain that I ordered a burger, this restaurant is suppose to be famous for their burgers and the other guest nearby ordered burgers after I arrived and have already finished their meals. She went for the manager.

The manager arrived and apologized for the delay and offered to pay for my meal. He said my burger will be right out. True to his word, my burger arrived about one minute later. So now this Bacon Cheeseburger I ordered, which I ordered medium-well, sat in front of me. One bite told me that this burger was rare and not as done as I wanted. I looked at the burger. It appeared to be quick cooked with almost burnt on the outside and rare in the middle. Since I now had 10 minutes left to my lunch, I ate around the outside a little bit, pulled the bacon with most of the cheese from the sandwich and ate that with most of the fries. At that point my lunch was already over and I knew I would be late returning to the office. I headed out the door. I was not a happy camper and I was still hungry but I had no time left to complain or wait for a replacement.

My third incident happened just a few days after the second. I stopped by in the evening, sat at the bar and ordered my dinner with a beer. My beer was promptly delivered and I watched the football game on the bar TV. My dinner arrived and I quickly notice it was not what I ordered. I ordered the Pasta Shrimp Parmesan dinner and what was delivered to me did have pasta in it but also had chicken. I told the waitress about my order and I was told that was what I ordered. I asked where the shrimp was and I was told I did not order shrimp. Oh, yes I did. They took the plate away and I wanted for my proper dinner for them to prepare what I originally ordered, which arrived a short time later. I should mention the food was very good.

But I have to think about things. I know there will be mix ups now and then with a restaurant but what are the odds that I get three things wrong on three consecutive visits? Am I that unlucky? I do not have problems at other restaurants.

This restaurant needs to watch how things are done a little better. I don’t know if I will be watching them better because I do not know if I will visit them again. I know I will not, at least for the time being.

My expectations are simple and I suspect these expectations are the same as yours. I expect a clean restaurant. I expect timely and courteous services. I expect to receive the food I ordered, in the condition to which I ordered it in a timely manner consistent with the type of restaurant. I expect the food to be of good or better qualify and the drinks either hot or cold, depending on the drink. I expect to receive the proper change after paying and the wait staff expects me to leave a fair and reasonable tip for the service rendered.

Any time those expectations are not met you become a dissatisfied customer. And yes, I am dissatisfied customer.

Happy Days!

My son is safely home from Iraq. You may not know how happy that makes me feel. I have spent the last several months wondering what and how he is doing in Iraq. Fortunately, my son was able to call home just about every weekend from the airbase he was stationed at in Iraq. On each of the calls he always told me that nothing exciting was happening in his area.

But I know my son. He does not lie but I could tell that he was not telling the entire truth. Having spent several years in the military myself I know that there are situations while deployed that you cannot talk about what is going on until you have been properly debriefed and informed that you are now allowed to disclose that privileged information.

When I was in the service, the Vietnam Conflict was ending. My parents said they worried about everything I had did while stationed overseas. When I joined the Special Forces (commonly called the “Green Berets”) I was exposed to things that I was not allowed to tell anybody, even my family. Later, as I got debriefed from these various missions, I was allowed to tell some of what we did. And I still have secrets I do not know if I am allowed to talk about. None of the secrets are now a threat to national security but they are secrets from that time none the less.

The general public rarely knows what our military personnel do as part of their mission requirements and from my perspective that could be a good thing. Soldiers are sometimes required to do horrible jobs in horrible working conditions and continue to be alert even after days without sleep. But this is what is required of any service member. Our service members have volunteered to protect our country. Our service members must do whatever is necessary to accomplish the mission in a time of war. I am proud say that I was a volunteer and I will stand up and salute all our service members at any time for the job they do and the jobs they have done.

But today I am happy. My son is safely in the states and will be home today. We are having a party for him tonight with his friends and family. He left here still very much a boy but he has returned a man. He has seen things he has talked about and I am sure he has seen things he has not and may not talk about.

I am happy today. The only sad part for today is that we still our military involved in this conflict. Our freedom we enjoy is not free. Our freedom is paid with the efforts and sometimes the lives of those who volunteer to protect our freedom.

To our national leaders, resolve this issue, complete the mission and bring our troops home. Only then can we all be 100% happy.

The Ultimate Insult from Dodge

If you have read my previous post you know that I am currently dealing with a royal screw job from Dodge about replacing my engine on my truck. I have explored all avenues that I can think of and I have been rejected at most attempts so far. There are still a few avenues remaining under review and these reviews could take several months to resolve. So, I decided to bite the big bullet and pay for the engine replacement. Yes, it is a lot of money and a waste of money as far as I am concerned, but I need my truck back, if only to trade it in on something else, a non-Chrysler vehicle.

Today, the local service rep called me. “I am sorry but there are no engines available and there may not be an engine available for a while.” I guess a lot more people than I realized have the same problem. But I was told, “For $500 more I can have the next available engine.”

So, I asked the Service Rep how long to wait for the engine. They said based on the current back orders it could be a month or so. But, they have an alternative. They can get me an engine from an auto-parts store, a replacement engine for my truck, but it will not be an official Mopar engine, which means it will not be a Chrysler engine for the same price. This “other” engine is probably the same engine that Mopar sells but the company that builds the engines sold this engine on the open market, not through Chrysler. Same engine but sold elsewhere.

“What does that do for my extended warranty?” I asked. Well, the motor portion would be voided with this third party engine. But, I would get a 3 year, 100,000 mile parts warranty and a 50% labor warranty for the same period from the selling auto-parts store. In other words, if I get this auto-parts store engine and put it in my truck, for the same price of a factory engine, and it goes south in two weeks and needs to be replaced, which could be $2,000 in labor, I would be stuck with a $1,000 repair bill! That could happen. My current extended warranty with Chrysler would be a charge of $100 total.

I then started to ask around about how this engine would affect any possible trade in value. The dealer replacing the engine said, “You will have the engine warranty from the auto-parts store which can be passed to the new owner.” Another dealer said, “It would not be a factory engine thus lowering the trade in value, regardless of warranty left on the engine from the auto-parts store.” I then asked the Dodge rep if I traded this truck in could the new purchaser get factory extended warranty on this truck with the third party engine. He quickly said, “Nope.”

After evaluating all my alternatives the best alternative is to wait for the replacement engine from Chrysler. That would give me the best trade-in value and not cost any additional except the time waiting for the engine to arrive. So, I am left waiting for a replacement engine from the factory and I could wait until 2007 until my engine arrives.

I guess I better start smiling since I am getting a royal screw job.

Dodge Sucks

Do not buy a Dodge Truck

I have been a loyal Dodge and Chrysler owner for many years and I have owned 5 new Dodge or Jeep vehicles over those years. I have always had little or no problems with these vehicles and I always tried to take care of them. I currently own a 2003 Dodge Dakota Quad-Cab 4x4 truck with about 45,000 miles which is now sitting at the dealer with the engine in pieces. The dealer tells me that the engine must be replaced and that my extended warranty, purchased from Chrysler when the vehicle was purchased new, will not pay for the engine replacement.

Dodge is telling me that I did not do my oil changed on or BEFORE the due mileage therefore they say that I did not do proper maintenance and therefore my extended warranty is not required to cover the repair. The problem is that my 4.7 liter V-8 engine is suffering from sludge buildup within the engine. I was able to provide all my oil receipts EXCEPT for one oil change, and one oil change was done with almost 4,000 between them, but that was not enough.

Fortunately my problem only surfaced because I noticed a new “ticking” sound within the engine. Many other Dodge truck owners experienced a catastrophic failure of the engine caused by sludge building leaving them dead on the side of the road. I guess “fortunate” is not the word to use. Either way the engine had to be replaced. I just found it before it had a total failure.

I am in the process of complaining to Chrysler directly through the 800 number. I have gone through the dealer who has gone to Chrysler and they even contacted their local warranty rep. They took pictures of parts of the engine and sent them off to be reviewed. Yet every review was returned with a no, they will not replace or fix the engine. They continue to tell me that I did not do the required maintenance in a timely fashion.

In the mean time, I have been spending a lot of time on the Internet researching this issue. I have discovered that Chrysler did have an oil sludge problem on their 2.7 liter V-6 engines and Chrysler is replacing those engines. What I have also discovered is hundreds of complaints about the Dodge 4.7 liter Magnum V-8 engine in many of the Dodge vehicles that has this engine. At some point Dodge and Chrysler will have to recognize that this is a problem with this engine and they will be required to do something about it.

Where does this leave me? Since I have found no reference of Dodge replacing the engine for their customers (in truth if they replaced my engine for free, I would have little reason to mention it on the Internet), I am stuck with a 3 year old truck with a few years of loan payments left and a potential multi-thousand dollar repair bill. My first option is to replace the engine at the tune of up to $6,000 ($5,924 they said with parts, labor and tax). This is the best course of action to take according to the Chrysler and others I have checked with. This will leave me with a new engine, with a warranty for that engine, and I will keep the remaining period of my extended warranty (another 25,000 miles) intact.

Option number 2 is to have the engine flushed with a cleaner a few times, each time with an oil change. This could, and that is a big could, flush away enough of the sludge buildup to resolve the problem. Or, this could temporarily loosen the sludge, move it to another possibly critical area and create a short term fix. This would mean that the engine COULD fail at any time and most likely WILL fail over time.

Another option is to have the engine rebuilt or install a rebuilt engine obtained not from the dealer. Either option would require pulling the engine. A rebuild would require a complete tear down of the engine and all engine parts will need to be cleaned and every oil channel cleaned out. This would require many parts to be replaced as part of the rebuild as some parts are not recommended to be reused once removed from the engine. I was told the cost of a rebuild would be close to the cost of the engine itself.

There is one point to consider with the last two options. My extended warranty is void unless the engine is replaced with a factory replacement engine. Regardless of the fact that I have 25,000+ miles left on my extended warranty, the remaining mileage would be voided without the engine replacement.

What shall I do? I do not know yet. I am not done with my complaints to Chrysler but I suspect I will not get far. I do not have the money to replace the engine at this point and that leaves me to the point of borrowing the money. Right now I am waiting for a price quote from the Dealer to replace the engine. From there I can decide farther.

But I do believe I will attempt to raise the money and replace the engine. I am sure with the help of my family I will be able to raise enough money to pay the bill. Once that is done it is time to repay the loans and then save more money for a down payment to get another truck, definitely not a Dodge.

Regardless if whether Chrysler replaces the engine or not, I do not believe I would ever purchase another Dodge vehicle. I believe I would spend my efforts insuring that everybody knows my situation and the situation of hundreds of others I found on the Internet.

There is something else to think about with this problem. Besides owning 5 different Chrysler vehicles, I have owned other brands and I have to admit, like many of you out there, when I was young I did not get my maintenance done in a timely fashion, especially on the various used vehicles I owned. Since I have spent more that $30,000 for a vehicle, I have tried to keep the maintenance up. I do not remember any of my vehicles, nor vehicles of my friends, that needed engine replacements due to sludge build up. Yes, I guess newer engines are more developed technically but it brings me back to the same point. Older engines didn’t seem to have this problem; at least I was not aware of it.

I did try to find other makes and models of vehicles that had this problem. I did discover Toyota and Mercedes Benz did have sludge problems with their engines and they replaced the engines for their customers. But, I did not find any other vehicles that had these problems.

So, I bought a Dodge Truck and I got screwed. I cannot believe that being late on one oil change and possibly missing another would cause enough damage to an engine to require an engine replacement.

I have never had a reason to hate one brand of vehicles over the other. I have had Dodge's, Ford's and Chevy's and all have worked well. And my Dodge Dakota Truck has run well up to now. But now, based on what has happened, I can officially say:

Dodge Sucks