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MacBook Air C2D – Bought in 2009, Sold in 2012: What I paid, what I got back

I purchased my wife a new 13″ 1.6ghz MacBook Air (Late 2008, Core 2 Duo, w/ 2gb RAM, 120gb Hard Drive) MB543LL/A in April 2009. It was purchased directly from Apple for $1349 + $80.94 in sales tax (I purchased it through a friend who worked for Apple so there was a discount on the price).

A year later in April 2010 I purchased the Applecare warranty for this device off of ebay for $104.99.

The total amount that had been spent on this device was $1534.93.

In March 2012, my wife replaced this computer with a refurbished MacBook Air (the latest at the time of purchase – and this post) – a 13″ 1.7GHz  i5 for $1099 + $65.94 in tax (normal retail price for this model was $1299).

The old C2D MacBook Air was put on ebay and ultimately sold for $541 + $25 shipping. Subtract the ebay fees:

  • $3.65 for listing related (bold, picture pack, value pack w/ subtitle)
  • $48.69 final value fee
  • $2.25 final value fee on shipping

And subtract the paypal $16.71 transaction fee. And finally, the actual shipping fee of  $18.45 for USPS Priority Mail.

The amount remaining of $476.25 is the final amount I got back on this computer at the end.

Still no Final Resolution with Comcast

Back in late December, I made a blog post about the woes we were having with Comcast at my parents house. I made the blog post after I made multiple calls to Comcast’s customer service and nothing got resolved.
The blog post was a good move. After I made it and tweeted about, Comcast Cares representatives tweeted me back:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comcast Cares rep Matt even commented on the Blog post.

I e-mailed Comcast Cares as I was told and shortly after, started an e-mail exchange with Gwendolyn Owens Britton. There have been some adjustments made to the bill which I appreciate (I think maybe enough to cover the overcharging up to now, it was done in a complicated way so it’s hard for me to tell). However, the issues I’ve had still haven’t been corrected.

Below is the e-mail exchange I’ve had so far with Gwendolyn:

On Dec 21, 2011, at 11:58 AM, “Owens-Britton, Gwendolyn” wrote:

Dear Mr. Rizvi,

Thank you for contacting our Regional Executive Office with your questions and concerns.  We value your business and would like the opportunity to resolve your issue as quickly as possible. My call center supervisor, Suba Bannister, is retrieving phone conversations from your initial call for service. We ask that you allow the time needed to accomplish this. It is very important that we get all of the facts so that we can resolve your concerns properly and fairly. I apologize for the inconvenience. In the interim, I suggest you make a payment based on what you feel your cost should be, then we will gladly adjust the account accordingly. Because you have services that you are using, not paying anything will ultimately result in suspension of your service. Thank you again for your patience.

Please contact me via response to this email or at 410-513-3279 at your earliest convenience so I can be of assistance.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Reference #:  xxxx

Sincerely,
Gwen Britton

From: Shahryar Rizvi
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 3:39 PM
To: Owens-Britton, Gwendolyn
Cc: <my family)
Subject: Re: Comcast

Ms.  Owens-Brittons,

Thank you for reaching out to me and update me on the status of resolving this. Have you read the detailed blog post explaining specifically what is going on?

Here is the link:

This should help give an idea of where all the issues lie between what I was expecting with charges and services offered and what I am receiving/have received.

I read what you said about payment being done soon  based on what I feel it should be. I have had the service for two months and a few days. If you look on my blog post, you will see that I was expecting to pay $172.38 a month before taxes, fees, etc.

The breakdown from my post is here:

  • $99 for the Digital Starter Package which included phone, 16Mbps (or mbps) Internet, and the first 100 cable channels (FX, ESPN, AMC, etc).
  • $$7 for the modem (I had gotten an old Comcast modem from my brother in law and was even told that it would work but later learned it wouldn’t because a newer modem now came with Comcast if you had phone service with them).
  • 2 HD DVR boxes for $9.95 each
  • 3 non-HD, non-DVR boxes for $2.50 each
  • Zee TV and SET Asia for $24.99
  • 300 International Minutes for $14.99 (I confirmed that the countries we usually call would be included and that calls to mobile numbers would be included as well)
  • HBO for $6

So based on that, I will pay the amount of $172.38 x 2 = $344.76 plus $15 x 2 for the approximate taxes, fees a month. That total is $374.76.

I have cc-ed my father and brother who handle making our family’s bill payments.

If you could reply all with the account number that would be a big help. We will make this payment ASAP.

Shahryar Rizvi

On Thu, Dec 22, 2011 at 7:05 PM, Owens-Britton, Gwendolyn wrote:

Hello Sir,

I have forwarded this email over to Ms. Bannister to review for additional credit regarding the international calls to mobile phones. I’d like to reiterate as you have now been made aware, we do not honor international calls made between mobile phones. These calls are not part of the package. Please see your account information above to pass on to your family members.

Thanks again for your continued patience with this.

Gwen Owens-Britton
Comcast Executive Customer Care Team
8110 Corporate Dr White Marsh, MD 21236
Phone:410-513-3279
Fax:410-497-0204
Office Hours
9:00am-6:00pm Monday-Friday

From: Shahryar Rizvi
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2011 11:04 AM
To: Owens-Britton, Gwendolyn
Cc: <Family>

Subject:Re: Comcast/ Account#

Ms. Owens Britton,

Thank you for informing me of the Account number for the Comcast account ( —- ). I am cc-ing my brother and father on this message so they can make a prompt payment to Comcast.

I am assuming that the amount I said I was going to be pay is fine?

I have notified my family not to make any more international calls for the time being. Please send me a detailed breakdown of all the international calls which were made from my house. If the numbers are all mobile numbers and don’t fall in that 300 minute International package’s bucket then I might as well ditch that package since it would be useless to me. But before I do, I want to see what minutes, if any, we consumed from that batch during all of our international calls.

I have been notified by my brother that internet and phone are working in the house but the Comcast TV has stopped working. I hope that with this payment services can be resumed.

On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 3:17 PM, Owens-Britton, Gwendolyn  wrote:

Hello Sir,

You are correct. The balance owed is 374.76. Service should be restored at this point. The telephone may take up to 6 hrs for restoration, however, all other service should be working.

I am not able to give a breakdown of your calls per the privacy act of the FCC. You will have to go online to view the detail log.

Gwen Owens-Britton
Comcast Executive Customer Care Team
8110 Corporate Dr White Marsh, MD 21236
Phone:410-513-3279
Fax:410-497-0204
Office Hours
9:00am-6:00pm Monday-Friday

On Wed, Feb 8, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Shahryar Rizvi wrote:
Ms. Owens-Britton,

It’s been over a month since we last spoke. Since then, I have received one new bill dated 1/7/2012.

It seems some corrective actions have occurred in the forms of credits and bill adjustments; however, the recurring charges still do not seem to be corrected.

It seems the monthly charging amount has still not become the expected $182.38 +taxes, fees etc. (Note: This amount is different than the original amount or $172.38 discussed in the previous e-mails because we had requested the some more channels in late December which were an additional $10.)

As we discussed before, in late December I paid $374.76, which was my expected amount of $172.38 x 2 + $15 in taxes, fees etc x 2. There had been two months of service between late October until late December when I paid.

So for my 1/7/2012 bill, I was expecting I would be getting a bill that was adjusted to the amount due of $182. Instead, the amount due was $296.15. This is over a hundred dollars more than I was expecting.

Let me give you the breakdown of the bill and in bold are the trouble areas:

  • Preferred XF and HD Preferred XF  (1/18-2/27) – $103.84
    I’m not sure why there are both of these here, but the  amount adds up to approx. $104 which is around $10 more than the Starter XF and expected.
  • Zee TV and SET Asia (1/18- 2/27) $24.99
  • HBO (1/18-2/17) $6
  • Additional Outlet Svc – Digital Converter – Starter 3 @ $9.25 each, HD DVR Service $9.95, HD Technology Fee $9.25, Digital Converter 2 at $0 each (1/18-2/17) = $27.75 + $9.95 + $9.25
    This was something critical that still has not been fixed. As I mentioned in the original e-mail, I was expecting to pay $9.95 each for 2 HD DVR boxes and $2.50 each for 3 non-HD, non-DVR boxes. This was told to me over the phone and should have been verified when the original order was reviewed. Here I am paying double what was expected. In addition, I still don’t have the correct boxes I was promised which were 2 HD DVR boxes. I just have one HD DVR box and one regular HD box.
  • Modem Rental (1/18-2/17) $7
  • $16.38 in international
    Worldwide Minutes (1/18-2/17) $14.95
    International Credit 12/23 (-$305.67)
    Universal Connectivity Charge/Regulatory Recovery Fee (12/16-1/17 and 1/18-2/17) approx $8
    Seems this addresses my complaints on the overage charges. I was never told about the calls to mobile numbers not being included. However, the refund of $305.67 more than addresses the overage charges I have incurred so far with you since the start of service. Those charges have been $18.89 in November, $14.79 in December, and $16.38 in May. There is approx $250ish extra in refunds going on here – I’m guessing to address other mischarges in other areas?This topic still needs to be discussed though. A Worldwide Minutes package is useless if I cannot call Mobile. In PAkistan, etc where I call, everyone is mainly on Mobile. Much like here in the U.S. I know Verizon FIOS lets you call Mobile numbers in their worldwide minutes package, why is yours different?
  • Partial Month Charges & Credits (12/16-1/17) Starter XF to Preferred XF/HD Preferred XF = (-$105.38) + $85.39 + $30.47 = $10.48
    This seems to be the $10 for December to January which is fine
  • Billing error 12/21 – (-$182.14)
    Again, a fairly large refund. Adding this to the over-refund of the international calls and I wonder if this covers all the overcharging that has occurred since the service started. But it would be difficult to figure out
  • Administrative Fee Late Payment 12/23 $45.42
    I don’t agree with this charge. I have no problem paying my bills on time but want to pay correct expected bills
  • Taxes, etc – $12.12

So that’s my analysis of the 1/7/2012 bill. I’m not really sure what to do here. I want to just pay the amount I expected to pay from the start which would be about $200.

There is a lot to still figure out. Perhaps it might be easier to have a phone call.

Shahryar Rizvi

So that’s where I’m stuck with that. Today I made a payment of $275ish. There is still some left to pay, but I’m looking at $100 more than what I expected to pay monthly.

I’ve made a spreadsheet which I think helps visually shows the issues going on and where they are going.

Click on this to see the expanded version:

Was going with Sprint (for using our iPhones) our cheapest option?

When we decided we were going to do iPhones, we decided on Sprint because we expected them to have the lowest monthly costs. However, I’m starting to wonder if that is the case.

I started my service with Sprint in late November and have three lines in our plan for me, my wife, and my mom.The first two bills had activation fees on them and also didn’t have my 15% discount. But the latest January bill seems to be the one that will be consistent and it seems my monthly cost will be $174.40 for a plan with everything included for using iPhones and 1500 shared minutes.

But my doubts are in two areas. One, we’re barely using our monthly minutes. The most we’ve used is 542 minutes. Since even calls to mobile numbers is included, this is basically a bucket of minutes to use in the daytime of weekdays to non-mobile numbers. Between our three lines, we’re barely making calls here.

Second, our data’s nothing noteworthy either. Last month we all used what appears to be 600-700 MBs for the month (btw – really impressed my mom is keeping up with us with her data usage). The first full month we were at the most – 1Gb (me), 1.5GB (my wife), and a few hundred MBs for my mom.

Sprint’s got the unlimited feature so nothing really to do with data. But I was hoping that we could lower our monthly minute allowance to save. Unfortunately, because we have smartphones on our plan, we can’t go lower than the 1500 Anytime Minutes Shared Plan.

So this means from now until the end of our time with Sprint, we are stuck paying $175ish a month for our three lines and can never pay any less. For the way we’re using our phones, I’m wondering if going with Sprint is/was our cheapest option.

I think the one other element worth mentioning for comparison are our messages. With Sprint everything’s included. We’re using a little under a thousand messages between all lines.

Lessons learned from the flat tire I just had to change

Driving back from a wedding in New Jersey late on a cold, wet, windy night, we hit a pothole on the New Jersey Turnpike. Luckily I had my cousin Ali with me in the car and with more than one person, the experience was much easier. But still, a flat tire on a night like this is a good wake up call for disaster preparedness.

Here are my takeaways:

  • make sure you have all tire-changing tools and they are in proper condition. So Jack, jack-raising squiggly rod, crowbar, and wheel locks all working correctly, not out of shape. I good way to make sure you have all this is to use these items when doing your own maintenance. In this car I had done my own brake fluid change last year so I knew I did.
  • Also your spare tire of course with enough air. Mine had only 30psi air in there because I never checked the tire pressure in the 3 years I’ve owned this car (it was bought new) until tonight when I got the flat tire.
  • an air pressure gauge-After the tire change was done we stopped at the next rest area to check the tire pressure because I didn’t have a gauge and saw that it was only halfway full of air
  • a strong sheet to lay on the ground next to the tire- luckily I have this oil-stained heavy sheet in my trunk at all times. It was handy for us to put out knees on
  • a warm change of clothes- I was in a suit but had a change of clothes in case I stayed the night here in NJ. Also had a north face jacket too instead of my not-as-warm dressy coat I had. The change of clothes should be older clothes you don’t care about
  • warm and/or mechanic gloves- I have mechanic gloves at home. Not sure how good they would have been for the 20 degree weather we did the change in. Or if warmer mechanic gloves exist
  • trunk space with moveable/arrangeable items- just be conscious when you’re looking at your trunk before a trip or even car ride with what you would do with the items in the trunk in the event of a flat tire. Particularly for accessing the spare tire and putting the larger now-flat tire back in.

One more item I have to deal with now is what road hazard protection we have for our cars from either out insurance company or any other provider. I know we don’t have AAA. But i think with Lexus you get something for a certain amount of miles.

This is more so for my wife who has to drive a lot to Jersey for her work.

E-ZPass users out of the Maryland area – what do you do?

What’s everyone in the Maryland area doing for E-ZPass? I moved my E-ZPass over to Peace Bridge’s E-ZPass (now E-ZPassNY I believe) some years back because E-ZPass Maryland was going to start charging a monthly maintenance fee. At the time, and I believe still now, E-ZPass Peace Bridge/E-ZPass NY wasn’t charging the monthly maintenance fee.

However, I don’t know if you can start an E-ZPass outside of your state anymore. Which may not be that big of a deal because I think E-ZPass Maryland ‘s monthly charging system has changed and it only charges you the $1.50 for the month ONLY IF you have used an E-ZPass toll in maryland less than twice a month.

The reason I am asking is because we need to create another E-ZPass Account in my family. Between mine, my wife, parents, and brothers’ cars, before we didn’t have E-ZPass transponders in all our cars because we didn’t need it on the ones we had which we usually didn’t use for long distances.  Since we don’t have Tolls around us that was fine.

But now with ICC, I think that’s going to change. And since an account maxes out with 4 transponders we now have to create two accounts between us to accommodate all 5 transponders.

Off to a bad start with Comcast

We had been with FIOS for a few years at my family’s house and decided it was time to make the switch to a different provider after the bill had gotten so high.

On 10/6/2011 at 3:23pm I called Comcast and set up service to be installed at my house on 10/18/2011. The breakdown of our plan was going to be as follows:

  • $99 for the Digital Starter Package which included phone, 16Mbps (or mbps) Internet, and the first 100 cable channels (FX, ESPN, AMC, etc).
  • $$7 for the modem (I had gotten an old Comcast modem from my brother in law and was even told that it would work but later learned it wouldn’t because a newer modem now came with Comcast if you had phone service with them).
  • 2 HD DVR boxes for $9.95 each
  • 3 non-HD, non-DVR boxes for $2.50 each
  • Zee TV and SET Asia for $24.99
  • 300 International Minutes for $14.99 (I confirmed that the countries we usually call would be included and that calls to mobile numbers would be included as well)
  • HBO for $6

The total monthly cost was $172.38 before taxes, fees, etc.

On the day of install the Comcast Service person brought just one HD DVR box and a non-DVR HD Box. I was told to call Comcast to get the proper box sent. For now I could live without the HD DVR box so I just left it to do later.

A short while later, I received the 10/21/2011 dated bill which showed a lot of charges I wasn’t expecting and different pricing for some of the items I was expecting.

The two big issues were that:

  1. I was charged $182.14 in installation and activation fees. I was never told about these fees. I had even called again a few days later to confirm the order and still wasn’t told about the fees.
  2. Those non-HD, non-DVR set top boxes were 9.25 each not $2.50

The first month’s bill was $405.28, almost double what I expected.

The next two bills dated 11/07 and 12/07 were even worse because they had international call charges. I know we’re not going over our 300 minutes a month that are in our $14.99 international package (for some reason Comcast doesn’t give a breakdown of these international calls) a month so that means either the countries we call aren’t included and/or calls to international mobile numbers – the main way to reach people overseas- aren’t included.

These two bills were $231.06 and $226.23. The one plus in the two newer bills was that I now somehow was getting a $5 promotional credit every month.

Trying to resolve these issues has not been easy. In my first call I spoke with Barry(?) Rep ID 10195649. He offered $40 off installation cost which was a ridiculous resolution to the problem. Then he said the issue was above him and he created a ticket (ticket #003171964) and told me a supervisor would call the next day. No one called.

I then called again..
(Also, note that for me to make these calls is really annoying because I am first transferred to a bill collections person who has to manually transfer me to a live comcast rep. This is because I haven’t paid the bill yet and refuse to until I am charged properly)
… And worked my way up to a supervisor who fortunately was in. Her name was Suba Banister, she was out of the Manassas office, and her direct line # was (703) 789 8171. I told her about the unexpected charges. She said she would listen to the original recording to see what was promised by the representative who set up my service and would call me the next day.

Also on the call she adjusted the package for me on my request so I had the next 100 channels for $10 more a month (my dad wanted some more channels which were not in the starter package).

There was no call received from Suba the next day. Today, I have called and left a message for Ms. Bannister. I am waiting for a call back.

I called Comcast again, got a hold of someone else, and am now actively working with her. She started reviewing the original recording with her supervisor while I was on hold and then decided it would be better for her to just call me back after the call was reviewed.

I am waiting for the call to come back.

This whole situation has been incredibly annoying as I’m sure you can tell by reading this. I have spent hours in fgurig out what’s going on and trying to get this resolved. It’s also been a ton of cellular airtime too at my expense.

Even this post took a long time to write but I can’t think of anything else to do except write everything all out and hope someone from Comcast who really does care tries to help me.

20111220-211513.jpg

Hello world of iPhone

20111203-105622.jpg

I wanted an iPhone when I first saw it during that famous Steve Jobs presentation. But I hated AT&T so much at the time (and still do).

Finally, with Sprint, I get to finally be an iPhone owner. (The other two iphones – the white 4s and the black 4 are for my wife and mom).

This also marks the first time I left t-mobile as my primary service provider since I think ’04.

Broken 2008 IS 350 Mirror and Repairing It

Last week someone hit my IS 350 mirror in the morning.  When I walked out to my car, this is what I saw:

Some more pictures:

I took it to Lexus of Silver Spring the next day.  They said the actuator was broken and I could either replace the Actuator Sub-Assy (87908-53250-B0) $319.86, with labor $455.  Or I could get the Mirror Sub-Assy (87901-53070-B0) which would be $372.17 but easier to install.

Below are scans of the documents I brought back from Lexus of Silver Spring:

Update:

I posted on ClubLexus abbout this issue and a member had a used actuator for sale.

I purchased that in late October and finally in early December, had a chance to take the car to the Lexus dealership with this actuator. I was told then that the actuator was not enough and that the entire sub assembly and glass were needed.  Since the Sub Assembly included the actuator and you could not buy the sub assembly without the actuator, I had to purchase the actuator even though I had one.  But perhaps this was for the better because I don’t think the Dealer could use the used actuator for what was needed (I asked for them to try and leave the new actuator part untouched).

I Was also told the actual glass for the mirror was needed as well.

I went with Sewell Lexus for the parts since they seemed the cheapest there with my ClubLexus discount.  The Mirror glass was $274.10 and the sub assembly was $219.34.  The total with shipping and the two windshield wiper inserts I ordered was $528.66.

I placed the order for this in Late December and yesterday I took the car in to the dealer. The dealer said the cost of labor would be higher now at $200 because the studs needed to be found.  They said they couldn’t use the used Actuator but were able to use the old glass.  That means that I can return the new glass to ClubLexus and get a refund for that (as of right now, I have just submitted the RMA and am waiting approval).

I have started a thread in the member’s classifieds section of ClubLexus to try and sell the Used Actuator I never used and am including the remains of my broken, replaced right side mirror as well in case anyone finds it useful.

Here are some additional pics which were requested by a member of the parts I have:

Applecare put on my MacBook Pro AFTER the One Year Deadline

The MacBook Pro was purchased on 9/26/2010

I bought my MacBook Pro on 9/26/2010. On 10/4/2011, I remembered that I was supposed to put Applecare on it.

I gave a call in the daytime to Applecare and spoke with a rep but was told it was too late to put on. I asked to speak to the supervisor, and he said he would see what he can do. But then the called back later and said he couldn’t put it on.

I tried my luck and called again in the evening. I told the new rep that the same thing: that I wanted to put Applecare on and was only a few days out. He looked and he said, “uh, according to this, you bought this laptop last week.” I replied that I didn’t and that it was a year and a week ago. He said, “nope, says here it was a week ago.” I stopped arguing. And with that, I got it put on. He even let me use my student discount for $239.

Attached is a screenshot showing that the Applecare now ends on 10/7/2013 which makes no sense since it shows the laptop wasn’t in fact bought a week ago like the Rep said was in his system but the date doesn’t match today (10/4) either.

I wonder if the earlier rep or supervisor felt bad he/she couldn’t help and moved my days up incase I tried again? Who knows.

Update: On October 6th I got an e-mail saying that my Applecare date had been updated to September 2014.  Below is an updated screenshot of my Computer’s warranty according to Apple:

Bulova Men’s 98B151 Marine Star Watch

I recently saw this MEN’S
BULOVA MARINE STAR 98B151 watch in the October 2011 Car and Driver Magazine. I Think I want it. Here’s the an image (and link to a higher resolution image) of the ad:

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