jamesrsullivan: Went to a LibertyTravel office on a whim and realized why Orbitz is worth literally 300 times as much in market cap. I'll stick with online.
James Sullivan | 
03 19th, 2007| 
My family was very pleased with Vonage’s phone service. It was the lip-service we didn’t appreciate when we called to cancel the account. First it was a guy from India who took FOREVER to figure out that we were canceling and and stop trying to convince us not to cancel. After he gave up he said he couldn’t cancel it and I had to call back during business hours. Plus, I was still within my first year of service so I would be issues a cancellation charge if I cancelled today, so call back on the 16th and there will be no cancellation charge. I called back on the 16th to wait on hold answer a million questions, and be transferred. Unfortunately the Indian guy was not good at adding dates, as they said I needed to call them Monday in three days. Ok, called back in three days. Third call is with a gentleman who said it’s fine that we’re canceling but I’d have to pay the 13th billing period of the account to complete a year because the first month was free. Evidently they don’t include that first month free as part of your service or billing period. I already spent an hour trying to cancel over the 40$ cancellation charge, so I just maintained that he should cancel me because I completed the 12 months. He put me on hold, asked of there was anything else he could do… and I’m sure I’ll receive another email asking for another 30$ from them again… good thing I took a tip from an article I read about canceling their service and just removed the card from my account so they can’t bill me anymore.
I live in Medford, Massachusetts. There is a parking regulation to help facilitate snow removal which allows cars only on one side of the street, alternating sides each year. The effected dates are Dec to April. This December was unusually warm at over 70 degrees on some days. It was a really great treat for those of us who are getting tired of New England winters.
The town of Medford decided to use the snow-based parking ban to gather some funds by issuing half of us parked on the street with snow-ban tickets. The temperature was 70 degrees, but they still issues snow-ban tickets anyway. Amazingly there was one kind sole who noticed that the tickets were issued with an incorrect date, a two days before the issue of the ticket. That individual delivered hand-written notes to each of the cars with tickets explaining that fact and suggesting that we all go to contest the tickets based on the fact they were void due to incorrect information.
I went to appeal the ticket and was told not to bother by the parking clerk, an old woman in the town hall. I said I’d still like to contest it because the date is incorrect.
A few days later I was delivered a schedule for my appeal. Included in the envelope was a letter addressed to me telling me not to bother coming to fight it. I’ve taken a picture of the letter and typed it out here get some feedback. It feels to me like it’s a bully-tactic. What do you think? Here it is:
NOTICE REGARDING ODD/EVEN PARKING VIOLATION APPEALS
YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO APPEAL THE PARKING TICKET GIVEN TO YOU FOR AN ODD/EVEN PARKING VIOLATION. A HEARING DATE WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU IF YOU WANT ONE.
HOWEVER, PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE ODD/EVEN REGULATION HAS BEEN IN FORCE WITHIN THE CITY OF MEDFORD FOR APPROXIMATELY THE PAST TWENTY (20) YEARS. ON-STREET PARKING ROTATES FROM THE EVEN SIDE TO THE ODD SIDE FROM ONE YEAR TO THE NEXT.
FOR EXAMPLE, FROM DECEMBER 1, 2004 TO APRIL 1, 2005, PARKING IS ALLOWED ONLY ON THE EVEN SIDE OF THE STREET BECAUSE 2004 IS AN EVEN-NUMBERED YEAR. ON DECEMBER 1, 2005, PARKING WILL SHIFT TO THE ODD SIDE OF THE STREET BECAUSE 2005 IS AN ODD-NUMBERED YEAR.
THIS REGULATION APPLIES ONLY TO THE PUBLIC WAYS AND DOES NOT APPLY TO PRIVATE WAYS.
THE CITY MAKES THIS INFORMATION KNOWN BY POSTING IN THE LOCAL PRESS, THE CITY’S COMMUNITY ACCESS CABLE CHANNEL 16 AND ON THE MEDFORD POLICE WEB SITE. THE CITY DOES NOT POST SIGNS ABOUT THIS REGULATION AS IT IS NOT REQUIRED TO DO SO.
IF THE BASIS OF YOUR APPEAL IS THAT YOU WERE SIMPLY “NOT AWARE” OF THE ODD/EVEN REGULATION, YOU MAY WANT TO SAVE YOURSELF THE TIME OF COMING TO A HEARING BECAUSE THE TICKET WILL BE UPHELD AND YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY THE TICKET. YOU MAY STILL ATTEND THE HEARING IF YOU SO CHOOSE.
IF YOU FEEL THAT YOU HAVE A VERY UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCE THAT WOULD FAVOR DISMISSAL OF THE TICKET YOU ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND THE HEARING.
IF YOU CHOOSE TO PAY THE TICKET AND NOT ATTEND THE HEARING PLEASE CALL MY OFFICE (781-393-2470) SO THAT YOUR NAME CAN BE TAKEN OFF THE LIST.
ANTHONY M. SANTORO
HEARING OFFICER
1/27/05
