So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[3fingers]

'Mike n' Andy' mill grist flew fast colorful lingo. Both characters in their own style, Royko the more deadly cuss,
but the padre stirred much controversy and was his own worst enemy.
Greeley lacked a sense of balance; too progressive for ecclesial mitre and devout pew, and too much gown for the town.

It struck me as I got older that no one was more impressed with Greeley than Greeley.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Remember:
When you got a Döner Kebab on having a fading cold, the onions taste "curious", like onions dunked in toothpaste.

 

[Fading Fast]

I believe I've mentioned this before, but since the internet isn't new - it's been in the public's consciousness for two decades now - can large, public companies (and, really, all companies) please stop telling us, when we call and have to listen to their recorded messages as we wait on hold, that "did you know, you can find information about...on our website at www...."

Enough, no sane person on earth thinks Bank of America (had to call them yesterday) doesn't have a website and no sane person on earth would choose to call and be put through the automated-operator obstacle course from hell before they can talk to a person if they could accomplish what they wanted to on the web.

If by this time, you don't know that you can "check your account balance on line," then, one, I don't know what to say to you and, two, I doubt a recorded message as you wait on hold is going to do the trick.

 

[GHT]

It might be that our systems differ slightly, but here in the UK, you can check your balance at any time at an ATM machine. That's a Godsend for me because I am so ignorant of the internet. In the early days I had an email address, but I seemed to make, mistake after mistake, so I stopped bothering to use it. I can't even remember what it is now.
You are right in that the world and his dog have a website, but I haven't been left behind. Old methods not only work, they are deemed to be so quaint that a response is inevitable. A hand written letter always provokes a response, and if you can write in a copperplate style like italic script, the response is immediate, as long as you have included a contact number. And if your handwriting isn't as presentable as you would like, then you can always cheat a little, if you have some sort of program that allows you to type out a letter. Choose a font like script, change the font size, it's usually set at 12. Increase it to about double at 24. You will see that when you type your letter out the font looks about the same size has a handwritten letter. So know all you have to do is, print the letter off, then carefully, using a fountain pen and ink, overwrite the printed word. Then you will have the perfect letter, precisely proportioned, beautifully scripted and very impressive. It works every time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You'd be surprised how many elderly folk either can't or won't use the Internet for anything. We run into this all the time with our ticketing systems -- 90 year old ladies call up boiling mad because they can't figure out how to buy an opera ticket online and just want to do it over the phone. Although my mother is all over Facebook like grease on a mackerel, she won't buy anything online because somebody told her the Russians will steal her identity if she does. But nevertheless, companies insist on pushing "convenient internet service" because it means they don't have to pay someone to sit by the phone and take orders.

Within the next ten years, traditional "just pick up the phone and order" systems will be completely extinct.

 

[HanauMan]

I like going to the bank in person to make transactions and such like. And every time I do, the folk behind the counter tell me that I can do it all online! I guess they have certain scripts for certain customers, but if I wanted to bank online don't you think I would have done so by now!

Same when somebody demands my cell phone number. When I tell them that I haven't got a cell phone they're like "OMG, are you kidding me?" and look in astonishment at the old dinosaur standing there in front of them!

 

[sheeplady]

I've worked for a number of places that no longer cut checks. Direct deposit is it for employees. It takes away a primary reason to go to the bank if you don't need to deposit your check...

 

[Fading Fast]

You'd be surprised how many elderly folk either can't or won't use the Internet for anything. We run into this all the time with our ticketing systems -- 90 year old ladies call up boiling mad because they can't figure out how to buy an opera ticket online and just want to do it over the phone. Although my mother is all over Facebook like grease on a mackerel, she won't buy anything online because somebody told her the Russians will steal her identity if she does. But nevertheless, companies insist on pushing "convenient internet service" because it means they don't have to pay someone to sit by the phone and take orders.

Within the next ten years, traditional "just pick up the phone and order" systems will be completely extinct.

My mom is very similar. She gets mad because banks have less tellers / phone service is cut back / etc., and, then, when I show her how to do something on-line she gets mad at me (sigh).

She still writes checks to pay all her bills - won't set up autopay (I've offered to do it for her). Still goes to a teller for cash / still stands in line to make a deposit / still writes checks and mails them out to transfer money from a bank to a brokerage account (I even set up electronic wire capability for her, but she won't use it).

She won't buy movie tickets online - she literally drives to the theater ahead of time if she thinks the showing she wants will sell out, drives home and, then, drives back for the show (sigh).

What I don't get is I've shown her all of this 100 times - set up the "hard" stuff and take all her calls when she needs help, but she still won't use it. She's smarter than the average bear, but simply refuses to learn this stuff.

I keep (truly, nicely and with patience) telling her that she's only hurting herself that this stuff will really make her life easier, but she won't change. Now, my girlfriend's parents have, overall, embraced the web and their lives are much easier and modern.

You can fight it but you won't win. Sure, there's enough of the analog world / way of doing things left that if you have the patience to work through it, you can still pretty much live in a mail / phone / in-person world, but it is harder and more time consuming as companies are trying to make it harder and more time consuming so that you'll go online.

I think I've posted enough to prove that I'll call out Corporate America and The Boys from Marketing when they are engaged in shenanigans (term which is disappearing?), but in this case, I side with them as it is very expensive to maintain duplicative processes and systems for, say, ten percent of your customers.

 

[HanauMan]

'Convenient Internet Service' is all good and fine, until the next major cyber attack from North Korea or Russia or from that teenage kid from some backwater.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Online-banking never became big-business, in old Germany. And that's a good thing!
Online-banking was always a luxury-problem for IT-fans, here. And on reason is, that you still got "Sparkasse"-stores nearly everywhere in big city and smalltown. In the big cities, they got additional simple Sparkasse-points in all districts, where you got only one terminal for your account-currents and one terminal for your manual/automatic transactions.

No real need for private credit-institutes or online-banking, here. Get in with your chipcard, grab you account-current once in month, grab your money and get out.

 

[tonyb]

I paid my state sales tax registration renewal in person last month, with a check, which I had to have printed on-demand at the branch bank. State and local taxes are about the only things I pay by check anymore. Hence, no checkbook. Hence, an occasional trip to the bank to have a few checks run off, the nominal fee for which the bank typically waives, seeing how I'm a more or less desirable customer.

Neither the state's department of revenue nor the local municipality takes debit cards. I shall consult my calendar and verify what year I believe it now is and pass that information along to the taxing authorities.

 

[GHT]

You'd be surprised how many elderly folk either can't or won't use the Internet for anything. We run into this all the time with our ticketing systems -- 90 year old ladies call up boiling mad because they can't figure out how to buy an opera ticket online and just want to do it over the phone. Although my mother is all over Facebook like grease on a mackerel, she won't buy anything online because somebody told her the Russians will steal her identity if she does. But nevertheless, companies insist on pushing "convenient internet service" because it means they don't have to pay someone to sit by the phone and take orders.
Within the next ten years, traditional "just pick up the phone and order" systems will be completely extinct.

What I really don't like about online purchasing is the compulsory form filling along with personal details submission. There was a time when you had a product and I had the cash, I thought that your price was reasonable, handed over my money and you gave me your goods, along with some sort of warranty for a period of time to cover reliability. Now, online purchases demand your email address, your home address, all your various phone numbers and just to be sure you don't forget there's a reminder that says: "Fields marked with an asterisk must be answered." It begs the question why? And the answer is, so that we have a record of you and can build up a profile, a copy of which, we will sell to others.
Harvesting personal information has become big business, think about it next time you use a social media site, use a credit card, use a store loyalty card. Cash is king as far as I'm concerned, and hopefully, will be until I pop my mortal coil.
Have you ever noticed how big business and others with a vested interest, have a way of demeaning anyone who won't dance to their tune. People like me are dubbed dinosaurs. They can call me whatever they like, one thing they can't do is send me junk mail and email or pepper my screen with pop up adverts gleaned from my browsing.

 

[Zombie_61]

...can large, public companies (and, really, all companies) please stop telling us, when we call and have to listen to their recorded messages as we wait on hold, that "did you know, you can find information about...on our website at www...."

This is even more annoying when you're calling your Internet provider because you can't access the 'Net for whatever reason.

It might be that our systems differ slightly, but here in the UK, you can check your balance at any time at an ATM machine...

As long as they aren't having any "technical difficulties" you can do this here in The States as well. Of course, if that's the only banking you need to do you can do it online at...

I like going to the bank in person to make transactions and such like. And every time I do, the folk behind the counter tell me that I can do it all online! I guess they have certain scripts for certain customers, but if I wanted to bank online don't you think I would have done so by now!

Apparently, the only banking you can't do online is transferring funds from one account to another more than twice in the same month. A couple of months ago we received an e-mail from our bank notifying us that we had done this, that there is some form of Federal law here in the U.S. that prohibits the number of times you can perform such transactions online, and that if we exceeded that number (which they neglected to define) we could incur penalty fees. Seriously??? The Federal government would rather we issue bad checks than responsibly handle our finances?

'Convenient Internet Service' is all good and fine, until the next major cyber attack from North Korea or Russia or from that teenage kid from some backwater.

This is definitely one of the downsides to our over-reliance on technology. Even something as simple as a localized power outage can throw some businesses into turmoil because they haven't devised a back-up plan for such events. Technology in any form is a useful tool, but when it isn't working...

 

[GHT]

This is definitely one of the downsides to our over-reliance on technology. Even something as simple as a localized power outage can throw some businesses into turmoil because they haven't devised a back-up plan for such events. Technology in any form is a useful tool, but when it isn't working...

Have you got chip & pin yet? You might call it by another name. I remember reading that it was being delayed before being rolled out in the US, although that was a while ago. What it means is that the need to tap in your pin number is negated, you simply wave your card near the reader and the machine picks up your details like the scanner that picks up your purchase details from the bar code on them. Don't tell me that is safe, I simply don't believe it. My credit card company were astounded when I refused to accept this new technology, they said that I had no choice. Really? After fifty years with the same company I gave them notice and quit. I had so many calls from them, they assured me that this new technology was safe, but they couldn't answer me when I said that for fifty years they had accepted all my purchases, why change now? They didn't say as much, but I wouldn't mind guessing that the word dinosaur was mentioned.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Apparently, the only banking you can't do online is transferring funds from one account to another more than twice in the same month. A couple of months ago we received an e-mail from our bank notifying us that we had done this, that there is some form of Federal law here in the U.S. that prohibits the number of times you can perform such transactions online, and that if we exceeded that number (which they neglected to define) we could incur penalty fees. Seriously??? The Federal government would rather we issue bad checks than responsibly handle our finances?
..

I have never heard this and routinely make multiple transfers in a month with no penalty or question. This is a federal law?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Have you got chip & pin yet? You might call it by another name. I remember reading that it was being delayed before being rolled out in the US, although that was a while ago. What it means is that the need to tap in your pin number is negated, you simply wave your card near the reader and the machine picks up your details like the scanner that picks up your purchase details from the bar code on them. Don't tell me that is safe, I simply don't believe it. My credit card company were astounded when I refused to accept this new technology, they said that I had no choice. Really? After fifty years with the same company I gave them notice and quit. I had so many calls from them, they assured me that this new technology was safe, but they couldn't answer me when I said that for fifty years they had accepted all my purchases, why change now? They didn't say as much, but I wouldn't mind guessing that the word dinosaur was mentioned.

The chip is working its way into the US and most larger retailers have it. The issue, as I’m told, is that it requires an investment of a whole new set of equipment for vendors, and they pushed back because they still hadn’t finished paying for the last set. So by being first in the world in credit card acceptance, it’s delayed the adoption of new technology.

 

[Paisley]

You need an internet connection to apply for most jobs and a bank account to get your paycheck via direct deposit. A lot of public service announcements are now via nextdoor.com or twitter.

 

[GHT]

You need an internet connection to apply for most jobs and a bank account to get your paycheck via direct deposit.

Although I am of retirement age, I still work, albeit part time. About six weeks into the employment I asked for my paycheck. In the UK we define the advice note that comes with your wages as the paycheck. I had been paid directly into my bank account but had not received an advice note. When I asked for it, the company explained that as they were small in the number of employees, they employed an outside accountancy company to process all wages and salaries. The advice note is sent by email.
"You'll be lucky," I said, I don't have an email address. You wouldn't believe the size of the fuse that blew because of this remark. Nobody knew what to do. I couldn't believe it, after all, contact by email hasn't been around so long that previous practice has been forgotten. When I suggested that the accountancy company emailed the company, who would then print it off for me, it was smiles of relief all round. The hand wringing and what are we going to do just had to be seen to be believed.

 

[Zombie_61]

I have never heard this and routinely make multiple transfers in a month with no penalty or question. This is a federal law?

According to the e-mail we received, yes. We were surprised because we've transferred funds a number of times in the past and there never seemed to be a problem, so either it's a brand new law or someone at Wells Fargo misinterpreted something somewhere and provided bad information.

 

[Fading Fast]

This is even more annoying when you're calling your Internet provider because you can't access the 'Net for whatever reason....

This is a brutal Catch-22 that can drive you nuts. It, literally, can feel like a "Twilight Zone" episode.

According to the e-mail we received, yes. We were surprised because we've transferred funds a number of times in the past and there never seemed to be a problem, so either it's a brand new law or someone at Wells Fargo misinterpreted something somewhere and provided bad information.

I transfer money between my accounts many times a month as I am a trader / money manager so it's just part of what I do and, like HH, have never had an issue (other than, there are amount-of-the-transfer maximums that require a call to get over). But I have no doubt as to what you say and am thinking that Wells - after a year-plus of being the bank that did bad things and having the regulators rightfully crawling all over it - is erring on the side of being very cautious.