I recently had a problem with my fat 60GB PS3 where it wouldn’t read discs. I tried a PS3 game, Blu-ray movie, DVD movie and none of them worked. I could do most other things like surf the web, connect to the PlayStation Store, play movies off of the hard drive and USB stick.
I contacted Sony’s technical support and they asked me to turn off my PS3, turn it back on holding down the power button until it turns off again, turn it back on holding down the power button until you hear two consecutive beeps. Once this has been done your PS3 will boot asking you to “Connect the controller using a USB cable, and then press the PS button.” Once I did that they asked me to try each option. None of the options helped, it still wouldn’t read. After telling them my model number they said I had the option to send it in to be fixed for $149.99 or to exchange it for a new PS3 slim for $129.99. Each also had a charge of $29.99 or $39.99. I forget the exact price for shipping, but fixing or exchanging were both too pricey for me having spent $599 for the console.
I decided to look around online to see if I could fix this myself. I found a new PS3 laser for under $60 including shipping on ebay. After receiving it in the mail it was time to install it so I could get my ModernWarfare 2 fix. You’ll need a Trox10 and a Philips screw driver, I used a PH00. I followed these videos and had no problems swapping it out. Thanks a ton supermodchips for putting these videos out there. If your still are too intimidated to fix it yourself I’m willing to do it for $100 + you pay shipping costs both ways.
I’m guessing if your reading this you waste at least some time during your day surfing the web like me. I’d also guess that most would like to earn some cold hard cash for doing just that. Well why not? There are plenty of ways to bring in some extra cash flow online. An easy method is online surveys.
I stumbled across this money maker after receiving an offer from ATT. They emailed me with a link to one after purchasing the original iPhone. It took about 10-15 minutes and paid $2. Most recently I was paid $5 from the beer company Miller. Not bad in my books, surfing the web, drinking a beer, and answering questions about the tasty beverage.
You probably won’t ever get rich taking surveys online, but it is some extra dough nonetheless. Most of the ones I’ve received usually take anywhere from 5 to 25 minutes and usually pay anywhere up to $10. Hit the links, some pay cash, others you’ll earn points that can be used towards cash or other items. Also if you know of others let me know. Survey Savvy Miller Coors Brewing Opinion Central u.talk.back
I live to say “I’ve had my “wildest” Walmart experience.” You may ask what’s with the quotes around the word wildest in the past sentence. It’s simple, you have no idea what may face you should you choose to return to Walmart.
It occurred last Friday during my lunch break. I was going to Walmart to pick up some new head lights, since one had burned out. I entered the Walmart parking lot as most people do in a car. I was driving in the lane directly next to the entrance. The car in front of me began to slow down when approaching the entrance door. He then came to a complete stop and was looking in the door. I came to a complete stop behind him, thinking he just may be overly cautious or waiting for someone. I waited for 3 seconds and he still hadn’t proceed to move so I pulled around him into a lane and parked.
When I got out of my car the owner of the car I went around, pulled up and rolled down his window. It was a middle aged man bluetooth in ear with a large gold chain. He yelled, “that’s not nice, you took my spot.” I stood there with a questionable look upon my face trying to comprehend what he was saying. I responded, “you stopped at the entrance.” He claimed he hadn’t stopped. I pointed and said again, “you stopped right there.” He then said “I stopped there because there is a stop sign.” I looked again and there was no stop sign. I let him know there was no stop sign and that he could have the spot if he wanted it, thinking dying over a parking space at Walmart isn’t a way I want to go out. He gave me the stink eye while grumbling and drove off.
Let me know your walmart stories. Hopefully none end as tragically as Jdimytai Damour’s did.
For the year of 2009 I’m officially giving my worst customer service award to the creators of the popular mac virtualization software, Parallels. They somehow managed to surpassed the worst of the worst for customer support this year in my opinion. Although Central Parking Systems came in a close second charging me $13 for one hour while grabbing dinner(FYI their policy is no monetary refunds). Back to the creator of Parallels though, because they easily took the cake.
I didn’t have all that difficult of a question. It was simply, “What is the upgrade policy for users who purchased Parallels 4.0 in September.” Nothing that crazy since Parallels 5.0 came out this November. HA, little did I know what faced me. The total time span of trying to get this question answered took between 60 – 90 minutes.
Step one I thought I would go to their website and look for their customer support number. Simple enough they have a fairly easy to navigate website. So after easily finding the 24×7 customer support number I tried the toll free number. There was a menu prompt do you use Parallels desktop press 1. Then I had to press 1 again as a Mac, or Linux Parallels user. After that I kept keeping disconnected. So I ended up trying the other number for the 24×7 support. After about 25 minutes of fumbling through the automated menu I was finally able to speak to a live person. The person I spoke to was having a hard time speaking or understanding English. I spent the next 10 minutes explaining how to say my name(Michael) and spell it repeatedly. While giving the woman my call back number she hung up on me. WHAT THE HELL!!!
I tried calling back and after about another 20 minutes I was finally back to speaking to a real live person. Go figure, I got the exact same support representative who proceeded to tell me sorry her phone line dropped. Fair enough sometime technical glitches happen. After repeatedly speaking very slowly asking my question about an upgrade deal for recent purchasers of Parallels 4 she finally grasped what I was asking and said there wasn’t anything she could do. I thought OK that’s fine. I asked to speak to her supervisor so he could verify. She said sure no problem and then hung up again.
With the US unemployment hitting 10.2% in November I started thinking how could I earn an income if I became part of that statistic. The news had been showing the lives of many who lost their jobs and their worlds turned upside down. All facing the question, “what do I do to pay the bills now?”
I had been thinking about becoming a youth hockey referee for a couple years now. So about two months ago I decided to go for it. I signed up for the required seminar and attended. It was seven hours in the classroom and one hour of on ice training. After the seminar new referees are required to take the level one certification test, which is open book and 45 questions long. The total cost to become a ref for a season is $45 which covers the seminar and pays your yearly dues. After that your ready to ref your first game. The games in my area start at $14 for a Mite house league up to $60 for Midget AAA travel.
I’ve spoken with a few people at my primary job and there were a couple who have refed soccer or baseball in the past. They agreed its an easy second or alternative income. Refing youth sports is also a good for your resume, it shows your involved with your community.
With the US unemployment hitting 10.2% in November I started thinking how could I earn an income if I became part of that statistic. The news had been showing the lives of many who lost their jobs and their worlds turned upside down. All facing the question, “what do I do to pay the bills now?”