chicodawg.com

You’re kidding, right?

In the local news, we see our local American League baseball team, Tampa Bay Rays, representatives trying to get support from the community for a brand new stadium to open around 2012.  Its design is "high-tech".  It will be an outdoor facility,  It will generate revenue in the downtown St. Petersburg area.  It will generate revenue through concessions.  It will… it will… oh, the governor of Florida can watch games from his high-rise condo.  The governor will not have to fight downtown traffic or search for a parking spot.  Of course he’s all for that!

What this stadium won’t do is create or solidify a "winning" team for the area.  Currently, in the AL east, the Rays rank 5th.  Which is pretty good, considering there are only 5 teams in the AL east division.  In 2005 and 2006, the team faired much better by ranking.. oh, 5th again.  Ah ha!  In 2004, the Rays were ranked #4.  Break open the champaign!  Actually, since 1998, except for the 2004 banner-waving year, the Rays have ranked 5th and never qualified for a playoff spot.

Only the die-hard fans with nothing else to do on a game night have attended games at the existing domed stadium, Tropicana Field.  The numbers have dwindled over the years. Maybe those who stopped attending have forgotten the Rays’ winning 2004 season when they went to #4!  I attended a couple of games at "The Trop" and, while it was not the same as an outdoor experience, it was cool to watch the lightning against the roof and hear the rain while the game was still going on inside….completely dry.  Other outdoor venues would have canceled.  Not at the Trop!  They announced obviously-inflated attendance on the radio and media.  "And we’re back, along with 20,000 spectators."  No, I saw mostly blue (empty seats) inside.  I would guestimate 7,000-8,000 spectators at the most.  The people stopped coming.  At first, outrageous parking fees forced many fans to watch on TV or listen on the radio.  The parking situation was the worst I’ve seen.  Tropicana Field has plenty of parking, but the organization was greedy - parking on the street, or in nearby parking lots, was expensive.  Buses carrying fans (ie: consession and store customers) were forced to pay $20 to park on a street designated for large vehicles.  There was no other place for buses or RV’s to park, so it was supply and demand and the Rays franchise demanded.  Finally, years later, the Rays eliminated parking fees during games.

Now they want a $450-million stadium.  This location will offer 12,000 parking spaces.  Where?  I have no idea.  Could it be that they plan to use the metered street spaces?  Or, maybe we can park at the governor’s condo?  The Rays’ principal owner, Stuart Sternberg, is covering all the local media (except chicodawg.com, of course) trying to gain support for this plan.  Part of the plan includes no additional taxes to pay for funding the stadium.  Of course, the other part of the plan, to debut next year, is a winning team.  Promises, promises.  Did I mention that the governor of Florida could watch the games from his high-rise condo?

This high-tech stadium will offer 34,000 seats - for those 9,000 dedicated fans.  It will also include a retractable roof, made of frabric much like a sail, that will run along suspended cables.  Cooling will be provided to lower the temperatures 8 to 10 degrees (during the summer, fans will enjoy a cool 85-90 degree gametime - Brrr!). 

The Rays will contribute $30-million towards financing the new ballpark.  I guess the remaining $100,000 in the budget will go towards buying that winning team, or staff raises and bonuses.  The rest of the financing will come from the sale of Tropicana Field, developing it into a retail, entertainment and housing site.  So, remember, new taxes and  reallocation of existing taxes will not be necessary to fund this project.  Rrrriiiggghhhtttt.

Sports teams have, historically, gotten what they want.  Taxes will be added into the mix or the team will threaten to relocate to another town that promises them the world.  I expect a referendum on the ballots, soon, to support education and roadways with a "very small" portion to "help" fund the new ballpark.  Then, when the voters approve this, the ballpark will be built in record time and education and roadways will take a backseat.  Suckers!

This article may sound like I’m totally against this new stadium, or totally against the Rays baseball team.  As it is now, Tropicana Field works.  It is the team that doesn’t.  If the fans were going to the games, and the franchise was generating revenue, I would say the Rays deserve this "new" toy. 

How about this wild idea:  Invest money in a team that has potential to win.  Treat fans like they matter.  Win a few (more) games, bring in more fans.   Prove you are a benefit to the area.  THEN, let’s talk about a new home field.

My previous article relates to the comparison of two GPS devices:  Tomtom GO 720 and Garmin Nuvi 750.  If you read that story, you realize I returned the Tomtom unit and paid the difference for the more expensive Garmin. What I didn’t explain was the fact that these items were purchased at a local Best Buy retail store -AND- on top of the difference, there was a 15% restocking fee applied!  I was unable to fully comment on this detail during the comparison article because I sent a comment to Best Buy’s "Customer Service" department regarding the 15% fee. If you read the comparison article, you should note that the Tomtom had experienced several moments of locking up.  An apparent "feature" found common in these units - as I read on several Tomtom user forums.  This lock-up requires a hard reset, a type of reboot.  Whether sitting still in your home testing this unit or driving 70 mph on the interstate, locking up should not be necessity.  The 720, to me, appeared defective or "buggy".  Then, couple that to the consistent lack of accuracy in routing, the unit was not the right choice for what a GPS was meant for - accurate navigation! At this point, I became a 100% dissatisfied customer.  So, I took the issue up with Best Buy. Luckily, the new Best Buy is about a mile from here.  Not-so-luckily, their customer service isn’t about you, the customer.  Otherwise, I would not have been charged the 15% "restocking" fee. I saved all of the packing material, boxes, and papers that came with the Tomtom.  I put all of it back in the boxes and put that back in the original bag with my receipt.  After doing more research for a replacement, I was convinced I was going to purchase the Garmin and pay the difference in price.  I read the back of the receipt which explains the return policy.  Yes, it does mention the 15% fee "unless the item is defective".  As with any other establishment or corporation, *most* customer service representatives can waive fees.  Apparently, even after describing the issues I had with the Tomtom, Best Buy is not any other establishment or corporation. This fee added $67.49 to my new purchase. During my research, I found similar GPS units at Circuit City for the same price.  However, Circuit City offered 10% off their price.  Had I realized Best Buy didn’t value me as a customer, and had I noticed the 15% fee, I could have reduced that impact to 5% by purchasing the Garmin at Circuit City.  What?  I’ll explain!  Best Buy was already charging me 15% ($67.49) even for a refund - which I should have done.  I should have then gone to Circuit City and purchased the Garmin at their price then they would take 10% off - roughly $59.  Instead, I purchased it at full price, minus the difference of the Tomtom, plus the 15% at Best Buy.  So, by staying at Best Buy, I was out $67.49.  If I had taken the refund and purchased the Garmin/replacement at Circuit City, I would only be out, roughly, $8.  See?? At home, it was time to start the paper trail with Best Buy.  I knew I could explain myself through Email and someone on the other end would understand.  This was sent to Best Buy on November 6, 2007 (Tuesday):

Friday, I purchased a Tomtom GO 720 GPS from the new Best Buy in Wesley Chapel, FL.   During the time I had this device, it locked up (froze) more than 10 times and required a hard reset.  Besides that, on two routes, it navigated me across dirt roads, one road was so bad I had to drive on the grass to get around it.  The GO 720 had a lot of features but I needed reliability and accurate navigation.  I put everything in the box to return to Best Buy.  Yesterday, I returned the unit and picked out a Garmin Nuvi 750.  The 750 costs more and is less "flashy". After entering a few routes that failed on the Tomtom, the Garmin proved more accurate.

I was expecting to pay the difference between the two units but the Cust. Svc. rep. included the 15% restocking fee - $67.49.  I realize this fee is listed on the reverse of the receipt, but under the circumstances - the Tomtom was purchased for accurate navigation, which it did not provide, and required hard resets at odd times - I feel this should have been waived. 

This additional charge educated me:  Either don’t return something to Best Buy that you’re having problems with, or return it and purchase the replacement from another retailer.  Circuit City has a promotion for 10% off merchandise…I would have easily recovered most of the restocking fee by going to Circuit City for the replacement purchase.  Actually, Circuit City might place more value on my business.

Circuit City is another retail giant similar to Best Buy.  I have never required their customer service, so I cannot comment on how they treat customers. Best Buy responded to my inquiry/complaint on November 8, 2007 (not a bad turn around time):

Thank you for contacting Best Buy about restocking fees. I’m Amanda with Consumer Relations.

I understand your frustration about being charged a restocking fee for returning the TomTom GPS unit. We take allegations of customer disappointment seriously. We value receiving your comments so we may use this feedback to improve the shopping and service experience for all our customers.

Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please do not hesitate to contact us with additional questions or concerns.

Best Wishes from Best Buy,

Amanda and the Consumer Relations Team

What?  You’re kidding, right?  Suddenly, my complaint was turned into a survey.  Sort of like I was merely informing them that they have a restocking fee, "oh! thanks for letting us know about that!". Obviously, with that response, they value me as a customer.  Maybe I expected too much from "customer service".  Their response basically says, "we don’t care if you take your business elsewhere". Best Buy just opened in our town and I really wanted to support the new growth and local businesses.  But, this experience shows where Best Buy’s interest is…and for this approaching holiday season, I will take my interests elsewhere.

It has been awhile since writing for chicodawg.  I have a new job, finally, and that has kept me busy.  This new job involves travel - and lots of it.  I was relying on my HP DV9250 laptop for navigation, but lugging around a 17" laptop every day was a bit cumbersome.  So, I searched for a portable GPS unit.

It’s easy to find reviews on just about any GPS on the market.  Many reviews tend to be biased, although some (if you look hard enough) are truthful.  The problem with GPS units are that they are like computers and other electronics - they are updated frequently due to technology hardware or software advancements.  In any case, it’s hard to keep up… like it is with computers.  A portable GPS is much like a computer, complete with microchips, an operating system, storage, and a view screen.

After some research, I decided on the Tomtom GO 720 as my first pick.  I saw instantly that this unit had many features, almost an endless amount.  However, Tomtom made them easy to find.  Tomtom apparently put everything you could think of into this model.  If you’re on a road and notice it’s closed or unusable, press a few icons on the screen and you can "block" that street out.  You can add and customize the 720 with ease.  There is much support out there for the 720, including excellent user forums.  One of the greatest innovations I have seen is the Map Share feature of Tomtom.  When you correct a map, you can send the correction to Tomtom.  Once this correction is verified, the update is made available to other Tomtom users.  With the addition of "Plus" services (fee) you can add traffic, weather, buddies (see where friends or family are located and route to them!) and more.  The displays are clear and bright and the speaker quality is loud and clear.  There are too many customizable options to list here.  I’m just doing a simple overview and comparison here.  If you want details, visit amazon.com.

Now it is time to test the 720 and what better place than in the local, familiar, .area.  Good thing to as this is where the Tomtom failed me.  With all the bells and whistles packed into this small unit, and all the praise and support, what turned my back against Tomtom was the main feature I REALLY needed to depend on - routing.  Tomtom is based on the TeleAtlas map engine.  Why?  I have no idea.  My first route "test" in a residential area suddenly took me off a paved road.  The 720 "asked" if I wanted to do this, which I said NO!  The 720 could not find an alternative - even though I was looking at a paved route on a map.  The unpaved road was so bad in spots that we actually had to drive on grass to get around the issues.  I guess you could say the unit did what it was intended for since we did arrive at the address.  My concern was the route.  If I had been in a large truck in an unknown town and found myself on this road which went from paved to deep potholes, I would have destroyed more than just the grass.

Maybe this was just a glitch?  From this address, I decided to use the 720 to route to a restaurant about 10-miles away.  Within a few seconds, our route was ready and we were on our way.  Nice paved roads.  Just as I thought the Tomtom had redeemed itself, a left turn took us almost 3-miles down another rough dirt road.  Again, a larger vehicle would have hit low tree limbs and had problems on this contoured road.  Finally, on pavement, a couple turns later and we were at the restaurant.  Ok, so we made it.  The point here is, the 720 should have been able to find a route after I selected "NO" unpaved roads.  But it didn’t.  Being in a strange city or town, in a vehicle that may or may not maneuver like a small car, can create a big hazard - not to mention the aggravation.  It was time to put the 720 back in the box and return it.  I was really reluctant to do this since the 720 is a very very nice LOOKING product.  For me, though, looks doesn’t justify the true need and requirement of the GPS.

Most of the day was spent looking for alternative replacements.  Garmin and Magellan units use NAVTEQ maps.  Google and Microsoft Streets and Trips also are based on NAVTEQ.  I went to Google and selected the route similar to my first trial run earlier.  Google avoided the route on the dirt road and instead used an all-paved option.  Much better.  I tried a couple addresses that the Tomtom could not located at all.  Google found the streets and addresses.

My next step was to look into support for the Garmin and Magellan.  Comparing forums and websites for these units proved to be an easy deciding factor:  Garmin provides excellent customer service…Magellan could care less if they had customers.  This reasoning was based on user compliments and complaints on the various websites as well as the "support" pages for the companies.  Magellan was apparently supposed to issue a map update back in March, 2007.  Several delays and promises later, I believe they were just released but not all Magellan owners would receive them.  Magellan appears to be way behind on updates.  Garmin, on the other hand, updates more frequently.  Magellan users unhappy - Garmin users happy.  Happy is good, so Garmin gets my money.

After comparing the numerous models, I decided on the Nuvi 750.  The 700 series is the latest in the Garmin lineup.  The 750 lacks Bluetooth phone capabilities, which is available on the 760 and other models, but I saved $200 for this luxury.  I have a Bluetooth headset which works good enough.

My first "test" of the Nuvi 750 was to route to the address which the Tomtom failed. The Garmin routed me on paved roads along the same path Google did.  Good!  I then searched for the address that Tomtom could not locate at all.  The Garmin found it with no problems.  So far so good.  The Garmin appears more accurate for routing at this point, but I’ve only had it for a day!  It does not have nearly the bells and whistles of the Tomtom, but again I’m not looking for fluff… I need to get from point A to B, C, D and E and not take out someone’s yard to avoid a broken dirt road.  I’m still learning the Garmin and seeing what it lacks, in comparison to the 720.  It also has some features that the Tomtom does not.  As long as I can count on accuracy, and routing with some logical reasoning, I can overlook these differences.

Just as with any other electronics purchase, you need to decide what your needs are.  When I’m consulting someone on a purchase, be it a computer, camera or other device, I always ask "what do you intend to use it for?".  That makes a big difference!  In the short time I had the Tomtom, I loaded a program on it and watched a music video on its 4" screen.  With the right SD card, you can load several full-length movies to watch on a GPS device!  I loaded it with MP3s and points-of-interest (POI’s).  I found games like Tetris, Chess and others for the Tomtom.  It is very easy to see the value and endless possibilities of this model…until you’re on a small dirt road - it is a GPS unit, after all, not a game device or DVD player.  The other problem I had, which has been shared by other Tomtom users, is the lock-up or freezing of the unit.  This requires a hard reset after it locks-up.  After having the 720 for only a couple days, I had to perform a hard reset more than 10-times.  For me, at least, this meant having to go to the car to use the power adapter (cigarette lighter adapter), then resetting the unit.  It would not reset, for me, while using the built-in battery.

As I continue to put the Nuvi 750 to use, especially at work, I’m sure I will be able to update this comparison after I have more hands-on real-world navigation.  So far, from what little I’ve used the device, it seems to be the better choice - for me and my needs.