Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Almost tricked into signing up for TRU energy

Well, I got a knock from a door to door salesman. He asked to look at my electricity bills and claimed that I was entitled to $150 dollars off my energy bills and a $50 rebate on my next electricity bill, which was supposedly a government rebate for pension holders. For those who don't know me, I am 18 and come from a non english speaking background.

Sales person: "Are you over 18?"
Me: "Not Yet (I lied)"

Sales person: "Is your parents home?"
Me: "Ma! (in chinese- calling my mum)"

Sales person: "Well maam. You are entitled to $150 dollar....... (basically, the door to door salesman story)"

Sales person: "Could you sign here please maam"

Please note: mum doesn't speak english very well.

Sales person: "Well, I'm going to call a government representative. They will answer some questions. I will nod for yes, shake my head for no. Just follow me."

Calls up representative
Phone representative: "Could you please give me your name and address"
Mum: " My name is ........................ I live at ...................................."
Phone representative: "Are you are concession card holder?"
*Sales person nods*
Mum: "Yes"
Phone representative: "Do you understand that you are changing your energy supplier to TRU energy?"
*Sales person actively nods*

What? Changing suppliers? I never heard anything like that.I am amazed I didn't jump in and stop the whole thing. Maybe it took some times to register.

Phone representative: "Am I on speaker phone at the moment?"
*Sales representative shakes head*

What? More lies? This is where I jump in and stop the whole event.


DODGY....... never going near TRU Energy again. The guy (Indian) tried to scam us.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Benefits of the docx over the good old doc

What was wrong with the old Microsoft office doc files (prior Microsoft 2007)? This was a random thought I had, so I went out to search for an answer (I sometimes have too much times on my hands)

Here is a quick summary of my findings:
  • Improved damage recovery so if a single segment or component of the file is corrupt, the rest of the document can be read.
  • Smaller files: files are automatically compressed to smaller files. 
  • Easy detection of files that contain macros. This can be like a preview functionality or a security measure. 
So, looks like Microsoft didn't do it just to annoy people.