Simon Dvorak.com

Today is my 31st birthday. Everything in Kennesaw, GA is covered in ice. It is very beautiful

Please….enjoy these fine photos of the ATL.

This morning, as I joined my sister for her morning commute, we had the pleasure of being involved in a car accident. It wasn’t anything major. Melody merged into a lane at the same time someone else was. Melody’s car was slightly scratched, but nothing too bad.

So, here I present a photo of the officer who gave Melody a ticket for improper lane change. Enjoy!

P.S. My dad is doing much better. He appreciates everyone’s thoughts and prayers.

Well, I’m off to the ATL. My father has become very sick and I have moved up me departure date (originally planned as a birthday getaway) in order to spend some time with him during these trying times.

I recently decided I had to have a copy of a particular Cat Stevens song. I checked EMusic which is my online music store of choice. No dice. I had recently had bad experience with buying music from MusicMatch so I decided to give MSN Music a shot.

Sure enough, they had the song. Sweet! Sign in with my passport account, click buy, click confirm. First snag. Microsoft needs to update the software that allows me to play protected music. Ok, fine. one quick download later and I am ready to download the song. Download speed was great. Yay, got the song! Click play….

Windows media player opens up…”Acquiring licence” shows at the bottom of the screen. Snag two. A popup window opens up that says “This computer is not authorized to play this song.” There are two buttons: “purchase this song for $.99″ and “I already own this song.” Ok, no problem. I click “I already own this song.” The message changes to “Retrieving license.” Then to “License successfully downloaded. Click Play to play your song.”

Only problem is the play button on the popup window is greyed out and not clickable! I wait. Nothing changes. Finally I click ‘Cancel.’ I try this a few more times. Nothing changes.

At this point I’m a little frustrated. I decide to use their handy online support chat tool….

The story continues for the next hour and involves a chat tool that is total crap and doesn’t work and a tech support person that is unable to resolve my problem. They dicide that they will just give me a refund of my $.99. They tell me they will transfer me to the customer service rep and they will issue the refund. Fine. I want my $.99 because I am totally pissed and all of this frustration is not going to end up costing me $.99.

Except, after transfering me the chat tool stops transfering my text. The customer service rep tells me he needs me to respond if he is to help me further. I respond several times. He says since I am not responding he will be unable to assist me further. Have a nice night. Goodbye.

Completely livid, I connect again. The new conversation is beyond frustrating and extends into comedy. Here is the script for your enjoyment.

{Ochie} Thank you for contacting MSN Online Customer Service. My name is Ochie. I will be assisting you today. May I call you by your first name?
{Simon Dvorak} yup
{Ochie} Thank you, Simon. To assist your better, I would have to pull up your account. May I have your e-mail address, telephone number and the last four digits of your credit card please.
{Simon Dvorak} sure
{Simon Dvorak} **********
***-***-****
****
{Ochie} Thank you Simon. I understand from your message that you need a refund for the song you downloaded, is that correct?
{Simon Dvorak} yes
{Ochie} I see, how many songs did you download that you have problems with?
{Simon Dvorak} one, but they added it twice to my account in an attempt to get it to work
{Ochie} Is that the song entitled “My World”?
{Ochie} oh Im sorry “Wild World”?
{Simon Dvorak} yeah
{Ochie} I see. Simon from what I can see in your records the MSN Music song that you have purchased has not been settled to your Microsoft billing account yet. Because this charge is still in process, I cannot process a refund for it. I’ve noted this in your account. Please telephone back when you see the charge on your credit card statement and we will refund the charge for you.
{Ochie} When you contact us back please give this ticket number to the next representative who will be assisting you. *********. Is there anything else you need me to assist you with?
{Simon Dvorak} I would like to resolve this now. I have been tied up with this issue too long as it is
{Simon Dvorak} Clearly, my account show that I dowloaded the song. Please credit my account for the cost of the download
{Ochie} I would be able to give you the refund today, because no charges are taken out from your credit card yet. If you wish I could give you a free download right now to replace the other song which you dwonloaded twice.
{Ochie} I’m sorry, but what I mean is I would not be able to give you the refund today.
{Simon Dvorak} Again, I did not download the song twice, the tech support person re-qued it in order to try to get my computer to re-download the song
{Simon Dvorak} A free song will not be acceptable since I can’t play the song I already downloaded
{Ochie} I understand Simon, but as much a I want to give you the refund today, I do not have the authority to do so, they are no charges posted yet, and no money was taken out, it would be process on February 17.
{Ochie} I can assure you that on February 17, when you contact us back then we will give the refund, by that time our tool would be able to process it.
{Simon Dvorak} If your tool functions as well as the tools I have been using tonight, I am highly doubtful
{Ochie} As I said Simon, by your billing day, we would be able to give you the refund.
{Ochie} Again, I apologize for the inconvenience because of this.
{Ochie} Did you get the ticket number Simon?
{Simon Dvorak} yeah, well…
{Simon Dvorak} yes
{Ochie} Is there anything else you need for me to assist you with?
{Simon Dvorak} Once again, let me express my EXTREME displeasure with the MSN music experience. That will be all
{Ochie} I understand Simon. It was nice chatting with you. For future concerns, please log on again. We‚Äôre available 24×7. You have a wonderful night. Thank you for contacting MSN Online Customer Service.
{Ochie} Again, I am truly sorry for this situation.
{Ochie} You have a great evening.
{Simon Dvorak} I will. You have given me a great topic for my blog. Good night

The moral of this story? DRM: bad! Microsoft: Bad!