Windows 7 networking problems

I've had this particular SMC Barricade G wifi router (SMC2804WBR) for several years. In November I bought a new HP PC from Sam's Club. It came with Windows 7 Home Premium. Once I connected it to my network it started causing problems. Every time a wireless device would connect to the network the Windows 7 machine would report no connectivity. The only solution appeared to be restarting the wifi router (by unplugging and replugging). I eventually reconfigured some of my devices to be hardwired and repeated the restart process with each of my remaining wifi devices. Things seemed to settle down until my daughter and her husband came home. Now, once again, every time she turns on her laptop or he turns on his (wifi) desktop the network is killed and I have to restart the wifi router. I've tried looking this up but all the articles that I can find in this vein are old and refer to the beta version of Windows 7. Now that they have been home a couple of days the problem appears to be getting more infrequent but it still bothers me. Shouldn't Microsoft give some explanation and a better solution than restarting my wifi router for every new wifi device?

Macy's new definition for inappropriate language?

I got an email from macys.com on Monday that said "your statement is ready for viewing." For some reason I thought that meant I could look at my statement so I went to the macys.com website. I found the current month at the top of the drop-down list and clicked on the button marked "View Statement." Instead of a statement I got this error message:

statement not found

The statement you requested cannot be retrieved right now.

We apologize for the incovenience. Please try again later.

If you’d like to speak with one of our Customer Service

representatives, please call 1-877-493-9207.

I decided to try again on Tuesday in case there was some delay getting the statements generated, but on Tuesday I got the same message. I decided I would report this problem in case the Macy's staff was not aware of it. I went to the "contact us" form, chose "general billing problem" and tried to report the problem like so:

I tried to look at my statement this morning after getting an email yesterday that it was available for viewing.

I chose the current month from the drop down list and clicked the button for View Statement but instead of my statement I got "statement not found" -- The statement you requested cannot be retrieved right now.

We apologize for the incovenience. Please try again later.

If you'd like to speak with one of our Customer Service representatives please call 1-877-493-9207.

Unfortunately the "contact us" form did not like this message. I got another error message:

We're sorry. The text you entered may contain language deemed inappropriate for use on macys.com. Please try again.

I tried deleting the punctuation. I tried deleting the numbers. I tried sending the message from a different macys.com "contact us" form. For some reason this message is inappropriate.

Finally I called the number in the message. I entered the account number. I entered the last four digits of the number that's not supposed to be used for identification purposes. I navigated the Interactive Voice Response tree -- "other options" -- "agent". After waiting several minutes during which they told me there were high call volumes, that later in the week was better and that I should use the website, the phone rang a couple of times then cut off.

I called the number again, navigated the IVR again, and finally I talked to a customer service person. I told her about not being able to view my statement. She told me she would have to transfer my call to another agent. Finally the new agent told me there was a problem with the statements and they won't be ready until tomorrow, or maybe Thursday. I also told her about the problem reporting the original error using their website "contact us" form. She apologized and told me she was making a record of my complaint.

The last time I checked, it was cheaper for a company to handle complaints using automated systems and electronic reports. Perhaps Macy's thinks if it redefines complaints as "language deemed inappropriate" it won't have to deal with them at all. Maybe that's part of the thinking that made them decide their standard credit card rate should be 25%. And that's why I closed my account. Now if I could just get my statement and pay the darn thing off.

CapitalOne Finance Charge Overlimit Fee Generator

If you are a CapitalOne credit card user there is a trick they use that you should know about. Unlike many other credit card companies who apply their finance charge immediately after your payment is applied, they save the finance charge until the day of the next statement. If the user spends up to his credit limit during the month, the finance charge is then guaranteed to generate an overlimit charge. Here is an example:

My credit limit is $5000.

On December 28 my balance is $4995.

On January 15 I make a payment of $78, balance = $4917, available credit = $83.

On January 24 I check my available credit and make a purchase of $61, balance = $4978, available credit = $22.

On January 27 CapitalOne charges me finance charges of $29, balance = $5007, plus an overlimit fee of $39.

On February 15 CapitalOne will get my payment, at which time my account will have been overlimit by $7 for 19 days so that $39 fee works out to an annual percentage rate of over ten thousand percent.

This kind of practice will likely become more widespread as some of the other shady practices of credit card companies have been eliminated by recently enacted legislation.

Toward Blockbuster Online Rental Queue Perfection

Those who have used Blockbuster Online on a regular basis are familiar with the various Availability values:

Available: Title is currently in stock, and we anticipate that it will be available for shipment when requested.

Unavailable: We don't currently have any copies of this title in stock.

Unknown: Motion picture was released theatrically and the studios have not yet announced a DVD release date.
Coming Soon: Title is either on order or is not currently available for rent. Please check the Release Date on the product detail page for title specific information.

Short Wait: Title currently has a few more requests than copies available for shipment. We anticipate that the title will ship within the next 2 weeks.

Long Wait: Title currently has a high number of requests compared to the number of copies available for shipment. It may take 2-4 weeks before we can ship you the title.
Very Long Wait: Title either has a limited number of copies or an unusually high number of requests. It may take 6 weeks or longer before we are able to ship you the title.

This is fine as far as it goes, but if you're like me you'd like a little more specific information. I have a suggestion. It's not an original idea, but is based partly on the system used by my local library and uses information Blockbuster already has. I think it would give welcome new information to users and give them a better feeling about how Blockbuster is treating them:

I'm on the 3-at-a-time plan. This means potentially I could have 3 simultaneous requests for new titles from my queue. Any item in the top 3 in my queue with one of the "wait" statuses should have a special status that's just for me and that particular item. As soon as an item enters the top 3 it should go into a specific queue for that title. For an item in the top 3, I could click on the Availability of that item to get the special status. The special status would tell me where my item is in the special queue, how many copies of that title exist, how long other people have been waiting and an estimate of when my item will get to the head of the queue. If my item is not at the head of the queue, Blockbuster should go ahead and send me an available item while I'm waiting. If I take the item out of the top 3 then put it back in I would get a new place in line.

For example, in my queue I would see:

[ 1] The IT Crowd: The Complete First Series (2006) TVY7 DVD Very Long Wait

If I clicked on the status (Very Long Wait) I would see:

165 are before you for: The IT Crowd: The Complete First Series (2006).

Blockbuster has 22 copies to satisfy the request(s).

This item has been waiting at the top of your queue since 1/15/2010

Total waiting 342; next request has been waiting since: 12/17/2009

By telling me my place in line, even if I am far down on the list, at least I have the impression that I am being treated fairly.

Knowing the number of copies that Blockbuster has gives me more information and adds to my perception of fairness.

Telling me how long my item has been counted as waiting lets me compare my wait time to others who are waiting for the same title. This date would be when my item entered the top 3 (or number of titles I have out at a time).

Knowing the total size of the queue shows me that others are behind me in line and again adds to my perception of fairness.

Telling me when the next person in line started waiting allows me to anticipate when I will get the title without explicitly making me a promise. In the example, the next person in line has been waiting since 12/17/2009. I have been waiting since 1/15/2010. If today is 2/3/2010 I may calculate that it has taken 7 weeks to get to the front of the line and I can anticipate getting to the front on 3/5/2010. I have not been promised that I will get this title on 3/5/2010 but at least I have some idea of when I may get it.

So, Blockbuster, now it's up to you. Make it so.