Macy's Credit Card Woes

I found out about a nasty surprise this morning -- I was levied a $27 penalty for failing to pay the $34 balance on my Macy's credit card account. More specific, I was levied $25 late charge penalty and $2 interest charge on my failure to pay up. This pretty much equals a 79.4% interest rate on a loan which is, to say the least, absolutely ridiculous.

Some background is necessary to understand my situation (admittedly, I am culprit for the late charge). Because there is a large Macy's store located near my work place, I often frequent the store during my lunch breaks. I am not a shopaholic, but I buy clothing items from time to time. When I purchased a nice jacket a few months ago, I signed up for a Macy's credit card (same as any department store credit card, e.g. Kohl's) to take advantage of the 15% discount they were offering. I paid off that initial charge since but, as I buy things very irregularly, looks like I forgot to pay off the $34 balance that had a deadline of May 20th. As a result, Macy's levied a $27 penalty on my account -- which I found out about when doing a spot check on that account.

After doing some searching online, it turns out that Macy's Credit department often offers customers a grace waiver on their first charge. So I decided to try my luck (per say) and see whether they'd be willing to take off the charge. If they did, I would become a more loyal customer and, if not, I would cancel my card.

First I tried calling the customer service hotline about the charge. This got me nowhere as I experienced a 5-minute wait before a respondent hung up due to a strange inability to hear me. To breakdown the 5 minutes: 3 minutes of waiting time, 1 minute of entering account information, and 1 minute of waiting to key the relevant directory. I did this twice before giving up. What I did find out (despite not being able to speak with the agent on the other side) is that Macy's Credit call centers are all located in India. Or at least somewhere where agents have a strong Indian accent.

After failing to speak on the phone, I decided to hike to the Macy's store to see whether a representative could do anything. I found someone who explained to me they do not handle anything to do with Macy's credit card -- except if I wanted to make a payment on my account. Initially I thought this person wasn't being forthright so I persisted. This led to the manager being called, who voiced the same point. Back to the phone I go.

After another two failed attempts at speaking with an agent, I decided to dial the number from my cell phone. Voila it worked! I was finally able to speak with an agent! However, the agent was a male who spoke with a very strong accent. To make matters worse, he heard me out and offered me a $15 credit if I paid off the account then and there. I persisted a bit by complaining (truthfully) about not receiving any reminders about my credit account. After a couple of minutes, he relented and offered to waive the entire penalty if I paid off the balance on the phone then and there. But I lucked out as I didn't have my checking account number handy (no idea why they do not take my debit card). Finally, he offered me a deal where he credit my account fo the penalty if I went to the store to pay off the $75 minimum balance. Note that the maths don't make sense because (late charge included), my current balance says $95 total (I purchased a couple more things last month). So I argued a bit and I think we ended up on the same page. I am going to monitor my account activities and then hop off to the store.

The point of this blog is to document the tedious process of having penalty charges waived. It can be done, but takes a lot of patience and time. Furthermore, my situation illustrates a classic tactic of credit card companies: they do not send timely reminders (unlike my trusty public library) and probably count on me forgetting to pay off my account. For all the flashy perks they offer --for example, Discover's cashback program-- the penalty fees can be extremely high if you forget or are unable to pay off the balance. 79.4% is ridiculous! Just imagine what if my balance had been higher!

UPDATE 06-08-2011: Problem still not resolved! Looks like I was never credited back the late fee penalty charges. Just tried to call contact customer service again, but my phone calls are not getting through (either disconnected or unable to be heard). Pretty sure I will be canceling my Macy's credit card at this point.

UPDATE 06-15-2011: Hurray! After talking to customer service again a few days ago, I was told they would take off the penalty charges if I made what I owe for the payment. I did that and just saw that my balance has now cleared. Just glad to have this ordeal over with at this point.

A Closer Look at NVIDIA Kal-El

Looks like I am quickly degenerating into a Kal-El-dependent fiend. An initial fancy has now morphed into something of an obsession (as evident by the number of blog posts devoted to it). To put it simply, I want a tablet but I want the best. Kal-El-powered tablets seem to be the best and...they also happen to be the best.

As reported here on Engadget, Nvidia showed up a reference device (read: prototype) for a Kal-El tablet. The "hands-on" didn't reveal much aside from the same game demo I posted before. What's interesting is that the device is real and alive! This breeds (?) hope that a Kal-El tablet will be released within the coming months. If this hope should be false, then I may have to wait until the winter.

The problem with waiting until winter is that Windows 8 will soon be released (early 2012). From the demonstrations of it shown, Microsoft seems to have done an impressive job. Furthermore, Nvidia's mobile chips are often dominated by similar chips by its rivals -- which means the Kal-El will lose out to quad-core chips to be released by TI (Texas Instruments) and Qualcom. Case in point is the comparison of processing power between the Tegra 2 versus Samsung's Exynous and even Apple's A5.

Another Update About This Blog

A couple of weeks has elapsed since I last blogged about this blog. I think returning readers probably already noticed the increased number of postings per day, in addition to the greater variety of content in general. But it's been a roller coaster ride of sorts.

My current blogging plan entails of writing on technology news about twice a day, once a day on non-tech news (e.g. finance, world news), and once on non-news items. Every week I will release a lengthy post (pretty much an essay) on a special topic -- last's week was the first. Aside from these, I have also been blogging on Christian values and some book reviews. It's overall been a positive experience so far. For one, I feel I am developing into a better writer (or is it...blogger?).

However, it has also been burdensome to blog so frequently. Generating content isn't an easy endeavor -- especially so when you're working full-time and lack a camera. I have also been tracking the number of hits to my blog and it seems, somewhat undesirably, that the majority come from technology news section. I say "undesirably" because I feel that posts on tech news isn't really original; I am simply reverberating something another site/individual has found out about already. In addition, I think there have been cases where I felt a "writers bloc" in writing my posts. This latter problem is exacerbated by the fact that I am a slow writer.

Yet I will continue on! It's much too early to call it quits and, if anything, a quitter I am not. I am looking to buy a camera soon, or install superior graphics software, or both. This will allow me to stop plagiarizing images from other sites and post my own.

Biking Incident This Morning

For the past couple of months, I have been biking regularly to work. The trip is about 3 miles in the morning and the same in the evening (I take the same route) --so cumulatively I bike 6 miles a day. On a weekly basis, the total miles biked ranges anywhere from 18 miles to 30 miles. Pretty impressive stuff, huh?

The main reason I bike is to enjoy the outdoors and avoid the traffic. Amongst the things that really displeases me is being stuck in traffic; another is paying for parking. So by biking to work, I am able to resolve both these grievances. The added benefit is saving on gas costs and getting a good workout. It has been a very good experience thus far -- so much so that I am determined that my next housing location should be within biking distance to work.

But alas I digress from the title of this blog post. After numerous close encounters with both moving and stationary traffic, I finally (not relieved in any way) fell from my bike this morning. It happened while I was waiting to cross an intersection, brake my bike, tried to tilt on my right foot (which couldn't really touch the ground), and so I fell sideways onto the pavement. Didn't sustain any injuries --just a small cut on my forearm-- but I laughed about it afterward. My main concern after falling was that my bike (Trek!) was somehow busted. Fortunately, it was not and I biked on.

I guess one thing to take away from this is that biking can be a very worthwhile endeavor to take on, especially in commuting instances. Of course it will depend on the availability of bike trails or amount of road traffic. For me, there are only upsides and no downsides.

House Hunting on Craigslist Redux

To make a long story short, I am planning to move out of my current place and into another starting July 1st. The main reason is that I feel the alleged $100 increase no longer justifies the housing situation. Thus I have started looking on Craigslist (where else?) for housing opportunities.

I currently live in a 4-bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment, without air conditioning and the place is somewhat noisy in the evenings. Whereas I am willing to tolerate minor issues such as the small room and the noise for $450 a month, $550 month to me is rather excessive. Furthermore, it appears we are have a roaches problem and the lack of air conditioning is pretty terrible in the summer months (aka NOW). I honestly would rather not move, but it is difficult to rationalize the $100 rent increase -- especially since due to its "shadiness".

The rent increase is "shady" due to the overall housing situation: me and the other two roommates sublease our rooms from another individual. Based on my estimates, this individual makes a considerable profit from our housing situation previously. But the situation changed because this individual moved back into the apartment. The interesting detail is that he has asked each of the current roommates for $100 more for rent in order to offset an alleged $500 rent increase from the landlord. I have taken issue with this but I think it's better to just take this opportunity to leave, instead of causing major conflicts.

So where am I going with this post? Well, it'll be an overview of the housing rentals process through Craigslist. I have been using Craigslist considerably over the past 6 months, so I feel like I have valuable insight to share with everyone. To make things easier to follow (and to write), I will simply use bullets:

• After selecting the desired Craigslist city, click on the main "housing" header instead of the specific options like "apts/housing". This makes it both quicker to search but also allows one to capture more opportunities.
• Know what you want and have a budget, but also be flexible. Sometimes you may have to tryout living situations foreign to you. For example, I never roomed before in a so-called "group house". Yet it has largely been a positive experience thus far -- maybe because it reminds me of college.
• Good housing deals require lots of patience and timely response to the listing. I have seen quite a few that have disappeared in less than an hour. That being said, some deals/listings can sound too good to be true. I have almost been scammed a few times: be very weary of respondents who demand a deposit before showing you the room...
• ...which means you should always view the room before making a financial commitment. A common example of a scam is that the owner is allegedly overseas but can have the key passed onto you within 2 days of the rent deposit being made. One giveaway is the use of Western Union banks to rout the money.
• Do not be afraid to ask questions about everything. While sometimes you should refrain from the really tough ones (especially if it is a great deal), it is better to not be surprised afterward.
• Last but not least, be 100% certain about the place before making a commitment. As my experience goes to show, it can be very difficult to back out.

Finding an ideal housing opportunity on Craigslist generally takes lots of effort and patience. I have been looking for the past couple of weeks now, and yet to find something really good. (I did found a tempting opportunity, but to realize the maintenance cost is very high.)

Armor of God

This post will be a discussion of one of my favorite passages from the New Testament. It comes from the Book of Ephesians, chapter 6, in which apostle Paul uses the metaphor of putting on God’s armor to encourage the Ephesians. The title of the passage is appropriately named “Armor of God” (in the TNIV version):

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

The passage is incredibly powerful for the justification it brings to live a righteous life, one in which we do not succumb to evil but always trusts in the Lord. As Christians, it explicitly states that we are to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power”; this is the same power that created our universe and raised Jesus Christ from death. Paul points out that our struggles are ultimately not struggles against the world but, instead, against something more sinister: evil. The poetic language used to develop how we are to “be strong” further serves to uplift the reader.

I particularly like the detailed narrative of how we are equipped as soldiers of God fighting “against the spiritual forces of evil”. Accurately describing the warriors of the ancient world, the passage begins with one putting on each piece of armor – first the undergarment, then the belt, followed by the breastplate, the leg guards, and finally taking up the shield, helmet, and sword—while offering reasons for these equipment pieces. The call to “stand firm” is important as a reminder for the significance of how we serve as soldiers – to be steadfast servants in God’s kingdom. Our faith is compared to a shield that blocks out all the enemy’s arrows; the sword with which we fight back with is the Gospel (or “word of God”).

Although I am not much of a poet, I really appreciate the poetic language used in this passage in order to encourage all those who strive to live a righteous life. I often turn to it in moments of prayer –especially for other individuals so they will put on this “armor of God”.

AMD Announces the "Desna"

So far I've found Computex 2011 to be rather disappointing. Maybe it's deficient reporting by Engadget et company or just that I am growing older, but I haven't been "wow-ed" by anything introduced thus far. [Which partly accounts for the lack of blogging thus far on the event.] But I am happy to follow up on an announcement by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

As reported here by Anandtech, AMD earlier today announced the arrival of its Z-series of Fusion APUs (Accelerated Processing Units). This line of Fusion chips is codename "Desna" and intended to be used in tablet computers. AMD announced that the first of the Z-series, the dual-core Z-01, is shipping immediately.

Right off the bat, I care because I am a shareholder in AMD (as previously revealed). More than anything, this is very encouraging news by AMD because it marks the first x86 challenge to ARM chips in the tablet market. The competition from Intel is laughable at the moment, so I fully expect AMD to go ahead and capture some market share with the Desna. Performance from these chips should trump any current ARM offerings -- at least until the arrival of Nvidia's Tegra 3. Main question is, will consumers really buy Windows 7-equipped tablets?

I honestly do not know the answer to the previous question. As a consumer, I hesitate to purchase such a tablet because I know it will be an imperfect experience. As powerful as these Desna chips are, Windows 7 is a much more demanding operating system than Android or iOS. (It is, after all, a full-fledged operating system.) So real-world performance will be a major contributing factor. Additionally, cost-to-performance ratio will the second contributing factor. How will its performance compare against the current ARM offerings? It should be higher but I would expect higher production costs too -- which can be tough to sell to consumers.

What I do know is that AMD has nothing to lose by introducing the "Desna" series of Fusion chips. As the article points out, the market segment targeted by the Desna could ultimately be different from the (increasingly-saturated) one populated by iPads, Asus Transformers, Acer Iconias, and Xooms. The Desna could allow one to achieve a greater balance between consumption and content-creation. I would buy one...if AMD offered a shareholder discount!