GrillSgt's Firepit

Snopes.com: 809 Area Code Scam

I recently received an email warning me of the 809 scam. The email states that Snopes confirms it as a scam. Actually, Snopes.com states that this is a “mixture of true and false information.” It’s true in the sense that it’s going on [and has been since 2000 or so] but false regarding the amount of money involved. Additionally, Snopes reports that the scam is not very common.

If you don’t know anyone in the 809 area code, why would you return the call? In this day and age with ubiquitous email and phone scams in the news, such as those asking you to be an agent for someone to transfer money or claiming you’ve won some prize that seems too good to be true, why are there still so many gullible people out there falling for them? Have we become so lazy and greedy that we’ll do anything to make a few bucks or get rich?

IMO, if you’re stupid enough to fall for these scams, you deserve the consequences. If you’re stupid enough to believe you need to call back to an unfamiliar area code when you have no reason to or don’t know the caller, then you deserve to get ripped off.

For the full story, check out snopes.com: 809 Area Code Scam.

I occasionally get calls on my cell phone from numbers I don’t recognize. Unless the caller leaves a voice mail, I ignore the call completely. I don’t call them back. Many times, I don’t even call back if the caller does leave a voice mail if I don’t know the caller. I really don’t understand why this is so difficult.

If you aren’t familiar with an area code, it’s quite easy to look it up on the internet. Simply Google “area codes” or check out Area Decoder.

This is just plain ass common sense, and it pains me to think that so many people don’t take a moment to think things through. It seems as though we’ve let technology take over our brains and we don’t use them anymore. Come on people, FUCKING THINK for a change!

Winter 2009

These are posted on Facebook, but for those of you resisting Facebook, here are some photo I took around our house in January 2009 after a winter storm passed through.

Autumn 2008

These are posted on Facebook, but for those of you resisting Facebook, here are the photos I took around our house in early November 2008.

Photos of New House

These are posted on Facebook, but for those of you who are resisting Facebook, here are the photos of the house we live in.

2009 Baseball Season

I’m ready (couldn’t you tell by the MLB standings widget I added the other day?). Are you?

Opening night is 05 April 2009:
Braves @ Phillies 8:00 PM EDT

Opening Day is 06 April 2009 with a full slate of games:
Mets @ Reds 1:10 PM EDT
Indians @ Rangers 2:05 PM EDT
Royals @ White Sox 2:05 PM EDT
Rays @ Red Sox 2:05 PM EDT
Rockies @ Diamondbacks 3:40 PM EDT
Yankees @ Orioles 4:05 PM EDT
Nationals @ Marlins 4:10 PM EDT
Pirates @ Cardinals 4:15 PM EDT
Cubs @ Astros 7:05 PM EDT
Dodgers @ Padres 7:05 PM EDT
Tigers @ Blue Jays 7:15 PM EDT
Mariners @ Twins 8:10 PM EDT
Athletics @ Angels 9:05 PM EDT

Opening Day Part 2 – 07 April 2009:
Brewers @ Giants 4:05 PM EDT
Plus 9 other games.

Go Redbirds!!!!!

I’m getting tickets for the Cardinals v. Nationals game on 02 May 2009 in Washington DC. Can’t wait…it’s been a while since I went to an MLB game in an MLB park.

Now Mobile Accessible

GrillSgt’s Firepit is now accessible in mobile browsers, thanks to a new mobile theme by WordPress contributor Alex King. You can now visit GrillSgt’s Firepit from your mobile phone and read all the posts and pages without fancy themes, widgets, graphics or annoying horizontal scrolling. No special url to remember, just point your mobile browser to http://grillsgtsfirepit.com.

Guitar Amplifier Troubles

If you’ve been following me on Facebook, then you know some of this.

On December 27, 2008, I ordered a Bugera 333XL-212 guitar amplifier from Abe’s of Maine. I did research on the amp and priced it out. Abe’s of Maine had the best price. Although I hadn’t heard of Abe’s of Maine before this, they have a brick and mortar store in New Jersey, so I knew I wasn’t dealing with some fly by night or some dude on ebay who could be trying to rip people off. Anyway, I got free 7-10 day shipping with my order. Upon submitting my order, I received the obligatory order confirmation email and all seemed right with the world.

On January 8, 2009, I still hadn’t received my amp, which was 10 business days accounting for the holidays. Checking the Abe’s of Maine website, my order said it was *PROCESSING*. That didn’t tell me jack squat. So I replied to my confirmation email, requesting an update on my order status. And I waited for a reply. And waited…

After waiting for a week and receiving no reply, I jumped on the Abe’s of Maine website and checked my order status again. Still said *PROCESSING*. WTF! I’m starting to get a little peeved. I find their customer service number and give them a call. After several minutes, which seemed longer than that because of the crappy music, of waiting in the queue, the call is suddenly disconnected. Aaargh! I call back. Now I get a message telling me to call back during customer service business hours, which are 10 AM – 6 PM EST. It was only 4:45 PM EST. It took me three or four call backs to finally connect again. Again waiting in the queue and listening to crappy music for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, a customer service representative took my call. I explained that I wanted an update on my order status and gave him the order number. He put me on *IGNORE* to talk with the buyer. After a couple of minutes, he came back and told me that the buyer had gone home for the day, but he’d call me back tomorrow. Tomorrow never came.

A week later, I called them back. At least this time I didn’t get the “call back during business hours” problem. After, again waiting in queue and listening to crappy music, I got a customer service representative and explained that I wanted an update to my status order. After giving him my order number, he put me on *IGNORE* to contact the buyer. When he came back I was informed again that they buyer wasn’t in, but he did know that they hadn’t received my amp from the manufacturer and that he’d call or email me tomorrow with an update. At this point I’m getting pretty steamed and I gave the guy an earful. Mind you, I’m not upset because I hadn’t received my merchandise…I’m upset that Abe’s of Maine is not proactive with their customer service, like so many other places, like Amazon and Musician’s Friend. Much to my unsurprise, tomorrow never came.

A week or two later, I called back a third time, earlier in the day than the last two times. At least this time I didn’t spend so much time in queue listening to crappy music. Once again I request an update to my order status and give the guy my order number. He puts me on *IGNORE* and talks to the buyer…FINALLY! When he comes back on the phone with me, he informs me that my merchandise is on backorder and they don’t know when it’ll come in. I gave this guy an earful and then canceled my order…not because it was on backorder, but because their customer service completes sucks and I was tired of f*#$ing with them and their incompetence. It’s really too bad because originally they were $50 cheaper than the competition and now they are $100 cheaper…but I will not reorder from Abe’s of Maine nor will I ever order anything from them again. F*#% me once, shame on you, f*$# twice, shame on me.

It seems that these Bugera 333XL-212 combo tube amps are in high demand and Behringer (the manufacturer) can’t keep up with that demand. They are a new line of amps so that could explain the demand. Yesterday I called about 10 music shops in Richmond, Charlottesville, Warrenton and Fredericksburg looking for a store that had them in stock with no luck. Not even Sam Ash had one in stock. So I resorted to ordering online again. I checked American Musical Supply and zZounds…both reported out of stock until mid-March. Musician’s Friend/Guitar Center don’t carry them, at least not yet. Sam Ash’s web site said they have them in stock so I went with them. Stay tuned…