Ron In Israel

Content Not Available From Your Location

2011-12-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

Here is something I don't understand, " Content Not Available From Your Location". Websites won't let me view or listen to content because I am out of the United States. I can list 40 different websites that will give me access to the content that they are refusing me access to, and all it is doing is causing more piracy and more resentment.

I would gladly pay for Netflix streaming, or Amazon, or Hulu, but since these short sighted people with no knowledge of how the internet works decided to block content based on my IP location, I can no longer watch what I want to watch. do they really think that they are winning this battle? do they really think that the average web user will just give up and not look for the content on other non-authorized sites? Pathetic. I just tried watching the highlights of an NHL game on ESPN.com and I was told "Not Available", why not? What could possible be the reason? A TV show or movie I understand their paranoia (even though I don't agree), but an NHL game which finished 12 hours ago? Who are they kidding!!!???

Not only that, but radio stations are now blocked! Who is the genius who that of that one? What possible reason could there be to block USA talk radio from the international market? Makes no sense to me on any level.

Israeli consumers suffer from lack of choice and high prices.

2011-11-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

I just got back from America, and I was guilty of a favorite past time of mine - bad mouthing Israeli commerce (or lack of). I still find it difficult to buy anything in Israel, from clothing to electronics, and here is why.

Here I will list what I believe are Israel's problems, some are addressable, some are insurmountable. Keep in mind that I am not an expert or an economist and anyone is free to post in comments how they agree or disagree.

1. Taxation - ever wonder how much you are actually taxed while living in Israel? around 40%-50% right off the top of all gross income goes to taxes. Almost everything you buy has a VAT (value added tax) added onto it around %15. Almost all items imported have some sort of tax, cars are taxed at 75%-100% of their value! Basically, the government is taking anywhere from 60%-75% of your gross earnings. These are rough numbers, I am not an economist, and I may be wrong, but if you can prove me otherwise, please do in comments. One simple way to reduce prices is to stop redistributing the wealth of the average Israeli. These taxes are mainly to pay for the defense budget and wealth redistribution. We do not need to fund social services so heavily, those that do not want to work by choice should not be receiving redistributed income in the form government benefits.

2. Isolated Economy - I have been involved in exporting (from USA to the rest of the world) and people sometime make comments like, "I wish Israel had a Target or a Walmart", and I do my best to explain to them why this most likely would never happen. Let's take any other country in the Middle East as an example. If a wholesaler of floor fans wants to do business in the Mid East he does his best to take advance orders, then brings in containers of fans to a central distribution point in the Mid East, like Dubai, and then they proceed to distribute throughout the whole Mid East.
From Dubai distributors can ship to countless countries, and even reshuffle over stock from one country to the next without having to worry about repackaging and relabeling. This gives the importer greater security, greater buying power, and more ability to negotiate with the Chinese manufacturer to get lower pricing.
Israel is a relatively small and isolated economy, once the goods are in Israel, there is no financial alternative other than to sell them. No one dumps merchandise, no closeouts, no selling overstock internationally. Items that have Hebrew packaging can't be moved to Saudi Arabia to be sold, can't end up in Jordan, over stock can't be sent to Egypt. Items end up here and need to be sold at full price no matter what, otherwise, chances are the importer would lose money.

3. Government Regulation - The government puts up many hurdles regarding importing, especially electronics. Most people don't realize this, but every electronic item shipment for resale (and others as well) has to go through special testing and deemed safe for the Israeli consumer. These tests are done by the Standards Institution of Israel מכון התקנים(click on link for a taste of the craziness). This is a very expensive hurdle, and prevents people from bringing in smaller shipments. For example, someone wants to import 12 rechargeable flashlights for resale has to pay the same certification fee as someone who wants to bring in a container. And once he sells out of those 12 lights he has to pay the same fee for the next 12 lights, even though they are exactly the same lights!

This from the above linked website - I highlighted the important part

Goods embodying the highest danger level to public health and safety. For example: children’s toys, electrical home appliances, pressure vessels, portable foam fire extinguishers. No changes will occur with respect to issuing a certificate of conformity to the standard for release from customs. That is, an examination of each shipment is still a requirement for release from customs.

It is cost prohibitive for someone trying to bring in smaller shipments, and therefore smaller retailers have no options for importing items independently, and they are forced to buy from the larger importers. This leads to monopolies where only the larger importers who know the ins and outs of the importing bureaucracy can afford to bring items in. Monopolies lead to less options, and higher prices, and lower quality goods (walk into any Ace for an example). Us as consumers suffer, and we see higher prices as a result.

How to make it better? There is nothing Israel can do about being isolated and alone in the Mid East, so most of point number 2 needs to accepted as is. Number 1, the solution is relatively simple; lower taxes, and let the free market economy redistribute the wealth on it's own, without the help of the government.

Number 3, and this is the most important, get rid of the importing hurdles! I have dealt with a lot of countries int he past, and the only country that is more difficult to work with in regards to importing is Brazil. Brazil deliberately caps imports, and makes it difficult to import any goods. Brazil does this in order to protect their local manufacturing, which unlike Israel's is relatively capable; this capping is actually noble (if not wrong and misguided). Israel's placing of these numerous hurdles hurts the consumer, by nature only protects the larger conglomerates, which then stifles competition, which then leads to monopolies, which then leads to no choices for the consumer. And of course the more hurdles there are, the more bureaucrats are needed to enforce them, which leads to larger government, which then leads to more thumb twiddling, thumb twiddling inevitably then leads to more regulation since the bureaucrats need to show that they are actually working, and the cycle repeats itself!

And now the biggest problem is that El Al just changed their luggage policy which means I can only travel with one suit case. That means that I can't buy as much as I used to from America and bring it back with me to Israel. It actually forces me to consider buying certain items here in Israel. The conspiracy is growing!!!

My Iphone's home bottun doesn't take me home

2011-11-10T07:38:00.000-08:00

The home button on my Iphone doesn't work. Say what you want about Blackberry's at least they always seem to work!

Balckberry Roaming while in Israel - DON'T DO IT!

2011-07-18T03:02:00.001-07:00

As far as I know the only company that has a special data roaming plan is AT&T. I know Verizon and T-Mobile recently dropped Israel from their roaming plans, so if you plan on traveling check ahead to be sure you are not going to get killed by data roaming charges. There are some caveats - some plans will only allow you to send and receive emails, but no longer allow web browsing, just be sure you know what your service provider allows. This goes for Iphones as well.

Some misconceptions about roaming - Using your phone on Wifi while in Israel will not cause roaming charges! Just be sure that under connection settings you un-check your mobile network as soon as you turn on your phone, or do it on the plane before you leave your home country. Even better, ALWAYS keep the "Roaming Data" feature disabled on your phone to avoid accidental data usage while roaming. The second you suck down one email onto your BB while roaming you will pay through the nose. Once the mobile network is unchecked, go ahead and scan for wireless networks and email all you want for free.

Prepaid Blackberry plan in Israel

2011-07-18T02:57:00.000-07:00

I don't have a huge amount of details, but I think there might be some good news for those of you with Blackberry's that don't want to get screwed. Orange now has a plan for Blackberry's for under 100 shekel a month (I believe 80 NIS) that works similar to a prepaid plan. You do not need an Israeli ID, and the data is capped, but it should be enough to get you your email, BBM, and limited web browsing. All you will need is an unlocked Blackberry that is GSM capable and you should be good to go. I will try and find out more info when I get a chance, happy roaming!

iPhone and Blackberry - I broke down and got an IPHONE 4!

2011-07-08T02:49:00.000-07:00

I finally did it, I cracked and bought an iPhone. I was able to get a pretty good deal at Orange and that let me finally dump Cellcom. I went into Orange to buy the phone and, told the nice young lady what I was looking for and the deadpanned the question, "how will I get screwed this time?" and she promised me that I would not. Well I found out afterwards from a friend who works in Orange that I did manage to get screwed! They switched iPhones on me and gave me the 16gb instead of the 32gb which comes with the deal.
So here is the deal they gave me -
1000 minutes
1000 sms
Free GPS (which I use)
Free TV (which is pretty cool, I can watch CNN any where)
2 gb data (not so great, but I have 5gb on Blackberry that I can use as well making for a combined 7gb for a month of mobile data - more than enough)

All this for 250 Shek a month, a free phone, 3 years of payments on the phone - Not bad I think. Just make sure they give you the 32gb phone!

My impressions (complaints) after having the iPhone for a month
1. Battery life sucks - I am constantly turning off 3g, wifi, and Bluetooth to extend the battery life, I want a phone that just works and doesn't require me to fiddle with the settings all day long! Would love a 3g/wifi toggle on the home screen, but alas Mr. Jobs has thought it wasn't needed.

2. Touch screen typing sucks! I don't care what they say, I will never get proficient at it. I need the tactile feel of a real keypad.

3. Auto correct sucks and I can't seem to figure it out so I just shut it off, and once you shut off auto correct then by default spell check shuts off as well, so that's no good. Luckily I am a gud speler.

It is not a business machine, it is a toy, there is definitely things that I love about it and I like knowing that in 3 years it will not be obsolete like certain Android devices. I feel that the Blackberry and iPhone together make for the perfect combination, but I would still love to have it all in one perfect phone instead of having to carry around both like I do now.

I Steered Another One Away From Mazda Talpiot!

2010-08-26T01:32:00.000-07:00

My grandfather was about to buy a Mazda 3, but I made my brother take him to Mitsubishi instead!

Another one saved from the terror that is Mazda Talpiot!

Mazda 5 Power Steering Failure

2010-08-09T14:31:00.001-07:00

The Mazda 5 2008 (maybe others) has a known issue with the power steering and it is a warranty repair. Only problem is that you need to force them to acknowledge it (at least here in Israel). I for one had to take a video of the steering dieing on me in order for them to agree to change the pump. It will usually die out in hot weather while idling for more than 10 minutes. Problem was that it was hard to replicate for the mechanic so they didn't want to fix it until I came back a second time with video proof. Video is below.

Customer Service

2010-08-09T14:10:00.000-07:00

I am beginning to notice a small trend here in Beit Shemesh, when you feel as a customer that you were wronged in a retail location, and you take your case to the management of the retail location, they actually listened.

Recently this happened to me a couple of times:

Went to the hardware store to buy 2 large ceiling fans, spent a couple of hours installing both of them (on my own I might add) and then after a couple days one of them starts to click. It is fairly annoying so I take the thing down, spray some WD40 on the motor and voila, the clicking returns! I learned a new lesson here in Israel that seems to work pretty well; in general Israeli's like to argue, so you need to kill their argument before it starts - I take out my cell phone and record a short video of what the problem is before going into the store. This worked when my power steering died and it also worked now. I filmed the fan on with the clicking sound, took the fan down and then went to the hardware store. I showed the video, and like magic they gave me a new fan. I was in complete shock, I was expecting a fight! But no, instead I got a new fan and left happy.

Next - I repaired a phone at Cellcom (I still hate the company, don't ask) and I am 95% certain that instead of repairing my phone, they just gave me a used one. I am fine with that, only problem was that they also gave me a dead battery when the phone I gave them had an almost new battery. After 6 months I finally got around to taking it into them, I wasn't expecting much, maybe a good deal on a new battery, in all fairness I did wait a long time to come back. The guy goes in his drawer and pulls out a new battery, no questions asked! I was in massive shock, so much so I called 5 people to tell them what happened.

Don't get me wrong, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done, like when a couple of months ago I tried to get Office Depot to take back a broken USB adaptor, I actually called the police to get the manager to listen to me. That was a little extreme, but it worked. Lesson learned there - return something at closing time and threaten not to leave until you get your way.

Mazda post been receiving a lot of attention

2010-08-09T01:42:00.000-07:00

For some reason, almost a year and a half after the fact people still are finding the post interesting and pertinent. You would think that with over 500 page views a month someone from Delek Motors would make an effort to address the customer service issues.

Just got back from Nuremberg and Zurich - Part 1

2010-03-21T08:14:00.000-07:00

I just took my wife on our first vacation without the kids since we had kids. Our first time alone together for more than 12 hours in over 5 years!!! Can you believe that?

Zurich was nice, but as a Jew who grew up with the Holocaust ingrained into his psyche, whose grandfather is a 95 year old survivor of Birkenau that came face to face with Dr. Death (Mongele), and watched his family get killed, I got to tell you, it is tough going to Germany. It is even harder trying to have a good time while there. Shame, the place has a lot of potential I think.

I had to go for work, so my grandfather understood and gave me his guarded blessing, but I decided to take the wife along with me for the trip and stop in Zurich for the first 4 days before Germany. On my way to Zurich a funny thing happened on the way to the plane. I flew El Al, and flying to and from Europe they are very tough on luggage weight limits. No more than 2o kilo allowed per person as well as 8 kilos for carry-ons. In contrast to flying to and from the USA you are allowed around 40 kilo a person plus carry-ons.

I get to the check in and of course I pick the longest line - on a side note, no matter where I go in life, I always pick the longest line; it is not even funny anymore, just pathetic and sad. I will go through a toll plaza in the middle of nowhere New Jersey, and even though there are only 2 cars ahead of me, the line with 20 cars next to me gets through first. I go through a border checkpoint, same thing, I am the first one in, last one out. The best time witness the phenomena is always in the market, I get to the checkout line behind every lady in the city who decides to pay with coupons and checks. For some reason here in Israel they do not bag your groceries, so the checkout lady will glare at you to hurry up after she dumped a shopping cart worth of groceries behind her into the bagging area and that you are now expected to bag in under 90 seconds. So the lady takes forever at the checkout with price checks, coupons, checks, and then they need to bag their own junk all the while you stand there biting your lip looking at the guy who got in the line to the right of you at the exact same time yet manages to leave 20 minutes before you - BUT I DIGRESS

SOOOOOOOOO after waiting 30-45 minutes in line this elderly lady tries to check in what had to be 2 bags of bricks. I have no clue what could have been in them, but I chivalrously helped her lift her sack of cement onto the scale when she was struggling. The El Al check in lady was having nothing of it and charged her the $20 a kilo overage (which probably came to $19,200) and then she made her weigh her carry on which probably weighed just as much as the much larger bag. That carry on probably cost her another $17,000 - BUT I DIGRESS (isn't digress a great word?)

This check in lady is out for blood, she is weighing everything and after arguing for 15 minutes with this lady who happened to be right before me I knew I was going to be in trouble. I weighed my luggage at home a couple of hours earlier at 4:00 am, and we started out at like 32 and 25 kilo on our 2 suitcases. My boss made clear that stuff for the business was a must go and my stuff came secondary. So that means that I had tons of samples and catalogs and I had to dump a lot of other non essential stuff in order to bring them down to 20 kilo each. Unfortunately non-essentials was toiletries like cologne, pajama sweat pants, boots, pants, sweaters, winter wind breaker, etc etc, who needs those things any way in the middle of a European winter any way? My plan was to stuff the little carry-ons with really heavy stuff like catalogs and hope that they wouldn't weigh them at check in since they were so small. I had 3 carry on bags full of catalogs even though I was only allowed two, and two suit cases at 20 kilo each.

At the last minute while waiting in line with the check-in lady from hell I devise a plan, The luggage carts at Ben Gurion have a little hook on the back of them with an add blocking the hook so from the front if something is hanging off the hook, you can't see it as the add blocks it. I hang one of the over-weight carry-ons on the hook, and cover it with my big rain coat (which I was forced to wear to the airport and on the plane due to the aforementioned weight issue) draping over the front and the back of the cart, and I started to pray that she wouldn't ask to weigh the back packs.

I get up to my turn and said the following - "Some people just don't know how to follow the rules and check the weight before they leave" and I immediately follow it up with, "This is my wife's and mine first trip alone together in 5 years, we are so excited!" I figured that with a line like that she would take sympathy on us. I weigh the two suitcases and we come in both at 21-22 kilo each, and she let that slide, then came the big question, "Do you guys have any carry on luggage?" I of course say, "Yes, just these two small backpacks", she bought it, she didn't even bother to weigh them (like she did for everyone before us). I think what did it was the fact they were so small, who would be stupid enough to carry 8 kilo in a small backpack? And to that I answer proudly - I would be stupid enough!

Browser Wars

2010-02-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

I look at my site traffic and i see this over a period of 30 days

Firefox		43.96%
Internet Explorer		33.98%
Chrome		12.43%
Safari		6.30%
Opera		1.58%

They say that IE is leading in the war, doesn't seem that way to me.

Cellcom CEO Amos Shapira's Email Address is...

2010-01-31T06:26:00.000-08:00

AMOSSH@cellcom.co.il

I usually refuse to give out addresses, but I think that as paying consumers we might be able to introduce change. I want everyone of you who has ever had a horrible customer service experience with Cellcom (which is probably most of you) to email Amos and let him know how you feel. Let them know that you spend an average 150 Shekel a month (or whatever it is) and you DEMAND customer SERVICE! As the captain of this ignorant ship, he deserves to know how the ship is leaking oil and running aground.

Here is the captain of the ship's first officer, Meir Barav on Facebook, he is "Head of Customer Service" over at Cellcom.
http://www.facebook.com/
Do they sit around at Cellcom and dream up ways to screw their customer base? I wonder what this guy really gets paid to do over there as Head of lack of Customer Service. From his Facebook pic he looks very smug, he didn't even have the beitzim to respond to my message last year when Amos did. Send him a message as well if you are on Facebook, let him know how much you approve of his job! Amos, let me know if you want to replace him, I think I have some better ideas on how to run your customer service department, heck, I can't do a worse job than Meir even if I tried.

We need to start a movement here in Israel, the movement of YES כֵּן!. We, as consumers, as the ones who pay these people's bills, need to train Israeli customer (lack of) service representatives what is means to provide the service that we as the consumer are actually paying for. Instead of saying NO automatically to every request made, we demand that they tell us YES כֵּן!. Simple and hopeful, sometimes I dream, but imagine if 5% then 10% then 20% of the consumer base started demanding YES, maybe they might listen?

If there are any printer or button companies out there reading this and would like to sponsor a bunch of little pins and flyers please let me know, I am open to donations to help get this movement off the ground :-)

Shabbos in Las Vegas

2010-01-31T02:17:00.001-08:00

I spent the Shabbos before last in Las Vegas and sat through a Shabbaton dealing with the "purpose" and "meaning" of it all. I hate Existentialism - I see people in their 60's at the Shabbaton sitting there trying to "get it", trying to understand the meaning of life. I used to be into all those things, looking for the truth, trying to figure it all out, what's our purpose, then I got a little older, had kids, lost a ton of money, drive carpool, LIVED LIFE. Then I realized, what does it all matter? I can be deeper than the next guy, but after a certain point you need stop looking for the meaning and just enjoy and live life. If at 60 you are still looking for the meaning and purpose of it all then you have not really lived life to the fullest, life is what happens while you are not paying attention. What's the purpose? Who cares??!! Just live!!

Traffic up

2010-01-31T01:44:00.001-08:00

I think it is pretty cool to see that traffic has almost doubled on the blog over the past couple of months, I have went from 6 readers to 12!! Woo Hoo!!

Just Got Back from America

2010-01-31T00:56:00.001-08:00

I was in the States for the past couple of weeks and here are some new things that I hate about air travel and traveling in general.

1. US Airways now charges you $15 to switch your seat from a middle seat to an aisle seat. Can you believe that? The lady at the counter actually was able to say it with a straight face as well! They also charged me $65 to check in 2 bags, but seeing as the ticket was $60 cheaper that others the baggage fee didn't bug me too much.

2. If your three remaining clean shirts that you need for important meetings get wet and covered in a brown residue due to airline carelessness while handling your luggage in the rain, you are officially screwed and on your own while trying to a find an open Macy's before your 10:00 am meeting.

3. If you land in any of three major NYC area airports - JFK, La Guardia, Newark, be prepared for obnoxious service from anyone who works in customer service, especially at the rental car counters at 2:00 am. Guaranteed, every time I land on the east coast and rent a car I get Miss or MR Nasty at the counter!

4. If a hotel (Treasure Island) promises you that the hold they are placing on your card is temporary - IT IS NOT. Thank the good Lord for being able to dispute charges in the USA; in Israel I would have to eat the $150 charge on my own.

5. Even though I didn't fly Southwest I am VERY impressed by their customer service. I booked a one way ticket from LAX to Philadelphia (which included 2 free pcs of luggage) for $260 4 days before departure. I went to see if I could cancel the flight since I decided it would be easier on my schedule if I flew into Newark instead. I called within 24 hours and they said "We will gladly refund your purchase". I think it was because it was within 24 hours of buying the ticket, needless to say I was very impressed!

6. Flying Elal was a relatively painless process as well (for the first time EVER).

Motti Mittldorf

2009-12-31T23:19:00.000-08:00

My friend Moti Mittldorf is a good guy, he wants me to mention him and his company on my blog since he wants free advertising. So if you need online data backup for your data visit www.onlinebackupvault.com. I promise I have not been paid for this service! I am not a sellout!

More 012 and HOT Drama

2009-12-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is my actual set up, I keep it hidden behind the cabinet, but for this occasion I let it be seen in all of it's glory.

Last week I called 012 Smile (ironic name if you ask me) and they gave me nothing to smile about. I was determined to find out why I pay for 5mb upload (guaranteed) but am only getting 1-2 mb. Of course, the second I plug everything in with them on the phone my speed is in the 5-6mb range. So I then think it is my router and I do everything in my power to diagnose. I started at 3pm and ended at 10:30pm after talking to them numerous times. I tried 2 different routers, 3 different computers, and fought off every attempt that they made to try to blame my network. I was successful, and they admitted that it may be my user name and login causing problems. They told me to call back the next day and request a new one.

I call back the next day, request a new one and I am told "NO". I proceeded to then lose it with them in a very loud and profanity laced tirade. I was sick of it, of them always passing the buck, of them always blaming everyone else except their own horrible network. I explained to the man that I spent many hours on the phone diagnosing and I was not about to go through the process again with him - JUST GIVE ME MY FREAKIN USER NAME AND PASSWORD!

I don't know why this is so hard, just assign a new one, finished. He then gave me a new password saying I didn't need a new user name and I laid into him asking him "how stupid do you think I am, I want a new USER NAME as well".

After a half hour of threatening and screaming like a baby (it is amazing how low Israeli customer service can make one sink) I got what I wanted, a new user name and password. Now here is the fun part, my speed still sucked!

Turns out the problem is with HOT, the do not have enough bandwidth to support Beit Shemesh. This sucks.

Blackberry Outage - Again

2009-12-23T01:03:00.000-08:00

As a die hard Blackberry user I can tell you that it hurts a lot when you Blackberry dies or stops working. At first I though it was just my phone, and that really ticked me off, then I started speaking to some friends of mine and found out it was a whole network outage. I felt better knowing everyone else was down and it was not just me :-)

I still think it is the best service out there and I am willing to put up with a network outage now and then. It is a little troubling that it has happened twice in one week, but assuming it happens on average once every 6 months, that is well within my range of acceptability. I think what the carriers should do is offer everyone some sort of free gift or credit for the failures, make up for the loss of my Crackberry.

Israeli Internet Service

2009-12-13T00:17:00.000-08:00

There are stories that happen daily in my life that I wish I would have the time to write about. One such story is trying to upgrade my internet speed from 1.5mb to 7mb. For those of you that don't understand what that means, think of it as driving speed, I wanted to go from 15 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour. The higher the speed, the faster you can download.

For some unknown reason, Israel requires you to book your internet connection through one company, then you need to also register through an ISP. As far as I know there are only 2 internet providers, one is Bezeq for DSL and the other is HOT for cable.

Once one of those two companies installs your line you then need to call a sapak, or ISP and book your speed of service. Once you book your speed and type of service you want, you then need to call back to Bezeq, or HOT and tell them the plan that you signed up for with your ISP.

This system is supposed to protect the consumer from 2 companies having monopolies over the internet in Israel, instead it just causes more confusion and heartache.

Why is that you ask? Simple, you spend hours negotiating with one company, since nothing is written in stone, and they make up the rates as they go. Then you need to negotiate with the next company AFTER you already signed up with the first. So basically, you negotiated what you think is a sweet deal with your ISP and lock yourself into a one year contract, then you call HOT or Bezeq and since you already stuck in one deal they know that they can then screw you for the second half of your deal.

you have no choice then but to sign up and take it. I got a rate from HOT company, I spent an hour negotiating said rate. They took notes and put into the computer, then I called 012 Smile (ISP) and negotiated a rate with them and signed on for a one year contract. When I called back to HOT to close the deal I negotiated an hour earlier, I was told no such deal existed - classic bait and switch.

In the end I got to speak to a supervisor a day later and I got what I wanted, but it wasn't the same deal I negotiated, that one magically disappeared.

Lesson learned, watch your back when swimming with untrustworthy sharks in the Israeli internet industry.

Unlock a Blackberry or any other phone in Israel

2009-11-20T00:24:00.000-08:00

Cellcom and others in Israel will charge 150 Shek to unlock a phone. This is theivery and should not be allowed, but we as consumers are suckers for things we do not understand.

Here is a quick and easy tip to unlock your phone.

Goto Ebay

Type in the search box "unlock phone" - put your phone name and model number in there as well. For example, I own a Blackberry Bold, so I would put it -
"unlock blackberry bold".

Find the lowest price (a friend of mine just found someone for $2.50) and highest rated person offering unlock services. You need to find the one that will allow you to email your IMEI # to them and then they will email you back the unlock code.

You IMEI code is the individual ID # that every phone has, do Google search with these terms - "how do I find my -insert your cell phone's name here - IMEI #"

Once you are armed with this info you will need to send it over the person who will unlock your phone. Do another Google search on how to put it in your unlock code and you are all set!

Just follow the instructions and you will have saved 140 Shekel.

I hope this was clear, please comment with any questions.

Another Mazda 5 Israel Update - Mitsubishi Grandis now available!

2009-11-20T00:18:00.000-08:00

I am proud to say that based on the public response to my Mazda 5 Israel post, I think I have steared at least 50 Mazda 5 car buyers away from Mazda in Talpyot.

Another interesting development is that Mitsubishi is now going head to head with Mazda and released a stripped down version the Grandis for the same price as the Mazda 5. This is good news for car buyers looking for a larger alternative to the 5 but at the same price point as the 5. The engine on the stripped down version of the Grandis is the same as the fully loaded version, but it costs the same as the 5, which is around 130,000 Shek with your oleh rights (155,000 without).

Also note that a stripped down version the Grandis has the same features as a fully loaded "Luxury Edition" of the Mazda 5, pathetic Mazda, just pathetic!

Air France Summary

2009-11-10T22:58:00.001-08:00

I feel I owe a summary of my Air France experience to the blogosphere. Air France does not get a fair shake in the Jewish world for whayever reason when flying from Israel. People are quick to dismiss the airline as horrible, but I am here to proclaim they are not horrible, they are just average!

First leg- Tel Aviv to Paris - horrible, read my previous post.

Second leg - Paris to Los Angeles - awesome, no issues at all. We had great seats, new plane, Boeing 777, tvs at every seat, our own row, no complaints. Security was easy in France, and I was deffinately pleasantly surprised.

On the return we had a similar story, LA to Paris was great, since I was alone with my 5 year old, they gave us the bulk head and we had the only empty seat on the plane next to us.

Paris to Tel Aviv was similar to the first leg, but not as bad since I was more prepared and had a movie ready on my laptop for my 5 year old to watch.

Now for the food - it sucks, be prepared to bring your own food and snacks if traveling with children, as they will complain.

That's it, all in all an average experience, but it was $500 cheaper than El Al so I can't complain. As I always say, if someone offered you $500 to to be uncomfortable for a half a day you would for sure say yes, that is how I view the savings in cheap airfare.

Sent in from my Blackberry

Air France Summary

2009-11-10T22:57:00.001-08:00

Air France sucks

2009-10-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

I just got on the plane and my first impressions are as follows;
Air France sucks
No leg room - AT ALL
I am sitting next to an arm rest hog, hopefully he will read this as I type and move his arm
This is only a four hour flight, thank the Lord - hopefully the France to LA leg will be better

Good news, I think he was reading over my shoulder, he just moved his arm.

Update after I land.

Irony at the Weizman Institute

2009-10-08T05:13:00.001-07:00

I know many people like to say "irony is the most incorrectly used word", to those I say , "well give me a better word and I will use it".

We are at the Weizman Science institute, Israel's version of MIT. They have a children's park, and I goto pay the admission with a credit card. I hear the distinctive buzz of a dial up modem. I ask the guy " isn't this the Weizman Institute? Don't you guys have high speed internet?" He said, "No high speed, but we have a Noble Prize winner".

Sent from my Blackberry

Blackberry Israel - Update

2009-09-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

People have been asking me for a lot of Blackberry advice, and I tell them the same thing, do not buy a Blackberry in Israel! They rip people off!! I just spoke to someone with a Bold the other day, he is paying 150 Shek a month for 100mb on Cellcom - and he can't leave Israel without roaming charges; that is absurd.

Hockey Sticks

2009-09-24T04:22:00.000-07:00

I am very upset!
I use one type of stick, and one type only. The Sherweeod PMP 5030 with a Coffey Curve, Right handed. I have found 30 retailers online selling the left handed version for $19.97, but I can't find any retailers selling the right handed curve version for under $30! This is discrimination on the highest level! Who can I sue?

Ramat Shilo - Update

2009-09-22T00:19:00.000-07:00

I was hesitant to write about a Ramat Shilo on this blog since I knew it would come up in the top 10 on Google. So the question then becomes, what should I write about? no one likes to blog about the positive, it isn't any fun, so instead people like to blog about the negative, stir the pot and give the people a reason to read.

The truth is though that through all the growing pains the community has faced as a whole, it has started to come together. It is a shame that the mayor and those in government openly practice religious discrimination, because if they did not, Ramat Shilo could be an aesthetically beautiful place to live.

There are people (a person) in power who have said in one form or another on many occasions(this is first hand knowledge, not 10 people down the line) that they are not helping or providing services to Ramat Shilo since it is not charedi neighborhood and no one in Ramat Shilo voted for them. If we would like services we should petition other members of goverment who are of like religious affiliation.

I spend money on arnona (property tax)that should be going to my services, but instead the money is being diverted to another entity that gives me no tangible benefits.

Now the powers that be want to build Ramat Gimmel, there is a very simple reason for this - votes. They know that if they add another 5000 families of "like mind" they then have another 10,000 votes; that would be enough for to push them over the top and win re-election in 4.5 years. The only problem is that Ramat Beit Shemesh has been neglected for a number of years, and now Ramat Shilo, so where will they get the funds to complete and sustain Ramat Gimmel? Let's say that there are a majority of houses receiving arnona assistance since for whatever reason they are living below the poverty line, where will the money for Ramat Gimmel services then come from?

It is sad seeing the blatant corruption that takes place here in Beit Shemesh, at least in America politicians are generally embarrassed to openly take bribes, over here in Beit Shemesh it is common knowledge that you need to grease the wheels of the political machine in order to get something done within a normal time frame. I have many more stories that I am not able to publish of first hand accounts regarding the blatant asking and taking of bribes, from the current and past people in city government and even city employees.

Point being this, it is sad how corruption can spoil what has/had the potential to be a wonderful city, this could have been Modiin, but instead it is Newark 30 years ago.

Home

2009-09-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

We are out of the hospital!

Swine Flu - I am quarantined with Binyamin at Sharei Zedek hospital

2009-09-08T03:29:00.001-07:00

Baruch Hashem for my Blackberry or I would be going nuts right now. My friend Moti brought me my charger last night so I am good to go till release time. The title says it all and it makes for a good story. When I have more energy I will tell it.

Ramat Shilo

2009-09-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

There is a lot going on in Ramat Shilo at this time. I really have tried to shy away from writing specifics about the community I live in, but it is just tooooo tempting. I told the wife when we moved that I "would stay of it, I will be an observer", but I don't know how "to stay out of it". My problem is that I am a doer, not a watcher, and that gets me into a lot of trouble at times.

Things I was supposed to watch and not do anything about, but I still got involved in any way:

Fight over the fact that we have no park - still no park, but at least I got to fight.

No gan (kindergarten)for kids - I was on the periphery of this fight and really have nothing to do with the current fight, I took it on for a week 4 months ago while fighting for the park. Outcome is still no gan, but there is a protest tonight and a flat piece of land has been dug out (nothing to do with me). There are many people fighting very hard for this gan, and they are doing an amazing job.

Was on the community shul board about a year ago - lasted one meeting, outcome is that there is still no shul

Asked to head the board (Va'ad)of my apartment building - agreed for 2 days last week, but resigned after realizing that nothing will get done in the building as long as Crazy Joe is living in the building.

Helped start a Chassidish shul - This was really something that just fell into my lap and I am proud of how it has been progressing nicely. We already have a building (caravan), and thanks to the communities financial and moral support, we will G-d willing be moving in this Shabbos. This is the only thing that so far has really turned out the way I like. I think it has to do with the fact that there is no board, other than the Rav. The Rav doesn't need to ask a board to get things done, the Rav suggests how it should be, and the Rav and I pretty much agree on everything so implementing things and effecting change has been very easy. The story of how we actually got this shul built will need to be told one day, it is truly amazing (at least in my opinion).

Bumped into somebody

2009-08-30T04:49:00.000-07:00

I bumped into somebody today and he mentioned he didn't but a Mazda 5 because of "this blog he read". He was shocked to find out it was me, I turned someone away from Mazda Israel! I win!

Another Blackberry Israel update - How to actually buy one from the US to use in Israel

2009-07-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

I just cut my Cellcom phone bill down to 200 Shek a month from 450 Shek a month by getting rid of data, and all the other junk I no longer need or use. I am doing everything in my power to be done with that evil company. With all the money I am saving I am now spending it on the Blackberry Bold. The BB is costing me a little more a month but it is well worth every extra penny. I heard Cellcom (as well as Orange) now do a BB for around 300 Shek a month without international service, for the same price from the USA you can have an 5 GB anywhere in the world - no roaming and not have to pay money to the Israeli cellphone mafia for their over priced phones. Based on my past experience buying a phone here in Israel, I am guessing a BB would run close to 4000 Shek here in Israel. Where in the US with a 24 month contract it will run you around $100 after rebates.

There are many obvious benefits towards buying a BB anywhere in the world other than Israel. I just paid my first bill of $69.00without any surprises, I will be more confident when I see my next bill and the actual international data charges. It just seems that my data usage at 56mb through the 19th of July as being just too low. It could be that since I am roaming on Orange (whose network I am on while in Israel) they don't send real time data usage, only at the end of the month, to AT&T. This is all speculation of course, I am just used to nothing working right the first time here in Israel.

How does one get a data only BB from AT&T in the USA? Up until 2-3 months ago anyone could get one, but recently they changed it to only business accounts. I am assuming this was done since it is most likely a money losing venture. For some reason international phone companies gouge eachother when others want to share their networks. 5GB in Israel could cost AT&T a pretty penny, but I guess they figure that business accounts use so many other services they could offer it as a loss leader of sorts. This is all on some level speculation on my part, but it is something that was confirmed to me by an AT&T store manager.

Getting a business account is tricky, you need to have a USA Federal Tax ID number. I was fortunate enough to have had access to a few through my parents' businesses and even then the process was a headache. They will not let you have this easily, they are very strict about who gets a business account as fraud is rampant.

Be prepared to have all of the business information with you as well as your information as well since they may require you to put a personal guarantee on the phone to avoid leaving a $250 depost. They might even go so far as to request that you fax in past utility bills from the business to them for verification. Also remember that you will be setting up the account as a regular account then you will need to speak to a "special" department that just handles international data on BB's. This part is tricky and I felt like I was being admitted into a secret exclusive club. They make you go through all sorts of hurdles when trying to activate a stand alone data BB without a phone plan associated with it. You need to make sure that once the business account is set up that you get transfered to the "International Roaming Department" and have that feature added to your account and everything else removed. Since you will not have a phone plan, you will need to have call barring set up on your phone, since all calls cost $.60 a minute without a plan even if you don't answer the phone. You need to take off voicemail as well, since that also will cost $.60 a minute if someone calls you accidently and leaves a VM.

I know this sounds like a huge headache, and let me tell you, it is! But if you have a whole afternoon, a Fed Tax ID and patience it is worth it.

On a final note, I met with Sprint and they said they could do international roaming for individuals, not only businesses, problem with them is that their phones don't accept SIMs. I was told that Sprint has a new BB called the TOUR coming up with UMTS/HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM connectivity and that will also act as world phone. If you have US Social Security # it might worth your time to look into that option. It is probably the option that I should have taken, but for some reason I really wanted a phone that accepts a SIM card, and I did not want to wait till the end of the summer, I was in the US then and did not know when I would be coming back.

Here is a head to comparison between the BOLD and the TOUR. The BOLD has 1gb of on board memory and that is very important to me. The TOUR and the BOLD are basically the same except for me 2 features that I require are missing from the TOUR- a SIM card, and 1gb of internal memory. I am happy I got the BOLD. Feel free to decide for yourself, here is the link from Blackberry.com comparing the two phones.
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/compare/product-attr-compare.jsp?products=1667&products=946

Bold on top Tour on the bottom - I prefer the Bold

I am in love

2009-07-07T01:03:00.000-07:00

As many of you know there is absolutely no love lost between Cellcom and me. They are the devil reincarnated, I despise the company with ever fiber of my being.

Recently on a trip to the United States I set out to get a Blackberry since my Samsung Blackjack is the worst phone ever created. I went to numerous stores and went through numerous headaches, but I settled on a Blackberry Bold.

I shouldn't say settled, since that sounds like I really didn't have a choice and I was forced into it, like when I purchased my Blackjack. In reality, the Bold found me, and it has been heaven ever since.

Read my review of the Blackjack from a year ago here-
Windows Mobile vs Blackberry, this was before I despised the phone, only disliked it.

The Blackjack refuses to work, not for any software or hardware glitches, just because it was and is an inferior machine. I wasn't able to send or receive any emails since it constantly was at full memory. I deleted everything possible that wasn't essential but it still was always at memory full. I never had that issue with the Pearl, -and it had the exact same amount of memory, 64mb. The Blackjack was and is a poorly designed machine who's software was and is not compatible with the hardware. With memory so cheap today I don't know why phone manufactures stuff their phones with only 64-128mb of memory, it inherently turns smart phones into stupid phones. Imagine if as a human you had to erase everything you learned the day before, that is essentially what these phones with limited memory are being asked to do every day. PATHETIC!

I had a few requirements when buying my new phone and the Bold met EVERY SINGLE ONE, how often does that happen?

Had to be GSM and accept a SIM
Minimum 1gb of internal memory
3G/HSDPA
WIFI
Full Qwerty keyboard
No flip parts that break
Decent Camera
Expandable memory slot
NOT BE WINDOWS MOBILE
No touch screen since I feel that they are too clumsy to navigate and type with

Now for plan features
No phone number or phone number contract
No international data roaming charges

I looked everywhere, and the only phone that appears to meet the requirements is the Bold from AT&T; not only does it meet, but it seems to exceed in every category. There was no configuration necessary, I opened it up, turned it on, punched in my email addresses and passwords, and it worked. I was so shocked that I had friends send me multiple test messages since I couldn't understand how something could just work out of the box.

Another awesome thing about the phone which I at first didn't even know it had was 2 browsers. One dedicated to WiFi, and the other dedicated to the mobile network's bandwidth. At first I thought this was stupid, but then as anyone with a Windows Mobile phone can tell you, it is very smart since you never can tell if you are on the WiFi network or not (at least that is true with WM6 on the Blackjack). There is some absurd power saving mode that I could never figure out how to turnoff with WM6 that shuts off the WiFi whenever not in use and doesn't turn on right away when needed. The Bold seems to leav the WiFi on all the time and I have not had a problem with it at all. I go from home to work and it seemlessly logs into each network without issue.

Email is instant, even overseas in Israel which is something I heard in the past was not the case. There is NO delay in email, in fact it is so fast that emails appear on the Bold before they appear in my Outlook inbox at work, and that is set to send and receive every minute. A true work horse - a real business machine.

There is one downside, it seems the browser while on WiFi WM6 is a drop faster, I will need to play with the Bold more to confirm, but for now that seems to be the case. The Bold does a better job at rendering the page smoother and I always felt thatthe rolling mouse ball I is the smartest way to navigate through a phones browser, more so than a touch screen (yes I said it, get over it).

In summary, I can honestly say that this is the first phone I have ever owned that I feel that I did not compromise in any way and meets every single one of my needs, do yourself a favor, go out and buy one.

Skype 4.0

2009-05-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

Do not upgrade to Skype 4.0, it sucks. I found a website that had older versions doing a Google search so I was lucky enough to be able to downgrade. I use Skype every day for 8 hours a day, and I am a pay account, so I consider myself an advanced user; they really dropped the ball on this one. The user interface is horrible, I hope they didn't have to pay the beta testers for this mess.

Cellcom = Fail

2009-05-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it! My first failure. I guess standard rules of customer service don't apply in Israel, I took it all the way to the top and fought hard, but they still said I was responsible for the fees. What a crock of ...

Cellcom Israel EECB Scores a Major Direct Hit - The CEO

2009-01-27T14:23:00.000-08:00

Usually I am not moved by these direct hits, I am usually just very giddy, but this reply I feel was special. Here is someone who as an Israeli has no real incentive to reply; it is the Israeli way to fight, not to reply and not to give in, but here is, Mr. Big Shot replying to one of his 2,500,000 customers. What I find even more distressing is that he replied to me and none of the other 10 people on the board that I emailed even took the time to reply. I don't know why but this EECB feels special.

Dear Ron,

I have read thoroughly your letter to me.

Even without personally knowing the specific facts, I can easily see that you had a frustrating experience with our customers' service, and for that I can only regret.

In order to make sure your complaint gets seriously checked, I am addressing this mail to my executive assistant for customers' matters, so she will check the matter and return with an answer to both you and I.

Thank you for taking the time and approaching me.

Amos

Here was my reply, I wanted him to really understand how much his response meant to me. It will read very suck uppy, but I meant every word.

Mr. Shapira,

I am truly humbled by your reply, thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to reply to the email. The time that you sent it -late in the evening - also shows me that you take these matters to heart and I hope that your dedication to customer service permeates down through to the rest of your company.

One thing I would like to make clear regarding the customer service at Cellcom is that other than never receiving a call back when adamantly promised repeatedly, the experience has been pleasant. The main issue is that the customer service reps seem to be un-knowledgeable about the products which they are supposed to support, and that leads to endless transfers and promises of call backs. They are all very courteous and polite on the phone, but knowledgeable they are not. I apologize for the critisism, it really is not my place to address someone in your position in such a manner, but I feel that as a customer of yours I have a duty to let you know of these things. Maybe it is my fault that I expect an American style of customer service?

I once again thank you for your reply, it shows that you understand that every customer deserves to be treated with respect even if they are one out of 2,500,000.

Thank you,
Ron

Now we wait for the reply...

Cellcom Update

2009-01-26T23:31:00.000-08:00

I found the head of customer service at Cellcom through Google and Facebook. Since I don't have a Facebook I had to message him through Rena's account; she was/is very not happy about this. If this doesn't work I am debating whether or not to post his info here on the blog.

My New Fight - CellCom Israel Trying To Rip Me Off!

2009-01-26T22:47:00.000-08:00

This photo is from the day Cellcom got listed on the NYSE - if you are an investor be wary, they lack customer service skills!

Here is the email I addressed to Amos Shapira, Cellcom Israel CEO (NYSE listed as CEL) and his board of directors this morning. It is pretty self-explanatory, I went away, I knew they would screw me for service, and guess what? They didn't disappoint; at least they are consistent here in Israel.
I wouldn't be surprised if I was the first one to launch an EECB - Executive Email Carpet Bomb - onto Cellcom Israel. It was hard to find the contact info and email format for this one, but I think I scored a direct hit, now let's see if they reply.

Mr. Shapira,

I thought as CEO of Cellcom you might be interested in knowing about the horrid customer service nightmare I am now going through. I know that an important individual such as yourself probably has more things to worry about than 1 account out of 2.5 million, but please keep in mind that in this day and age information spreads rapidly and every account deserves to be treated in a fair and just way.

I believe it was on or around January 12 that I first called Cellcom about me leaving the country for a week. I am an Oleh Chadash and have been living here for about 10 months, and I needed to travel to America for a week and still have access to my email on my Samsung BlackJack. When I lived in America I used to have a Blackberry, and sending and receiving emails internationally was a nominally charged service that I had to register for with T-Mobile, I assumed the same would be true with Cellcom.
My nightmare began when I called Cellcom and was transfered to approximately 7 different people over a period of around 2 hours, 6 of 7 had no knowledge on how to use your cellphones data package overseas. I have a 512mb a month package here in Israel which costs around 80 Shekel a month, and when I finally got through to someone with an answer I was told the same package - 512 mb - to use overseas would cost approximately 7,000 Shekel. I will give the customer service rep credit, she managed to say this without laughing out loud.

Needless to say I was shocked by this, but I have come to accept certain things in Israel, and one of things is expect the unexpected, I am no longer in the USA. Fair enough, I was upset but I was determined to move on. Another rep whom I had spoken to earlier called me back as promised (which was the first time in 8 months and at least 5 call back promises that a Cellcom rep called me back when promised) and was very cordial; he explained that I could buy 5 mb worth of data for 90 Shekel. Seeing that I had no choice in the matter if I wanted to send and receive email while overseas, I agreed to purchase the 5 mb.

Now here comes the fun part (apologies if it is too technical) - in order not to max out the 5 mb I needed to set my phone's settings in a special way so as not to go over the 5 mb download limit. I am VERY tech savvy, and I know the settings on my phone very well and I followed the instructions and set my phone to download text only and no more than 5k a message. This should have let me download approximately 1024 emails,which would have been more than enough for my trip. I knew/know what I was doing and I understand how the technology works, but I still commented to my colleagues at work, and my wife when I returned home from work that day that I had a feeling that Cellcom would try and take advantage of me some how on the rates.
3 days into my trip I get a text message saying to call Cellcom immediately since my bill was suspiciously high; I knew right away what the problem was before I even called, I felt like a prophet. I spoke to a rep who said I owed 1000 or so Shekel for data usage. I was prepared for this, but I still lost my temper nonetheless and for the outburst I owe the rep a sincere apology.
I am now in the process of going back and forth with various different managers who claim that I used thirty something megabytes of data on my phone while in America totally 1,400 Shekel. They are claiming that AT&T's computer's are billing them this amount and it is therefore valid; I am of course claiming otherwise. I know what I did, and I know what I didn't do, I didn't download anything remotely near 1024 emails, and I know for sure I didn't browse the web on my phone.

My logic is simple; would I have spent two hours on the phone, then paid for the 5mb, walked through the phone settings with the rep, and then with the full knowledge of the exorbitant rates go out of my way to use the phone repeatedly over numerous days? It doesn't make any sense to me or anyone else I have spoken to about this situation.

As I told one of the managers in the internet department, you have your computers telling you one thing and I have my phone and logic telling me another, why should your computer be the arbiter of right or wrong? Why can't mine?

I have already informed my credit card company not to pay the bill, I am prepared to fight this all the way to the end. I will do everything in power to make sure that you do not see a single Agura of my money over these charges. I apologize for being so dramatic, but I have given this a lot of thought and it is how I feel - this, in my opinion is tantamount to legalized theft.

My account is worth 15,000 Shekel (approx) over the course of 3 years, is Cellcom really that short sighted that they are willing to lose that money? I figure that it would cost around 1,500 Shekel for me to break contract and sign up with Orange, seems to me like an even sum game, but at least I know I won't have to give Cellcom any of the extortion money.

One more thing, I will not go away until this is resolved, I can be very tenacious, and I have documented proof from other companies of my tenacious nature. I have all the contact info for all the various consumer agencies in Israel, www.consumers.org.il has been very helpful in that regard. All I ask for is the fair and just resolution that I feel as a client of yours I deserve.

Thank you for your time, and I once again sincerely apologize for troubling you with the mundane, but please keep in mind that as a customer of Cellcom in a legally binding contract this issue isn't mundane to me,

Ron

An Update

2008-12-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

It has been a very crazy past couple of months to say the least. First, the wife caught a stomach bug and was out for a week, then I caught something, then the wife caught something again which turned into a lymph node infection and then turned into a 5 day hospital stay.

Then our daughter got sick with strep and then to top it off the heater wouldn't turn on giving me another reason to call Tornado.

The good news is that since I stopped using the a/c my bill has dropped by 75%.

We had to take the wife for a cat scan to make sure the neck was ok, the good news is that they found no cats.

I am sick

2008-11-15T13:42:00.001-08:00

Sinus infection
Something wrong with my lungs
Double ear infection

Buying a car in Israel = Pain - Specifically a Mazda 5 from Delek Motors in Jerusalem/Talpiot

2008-09-27T13:23:00.000-07:00

My experience with purchasing a Mazda 5 in Israel from Delek Motors in Talpiot Jerusalem Israel.
This post is not meant to be a nasty hate mongering post. This is about me trying to change the messed up system that is in place one reader at a time. They cannot continue to treat people this way, and we all need to make that understood :-) . This is one of those extremely rare situations that I feel like an idealist. Enjoy!

Where to even begin? This story has been stewing in my head now for over a while and I don't even know where to begin I am so ticked off. Be warned, this will be a long post, but if you are looking to buy a new car in Israel, you must read on for your own mental sanity.

Keep in mind that all numbers mentioned are at the Oleh Discount Rate - these are the prices that you would get if you used your new immigrant discount "Rights" to purchase a car.
In September 08 I decided it was time for me to buy a car. I assembled a group of 3-4 serious buyers who were ready to also purchase cars with me; I did this to leverage my buying power in Israel.

The way the car buying process works in Israel in theory is pretty simple. You go into the dealer, find the car you want. The car comes with absolutely ZERO options to chose from and there are only 2-3 different styles with pre-configured options that they decide you want. The price is written in stone, and if you don't like it, leave. They do try to push things on to you that aren't really options, more like aftermarket items, like a roof rack, alarm, back up sensor or a bluetooth add on. These are usually EXTREMELY over priced but since most people finance the car and the money isn't out of pocket the buyer doesn't really notice the extra 20 Shek a month.

The reason they can get away with this fixed pricing schtick is because the owner of the Dealership in Israel also happens to be the sole importer of the car into the whole country. They have a monopoly and there is absolutely no competition. So Mazda / Ford is owned by Delek Motors, and (as far as I know) they own every dealership in Israel. They control pricing, and if you don't like it they couldn't care less (this was actually conveyed over to me by the manager in Talpiot).

I goto the Ford dealer first and look at the S-Max, (otherwise called the Smacks) and I would have purchased it on the spot, except.... you can't buy cars on impulse in Israel. The car buying process is really stupid here in Israel, they do everything that they can to make sure that you can not buy a car and drive it off the lot the same day; defies logic. I was sold on the Smacks, I wanted the Smacks, I probably would have cried later if I would have bought the Smacks, but thank heaven for the Smacks not being available.

Some details on the Smacks, the Smacks comes in 2 pre-configured models, and they did a nice job with the configuration. Had everything I could have wanted in a car, except it cost 150,000 Shek and would have cost 2,900 a month, which is 400 Shek a month over my budget. Not a problem, I figured I could swing the 400 Shek, just let me take it for a test drive and I would have been sold.

They only have 1 demo Ford S-Max in the whole country, and it goes around to the various different dealers during different days and weeks. I needed to make an appointment for some time in the unforeseen future to test drive the car I was ready to drive off the lot that day - pathetic. Even if I wanted to drive the car off the lot that day I would not have been able to since it takes a minimum of 7-14 days to even get a car after you purchase it from the dealer.

So I bite my lip and walk around to all the other dealerships to look at which other 7 passenger cars there are available. Volkswagen was just as pathetic, guy didn't even take down my information, it's as if they don't want to sell you a car, you have to sell them on the idea that you are a worthy buyer of their product - pathetic.

I make it over to Mazda to look at the Mazda 5, which was my first choice until I saw the Smacks. I wasn't that impressed by the car after seeing the Smacks, but it was 2400 Shek a month which was within my budget, so I owed it at a look. It came in two models, the Standard for 128,000 Shek and the Luxury for 131,000. I kid you not, they actually call it the Luxury, I can't make this stuff up even if I tried.

I don't know what was Luxury about it, no leather, no power seats, no cruise control, no sun roof, no auto sliding doors, but in Israel this was Luxury. I was not impressed, but I figured now it is time to go home and sleep on it. It took me two days of sleeping to realize I didn't need the Ford Smacks, and I should make the wise decision and buy the Mazda 5.

It so happened that my parents were coming in for the week and I needed to drive up north for 3 hours to play hockey, so I decided to rent the Mazda 5 for a few days to see how it felt. It felt really good, especially after driving a Diahatsu Sirion for 4 months - which is a watermelon on wheels.

That was it, after driving the Mazda 5 for a few days I was sold and went back to Talpiot to put my deposit on the car.

Now here is where my story really begins - everything I am about to tell you is true and not embellished.

I goto the dealer on a Sunday - I don't work Sundays, so it is very convenient. I ask for the young lady I spoke with the other day and she wasn't in. Another young lady was able to assist me and I took my seat. Let's call her Miss Nasty for arguments sake. I told Miss. Nasty I wanted the Mazda 5 Luxury, I was expected to be treated like a king now because I was ready to sign on the dotted line. I was sadly mistaken, it was then that I received the worst attitude from anyone trying to sell me anything - in my life. It was as if Miss. Nasty was doing me a favor and I was taking her away from her favorite tv show for having to help me spend 130,000 on an overpriced Mazda.

I brought all my documents - Teudat Oleh (document showing I qualify for the immigrant discount), American Passport, Israeli Driver's License, California Driver's License, and check book. Miss Nasty needed to see all the documents, all the while scowling and not looking up. I was then informed that I would not be able to purchase the car that day, only leave a 2000 Shek deposit on one. I would then need to take the reservation slip to my bank and request a loan. I was ready for this and was already pre-approved from my bank, I just wasn't prepared to have to drive to the bank and back with the approval.

This was my first troubling experience, if I am spending hard earned cash on a new car why should I be the one doing all the work? Why can't they figure it out on their own? Was I that spoiled in America that when you buy a car the salesman actually has to sell and do work?

Fine, I put up with it, I was ready to goto the bank, but first I wanted to try and negotiate a better price. I heard from others that they never drop their price, but you could try and negotiate for freebies, like a free back up sensor etc.

I asked her for something free and Miss. Nasty told "NO". I tried to explain to her that this was a difficult process for me since I was accustomed to things being a little bit different for me in America. Nasty was then nice for about 15 seconds when she screamed across the room to the manager to ask if I can have anything for free. Mr. Manager then agreed for me to get a free alarm - a 1500 Shek value.

I asked if I can have anything else and Miss Nasty told me no! I asked to speak to the manager directly and she again told me no. The manager was then walking by so I stopped him to have a little chat.

He was a smug (insert curse word here) who didn't really care. He basically told me (and I am not making this up) there is only one 7 passenger car style in the whole country at this price point - the Mazda 5 - we are the only place you can buy it, I have no reason to deal, if you don't like it you are free to leave. I tried to bluff, but he was right, I couldn't leave to another dealer, I was stuck, trapped, and I hated the feeling, but what choice did I have. I put my tail between my legs and proceeded to buy the car.

Miss Nasty wanted a 2000 Shek check to hold the car. I refused because that meant I would have to shell out 2000 for the deposit and another 2000 to register the car. She let it slide after another sales man intervened and told her I didn't have to leave the deposit.

The next day I goto the Bank Hapoalim branch here in Ramat Beit Shemesh, super nice people, the manager is from Detroit and does his best to run it as American as possible. I get my loan 1 2 3 and head back for Mazda after work.

I get there and I am once again hopeful that I would be treated like a king, guess what? I was wrong. They treated me like trash yet again. Not only that, I forgot my documents, so I was informed that I would need to go back to Beit Shemesh to retrieve them. No one in the dealership was even remotely sympathetic, nor did they care. If Miss Nasty would have taken them the day before instead of being nasty, I wouldn't have forgotten them.

Back to RBS and pick up the documents, and back to Jerusalem to bite my lip and pay for my car. I sign the papers and give Miss Nasty my car loan documents as well as my personal documents and she proceeds to put all of my documents that say who I am on this earth (passport, Israeli ID, American drivers license, Teudat Oleh - everything except my birth certificate) and staple them in an envelope. I asked what she was doing she said she needed them in order to get the Oleh discount on the car. I then proceeded to ask a very dumb question (at least it seemed dumb to them) "how will I drive home if you have my drivers license?" This wasn't her problem, and she didn't really care, someone else suggested that she photocopies the license. This to posed a problem since the envelope was already stapled shut and now she had to open it to make the photocopy. Poor Miss Nasty actually had to work for a change.

We finish up and I am sitting there while she starts to work on something else. I wait about 20 seconds and I ask "are we done?", without looking up she says "yes". I wait about 5 seconds and I get up in complete shock. Not even a thank you, what a nasty nasty person.

I get home and I realized that I needed to swallow my pride, we were in Israel, not America, this is how it is done. I came to terms with it and moved on until...

A week goes by and I start to feel uncomfortable with them having all of my identity documents, so I decided to call Miss Nasty with some phony story about me needing my passport. She doesn't pay any attention or just doesn't care, either way she tells me to call "tomorrow" which was Monday.

Now is when it gets really fun. I call her up first thing Monday.
"Hello this is Ron, I would like to know where my passport is"

Nasty "Why are you calling, we will call you when your car is ready an you can pick it up then"
Me "But you told me yesterday to call you today about my passport"
Nasty - very annoyed "Who is this?"
Me "Ron ..."
Nasty "It will be here 2 weeks after you order your car"
Me "I know, you said that, but I need my passport as I am leaving the country, I would like a firm date please"
Nasty "When did you order your car?"
Me "A week ago exactly"
Nasty "You need to wait another week then"
Me "So if I book my ticket for next week and the passport/car isn't ready you will pay for the refund of ticket? (raised tone) You have my money and all my documents, I just want a definite answer"
Nasty "If you stopped talking you would hear..."
At this point I lose it big - I was tired of being pushed around and I let her know it.

Me - screaming "How dare you, you are the nastiest person I have ever had to purchase anything from and you ruined this whole experience for me, you have 130,000 Shek of mine and I have nothing but a piece a paper and you don't have dignity to find me an answer?"
Nasty "Well if you just listened..."
Me screaming "I am done talking to you, you are the nastiest person and I am finished with you"

This goes on for a few more minutes, and I think I made her cry, and it felt awesome.

Miss Nasty finally realized that I didn't want to talk to her and put someone else on the phone. This wonderful young lady informed me after doing a little research that my passport would be ready the next day. Was that so hard?

Next day -Tuesday - comes around and I call up to find out about my passport and and the guy who answers the phone asks - "is this Ron with the passport?", they all had apparently heard about my tirade. This gentleman informs me that low and behold my docs are there and my car would be there the following day - Wednesday - as well.

They make me pick up my car around the corner at their Ford branch, I don't think they wanted me stepping foot in Mazda again.

Moral of the story, never buy a car from Mazda Talpiot Delek Motors, Please let them know I said so.

Been Busy

2008-09-18T11:40:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not updating all of you but I have been really busy with life. A friend of mine who had a VERY popular blog put it best, "writing a blog could be the biggest waste of time". While I don't think my blog is a waste of time, I do feel that it is time consuming to come up with the nuggets of whit and wisdom.

Israeli ecstacy drug ring operating in Los Angeles

2008-08-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

I like listening to Los Angeles radio while at work, especially now since my boss is out of town and I have no one to tell me to make the radio lower. It reminds me of a different time, not a better time, but it is like a security blanket, comfort in the voices that I recognize.

While listening last night the news comes on, and guess what the lead story is?
Israelis extradited in drug ring They would smuggle the stuff in to the valley and sell it through the Vineland Boys gang.

I can just see it now, these guys hanging out in Encino making their drug deals.

The DMV - Misrad Harishoy - And Mike and Bob

2008-08-27T20:47:00.000-07:00

The DMV is a funny thing here in Israel (read here for more details), it seems to be run not by standards and rules, but by opinions. It is too complicated to provide examples, so I am not going to bother.

When I went down to the DMV about 2 months ago to submit my holy "green form" for approval I thought I would pull a fast one. All of the Anglos use the same driving instructor - let's call him Bob - apprantley since Bob knows the secret handshake with the testers (you really need to read the previous post). Unfortunately with Bob there is a 3 month wait to take your exam.

While outside the DMV I saw numerous driving instructors, so I decided to call the one who had the most cars parked outside - 2. I called him - let's call him Mike - and Mike answered right away. I met Mike outside the DMV 2 minutes later and he laughed when I told him that Bob had a three month waiting list. Bob promised me a date within 2 weeks; I am so naive.

Mike then takes my holy "green paper", the one I bled over for a month as I jumped through one razor blade lined hoop and another, to finally get it filled out. Not only does Mike take my "green form", but he then writes my number on the top, and stuffs it the sun visor of the car; how dare he disgrace my form like that!

The whole thing left an uneasy feeling with me, I was really excited about this guy when I first spoke to him, but by the time I left it off with him I felt pretty uneasy. What bugged me more was that Mike said he needed the "green paper" in order to submit my details in the computer for the test, I was now at his mercy.

Mike claimed in a day he would submit my info in to the DMV and I would get a test date in assigned to me in about 2 days. Guess what? He lied. The shock, the horror!

A few days go by and Mike promises to call me, but I of course called him and he promised me he was taking care of it. I didn't believe him for a second, but Mike had my "green paper", what was I to do?

After about a week of this, I lost his number. I forgot to take some papers out of my pocket - one being his business card - and it did a full spin cycle in the wash. I had no way of contacting Mike, Mike had found himself a reprieve from my annoying daily phone calls.

I checked online, no number, I even drove around Beit Shemesh looking for one of his cars that had his number it, no luck. Then after not hearing from Mike for about 2 weeks, and basically giving up hope, I decide to try information 114. The lady answered, I said, "Mike the driving instructor in Beit Shemesh", and guess what? A number was given!

I now had Mike's number and the battle was about to resume after this two week haitus. Keep in mind that a month had already passed with no information from this liar. I called him, and he promised me answer in a few days. Guess what, he had an answer for me - NOT. I really feel bad about saying this line, but I feel it is true - This is Israel, of course he didn't have an answer and of course he lied. It is sad that morons like this have to give a horrible name to the rest of the natives.

Another couple of weeks go by and he stops answering his phone altogether. It is going staight to voicemail, meaning his phone is off. I left Mike a threatening message telling him I would like my "green paper" back so I can wash my hands with Mike and start over with Bob. I was hearing stories from people who submitted their "green paper" with Bob at the same time I submitted mine with Mike and that they had their license already.

Mike let me down big time, I called Mike again on this past Sunday and he finally answered. He was on vacation for the week and would return on Tuesday, he promised me a phone call then. I called Mike on tuesday, since I knew he was a flake and wouldn't call me. Mike sounded exasperated - GOOD - and he put me on hold. Then he told me the words I was waiting to hear - "you have a test date September 14" which is almost a whole 3 months after I first met him. What a flake, a liar, and a fool. Mike takes the cake, I had better pass for all this, he had better know the secret handshake.

Needless to say, when Rena needs to take her test she is using Bob.

Yesterday

2008-08-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

My day yesterday was pretty uneventful until I came across two iguanas either fighting or mating while in Efrat, not sure. You be the judge...

What do I fear more?

2008-08-25T03:50:00.002-07:00

Islamo Fascists or Russian Imperialists?

Tough choice, the world is becoming scary once again...

There's a war in Georgia - USA fail

2008-08-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

News Recap

2008-08-19T23:37:00.000-07:00

Russia invades Georgia

Truce/Cease fire brokered

Russia violates

truce brokered

Russia violates truce

Russia is leaving Georgia

Russia has not left Georgia

Truce brokered

Russia has left Georgia

Russia is leaving Georgia

Russia is thinking of leaving Georgia

Russia is violating truce

Was there ever really a truce?

Georgia bridge is destroyed during said truce

Was there ever really a truce when Russia destroyed the bridge

How could Russia have destroyed the bridge while leaving if they never left to begin with?

I'm confused

This is worse than Israel-Hamas negotiations

HI Mendy Doni and Melina

2008-08-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

I see from Google Analytics that there are about 3 people that come through on a regular basis to read this drivel; to you three, I salute you, you are my muses, and my reason to continue writing. Mendy, Doni, and Melina, this Buds for you!

Israeli checout lines

2008-08-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

You go into various stores in Israel, Toys R Us, SuperPharm, Shefa Shuk, etc. and the management feels the need to attempt to sell you some useless 10 Shek item as you are attempting to pay and leave.

Case in point - I went in to Toys R Us with Binyamin to buy him a Match Box car for behaving while he was schleping around with me for many hours. I managed to get to the car section and pick out the car in 30 seconds, which is a feat unto istelf. I get to the checkout stand and the lady proceeds to try to sell the couple of front of me 10 useless items presenting each one in some monotone voice. If I was dying of thirst in the Sahara desert I wouldn't buy water from this woman, let alone a useless throw away item from the checkout stand.

I understand the concept behind an impulse buy, but they are just that, impulse buys, not "thrust in to your face and we will give you guilt trip if you don't buy it" buy. So after she proceeds to try her pathetic upsell and fails (what was even more pathetic was the Israeli family in front of me was actually considering purchasing some of the items, like they were waiting for this one on one time with the cashier, and were actually excited at the chance to be upsold.) I was then called over to the next register.

This girl in the other register was more in to it than her predecesor, she really tried to work the guilt angle, and was personally offended when I said no before she could even blurt out her pitch. Then when she saw I wasn't going to budge she pulled out one final pitch - "you can buy another car for half the price". And guess what I told her "NO"! Not because it was a bad deal, in fact it was a good deal, I just couldn't give her the win. It killed me to let them know that their pathetic sales tactic might have suckered me in to buying something I didn't need. It was my little protest against the Israeli man.

She was honestly shocked that I said no, how could I say no? No one has ever said no 50% off, she even offered it to me so matter of factly, like "I know you will say yes". I haven't felt that good saying no to anyone in a long time. Victory = ME!

My air conditioner has...

2008-08-16T14:21:00.001-07:00

Worked for over a week now, I think the fan idea is working. Naming rights are still available.

Boring week

2008-08-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

It was pretty boring this week except... I signed up for at least another 6 months at my current job, and I even got the first pay raise of my life. I have always either been self employed or worked for family (excluding my time teaching) so I never received a formal raise. Felt weird.

I went to the market yesterday with Rena and the kids. What I thought would be a fun family outing turned into 45 minutes of waiting in line while the two people in front of us fought over the price of chicken. This was 45 minutes of my life that I will never, ever see again, wasted in a cheap Israeli discount food store.

One funny thing happened to me while in line; in the aisle next to us I saw something I had never seen before, someone shopping for discount food while wearing tefillin. I thought this was an interesting sight, so I whipped out my phone and proceeded to snap a picture. 30 seconds later the checkout lady in the aisle next to me asked what I was taking a photo of. She seemed pretty upset and was demanding I show her the picture. I of course lied like there was no tomorrow, and I told her I had no idea what she was talking about, I was just looking for reception. She backed off, but she didn't really believe me, in defference to her I will not be posting the picture (it sucked anyway).
+

Ayone wanna guess what this cures?

2008-08-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Found this in pharmacy, what do you think it is used for?

What does Tornado error code E8 mean?

2008-08-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

It means High Pressure, a vague term for "we don't know what is really wrong, but it is causing high pressure and now your ac doesn't work!".

I see a lot of people coming to this post from Google. I recommend you search my blog for previous Tornado air conditioner issues. What is ironic is that the Tornado ac is fine, it is usually the not to bright installer who screws up the installation.

E8 could mean your ac is getting to hot due to poor ventilation and that is causing high pressure.

Where have all the bulldozer drivers gone?

2008-08-11T04:10:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't know, I live in a construction zone with a lot of bulldozers. In the past few weeks I have noticed a trend, no more Arab bulldozer drivers, coincidence or not?

Dinamica Cellular and Ron came through - WM6 installed for free

2008-08-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

It took longer than expected, and I was ready to start a new tirade when I got the phone call that my Samsung Blackjack was ready with the Windows Mobile 6 upgrade.

I jumped in the car and went to the mall to fetch my phone. Believe it or not WM6 was installed and working as promised. It was missing Office Mobile, and I later found out that was because only the touch screen version on WM6 has it included. Otherwise I don't really see what the big difference is between WM5 and WM6, everyone claims it is a must have upgrade. I spent a lot of time looking into it online yesterday, and so far I am not convinced it was worth the 2 week wait and countless headaches in order to get the upgrade.

My air conditioner - Sponsorship Available

2008-08-11T03:44:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of selling the naming rights to my air conditioner, for a nominal fee I will name the unit after a beloved lost relative or even your dead pet that you lovingly recently cloned. Please leave all requests in comments.

In other news, my air conditioner is still not working properly. Super Tech came back and had a much more pleasant demeanor, maybe he is a fan of this blog?

He claims the reason for the constant "E8" error is due to the compressor constantly over heating - for which I found a temporary solution.
Notice the fan blowing out the hot air from the enclosed space; so far so good, no "E8" in 3 days.

Super Tech then tells my original installer to raise the unit to a different location, and guess what, the original ac guy is claiming to have injured himself on the job and is not sure when he can make it. WHAAATEVAA

Today is my...

2008-08-06T21:50:00.001-07:00

Birthday!!!

My air conditioner doesn't work - Round 22!

2008-08-03T22:12:00.000-07:00

This is just pathetic, if the moron would have done it right the first time I wouldn't be in this position at all.

My beloved air conditioner - WHICH STILL DOESN'T WORK!!!

2008-07-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

The a/c died again last week. Why does it always have to die on Friday right before shabbos? I think it is a very frum a/c since it like to rest on the seventh day. Michoel, My beloved a/c tech and electrician (not the one who installed the unit) came out 20 minutes before shabbos and did what he could to bring it back to life. By shabbos mid day the a/c control module showed an error message "E3" and the blower was off. Strange thing was that the compressor was still running outside. Sunday comes and I call my good friend Mr. Big at Tornado. Mr. Big has been such a nice guy about the whole ordeal, and this point he has no obligation to really help me since we already established that all this headache was because my moron installer burned the wires during the original installation.

I ask Mr. Big for a whole new a/c unit and he politley says no, and he explained to me why, and I told him he was correct, it is not their fault, why should they pay for a new one. Mr. Big then lets me know that it is probably the contact that blew. The contact is the part of the a/c compressor that regulates the electricity going in and out of the unit (I think). Since the a/c was constantly shorting in the previous months, it most probably finally prematurely gave out. Mr. Big promised me someone would come out the next morning to repair the faulty part, and I was once again very impressed by his manner.

Two hours later I get a call from the guy who originally installs my a/c. He is screaming about how I should have called him and how could he fix it if he doesn't know. Let's call him Jack, as in "you don't know Jack about a/c installation". Jack comes right over and is now trying to be my best friend, begging me to let him fix the a/c. I agree to let him redo all the wiring that Michoel did, since we never put the wiring in the wall, and that would save me 500 Shek. Jack promises me he will be back the next morning to fix everything. Jack was very adamant that I call him again if there was an issue, he wanted to be my new best friend, even rudely looking over my shoulder at my laptop as I was typing.

Of course what Jack really wanted was the a/c installation on some other stuff I was working on, and the original contractor told him I was not going to use him. Do you think he would have rushed over if I didn't have a carrot to dangle? I think not. Needless to say, I already decided to use Michoel for the install a long time ago.

The next day Tornado and Jack come back first thing in the morning. Jack and the Tornado tech fix the a/c, Jack of course doesn't do the work the way I wanted it, but it is his problem now, not mine. The thing is working for a day, when of course it stops; same problem that we had on shabbos, control module shows error code "E8" and the compressor stays on with no blower.

I call Jack, he makes a remark, "yeah error code E8, no big deal, I will be there in the morning to fix". Of course he never shows, chickens out and has Tornado call me to set up a time to come today. I hate fixing these things before shabbos, since they inevitably break again on shabbos and ruin my whole shabbos.

WHEN WILL IT END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why have I never had a positive experience at Cafe Rimon?

2008-07-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

The other day I went with my wife and mother in law to the Mamilla Mall in Jerusalem, which is an outdoor mall located outside the Jaffa Gate. It was a pleasant evening and we decided to go to Cafe Rimon for dessert, as we already ate dinner. We are given a nice table outdoors over looking the Old City and the Tower of David, it was a beautiful spot to have a quick dessert.

Rena and my mother in law disapeared to the restroom and the waitress comes by and she obviously was having a bad evening, being thirsty I ordered one of my favorite drinks - a limonanna. A limonanna is a lemonade and mint slush drink, and is very popular here in the land of the holy.

The waitress was a little rude with her attitude, she didn't say a word, turned and left. The ladies then returned, and about three minutes later so did the rude waitress. We then proceeded to order; I asked for another limonanna and she told me that I ordered a limonada - Hebrew for lemonade. I told her that I knew what I had ordered, and asked her to please bring the proper drink. The waitress then had the chutzpah to tell me that she would bring me a lemonade with mint in it, not my slushed limonanna goodness. I flatly rejected that idea and I told her that I would like my limonanna, and so would my wife as well as two chocolate cakes. Miss Congeniality mumbles something under her breath and off she went to fetch our order.

She comes out five minutes later with what appears to be three limonannas followed by two chocolate cakes. This was not what I ordered, but as most of you know I hate confontation, so I let it slide.

We eat in a hurry since our babysitter was waiting, and I request the bill. On the bill I see we were billed for one lemonade and two limonannas. It was then I did something I had never done before in my life - I walked away without leaving a tip.

I got up and told the ladies to make a run for it with me, but I didn't realize that they couldn't make it out fast enough, and were stopped by the tip police and waitress who then hollard after me. I was already out the door, but Mrs. Congeniality was holding up the ladies with the manager explaining that I "forgot" to leave the tip.

I turn around and walk back to the entrance where Miss Congeniality and her boss are waiting, and she has the nerve to tell me that I didn't leave a tip. I then told Miss Congeniality and her manager that she was nasty, billed me for what I didn't order, and I drank her tip with the extra lemonade that I didn't order or have the nerve to fight over. Miss Congeniality's face went white, she put her hands up turned around, and walked away. And as for me, I had another story for my blog.

I hate my Samsung Black Jack and my trip to the mall

2008-07-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

I hate my phone for one simple reason, not enough internal memory.
That being said, the whole world is entitled to a free Windows Mobile 6 upgrade for all Samsung Blackjacks. WM6 is.much better than WM5 since it comes with Pocket Office - among other features. I was excited to learn about this a few months ago, so I went onto the web found the link and attempted to download. Of course the link didn't work with my specific Israeli version of the phone plugged in, so last week I called the most useless company ever created CellCom.

CellCom's customer service is comparable to Sprint's on crack - there is no such thing as service and supervisors are like the tooth fairy - a myth. I call CellCom and explain my situation, and I am promised a call back from someone who speaks English in 2 hours. I am vehemently opposed to this since I know from personal experience that they never call back. I beg and plead with the guy for 15 minutes, "please just transfer me" and all he can say is no. He says I need to speak to the English rep. His English was very passable, but of course he didn't want to help me, that would go against company policy.

After 15 minutes of pleading, I hung up and called back - as I promised I would - and guess what? The same guy answered. So I hung up, called back, and guess what? The same guy answered. So I hung up, and called back a third time, and guess what? The same guy answered again. So I hung up and called back again, and guess what? A woman answered this time, but I didn't have the heart to give her a hard time, and she promised to have someone call back so I acquiesced.

3 days later someone finally calls and of course they tell me there is nothing they can do about WM6 and I should take the phone back to the CellCom independent retailer that sold it to me in the first place.

This is where the story gets really good. Rena, My mother in law and sister in law along with all the kids decide to take the train with me to the Malcha Mall in Jerusalem. The mall is right near the train station, and it is easier and half the price and time of the bus, and of course the kids really enjoy it. We get to the mall and I go to the cell phone store where I bought my dreaded phone.

The guy who sold me the phone is Ron from Dynamica CellCom in Malcha Mall- SUPER NICE GUY - only use him when buying a CellCom phone! Dynamica is the largest non corporate owned CellCom retailer in the country. When I first bought the phone I thought that he was slick and putting me on, but then I realized he was sincere. We have had a couple of interactions since I bought the phone and every time he has been great. But this would be the ultimate test, can he get WM6 on my phone for free.

I get there, he listens, he wants to really understand what the problem and he also wants to help. He calls his corporate tech support and no one can help, but instead of giving up he finds out the number of the Samsung rep and calls her directly while I am waiting; that is customer service going above and beyond. Ron explains the problem, she then gives him a solution on the spot - send it to the home tech support and they will back it all up and install WM6 all no charge! WOO HOO

I leave the store with Ron promising to take care of it, and I feel very comfortable with that, please buy all your phones from him, this is my first consumer recommendation since I have been here.

I have Binyamin with me, Rena went with the others, so I decide to sit down in one of the craft kiosks and do a craft project with him. We are sitting for a half hour coloring when out of nowhere this moron shreaks in my ear. Bad move, I get up and see this obvious American older teen walking away laughing with his friend. I swing him around, get nose to nose with him and tell him to "try that $#$%^& again and I will rip your %^#% head off". I threatened him with a few more things, he was profusely apologetic, but I still wanted to whack him. I let him off the hook and went on my way.

We all met up and and started walking to catch the 7:43pm train from Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh. We were running right on schedule, we run into the station, and the manager told the security guard on the platform that we were coming, but by the time we got to the platform we missed it and we could see the train leaving; next train was in an hour. Waiting with 4 very young children in an empty train station for an hour was a lot fun, I recommend it.

We finally get home and put my SIM card in my unlocked Blackberry Pearl, my true phone love, and I start to download Yahoo Go. Yahoo Go is a great app that works on almost any phone, and lets you receive Yahoo email almost instantly. My work host's their email through yahoo small business, I figured I could download it to my Blackberry and use it to get my mobile emails as a stop gap measure till my phone is ready on Friday. Ironic that I need to download Yahoo Go in order to get email working on my Blackberry - welcome to Israel.

I start to download the program but it doesn't seem to work. I restart the download about 10 times and it makes it about half way through and stops. Next thing I see is that I start getting text messages saying I now owe 240 Shek for data usage!

Next day I call CellCom and they are of course useless, "someone will call you back in two hours, promise". A lot of broken promises at CellCom since I moved here. I called back the day after -which was today - and found someone who then found someone who could help me immediately. His name was Netanel and like Ron he was knight in shining armor.

Netanel at first tried to argue a little, so I put him in his place and told him to fix it. Guess what, he did! I couldn't believe it, I was sure I lost 240 shek, but believe it I may, Netanel got me a 240 Shek credit for September's bill. Apparently when I switched the SIM into my different phone the phone was set to a different network (or something) and it caused me to be billed for usage that would have normally been included in my Black Jack plan.

So now all I need is my phone back from Ron and my life will now be moderately complete with a phone that has a pittance for memory.

My air conditioner is broken again

2008-07-25T06:06:00.003-07:00

Why does it always happen right before shabbos?????????????

Work

2008-07-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

I work an interesting schedule, 10am-1pm and then 6pm-11pm Monday through Thursday. I enjoy the schedule, since I do my best work at night and it means I get to be with the kids from the time they get home from school till around bedtime.

It gets funny when I have to call on international accounts since they all think I am in LA, when in reality I am calling them from Israel. When I call the U.K., they all ask me the same question, "what time is it by you, you're working late?". Makes me look really good, like I really care so much about them to be up at 3 in the AM calling them, when in reality I am actually two hours ahead.

So far I enjoy my job, I have worked here before, so there was virtually no learning curve, and I was able to jump right in. So far so good, who knows what the future holds.

Upgrade your router firmware to DD-WRT

2008-07-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

Warning - if you are not tech oriented this post will be extremely boring and most likely will read like gibberish.

I have a good Linksys Wireless N Router, the WRT150N; in the US configuration was relatively simple, and generally worked without a problem. That of course changed when I moved here.

My ISP here in Israel was of no hope since they try to push their hardware and don't want you using your own. I think their modems have some tricky configuration issues that my router just couldn't work with.

I have a cable modem, plugged into a plug and play 30 port DLink switch, which is then plugged into my router. I tried everything to get the wireless router working as an access point, and it just wouldn't take. Not only that, it was a real pain just logging into the router, and I constantly had to do a hard reset.

Yesterday after working on the issue for a couple of hours, I made a decent amount of progress. I managed to get online using the router with my computer directly connected, but still no wireless. I was very frustated, all the settings were correct, no DHCP, no NAT, etc. and every combination was tried, but still with no luck.

A while back I stumbled upon DD WRT in an article on Lifehacker.com here. I wanted to try it out, and even made it to the download page, but it was a little over my head tech wise. A few months had passed since the last attempt, so last night at midnight after another wasted half hour of trying to self configure, I decided to bite the bullet.

I found all the relevent documentation that I possibly could and felt ready to download the new and improved firmware. After 20 minutes of trying to figure out which firmware to download, I downloaded the proper version, flashed my router, and voila! It worked PnP, no configuration required! I was in shock, I wish I did this three months ago when I got here.

So right now I am laying in bed writing this post, wirelessly, just like in the olden days; for those of you with router issues, I HIGHLY reccommend DD-WRT.

OlamRadio.com may be no more

2008-07-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you that like new Jewish music there is a website there for you - OlamRadio.com. This website is truly awesome, it streams all the new Jewish music, and I can even stream it to my Windows Mobile device.

There is just one problem, they don't have any money. The website and content were done nicely, probably cost an arm and a leg, and live streaming bandwidth I am sure isn't cheap either. Problem is advertisers aren't flocking, and they are probably bleeding cash.

They were trying to raise cash by having people donate the website. I have no problem with this since I listen to them constantly while at home and work. I have a few $$ sitting in a Paypal account which I will never use so I transfered $36 to them.

They have this icon that tracks their fund-raising efforts, and it is so nebach to see it stuck at something like 10 donations and $215. This is a shame since the Jewish community benefits from this website and everyone who listens should at least chip in five bux. I hope they can make it, I feel it fits a real need, and hey if they need someone to do a show, let me know, I can DJ on the side :-)

Our new cleaning lady

2008-07-12T21:42:00.000-07:00

Our new Israeli cleaning lady asked us on Friday if we were baal teshuvas, because we were too nice to her...

I found one good use for my phone

2008-07-11T00:12:00.000-07:00

Since my Black Jack is on a super fast HSDPA network, it means I can download podcasts straight to my phone and listen to my old favorite Los Angeles talk shows while I drive. I can download a 40 minute podcast in around 6 minutes, not too shabby. I am pushing for the new IPhone though, nod nod, wink wink.

Israeli Strikes and the DMV

2008-07-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

In order to get a drivers license you need to go through a few hoops and hurdles and find the right driving instructor that could perform the secret hand shakes with the DMV tester.

You need a foreign license for a period of time, in my case I have been driving for about 14 years, so this more than meets the requirement. Unfortunately I renewed my license August 07 so it appears like I have only had my license for 10 months, this could prove to be problematic. One solution is that I could use my old NY State license as proof, I am not looking forward to this.

You need the "Green Paper"; this revered "Green Paper" has holy status in Israel. Everyone wants to know if you "have the Green Paper". You go to the optician, until recently there was only one in the whole region in the Malcha Mall in Jerusalem. They do a pathetic eye test and then give you the "Green Form" and take your photo.

Then you need to go down to a Doctor who asks you a series of questions and you answer no to everyone of them and he signs the form as well.

Then it is off to the DMV, who happens to be on strike. I am unable to get license because the DMV employees want an extra hour off every other Tuesday (or something as stupid as that) in the mean time I am spending $750 a month on this piece of junk Daihatsu that is the size of a large watermellon, because I can't buy a car without an Israeli lisence.

Assuming I then get my Green Form approved by the striking DMV sometime before Rosh Hashana, I then take it to the driving instructor. "The" driving instructor here in Beit Shemesh has a virtual monopoly on the process and in order to pass the test here in Beit Shemesh it is reccommended that you use him.

He gives you a behind the wheel road test, if he feels you are worthy you then proceed to take your road test with the dmv. Here is where it gets fishy, the instructor pulls aside his friend - the examiner - and tells whether or not he likes you. If he likes you, you pass, if he doesn't, you fail. This instructor weilds so much power with the examiners that there is a 3 month waiting list just to take the road test with the DMV. Gotta love Israel, everyone is corrupt, from the Prime Minister, all the way down to the lowest DMV examiner.

Bulldozer attack update

2008-07-05T14:53:00.001-07:00

I got some more details of the bulldozer attack, I need to clarify a couple of details from my previous post.

The 18 year old off duty soldier jumped off his bike, and jumped on the bulldozer at the same time as another guy who happened driving by. The driver of the bulldozer was passed out when they got there, but he awoke and started driving it again. This is when they started to punch him in the face to try to get him to stop but he wouldn't stop. Then the guy tells 18 year old to grab his gun and shoot him, which he does.

Time for me to get a little political - which I hate doing on a public forum

They want to destroy the terrorists house as a deterrent, to hopefully dissuade other terrorists. isn't losing life and limb and never seeing your wife and two kids enough of a deterrent? Obviously not, he still went ahead with it, so how will destroying his house after he is already dead act as a deterrent?

We need better solutions then "let's destroy their house", unfortunately there are none; welcome to Israel.

Air Condtioner Update # 3 - this is moderately interesting, and involves a long story with many different parts

2008-07-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

We left off on Friday with me waiting for the Tornado cheif technician to finally show up and find the solution once and for all. Supertech of course was running late and did not care to be here when he finally arrived. After some attitude, he looks at the unit, does some fiddling, climbs out the window onto the little landing for the compressor and five minutes later he screams for me to come to the window.

The building contractor pre-installed the copper pipe and wiring for the ac units, all the installer had to do was attach the compressor to the pipe and wires on one end and the computer and fan on the other. Lucky me, I had the installer from hell, for some reason he had to extend the copper pipe and when sodering the pipe he managed to burn through the wiring that is run with the pipe. That is why the unit kept on shorting, the wires would get hot, it would cause the already melted insulation around the wires to melt even more, until it just won't turn on anymore.

I ask Supertech to hold on a few minutes since my electrician will be here shortly. Supertech graciously accepts while screaming into his cell phone. I wanted my electrician there so he can verify if what he is telling me is the truth or not. My electrician verifies the problem, and also lets me know there is no easy solution 3 hours before shabbos. I ask Supertech to fix it and he tells me it is my problem since this was the fault of the installer. I accept that, my installer was a putz, but in the mean time I want my air conditioner working for shabbos.

My electrician Michoel, G-d bless him, came up with a solution. He could run a temporary wire from the ac control board, across my hall way, through my bathroom, through my laundry room, and out the window to the landing with the compressor. Only one problem, who has five meters of this special 6 part insulated wire three hours before shabbos in Beit Shemesh?

Michoel happens to have a friend of his who is also an electrician and guess what? He has the wire, but is leaving town in ten minutes. Michoel jumps in his car and gets the wire and after a couple of minor problems and $250 he finishes the install.

The existing wiring is now useless and we can't even reuse the whole it's in since it runs underneath the tile in the floor, and the new wire will now need to be run in the ceiling. This is very problematic since everything here is Israel is concrete. Michoel needs to jackhammer a groove in the ceiling for the wire to go so it won't be visible. Very annoying. This is really the responsibility of the original installer, but I am not in the mood to fight anymore with anyone else, I just want the thing to work.

The ac is running fine for the three hours or so before shabbos. I am dead tired because Friday Morning I got home at 3am after playing hockey 2.5 hours away, and I finally hit the sack at 10:30pm. I am awakend by the silence at 12:00am, the ac is off with an error code on the lcd screen "E9 - This is no good!!!

I try to go back to sleep, but it is just too hot, so I get up and look out the window and I see the non Jewish security guards trailer across the dirt path that is my street, he could in theory be my shabbos goy and reset the ac for me. I go out and see if he is there, his rabid dog is barking away and I risk life and limb to see if he is awake. His door is open, tv is on, but no one is home. I trek back to my apartment, and then sit by the window for an hour sweating until I see someone arrive.

I run back downstairs and fetch my shabbos goy, he has been the neighborhood goy before so he knows what's up, come in the house, takes care of business, and I am able to go to sleep in cool comfort.

Morning comes at 7am and the ac is off again, I manage to get it back on - poor goy. So now I realize this code thing is happening every 6 hours or so and is probably some sort of configuration thing we missed during the rewiring. Not a big deal, except it is shabbos and there isn't much I can do about it on my own.

I go to shul, and guess what? The power is blown over there and there is no ac there either. The shul grabs their shabbos goy, and he turns it back on only to have it pop two minutes later.

I run to the next shul, by this time I drenched in sweat, I have already walked in the sun up my unshaded dirt road, with my suit and tallis on, and I get into the cool big shul. I take my seat and I relax. An hour later, the power blows in this shul as well; G-d is trying to tell me something.

I get home, eat lunch, lay on the sofa, and the ac shuts off again. I go upstairs to my daughter Aliza's room, - separate unit, ac works upstairs - lay on the floor and continue my nap. We have a five bedroom apartment, but for some reason - no ac - 4 out 5 family members are sleeping in the smallest room of the apartment.

I wake up, get the shabbos goy, and finish shabbos in comfort.

Why does climate control have to be such a difficult task?

Bulldozer Terrorist Rampage in Jerusalem

2008-07-04T02:56:00.001-07:00

When I did a semester abroad here in Israel in 2001 a terrorist strike occurred a couple of blocks from where I was waiting for a bus and rattled me a little. I felt the same sense of innocence lost 4 months later on 9/11. Since then I have moved more politically to the right, but the core of the way I felt/feel really hasn't changed, and an article I wrote for the USC Daily Trojan seven years ago (scroll down for article), I feel, still resonates today.

The other day during the cowardly bulldozer attack in Jerusalem I didn't feel an innocence lost, I think the word lost it's collective innocence after 9/11, this time I felt extreme empathy for the mother lost on this tragic day, an empathy one can only feel after one has children of there own. I can't help but picture this mother who had been trying to have a child for years, finally conceive, and then get rammed by a bulldozer, while in shock the dread of losing the fruit of her loins sinks in. She immediately without hesitation, unbuckles the baby and passes the baby out the window while the terrorist in the bulldozer then proceeds to flatten her. This poor baby will now have to grow up without the one person that would have loved them more than anything in the world, for what?

Then I look back at the day and see the heroics of a young man, just 18 years of age, barely out of high school, barely able to shave! This young man is serving his country in an elite commando type army unit, 18 years of age! This kid happens to be riding his bike by, and jumps off while shouting for a gun, someone throws him one, then like the mother who crushed, without hesitation, rushes the bulldozer and jumps on while it is moving and neutralizes the terrorist. AMAZING. What did you do at 18? These kids are our first line defense, these kids are the only reason Syria hasn't attempted to start another war, these kids are the only thing keeping the enemy at bay (well them and 60 or so nukes).

Instinct to survive, instinct to defend our people, Israeli's have evolved into a people that will survive no matter what, look at this kid, who five years ago stood up and had his first aliyah at his bar mitzvah, who without hesitation defend his people and not run away. Look at this mother, who without hesitation gave up her life for he baby's. Words can't describe the heroics, and the sadness that comes with it.

Last but not least, one of the mothers murdered in the attack was the aunt of a child in my eldest boy Binyamin's nursery class. Now that I live here I finally understand how everyone in the country is effected by the terror; even if indirectly. This woman was a teacher in a school for the blind and recently overcame a life threatening illness. How do the murderers always get the best of our people? Such a waste!

Here was the article I wrote almost 7 years ago to the day-

'm here living my life in Israel to the best of my ability, trying to put on a show of solidarity with the Israeli people and the Israeli government. I mean, I'm Jewish am I not? This is my "homeland" and these are my people, so why is there this underlying fear and confusion as to what I believe? I can repeat by rote the mantra espoused by the political right here in Israel, and in essence I believe Palestine??? is our enemy, not a partner in peace, and talks should not be held while there is violence especially when it is directed indiscriminately against innocent civilians. And yet it's amazing how quickly one's beliefs can be shaken to the core when reality rudely invades your life.
Tonight I heard a loud "boom" while waiting for the number 19 bus near the city center of Jerusalem. A teenage skateboarder was sitting next to me at the bus stop, and I asked him in Hebrew if he heard the "boom". It was a little humorous at first, when he responded with a New York accent, "Do you speak English?" and we both shrugged it off and continued waiting for the bus as if nothing unusual had taken place.
Within a minute after the skateboarder and I shrugged it off, the blare of sirens ensued, the horrible screeching sound penetrating our brains, awakening great fears. One siren, then two, three, four on and on, the sirens seemed infinite as ambulances, police cars, went rushing down the street obviously to somewhere nearby.
I ran down to the corner of Jaffa and King George with my cell phone in tow and placed a call to my friend Josh. I asked him if he knew what was up with all the commotion. Josh replied that a bomb went off at the Russian Compound, and that he was right now at Mike's Place (a bar across from the compound). The Russian Compound was located approximately three average sized blocks from where I was; it houses a police station, a church and a court, and is surrounded by a club district. Some Palestinian terrorist group had struck again.
A sudden sense of shock and panic ran over my body, and for some reason at that moment everything that I was afraid to admit to myself over the past five months while I was in Israel became apparent. I was scared, I wanted to leave, "they" won, "they" got one more Jew to fear for his life. I felt like crying, I felt like running, I felt like going home but where's home? Being a Jew, Israel is my home, is it not? But I'm originally from Los Angeles and I like Los Angeles can't L.A. be my home for now?
The number 19 arrived by 12:20am10 minutes late. I know the driver of the last bus fairly well he's an Israeli Arab named Ashraph since I frequently take the last bus of the night back to the Hebrew University campus from downtown, and over the past five months we've developed a rapport. I jumped on the bus and told him what had happened. Ashraph flicks on the radio in the bus, and all four passengers and myself listen intently as Ashraph sifts through the static looking for a radio station while we are stuck in traffic.
Five minutes or so had elapsed since I heard the explosion and Israeli radio already had a reporter at the scene reporting live. Turns out it was a car bomb in front of the police station just up the street from where Ashraph, myself and four others were in the bus, waiting to cross the police car-infested intersection of Jaffa and King George.
The bus starts to progress forward a little and I call my uncle Robert to tell him about the bomb, and he starts scolding me mildly about being "in town" during such a dangerous time; and after we got off the phone another thought hit me: Should I change my daily routine and live my life in fear and not go into town? Why? Because the chance of a bomb going off? The potential of being blown to pieces is a pretty compelling reason not to frequent town, but succumbing to that paralysis means "they" win.
As I stand at the front of the bus I notice that Ashraph is much quieter than usual; he's a young guy, no older than 30, with two children. Ashraph always talks with a smile, and he seems like your average blue-collar working class man. Tonight though the smile and the usual gleam in his eyes were gone, and it looked as if his eyes are welling with tears. Earlier, when I caught his bus into town, Ashraph was telling me how he was not feeling so well because of the numerous incidents that had occurred the previous week. The bomb going off near his normal route could not have made him feel any better. The question then struck to me: Is he the "they"? If so, then why does he seem so troubled?
I was in the process of making phone calls to friends who I know hang out in the Russian Compound area making sure they were okay, when my uncle calls and informs me that at this time there were no reports of any injuries or deaths.
Is that supposed to console me? I experienced the sickening feeling of a sort of innocence lost. I'm not saying I would rather there were injured and dead; a bomb is a bomb. When I consider that I could have been hanging out there with Josh or another friend there at Mike's Place, or that the explosion could have occurred towards Jaffa and King George near where I was, I shudder to think about it.
Some may accuse me of over-dramatizing the situation, but to them I say come and live here for six months as I have or even better, live here permanently and experience this reality day in and day out. Every day here in Israel I read in the paper of someone shot here, someone blown up there, a baby killed in the territories, etc. I keep all these images in the back of my mind, knowing that they will be there when I need them. Since this is all just in the newspaper, it is not tangible to me; I do not feel it, I do not sense it, I do not see it, I do not hear the "boom". This time it was different; I was there within earshot, experiencing that sinking, sickening feeling of all being lost, not knowing what to do.
Taking a cue from the 1960 American Feminist movement I feel that I have stumbled across another "problem that has no name." Many feel that the left is willing to give too much and the right is willing to give too little; what about those in the middle? Where do the ones in the middle fit into the political scheme of things, the ones who want a little bit of both? In America the moderates have a place, there is no discernible good and evil in politics, but in Israel, who is evil? Are "they" evil? Is the government evil? No one in the unidentifiable middle wants to ask these questions; barely anyone on the left or right wants to address these questions. I go around bragging and boasting that there is nothing to worry about, but the fear has hit me. I heard the explosion; imagine if I had witnessed it, saw rather than just heard the "boom."
Even as I process everything that has happened and try to return to normality, that one question still haunts me: Who are "they"?

Just when I though the problem with my Tornado air conditioned was solved - It's not!

2008-07-04T01:18:00.000-07:00

This post is for my brother in law Doni - One of three who actually read this blog.

I am at a loss for words - yes even me; this is proving to be very frustrating. Last Thursday night the fuse inside the air conditioner mother board blew. The tech came and changed the fuse and left me with a couple of extra just in case. We go away for shabbos, come back Saturday night and turn on the air conditioner. Four or five hours later the thing blows again. I put another fuse in and this time two hours later it blows.

Sunday morning I call the tech and he tells me it is a problem with my electricity and there is nothing more that he can do. I am inclined to believe him because he has done a lot to the unit and I am open to having an electrician come out to look at the power situation.

I have an electrician that I like to use here, he also happens to be an appliance repair guy and air conditioner installer. Really nice guy who tells me like it is and shows up when I call. Unfortunately the air conditioner electricity is the problem of the contractor who did our addition.

I call up our contractor, Shmulik on Sunday and ask him where is the electrician that he promised me would come out last week. He starts to blame me for not answering my phone etc. Bad move, I rip into him good and since he wants the other business that my brother has for him (long story) he backs down after a phone call from my brother (long story).

The electrician promptly calls me and promises me that he will come maybe on Monday for sure Tuesday. Keep in mind this is Sunday, day one with round five of no air conditioning. Monday comes, I call him, he says "tomorrow", of course he flakes, Tuesday morning comes 8 a.m. I am on the phone calling this guy and of course he doesn't answer. So I call him every ten minutes for the next hour till he finally answers. I don't give him a chance to say word, I ask him "what time you coming at?" He surprisingly tells me that he will be there in 15 minutes. He then proceeds to tell me that he is going there "just to look" not to fix, not an acceptable thing to say. I argue with him, get nowhere, and then hang up on him. I call my brother, and tell him that this contractor is a loser, and I am hiring my own electrician and sending the bill directly to the contractor.

Five minutes later the contractor - realizing that this whole episode is causing us to lose faith him - calls back begging for forgiveness and authorizes me to use my own electrician who he will reimburse.

Call up Michoel my electrician, he comes over right away looks at the power situation and says it is the AC not the power. So let's recap, Tornado tech says it is the power, electrician who is also an AC installer is telling me it is the AC.

I call the head of Tornado again - this is now Tuesday - and he promises me the Head of Technicians will come out on Thursday - yesterday. I make sure to schedule my electrician Michoel to be here on Thursday between 4-6, I have other stuff for him to do, so it is not like he will be sitting here for two hours waiting. I get a phone call at four that the tech ain't comin till tomorrow between 10-12. I am fuming but I remain calm realizing at this point it is pointless to fume. I explain I want to be reimbursed for my electrician, the secretary didn't really get what I was saying, so I dropped it.

Flash forward to now - 12:11pm Friday, and no Head Technician at my door. I called the big cheif about 10 minutes ago and he is still extremely apologetic and nice. It is not his fault, no point in letting him have it... yet. At this point I am just surprised that he even answers his cell after he sees my number on caller id. I think he is determined to make this right, very admirable of him. Anyway, I digress - I tell big cheif that the big boss tech hasn't arrived yet, he calls him, while I am on the phone proceeds to chew out a bit then he puts me on hold for five minutes while I am assuming that he can chew him out some more. He comes back on the phone and tells me he will be there in a couple of hours and begins apologizing even more.

At this point I feel comfortable with the situation, but I am concerned that I got a dud of an AC and it should be replaced from top to bottom. If this head tech guy can't fix it, then I don't really no where to proceed from there. All my needs are being met so far, so what course of action should I take?

Any suggestions?
Leave them in comments

My Air Conditioner

2008-07-01T04:50:00.001-07:00

The thing is driving me nuts, long story - AGAIN, will get into it again later...

I hate the Hyundai Getz

2008-07-01T04:22:00.000-07:00

I started working an interesting schedule, instead of working 10am-6pm, I started working 10am-1pm then return at 6pm-11pm for a couple of days a week. This enables me to help out with clients all over the world for at least a couple of days a week. I don't mind since it lets me have a long break during the day, and I get to see the kids more since they go to sleep around 6pm or 7pm.

SOOO last night after work I get into my dreaded Hyundai and it starts its rumbling and shaking. I am craving a good burger, so I try to see if the hamburger place in Beit Shemesh is open, well, it wasn't.

SOOO I get back in the car and start trecking all the way home - approximately 5 kilometers. I get about half way home and I notice the gas light is on, I am not sure when it turned on, but I saw it was on now.

SOOO I start to freak out, I just got this car from Avis on Thursday, and I barely drove it, and the tank was empty? The nearest gas station is at least 5 kilometers away, and at the rate this junker sucks gas I didn't think it would make it.

SOOO I need to make a decision, I geographically almost in the middle between 2 gas stations, do I continue going straight, and go to the one closer to my house, or do I turn around and go to the one further from my house but a little bit closer to where I presently was.

SOOO I chose to go to the gas station closer to my house. I drive through Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet, Through Ramat Beit Shemesh Aleph, down the big hill, past our apartment building, and on to the main highway.

SOOO I start second guessing my earlier decision and I start debating - left or right - right turn and I know the gas station is open, but it is further away, left turn it is closer but might be closed. I make the right, and immediately make a u-turn and head to the left.

SOOO I start regreting the u-turn right away, it is pitch black, scary, not a car in sight. I start playing out bad sceneraios in my head, like what do I do if I my car breaks down on a desserted highway in Israel at 11:30 at night.

SOOO after 2-3 kilometers my car crests over the hill and see the gas station, and guess what, the lights are off. I pray beyond hope that maybe the pumps are on, but alas my prayers were not answered, the place was shut tight.

SOOO I bang my steering wheel and yell out an expletive that could have been heard all the way in Tiveria and start the 7 or so kilometer trip to the other gas station.

SOOO I was sure the car wouldn't make it, I rolled up the windows turned of the air conditioner all in a effort to save gas, and prayed. Guess what, the car made it, and cost me 258 Shek to fill up. I barely drove the thing, had it for 4 days and got it on full, and it cost 258 Shek.

SOOO needless to say I switched it out for that hot looking Diahatsu I have had my eye on for the past couple of weeks. Everytime I drove by Avis it called out my name, well finally today I was able to make the switch, 258 Shek later.

SOOO - were the "SOOO"s annoying?

Pulled a 180 in the Hyundai Getz

2008-06-26T10:20:00.001-07:00

My rental car, they call it the Hyundai Getz because it "getz" horrible gas mileage. How can a car the size of a watermelon get such bad gas mileage? Well it does.

The car feels very loose, what that means is that any time I take a turn I feel like it is going to spin out. Every time I stop hard on a hill I feel as if the wheels are going lock up and I just going to keep on going. The car doesn't feel that secure or handle great going down hill.

That being said, the other day I was driving down the hill around the corner from my house, hit some water, and then got a little air time after going over a little bump in the ground. The car pulled a 180 on me and I ended up sideways, luckily I didn't hit anything. I felt that my huge Honda Pilot had more stability then this thing. Either way I am trading it in tomorrow for another Korean dream machine - The Daihatsu Charade - exciting times here in Israel.

Work

2008-06-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

For the first time in a long time I am working for someone else, and it feels good. The stress of losing money is too much for any one man to bear, and I am glad I am through with my own venture. It fells good going to a work place and being productive for 9 hours a day. At 6pm when I leave the office, I am able to sleep at night peacefully instead of staying awake and worrying about paying my $1000 electric bill, or making payroll. It is a burden lifted.

Israel consumer website

2008-06-24T11:25:00.000-07:00

I am thinking of creating a customer service blog for Americans living here in Israel and who are used to being treated properly. If you are interested in joining in send me a comment and I will add your contact info.

Went to play hockey last night, and on the way home...

2008-06-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I left work at 5:30pm got in the car for the 3 hour drive to the northern tip of Israel for some ice hockey. It was a good game for me, I wasn't tired, and I think I played pretty well, had a couple of goals, all in all a good night to be me.

On the way home I took a little detour through Tiveria for some dinner and a view of the Kinneret. At 1:00am on the way out of town I see this yeshiva bochur standing on the side of the road hitching a ride, it is a long drive and I was alone so I decided to see where he was going. The second I stop the car his friend comes out of his hiding place and they both do what they can to jump in.

If people driving by saw two people they would be less likely to stop, so these guys came up with a plan to hide one. I couldn't care less, I was driving an empty car, I was tired, and could have used some company .

Turns out the boys - 17 years old - took a bus all the way north to Meron from Yerushalim then hitched down to Tiveria, and had been standing by the side of the road trying to hitch a ride for the past four hours. They left their food and water on the bus on the way up, by accident, and they were out of money.

After hearing their sob story I immediately stopped at the first gas station I saw and bought them water and some ice cream bars since they had nothing else there to eat. Then we hit the road home.

About 45 minutes into the trip we are singing along to Shwekey and driving through Afula. Afula is medium sized city for Israeli standards, and I am sure the cops have nothing to do there EXCEPT... set up speed traps at two in the morning.

I was coming down a hill, I am assuming I was speeding, it was two in the morning, not a car in sight, out of no where a bunch lights appear, and a cop is standing there with a flashlight a quarter mile up the road and is flagging me over. I immediately freak out, if I get a ticket then I can't get an Israeli lisence and I can't buy a car. To me a ticket = disaster.

He starts talking to me in Hebrew and I immediatly start my stupid American routine "sorry officer but I don't speak Hebrew, do you speak English?". He falls for it and asks me for my drivers liscence and passport. I tell him I am a citizen and I give him my Israeli id and California license. As a new citizen you are allowed to drive rental cars for three years on your foreign license. This poses a problem for him, does this Keystone cop in the middle of nowhere Israel really want to process a ticket with a foreign license at two in the morning with some fool who he thinks doesn't speak a word of Hebrew.

After 10 nerve racking minutes, and a lot of back and forth consultation with 2 other of Kestone's - Afula's - finest, they start writing something. My heart sank, I was sure it was a ticket, next thing you know he comes back and wishes me a safe drive, no ticket. I was in shock, I was sure I was getting a tcket; sometimes being an ignorant American comes in handy.

We continue our drive, and these guys are great guys, really nice bochrim. They are 17 and not a care in the world, they got on a bus without a plan or money and prayed for the best, amazing. I felt bad and I really wanted to drive them all the way to Jerusalem, or at least let them come back and sleep by us. It was too late for me to drive another hour to Yerushalim and back, and inviting them over just seemed a little weird to me. I know Rena wouldn't have really cared much, but we have no extra beds, and it is a little strange have strangers sleep on the floor of your living room. If I was single I probably would have invited them back, and then given them a ride to the bus station in the morning, but alas I have a family to consider.

At three in the AM we turned off of the main highway for Beit Shemesh - home for me, 30km away from home for them - I dropped them off at a spot where hitch hikers normally hang out and gave them 50 Shek. One of the boys then pulls out this thick book that he wrote and gives it to me as a present. This 17 year old had written and published a book on halacha and the state of Israel, and he happened to have a copy on him, amazing.

I got home dead tired, and thankfully fell asleep fast, I will do my best to call them before shabbos to see if they made it home.

Sands Resort Chain - Palazzo - EECB Success! $464 refund issued

2008-06-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

I got back all the money owed my brother's father in law. State your case, explain why you feel they wronged you, then wait for them to reply to you with a resolution. Simple!

Here is the original part of the story

And here is the satisfactory resolution - "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner"

Good Morning

I am writing to you this morning in response to your e-mail which was sent to our Senior Management team of The Las Vegas Sands Corporation. First of all, I would like to extend my apologies for what sounds to me like a "less than perfect" visit due to the issues your in-laws encountered with both our Front Office staff, as well as the terrible dilemma regarding the crock pot incident.

Our Housekeeping Manager alerted our Security staff and Front Office staff when they went to the room and noticed that there was a crock pot in the suite. I feel very bad that the hotel’s policy was not explained properly to your parents and they had to return from their afternoon away to find their Sabbath dinner missing. As a matter of safety, we do not allow crock pots or any cooking device to be in a guest suite, as it poses a potential fire hazard. Again, my apologies that this was not communicated properly.

As the General Manager, I value your input and will insure that those involved in this incident understand how detrimental this has been to you, as well as to your perception of our property.

As a gesture of goodwill, I would like to reimburse your in-laws for the out of pocket expense for the additional food items. If you could kindly provide their mailing address to me, I will have my office work on a method of reimbursement.

Thank you again for your time and I wish you a pleasant weekend.

Regards,

Steven

General Manager

My Reply

Subject: Re: In response to orthodox Jews having their food confiscated at the Palazzo May 30]  Mr. redacted  Thank you very much for your prompt reply, it was appreciated. Regarding the generous offer, I spoke to my father in law and he is very happy with the offer, he requests that he is also reimbursed for the lost crock pots.  He informed me that their initial reservation was for the Venetian where cooking was allowed, and where on previous occasions they have cooked, he was not aware of the no cooking policy in the Palazzo, if he would have been aware he would have not accepted the switch to the Palazzo.   We therefore kindly request that the price of the crock pots should also be reimbursed.  He is not looking to make a penny on this, he just wants what he feels is fair and just compensation and that his damages be made whole.  Please let me know if you are able to accommodate this request.  Thank you for your time, I once again sincerely apologize for troubling you with a trivial matter such as this,   Ron 

His Reply
Good Afternoon   I will be pleased to refund your father-in-law for the full amount of his out of pocket expenses, including the crock pots.  From your original e-mail, it appears that a $100.00 credit was already issued, so I will have the remaining $464.00 sent via a check to his home.  Again, my apologies for the confusion.  If you or your in-laws are returning to Las Vegas in the near future, please feel free to reach out to me so I can assist with your reservation.  All the best

Tornado Air Conditioning went above and beyond - the hard way

2008-06-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

My apartment and air conditioner is two months old, and the air conditioner has worked for maybe a month out of the two.

It is funny how a.c. units are serviced here, instead of the installer being responsible for the unit, the company that manufactures the unit- in this case Tornado- is responsible for it instead. That being said, my a.c. didn't blow cold air from day one, my brother was trying to convince me that it was, but I know about hot air. I called the installer, he called Tornado and they scheduled an appointment for a technician to come out a week later. At first I didn't realize what was going on, I thought my installer was coming, but then the tech explained how the process worked.

They rewired the main board and got the thing working. A week later the power in the house to starts to trip repeatedly and the main board dies. Call them out again, takes another 5 days of no a.c. and the repair guy comes out again and replaces the board.

Guess what, board dies again last Tuesday, tech is called out for Sunday, I begged for an earlier slot, but everyone there was really nice and she promised this was the best that she could do, so I accepted the Sunday slot.

Sunday comes and goes with no tech at my door at the appointed time, 2-4pm. At this point Mr. Patience goes out the window, and I am starting to get pretty peeved. It is hot, we have no fans, and I am very uncomfortable at night. We don't open the windows because of all of the construction dust and moscitoes, so I am hot and bothered. At 4:15 I called Tornado and was promised a visit between 4-6 since the tech guy was backed up.

Guess what, 6 comes and goes with no tech guy showing up, and at this point my blood is boiling. At 8 pm I get a phone call from the tech guy apologizing and promising me a phone call first thing in the morning. I am understanding, he got backed up and I was under the impression it would be made right in the morning.

Guess what, morning comes and there is no call from Tornado. I get on the phone at 9 am, still polite, until - the poor girl who got my call only because she spoke English - informed me that the tech guy will be out Wednesday. Then for the first time during this whole ordeal I really lost it big time. This poor girl was almost in tears, literally, needless to say I was not nice. I tried to convey a simple point accross to her, because they messed up and missed my appointment yesterday, they need to make sure my appointment is then first today. It was not happening, there is no such thing as escalation over here in the Land of the Holy because the supervisors don't exist. I was told a supervisor would call me back if I would like past 5 pm. Not doing that, no way, I was on a mission, I wanted my a.c. working today!

I called the tech guy half hour later, I had his number because he called last night at 8pm, and he told me he may or not be able to make it. He was a nice guy, I didn't fault him, I faulted management for not assessing the situation and for not correcting an error immediately.

I called a few different times getting nowhere other than scaring these homely Israeli girls to death, they must think all Americans are nuts, once again I was informed by all the supervisors in messages that they delivered to the customer service reps that they were sincerely sorry, and the best they could do was an appointment Wednesday, maybe Friday.

I threatened to physically come down to the office with my ripped out mother board and demand a replacement, I was seriously prepared to do it, video camera in hand. Would have made for a good blog post.

At 3:30 after waiting almost the whole day, I went into super consumer mode and called the corporate office directly, and very politely asked for someone who spoke English. I was transfered to the purchasing agent who felt very sorry for me and performed the Cardinal Sin; he gave me the Big Bosses cell phone number. With the head of the companies cell phone number in hand I began calling; I called three consecutive times without an answer, I was determined and was not going to back down.

After trying to call him for about 15 minutes he finally picks up. I calmly explain I am a customer and I calmly tell him as long as he doesn't give me a reason to blow my top I will remain calm. He thanked me for that, and I proceeded to tell him about my experience. I told him that situation was about to escalate to a level that neither of us cared to see, and that I am not someone to take lightly. He realized I was serious because he couldn't figure out how I got his cell phone number.

Guess what, he was a super nice guy and was more than willing to help and listen. He seemed genuinely disturbed by the actions of his employees. I was upfront with him, and I told him that since he was the Big Boss I trusted him if he told me that a tech guy would not be able to come out today. It was late in the day, and I truly believe he would have come out himself if needed. If he said it wasn't possible, I trusted him based on his sincerity. Either way I now knew it would get fixed, there was no need to fight with him, you tick off the Big Boss you get nowhere.

The Big Boss tells me he will call me right back and that he needs to look into it. Guess what, he called me right back as promised. He told me that a tech guy could not come out today, and I was fine with that, I am cognisent of the fact that if the boss can't make it happen, then no one can. I was promised a service call the next day at 8-10am and I was fine with that. Once again, at least I knew no matter what it would be fixed and fixed properly.

Guess what, I get a phone call five minutes after I get off the phone with Mr. Big Boss from the original tech guy who was supposed to come the day before, and tells me he will be over in 15 minutes. THAT IS SERVICE!

He comes out and fixes it, but there are still problems, and the supervising tech is coming out to rewire everything tomorrow since there is probably short. I am an understanding rational individual, and I couldn't care less about these things - seriously. I understand things break and sometimes things are installed improperly, what bugs me is when companies take advantage of their customers.

In this instance I feel that Tornado had/has a pretty good customer care system in place - especially for Israeli standards. Where it went wrong was where most customer service teams go wrong, a problem or situation outside of the norm. Employees and CSR's need to be trained to make decisions on their own, the tough decisions, the ones that require them to put themselves in the customers shoes without fearing consequences from management. And if they are not trained to do so then management needs to be readily available and accessible to meet customers needs when things are obviously escalating.

I commend the Big Boss for going above and beyond and for calling me repeatedly to make sure everything worked, he sincerely cares about his company, my only hope is that caring attitude permeates on down through the rest of the company.

I just launched an EECB on the Sands Resort chain

2008-06-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Sands Resort is ignoring my requests for a resolution to my brother's father in law's (yes I know, it is hard to follow) stay from hell, so I had no choice but to launch an EECB against the executive office. So far I am being ignored, but I end to fight hard and I will not give up until a resolution is found!

Mr. Sheldon Adelson,

My father and mother in law who
are sabbath observant orthodox Jews - have stayed at various
different Sands resorts over the years made a reservation at the
Venetian for May 29.

They deliberately booked a low floor because as an orthodox
Jew he could not use the elevator on the sabbath which goes from
Friday night till Saturday night. He has been to countless
trade shows in Las Vegas, and he and a group of orthodox Jews always
book together on low floors, and always eat their ritual sabbath
meals together.

Another practice which they always partake in is setting up
crock pots with kosher food in their rooms, because as I am sure
as you are aware there are no kosher dining venues open on the
sabbath. What I am telling you up until now is fact; this is
the way it has been done for many years over many stays, over
countless sabbaths, until of course the sabbath of May 30-31.

My father and mother in law were told in advance that the
Venitian was booked, but they could upgrade him to the Palazzo
without concern. He was gauranteed a low floor, and being
without any other choice he willingly complied.

When he arrived at the Palazo he was given the tenth floor, so
of course showed them his reservation and explained his
situation. The front desk manager then graciously moved him to a
lower floor room without incident - or so they thought.

The room they were assigned was a smoking room and had two
single beds. My in laws requested non smoking and 1 king size
bed, my mother in law is allergic to cigarette smoke, that is
why they specifically requested a non smoking room. So they
trudged their belongings back down stairs - mind you they
are not a young couple - and they began the process again.

At this point a good couple of hours are wasted, and my father
in law is in town on business not pleasure, appointments were
missed, money was lost; just not at the tables.

They go back to the front desk, show their original reservation,
apologies were issued and they were once again "upgraded" for
the third time. This "upgrade" was a hospitality suite; I am
unsure what is hospitable about a suite with no beds other then
a sofa bed and floor mattress, but apparently it was viewed as
an upgrade. Can you imagine this more then middle aged couple
trying to get off of their mattress on the floor or sofa bed?
Would have been amusing, but not very hospitable.

Back downstairs they go, hour number three, third room, and they
are finally given a proper room. My in laws are understanding
people and don't like to make a scene, so they did as they were
told and went on their way.

The next day, Friday morning, they were getting ready for the
Sabbath and put up their 2 crock pots with special kosher food,
just like they have done countless times in the past. They were
having 15 other hotel residents over for the traditional meal
and prayers, as was the custom at shows that went over the
sabbath.

They left the room mid morning only to come back a few hours
later to see that they have been locked out. They go back
downstairs and were made to wait THREE HOURS before they were
escorted back into their room.

Once in their room they saw their crock pots were missing and it
was 2 hours before the sabbath! They had to rush to the only
kosher restaurant in Las Vegas, beg the owner to stay open -
because it was almost sundown - and provide them with take away
food for 15. Then they had to go to Albertson's and scrounge
through whatever measly kosher pickings they had to try and make
it resemble a traditional sabbath meal. They originally brought
their kosher food with them from NY to avoid this costly error.

To add insult to injury, every other friend that was staying on
the same floor had not had their crock pots or food confiscated,
they could smell food cooking in crock pots up and down the
lower floors the whole sabbath.

After the sabbath finished they went to the front desk to lodge
a formal complaint and were told there was nothing that could be
done other than offering them a $100 voucher.

So let me recap -
Moved 3 (maybe 4, depending how you count the original move from
Venetian to Palazzo) times
Missed 2 important meetings with big clients (luckily he was
able to reschedule for Sunday)
Being locked out of room for three hours five hours prior to the
sabbath
$160 worth of cooking items and food confiscated/stolen
$244 for the replacement food at the kosher restaurant
$160 for the replacement food at Albertson's

= $100 voucher for a hotel he and a majority of his orthodox
Jewish associates will probably never stay in again due to fear of
their hard to find kosher food being confiscated. What if their
food was confiscated past sundown? Their would have been no way
for them to get replacement kosher meals on a Friday night, how
dare the hotel make the unilateral decision to confiscate
someone's only food.

Granted the hotel may have a policy of no crock pots in the
hotel, but this is a policy that is seldom enforced and has
never been enforced with any group they have ever been with.
Why were they the only room targeted during operation "Crock Pot
Sweep"? Was it because they complained about their
accommodations upon arrival? There is no consistent policy, and
the way the hotel arbitrarily enforces their policies, is
improper and insulting to those who have been with the Sands
Resorts chain for many years.

Requests for a resolution are being ignored, normal channels of
dispute resolution have been exhausted. This isn't about who is
right and who is wrong, this is about a customer of yours who
feels wronged who has a long history with your hotel chain. You
are all powerful people who didn't make it to the top without
cause, so this lesson in marketing is probably known to you, but
there are now at least 35-50 regular clients of your hotel who
are aware of this situation and are doubting whether or not they
can stay with your chain again over the sabbath. I gaurantee
you they will then tell this story to every orthodox Jewish
friend who has ever been to Las Vegas for a show. This isn't a
threat, it is a fact, they fear that they too could possibly be
left without food if they were to be another operation "Crock
Pot Sweep". Next thing you know this makes it on some blog on
the web and this story then never dies, and anytime an orthodox Jew
searches for "Ventian kosher food" or any other term associated with the
Jewish religion and Sands resorts on Google this story will appear first - I have previous example which I can provide upon request. Now I ask
you one question, was it worth it? In the end you may prove to
be right, but at what cost.

Please resolve this matter in a timely manner before this
escalates any further, I can be very tenacious, I will not go
away until a timely resolution is provided.

I sincerely apologize for wasting your time with this
mundane/trivial matter, but please keep in mind that it wasn't
mundane or trivial to my in laws when they had to scrounge
around for kosher food an hour and a half to two hours before
their holy sabbath began.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply,

Ron

Windows Mobile vs. Blackberry

2008-06-09T23:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I purchased a Cellcom Samsung Blackjack here in Israel after having a Blackberry 7105t and Pearl for the past 3 years and here are my impressions after 2 months.

I dislike it, it is not the Blackberry killer, and the e mail functionality is nowhere near as solid as Blackberry's. Sure there are more toys on the Blackjack, but that superiority is slowly going to change with new lines of Blackberry's being released.

Memory on the Blackjack is horrid, I don't know why, but on Blackberry I never had a storage issue, and I could search back 3-5 months worth of e mail which never got deleted on the Balckberry. The Blackberry just worked without the need for special configuration, no need for hacks or cracks, just worked as advertised. On the Blackjack I am lucky to get 4 days of e mail of on the thing. Really frustrating, sure there are cracks to store e mail to the memory card, but I want the thing to work out of the box. If the e mail client were better I may actually consider liking it, but it sucks!

It has a memory card slot, and I have a gig card in there, but it does nothing to help with functionality, it would be nice if the phone could store e mail on the card to help free up space without the need of a crack.

With memory so cheap why didn't they put more then 64mb of memory into this thing? I can't even receive a 5mb attachment from work without crashing the thing.

My Blackjack wouldn't start up last week and my computer wouldn't recognize it when plugged in so I spent 2 hours trying to find the solution, which I did. Then once it finally recognized I spent two hours trying to figure out how to restore my data, only to find out there was no way to do that based on the configuration that I had. That is a problem I never had with the Blackberry, if I had to wipe my hand held all I had to do was plug it back in and restore it, no problems. Why does this little machine have to make the mundane so difficult to use?

I was very excited about getting the Blackjack and all its 3G HSDPA glory, it is soooo close to being good, too close, but after using it for 2 months I come to miss my little Blackberry, even with its tiny keyboard and small screen. Thumbs down Samsung, now I am stuck with this brick for two years!

Trash Burning in Israel

2008-06-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

For some reason the construction workers don't like to use dumpsters, so they just start random fires and dump it all in. No one even bats an eye.

Launching an EECB - Some tips

2008-06-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Some eecb tips from an amature, use at your own risk!
I think it is great that a lot of you want to launch eecbs but be careful, not everything is worthy of an eecb. For example, a 10 year old refrigerator that dies doesn't deserve an eecb. The more people use eecbs the less effective they become, they should only be used in extreme cases.

That being said - when looking for the big cheeses use google, it is your friend, another source is Forbes.com or Linkedin.com. These sites have all the executive names and some e mail addresses as well. Do your homework, I could spend up to 2 hours on an eecb, which is far less than the amuont of time I would spend on hold with morons who have no authority to get anything done. Find pr people to e mail as well, this is important because they have unholy powers that no one else at the companies seem to have.

You need to search for the addresses and in some cases send the same e mail out 5 different times to the same person with many different variations of the same address. For example,
jane.doe@jane.us.com - some big MNCs use country codes in their e mail addresses, without the country code the e mail won't go through.
jane_doe@jane.com - some companies use periods, some use underscore. In the case of Whirlpool they use both formats - in 25 e mails sent 12 bounced back and I sent them using both formats. Patience, I know it sounds extreme, but think of the alternative, countless hours on the phone...

When writing the email be defferential and state the facts, these people probably make more than you or I and the only reason they have to help us is so we will leave them alone. I honestly doubt that the majority of people greceiving the e mails really care if your oven is working or not 3 months after you bought it; sure some probably do, but 3/4 probably couldn't care less. Keep that in mind when writing, you can catch many more bees with honey.

This tip may sound strange but let them make the first offer, it may be better than you expected. State the facts and let them come at you wth a resolution, don't tell them what you want because they might just view that as rude. Let them offer you something first then go from there, start negotiating if you don't like their first offer.

Be flexible, remember, at the end of their day they are only human and can only do so much. At the end of your day all you want is your item to work, they are not going to reimburse you for missed work, so don't ask for it, you will end up with nothing.

They get a thousand nasty e mails a day, set yours apart so they will want to help you, give them a reason to go above and beyond.

Ok, those are some random tips off the top of my head, I am available to proof read letters or to help out if needed, assuming I dont get too many requests. Good Luck!!

Should I launch an EECB against the cell phone company Orange?

2008-06-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

They are putting up an antenna on top of my brother's building and there is great fear in the neighbourhood about cancer. Apparently in a building down the block they allowed an antenna and three people got leukaemia. Launching a EECB against a company as large and multi national as Orange is going to be difficult, and the reason behind the EECB makes it even more complicated. This isn't a simple matter of overages, this is people feeling their lives and health may be at risk. Any thoughts? Should I open the e mail bomb-bay doors on Orange?

Israeli's work ethic

2008-06-02T23:17:00.000-07:00

We have a very nice Israeli cleaning lady who helps out once a week on Mondays. She called yesterday morning apologizing that she couldn't make it to work because she was too tired from her daughter's wedding the night before. We had no clue her daughter was getting married, she has only been working for us for a few weeks. The fact that she was even considering going anywhere for the next 2-3 days is amazing. What a work ethic, imagine if the rest of the world had a similar work ethic...

I did it, I played ice hockey in Israel

2008-05-31T23:53:00.000-07:00

Hockey was a lot of fun, definitely took a lot out of me for a number of reasons. First reason was that I haven't played in 3 months, second reason as that the ice sheet is international size, almost twice as large as what I am used to in Los Angeles. Third reason was the ride home; when you are done playing, you want to lay down and go to sleep, not sit in a tiny Hyundai for two and half hours. If you don't lay down, your muscles could tighten because you are sitting, and the next day you can barely move.
The ride there and back I carpooled with a guy named Moshe, really nice guy, Canadian, or Moroccan origin, who let me do most of the talking. Took us three and half hours to get there, and once there, there was some confusion about whether or not we were supposed to be playing that night, we were almost not allowed to play. Then the goalies couldn't get into the equipment room to get their equipment, and there was a lot of cursing. Eventually it all got settled, goalies drove a half hour away to the guy with the keys' house, came on the ice a lot late, but played their little 13 year old hearts out. Then we drove home, took only a little over two hours since there was no traffic, I was in bed by 3:15 am. I am considering going this Thursday again, Rena has forbid me, maybe I will tell her I am at an all night shiur or something.

Driving 3-4 hours to play ice hockey in Israel

2008-05-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

As many of you know I am an avid hockey player, have been most of my life. I am not joking when I say that the prospect of not playing hockey after we made aliyah weighed heavily on my decision whether or not to even move here. I did manage to find a group of expats that play hockey 2 times a month in Mettulla. For those of you that don't know. Mettulla is as far north as you can go on the Israeli Lebanese border. This is heart and dedication.
Today I get into work an hour and half early - 8 am so I can leave work at 5 pm instaed of the usual 6:30 pm. Then I get in my car and drive the long trek up to Mettulla for my 9:30 pm game. I hope to be there in time. We play till 11 pm, sit in the spa for a half hour, shower, and get in the car by midnight. Then I trek home to Beit Shemesh and hopefully get to sleep by 4 am, wake up at 7 am and take the kids to school. Good thing is I don't work Fridays so I can sleep while the kids are in school.
Wish me luck, pictures will be posted tomorrow if I am awake.

Washer and Dryer Nightmare - For all new olim

2008-05-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

Let me warn you about my very recent washer and dryer nightmare.
We purchased the washer and dryer in America, both for import 220v.
The problem in Israel is that the power lines sometimes can't handle the heavy duty dryer and an electrician needs to be called out to "balance the load". We just did that today for 260 Shek.
Water is also an issue, American washers use hot and cold water, generally European washers run only and cold water and boil it while it is in the machine. Therefore the lines going into the laundry rooms are usually only cold and you need a separate electric water heater attached to the wall to heat the water before going in. This is also problematic because they drain a lot of power and will most likely have to run on the same line as our dryer. In order to make it work with a hot water heater we would need to spend another 3200 Shek to upgrade the power - and this is a brand spankin new apartment building. What we did was run a hot water line from the sink which is attached to the laundry room, simple fix, cheap, looks horrible, but hey, I saved at least a thousand dollars.
Next problem is drainage; American machines push out water with much more pressure then European machines. This means that our drain overflows every time we do a wash and are forced to either run the drain into the toilet, or the tub. This problem maybe unique to us, we may need to have the drain line cleaned, but it is a new apartment, I think that they just can't handle the pressure.

Regarding models, there aren't that many to chose from if you are looking for American washer and dryer. Make sure you buy a stainless steal tub for the washer and buy whatever you think is best.

I have Fedora 9 (Linux) up and running on my desktop

2008-05-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

First impressions -
I like it a lot
Seems much more put together than Ubuntu
The documentation for getting the codecs installed seemed to be available then when I tried this a year and a half ago.
Saved $300
No reason not to use this product, configured right out of the box and set up was a snap.
So far I give it 2 thumbs up.

Installing Linux for the second time

2008-05-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Linux will never enter the mainstream until it is truly plug and play like MS and configuration is truly for the novice user. I consider myself pretty resourceful when it comes to computers, but even I was up till four in the a.m. last night trying to get my network adapter to work. In the end I gave up on Ubuntu Linux and am now trying Fedora. If that doesn't work then I am going to abandon Linux altogether and spend the money on XP or Vista. Shame, I really would have liked a free operating system. Wish me luck I am now in the middle of installing Fedora Linux OS.

Israeli Internet

2008-05-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Initially the process of acquiring Israeli internet was an easy process, then after it was set up I realized what I was really get into.
Getting it installed was very simple, they came in two day from ordering and I was up and running. Now for the weird part, you need to buy two services to log into the web in Israel. First, you need someone to supply the line, either cable - HOT - or dsl - BEZEQ. Bezeq is a pseudo government agency so I went with HOT instead. Second, you need someone to supply you with the login, I don't really get it either, I just know you need it. There are around 20 different companies that you can log onto the web with, and they all suck, we chose 012. It is like in the old days when AOL was still king, you needed dsl to get on the web and AOL to log into their service.
Well now it gets even weirder, I was unaware of this when I signed up but I apparently signed up for VPN service. VPN is horrible, it basically makes you log into the web every time you turn on your computer and it is very difficult to configure using a router and VOIP - internet phone.
So I decide to upgrade my service for an extra 21 Shek a month to an "always on" static IP internet connection, like we had in America.
Then it gets even weirder, in order to do this you first need to call your service provider, which in my case was 012 then call HOT and have them turn it on, problem is the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing since there are 20 companies providing internet using HOT's cable lines. This is absurd, makes no sense what so ever, instead of protecting the consumer they are hurting them, imagine having to call AT&T and Time Warner Cable every time you had a internet problem and try to get them both to figure it out and communicate. It is a nightmere since each company says that it is the other's problem so as the consumer you are always messed over.
I am sure most of you don't get what I just wrote, but fret not, neither did I.

Israeli rental cars

2008-05-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

I have blogged in the past about how much I like the little cars here that I have been renting. Well not any more, I rented this junky little Nissan Micra - that I think was made in China, really - and it was falling apart as I drove. I had to use my vice grips to lower and raise the seat back, otherwise I wouldn't fit. What would others do who don't own vice grips? When I went over speed bumps the radio would fall out of the casing. This is what it must have felt like to own an American car during the 70's. Whoever designed the Micra should be embarrassed for letting such a horendous vehicle on the road. Maybe if I write Nissan, and ask real nice they will send me a Pathfinder - worked with Whirlpool and Bosch; you never know.

One truck can ruin your whole lunch break

2008-05-21T13:38:00.000-07:00

I know it is kind of hard to see, but on the picture on the right there is a white truck that got stuck trying to go around the circle. This wouldn't be such a big deal except it is really the only way I can get into town from our apartment. This meant that I had to do some illegal sidewalk driving to get around the truck and all the blocked cars. If you notice the truck driver even managed to rip up one of the permanent barricades. This whole mess wasted about a half hour of my lunch break!

Is it cheaper to live in Israel than in the USA

2008-05-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

I think it is cheaper to live here in Israel than in Los Angeles. The reason hit me the other day as a friend and I were talking. Expenses here and in LA are basically a wash, so how am I spending abut a quarter what I spent while I was living in LA. The answer is pretty simple, you take your Sundays in LA and goto the mall, or Target, or Best Buy, or Costco. You goto Disneyland with the kids, or the Zoo. But in Israel it is just the opposite, you don't do much, there isn't really a day off during the week other than shabbos, not too many opportunities to accumulate debt. Therefore, by living here I am for sure saving thousands of dollars a month, I only spend on what I really need, not the fluff, which seems to make all the difference. Also, as an American when I walk into a store I can't bring myself to buy most items because compared to America most of the things are mildly overpriced and the selection is pitiful.

V-DAY - The vacuum has arrived

2008-05-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?
But I will
This thing is awesome, it even has different speeds of suction, bag or bag-less option,and comes in sleek black. The best part is, that on the slowest suction speed it is extremely quiet so Binyamin can now vacuum the whole house for hours on end without driving us nuts.

I love Bosch!

Ron In Israel

Content Not Available From Your Location

Israeli consumers suffer from lack of choice and high prices.

My Iphone's home bottun doesn't take me home

Balckberry Roaming while in Israel - DON'T DO IT!

Prepaid Blackberry plan in Israel

iPhone and Blackberry - I broke down and got an IPHONE 4!

I Steered Another One Away From Mazda Talpiot!

Mazda 5 Power Steering Failure

Customer Service

Mazda post been receiving a lot of attention

Just got back from Nuremberg and Zurich - Part 1

Browser Wars

Cellcom CEO Amos Shapira's Email Address is...

Shabbos in Las Vegas

Traffic up

Just Got Back from America

Motti Mittldorf

More 012 and HOT Drama

More confusing Israeli internet stories

Blackberry Outage - Again

Israeli Internet Service

Unlock a Blackberry or any other phone in Israel

Another Mazda 5 Israel Update - Mitsubishi Grandis now available!

Air France Summary

Air France Summary

Air France sucks

Irony at the Weizman Institute

Blackberry Israel - Update

Hockey Sticks

Ramat Shilo - Update

Home

Swine Flu - I am quarantined with Binyamin at Sharei Zedek hospital

Ramat Shilo

Bumped into somebody

Another Blackberry Israel update - How to actually buy one from the US to use in Israel

I am in love

Skype 4.0

Cellcom = Fail

Cellcom Israel EECB Scores a Major Direct Hit - The CEO

Cellcom Update

My New Fight - CellCom Israel Trying To Rip Me Off!

An Update

I am sick

Buying a car in Israel = Pain - Specifically a Mazda 5 from Delek Motors in Jerusalem/Talpiot

Been Busy

Israeli ecstacy drug ring operating in Los Angeles

The DMV - Misrad Harishoy - And Mike and Bob

Yesterday

What do I fear more?

There's a war in Georgia - USA fail

News Recap

HI Mendy Doni and Melina

Israeli checout lines

My air conditioner has...

Boring week

Ayone wanna guess what this cures?

What does Tornado error code E8 mean?

Where have all the bulldozer drivers gone?

Dinamica Cellular and Ron came through - WM6 installed for free

My air conditioner - Sponsorship Available

Today is my...

My air conditioner doesn't work - Round 22!

My beloved air conditioner - WHICH STILL DOESN'T WORK!!!

Why have I never had a positive experience at Cafe Rimon?

I hate my Samsung Black Jack and my trip to the mall

My air conditioner is broken again

Work

Upgrade your router firmware to DD-WRT

OlamRadio.com may be no more

Our new cleaning lady

I found one good use for my phone

Israeli Strikes and the DMV

Bulldozer attack update

Air Condtioner Update # 3 - this is moderately interesting, and involves a long story with many different parts

Bulldozer Terrorist Rampage in Jerusalem

Just when I though the problem with my Tornado air conditioned was solved - It's not!

My Air Conditioner

I hate the Hyundai Getz

Pulled a 180 in the Hyundai Getz