The more things change...

I haven't written much about it here, but I've had a number of frustrations in the past with Rogers, especially their website. If you've been fortunate enough to avoid dealing with their customer-facing website, then I envy you. Personally, I find their site to be a bloated, unstable, convoluted mess that is very difficult to navigate.

In addition to the pain involved in visiting their site, I've been constantly annoyed by how long it takes them to post their monthly statements online. My billing date is the 26^th of the month, and my statement is never available online before the 30^th. It seems to me that, if banks can report the interest accruals on my accounts on the first of every month, then Rogers should be able to post my balance online more or less immediately. Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Although this month was no different (my April bill finally posted this afternoon), I was surprised and impressed by a change they've made to their notification e-mails. The message now contains the total amount of the bill, where previously you needed to click through and login to the site in order to get any specifics. Now I can get the amount owing from the e-mail, and login at my convenience to check the specific details.

I was really impressed by this innovation, and decided that, since I've delivered scathing criticism on numerous occasions using their website feedback form, I would let them know that I approve of this new feature. So, I punched up the Rogers URL, clicked "Contact Us", and made the appropriate selections to leave "Website Feedback".

Here's what they gave me in return:


I forget, how many words is a picture worth?

I'd like to buy a piece of mind...

When it comes to language and grammar, the Internet is the ultimate "snobs vs. slobs" battlefield. If you're lucky enough to have a decent vocabulary and a basic understanding of how to use language, then it's hard not to cringe at the atrocities committed online against the written word. By the same token, if you tend to misuse or misspell words, then you can always count on a self-appointed watchdog to jump on your every error.

One of the nice things about reading blogs on a subject like personal finance is that the bloggers take great care with (and pride in) their writing, and their readers are more interested in the actual topic being discussed than in correcting the author's occasional spelling and grammar gaffes.

I admit to having high standards when I read; it pains me to find spelling errors in my favourite writers' work (I love this entrance exam to the Internet, elitist though it may be). However, I also make more than my fair share of mistakes myself, so there's no way I can point to my own writing as a "safe haven" for erudite travelers.

I don't want to be the whiny jerk leaving "I think you mean..." comments (although feel free to leave these comments here when you spot an error), but I really want to comment on a few of the more frequent misuses I've seen. What's a guy to do?

I'll let this sentence sum it up:

"I'm loath to admit that it's the misuse of words that takes its toll on my peace of mind, but I loathe the idea of giving my respected peers a piece of my mind."

Any favourite (or favorite) mistakes you've spotted here at Loonies And Sense? Let me have it!

Neither Loonies Nor Sense

I've been a long-time reader of The Sneeze, a humour blog that's very well written, and always highly amusing.

Steve at The Sneeze posted today about the orientation of toppings on pizza from Domino's. I was smiling mildly through most of the post, until I got to the beef-only 6" pizza, which actually made me laugh out loud.

I recommend checking out the blog. At the very least, you'll get some laughs.