HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: burger@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu (The Rodman)
Subject: Re: ATTN: Citibank Cardholders
Organization: Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 17:56:03 GMT
Nntp-Posting-Host-[nntpd-20391]: convex1.tcs.tulane.edu

In article <9207210250.AA19783@TIS.COM> dave@TIS.COM writes:
>The purpose of this note is to alert Citibank cardholders of a slimy, secret
>program implemented recently by Citibank to a subset (how big?) of their
>credit card holders.  They have quietly moved the payment due dates on some
>of their credit cards up about a week, effectively reducing by about 25% the
>advertised grace period.  I noticed this when the payment due date on my
>Citibank AAdvantage MasterCard changed from around the 8th of the month to
>the 2nd.  I called them to complain, and they mumbled something about
>"conducting an experiment", and immediately restored my old due date.
>
>I guess the main purpose of the experiment is to see how many suckers, umm,
>customers would notice.  I don't know how many customers this affects, but
>it's worth checking out.
>
   My payment date was also moved up about 5 days.  I called Citibank, and the
   woman I spoke with said that there could be a couple of reasons why the due 
   date could have been pushed forward, such as if a holiday falls on a certain 
   date or the computers being down.  But she didn't say why the dates had
   been pushed up in this particular instance and she said she knew nothing
   about an experiment.  When I asked her, "Shouldn't you let people know that
   thei due dates have been moved forward because of a downed computer or 
   whatever?", she had no answer.  I did get her to push my due date back to  
   where it had been before, though.

        Just another data point,
	   --The Rodman

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Brought to you by ______burger@convex1.tcs.tulane.edu__________.
	 	         (clever handle/net address)

Obligatory Disclaimer:  The (views/flames/falsehoods) expressed above
   are not representative of those of ______________________________.
                                         (reputable organization)

Obligatory Rhyming and/or Philosophical Verse:  The road foresaken,
                                                Is the road worth taking,
                                                For the man unshaken,
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Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: roger@odie.cs.mun.ca (Roger White)
Subject: VCR Repairman Problem
Summary: Fixed 1 month ago, guaranteed 6 months, don't work now, won't fix
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:27:29 GMT

I own an RCA VCR model # VMT295, this is a stereo VCR. We sent it in for
repairs around a 1.5 months ago (Tape wouldn't eject, turn on VCR immediately
turns off by itself). We recieved it back and noticed a "little" problem,
the first tape we played had a snowy screen. This problem rectified itself
after 10 minutes through... we thought nothing of it. 

A few days later we noticed it again, this time it stayed snowy longer...
we phoned the VCR clinic, they said dirty heads; bring it in whenever you
can for a free cleaning. The problem went away again so we forgot about
getting the heads cleaned.

The third time this happened we phoned him again, they said dirty heads...
we brought the machine down and they cleaned the heads but the problem wasn't
fixed. They could temporarily fix it by touching an IC so they concluded the IC
was at fault and they would repair it (Free of charge since their original
work had a 6 month guarantee).

Now it has been two weeks since it has been put in and they claim that it will
cost $75 for the "new" IC. They have to order it from RCA, who has to order it
from Hitachi, and the final cost will be well over $100... so he says that he
doesn't think this repair is worth the cost. He claims the IC is one of the
main IC's for the VCR and there is no other fix except to get a new one, it
only seemed to me like a loose connection... is it possible that the IC is
"going bad" (to quote him directly)?

Some added comments, he said that this problem developed after they fixed the
machine first... therefore they won't cover it under the guarantee. Since he
said it will be fixed free of charge (I have a witness but nothing in writing)
do I have any right to request it be fixed free? He will take a trade in on 
the VCR (for the amount of the first fix) and put it toward the price of a
new VCR. I just want my VCR fixed, or my money refunded from the first "fix".

Do I have any course of action? I haven't spoken with him face to face about
it yet, so I don't know if I will have problems... I just want some advice
just in case some problems arise.

Thanks,
Roger White

-- 
Boot it up? I did A LOT of that!| Roger White
		(Sam-Cheers)	| Memorial University of Newfoundland
--------------------------------| St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
roger@odie.mun.edu, roger@odie.cs.mun.ca, roger@garfield.cs.mun.ca
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Sharpening Mower Blades
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 04:55:35 GMT

: In article <6439.89.uupcb@cccbbs.UUCP> mark.savey@cccbbs.UUCP (Mark Savey)  writes:
: >Does anyone know about sharpening lawn tractor blades?  I have a Sears
: >12 HP lawn tractor (no jokes) and need to get the blades sharpened.  I
: >know that Sears can do it ($$$$), but is there a "generic" device that
: >I can get that I use?  If so, where and how much is it?  I can use 
: >files, but want to see if there is a device that does this dependably.  

Quite a few places sell them. I just use a file - it works fine and does
not run the risk of overheating the blade edge that can occur with a
powered sharpener.

Bill
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: eck@panix.com (Mark Eckenwiler)
Subject: Re: Telephone Aswering Machine
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 14:32:58 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Culturale Elit

In <1992Jul23.022321.8997@unislc.uucp>, dw@unislc.uucp sez:
>rmakarem@usc.edu (Total Stranger) writes:
>: Now I am in the market for an answering machine, and I need
>: recommendations.  
>
>I buy the answering service from the local phone company.
>
>The phone company keeps a digital recording of your
>"greeting" which you can modify any time.  Your messages
>are also recorded digitally on some hard disk at the phone
>company.

The considerable privacy concerns implicated in this setup have been
discussed at length in comp.risks (among other newsgroups), so I won't
repeat all of them here.

Anyone familiar with the comp.dcom.telecom flap last year -- a phone
company employee posted privileged information about a business
customer -- may be more than a little uneasy at the idea of giving the
entire phone company easier access to private messages.

-- 
		  For a Big Lie, call 1-800-424-9090

	Mark Eckenwiler    eck@panix.com    ...!cmcl2!panix!eck
From: dave@TIS.COM ("David I. Dalva")
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: ATTN: Citibank Cardholders
Date: 21 Jul 92 13:24:07 GMT
Reply-To: dave@TIS.COM
Followup-To: misc.consumers
Organization: Trusted Information Systems


In article <1992Jul21.150430.27454@watson.ibm.com>, you write:
> In <9207210250.AA19783@TIS.COM> dave@TIS.COM ("David I. Dalva") writes:
> > The purpose of this note is to alert Citibank cardholders of a slimy, secret
> > program implemented recently by Citibank to a subset (how big?) of their
> > credit card holders.  They have quietly moved the payment due dates on some
> > of their credit cards up about a week, effectively reducing by about 25% the
> > advertised grace period.  I noticed this when the payment due date on my
> > Citibank AAdvantage MasterCard changed from around the 8th of the month to
> > the 2nd.  I called them to complain, and they mumbled something about
> > "conducting an experiment", and immediately restored my old due date.
> 
> I am confused here.  Did they change the closing date of your statement as
> well or just the due date?  Seems to me that the number of days between
> statement closing and the payment due is a part of the cardholder agreement
> and you would need to be notified if it changed.

They did not change the closing date.  They changed the payment due date.
How many people here have noticed this?

Dave
From: bwong@beach.csulb.edu (Bradley Wong)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Rental Cars & Additional Drivers
Date: 30 Jul 92 20:57:36 GMT
Organization: Cal State Long Beach

In article <1255@netxcom.netx.com> jwc@netxcom.netx.com (Jeff Comer) writes:
>
>Reminds me of the time we rented a car in Atlanta for a drive down the
>West Coast of Florida. The first thing the rental agent tells us, "You
>can't take the car into Florida." Great; we're already a 5-mile ride from
>the airport. So we took the car anyway ("Florida? Where's that...?").
>Curiously, the car (and all others in the lot) has Florida tags. It's
>like some sort of scam going on here.... But there was no Florida provi-
>sion on the contract, just a verbal statement, so I felt we were safe. 
>And no, we didn't buy the CDW that day either.
>
>-jc

I believe that the Florida restriction is because of the per day surcharge
that is charged on each day a rental car is used in Florida.  I think I
paid $5 a day the last time I was there.

Kind of like, "Did you take the airport bus here??"
Yes = $~4-10 airport surcharge
No  = $0    airport surcharge

Guess which answer you should give. :)

Bradley Wong
bwong@beach.csulb.edu
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:14553 misc.consumers.house:9893
From: xxbrode@lims02.lerc.nasa.gov (XXBRODE)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.consumers.house
Subject: Re: ARK
Keywords: Rain rain go away
Date: 28 Jul 92 17:26:00 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

In article <1217@stake.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>, emolinar@stake.DaytonOH.NCR.COM (Elizabeth Molinaro) writes...
> 
>        I am thinking of abandoning work on my old house and
>        beginning an ark.
> 
>        Anyone have a set of plans on hand? 
> 
>        EM
> 
Elizabeth:

I'm with you!  We had just completed the basement walls when the rains
started (3 weeks ago).  Rough framing is finally starting today!  I'm
asking all my friends to thank me for ending the drought in Ohio.  All
I had to do was excavate and the skies opened up...

Brad

     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
     *  Bradley A. Brode                  xxbrode@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov *
     *  RMS Technologies, Inc.            (216) 433-8630               *
     *  NASA Lewis Research Center                                     *
     *  Cleveland, OH                                                  *
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Middle-class salary range
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 03:08:40 GMT

Brady_David@Tandem.Com (David Brady) writes:
: 
: Thanks for backing me up on this.
: 
: Also, the first $25,000 (or so) of your income is taxed at one rate. 
: Everything after that is taxed at a higher rate.	
: 
: A simple example (details left out!): I
: 
: f I make $30,000 and S.O. is making $20,000...
: 
: Single :  ($45,000 * lower rate) + ( $5,000 * higher rate) = much lower taxes
: Married: ($25,000 * lower rate) + ($25,000 * higher rate) = much higher taxes

There is a small difference - however, the government figures that a married
couple uses some things in common - so there is more that should be taxed.

In your example, the married couple would pay about $900 more - rough figure
only. This takes into account such things as a common house and furnishings.

I personally think the married tax rates are overly generous.

Bill
From: joel@upchrch.UUCP (Joel Upchurch  )
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Married/Single/Taxes
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 92 00:54:47 EDT
Organization: Upchurch Computer Consulting, Orlando FL

hudek@polaris.llnl.gov (David Hudek) writes:

> In a misc.consumers article I did not save, someone mentioned the disadvantag
> of being married with regard to taxes. Someone else disputed that claim. I th
> that the first poster has a good argument. (The articles started out discussi
> various definitions of middle class incorporating regional adjustments, then
> went into housing, and hit taxes as a side-issue. The tax issue hit home,
> so to speak. :-)  )
   (lot of text deleted)
> I would be VERY happy if someone would disprove the contention that married
> couples are worse off tax-wise than singles, but that's how I read it.
> (Actually, I just skimmed over the tax tables/forms this year, since
> we decided to hire a professional to prepare the forms for us. We did
> seem to get hit rather badly, tax-wise, in our first year of marriage :-(  )

As far as I know you are perfectly correct. I know several couples that
have bought houses together and had kids, without getting married and they
come out a lot better tax wise than if they had been married. One dodge
they use is to have one of them claim the child and take head-of-household
and take the standard deduction, while the other one files as single and
takes the house and itemizes.

Frankly I've got my doubts about how well such things will stand up to
an audit, but I tend to be very conservative about how I do my taxes.
If such situations become common, I suspect the IRS is going to start
cracking down and tell couples that they are married for tax purposes
and to file a joint return.

(If your mail bounces use the address below.)
Joel Upchurch/Upchurch Computer Consulting/718 Galsworthy/Orlando, FL 32809
joel@peora.ccur.com {uiucuxc,hoptoad,petsd,ucf-cs}!peora!joel (407) 859-0982
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.consumers.house,misc.rural
From: james@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (James White)
Subject: Re: Weedeater recommendations
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 18:57:05 GMT
Reply-To: JamesWhite@vnet.ibm.com
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM Rochester

I will agree with the IDC comment.  I have had mine for a year.  I am careful
with the gas/oil mixture, not letting the gas get old, and keeping the filter
clean.  I bought mine on sale at Menards in Rochester Minnesota for under $80
and it has worked like a charm for me.

Features:  3.3 something engine, straight shaft, easy string feed, brush blade.

Hope this helps.
-- 

James White
From: neilw@informix.com (Neil Williams)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Middle-class salary range
Date: 29 Jul 92 16:36:18 GMT
Organization: Informix Software, Inc.

In article <1992Jul29.030840.12983@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com> billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson) writes:
>Brady_David@Tandem.Com (David Brady) writes:
>: 
>: Thanks for backing me up on this.
>: 
>: Also, the first $25,000 (or so) of your income is taxed at one rate. 
>: Everything after that is taxed at a higher rate.	
>: 
>: A simple example (details left out!): I
>: 
>: f I make $30,000 and S.O. is making $20,000...
>: 
>: Single :  ($45,000 * lower rate) + ( $5,000 * higher rate) = much lower taxes
>: Married: ($25,000 * lower rate) + ($25,000 * higher rate) = much higher taxes
>
>There is a small difference - however, the government figures that a married
>couple uses some things in common - so there is more that should be taxed.
>
>In your example, the married couple would pay about $900 more - rough figure
>only. This takes into account such things as a common house and furnishings.
>
>I personally think the married tax rates are overly generous.

It seems that the marriage tax encourages working couples to remain
single while living together.  On the other hand, single-income
couples are encouraged to get married.

Why would you support this kind of distinction?

I think it would be only fair to provide couples the option of
"married, filing as single", should they so chose.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, the government should recognize
gay and lesbian couples so *they* can get taxed too!

--Neil

-- 
Neil Williams: neilw@informix.com

Seen on my last trip on United: "If you are seated in an exit row 
and can not (sic) read this card... please notify a crew member."
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:14670 misc.taxes:2842
From: howard@hasse.hal.com (Howard Gayle)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,misc.taxes
Subject: Re: Weird CA Sales Tax Law
Date: 30 Jul 92 14:38:39 GMT
Reply-To: howard@hal.com (Howard Gayle)
Organization: HaL Computer Systems, Inc., Campbell, California
NNTP-Posting-Host: hasse.hal.com
In-reply-to: burke@tss.com (Jim Burke)

In article <1992Jul29.230000.2955@tss.com>, burke@tss (Jim Burke) writes:
>By the way, he also informed
>me that they have to keep track of whether drinks are carbonated or not
>because if they are carbonated they get taxed.

So California *does* have a carbon tax!
--
Howard Gayle
HAL Computer Systems, Inc.
1315 Dell Avenue
Campbell, California 95008
USA
howard@hal.com
Phone: +1 408 379 7000 extension 1080
FAX  : +1 408 379 5022
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: kevink@fugitive.soac.bellcore.com (Kevin Klinge)
Subject: Re: PPV Olympics: Oh, so now it's free
Organization: Bell Communications Research
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 15:15:45 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.144313.7272@news.acns.nwu.edu>, staggers@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Ken Staggers) writes:
|> Anyway, did you pay $125 for the Triplecast?              

Ahhh, no.

|>                                               If so, what do you think about
|> the fact that, if I was really interested, I can watch it for free tonight
|> and tomorrow?  NBC, in order to lure more suckers, I mean viewers, to pay
|> the $29.95 daily coverage, will be offering cable viewers 14 hours of
|> PPV Olympics for free.
|> 
|> Using a split screen with 4 quadrants, NBC will again invade another cable
|> channel (at what point do I start getting a pro-rated refund...I am getting
|> Olympic coverage on FOUR channels already, and now they want to add a FIFTH
|> channel) to show PPV Olympics.  From 6-10pm ET Thursday and Friday, and
|> 1-4am ET Friday and Saturday, you can tune into CNBC and see all 3 channels.
|> Obviously not intended for screens 14 inches and under.

And since there is no sound for these split screens, I doubt even more I'll 
be watching it.  Why bother if you can't hear what's going on (at least the
info you NEED to hear to follow the events).  Of course there are some 
announcers' fluff I could do without; Mr. Bud "Bagel fetish" Carson.  And if 
I was to hear one more time last night that Mark Lenzi's father was upset 
because he left wrestling every time the camera showed him in the stands
(mentioned at least 20 times in the past three days), I was going to puke!

|> I hope cable executives are paying attention this month.  First, the FCC
|> grants the baby bells permission to deliver video to the home.  Finally,
|> competition.  Then the House passes new cable re-regulation laws so that
|> these monopolies will stop gouging us (but will it take effect before
|> Cablevision can pass on their stupid loss to me?).  And then finally
|> America has spoken about the future of paying per every view...we don't
|> really want it, and we really can't afford it.

Couldn't agree with you more on all three points you make above. 

BTW, if I switched over the Triplecast, I'd be missing all those Seinfeld 
Olympic Moments.  Not worth it at all, IMO...

-- 

Kevin H. Klinge
Bell Communications Research
kevink@soac.bellcore.com
From: peterson@CS.ColoState.EDU (james peterson)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: Recommendations on Vacuum Cleaners sought
Date: 22 Jul 92 18:01:56 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Computer Science Department

In article <22JUL199212273905@utkvx2.utk.edu> drevik@utkvx2.utk.edu (Drevik, Steve) writes:
>
>I am particularly interested in reviews on the Dirt Devil
>upright.  It is cheap ($100 to $150), has a 7.0 amp motor,
>and has a edge cleaning feature.  Anybody have one of these?
>

Yeah, I bought one of these last summer. Paid about $140 for it.  
The air flow tubes clog up with rug fuzz and stop working,
it doesn't seem to have much suction in general, and the cord is
detaching from the handle.  I'd look into a better model with a
beater bar, and use a separate canister model.  I fully intend to
replace my upright soon.  By the way, I have a Dirt Devil canister
model, and it seems to work fairly well.... it is nice and compact.

I'd look at a Hoover.

james sends

-- 
james lee peterson				peterson@CS.ColoState.edu
dept. of computer science                       
colorado state university		"Some ignorance is invincible."
ft. collins, colorado  (voice:303/491-7137; fax:303/491-6639)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
From: bgf@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (billy.g.fuller)
Subject: AIRLINE Antitrust Refunds - Proof Needed?
Organization: AT&T
Distribution: usa
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 20:05:40 GMT
Keywords: junk, garbage,trash, %$#&@


Does anyone know what proof is needed in order to place a claim against
the airlines?  I have flight numbers and dates (records from Frequent
Flyer records), but I don't have the receipts.  I'm also interested in
the procedure that you must go through to file a claim, but I've already
seen a couple of questions and hope that someone will post a summary soon.



					-Bill Fuller
					 AT&T Bell Laboratories
					 (303) 538-3320
					 att!mtqua!bgf
From: susanw@hpcvra.cv.hp.com (Susan Wechsler)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers
Subject: Re: WARNING KODAK batteries leaked!
Date: 31 Jul 92 17:00:45 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA

I recently had a new pair of Kodak batteries in my calculator.
I did nothing out of the ordinary.  When the calculator lost
power (very prematurely, considering they were new batteries),
I took the batteries out.  One had leaked...

--Susan
Xref: sparky misc.consumers:14497 rec.autos.tech:10187 rec.autos:18528
From: jimv@hienergy.Eng.Sun.COM (Jim Vienneau  - Sun Microsystems)
Newsgroups: misc.consumers,rec.autos.tech,rec.autos
Subject: Re: Compressors & Air Tools
Date: 27 Jul 1992 15:05:56 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Mt. View, Ca.
Distribution: usa
NNTP-Posting-Host: hienergy.east.sun.com

In article <1992Jul22.174437.26516@gtephx.UUCP> williamsk@gtephx.UUCP (Kevin W. Williams) writes:
>I will second a recommendation for Craftsman. Mine is a 5 HP 30 Gallon unit.
>Works great, lasts a long time. I would question a 80 gallon tank, however.
>Your air will last a long time, but take a long time to build pressure as
>well. When you just want to use an impact wrench for 10 seconds, waiting
>a couple minutes for pressure can be frustrating. I would at least consider
>a smaller main tank for fast fill, and an auxilliary for added capacity when
>you really need it.
>

Why don't you just leave it full? My tank is always at pressure, I have a
ball valve on the output side of the tank to shut off the plumbing, but I
never turn off the compressor or empty the tank (other than to drain the
water from time to time). Who wants to wait for the tank to fill everytime?
What a waste of energy...

--
Jim Vienneau, Sun Microsystems Inc - Billerica, MA
Email: jvienneau@east.sun.com   Amateur Radio: WB1B
Good old Ma Bell (well old anyway): (508)671-0372
Newsgroups: misc.consumers