Save Money: Costco (Xbox Live Renewal) and SF Giants Tickets, but not Virgin Megastore

In this economy, every dollar counts. Some like to call it "stretching the dollar" but in reality, if you literally stretched that dollar, you'd tear it and the bank will shake their head and ask why did you rip that bill.

What can you really find these days that are a huge savings? Let's take a look at two places you can go to save some dough, and one place that you should just avoid.

Costco: As pictured, my Xbox 360 Live "Gold" membership was about to expire and I didn't notice until I walked around that they were selling the 12 month renewal cards for $10 less than at normal retail at other places like Best Buy. The renewal card at Costco is $39.99, while other places sell them for $49.99.

Costco.com used to be the only place that would sell the discounted renewal cards; now they are available at the warehouses!!! Right now, Costco.com is selling the renewal cards for the same price, the only catch is you still have to pay for shipping.

Interesting fact: Typically if you buy video games, the prices stay the same wherever you go, but Costco can shave at least $5 off the bill. Even the video game console packages sold at Costco is like getting an extra controller and a couple of games for free.

San Francisco Giants Tickets: Sports games tickets are so damn expensive... I've heard that plenty of times. It's so easy these days to buy them online or at your nearest ticket outlet retailer, but when you see how much you paid for that ticket, the surcharges makes you want to vomit.

The big secret is to spend a couple of dollars for Muni and an hour of your time to visit AT&T Park's Giants Dugout store and buy your ballgame tickets at their office in the back of the store. You buy them at face value and pay nothing extra. If you are in the ballpark for a game and buy a future ticket at the advance ticket window, there's no surcharge, but may charge a one-time 50 cent fee; plus, go there if you want to upgrade to a better seat.

Say a ticket on the upper deck costs $20, AT&T Park's ticket office sells them for $20; but head online and pay a 17% surcharge and an extra fee for will call or print-at-home, or buy them at an official ticket outlet (any other Giants Dugout store) and pay the 17% surcharge.

I bought four tickets for the season for $159 at the ballpark's dugout store ticket office, but if I bought them all online or at a different ticket outlet, I would spend an EXTRA $27.03.

One place to stay away from is the Virgin Megastore. While they claim that "everything is up to 40% off" it's really just a laughing joke. I was there yesterday and "40% off" was only on the magazines. DVDs were only 25% off, and any accessories such as iPod speakers was a measly 15%. But you need to read the price tags very carefully. They had new copies of the film "Milk" on their shelves and the sticker price was $25.99, but even with the discount price, you might as well spend your money at Costco where you can get it slightly cheaper.

Muni fare hike to $2? Kiss my butt SFMTA (33% hike)

This is just absolutely stupid. A report from the "City Insider" (SFGate/Chron) reports that Muni fares could go up if the city's budget gets far worse.

Right now, the city's deficit is at $129 million dollars, and the mayor feels that raising Muni fares is the last resort to fixing this insane crisis.

If the SFMTA decides to raise the fares for Muni, this would be effective September 1st:

• Adults: $1.50 (old) to $2.00 (new)
  
• Youth/Senior/Disabled: $0.50 to $0.75

Muni is already raising prices of Muni passes as a way to raise more money, but is raising the general cash fare price a good idea?

Personally, I don't think it is even a smart idea. Raising the fare is sticking it to the customer to pay for more service while quality is still going down the toilet. Take a look at this report from the Golden Gate [X]Press (SFSU) talking about the terrible service on the M-Ocean View, a main trunk line connection for thousands of SFSU students. One-car trains don't work when you pass by a major university.

Surely Muni can find other creative ways to cut some of the pointless crap of their service instead of making us go through a painful colonic:

1. Kill off the CultureBus program. Sure, you are running two buses a day now, but how many people ride the bus with the insane $7 fare? Not many. That's at least a million dollar savings.
2. Start laying off at least 50% of your fare inspectors. Then start hiring "bouncers" with no ticket issuing authority and a low wage with no benefits (college students are perfect) to accompany a ticket writing person. Basically a "team" would consist of one ticket issuing officer, and one or two wage donkeys/enforcers.
3. Fire the drivers with the worst service records. If the driver was involved in an incident where the city had to settle for more than their salary, that's enough grounds to get fired. Employees with too many legitimate complaints spend more taxpayer money on hearings, people making reports, etc. than a good employee with no complaints.
   
4. Just fire Muni's PR team. They are just blabber mouths covering their butts every time something goes wrong. Remember Maggie Lynch and KPIX investigator Anna Warner? Maggie said and walked away from the interview: "What is this, 60 Minutes?"

Lastly, Muni broke a promise to their citizens. In my posting in 2007, the Chronicle wrote about Muni's wish list and proposed some new ideas (with my opinions). One of them was a fare hike, but promised to keep it 5% every two years.

So let me get this right... 5% added to $1.50 regular Muni fare is $1.57 (make it $1.60 to keep the pennies out of the fare boxes). They now want to make it $2.00 a ride? You said 5%, not 33% you ASSHOLES!

San Francisco's 311 works 80% of the time

San Francisco's "311" program was created by the local city government as a one stop place for citizens to call 311 for information and to report issues. The "one stop" concept is used in many places, and when it runs well, becomes a very successful way to conduct business. A perfect example is SFSU's "OneStop" Student Services center where students can see the registrar, financial aid, bursar, and get their campus ID in one central area.

From my own personal experience from calling the 311 service line, I feel they are able to resolve about 80% of the questions and problems I call them about.

Here is a list of the successfully resolved and answers found in an appropriate amount of time:

• Reporting potholes and they are patched-up within 3 days, in some cases, 24 hours! If you tell them it's a really bad pothole or a major Muni bus line keeps hitting it, they get on it quick.
  
• Answering general Muni questions, like "when is the first bus of the day for X line?"
• Removing a broken "Yield to Pedestrians" sign after the wind literally made it lean into the streets, and my car's mirror hit it, nearly making it fall off (I didn't sue).
• A small rock slide happened near the Cliff House, and it was cleaned-up the next day. But nobody reported it for two weeks until I did.
• Some cab driver flicked me off after cutting me off on Geary. The person on the phone was very pleasant to take the report.
  

So basically, when I ask very general questions or report problems, they get resolved or answered in a very quick fashion. While this is a short list, I've reported multiple potholes and other broken stuff, which accounts to about 80% of my calls.


Now, here is the list of problems that usually don't get resolved, provided inaccurate information, being hassled for more information (beyond common sense), and other similar issues:

• OutsideLands festival road closure information. One person transferred me to 511 without question, and I called 311 again to ask the question and was placed on hold for ten minutes. They claimed all the park roads were "open," when I knew that one nearby my home was closed. Their source of info: A poorly written SFMTA website advisory.
  
• Answering more complex Muni questions, like the nearest bus line to the (criminal) Hall of Justice building. It would take them a few minutes to find out, when the old "6-SF-MUNI" phone number (pre 311) would get you that answer in mere seconds.
  
• The city forgot to put the sticker on a street sign stating that street cleaning comes the 1st and 3rd week of Friday. I reported it over two months ago and it has not been resolved.
• Reporting potholes that may be under the jurisdiction of a different agency (such as Caltrans), but may be within the city limits. Sometimes they take the report, sometimes they don't even give you the phone number of the right person to call.
  
• Refusing to take a citizen's complaint about the Tour de California closing down Great Highway over 90 minutes before the bikers were to even enter the city.
• When the southbound Upper Great Highway had to be shut-down due to a storm, the city forgot to switch the signal at G.H. & Lincoln to 4-way stop (flashing red). Try telling that to the lady on the phone who asked why the signal cycle needs to be changed... I had to give a very detailed explanation of why it needs to be flashing red (by running the signals on a regular cycle, drivers heading southbound might think that the Upper Great Highway is open, and will zoom through the green and hit the security barrier that closes the road... a.k.a. LAWSUIT!). If 311 simply reported that the signals need to be on 4-way stop due to a road closure, the report goes to the traffic signal folks at DPT, and they know why in a snap. Before 311, I would call the traffic signal folks at DPT directly, and I told them very briefly of the situation and mentioning the road closure, and they said: "we got it!"
• Do you really have to ask how big the pothole is? The question of it being safe for a bicycle or motorcycle to drive over it is a simple enough question to determine priority.
• Reporting roadkill. They ask: "Is it smaller or bigger than a pigeon?" I would answer: "Does a skunk count as smaller?" (It sounds funny, but it's not a joke).
  

So this material covers about 20% of the issues that don't get resolved/answered or provides inaccurate information. It looks longer, but covers very specific incidents.

In summary, San Francisco 311's call center can answer/resolve the basic stuff, but when it comes to more complex stuff, they don't do well under the pressure and provides inaccurate answers, reports it improperly, and just simply shrugs it off their shoulder.

One note of improvement they do now, if you report something, they check their database for any similar reports before filing your request into the system. If something similar pops up, they tell you about it and confirm if it is the same problem. I could tell them a specific address or intersection, and whatever search program they use can narrow it down, even if it is off by a couple of address numbers or a block away.

Lastly, this may sound a little bit odd, but when I encounter a problem and I don't call 311 in say... a week, I find out that nobody has reported it while dozens to thousands of drivers pass by the problem area and sometimes on a daily basis. Just like that small rock slide, it was there for two weeks until I called it in.

I personally believe our city will be a better place if we simply report the deficiencies of our city as often as we can so they can be repaired in a timely manner (I don't mean snitching to the police every single time a driver doesn't use their turn signals). When people report problems and they get fixed: the better the reputation of 311, other city agencies, and the citizens will have a boost of morale!

When you experience issues with 311, post a comment or e-mail me at: complaints (at) akit [dot] org. I'll post it here at Akit's Complaint Department, where local officials do read my blog and either take action or post anonymous commments.

Translink Cardholders - Card user party on SF Muni 3/22!

OK Translink fans and cardholders, it's time to have a "tag the card" party!

Since I did not follow through with my proposal on SFist, Jameth is getting a mob to join the fun for Sunday, March 22, 2009 starting at the Ferry Building at 1:00PM and we will ride the buses, trolleys, and metro to and back from the Castro district. Hopping on one bus to tag the card, hopping on the trolley for another tag, and riding the metro for another ride.

From my knowledge (and please correct me if I am wrong), this will be a big test for the Translink program when a swarm of cardholders will be tagging cards in just a couple of minutes, unlike seeing one come at some random hour.

So... who is ready to make history, and make the drivers, station agents, and fare inspectors go nuts?

And since SFMTA/Muni, Translink, and the MTC reads my blog, maybe this is the perfect time for you to think of sending represenatatives to join in the fun and get the user's take of how the program is working. As for the media, why not get this event on the news?

Remember, good publicity means the success of the program, so you Muni folks better make sure all the card readers are functional, wiped clean of graffiti and crud, and your employees are trained in the program.

Register for the event:
Facebook event (Facebook membership required)

How to get a Translink card for FREE:
Translink/Muni info site

Story about the party on SFist:
Click here

Disclaimer: This party is not endorced by any governmental agency, including SFMTA/Muni, Translink, MTC, etc.

Akit is not happy: OutsideLands Releases 2009 Concert Dates (August 28-30)

Word from the local blogs (City Insider & SF Citizen) is the OutsideLands festival will hold their 2009 event from August 28-30, which means another three days of hell for the entire city.

So... will the city experience once again the agony of the following:

1. Loud noise heard for miles?
2. Sardine packed Muni buses and trains?
3. Missing Muni buses?
   
4. Trashing of the park, even though they claim to be a "green" event?
5. Limos and Luxury Towncars illegally trying to sell you a ride for an insane price?
6. Failure to notify city residents of park road closures and delays?
7. Drunk people vomiting all over the street?
8. Overselling the concert?
9. People knocking over temporary fences before a stampede breaks out?
10. $100K to $200K in irrigation damage in the park?
11. Idiots at San Francisco 311 who can't give you accurate answers?
12. Calling your local police station for information, but telling you that they don't know either? (Yeah, just wait until an ambulance is trying to rescue you, but can't get through because the city, once again, screws-up information).
13. And the list goes on and on...

My old postings to read:
My investigation into lack of street closure info and getting support.
A huge conglomerate of complaints from random citizens.
And the post-event report.

The city claims they will get 1.5 million dollars for leasing the land to OutsideLands to destroy, cause havoc, and sure piss-off the surrounding neighborhoods. It's not 1.5 million per day, it's 1.5 million for THREE DAYS.

And I'm going to bet that the city will spend more than 1.5 million dollars in that three days doing what they do best:

1. Police overtime
2. Muni overtime
3. Meter maid overtime
4. SF Park Service overtime
5. Sunset Scavenger extra pickups
6. Gasoline costs for cop cars, buses, and other city vehicles.
7. Maintenance costs for the vehicles above.
   
8. City Supervisors and their staff working extra hours answering complaint calls and e-mails.
9. Fixing destroyed park fixtures, irrigation lines, patches of grass.
10. Lawsuits brought forth by residents.
11. 311 needing extra people to handle the extreme number of phone calls and complaints.

And lastly, why host an event on a FRIDAY? Do they understand that Muni is already operating at capacity during regular commutes, and just adding a hundred thousand people to the mix will put the system in a wreck? If they want to win support, you don't piss off the weekday commuters trying to get home on the outbound lines that goes next to and even several blocks away from the event site (this includes, but not limited to N-Judah, 5-Fulton, 29-Sunset, 31-Balboa, 71-Haight/Noriega, any peak express buses heading west, etc.).

The concert company should start thinking about leasing as many tour buses, school buses, and literally any bus they can get their hands on to transport people to/from the event site to major transit hubs, like Daly City BART, downtown, local ferry terminals, etc. And maybe they could also lease some local ferry boats to transport those folks home across the bay after a late night concert. If they want to recover the costs, do what Bay to Breakers does, charge them for a special pass that gives them the privilege to ride the vehicles.

Does San Francisco Need a Special Election?

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering to raise taxes in order to fix the budget shortfall the city suffering through (like $576 million). But in order to pass some real serious taxes, the Board of Supervisors chose to have a special election. Eight wanted the special election, while the other three did not.

So the resolution passed, but Newsom did not like the idea. As expected, he vetoed the Board of Supervisor's resolution, but this news report shows that the Board have enough votes to override the Mayor's veto and therefore the "special election" will happen on June 2, 2009.

Although the news report mentions that there is nothing yet on the ballot, rumor has it that the sales tax will go up 0.05%. This sounds a little bit disturbing, and just another incentive to head off to a different county when buying a big ticket item (car, mega size TV, etc.).

Here's my view about the pros and cons of holding a special election:

Pro:

• If voters pass more taxes, this can help the budget shortfall.

Sorry, it's the only pro I can think of.

Cons and doubts:

• How much will it cost to hold this election? How many millions?
• If the voters decide to reject all tax hike proposals, the Board of Supervisors better start having a low profile, because I smell a recall!
• How much more in taxes will we be paying to the city?
• Can passing new taxes cause more harm than good? Example: Business may close down and move to a county with lower tax rates.
• Once the economy goes back up, will the tax rates go back down to today's rates?

Just something to think about folks!

Best Buy In-Store Pickup Terrible & Men's Wearhouse Takes Forever

I like the idea of shopping to find a bargain or a treasure. But also when you really need something, and you are trying to save money (due to the bad economy) the customer always comes first.

There's a couple of places in the S.F. Bay Area I like to call... just terrible customer service for failure to address issues, and complete tasks in a timely manner:

Best Buy (Colma, California): As you may know, you can now buy your items from Best Buy online and if it is in stock at your local store, they will retrieve it and have it ready for quick pickup. As a penny pincher, my preferred airline offers bonus miles if I shop online, so I did the in-store pickup process.

I purchased a small 4-port USB hub for about $16 on sale, and after finding that my local store had it available, paid for it online and waited for a confirmation e-mail that they retrieved the item. I made the purchase at 7:40PM and Best Buy tells you that it takes approximately 45 minutes to retrieve the item. 9PM came by and the store was closing, and I received no confirmation.

So the next morning, I woke-up and noticed no confirmation e-mail that the product was ready for pick-up or was unavailable. The store opened at 10AM, and I tried calling the store at 10:30AM to ask what the heck was going on. After attempting THREE TIMES on the automated system to speak to an employee with no success, and I had to drive down to the store. At 12:00 Noon, I informed an employee and they started looking around, and told me the item was not there.

I demanded a manager because it was very poor customer service where you are expecting a confirmation e-mail if the item is available or not within their 45 minute average time, but was now OVER THREE HOURS (7:40PM to 9PM closing, & 10AM opening to 12 Noon) without an e-mail.

I even informed him that last year, I did the same in-store pickup process at that location for a brand new Xbox 360, one video game, Xbox remote control, and a Xbox live membership card, and the store decided to e-mail me back that ALL THE ITEMS WERE UNAVAILABLE. What are the damn odds of that happening? It was like the employees didn't give a shit.

And what does the manager tell me? They had a person doing the online stuff and failed to meet their goal to retrieve the item in a timely manner (Akit's interpretation: your employees are fucking lazy and slow). So the manager asks for my paperwork and tried looking again and finds the item. But since they informed Best Buy online that the item was not available, they hassled for five minutes on the cash register to fix the problem and charges me the correct price. I then had to call Best Buy customer service on the phone to cancel my online order so I did not get accidentally charged on my credit card.

The lesson: With the economy going downhill, a store's customer base must be treated with appropriate respect, therefore meeting the customer's and corporate's expectations of customer service, and this helps keep loyal customers to shop at your place. Best Buy says the average time from the time you order online to when the item is ready for pickup is 45 minutes. But when the store is open for three hours since posting my online order and I'm forced to spend my gasoline to drive to the store to demand answers because employees don't also feel like answering the telephone after three attempts, you just lose the trust and confidence of customers to shop at your business.

Men's Wearhouse (Colma, California): Right now they are offering a "buy one, get one free" sale on their suits, but I was not there to get a new suit, I just needed my existing suit re-tailored since I did my suit tailoring at that location.

It wasn't until they chalked my suit up and told me when it will be ready for pickup. They said about 25 days (nearly a MONTH). What a joke. They claim that they are heavily backlogged with tailored coats and slacks. Then why not hire a temporary tailor or send it off to a location with less demand to do the job? I don't have this kind of time to stall around.

I even asked them about getting a new sport coat I bought someplace else, tailored. They said they give priority to customers who bought items from their store, but was willing to do the job on my new sport coat. They told me that it would take an additional two weeks, WITH NO GUARANTEE DATE of completion because it can be delayed further due to their "priority" system. This literally means that my new coat would be waiting to be tailored for OVER A MONTH or LONGER WITH NO PROMISES.

Lastly, one of their promises posted online that promises to give free pressing of your clothing at any location in the nation, and claims it is "perfect when you're on the road." Well, truth be told, I asked for one of my slacks I bought there to be pressed, and they gave me a claim ticket to pick it up in 48 hours. That's what you call quality service? If they claim it is perfect when you are travelling, 48 hours is too damn long to wait.