The biggest scam in the American linousine &charter bus industries : subing/farming out ,w/o telling client !!

After working in the limousine and charter bus industries for over 20 years, i would like to warn the general public that most companies get away with a terrible fraud: you hire them, say a white limo, but do NOT write "white limo",license #abc 124 , on the credit card slip for company Z. YOU MUST GET IT IN WRITTING.

Quite often, behind your back so to speak ,since the Z company never intends to tell you, the Z company subcontracts the job out to another limo company X,,, that YOU DID NOT CHOOSE, or sends you the wrong color and size limo.

Imagine,,, it is your only daughter's wedding, and she has even taken the time and trouble to go to the limo/charter bus company and is offered/"sold" to pick out the "limo you want". She does this ,say a white "12 pack" that will comfortably only seat 8-9 adults, not 12. On the day of the wedding, the driver sees a "white 12 pack" on the invoice, but is told by the owner/manager to take a BLACK, 10 PACK ,,,instead. You may think this is impossible ,unthinkable, only a rarity,,,but this happens all the time and is very commom,even with v.i.p.s like football stars and music celebrities.

The chauffeur arrives and the bride is instantly in tears, the mother of the bride is usually also in tears, and the father is sooo mad, he is looking for a gun, understandably. I usually helped them immediately find a replacement limo of the proper size and color, and at full DOUBLE COST. They always are stuck paying for the wrong size and color limo they did not order !!

In the charter bus "business", I have had execs arrive at the airport and here i am in a bus from a different company than the one the client hired, usually more dirty, older, and much less well maintained, meaning cheaper. The order taking bus company,Y , such as Coach USA-Greyline, probably the biggest bus company in the usa, who get away with this all ,,,the ,,,time, say ,ahem, that they had a last minute "scheduling problem" ,,,and ,ahem, needed to have to flexiblility to, ahem, hire someone,PU, else. When in truth, they never, NEVER, intended to do the charter, just skim a percentage and hire a , usually, lesser cheaper company than the one you selected. Yes, all our elected politicans have been allowing this practice to go on for years. And the American media is not too interested either. This stinks ,i know, but is a very common American business practice, called "sub-ing" or "farming out" without telling the client, until they see the different limo/bus at the very last second.

BEWARE, OUT THERE,,,FRIENDS.

GOOD NEWS !!,,,Feb 2007,,,JVC make a TERRIFIC "HD" high def. car stereo cd-radio !!!!!

I have been through 4 car stereos in my 2000 Acura, including the stock one in a year without any respected car stereo mfg name on it,,,and an expensive Blaupunkt that also was junked in less than a year,,,and an expensive Sony, that in the first month was scratching my cds !!! and the Sony 800# phone rep said "we have a big problem with Sony new car stereos scratching cds" but we are not giving you you money back.

So i talked to a computer-stereo geek with a ee degree and he advised i try HD for FREE before satellite radio with its monthly CHARGES,,,I went to Amazon.com and found some Socal outlet,like SurfAudio, and a GREAT PRICE of only $140 that included Surround Sound 5, i believe. I had the car stereo professionally installed for $75 down the blvd at Circuit City ,,,and it is BY FAR,,,THE BEST SOUNDING AND USEABLE STEREO OF THE BUNCH: acura, blaupunkt, and shoddy Sony.
I have not tried or even heard satellite radio yet, even going in various car stereo showrooms,,,but i have no monthly fees ,,,and with the better than average speakers i put in after the first lousy acura car stereo died, the unit lets me select just HD stations for STATIC FREE LISTENING,,,or all stations.
Thank you , thank you , thank you JVC for making such a great product, i have been using for about 3 months now !!!

Tremendous need,,,for a car glass and shower glass sealer,,,against hard water mineral deposits

I purchased a new Acura and did not pretreat the car outside window glass surfaces with a product like "outdoor" Rain-X,,,and now my car windows, all, including the rear view mirrors , are permanently damaged by hard water mineral deposits from the garden hose. When brand new, i paid about $500 for "Perma-Plate", but quickly all the car windows were ruined by hard water mineral deposits.

I have tried S.C.Johnson's recommended vinegar
Windex, and it did not take these hard water mineral deposits from the garden hose in silicon valley off.

I tried warm vinegar and it did little good ,even with repeated treatments.

I took the expensive ,supposed upscale Honda Acura to an expensive car detailer and had the windshield buffed by hand machine, and there is little improvement at terrific expense.

If you have a brand new car,,,or brand new home inside glass shower enclosure, i recommend you use something like "outdoor" Rain-X ,,,to prevent hard mineral tap water deposits from getting hold and ruining your views,,,you must apply it often/monthly,until something better is invented,,,I am told i need to buy new auto glass all around !! Ridiculous.

San Jose, the near total FAILURE OF IT'S CITY GOVT,,,and the Nov.7 ELECTION

The city of San Jose Transportation Department told me months ago that several of the major streets of town, like Meridian Avenue, that i use most often,are "suppose to be timed" instead of stopping at every signal wasting valuable time and expensive gasoline. They could not say when they would reprogram the lights, so i phoned the mayor's office and left a message to please catch-up with old business and get these major street lights reprogrammed and timed. No answer. A very small job.
Cindy Chavez, the vice mayor, wants to be mayor, but can not even fix a little problem like this in San Jose's long long long list of old business that need small fixes, like tell the dam lazy city Transportation Department to get off its permanent coffee break and do a good job !! I say Ms. Chavez may have Bill "the liar" Clinton advertising for her,,,and the local Silicon Valley political power machine that has not apologized for saddling us with such a terrible mayor, Gonzales, that probably should be locked up in jail for years and years,,,but certainly there must be a more competent candidate out there for mayor of this messed up city that i often still live in than the go -along- to- get -along Ms. Chavez. We should expect and demand much better civil service ,for all that it is COSTING all of us , in money ,opportunity, and the loss of respect if you are asked "do you live in ,,,(san jose) ? Soo embarassing.

SF is a tourism-based city, but its airport,SFO, is mostly an UGLY CONCRETE MAZE !!

USAToday, the newspaper, is doing articles in a series on good things happening at various airports,,,but nothing to rave about about SFO !! Very little public art, the new International Terminal is not air-conditioned glass hothouse, and you are most likely to get lost ,walking /driving, in and around SFO,,,and the press stays shut-up about it !! Go figure. SF and its lousy ugly uninhabitable SFO airport.

California's recent utterly useless ATTORNEY GENERALS

Why do we citizens elect such do-nothing primary law officers, then watch all this fantasy tv cop and crime shows and a real gem of an Attorney General all the way across the USA in New York state ?

Do we not care at all about REAL CRIME in Ca. ?

Are we too mentally sedated by tv to care about ,,,all the remaining Sicilian Mafia,,,and the Russian Mafia that some in the know say is taking over the SF limo biz scene,,,and all the Japanese and Chinese-Asian Gangs,,,?????,,,The small and large corporate polluters that endanger our own and our childrens very health and survival every day,,,??,,,The under-reported constant white collar crime that robs us all of the high cost of government protection,,,?

Amazon.com's selected SHORTCOMINGS

Why does Amazon.com ,,,(1) ,,,not tell you next to the book title whether it is FICTION,,,or NON-FICTION,,,?

(2),,,Why does such a big successful company , like Amazon.com, not tell you right at the top of the item description WHO THE SELLER IS,,, and
is it NEW,,,or USED,,,??

(3),,,Why does such a huge corporation not notify the buyer,,,WHEN THE
PURCHASE IS SHIPPED,,,???

4 Nov 2006, Ca. State Rep. GENE MULLIN=vote NO

i am very disappointed with my local S.F. Bay Area state rep Assemblyman, Gene Mullin, regardless of his political party, in this overthrow the idiot Republicans election.
First, i contacted his office years ago because a very rich owner of a charter bus company was dumping his bus toilets across his employee parking lot and into the storm drain, puting all employees for weeks at huge health risk. Assemblyman Mullin did nothing. It took repeated calls to the storm drain county department to get it stopped , when San Mateo County government and its administrator and board and health department would do nothing,,,i was told there was"no overtime allowed to come out at night and see the toilet illegal dumping". This was at SFO Airporter-Compass Transportation Bus Companies lot in SSF.
Next, some time later , i contacted Assemblyman Mullins office to complain that my new boss, Mercury Tours, was requiring that all employees check out their charter buses off the clock on their own time. This had/has been going on for years. Assemblyman Mullin said he would "send a brochure on an employer convention" to the labor law violating owner.
Lastly, i contacted Assemblyman Mullin from another charter bus company and asked why one bus company owner said it was the law to pay overtime but he was not going to because the state of Ca. did not usually enforce it ,,,and yet the next charter bus company said they did not owe any driver overtime and we could work over 125 hours per week when the DOT federal maximum is 70 hours per week. Assemblyman Mullin said he was not interested in finding out whether this blue collar worker was legally due overtime pay.
Business "as usual" has got to stop, and i recommend you do not continue Assemblyman Mullin leaching off the citizens and taxpayers in his too long political career.

MBNA credit card bank has been bought by BofA,,,BEWARE !!!

MBNA was,past tense ,highly rated by the Wall Street Journal, and i was a very satisfied Master Card customer. But now bad reputation BANK OF AMERICA has bought MBNA !! You should get out , QUICK , like i did, before all the accounting funny business BofA is infamous for eats your savings alive,,,with 2 statements/bills a month instead of one with the old reliable and reasonable MBNA, and continuing revolving LATE FEES because the mail takes a few days and you are charged again and again and again on the same balance even tho you pay it off IN FULL, and FINANCE CHARGES that the old reasonable MBNA would take off your account if you asked, but the new greedy-to-the-max BofA probably will not.
Here is just one of probably many examples of how ruthless BANK OF AMERICA has been in the recent past. A couple years ago ,before they sold out of their main San Francisco high rise office, i drove their BofA Loan Office Awards Dinner bus in S.F. I was shocked to hear loan officers just behind my seat BOASTING and BRAGGING about how they had driven this family into auto REPOSSESSION, and this couple into HOME FORECLOSURE on their house with multiple loans the family practically and theoretically could never afford, and this family into BANKRUPTCY, and on and on,,,!!! And BofA was giving them AWARDS for this plus the trip junket ?!! Isn't there laws against predatory lending,,,obviously BofA does not feel it is American or has to obey our nation's laws. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE !!!

American businesses are dumping their Pension responsibilities ,,,on US, THE U.S. GOVT !!,,,AND THIS IS O.K. !!??????

Why are we allowing American corporations to ignore their promises and responsiblities to their employees by dumping their pensions on a willing Republican-controlled White House and Congress that seem to feel that working poor but not the current rich can pay for it in the future ?
Where is all the social commentary about how destructive this will be to the American middle cash/class ? Do we always have to drop our standards to the lowest possible level of our trading partners, like Mexico-corrupt and not getting any better with NAFTA and WTO-or China-still Communist and do any of you remember the VietNam anti-communist draft that ruined millions of lives ?? President Bush ,like his dad and "Ray-gun", are spending us into the national and international POOR HOUSE,,, and no one seems to give a damn. Most Republicans just want that short -term short -sighted my less-tax personal profit boost at the nation's expense. And that is OK with the USA ?

new model German Setra motor coach/bus, S 417, is JUNK !!

My boss bought/leased several S417 new German buses, Setra 56 passenger, $400,000 buses. They are new models and have been falling apart every day and every week for a year !! These are new buses, 2005's , by boat from Germany to North Carolina, and then by train / your driver.
Last week the roof above the driver's seat began leaking in a rainstorm. Axles have gone out. Headlight lens covers have cracked and big windshields have easily rock chipped and cracked in normal city/highway paved road traffic. It takes at least a minute for the bus computer to check systems and let you restart the bus. The Blaupunkt cd radio and dvd player are already malfunctioning: the PA system and radio/dvd system have such different volume thresholds that when you switch from one to the other you accidentally blow your passengers ears out !!
So if you are dumb enough to buy/lease a bus of poor/new model questionable quality such as the Setra, even tho Mercedes Benz just bought it, because of favorable lease rates, expect said Setra bus to be constantly broken and constantly in the shop. The bus is gutless, it can not even keep 65 or 55 on the small hills of hwy 101. The cable-link snow chains take longer to put on and don't clear the wheel wells without damaging the lower cowling attachment. The a/c and heater are sooo weak compare to the old model. It can not even make enough air for the door and kneeling, let alone the brakes and the next morning push button door opening. And do not expect good-excellent service on parts availability and service from Setra, a German company. I recommend you stay with Canadian bus co. ,Prevost.

HOW TO SIMPLY AVOID AIRLINE BAGGAGE OVER-CHARGES,,,

I RECENTLY FLEW TO HAWAII ON VACATION. AND I WAS DEFINITELY READY FOR A VACATION !! But before leaving the house, i weighed myself and my checked bag on the bathroom scale, subtracting my weight ,so i would know i was under the new standard of 50# versus the old generous 70#.
At the airline counter, i saw something you may not be ready for that may cost you an additional $50 or more !! With these garden-variety idiots working the TSA and saving us all from a terrorist's fingernail clipper attack, thank you missing village idiot President Bush, your checked baggage is taken from you at the beginning of the line and you are not allowed to touch it afterwards, for instance, if it is just a pound over and you want to remove a jacket to temporarily wear and put in the overhead compartment !! In front of me, i saw vacationer after vacationer charged an additional $50, in the name of national security natch, and there was no recourse or anything these once happy to be going on a vacation people could do.
Well, here is the solution: go to Cabela's or other outdoor furnisher like Gander Mountain and order a digital small fish scale to 50#, such as the Cabela order # NT-01-8215 ,,,for only $ 19. 99 and pack it with you ,so at the departure end or return end ,you can weigh you checked bag and if it is 55# you can take something out in the comfort and privacy of your condo or hotel room, versus worrying about the final weigh-in at the tense airline counter. You know the AIRLINES are making a KILLING PROFITING from this added security hocus pocus harrassment by high school dropouts with the social skills of SF 3rd Street felons !! And then the airlines are skimming all that profit, like the oil companies, into the executives pockets, versus the shareholder's dividends and employee-workers paychecks,,,and then they want us to federally bail them out with "loans" unrepaid with interest signifigant,,,american business is sooo sleazy,,,
Caveat emptor and buyer beware out there,,,!!,,,you have few/no friends when traveling out of state or to a foreign country,,,

"Bug Bytes Computer Services ",,,not recommended

Recently, we had this San Jose service check our pc and were told that in turning off all the switches ,before, the computer had completed its sooo slooow Microsoft shutdown process,,,we had damaged the hard drive and would need to buy another one. We are non-tech professionals, teachers and such, so we did. Then i talked to 2 software engineers with ee degrees and several computer stores, like CompUSA and CircuitCity, and they all said that was impossible. There is sooo much demand for techs to fix pcs that i do not understand the need to pad a bill,,, or overcharge,,, or charge $220 just to come to your house and drop in / load a disc by Geek Squad,,,or charge $30 to show up at your house and $50 per hour,,,when there is sooo much work out there at just a more fair $30-50/hr.

Andrews Electronics,,,the "biggest",,,and maybe the Rudest

If you need a new remote or electronics part, do not make the mistake i did today and get a rude woman at Andrews Electronics in Santa Clarita, Ca. !! Phone Pacific Coast Parts instead at 800-338-6342,,,unless you like rude customer service.

DOWNSPOUTS,,,What a Flawed design !!

Are your downspouts constantly getting clogged with leaves and flowers / Do you have neighbors that have cut down all the tree in the front yard, including the city owned ones in the parking strip, just because he hates paying some handyman to clean his teflon gutters every month it seems in fall and winter ? This is nonsense !! Let us just decide that even screened and teflon coated rain gutters and downspouts DO NOT WORK,,,AND LET US JUST DO AWAY WITH DOWNSPOUTS !! Try disconnecting the downspout and see how little clogging of the gutters you get,,,There are so many traditional yet nonfunctional and even planned obsolescent fixtures in modern houses that need to be re-examined, like tubs with built-in plungers or stopper devices, that are constantly getting clogged with hair !! What a nuisance,,,just get a clean pipe exit...and use a rubber stopper.

Attorney General of California, Why are you always so Useless?!!?

1 jan 2006,,,and the winds are blowing like crazy this winter !! It has been years since i remember such heavy rains followed by such high winds followed by so many trees being uprooted by the wet ground and high winds of maybe 40 -50mph !! My folks, retired for decades on one state teacher's pension, had their back fence of 52 years blown down. Mom immediately looked up their home owners insurance agent's phone number, but before she could call , a neighbor real estate agent warned her and dad NOT to file a legal and legitimate and righteous claim against their home owners insurance that they have paid for years, because the insurance companies are allowed by our Cal. State Attorney General, the lazy bum, to blacklist anyone who files even a small claim against their homeowners insurance for legitimate reasons ,and jack up the rates and not renew their home owners insurance and thus make it impossible via blacklisting for these retired senior citizens to ever get home owners insurance again !!! WAKE UP ,CALIFORNIA POPULACE AND ELECTORATE, AND KICK THIS LAZY BUM OF A STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL AWAKE AND ACTIVE LIKE THE NEW YORK STATE OFFICER, OR KICK HIM OUT OF OFFICE,,,LIKE WE DID THAT LAST SORRY EXCUSE FOR A GOVERNOR, GRAY DAVIS, WHO LIED BOLDFACE WITH THE STATE LEGISTATURE TO US ABOUT HOW DEREGULATING ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY IN CALIFORNIA WOULD ALLOW THE MARKET TO DRASTICALLY DROP THE PRICE,,,,SUCH A FOLLY, AND NOW WE ARE IN RED-INK FOR DECADES AS AN ENTIRE STATE BECAUSE OF THIS !!

BEWARE of ,,,quakingaspenoutfitters.com,,,you hunters!!!!!

My dad and i hunted with dave mapes' "Quaking Aspen Outfitters" in 1998, and i filed a formal complaint of gross fraud and cheating hunters from any chance of getting a shot at an elk/anti-guiding in 1999. The State of Colorado Office of Outfitters Registration, AGREED, said they could "only put a letter in dave's file", so we were cheated out of $$$ thousands and a fair chance at many possible shots at legal elk: by guides telling us we could not shoot at legal bulls, by dave telling us on the last minute drive in that only he would choose who was fit enough and had paid enough guides over years of guided hunting experience to be allowed to be given a chance to take a shot at a legal elk, by the guides leaving my dad in a meadow/park almost all day and alone on a stand hunt contrary to dave's brochure and verbal contract that one guide per two hunters or less on all hunts was the rule,by his guides leading me on wild goose chases by horse and foot to waste time in the wrong area while the two youngest and fittest and most paid guide experienced hunters were taken the first day to the National Forest property "hole" to both easily get antlered male elk and then have the whole camp focus on getting them out by the next day, and by dave's guides repeatedly telling me that i could not take a legal shot at a legal bull within 100 yards !! And not one, not one, of the reference list past hunters was honest enough to warn me off this bad apple, bum of a guide,,, BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE, THIS IS HUGE AND COMMON OUT-OF-STATE FRAUD THAT YOU CAN NOT WIN AT IN YOUR HOME STATE SMALL CLAIMS OR CIVIL COURTS, SO JUST STAY AWAY !!
Also beware of "ray billings,outfitter,jackson hole,wyoming" who has a fraudulent and nasty habit of getting you cow tags for your requested antlered elk hunt,,,and providing incompetent guides, like the one busted for child pornography ,,,during the hunt week,,,online computer,,,by the FBI !! Where do Colorado and Wyoming find all these LOSERS ?!
Do NOT NOT NOT expect any help or professional expertise from either the Colorado Outfitter associations,state or private, NOR the Wyoming Outfitter associations,state or private,,, as they allow these bad apple guides to profit-by-theft for years and thus ruin all Colorado and Wyoming outfitters reputations and that of the states of Colorado and Wyoming and their fish and game departments !!!!!
Also BEWARE of "Wilderness Unlimited" a California-base western states hunt club that charges large initiation and large membership fees, and then allows ,for instance, the oregon rancher next door to helicopter herd the elk from the ranch you have also paid trespass fees for onto a ranch that the Madras,Or. chamber of commerce charges $3000/person access onto !!, after illegal helicopter herding of game animal elk !!!!! Also, the club asks property owners for their "worst, lest game rich section of property" for the same lease fee they could have had the most game rich corner for, a clear violation of best interest trust of the membership !!!!!!
When and how are we all in the United States going to clean up this massive abuse in out of state fraud and in state fraud in commercialized hunting ?????

"Tanglefoot" insect barrier for gardening:a consumer's opinion

Acouple years ago, we were having lots of trouble with ants climbing our front yard birch trees, so i went to the local garden center, and OSH recommended "Tanglefoot" super-sticky tube goop as a barrier to keep the ants out of the birch trees with annual apids. We applied per directions and watched as the ants just walked over stuck bodies of ants until they had re-established a path up all the trees ! Then we had to get this sticky "Tanglefoot" off the birch trees,,,!!! What a mess and pain in the neck !!! Beware, and do not buy this product for this problem and nuisance of ineffective result !!!
Now we have gone 2 years spraying twice with a mild pesticide like malathion and have had little problem with aphids and ants turning our birch tree's leaves black. Cheers,,,also, try alfalfa pellets from your local feed store at $8 for about 50 pound sack on all your roses and flower beds and fruit trees, to add organic matter cheaply to the soil and make lots of worms and their beneficial castings ! Works great !

The best Southwest Alaska charter boat company:"Yakutat Charter Boat Co.",,,a consumer's opinion

After years and years of trying different guides and different charter boat companies, i would like to recommend the hardest working and most honest (and sober) Mark Sappington and his "Yakutat Charter Boat Company". Alaska is the hideout of so many drunks and incompetents , that it is a shock to find someone who does not just want to Alaska-overcharge you for wetting your line with the common saying," let just stay and make it (you, Sucker!!) pay". If anyone can find and get rank amateurs,year after year, to hook and land legal and large halibut,in the 75#-200# range...not 30# "chickens" that so many try to pawn off as a worthwhile ,long distance ,expensive once in a lifetime or per year vacation experience. And usually in less than 120 feet of water ,maybe 80ft, not the 200-300 ft of distant-cranking-up of Kenai. Plus, you can fly the awful--expect your luggage in Alaska airspace to be misdelivered,or stolen,no shit-- Alaska Airlines into Yakutat directly without a floatplane, from the south or north and Copper River and Anchorage. And if you are lucky enough to hit the silver salmon, you will have a blast, just outside the harbor, light longrod topwater fishing these fighters--forget the kings at only 2 per year for non-residents--or go for the reds/sockeye that taste so good and can be caught in the near Situk River with chartreuse yarn on a red or plain legal hookup on the lip,not side. If you have never been, or have been a dozen times, try Mark Sappington in small quiet but still outrageously expensive Alaska and Yakutat. We liked Leonard's Landing at the harbor for accomodations, but there are some better and some worse if you care to look.

"Video Only" electronics,tvs,store review,,,a consumer's opinion

I went into "Video Only" in San Mateo County to buy my last tv, after checking GoodGuys and Circuit City,,,beware,,,they sold me a big screen tv ,telling me it was "HDTV ready", when i got it home and read all the paper to discover it was NOT ,,,"HDTV ready",,,also ,the set i got was defective with constant bars across the screen,,,and they gave me a hard time returning it right away,,,so beware,,,caveat emptor,,,and shop somewhere else maybe,,,