Michael N. Dundas

I have a Visa card that I use only when I am on business.  The idea being that all charges on that card are business related and are therefore re-paid by clients.  As such I am forced to on a regular basis walk through all the transactions, ensure I have the appropriate documentation, submit it to the appropriate parties so that I get the money back.  I say forced because I really hate doing expenses, so much so that I will avoid it as much as humanly possible.

I have been traveling for work a fair bit lately, and two months of expenses have piled up.   Begrudgingly, I sit down to do my expenses. All the transactions are fine, except for two, one on each month for $6.79 cents from a company called clickandbuy.com.  Not a company I have dealt with.  I go to the clickandbuy.com website.  In the FAQ section I find an entry describing my problem.  In order to contact them electronically, I have to register first, giving them a bunch of information I don’t want to give them.   The fact is they probably already have the information from whatever method they obtained my credit card information, but I don’t want to confirm it, I don’t want to be their customer.  There is a long distance number I can call if I want a person directly, no toll free number.

Next, I call my Visa company.  I get the standard series of  endless automated prompts.  Eventually I get an option for customers that wish to discuss specific charges on their account.  Selecting that option the first thing the recording system tells me is (paraphrased):  If the charge in question is related to an internet transaction, please contact the vendor to resolve the charge.  If I still have trouble, I can work with them because after 45 days the transaction is my responsibility.  I wait on the line.  Next I receive a message that they are not open right now and to call back during ‘normal business hours’, which they don’t provide.

At this point I have spent approximately 30 minutes, dealing with two transactions worth $13.58 on my weekend.  I am mad at clickandbuy.com and I am furious with my Visa company.  How dare they waste my time.  How dare they permit a charge to be placed on my card, then make it inconvenient for me to discuss and dispute the charge they put on a card I did not authorize (at least not knowingly).   The question becomes, how do I save my time?  I call my Visa company back up select the ‘report a lost or stolen Visa’ option.  I immediately get a person, who is very helpful and I have a new card coming to me in a few days.

Why did I do this?  Well this happened to my wife about a year ago and experience is a good teacher.  Different financial institution, different scummy vendor.  We spent hours of time and frustration on the phone, email, filling out forms, responding to voice mails, waiting on the phone in queues.  Not worth it.   And since the Visa companies value the merchant and their time more than their customers and my time (this is obvious by their actions), I can play that game too. In five days it will be all fixed, minimal time lost and stress induced for me.

End result is that scummy ClickandBuy.com, obtained $13.58 from me due to the despicable and scummy business practices they employ — you are welcome Clickandbuy.com.  $13.58 vs. calling my Visa company repeatedly, having to fight with them, then having them send me forms via snail mail, which I have to fill out, return via snail mail or fax, then wait for the to investigate and decide, easy choice.

As for the company who provides me the Visa, I will receive a new one next week.  I may not activate it however.  I am going to look around, maybe select a new provider.  Sure they will probably be the similar with rules as my current Visa company when it comes to despicable companies like clickandbuy.com.  My Visa company is big and I am just a tiny little single customer.  But I will do it on principle.  I highly recommend that everyone that has a problem like this to just call in and report your card lost.  They have to terminate the card, they have no choice.  They are obviously trying to push the Internet purchasing problem off to their customers rather than come up with a solution.  This makes it their problem again, which is where the problem is and should be.

Today, I was trying to find a article that I had recalled reading a couple of months ago. As most do, my first step was to ‘google’ it. The article presented itself in the search criteria. Clicking on the first two results from the search entry gave me results informing me “Sorry, this article is no longer available.”

No reason as to why it is no longer available. Not enough disk space? Too difficult to maintain? I would think that news agencies would want to keep their articles available. I’ve actually started keeping a copy of articles that I reference in my blog just in case the article ever ‘disappears’. This way, I always have a copy and can manually link to it, should it get pulled down for some unknown reason. This of course is completely counter-intuitive to how the Internet is suppose to work. Most websites prefer that you ‘link’ to them instead which I am glad to do. But for that privilege I expect that the site will keep the article available for view. If the article moves, then use a HTTP 302 “Moved Permanently” message with a link to where the article now is. This fuction in HTTP has been around for years for just this purpose and most browsers will automatically follow the link in these requests making it transparent to the user.

Fortunately, after much searching I was able to find the article here. And yes, I’ve extracted a copy just in case it ‘disappears’ in the future.

I recently had to fly for business to Dubai. I ended up flying on United Emirates Airline (UEA). The lady in the picture above is Emma from Manchester. Emma is part of the Cabin crew that was assigned to our area. The outfit she is wearing is what they wear when you board and de-plane the aircraft. I thought it was a cool outfit, but that is not the reason for this entry.

Prior to booking with UEA, I attempted to book as I normally do via Air Canada. Given the last minute timing of the booking due to customer logistics, I expected the cost of the flight to be more expensive regardless of the airline. The price for Air Canada was double the cost to fly via UEA and UEA flew direct, Air Canada I had to transfer. I took the time to call Air Canada and explain to them differences both in time and cost. Their response was pretty much ‘yes we know. And sorry we can’t do anything about it.’

I booked with UEA and it was the best airline decision I ever made. Even considering Air Canada for this trip was naive. The UEA planes are new and amazing. The flight was on a Boeing 777-300. The entertainment system is the best I’ve seen on an aircraft. The selection of television shows, movies, albums, games beats any Canadian or American airline I have been on (and I’ve been on quite a few). And it’s included. No extra charge. You can even use the entertainment system during take off and landing with the exception of the headphones which must be put away. You can watch the map, view the forward or underbelly cameras, or watch the movies without sound. The meals and non-alcoholic drinks are included with the flight.

The staff were amazing. They were friendly, attentive and honestly concerned that everyone was as comfortable as possible. Many times I saw Emma and the others saying “Are you ok?” to different passengers for any of several reasons — and it was real not fake. I mean, they really cared and were really concerned and wanted to make sure things were okay. The staff were smart, attentive, and professional. I spoke with several of the staff, Emma the most as she was the main person in our area. They engaged in conversation, they asked questions, they answered questions and it wasn’t fake. They honestly liked their work and enjoyed talking to the customers. They were interested in them and their comfort. All in all it made for a great flight. One of the advertisements for UEA recruiting on the television in the middle east highlights that they select top of the class individuals for this work. I am willing to bet they do a personality assessment as well prior to hiring. And I bet they pay them well too.

Whatever they do it works! I am not an airline expert but I’d suggest that Air Canada, American Airlines, North West Air and any other North American carrier take a serious look at what they do and start copying it. American Airlines is now going to start charging for baggage, removing flights and laying off staff. It is expected that other airlines will follow suit. Apparently it is due to the rising cost of fuel. United Emirates Airline is posting profits! North American Airlines should take a serious look at how customer service should work and United Emirates Airlines would be a good goal to use.

Colleagues of mine have flown Singapore Airlines and say that it is a similar experience. I haven’t had the chance to fly them yet but it they are posting profits too.

In the future, if I have the option to fly with UEA or Singapore airlines I’ll do it. I won’t even consider North American Airlines.