Converting to FUPPES

I have a dirty little secret.

I have an XBOX 360… yes, a Microsoft product in my house!

Anyways, in order to play movies which are stored on my fileserver, on my xbox, over the network, I needed to run what is called a UPnP server which shares all the files. However, Microsoft being Microsoft, decided to slightly pervert the UPnP protocol and only support their own special version. ie. They want you to run a windows computer to stream the files from.

I don’t do windows… but months ago, in desperation, I installed TVersity (a windows program) on my VMWared XP box that I use for website testing in Internet Explorer.

TVersity, like a lot of windows software was buggy and bloated and did stuff I didn’t give it permission to do, like download 9 gigs of podcasts and free online movies for me. Anywhere else in the world that would just be annoying. Here it’s R600 worth of bandwidth you never realised you had used.

Anyway. There are basically 2 open source equivalents. I’d tried both before upgrading to Ubuntu Gutsy and both gave me issues when I didn’t have time for issues so I gave up.

Recently I had time to spare (a rarity) so I decided to tackle them.

First up was uShare. A great little app which installed relatively easily on gutsy. uShare’s flaw though is that it doesn’t do transcoding so you can’t watch movies that aren’t in one of the formats that the xbox understands AND it doesn’t support virtual folders based on mp3 tags.

Next up was Fuppes, (Free UPnP Entertainment Service) which can be a tricky install but once I had it installed and had correctly configured my virtual folder markup syntax it worked flawlessly… and it’s written well and can be quite fascinating to see in action because it exposes the UPnp protocol allowing you to see what’s going on behind the scenes. Being a nerd that’s a bonus.

The other problem with TVersity is that it used to crash every night. (remember, it’s Windows software)

Fuppes has been running for a few days now and is working flawlessly.

VIVA OPEN SOURCE!

her vs me

her: ok, click on “credit card”
me: but I want to apply for a garage card.
her: yes, it’s the same thi… oh, wait, no, not there.
me: uhuh.
her: Ok, click on “Garage card for existing card”.
me: Ok.
her: no wait, that can’t be it either.
me: Ok, why don’t you find out and call me back.
her: Yes, there is another way though.
me: Yes?
her: You can visit our website.
me: umm? Which website?
her: our website…
me: but we’re on your website right now.
her: No, this is the internet, you can try apply on our website.
me: ummm…

She called to help me apply online because I emailed to say their site was confusing.

Disappointed

Dear ABC & Co

I am disappointed that you chose to take the “grey area” approach to marketing this event.By “inviting” all your customers to an event that is unrelated to their relationship with your company you have abused the trust relationship that customers have with “good companies”. I consider ABC a “good company”.

While we all know that emails of this sort are harmless, you must, and we must, stick to the high road in matters such as this. The fact that you are charging money for this event should have drawn the line even clearer… add to this the fact that the industry in which you operate is repeatedly plagued by claims of “spammer”, your sensitivity should have been to err on the side of caution.

I’m not angry, just disappointed.

J.

———————

Names changed to protect the identity of the company in question.

I borrowed the last line from the best teacher I ever had, Jeremy Gibbon — We were the top higher grade science class and he never checked whether we’d done our homework… One day he did check and almost the entire class hadn’t done it. He calmly used that line and then left the room. I had never felt more shit in a school environment as I did that day. Whether he intended it or not he taught us a very important lesson — Don’t abuse people’s trust… there is no room for grey.

Momentum Insurance = Liars

Catch up: In case you missed it, 10 days ago my car was broken into and a bag containing pretty much all my clothing was stolen… 10 days ago I reported the theft to momentum insurance. 10 days later I have nothing but a bunch of empty promises and a few lies. Read all about it here.

—————-

Yesterday (Tuesday) Tselane (the team leader) told me that she definitely would call by the end of the day (yesterday) with an answer with regards to my claim.

She never called.

It’s now the end of Wednesday and another 24 hours has passed and once again Tselane has gone home without calling me like she said she would.

I called to speak to either Tselane or Carina and neither of them were available so I left a message… but this time I was smart.

After leaving my message and just before Thabiso, the message center person, was due to put down his phone I asked him why he didn’t give me a message number. Remember, Carina said that the message centre staff *ALWAYS* give the person who leaves a message a message reference number… This was her way of squirming out of not calling me back when I left repeated messages for her to call me. Well guess what, the message center people don’t give out numbers unless you specifically know that such a number exists and ask for it.

Thabiso’s exact words were “I didn’t think you wanted one“… well, Thabiso, how would I have known one even existed? Shouldn’t you have asked me?

I asked to speak to Thabiso’s supervisor who, surprise surprise, is not available. Funny that… So once again I’ve left a message for someone else at Momentum to call me and we’ll see what happens… I won’t be holding my breath. The supervisors name is Andy.

Momentum, if you want proof of all this, go listen to the call. The message number is 6264743. I asked.

A list of people at momentum who don’t return their calls.

1. Carina – The Consultant

2. Tselane – The Team Leader

3. Andy – The Call Centre Supervisor (We’ll see in a few hours)

IDIOTS!

I started this whole thing upbeat… remarking how I was lucky to be in a position to be insured and have money to buy new clothes in an emergency. I’m now more angry at Momentum Insurance than I ever was at the idiot who stole my stuff. I don’t pay the guy who stole my stuff a few thousand rand every month only to be ignored and lied to. Thieves and Liars the lot of them.

—–

Update: Thursday:

More and more ridiculous by the day. In the past week I’ve left about 10 messages with the message center people at Momentum. Not once have they given me a number without me asking for it… This morning was the best one. I spoke to Nonte (ref: 6268767) who went completely silent for about 20 seconds every time I asked her why she didn’t give me the number. I’m not exaggerating.

Me: Why didn’t you give me the message number

<silence for 20 seconds>

Me: Hello? Hello? Why didn’t you give me the number?

Nonte: Would you like me to give you the number now sir?

Me: No, I’m asking you why did you give me the message center number?

<silence for 20 seconds>

Me: Hello? I can hear you in the background… Why aren’t you speaking?

<silence>

Nonte: Would you like me to give you the number now sir?

Me: No. I want to know why you didn’t give me the number?

<silence for 20 seconds>

Nonte: Would you like me to give you the number now sir?

Me: okay, yes.

Nonte: 6268767

Me: Okay, so why didn’t you give that to me earlier?

Nonte: Because I thought you were in a hurry.

I.shit.you.not.

It’s like I was dealing with a robot who went into a cpu intensive loop every time I asked her a question that wasn’t in her pre-programmed database of question/answer pairs.

Tselane is apparently busy. Carina called me at 7:30 this morning. (I wake up at 7:30)

I finally got to speak to Carina and she said that Tselane asked her to call me and tell me that they haven’t forgotten about me but that my claim is being escalated to some other person who isn’t available… So it’s now 8 days since I was told that I would definitely have an answer by the end of that day.

I give up.

Momentum Insurance is starting to annoy me…

(If you came here via Google you should probably check out this page… The story gets worse)

Carina didn’t call yesterday like she said she would… she didn’t call today like she said she would… and every time I call Momentum she’s “on the phone”.

Is this really the kind of service I give you THOUSANDS of rands a month for?

j.

Update: OMG, I AM PISSED OFF.

Just got a call (it’s Tuesday morning) from Carina at Momentum… She is now spinning herself into a web of ineptitude. She claims she never got my message and then when I pushed her for a reasonable answer for why she didn’t call on Wednesday (or Thursday) like *she* said she would, she said she was waiting for me to call her.

My exact words to her were: (And I’m quite proud I didn’t swear)

“Oh ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!! Besides the fact that I did call multiple times on Wednesday and Thursday, what possible reason could you have for waiting for me to call you? You have all the answers here Carina… you are the only one who can move this forward.”

Add to that the following:

ONE: My car was broken into on monday. I phoned on monday afternoon/evening (about 6pm) and they fixed my window that night. On Tuesday I gave Momentum all my details including where and when I bought my undies and whether I paid cash. Apparently my claim was only submitted on Thursday… When I flipped my guava about this Carina said that I only called her on Thursday… but I never even spoke to her on Thursday. (Remember, I tried to but she wasn’t available.)

TWO: Then I questioned her about this and (after ruffling through some computer files) she said that she only got my info on Tuesday… only on Tuesday, like, I dunno, THE DAY AFTER IT HAPPENED, which was also 2 days before Thursday…

THREE: Then she floored me by saying “I only called you after your broker asked me to call you”. I don’t have a broker. She couldn’t back this statement up.

FOUR: As to why she didn’t call on Thursday after I left repeated messages she said “What was your message number?“. HUh? My whowhatnow? “The message center people will take your message and give you a message number“… Um. No they don’t. I have a txt file open on my computer within which I record ALL the info with regards to this escapade and not once have I typed a message number. Oh, and by the way. SINCE WHEN IS IT UP TO THE CUSTOMER TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A FRIGGEN NUMBER TO PROVE THAT YOU’RE NOT DOING YOUR DAMN JOB!

FIVE: I was plainly honest with them from the very first moment. I told them I had a large bag stolen off the back seat of my car in the middle of the day parked on a busy road. They are now treating me like a criminal by phoning up 5 other insurance companies to verify that I don’t have insurance with them as well.

DON’T YOU THINK THAT IF I WAS A DODGY BASTARD TRYING TO STEAL MONEY FROM INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT I WOULD HAVE JUST LIED AND SAID THE BAG WAS IN MY BOOT?

Idiots.

Update 2 – End of Business, Tuesday.

Zolani, Carina’s Team Leader, whom I spoke to when I asked to speak to her supervisor, *promised* me she would have an answer for me by close of business today. She has not called. Should I be suprised? Momentum Insurance just seems to go from bad to worse. This is after my claim was, in her own words, “escalated to a team leader”… Escalation my ass… Leader my ass.

Idiots!

A little catch up…

I’m waiting for my supper to defrost, so here’s some musings.

  • I’ve added a cool feature to my site. Have a look at the footer and refresh.
  • I bought a macbook, it is awesome for so many reasons but I will blog about this properly once I’ve had it for a month.
  • I will find out tomorrow whether or not my insurance company will give me any money for the clothes that were stolen out of my car. Submitting the claim telephonically was quite a hoot. When did you buy your underpants? Where did you buy them? Did you pay cash?
  • Why do people say “Did they break into your car?”? Who is they? Is this a weird throwback to our not-so-cool past?
  • I’ve been working with wordpress at work again and I must admit I’m liking it (again). I’ve created a new theme from scratch for the new frogfoot site (coming soon) and written a good plugin to handle contact/support forms.
  • I’m going to the 2008 Oyster and Champagne Festival at Bloemendal Wine Farm (Just outside Durbanville) on Friday. All are obviously welcome, so if you’re looking for something to do on Friday… (Facebook event)

ath.

I guess I needed new clothes anyway :/

Winner BadgeI have just been lucky enough to be chosen to take part in a new involuntary program called the “clothing for the poor” garment redistribution program. It’s a really great program. Basically the way it works is that you leave a bag full of your clothing (although you must make sure it’s almost ALL your clothing) on the back seat of your car and then park it on a busy road in the leafy suburb of Newlands. Right next to the presidents house if possible.

Then, if you’re lucky enough, you get randomly selected and someone smashes the back window of your car and steals the huge bag leaving you almost literally with the shirt on your back.

Ok, now I’m going to get philosophical and anyone who’s looking for reasons to hate this country better stop reading.

I am rich. I have a friggen 2 litre polo that chugs petrol like a bergie downs Late Harvest. On the weekend I bought myself a new macbook even though my HP laptop is in perfect condition. I have an xbox and I shop at woolies. I live in a comfortable flat with high speed internet access and shiny kitchen appliances.

Why am I telling you this? Because when some people go through experiences like having all their clothing stolen they get negative and angry and lash out against the country, the government and the police (and/or whichever racial group they decide is responsible).

I am choosing to deal with this differently.

I am so incredibly privileged to be in a position where I can go to canal walk and punish my credit card buying new clothes, phone up my insurance company and get them to replace the window and carry on as if nothing ever happened.

Compare this to the situation that millions of South Africans face on a daily basis. No running water, buckets for toilets, shack fires that destroy every-last-thing they own and no way to protect (insure) themselves and their possessions from the ravages of crime.

Sure it sucks to have my stuff stolen, but I would be acting like a spoilt brat if I let this dictate my outlook on life for even a second.

I hope like hell that someone who needs them enjoys wearing my clothes.

The saddest thing… My Superfine (now called Civil Twilight) extremely limited edition (ie. We only made a few) shirt was in the bag. Guess that will be making someone else millions on ebay one day.

ath.

(In case you’re wondering about the image, I had some time on my hands waiting for the insurance people to call back)

(oh, and yes, I know I was HUGELY STUPID to leave a bag in my car. Thanks for reminding me)