The Ottermanempire.com » General

Element Follow up

haltse — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 04:08:10 +0000

We’re pretty much up shit creek with the Element. The insurance co had no real interest in pursuing our claim and have labelled it 100% our fault. They can 100% get bent and I will not be renewing with them after two crappy experiences with Allstate.House insurance was good but the Auto section were perfunctory didn’t remotely give the idea that we’re not considered to blame and while I don’t mind them thinking it, try not to let us know, k?

So we have a report from the codes saying the AVS / ABS failed to connect but they said it was post crash, we say bs it’s pre , and the cause. All I think we can do is wait for more people to suffer this and then join in the bashing.

As I have said this was the second Honda certified car we had that wasn’t deserving of the title. Honda were ZERO help. They really don’t care about how the owner views them and that’s the last car from them , the last motorbike from them and the last product that contains one of their engines. So they don’t care they know they lost a customer already so why invest in keeping us happy ?

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Does a post with biscuits show up

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:07:59 +0000

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Mini:Epilogue.

Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:02:50 +0000

We came to replace the Mini which was a fun car to drive and own for the most part. After you get rid of the run-flats it’s propensity to chew tires isn’t as expensive as it once was. Got a pretty decent trade in price on it too. We didn’t buy another Mini re the treatment we received documented in this ,Minimum CS , and other posts as a result of a loss re the car not working in the way the manual said it would. Way to go Mini and BMW bought something else x 2 that directly compete in your class.

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Apparently no one wants to sell me their otter art. Wholesale annoyance.

Haltse — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:30:28 +0000

Over the past three weeks I have been trying to get my Otterman Empire store stocked. Primarily I’m looking for American, hand made wherever possible art , any medium,any type of otter . To date only one of the US companies approached re wholesale prices have contacted me, they received an order and then have failed to get back to me with final shipping cost/ ship date.

I.E., I have nothing new in stock.

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A little video item

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 23:49:00 +0000

Test post

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Arizona otter of the day.

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:15:07 +0000

Arizona

Originally uploaded by mariancall.

Ah Dobh and the original “otter” This otter was stolen from the cinema in Phoenix after he forgot it and wasn’t there on the way back. Yeah I know they pay the cleaning staff little but, hey , bastards

This was his first concert , in a backyard in the Phoenix heat, with Marian Call which is about as good as any first concert memory you’re going to have.

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Where the Mini key saga rests today.

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 02:04:00 +0000

I have been quiet blogwise for quite some time but I followed up on my personal blog re Mini’s manual being incorrect and their reluctance to do anything about it. I wonder if Small Claims court for the loss of the remote is even possible?

Mini Cooper kept mum. So what if our manual is incorrect. no keys for you

And then

End of the year Mini Bash or how to lose a sale by pissing off a customer.

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clap clap clap

Haltse — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:55:16 +0000

clap clap clap,
originally uploaded by Angela Pardo.

Today’s otter of the day comes from Moss Landing near where I used to live in CA and an excellent place to catch rafting otters.

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Terribly short test

Haltse — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 00:10:59 +0000

Sorry about that usually I take this off to the side but I am in a hurry

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Mini Cooper kept mum. So what if our manual is incorrect. no keys for you

Haltse — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 22:48:03 +0000

Alas the possibility that a car company could do anything other than suck at customer relations remains as rare as rocking-horse poop.While everyone understands our position and regrets they can’t do more the fact is the Mini Cooper manual says that the car can’t start without the keys in it.

Mini dealers and the Mini helpline say it can. Ergo you lost they key and you need to buy a new one. No one is concerned that the car starts without a key in it which is rather alarming. It’s not alarming the car didn’t give a warning that there was no key.

So what we have here is a car that can be started sans keys in the car. It looks like any elevation of the key greatly increases the distance at which the car can be unlocked and driven away and the sun roof is likely a big factor. So for fun some experiments will follow.

P.S. Letting us buy the key at cost was rejected. Ok so for the sake of losing NO money. Result. That’s one less 2012 Clubman sold plus way more public noise about their customer relations being poor. Nice going Mini.

This family thing, it’s a brand. while they hadn’t fooled me with their story I would have expected they’d at least pretend that they were able to do anything than quote manuals ( incorrectly ) to me.

PPS Anthony’s managers You have no fucking brains. Seriously what the hell makes it in your interest to deny a reasonable request ( key replacement at cost) based on your erroneous manual which some telephone dick told me to go read and understand. What happened to, ah I see that’s in error , let me find out rather than being a total cock about it?

an Inconvenient access truth. More about mini cooper s FOB :

Haltse — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:07:59 +0000

First they tell me to read the manual, you know cos I’m not as cute,or as fast, as a Mini and am more likely to be in error. Well let’s look around page 24-25 ( close to it)

Is there any doubt here that the car should not start when the key is not in the car, when the key is five feet away from the car? Well the helpline , I eventually got to a manager, and asked them to consider that they could be owe me a new key / serious price break on the $300 item because their car is not working as stated.

That was a few days ago.

An interesting time with the Mini Cooper’s “convenience” key

Haltse — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:28:48 +0000

The last car we bought was a Mini Cooper S which I see as the car that makes up for all the regular Minis I drove,you know the ones with a fixed L shaped seat, rusting sills, 10” wheels sliding mirrors, no heater worth a damn etc.

The “new” car ,a 2007 Cooper S, came with a remote key and what’s called a convenience feature in which you do not have to put your key into the slot to start it. E.G.,It can stay in your pocket , your bag or attached to a purse.

Common belief is that the car won’t start without the key being inside the car. Sadly , as we found out this weekend, that is not the case. My wife left her purse atop the pump, got in , door closed, started car and drove off. ( ended up having to get a ride then break into the house)

The car gave zero warning that key wasn’t within the car and 20 miles later, car turned off and couldn’t start it again.

No keys , no movement , no nothing! This is not the behavior I want from a car so I called the local Mini dealer, 2 days after they failed to return my wife’s call , to find out what the parameters of the keyless start are. I also sent a note to Mini asking the same.

So far nothing from Mini and an unhelpful “you’re the only one in 3000-4000 customers to have this problem.” from the dealer and an offer to look at it which I will have to take them up on.

I really want to know why the car wont let you lock it with the key inside, assumption that it knows where the key is in relation to the car, yet will let it drive off without one being present. Surely that’s not that hard a question for the people that sell it/ make it?

Couple that to the Airbag system that can be harmed just by moving your seat back and it looks like the LUCAS lord of darkness joke re the state of UK auto electrical systems has jumped over into the BMW made Mini.

Yes there are things that have fallen down the memory hole

Haltse — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 23:17:44 +0000

Posts are missing yes.While the legal process moves forward nothing relating to the joy that was the end of June will be posted

In the meantime…

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Some slow mo and water

Thu, 20 May 2010 10:29:16 +0000

Basically testing out an embed.

here we are

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Otter sans hotsauce

Haltse — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:27:19 +0000

Otter,
originally uploaded by Ian Press Photography.

Today’s otter shot of the day is a tasteful reminder that the central question of existence is not who am I? or What am I? but where shall we have lunch.

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here come the abc’s

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:22:00 +0000

here we are with otters

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otter of the day.

Haltse — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:04:40 +0000

otter 5,
originally uploaded by sofidch.

What has this otter forgot?

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It’s interesting but we seem to have to rediscover that exchanging value is a valid business model.

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:31:02 +0000

From the 500 hats blog comes a nice summation that matches many of my feelings with regards to how programs are pitched, created and go to 2 cups (He has a much better line but I’ll not steal it totally out of context.) He brings up login friction, e.g., how easy it is to actually use the service and creating infrequent use apps can cause problems by itself.

So listen up I’ll share a little secret with you — there is one very simple way to avoid forgotten passwords.Basically, it’s this:

Make a Frequent-Use Product.
That’s it, you say?

Yeah, that’s it Sherlock.Make a brain-dead simple, frequent-use product.If users login a lot, then they don’t forget their passwords

While my favourite inner-Austrian applauds lines such as

Newsflash folks: The Internet does NOT want to be FREE… It wants to GET PAID on Fucking Friday, just like everybody else on the damn planet.

It’s kind of sad that this has to be restated that making a program that needs to be useful is another.

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Do not like. The crappy ,Damascan, conversion rate on samaritan clicking

Haltse — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:11:26 +0000

Point of this.

To let you know how much I dislike the affinity posts, re-posts, tweets and retweets about serious issues that run the risk of causing the appearance that something is actually being done.

Problem 1

I wanted to know what my friends were up to, their thoughts, accomplishments joys and sadness. Instead it’s a pile of app-generated crap intermixed with memes copied from others that often contradict how that person sees themselves.Challenging them has usually resulted in a defensive “I’m just sharing it” and usually without a review of the original material ergo they really aren’t in any way responsible for the material.

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

Oscar Wilde’s above quote fits into a tweet by the way. Sad thing is I follow you because I am interested in what YOU have to say and not you by Proxy.

Problem 2

The Facebook child abuse cause has over 2 million members and has raised around $1600 dollars or eight hundredths of a cent per member.You’ll find the same disparity reflected over and over again within groups for domestic-violence,anti-torture, land mines and just about any other topic of human misery you care; sorry you –pretend- to care,about matters.

The actions don’t match up with the words. It may give someone the idea that it’s under control, I mean 2 million people wow, that’s an achievement that’s worth well it’s worth about $1600. Rather trivializes whatever the cause de jour is nes’t pas?

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Otter running

Haltse — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:06:43 +0000

Otter running,
originally uploaded by the longhairedgit.

Today’s otter of the day.

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7 of 9 Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris), female, marine mammal, with her baby pup

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:35:13 +0000

7 of 9 Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris), female, marine mammal, with her baby pup

Originally uploaded by mikebaird.

This is definitely my otter of the day maybe even the month.

Wow.

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Asian small-clawed otters

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:49:02 +0000

Asian small-clawed otters

Originally uploaded by Marie Hale.

This is my favorite otter shot of the day.

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I knew Bell Honda was full of gas. Say no to N2 refills and other overblown upgrades.

Haltse — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:41:30 +0000

If there’s one thing that bugs me more on not knowing enough about the physical world it’s those people that try to sell you a service, product or in the case of carbon credits a total line of bullshit. Bell Honda appear to follow this model of customer service. Their ploy, based on their reliance, that your ignorance of the subject will be such that you’ll gladly pay a premium to have N2 fill your tires.

They try to up sell you on nitrogen which has nominal to NO practical value when fitted to your average car. I had read anecdotally that Honda were not a fan of the practice and I send a tweet to see if I could get a reference for this.

There you go. I’ve been to this dealer twice and while the service was done quickly,the waiting area is clean, nice wifi,play area and coffee It’s only been after the usual chat re, “service this to Honda’s requirements to keep the extended warranty valid”How they then want to add injector cleaning agents, N2 and suggest a transmission flush on a < 30k car, a 30k MANUAL car is beyond me. Despite declining the injector cleaning they billed me for it anyway and took money of the air filter instead. They must have some kind of weird bonus structure going there but a 30k car that’s performing well does not need it.

Needless to say I’ll be using another dealership for future warranty work.

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