Tag: shrill

Phone says screw you, hard reset!

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My phone has been iffy for the last few weeks, with random freezes or reboots. Yesterday, I got a notification for an official OTA software update. I hoped that it might fix the situation. I did, but in the most f’you way possible. The update caused the phone to get stuck in a perpetual reboot cycle. The only way out of it was a full, hard, reset.

Now this was something that I’d been thinking of for a while, but still, really bad timing. Although I had a full backup of my phone and most of it was already synced to Google, it’s still annoying as fuck to have to re-download and restore everything. The devil is in the details – how your app screens were setup to the point where muscle memory could open a particular app – which isn’t 100% back to normal.

I have all my music, but all my playlists got borked.
I have all my photos, but the timestamps didn’t restore properly so now they’re all mishmashed.
I have to get a new activation code for my online banking, because Switzerland.

The most annoying thing – one of my go-to stress-reliever/time-waster games got removed from the Google play store!! Happily, Katy still had it on her phone, so with a bit of ingenuity and USB debugging, I was able to extract it from her phone and sideload it on mine. Note to self in case of future need, the magic mantra is this:

Determine the package name of the app, e.g. “com.example.someapp”.
adb shell pm list packages

Get the full path name of the APK file for the desired package.
adb shell pm path com.example.someapp

The output will look something like
package:/data/app/com.example.someapp-2.apk
or
package:/data/app/com.example.someapp-nfFSVxn_CTafgra3Fr_rXQ==/base.apk

Using the full path name from the previous step, pull the APK file from the Android device to the development box.
adb pull /data/app/com.example.someapp-2.apk path/to/desired/destination

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This is the story of shockingly poor customer service, and general corporate shadiness

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On Oct 27, we bought Katy a new mobile phone from FNAC (Google pixel 7). The phone was listed as a destocking offer and was 50% off. We bought it, paid by credit card, got an order confirmation and waited for it to be dispatched. We got a notice from the Poste that the package was on its way and scheduled to be delivered on Nov 2.

On Nov 2, I check the Poste tracking website and see that the phone was delivered. I let Katy know, as she was out working, and when she comes back home, no phone. I check the Poste website again and see that it’s been delivered, but to the wrong address. I try and call FNAC but the Swiss service center is closed for the day and I have to wait until the following morning to call. A shit night is had by all.

The next morning, I call FNAC and get a nasty surprise. They “realized” that the phone price was a “technical error” on the website and arranged with the Poste to intercept the delivery. The phone support people can give me a refund, but I need to take it up with the reclamation department to “see” if anything else can be possible. The phone support can’t do anything but follow the script, and the reclamation people are only reachable by email. At every occasion, I inform them that I don’t want a refund, but instead want the phone at the price I purchased it.

Then I get an email saying they issued a refund.

According to Swiss e-commerce laws, once an offer has been made and accepted, once payment has been taken, then the transaction is valid and should be honored unless it’s a clearly recognizable error. Putting a phone on a destocking rebate when the newer model has just been released does NOT fall under this category.

However, FNAC, in their fuckery, have a clause in their general T&Cs that gives them carte blanche to freely cancel any order taken online. This cancellation gives you no recourse other than a reimbursement of the purchase price. I found this out while reading the T&Cs, which is something NO ONE does. So fuck you, come again.

What pisses me off the most is that they had a solid week to inform us that they’d cancelled the order, but didn’t. We had to find out the hard, stressful, painful way of calling customer service, thinking that the order had been misdelivered, when instead it had been re-routed to their main Swiss HQ. I did not need all the stress and aggro this caused.

So, in conclusion, FUCK YOU FNAC, I will actively never purchase anything from you again and ask everyone I know from doing the same.

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One of the best email scams I’ve seen in a very very long time

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The oldies called me earlier tonight asking me about a weird email I sent them, asking them to do an urgent Western Union transfer to my friend in Mumbai.

Yeah….

I logged into their email and I was, against my better judgement, impressed.

Their account has to have been compromised, because the scam is using an actual email I wrote to them, and the reply email is rglcote@gmall.com (spot the error). It’s also using the same form of address that I use.

I changed their password, flushed all active sessions, and did a quick scan of settings and sent/deleted emails. Nothing obviously wrong, but I’ll be keeping a close eye on things until I can check out their laptop myself.

Here are the two crap emails they received:

From: Richard Cote <rglcotegmall.com>
Sent: 01 December 2022 15:54
To: Mel And Pam
Subject: Re: Your Google Store shipment is here

Hi Mel and Pam

My apologies to bother you again.
Actually, a colleague of mine is supporting his wife who is in a bit of a medical mess right now and receiving treatment in Mumbai. They’re experiencing issues to meet up with their deadline and requested me to help them with Western Union Transfer.

Please would you be able to settle this on my behalf as it’s a time sensitive matter. I will reimburse you back the equivalent amount. I will forward email trail to you now,

Cheers and thanks,
Richard

From: Richard Cote <rglcotegmail.com>
Sent: 01 December 2022 13:05
To: Mel And Pam Grogan
Subject: Re: Your Google Store shipment is here<

Great, thank you!

On Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 14:00 Mel And Pam Grogan, wrote:
Yes and we have put it with the other envelope, so we can bring them with us xx

From: Richard Cote <rglcotegmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2022 12:37:53 PM
To: ICE – Mel and Pam
Subject: Fwd: Your Google Store shipment is here

Hi Mel and Pam

Did you get a parcel for me today?

Cheers and thanks,
Richard

And here’s the sob story between myself and my friends Brenton and Sandra:

Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2022, at 2:49 PM
From: “Richard Cote”
To: “Brenton Cobb”
Subject: Re: Hi Richard

Brenton,

I can send by transfer to your account and not Western Union. I will check and get back to you soon if I can make other arrangement.

Sending my love to you both.

Cheers and thanks,
Richard

On Thursday, December 1, 2022, at 04:52:53 PM PST, Brenton Cobb wrote:

Richard,

Thank you for getting back to me and thanks for your concern on this matter.
I need it ASAP, the surgery is scheduled for Monday.

Please send it to my Name and present location via Western Union transfer.

My details are:
Name: Brenton Cobb
Address: No. 15, Mansarovar Building, 24, S. N. Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400069, Maharashtra, India

Please send me the necessary details on the receipt including the details you use in sending it, it’s important.
Kindly let me know how much I will receive here in rupees.

Looking forward to your reply.
Thanks Brenton

Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 1:49 PM
From: “Richard Cote”
To: “Brenton Cobb”
Subject: Re: Hi Richard

Brenton,
When do you need it and how can I get the funds to you?

Cheers and thanks,
Richard

On Thursday, December 1, 2022 at 03:52:53 PM PST, Brenton Cobb wrote:

Richard,

Thank you for getting back to me.

Please I wanted to ask if you could help me with a loan of $1,500. I will make arrangement to refund you when we return. Could you please let me know just so I can advise on what to do to help.

Please forgive me for the short notice and I hope you can understand I will like to keep this between us, which is why I have asked via Email for your record.

Looking forward to your reply.

Thanks Brenton

Sent: Monday, November 28, 2022 at 8:44 PM
From: “Richard Cote”
To: “Brenton Cobb”
Subject: Re: Hi Richard

Brenton,
Sending my love to you both. You are in good hands and I wish quick recovery.

Please let me know if you need my help in anyway.

Cheers and thanks,
Richard

On Monday, November 28, 2022 at 05:28:14 PM PST, Brenton Cobb wrote:

Good Evening Richard,

Hope you’re well. I and Sandra are fine. We arrived this morning in Mumbai and Sandra is trying to relax as she did few test and scan.

She’s dealing with shingles, and have pain. Scrambling to get her potassium levels up before her scheduled surgery for Monday.

I’m experiencing issues with our account from here while I was trying to pay for deposit. It should be alright by midnite I guess.

Thanks Brenton

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Airport hell

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Today has been a complete and utter nightmare. I was supposed to be halfway across the Atlantic right now. Instead, I’m on hold with Air Canada, sitting outside Brussels airport, chain-smoking and having a nervous breakdown.

I had a 8:15 flight out of Geneva to Brussels, then a 10:30 flight to Montreal. I got up at 4am, got my last bits ready, and then headed to the airport on the 5am train. Bags of time. Get to the airport, fight with the baggage check-in self-service kiosk (win!) then go past security super quickly. So far, so good. My flight to Brussels was uneventful, but that’s when all hell broke loose.

My flight landed at 9:35, and my flight to Canada was starting to board at 930. I could still have made it, but there was a complete and utter border checkpoint shambles in between. Even with shameless queue jumping, I didn’t make it in time for my gate. The flight closed only a few minutes before I managed to make it to the gate. The staff at the airport were like, don’t worry, they know there are late people, they’ll wait. They didn’t. I missed my flight. But I could still see it just outside the window, still connected to the ramp. So close, yet do far.

Enter circles of airport/airline hell.

First rung of airport hell was getting my suitcase back. That took about an hour – which given the number of lost bags that were piling up, is probably a small miracle nonetheless.

Second level of airport hell: customer service counters. Now comes the part of trying to rebook a connecting flight. See, the 1st leg of the flight was operated by Brussel Airways. The 2nd leg was Air Canada. After waiting in 2 different queues, I get a lady-just-about-to-close-her-window service agent. She looks at my boarding passes and smiles because she’s still going to be able to go on break soon. You see, sir, Brussels airways says that even though the flight was late by a couple of minutes, I still had more than 50 minutes to make my connection, that’s their contractual obligation, and they’re not responsible for airport delays, so I need to deal with Air Canada.

Air Canada, joyously, doesn’t have a service desk at the airport.

I need to call them.

Enter third level of airline hell: phone support.

At the time or writing this post, I’ve been on hold for over two hours. (2h20, to be exact). It was a solid hour and a quarter before I actually spoke to a human being. The rest has been trying to figure what my options are. Which seem to be very few. It would seem that AAAAAALLLLLL flights out of Brussel going even remotely to Canada are booked solid until the 4th – Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Quebec. So now I’m trying to get myself back to Switzerland, lick my wounds and deal with the fallout. It’s still not clear just how much out of pocket I’m going to be on this.

Update at 3h mark: Possible moderate success – since I’ve already started the trip, the flight is not cancellable nor refundable but I can keep the remaining legs as “credits”, usable up to July next year. I’m hoping to be able to use the BRU-YUL portion of this aborted trip to pay for a flight back to GVA, and then I’d still have the YUL-GVA portion as credit I can use until July of 2023.

The lady on the phone has been super helpful, and I repeatedly told her so.

Update several hours later, once I’ve finally been able to pee, sit, eat and drink something. From reading up on the interwebs, it seems that Brussels is a known shitshow for passport control. This is a picture from a few years ago, but history repeats as it was the exact same spot I was in.

And this is a news blurb from a few weeks ago:

Passengers traveling through Brussels Airport, Belgium towards a non-Schengen destination were forced to enter a lengthy queue at passport control. “While Federal Police carried out the necessary but time-consuming passport controls, a technical problem also affected the airport’s e-gates, a system that mechanically reads out the passports. Passengers for non-Schengen destinations are advised to come well ahead, i.e. 3 hours in advance,” the airport tweeted.

Between 50,000 and 70,000 passengers are expected to depart from Brussels Airport daily during the summer months. 66 destinations are non-Schengen. People were complaining about kilometer-long queues and 4h delays…

Now I just have 3 hours to kill before I fly to Zurich, then Geneva.

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My slow descent into OS X reinstall madness

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Ben inadvertently clicked to install a security update no his macbook – which turned out to be a full Big Sur upgrade. Even though it can, theoretically run it, in practice he keeps the HDD so full of crap that there isn’t any room to update properly and then everything falls over. I’ve already had to do one full reinstall, and even though I was kinda-sorta more clued in to what I needed to do, the damn thing fought me all along the way. I ended up staying up until 1am this morning, trying to get it fixed. Booting from USB barfed just near the end because of corrupted media. Recovery-over-the-internet gave an alphabet soup of error codes. I managed to recover an old TimeMachine backup from my old mac – but then realized that I didn’t remember my account password.

I started again this morning with a clearer head. I managed to download Catalina and create new boot media during the night last night. This morning, I tried to force reinstall, and that sort of worked, except it upgraded the version I couldn’t log into. I nuked that installation and then started the installation from USB.

IT. TOOK. FOREVER.

The time estimation is a joke.

It stayed at “3 minutes remaining” for just under an hour.

And then just like that, it started to do something again. Ben’s screen is a toxic waste dump.

And again, it got stuck at “3 minutes remaining” for about 30-40 minutes again.

And huzzah, I got it working. The 1st thing I did was to take a full TimeMachine backup so that if/when he borks it again, I have a stable restore point – because if I have to go through this shit again, the macbook will take a flying leap out the patio door.

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The daily frustration ?

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Last night, Katy and I (sever times) : do you have anything to do for this morning?

Ben: no.

This morning, Ben : I have math and German stuff to finish for today.

Me : but you said last night that you didn’t have anything.

Ben : No!!!! I said so, but you ignored me, like you always do.

…..

Ben : I don’t understand how to do this

Me : trying to explain.

Ben : NO!!!! THAT’S NOT HOW WE DO IT!

……

FML.

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Mistakes were made

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Well fuck.

I’m one fell swoop, I managed to delete 1.7TB of data from my media streaming PC. I was trying to do something that would save me a few MB, if that, and fix a minor source of irritation. It ended up biting me quite stupendously in the ass.

Note to future self. When using Linux 1-liners,please be wary of positional arguments and always RTFM!

find /multimedia -name *.txt -delete

: removes all text files found under path /multimedia

find -delete /multimedia -name *.txt

: removes 1.7 TB of data

From the find(1) man:

Warnings: Don’t forget that the find command line is evaluated as an expression, so putting -delete first will make find try to delete everything below the starting points you specified.

And then you cry.

But what about your backup, you ask? Well, I do have one, but it’s 6-month out of date, which is not a major thing, and it’s also currently in a location that is difficult to access. Alternative measures are being taken to restore the data.

It’s not a critical loss. I’ll get most, if not all, the data back. Its just incredibly frustrating and involved a serious sphincter-clench, followed by an Oh-shit-I’m-stupid moment I could have done without.

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Browsing a website on your phone in 2018

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Okay, I’ll accept cookies.
Yeah, okay, I’ll disable my adblocker.
No, I don’t want to sign up for your newsletter.
No, I don’t want to sign in with Facebook.
No, I don’t want push notifications.
No, I don’t want to bookmark your site.
No, don’t allow location services.
OMG why is my phone buzzing constantly.
Franticly mute sound for autoplay videos.
Close popup ad tab.
Read 3 paragraph article split over 15-page slideshow.
Close tab.
Close previously missed popunder ad tab.

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