To whom it may concern,

My name is Nathan Washor. My COX account number is xxxx-xxxxxxxxx.

I have been trying for over a month now to set up “EasyPay” to deduct from my checking account – let me say that there is nothing easy about it.

First let me explain that your website enrollment of EasyPay via a checking account does not work. I have been in communications with your technical support department over and over again to try and get the problem resolved. The same problem I had over a month ago still occurs today. I know I am not the only person experiencing these issues as even your first tier customer service representatives all know about the problem too. I know that it is not a browser incompatibility as I have tried both firefox and IE on multiple computers.

Second, let me explain that I tried the alternate method of enrolling for EasyPay via a checking account by mailing in the EasyPay enrollment form. Unfortunately, the form was returned to me today (Sep 2nd) while it was stamped “received” on Aug 14. The reason it was returned was because I did not supply a voided check along with the application.

As I wrote in the original paper application, I do not have any paper checks. This is a checking account, but I do not have checks as I opened this account to only pay bills automatically. I have no checks for this account. I stated this in the application. Years ago I was a bank teller and I know how to read an ABA number and an account number. I wrote all of this information and even explained why I am mailing this in instead of using the online method of enrolling in “EasyPay”. Still the application was returned to me with a note basically stating “You Fail”.

Third, it is very important to note that if the online system were working – no physical copy of the check would even have been required! So why then is it so massively important to mail a voided check in when I make the request via the post vice web?

I have not incurred any late fees yet and will pay the bill online using your bill payment service – but this is not a long nor even a short term solution. It does not cease to amaze me that you seemingly do not want to get paid! I am a good customer – one that wants to pay his bill on time every month – automatically. I should be rewarded, not strung along waiting for your web development team (in India?) to produce a fix to your website that I could have written in a matter of days (I am a technical lead, software developer, and systems engineer contracted for the US NAVY). It should not take 4 plus weeks to produce a fix for the simple submitting of an encrypted form via any webpage. Does your development team even test before releases?

Lastly, where do I send MY bill? I figure I am worth around 100 dollars an hour based off of my salary, benefits, and bonuses. Based off of my beta testing of your website and communications with your technical support staff, that would put my bill to COX at around 500 or so dollars as you can see from the call logs in my account information. I must admit – some of that time was simply to waste your money paying your CS Reps to talk on the phone to me instead of another more needing customer.

What I am hoping that comes from this correspondence: a fix to your website… pronto! An intelligent repsonse to my letter. Some kind of compensation for all my wasted time and frustration. Thank you for your time, and know that I wrote this letter both out of my warped sense of humor coupled with a bit of boredom and a pinch of frustration.

Sincerely,

Nathan Washor

Here is a copy of my chat with eBay support for getting charged an increased final value fee on an item I relisted because the original buyer did not pay.  It ended up to go my way but I had to argue my case to two different CSRs and it took almost an hour!

Just be aware that if you list items for sale on eBay, while there is no insertion fee on your first five auctions of each month, the final value fees are sky high!  And also beware of non-paying bidders pushing your high priced auctions into the next month!

10:11:01 AM  System
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10:49:54 AM  System
Irene P. has joined this session!
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Connected with Irene P.
10:49:59 AM  Irene P.
Hello, thanks for waiting and welcome to eBay Live Help! My name is Irene. How may I help you?
10:50:17 AM  njwashor
hi
10:50:29 AM  njwashor
I just sent an email
10:50:35 AM  njwashor
but i will ask you here.
10:51:08 AM  njwashor
are you there?
10:51:57 AM  Irene P.
Yes, I am here.
10:53:04 AM  njwashor
i sold an iphone for 340.00 – buyer refused to pay. relisted iPhone. sold it! got paid. final value fee on first was around 13.40 and on the second one 19.99. The first one sold for 340… the second time it sold for 367.
10:53:29 AM  njwashor
that is a 33% increase in the final value fee while the increase in price was only 7%
10:53:34 AM  njwashor
what’s up with that?
10:53:54 AM  Irene P.
I see, I’d be happy to look into this for you.
10:53:59 AM  Irene P.
May I have the item number please?
10:54:06 AM  njwashor
yep, one moment
10:54:27 AM  njwashor
270447318956 is the 367 one
10:54:44 AM  njwashor
270442778258 is the 340 one
10:54:59 AM  Irene P.
Thanks! One moment please.
10:55:03 AM  njwashor
okay.
10:57:14 AM  Irene P.
Thanks for waiting.
10:57:21 AM  njwashor
no problem
10:58:24 AM  Irene P.
Okay, the item number 270447318956 was listed with zero insertion fee. As the recent price change, the first 5 listings with no Insertion Fees will have a Final Value Fee of 8.75% of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower.
10:58:59 AM  Irene P.
The second item number was listed as a regular insertion fee and was also charged the regular final value fee computation.
11:00:26 AM  njwashor
so what you are telling me is that because a buyer didn’t pay me I have to pay more in final value fees?
11:01:52 AM  njwashor
can you change the insertion fee of that to be not one of the five as it was not when i originally listed it? that just isn’t right.
11:03:34 AM  Irene P.
No, I’m just trying to explain first the difference in the final value fees between these listings. The buyer not paying does not affect the final value fee computation. If the buyer didn’t pay,
11:03:52 AM  Irene P.
you can file an Unpaid Item dispute against him.
11:04:01 AM  njwashor
i realize what you are saying 100% I am saying it is just not right.
11:04:04 AM  Irene P.
That will allow you to get your Final Value Credit back.
11:04:26 AM  njwashor
i plan on filing the claim when the 7 days is up
11:04:47 AM  njwashor
but in the meantime i have a 19.99 final value fee on this item when it should be 15.04
11:05:06 AM  njwashor
i listed the item in august.
11:05:12 AM  njwashor
it was not one of my first five
11:05:31 AM  njwashor
the BUYER did not pay me… this is outside of being my fault ata ll.
11:05:38 AM  njwashor
yet eBay is punishing ME
11:06:55 AM  Irene P.
I understand your concern. You will be refunded of the final value fee automatically once the dispute on this buyer closed.
11:07:15 AM  njwashor
that is not the concern here
11:07:40 AM  njwashor
i am not worried about being rebated the final value and listing fees of the first item
11:08:09 AM  njwashor
i am concerned with having to pay 19.99 on it the second time around BECAUSE the BUYER did not pay the first time around
11:10:08 AM  njwashor
your explanation of final value fees on your website hides the higher cost for the first five items very well.
11:10:18 AM  Irene P.
But the final value fee on the original transaction will be refunded after the dispute closes so you don’t have to pay for that.
11:10:41 AM  njwashor
can i talk to someone who understands the english language please?
11:10:53 AM  njwashor
you do not understand that i understand you
11:11:04 AM  njwashor
i understand 100%
11:11:07 AM  njwashor
i disagree
11:11:13 AM  njwashor
please get me a supervisor
11:11:51 AM  njwashor
you have two tables of data… one for insertion fees and one for final value fees
11:12:23 AM  njwashor
you hide the fact that your first five auctions are charged a higher rate outside those tables. that isn’t right.
11:13:35 AM  njwashor
and then i get in trouble – basically because the buyer did not pay for the auction the first time i listed it, so i was forced to relist it
11:13:44 AM  njwashor
and that relisting came in a different month
11:13:48 AM  njwashor
so i got punished
11:13:55 AM  njwashor
how can you see that that is not right”?
11:14:27 AM  njwashor
this is ridiculous
11:14:39 AM  njwashor
anybody out there?
11:15:02 AM  njwashor
it doesn’t take five minutes to respond
11:15:05 AM  njwashor
hello?
11:15:15 AM  Irene P.
I’m here.
11:15:24 AM  njwashor
well?
11:15:40 AM  njwashor
do you understand what i am saying?
11:16:05 AM  Irene P.
I understand what you are saying. However It was not hidden. It’s found on the splash page here: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/June2009/List5Free/
11:16:19 AM  Irene P.
It states:
5 FREE Insertion Fees every 30 days, regardless of start price of the item*
The $0.00 Insertion Fee listings will have a Final Value Fee per listing of 8.75% or $20, whichever is lower
11:16:21 AM  njwashor
i know. i looked there and i see what you are talkig about.
11:16:35 AM  njwashor
i listed the item last month
11:16:42 AM  njwashor
i RELISTED it this month
11:16:50 AM  njwashor
because it was not paid for
11:17:00 AM  njwashor
that is the BUYERS fault
11:17:09 AM  njwashor
yet I am the one punished
11:18:25 AM  Irene P.
Okay that is why we have the Unpaid Item process to refund you back the final value fee. And since it sold the second time around, the insertion fee is also refunded back.
11:18:31 AM  njwashor
i still say it is hidden though… it should be in the tables of data where you see how the final value fee is calculated… outside that table is “hidden”
11:19:03 AM  njwashor
i know… but do you not realize I am paying more now than before?
11:19:29 AM  Irene P.
It’s not hidden on the eBay Help page for seller fees. Where it states:
11:19:32 AM  njwashor
do you see that it is because of the BUYER and not by fault of my own?
11:19:39 AM  Irene P.
Auction-style listing fees
Your first five single-quantity auction-style listings to be listed on the site in a 30-day period have an Insertion Fee of $0.00 for eligible categories.* (See Insertion Fees for more information.) These $0.00 insertion fee listings also have a final value fee per listing of 8.75% or $20, whichever is lower. Additional listings within the 30-day period and multi-quantity listings are subject to the following insertion fees and final value fees.
11:20:01 AM  njwashor
anything outside the table titled “Final value fees: Auction-style listings” is hidden
11:20:15 AM  njwashor
that table is where one should be able to go to look up the cost of the fees
11:20:30 AM  njwashor
any good lawyer can prove that case easily
11:20:55 AM  Irene P.
The paragraphs on that page is also in reference to eBay fees.
11:21:03 AM  njwashor
back to the previous questions
11:21:36 AM  njwashor
do you see that i am paying more now than before?
11:21:50 AM  njwashor
do you see that it is the BUYERS fault and not mine?
11:22:15 AM  Irene P.
Yes, I understand. For more assistance on the difference on final value fee, What I’d like to do is connect you with our Billing department for further help with this. There may be a wait time to speak to someone after I’ve transferred you, but it shouldn’t be too long. In case this chat disconnects please feel free to come back into eBay Live Help by clicking on our link on the eBay homepage. May I go ahead and do that now?
11:22:32 AM  njwashor
yes
11:22:55 AM  Irene P.
One moment please.
11:23:05 AM  System
Irene P. has left this session!
11:23:06 AM  System
Thank you for contacting eBay Billing Support! Your feedback is important to us. Please take time at the end of this chat to fill out a brief survey letting us know how we did today.
11:23:10 AM  System
You are successfully connected to eBay Billing Support. Please hold for the next available Billing Agent
11:23:30 AM  System
Ralph D. has joined this session!
11:23:30 AM  System
Connected with Ralph D.
11:23:35 AM  Ralph D.
Hello, welcome to eBay Billing Support. My name is, Ralph. Please give me a moment to review your previous chat before we proceed or if you’d like, you could summarize it briefly for me.
11:23:47 AM  njwashor
hi ralph. thanks for talking to me
11:24:05 AM  Ralph D.
my pleasure.
11:24:10 AM  Ralph D.
How are you doing today?
11:24:29 AM  njwashor
i will give you a couple minutes to read the previous chat… gonna get a coffee
11:25:10 AM  Ralph D.
Sure, please go ahead and take your time.
11:26:26 AM  Ralph D.
Thanks for waiting. From the previous chat, I understand that you’re concerned about the Final Value Fees charged to your account is very high?
11:27:20 AM  njwashor
yes
11:27:30 AM  Ralph D.
Thank you.
11:27:35 AM  Ralph D.
No worries, I’ll be glad to look into this for you.
11:27:40 AM  Ralph D.
Please give me 2 minutes, while I review your account.
11:27:47 AM  njwashor
okay, thanks
11:32:16 AM  Ralph D.
I’m still working on your concern, it may take me a little while.
11:32:31 AM  njwashor
no problem. thanks
11:34:01 AM  Ralph D.
Thank you for waiting, I appreciate your patience.
11:34:21 AM  Ralph D.
Yes. you are right.
11:34:54 AM  njwashor
about?
11:35:01 AM  Ralph D.
Sorry, please ignore the earlier message.
11:35:06 AM  njwashor
okay
11:35:26 AM  Ralph D.
I’ve checked and see that you have listed 1 item in 1st 5 Free Insertion Fees
11:36:21 AM  njwashor
i thought the first five auctions was an incentive to list items… i see that is the opposite from the truth.
11:36:36 AM  Ralph D.
And the 2nd item in not listed under 1st 5 Free Insertion Fees.
11:36:56 AM  Ralph D.
In 1st 5 Free Insertion Fees, Final Value Fee sis high.
11:37:05 AM  njwashor
i see that
11:37:50 AM  njwashor
so ideally, i’d sell 5 1 dollar items and thenmy big ticket items if i were a power seller
11:38:02 AM  njwashor
but i don’t sell that much
11:38:08 AM  njwashor
so it just hurts me
11:38:21 AM  Ralph D.
I completely understand the disappointment this situation must have caused you.
11:38:31 AM  Ralph D.
let me check what can be done in this case.
11:38:47 AM  njwashor
okay, thanks
11:43:42 AM  Ralph D.
Thank you for waiting, I appreciate your patience.
11:44:44 AM  Ralph D.
Considering your situation for this time, I’ve issued you a credit for $5.84 which is the difference in the Final Value Fees.
11:44:56 AM  Ralph D.
You could confirm this on your Account Status page.
11:45:00 AM  njwashor
no problem, thanks for helping me
11:45:27 AM  Ralph D.
My pleasure
11:45:27 AM  Ralph D.
May I also know if I have resolved all your concerns?
11:45:28 AM  njwashor
yep, i see it there
11:45:43 AM  njwashor
yes. i thank you for your help and understanding.
11:45:55 AM  Ralph D.
I would imagine the same if I were in your situation.
11:46:07 AM  njwashor
you are a gentleman and a scholar as the old folks say!
11:46:21 AM  Ralph D.
:-) Thank you so much.
11:46:22 AM  njwashor
have a grea day
11:46:27 AM  Ralph D.
Thank you for your time, and thanks for using eBay Live Help! You can close this chat at any time by pressing the “Exit” button once you’re ready to close this window.
11:46:32 AM  Ralph D.
You too!

Now for the information (tables) I talked about in that chat:

Auction-style listing fees
Your first five single-quantity auction-style listings to be listed on the site in a 30-day period have an Insertion Fee of $0.00 for eligible categories.* (See Insertion Fees for more information.) These $0.00 insertion fee listings also have a final value fee per listing of 8.75% or $20, whichever is lower. Additional listings within the 30-day period and multi-quantity listings are subject to the following insertion fees and final value fees.

——————————————————————————————————————————-
Insertion fees: Auction-style listings
Starting or reserve price
 Insertion fee: Books, Music, DVDs & Movies, Video Games
 Insertion fee: Other categories
 
$0.01 – $0.99**
 $0.10
 $0.15
 
$1.00 – $9.99
 $0.25
 $0.35
 
$10.00 – $24.99
 $0.35
 $0.55
 
$25.00 – $49.99
 $1.00
 $1.00
 
$50.00 – $199.99
 $2.00
 $2.00
 
$200.00 – $499.99
 $3.00
 $3.00
 
$500.00 or more
 $4.00
 $4.00
——————————————————————————————————————————-
 
——————————————————————————————————————————-
Final value fees: Auction-style listings
Closing price
 Final value fee
 
Item not sold
 No fee
 
$0.01 – $25.00**
 8.75% of the closing value
 
$25.01- $1,000.00
 8.75% of the initial $25.00 ($2.19), plus 3.50% of the remaining closing value balance($25.01 – $1,000.00)
 
Equal to or Over $1000.01
 8.75% of the initial $25.00 ($2.19), plus 3.50% of the initial $25.01 – $1,000.00 ($34.12), plus 1.50% of the remaining closing value balance($1000.01 – closing value)
——————————————————————————————————————————-
 
*All categories are eligible except for Motors Vehicles, Real Estate, and the following Business & Industrial subcategories: Tractors & Farm Machinery, Heavy Equipment & Trailers, Concession Trailers & Carts, Imaging & Aesthetics Equipment, Forklifts & Other Lifts, Manufacturing Equipment, Metalworking Equipment, and Commercial Printing Presses. Items listed in more than one category are subject to the regular Insertion Fees for the additional category. To be eligible, items need to be listed with the Sell Your Item or Simple forms. Items listed with tools such as Selling Manager, Selling Manager Pro, TurboLister, FileExchange, Mass Listing Editor, bulk sell/relist/revise flows, API, and third-party listing tools aren’t eligible.

So, I got your attention… no I do not know of any specific class-action suit against Apple over its iPhone, however I do want to say that there should be one and my story will show why.

I recently purchased an iPhone believing like many others that this device would be the long-awaited device to pwn all other devices.  Well, perhaps it’s not a commercial grade HD camcorder, but it does take decent photos for a phone.  Anyhow, the iPhone is a GPS navigator, a digital camera, an iPod, a web-browser, an email utility, a gaming platform, and a cell-phone all-in-one.  Oh, and it has plenty of add-on applications to keep you up to date on everything from stocks to the weather.  So what is the iPhone 3G missing in the midst of all these great abilities?

Stereo headsets.  Yep, you heard right.  Stereo Bluetooth Headset functionality is not available for the iPhone – while many competitors do and have been offering this functionality for over a year now.  Now you may ask why a class-action lawsuit over this?  Well for one… one of it’s most pivotal, most primary functionalities is being an audio player (an iPod).  Now that in and of itself isn’t worthy of any kind of lawsuit… it’s just evidence of very poor engineering and management of Apple’s flagship product.  What makes it worthy of lawsuit is all in the marketing.

Apple markets its product as “Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR” capable as seen on its Tech Specs page and retail packaging.  Now the lay person would look at this and see ‘Bluetooth 2.0′ and think to themselves “Well that must be better than Bluetooth 1.x” as common sense would dictate.  Then they’d see ‘+ EDR’ and think, “oh cool, it supports MORE than just Blueooth 2.0 – it supports this EDR thing too – whatever that is”.  As anyone can plainly see, the customer now has a stated reason (provided by Apple) to believe that his/her Bluetooth devices should be supported on his/her shiny new iPhone.

The trick is that supporting “Bluetooth 2.0″ doesn’t mean ANY Bluetooth devices are supported at all (it only means the hardware layer is there – I just learned this myself and I am a software engineer and work with technology every day)!  The saddest part is that there are so many standards and so much misinformation out there that it is difficult for even me to keep on top of it all (another great example of this is the over-the-air cable switch to occur in February 2009).  A device could have a Bluetooth 2.0 chip inside it and state it supports Bluetooth 2.0 right on the packaging (like Apple has done) but not support a single Bluetooth device in all the world, but the packaging would still be telling the customer the truth (however so misleading that truth is).

In adding the ‘+’ in “Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR”, Apple has gone so far as to say “in addition to” Bluetooth 2.0 (which in all actuality means absolutely nothing in regards to compatibility) Apple continues… “we also support EDR”.  This adds another layer of misinformation to confound the unlearned customer.  So what is EDR you are wondering.  Well, according to Wikipedia (yes, I had to look this up as I personally do not know what every acronym in the technology field stands for) EDR stands for Enhanced Data Rate (basically meaning faster transfer speeds over Blueooth 2.0).  So if you or I were to look this up, there is no inkling to explain that certain Bluetooth devices are NOT supported.

Now the question is – is it Apple’s fault OR the customers fault that the end-user (the customer) doesn’t know what this “Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR” actually means (which we now know means: nothing at all)?  Also, if the customer does know what this means how are they to know what devices are supported?  A simple explanation on Apple’s site and packaging stating “Bluetooth handsfree profile supported” and can I go so far as to say “Blueooth stereo profile not supported at this time” would have made this clear to me and the over 1 million other iPhone owners before getting trapped in a multi-thousand dollar deal (you do the math) with AT&T.  Apple chose not to state this.  The fact that “Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR” actually means absolutely nothing when it comes to compatibility with other devices (such as headsets, car adapters, headphones, etc) shows Apple intentionally mislead many people to believe their devices were indeed supported when they were not – and to top it off we have no idea if Apple EVER intends to support them.

To summarize: Apple states on their packaging and website that Bluetooth devices are supported by the iPhone.  This however is only a half-truth as only the handsfree profile is supported and all other devices are not.  This is not stated anywhere in any Apple literature available to a customer prior to purchase of the iPhone and in many instances reported online – AT&T store representatives have actually told customers the false information that stereo headsets do indeed work with the iPhone.  Now this can not be blamed on Apple, but the fact that Apple does not have any literature to falsify those claims can be blamed on Apple.

I was recently asked why I have a “Peace” bumper sticker that says “Support our Troops”.  I thought the answer was obvious… the best way to support our troops is by not being at war (hence putting them in grave danger).  For those who don’t know me, I served honorably in the Rhode Island Army National Guard in the infantry for 6 years and I put that sticker on my car when my old unit got called up to go to Iraq.  That question though got me thinking about my political views on the war in Iraq.

I always wonder to myself about the answer many give when asked about their feelings on Iraq: “if the ends justify the means, then it was worth it” and “only time will tell”.  I will be the first to admit that I have used these phrase over and over when it comes to this war in particular.  But being a bit of a philosopher, I have to question my own beliefs continuously to strengthen them.

So, the question is “do the ends justify the means”.  But what does that question really mean?  We know what the means are, but what ends are we talking about?  I would argue most people would say that the ends implies when this war is over and done with and we have a historical record of the events that aren’t muddied by politics (at least not too much, or at least all sides to the story are represented) what was accomplished/what was the outcome.

If that is the case we still have another question… the timeline.  When this war is over and done with only gives the time when this statement becomes valid… but it does not take into effect history afterwards.  Take for example the fall of the “evil Roman empire”.  Did the ends justify the means?  Invading hordes, collapse of society, a long lasting dark age on humanity as western cultures new it were the means in this case.  The ends were a largely Christian society split into feuding fiefdoms, intolerance of others, and the loss of scholarly works.  However, the ends now are quite different.

Now the ends are a return of sorts of Rome in the USA, albeit we are not evil (as I am sure the Romans were not either – just paganistic and fearful of their imagined gods).  We have a great civilization, largely free and protected by some of the best men and women in uniform throughout the world.  So I would say that in 500AD the ends did not justify the means, but in 2008AD the ends appear to have justified the means.  But who’s to say that will be true in 3000AD?

When we say “the ends justify the means” we expect our context to be fixed, but this is not the case.  The means are fixed, but the ends are always changing.  Their will always have been loss of innocents in Iraq (on both sides) but the ends will keep changing throughout time.

So the next time you go to use that phrase, think about what you are really saying.

Good ridance!  That’s what I say to Charlestown’s latest effort to leave Chariho.

Seriously, we complain about how unfair the tax equalization is between Charlestown and Richmond/Hopkinton.  With Charlestown gone, we won’t need to update our facilities to accommodate more students, we won’t have as big operating costs (I’m thinking of heating, etc on top of less teachers and so forth).  I’m sure the ratio of operating costs will be somewhat higher, but not high enough to warrant paying millions to build new structures.  The kicker is… Charlestown will get hammered with huge up-front costs to build their school system.  How’s that for tax equalization?

The one remaing factor to consider is a new name… Riho is just not right – I can think of too many jokes at our children’s expense.  What do you think the new bi-town school distract should be named?

Forget 666 – 216 is far worse.

I was recently driving down route 216 between Ashaway and Bradford/Alton.  Now I know how scarred up this section of road is – and I know all the little spots where you have to drive on the other side of the road (the wrong side, facing oncoming traffic) to avoid nasty, deep potholes – but even this knowledge did not prevent me from nearly wrecking my car.

I was driving along to Walmart in the middle of the night (as that is the best time to go to such a place – no fighting hordes of overweight, buck-toothed customers to buy a single item) to buy an airconditioner (It was one of those oppresively hot and sticky nights, and my old AC was just not cutting it).  The dummy coming at me had their high beams on and refused to lower them no matter how much I flicked my lights at him/her.  Luckily I saw the deer on my side of the road (it was foggy out, but I could make out it was about halfway out of the breakdown lane into my lane) so I swerved into the oncoming lane to avoid it (I still had enough time between me and the oncoming moron) – but immediately felt this huge crash reverberate through my car.

I first thought I must have run over a second deer, but then realized I had steered right into an enormous pothole.  Had that popped my tire I most assuredly would have been a sitting target for the (possibly drunk) idiot gunning toward me.  I was amazed at how hard my car hit that hole and amazed more that I didn’t pop a tire (thanks to Goodyear Triple-Treads for that save).

The worst part is that this road has been like this since I moved to Hopkinton a few years back – and it’s only gotten worse.  I recently found out on another blog that this road is maintained (or rather – not maintained) by the state of Rhode Island/NOT Hopkinton.  So what do we do with barely any representation up on Capitol Hill?  Are Brian Kennedy and Senator Breen listening?

I recently wanted to email the town councilors about a concern I had.  I went to the Hopkinton town website and was annoyed to find that none of their email addresses were listed.  Our town manager’s email address was available, so I emailed him and requested him to email me back to let me know that he forwarded my concerns on to the council members.  He never replied to me.

I decided to go on a search for the council member’s email addresses using various search engines and a little ingenuity to weed through all the trash.  I successfully located four of the five councillor’s addresses (this was not an easy task) and sent them a copy of the concerns I had sent to the town manager.  Unfortunately, one of the councillor’s addresses bounced immediately and the only response to the remaining three emails was from Barbara Capalbo.

She verified the other two addresses I had used were indeed invalid addresses and provided me the correct email addresses of Tom Buck, Bev Kenney, and Vinny Cordone.  I then sent another copy of my concerns to the correct addresses and received a pleasant reply from Bev, but I never received a reply from Tom or Vinny.

Apparently Sylvia does not like her email being given out… and I can completely understand this.  That is why I propose that the town provide publicly known email addresses for the town councillors and the other town officials both elected and not.  They already own the domain name hopkintonri.org and the manager has an address already, so why hasn’t this been already done?

I just wanted to express my gratitude to the town council for listening to my concerns as well as many other townsfolk in requesting additional funding for the Ashaway library.  The library had not been given an increase in it’s operating budget for three straight years… something in this time of increased operating costs due to inflation and high oil prices… could have crippled, maybe even bankrupted the institution.  The library was given a raise of two thousand dollars in the budget and this in addition to increased private donations has really reduced the level of concern we were all feeling.  Thank you town council.