Kevin Warnock

Today I was depositing some rent checks at San Francisco Fire Credit Union, where I conduct my personal and business financial affairs. I was impressed that there was a line formed in the lobby by people opening accounts.

There was a folding table set up with clipboards holding account applications. Every seat in the lobby was taken with future customers filling out the paperwork.

I overheard a staff member offering bottled water to people while they waited. I was so pleased that Bank Transfer Day is still delivering results, two days after the actual day.

The only thing I would do differently would be to offer guests tap water served in reusable glassware, since bottled water is a product I don’t approve of except for true emergencies. Perhaps they don’t know Ikea sells durable drinking glasses for USD $.59 each. If they kept a few dozen in the back, they would never need to offer bottled water again, even on busy days like today. I bet they already have a dishwasher in the lunchroom, so they can wash these glasses easily. Since a bottle of water costs about half the price of an Ikea glass that will last for years, it makes no financial sense to stock bottled water.

Verizon fraudulent bill charing an activation fee in conflict with sales confirmation email

Compare my first bill from Verizon Wireless for my new 4G LTE MiFi device with the confirmation email I received from Verizon right after I purchased the device. You’ll see in the email below that the activation fee is listed as ‘Free’ and that my first bill should reflect that. You can see from the bill above that that’s my first bill.

Verizon manager Lindsy, identification #2422512, removed the USD $35 charge, and said she checked her trouble ticket database to see if any other customers had been charged fraudulently as I believe I was. She didn’t immediately find any signs that she told me about. She did say she would file a ticket on my behalf. I spoke with her October 14, 2011 around 6pm Pacific Time.

I told Lindsy that I suspect that Verizon is charging all customers the $35 activation fee and then removing it only when customers call to complain like I did. I speculated that Verizon is doing this on such a scale that they are effectively taking possession of hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars from their customers that they are not due. I said there was no way for me to be sure without asking the public for help in sorting this out. I told Lindsy I expect no compensation for my trouble, and that I am not asking for any. I told her that if any is offered, I will return it. She said it is understandable that I want to blog and Tweet about this, and she did not try to discourage me from doing so, to her credit. I found numerous discussions about improper activation fees when I did a Google search as I was preparing this post. People are clearly upset, as I am upset.

This is such a flagrant mistake or fraud attempt, I don’t know which, that I felt duty bound to post the details and make them easy for others to find. It certainly seems like this matter might form the basis for a class action lawsuit against Verizon, as I don’t see any way for this to be isolated to just me, from what I know of programming and big companies.

Here’s the complete text of the Verizon confirmation email to me. I bolded the two lines for emphasis so you can see the email said clearly and twice that the activation fee has been waived, and that would appear on the first bill. You can see the first bill above and that an activation fee is listed but there is no matching credit:

Thank you for shopping at VerizonWireless.com.

Your order has been received and is subject to final credit approval. Pre-orders will ship when the item becomes available. We reserve the right to limit quantities. Customer signature is required at the time of delivery. You cannot change your shipping address after you submit the order. We will contact you if we need additional information to complete your order or if the item is out of stock or no longer available. If you have any questions, contact us at InternetOrders@Verizonwireless.com . Be sure to include your order reference number.

For your convenience:

Check the status of your order online: http://www.verizonwireless.com/b2c/orderstatus/OrderStatusForm

ORDER DATE: 09/17/11

PAYMENT METHOD: VISA XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-1045

SHIP TO: BILL TO:

——————————————————————————————

Kevin L Warnock Kevin L Warnock

113 WARREN DRIVE 113 WARREN DRIVE

SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131

(415) 661-5600 (415) 661-5600

ORDER#: 4006516182

——————————————————————————————

Monthly Access

————–

Calling Plan 1:

1 Mobile Broadband – 5 GB (2-year contract):

Recurring monthly charges $ 50.00

One-time activation fee (charge & credit appears on 1st bill) Free

Service Feature(s):

Decline Insurance

Due Now

————–

Equipment:

Phone/Line 1

1 Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L -regularly $99.$ 49.99*

Included accessories for Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot MiFi 4510L:

Battery, Wall Charger, Connect Card, USB Cable,

Protective Pouch, Documentation Kit

*An instant online discount has been applied to the phone price and cannot be combined with mail-in rebate debit card offers.

——————————————————————————————

SUMMARY OF CHARGES:

——————————————————————————————

Total recurring monthly access & service charges: $ 50.00

——————————————————————————————

Total one-time charge on your first monthly bill: $ 0.00

——————————————————————————————

Due now: detail of total charges to be billed to credit card

Shipping: Free

Subtotal: $ 49.99

Taxes, Governmental Surcharges & Fees: $ 22.95

CA State Sales Tax* $ 16.20

CA Local Sales Tax* $ 6.75

Total charges to be billed to credit card: $ 72.94

——————————————————————————————

In California, sales tax is calculated on the full retail price of the device, not the discounted price you pay. In Massachusetts and Nevada, sales tax is calculated on the inventory cost of the device.

*The sales tax charged on your device was based on $269.99.

Enjoy the ease and convenience of My Verizon online! Check minutes used, view and pay your bill, get answers to Frequently Asked Questions, and much more. Register today at http://www.verizonwireless.com/myverizon. When you don’t have computer access, you can get basic account information by dialing *611 + Send (airtime free) and selecting automated options.

Occupy Wall Street greywater system. Photograph taken October 6, 2011 by Flickr.com user david_shankbone.

I worry people will be hurt if New York City police attempt to clear out the Occupy Wall Street participants from Zuccotti Park in New York City, New York, USA tomorrow morning at 7am local time.

Occupy Wall Street faces eviction Friday morning

Protesters suspicious of plan to clean up NYC park

Occupy Wall Street protesters fear eviction from park

NYC protesters suspicious of plan to kick them out temporarily for park cleanup

These helpful people in the park probably have formed strong friendships with each other. They are probably extremely agitated right now. They are probably tired but energized. I can see them resisting being evicted to the point where the police bring out their Tasers and guns. That’s a recipe for somebody being injured or killed. It will be tragic if Zuccotti Park joins the ranks of the words Kent State or Columbine. I support Occupy Wall Street to the extent I know about it. I certainly applaud the people participating, and I’m impressed with the press and support they have generated.

Autonomy should remain autonomous.

The planned purchase of Autonomy by Hewlett Packard was part of Léo Apotheker’s plans to remake HP into a company more like SAP, which Apotheker used to run. Now that he’s out of HP, why should HP close its purchase of Autonomy? What is HP going to do with Autonomy the company?

This is going to spell the end of Autonomy. It might take five years, but this purchase will mark the beginning of the end. I say this not even knowing much about what Autonomy makes — but it doesn’t really matter what they make. These huge software deals are fraught with risk and trouble, and now that the guy that wanted Autonomy is unemployed, what’s the point?

Sure there might be a huge breakup fee to be paid to back out of buying Autonomy. But I’m sure the fee is less than USD $10B+, the reported cash purchase price of Autonomy.

Here’s an article in the Wall Street Journal detailing some of the silliness around this deal.

Ellison Stirs the Pot Over H-P Deal

There are rumors circulating this morning that Meg Whitman will be appointed the Chief Executive of Hewlett Packard later today.

This appointment I predict will not work out for HP, and Whitman will eventually be fired. Whitman will make a fortune that I predict she will not deserve.

I have met Whitman. I shook her hand at one of her houses without knowing who she was. I ate dinner at this house, and my table was next to her table. Even though I didn’t know who she was, I noticed her and remembered her when I found out who she was about two hours later.

I noticed and remembered her because she displayed atrocious table manners. She was hunched over her plate, not sitting up straight. She grasped her fork in her fist, with all five fingers encircling the handle of the fork.

This dinner I was at was well attended, with over 100 guests. The house I understand was Whitman’s house for entertaining, not the house she resides in. Yes, the huge house in the pricey town of Atherton, California USA, similar in size to Ron Conway’s old Atherton house dating to the original dot com boom, was just for throwing parties. That probably explains why the building didn’t look lived in — everything, especially the huge kitchen, was too clean and perfect.

I’ve been to a lot of fancy sit down dinners, and Whitman displayed the worst table manners I have yet witnessed.

I mentioned to my date for the event that the woman who shook hands with us as we departed looked a lot like Meg Whitman of EBay. After some talk, we concluded that it was in fact Whitman, though neither of us knew it when we were in her presence.

It was noteworthy that as we shook Whitman’s hand, she said something to the effect of ‘it was nice talking with your earlier.’ This was interesting because we had not spoken with her earlier.

I hope Whitman took a class in table manners before she ran for and did not win the governorship of California.

Whitman demonstrated the table manners of a poorly raised grade school student. I was shocked and I remain shocked.

Normally I would not write about the table manners of anyone. But Whitman is in line to lead one of the most important companies in the world. She’s certainly a public figure, and how she comports herself in public is news.

Michael Arrington 2011

It was a mistake for AOL to recently allow Michael Arrington to depart TechCrunch as Editor. If Ariana Huffington and Arrington couldn’t work together, Arrington should have been made to report to AOL CEO Tim Armstrong rather than Huffington.

If that wouldn’t work, then Huffington should have been fired.

On a much smaller scale, the harm done to TechCrunch by the removal of Arrington reminds me of the damage done to Apple by the removal of  Steve Jobs by John Scully.

I once read that Arrington wanted TechCrunch to be as big as CNet was at its peak. I predict that will never happen without Arrington at the helm.

CNet used to be worth USD billions of dollars. TechCrunch to date has peaked at a mere USD $30 million, and is likely worth much less this moment.

I doubt Arrington really wants to run TechCrunch long term as it must be grueling and exhausting work. I think Arrington will do well as a venture capitalist. I wonder how long his non-compete lasts. I can see him starting a personal blog. I can see him becoming one of the most read individual bloggers in the tech world when that happens. I’ve already read Arrington intends any day to start a personal blog. It must have been unwieldy towards the end with so many writers to oversee at TechCrunch. I bet Arrington would welcome a return to simpler times where he’s the primary or only writer on a site. People will read what he has to say even if he increases his number of conflicts dramatically.

I wish Arrington well. I’ve only met him once for a few seconds, but he was nice, already knew I founded gOffice and was not dismissive, which I appreciated.

Phil Ting, Assessor-Recorder for the City of San Francisco, California USA

For years now I have been trying to get the assessed value of my house lowered. Right now the appraised value is USD $140,000 lower than San Francisco’s assessed value. That means I am paying too much in property taxes, which is unfair.

The Assessor-Recorder of the City of San Francisco is hopelessly behind on processing requests for lowered assessments. The formal appeal I filed about a year ago still has not been processed. The appeal I filed this year is not due to be processed until 2013.

Last year I filed my appeal in person and paid by personal check. The check was not cashed for months after I presented it. This year when I paid, I chose to pay in cash, and I spoke with the woman in charge in the office about the delay in cashing my check last year. Amazingly, she was quite forthcoming with information.

She said that they routinely hold checks for so long that sometimes the checks are refused by the banks they are drawn upon for being too old, or stale. This results in a different department in City Hall charging a USD $50.00 fee, presumably for a bounced check. The supervisor I spoke with today said that her department had to pay lots of these $50 fees out of its own budget. What a mess this is. It’s such a mess I am putting my own appeal in jeopardy to bring this shocking news to my readers.

The office was littered with stacks of paperwork, including personal checks sitting on the counter where the public stands while conducting business. This is simply unacceptable. A person with bad intent could copy down the checking account information and steal money from unsuspecting check writers via an electronic debit transaction. This casualness with checks makes me suspect the checks are not locked up properly for the months that they sit before being cashed. How many people might have access to this sensitive information during this time? Checks are like cash, only more so. Once you have the account number an account can be drained to zero quite easily, I understand. The famed computer scientist Donald Knuth has written that he stopped using paper checks years ago due to their inherent insecurity.

Somebody needs to crack the whip in that office and get them to cash personal checks the day they receive them, or the day after at the latest. By waiting months to cash them, the City is putting people in danger of bouncing checks with their bank. Most people would never suspect the City would hold a check for months before trying to cash it. Yes, people should balance their checkbook and be careful. But I bet banks have made tens of thousands of dollars in bounced check fees over the years because of this incompetence in the office of the San Francisco Assessor.

I ask that my own application not be penalized for writing this post. I am writing this because I sensed that the supervisor I spoke with had the best of intentions but is so burdened by the flood of work that her department can’t keep up. I saw her personally answer the phone and it’s clear she cares about doing a good job as she was helpful and sweet to the people she was speaking with.

I hope that this post comes to the attention of those at City Hall that can help this supervisor process applications more fairly. Maybe they need more staff. Maybe they need better software. Maybe they need to adopt a cash only policy for the time being. There is an ATM in the lobby of City Hall so it would be easy for people to get cash on the spot to pay the USD $60 filing fee.

Finally, I should say that it is unfair to take over a year to process applications. I was faced with deciding to pay a second $60 fee not knowing the results of paying my first $60 fee. Maybe it was not worth it to pay the second fee.

I hope to get my assessment lowered by a six figure sum, as I have paid for formal appraisals in 2008, 2010 and 2011 to support my case. Wish me luck.

Massive default is best way to fix the economy by Brett Arends offers a thought provoking fix for the ailing United States economy. Arends writes for MarketWatch.

I am dismayed with how the United States responded to four plane crashes 10 years ago this day.

Wars were started that still continue. Trillions of US dollars have been wasted destroying much more than just property and life.

How much better would the world be if President George W. Bush treated the September 11, 2001 events as regular police matters.

Osama bin Laden still could have been found and brought to trial to determine his guilt or innocence, and we wouldn’t have wrecked our good will like we have with these needless and counter productive wars that are a drain on the world. Constant war is a drain on the mental energy of everyone in the world, I fear.

President Bill Clinton handled the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing as a police matter, and I recall that some of the perpetrators were located, tried in civilian courts, convicted and punished. That’s the way to handle both daily criminal and infrequent catastrophic criminal events.

I believe the people behind the 9/11/01 attacks were upset with how the United States conducts itself on the world stage. I think a sane and proper response would have been to admit to the world that the United States does overstep its place more than it cares to admit. We should have attempted to open a rich and ongoing dialog with those who attacked us to solicit their advice on how the United States could tone things down in the future so that others wouldn’t be so hopping mad that they attack us.

Would such a polite and measured response have worked? I don’t know. But I think it would have cost less in every measure.

If a prestigious entity with world visibility were created where we would yearly sit with our attackers and those who think of attacking, we would have taken the wind out of the sails of our attackers to a substantial degree. The entity would need to have power, prestige and money for it to be seen as more than window dressing by those who might attack us. It would need to make sure action was taken after meetings so all those watching would know their voice was being heard and acted upon. This would be one heck of an organization, and I don’t know how to pull it off, but it needs to be built. We know how to build huge, costly organizations that can cause action. The US military is one such huge costly organization, for example. The organization for good I propose might need to rival the US military in size, scope, power and budget. That might sound crazy, but what really are we getting for our military expenditures now? I would argue a lot less than nothing. We are building negative equity like at no time in the history of the United States. We could fund the organization I propose by reallocating half the budget of the US military as a start. With just half its budget intact, the United States would still have a huge military, but we would also immediately have the largest organization for world change on the planet, and just by having made that commitment, I predict more than half our ‘need’ for a military at all would evaporate. Half of our military is still a lot, and think of the new friends we would make with the new organization for change I propose. Far fewer people would wish us harm if we were doing good on such an intense global scale.

Now prepare yourself for the most provocative text I’ve written in my life…

Soon after the September 11, 2001 plane crashes, United States of America President George W. Bush should have said something like this:

“The United States is profoundly sorry and embarrassed.

Without an invitation, the United States has been acting like the policeman of the world.

We recognize that  there are other valid points of view on how to live life. We don’t want to be attacked like this again, so I ask those of you who wish us harm to please share with us how we can avoid such attacks. We are willing to make big changes, and we’re willing to spend a lot of money to be a nicer world citizen. To demonstrate our resolve to change and see the point of view of others, the United States today is contributing USD $100,000,000,000 to get the ball rolling towards a more fair and sane planet. We will spend to improve the lot of the people that attacked us.

On behalf of the United States of America, I am sorry that this country has acted such that you believe you had to attack it. While this country may not agree with your points of view, it does recognize that you view your points of view as valid and worth advancing. Clearly, we need to talk, and we will talk. I personally will talk face to face with your representatives.

The United States feels so strongly that it will learn to play nice on the world stage that beyond the USD $100 billion I just spoke of, I am committed to working with the US House and Senate to gain approval to spend up to USD $3,000,000,000,000 over the next decade to fix what’s wrong with the world.

The United States is not a vindictive nation.

The United States could respond by starting wars and destroying entire countries, but we’re bigger than that, and we will show our attackers that the people of the United States are your friends, not your enemies. War is terrible. Peace is golden. The United States stands for peace, not war.

On behalf of everyone in the United States, including the families of those who lost loved ones today, I appologize for our actions, attitudes and positions that led others to believe that they had to attack the United States so violently to get our attention.

With hard work and determination, today will be the last time that any people of the world should feel that they have to attack us to get us to change our overstepping ways.

The United States in fact is ashamed that it has come to this, that we have upset other people so dramatically and profoundly that they have responded by flying airplanes into our landmarks, ending the lives of so many earnest people in the process.

Let us spend the following ten minutes in silence to reflect on the enormity of the events of today. Let us imagine a world filled with peace, happiness and enough to eat and drink. Let us cast aside our revengeful impulses so that we can come together at a meeting table to plan how the people of the world shall overcome the horror of today in favor of the brightness of a more promising future for all of humanity.

To the friends and family of those who lost their lives today, if you want to be upset with somebody, be upset with me and the past Presidents of The United States of America. What happened today was a reaction to this country overstepping its place in the world. It simply is not nice to tell other people how to live while we consume such a disproportionate percentage of the resources of the planet. In the decades ahead, we will need to learn to share our bounty with others more than we have done so far. Look on this redistribution of wealth as your insurance payment for the future safety of you, your property and your loved ones, not as a handout. The United States has been acting like a rich, spoiled kid on the playground eating the finest candy and laughing while others nearby starve and have little. We can remain a wealthy and prosperous and happy nation while at the same time leveling the playing field. We are a nation of thoughtful and ingenious innovators, and if we put forth our full effort, perhaps 100 times greater than what was required to place a man on the moon, we can solve the really big problems the world today faces.

Three trillion dollars is a lot of money. We can spend that amount building peace, love and goodwill. We can also spend three trillion dollars killing hundreds of thousands of people and destroying countries.

I am certain that three trillion dollars of peace, love and goodwill is more valuable than three trillion dollars of rubble, hate and death.

May September 11, 2001 be viewed by history as the first day of the most kind and peaceful period the world has yet known.

For those of you that worship a higher power, may that higher power give you comfort on this historic day of new beginnings. Let us rejoice in the saved lives of the hundreds of thousands of people this nation will not kill in response to the events of today. Let us rejoice in the new lives of the hundreds of thousands of babies by coincidence born this historic day. It is tragic that the United States lost thousands of its residents today, but keep in mind more babies were born in the United States today than lives were lost in these four plane crashes.

The United States is your friend, not your enemy. The United States wants peace, prosperity and fairness for all the people of the world.

Tomorrow will be better.

I love you.”

Instead, President Bush said something genuinely and dramatically stupid:

“You’re either with us or you’re with the terrorists.”

This is such an unwise thing to say it sounds like something out of the mouth of a high school student at a third rate institution. Yet his short statement formed the basis for spending of even more trillions of dollars than I proposed the United States spend in my mock speech above.

The United States ruined itself by its unwise response to four plane crashes.

I don’t spend a lot of time delving into the deep details of world politics. I am not a historian. I am not particularly well informed about what I write about here. I admire Noam Chomsky and Dennis Kucinich. I think Chomsky and Kucinich would like what I have written here today. I hope to meet both men one day, perhaps in response to this post if I am really lucky.

I believe I possess a very fine and properly working moral compass. I am proud of and guard my moral compass. I’ve made profound and life altering changes in my life when needed to protect and guard and respect my moral compass, even when it would have been so easy for many others to compromise. Perhaps the above makes me look childish and unrealistic. Perhaps I will lose a friend or three by what I’ve written. But what I’ve written has been on my mind for ten years now, and today I decided to just say what I first thought starting about 2 seconds after I first heard about the first plane striking one of the towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, New York, USA.

The United States has ruined itself by its response to four plane crashes.

Why?

PS – I am sorry for the loss of the family and friends of those who lost their lives in the events of and following September 11, 2001. By writing this post, I do not intend to upset anyone who lost a loved one. My heart also goes out to friends and family of those who have been killed or injured in the response to the events of 9/11, including those serving in military forces on all sides. I love the United States, and I love people generally, from all countries. I am so sad that all this death and suffering and hate has happened. It’s all so unnecessary and wasteful. Thank you for reading. I love you.

Kevin Laurence Warnock
San Francisco, California USA September 11, 2011

According to Groupon IPO on hold as SEC questions pile up, it appears that Groupon is having trouble going public.

Maybe people are realizing that selling currency for half price and then giving only half of that amount to the merchant is not sustainable.

Groupon would not be doing so ‘well’  if small businesses had better access to affordable loans.

I feel Groupon is taking advantage of merchants, who jump at the chance to get a check for thousands of dollars up front, while not recognizing they are committing their businesses to deliver goods or services priced 4 times more than the amount of the check they get.

Is USD $25 today worth having to pay back USD $100 in the near future?

I don’t think so, and I believe nearly all merchants over time will agree with me.

This might take five years for the story to fully spread to unsophisticated merchants, but when the story is fully known, Groupon and its clones will have to find something else to do to stay in business.

Do not invest.

Do not buy Groupons or similar financial instruments from Groupon’s competitors. Their products cheat business owners.

I put Groupon in the same category with payday advance lenders, rent-to-own stores and tax refund anticipation loan providers.