Cut me some slack... Jeez

A series of events have happened and I feel kind of down about this... I am going to rant about it so that it is out of my system and then move on with it...

I bought Panasonic headphones in January 2011. I found out last Saturday (June 11, 2011) that the right side is about half as weak in terms of volume as the left side... I thought that it might have been the device that I was plugging into. So, I tested the headphones with another device... In both devices, the left jack is consistently stronger than the right jack. I called Panasonic customer support. I told them about my problem. However, Panasonic only offers a 90 day warranty on their headphones and basically I was SOL. The cost for repairing the headphones is just as expensive as getting new ones, so it was suggested that I get new ones...

I cannot believe that Panasonic flat out refused to do anything for me. I mean... If I had been using the headphones every day, maybe... But it shouldn't be like that. Panasonic is supposedly a good name... They are supposed to make high quality products... Not products that go bad a few days or weeks after their warranty runs out. The reason why I bought Panasonic headphones was because I was impressed with the phone I got with them... So I put my trust in them... I was also quite impressed with the customer service I received on my phone... I sent in the unit and they repaired it... However, I am now worried because I am afraid that my phone is going to just die on me, or go bad, or start acting up, or (insert thing that could go wrong with it) after the warranty is up, which is soon. I got this phone about a year ago... The warranty is for a year, I think. For the headphones in question, I use them at most three times a week. I am not one of those people who have my iPod or gadget with me all the time and listen to it whenever I am on the bus.

Then, I got my account statement from my bank and I found out that my bank is raising banking fees, upping the minimum balances on their accounts for the banking fees to be waived, upping overdraft protection fees, upping extra transaction fees on their chequing accounts, effective August 1, 2011. I find it bizarre that in a time of an unstable and bad economy, where many people don't have stable full time jobs and they are having difficulty making ends meet, that my bank (and when I called to ask for more information to voice my concern - possibly two more other major Canadian banks) is upping the fees on their chequing accounts! Especially when ING Direct is offering a no-fee chequing account!!! So far, my bank has done very little to keep me with them... Their solution to saving me money is to offer more of their services which supposedly save me money. As one can see, I will be doing more research (I did research before calling my bank) and making a pros and cons list about the chequing account that I have versus the chequing account offered by ING.

And then today, when I mailed a Father's Day card. I was informed that my card was too heavy and I had to add 50¢ to my postage. I didn't take a chance because this is a Father's Day card. I know that there is a strike, so it will be late. I didn't want to take the chance of the card being sent back to me for insufficient postage. Seriously though, if I had just put the card into a random mailbox, the chances of it being sent back are pretty slim... They do not have time to check every piece of mail coming from every mailbox on the island of Montreal! I mean, sure, sometimes things do get sent back, but... The chances of that would be pretty slim.

It seems like everyone and their mother is out to get my money. To quote my brother, who has many great expressions... "Can I buy a fucking break please?!!"