Arthur Chaparyan & His Take On The Universe

Home Listings Without Pictures or Why Blind Dates Don't Work

2008-04-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

I am so shocked that when people try to sell their most expensive and important asset, their house, they put in almost zero effort. The same goes for their real estate agent.

Searching through dozens of listing websites and looking at thousands of homes available for sale, only about 1/10 have a picture. Of those that do have a picture, 95% are either really small, really blurry, or a single shot of the home when it's already getting dark outside.

What the hell is wrong with everyone? 99.9% of car listings have a picture attached. Most with multiple shots. You're telling me that people spend more time selling a $10,00 car than selling a $1,000,000 home? AND NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING?

We need a resource where home listings are required to have multiple GOOD photos along with a very thorough description and a street address. This is ridiculous! I am officially declaring shenanigans!

Stupid Spam

2008-03-22T20:54:00.001-07:00

Today I received a spam email with this message:

Academic Qualifications available from prestigious NON-ACCREDITED universities.

Your Degree will show exactly what you really can do.

Academic Qualifications available from prestigious NON-ACCREDITED universities.

12066666129

First of all, pointing out the weak point of your statement (that the school is not accredited) in capital letters isn't exactly step #1 to gaining customers.

Second of all, even if this email made me all giddy and super excited to join, I have no link to click and no name to reference. And repeating the same message a second time did nothing for me.

To top it all off, the email came from "AlphonsechemotherapyMacdonald@bump.net"
If you are going to make a fake email, maybe throwing "chemotherapy" in there isn't the best idea for trying to get people to join a NON-ACCREDITED and non-existent school.

Sadly, the quality of spam emails has really gone down.

Twitter

2008-03-11T23:07:00.000-07:00

After having heard about Twitter a billion times since 2006, I decided to finally give it a shot. So far, I'm really liking it! It's perfect for all those times where I have a one line comment or something that I want to write, but don't have the time or the energy to write a full blog entry.

Unfortunately, I don't know if any of my friends are also using Twitter (highly unlikely given their lack of geekiness).

If you happen to be on it, let me know! I can be found at:
http://twitter.com/chaparyan

(logo taken without permission, Armenian style)

PP: Planning Prevents Procrastination (And Stress)

2008-03-10T01:26:00.000-07:00

There have been many times where I have absolutely dreaded doing something I needed to do. Many years ago, it was homework. Now, it's some of my work. In the end, it's still the same: you wait too long to get started because you can't wrap your mind around how you are going to get it all done. Once you start doing it though, you realize it's not that big a deal and you should have started long ago so that you wouldn't be rushing.

It's not about laziness, and that's not just me being stubborn and denying I'm lazy. The real reason is planning. If I said you need to build a house and get it done within 2 years, you probably wouldn't get a hammer out today and get to it. 2 years, you'd say. I have *plenty* of time. Before you know it, a year has passed and all you've done is thought about working on the house a half dozen times. Now you're panicking (as you should be).

If instead I gave you a very long yet very thorough list of steps to take to make the house (including a list of everything to buy, whom to call and when, and each step took anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours) you probably *would* start right away and not feel so stressed out.

The difference, of course, is knowing what to do and breaking it down to bite-sized pieces.

The only reason I bring this up is to remind myself that nothing is too big to handle. No matter what it is, if I step back and really plan things through, it becomes much easier to accomplish. A great side-effect of this is that you discover things that you need to clarify and discuss much earlier on in the process.

The planning part is fairly self-explanatory, but there is one important thing to remember: don't expect to be able to plan every single item from the beginning. It's just not possible to think of everything little step months in advanced. Be as detailed as possible, but revisit every your plan every so often and add more details. There's nothing wrong with going back and adding so much detail that you end up doubling your initial list. That's not a step back. If anything, it makes moving forward even easier because things are now even more clear.

(I didn't even reread what I wrote, so not all of this is going to make sense)

Daylight Saving Time Sucks

2008-03-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

If I really needed an extra hour of daylight during the summer, I would wake up an hour earlier!

My Client, Taltopia, Raises $800,000

2008-03-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Well this is pretty exciting stuff for me. My job mainly entails creating websites and software for people who plan to make a living from it. Some think they can just put up a website and expect sales to come flooding in. That's not how it works.

Allen Vartazarian and Anthony Zanontian, the Taltopia guys (formerly known as Famesource) came to me in October of 2006 with a brilliant idea: A website focused on letting talented people show what they can do and letting others vote. It's "America's Got Talent" meets YouTube meets Digg. I loved the idea from the beginning.

We signed the contract October 19, 2006 and started our long road ahead. After many sleepless nights and even a week-long hospital visit days before our planned launch, the website was finally live March of 2007.

However, that was only the beginning. We added new features, changed many things, and got a lot of bugs worked out. Starbucks (specifically, the one in Downtown Burbank) became our new home, since that was where we would meet to do most of our work together.

It was an uphill battle, but it has finally paid off. Last week, Taltopia closed on their Series A funding of $800,000. It's a great start and, knowing how very frugal Allen and Anthony are, they will make that money go very far for their users.

Congratulations guys. It's one thing to get paid for doing work. It's a whole different story when that work provides the foundation for a successful business. Here's to many more years of fame! (Now... where's that Ruth's Chris dinner I was promised?)

New Car!

2008-02-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

While I still have a little over a month left on my Cadillac lease, I decided it was time to get a new car. The Cadillac is starting to show its age (3 years old! It's a grandmpa!) and I really wanted to get a new car.

One of my main goals was to save money. This year and next is going to be very exciting (engagement, wedding, house!) so I need to save money. I also needed to have all the luxury and technology I'm used to, so I finally decided on a 2008 Infiniti G35 Journey w/ Premium + Navigation packages. I got a really good deal on a 24 month lease with very little down. Say what you will about the armos, those Hye Auto guys get really great deals.

I love it! It's got pretty much everything my Cadillac has with a few things extra, such as real-time traffic, 9 gig hard drive, 303 HP (compared to the Cadillac's 255), a compact flash slot, and rear view camera. Not to mention the voice recognition actually works!

So here's my new baby:

Switching Gears Is Hard!

2008-02-13T21:27:00.000-08:00

I love what I do. I work for myself. I go to sleep whenever I want. I wake up whenever I want. I take a vacation whenever I want.

With so much freedom, discipline becomes very important in being productive. It's dangerously easy to end the day having done absolutely no work. While this is ok, and downright necessary, sometimes, it can easily turn into a bad habit.

I try to counter that by writing a detailed to-do list the night before and knowing exactly what I am going to work on. Having vague tasks like "Work on Bob's project" is ambiguous and just makes me procrastinate doing the work, since I don't really know what to work on. "Finish video encoding module" is much easier to start and finish.

That solves half the problem. The other half, which is far more difficult, is switching gears. Once I work on one project and finish what I needed to do for that day, I need to start on the next project. While it sounds easy, it ends up being quite a bitch!

I've tried taking breaks, and I just end up taking an all-day break. If I separate my sit-down work with work meetings, I have absolutely no desire to work again after the meeting.

Even now, when I should get started on the next project, I'm writing a blog post! Anyone have any suggestions?

Going Paperless

2008-01-31T12:34:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to do this for a long time, but scanning every page of every bill is a real hassle, especially when the bills are non-standard sized pages and are double sided. It completely defeats the purpose of going paperless since I end up doing 3 times more work.

Well, I have a new approach. Since nearly every single bill I receive now has an option for getting an electronic version instead of getting it mailed to me, I have decided that, starting in 2008, I will have all my bills sent to my email and I will save each as a PDF document. No wasted paper, less trees wasted, less paper to recycle, and no need to worry about what I'm going to do with hundreds of bills at the end of the year or when I run out of room in my drawer.

I still have to keep the paper versions of my old bills, but at least it's a start!

The Hilton Line

2008-01-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

That was a very long 10 minutes!

Always Learning Something New - Product Photography

2008-01-24T00:36:00.000-08:00

I have a very unique job. While my main focus is software development and website design, I always end up learning something new with every client. In the past, I have learned about the propane industry, FOREX currency trading, real estate, antiques, mortgages, and senior housing to name a few.

I've also learned many new skill sets from each unique project. I learned ASP.NET and C# programming while doing my first social networking website. I can't even count the number of new things I learned from working on Famesource. Two recent projects have required me to learn even more. One project involved heavy Flash and Flash Media Server programming. I've never done anything related to Flash, so this is a very interesting endeavor.

Another project involves me taking some product photos - a task I usually leave to a photographer. It's not easy taking pictures of products. Today I went to Office Depot to buy foam boards and went to Home Depot to buy lights. I ended up getting some kick-ass 100W Daylight Halogen Lights. These things are BRIGHT! I only bought 2, but now I realize I need at least 4 to get a well-lit box. I came home and assembled the whole thing with tape and started taking pictures. Turns out, it's not that easy. I don't have a professional grade camera - just a 6 megapixel Exilim. I don't even have a small tripod, so I had to use books and other small things I had around my room to hold the camera still.

Here's what it looks like so far (with a bit of Photoshopping to increase contrast and adjust levels. I didn't remove the background):

You can see my orange Exilim in the bottom corner of the phone. Even with all the touch-up it's obvious that I don't have enough lighting (though it is bright as hell when you look at it through human eyes). I look forward to taking more product pictures and maybe having it bring in enough to warrant the purchase of a professional camera and a better lighting studio. It's definitely fun!

Keeping Cords Untangled & One Very Happy Arthur

2008-01-17T19:10:00.000-08:00

Anyone that has spent more than 10 minutes with me knows I'm extremely OCD, especially when it comes to organization. I could always keep my desk clean, but tangled headphone cords always got the best of me. Finally, I thought of a very simple solution that has worked liked a charm.

Since I have a giant cork board next to my desk (which, by the way, is a great way to keep a desk clean) I figured I could use said board, and the magical powers of gravity, to fight my battle with cords.

Ladies and gentlemen, I declare victory (and not a half-assed George Bush style victory either)!

A Bit of Practice

2008-01-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Today I spent about 40 minutes exercising and practicing jab and cross with weights. While I definitely can feel that I am out of shape and quickly run out of breath, I can also feel myself improving very quickly. It took about 4 days for my legs and back to recover from Sunday's training. I'm going to go for a little run tomorrow and then get ready for Saturday's training. This is actually turning out to be a lot more fun than I expected!

Martial Arts Training

2008-01-05T13:04:00.000-08:00

One of my resolutions was to exercise more, so what better way than to get involved in some boxing and tae kwon do? I had my first day of training yesterday, and am going again tomorrow. Levon, Araks' brother, is the one training me, and he is very good at what he does, so it's very fun.

I'm looking forward to getting in shape this year. I think it will really help my overall mood and my work productivity.

Photo credit: Tomm Hansen

Catching Up On Work

2008-01-02T23:12:00.000-08:00

Waking up today was very difficult. While I tried to sleep early last night, my body was just not used to it. I fell asleep around 4am and woke up a little after 8am. I have been half-awake the entire day. I was very close to giving in and taking a nap, but I fought the temptation. If I had napped, I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight either.

So in the morning I called all of my customers and updated everyone as to where we stand as far as their project goes. Some clients had said they would call me but I hadn't heard from them for weeks, so it was time to get the ball rolling. While it's going to be a bit difficult working on everything at the same time, it will be worth it since I will be able to finish projects quickly and, most importantly, get paid for them!

I had lunch with Adeh at Islands, then visited Alex at POS Solutions to fix an odd problem with their proposal generator. After that I visited Vazgen at his office to discuss changes to his project. I'm really excited about getting everything complete and growing my company this year.

I spent some time relaxing at home, then went over to Araks' house to help with creating a school assignment for her mom. We had some fun playing around with Clairol's Try It On Studio, then I came home and relaxed a little more until I finally decided to go to bed.

Every night I plan the next day's events, that way I have a reason to wake up and a way to track my productivity for the day. So far, so good. Let's see how day #3 goes.

Oh and I used to do this a while back with all my posts, and I think it will be fun to do again: a picture with every post! This time around, I'll give credit for all the hard work these great photographers have put into their photos:

Photo credit: Marmur []

Java Java Everywhere

2008-01-02T12:16:00.000-08:00

In case you forgot what you were installing:

And So The Year Begins (And Why The Rose Parade Sucks)

2008-01-01T23:59:00.000-08:00

I was about to go to bed today, and then I realized I was already close to breaking my first new years resolution: blog more often! Now, I have 3 blogs, so it's not easy to keep all of them updated, so I am going to focus this one on daily events, sort of like a diary. I don't really have any other focus for it, so why not document my life? It's not going to provide much benefit to anyone reading it, but it is definitely worth its weight in gold years down the line when I look back and read about what I was doing day to day and what my thoughts were.

So anyways, I spent New Years with my parents until midnight. Nothing very exciting there. Then, I went out with Araks. We were going to meet a few friends at a party in Pasadena, but by the time we navigated all the street closings caused by the Rose Parade, the party was over.

I seriously never understood the appeal of the Rose Parade. It's just a bunch of arranged flowers going very slowly down the street. Wouldn't it be much more effective to take a picture of each float and post them online as a slideshow? The only thing that would be missing would be people no one knows artificially waving at people they don't know.

Even if you like the Rose Parade, why the hell would you camp out in 36 degree weather on New Year's night instead of watching it at home? You really don't have anything better to do? Just seeing people sleeping on the streets with their blankets and comforters touching the dirty sidewalk made me nauseous. You people need to get a life!

Anyways, so we just ended up driving around some dark neighborhoods and looked at some very nice houses. Of course, ours will look better, but now we are just getting some ideas on what to do :-)

I got home around 4am and knocked out until 1pm when I woke up from the sounds of my nieces' gigglings.

My sister and her family was over, so we had a bit of an after-new year's early dinner (which was my breakfast). Then we all went to my grandmother's house to wish her a new year, where my brother and his family were already doing their wishing. Afterwards, they came over and I got to spend quality time with Angela and Hovik. Hovik is growing up fast and is always fun to play with. I let him loose playing Call of Duty 4 for a little bit. He's not bad for a 3 year old.

Angela was an angel as usual. She definitely acts much older than she is. I always think of what it is going to be like to look back 20 years from now and remember how they were as little kids.

And that about rounds out my day. I am looking forward to waking up early (8am) and getting a lot of work done. I am really set on keeping my resolutions this year, and this blog is just another tool to help me stay on track.

2007: A Look Back

2007-12-31T21:19:00.000-08:00

Quite a year this has been, and it's worth spending some time to look back. Unfortunately, since I don't have many blog posts, I have big gaps. Another reason to blog more often!

January:
Started working as a consultant for ILN. I was asked to make a website for each of their divisions. It was a very fun and exciting opportunity and I am very glad to have worked with them.

Sometime in early February:
Subleased my office and started working from home. Best decision of the year!

February 18:
Started waking up early (7am) and was very productive. This was because I needed to give my dad a ride to work in the mornings, so I didn't have a choice when to wake up. Well, he has his own ride now and I have been averaging a noon wakeup time.

February 26:
Kidney stones and pancreatitis. You can read the whole story there. Short story: Insane amount of pain, a week a Cedars-Sinai. Surgery to remove kidney stones. A week of no food or water for the pancreatitis and a very uncomfortable 2nd surgery.

Oh and I can never drink alcohol again.

March:
Famesource.com launched. At the time, it was my largest development project. It's something I'm very proud of having completed and I look foward to working with the 2 young gents for a long time.

April 16:
Filed my taxes. I ended up not paying any taxes because 2006 was such a bad year.

April 27:
Got final payment from a former client that I was going to sue. A friendly letter from the courthouse asking them to appear changed their mind and they decided to pay me.

May:
No record of what I did this month.

June 16:
Araks' graduation ceremony. It was so surreal watching her go on stage and mark a very important milestone in both our lives. Congratulations again :-)

June 20:
Went to Catalina with Araks. Didn't get attached by dolphins like last time, but it was very fun!

June 24 - 26:
VEGAS BABY!

July 1 - 8:
Araks goes on a cruise and decides not to take me in her carry-on.

July 13:
Ended my contract with ILN. Finished what there was to finish, so we mutually decided to part ways. It was a great experience.

Jly 26-28:
Took RCFE classes in Irvine for no good reason. I'm definitely way too OCD to take care of old and dying people. It was an interesting experience none-the-less.

August 11:
We celebrate Araks turning 22.

August 14:
Finished another project - Five Star Limo of LA. Not a big project, but another project complete.

August 22:
Araks turns 22.

August 25:
Continue celebrating Araks' birthday.

September 22:
Celebrated my just-discovered 2nd cousin's 21st birthday

September 24:
Happy anniversary baby!

October 31:
Umm... Halloween?

November 3-6:
Las Vegas with Araks. We love VEGAS!

November 8:
I turn 23. After 21, it's not that exciting celebrating my accelerated free fall towards seniority.

December 5:
Araks gets a brand new Audi! Congrats!

I am going to make an effort to document as much as possible in 2008. Add that to my list of resolutions!

Goodbye to the Best Year EVER

2007-12-31T21:01:00.000-08:00

There goes 2007. Did you hear it whooshing by? Neither did I...

It was definitely the best and most interesting year so far.

Last year, I posted a list of resolutions. As is customary, it's time to revisit them and set some new ones:

Pay off most of my debt - Success! I'm down to my last few thousand in debt!
Get engaged - Wasn't ready for it this year, but 2008 looks like the year.
Sleep by midnight and wake up before 9am on weeknights - Nope.
Stop trying to please everyone - I think I've been pretty successful with this one.
Stop being afraid to rock the boat - Yet another one I see as a success.
Finish all my projects on time - Hmm.. mostly. I can improve on this.
Read an hour a day - No time for this.
Exercise regularly - Definitely didn't happen, not even for a day.
Eat healthy - I've been doing much better as far as food quality, so I'm going to have to say I've done this.
Write more blog entries - I've written about 20 posts this year. Last year I wrote 100. Now this is also because I have an anonymous blog, but I definitely need to figure out what I'm doing as far as blogging.

4 out of 10. Ouch! Time to set some more realistic goals. I'm also going to review my progress every month. That way I will keep myself on track and have at least something to write about every month.

Without further ado, here are my resolutions for 2008:

Finish paying my debt and start saving. I've payed off about $50,000 in debt in one year. Next year, it's time to save!
Set a work schedule and stick to it. If I'm not doing anything else, I'm working. That's not a good plan. I need to set certain hours of the day that I will be working, and take the rest of the time off.
Work more efficiently. When I have large projects that have deadlines far away, I tend to procrastinate, which just ends up making my work harder. I always look back and regret lagging the project to the last minute. My goal is to always plan out each project and set a plan of what I am going to do the night before.
Exercise regularly. I know I've said this year in and year out and haven't followed through, but this time I have a plan! I have a "personal trainer" and set days of exercise. In addition to exercise, I'm also going to be learning martial arts. I'm pretty excited about this!
Make more money than in 2007. That's going to be a bit of a challenge considering this was such a stellar year.
Wake up earlier, sleep earlier. Get another goal that's being rolled over from '07. This time I'm combining it with #2 and #3 so that I have a reason to wake up early.

Historical Auction! First-EVER 10% Post-Consumer Fiber Cup AND 60% Post-Consumer Fiber Sleeve

2007-12-26T14:01:00.001-08:00

Wow! What an exciting auction this is going to be!
Want to own a collectible?
Want something to pass down to your kids?

Well check out this auction:
First-Ever 10% Post-Consumer Fiber Cup and 60% Post-Consumer Fiber Sleeve

You won't believe it until you see it! The FIRST-EVER 10% Post-Consumer Fiber Cup and 60% Post-Consumer Fiber Sleeve. Two historical pieces on auction WITH NO RESERVE!

Here's a pictures from the auction:

Don't wait! Bid Now!

I <3 Blackberry

2007-12-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I decided to upgrade my phone and get the sexy looking Blackberry Pearl (in white):

Besides looking awesome, it's got everything you could possibly imagine! I was already happy with the way it was by default, but after adding Google Mobile apps and Beyond411, I can't imagine I ever lived without this little technological miracle.

Google Maps can triangulate my position based on cell phone towers, show me traffic, and give me directions. Google Reader gives me access to my RSS Reader, which is awesome for I am waiting for someone or something and don't have much to do. Google News also will be keeping me quite entertained. Google Docs gives me access to my documents and spreadsheets on the go. Oh and Google Sync synchronizes my Google Calendar with the Blackberry Calendar. Sweet!

Best of all, GMail works flawlessly. In fact, it's so good that I removed the default mail application provided by Blackberry.

I also bookmarked bofa.mobi so that I can have access to my bank account on the go.

My only complaint is that the keys are a bit too small and squished together to be able to use without looking. Other than that, I am very very happy with my purchase!

Got any killer games, apps, or mobile sites you use on your Blackberry? Let me know!

Are you a programmer? Want a well-paying, fun job?

2007-11-30T01:12:00.001-08:00

Then email me! I don't need a formal resume or anything fancy. Just tell me what you can do and we'll go from there. I need you to be near Glendale and know PHP. ASP.NET/C# would really help as well.

arthur@cornerblue.com

James Egbert Midkiff Needs A Psychiatrist

2007-10-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Who needs drugs when you have openingpage.com?

I dare anyone to read through the entire site and come out sane.

Try it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Ten Things Not To Do To Maximize Productivity

2007-09-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's the age old problem. You have a lot to do but just can't get yourself to work! This is especially prevalent in the world of freelance and consulting. Here are 10 things not do do that will help you get more done in less time without stressing you out!

Don't keep your desk cluttered - Having a calm and clean environment helps you focus on your work. Just having a lot of things on your desk can make you feel extra stressed out.
Don't let there be any distractions - Close the door, turn off the cell phone, and do whatever it takes to make it difficult for others to reach you. This also means no chatting online!
No distracting music - Music is ok, just not something that is going to distract you. I prefer music that is rhythmic and without a lot of words. It puts me in a trance where I lose track of time.
No vague to-do list - "Finish Bob's Project" is not a to-do list item. Just reading this alone will make you not want to work. You need to have your to-do list items be broken down as much as possible. If possible, break it down to things that are 10-20 minutes long (the shorter the better). When you look at an item that says "10 minutes" next to it, it's much easier to start doing it.
Don't open a browser window unless absolutely necessary - If you start off with your browser window open, things aren't going to look so good. It's easily the biggest distraction. If your work permits, disconnect from the Internet.
Don't start your work session by checking a few regular websites - You think "let me just see what's on digg and I'll start working." Before you know it, 3 hours has passed by and you haven't done one thing. Fight the urge!
Don't schedule meetings in the middle of your work session - Ok so you'll do a few hours of work, go to that meeting, then come back and work a few more hours. Wrong! More than likely, you won't get back to working efficiently after the meeting. It's too big a change and getting back into the work mindset is incredibly difficult. This is why I try to schedule all of my meetings in one or two days of the week and try to keep at least 2 other days of the week completely open so that I can get work done.
Don't take long breaks - If you do everything else correctly, you won't even want to take a long break. Just in case you feel the desire, fight it! Watching TV or playing a round of Halo will ruin your workday. Instead, just stretch, walk around a bit, and get a cup of water. Your mind will relax but stay focused.
Don't stress out! This is a big one. Even if you have an important deadline to reach and you are down to the wire, try to remain calm. Convince yourself that you have allocated enough time to work on the project and that you have nothing else to do that day besides work. Otherwise, your mind will be preoccupied with the thought of the deadline and you will be very unproductive.
Don't stop! The whole point is to create an atmosphere that encourages "flow". Don't overthink anything or worry about how much time you have left. You will get a lot done regardless so just focus on work. And try to avoid looking at the clock as much as possible.

Happy working!

T-Mobile: Your Customer Service SUCKS!

2007-09-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

I've been with T-Mobile for a few years now (I believe it's 3). I joined because my girlfriend was on T-Mobile and we figured it would be much cheaper if we had unlimited T-Mobile to T-Mobile.

Fast forward 3 years. The lady wants a new phone so she goes to a T-Mobile store and asks if she is eligible for a rebate on any of the phones. "Of course" they exclaim! Being the smart consumer she is, she checks with another T-Mobile store. Yet again, they tell her she is eligible for the promotional rate on the phone she wants.

So off we went to a T-Mobile authorized reseller. She picks out her phone and the store is happy to help her with the mail-in rebate. They even cut out the SKU from the box and partially fill out the mail-in rebate for her. Off in the mail it goes and the estimated 6 week wait begins.

About a month later, she receives a letter from T-Mobile saying "sorry you weren't eligible." Wait, what? This must be a misunderstanding! I recommend to her that she calls T-Mobile and clear up this simple misunderstanding.

A couple of days later she calls the Rebate department. The jerk on the line says that no store can tell her if she is eligible for a discount. Only their department can do that. WHAT?!!?! Everyone knows that you can walk into any T-Mobile store and ask them for a printout of how much the phones are for your specific account. The representative on the line is relentless. No means no, miss, and you are not getting your rebate.

Angry and confused, the lady calls T-Mobile customer support the next day. The representative is baffled by what the rebate department had told her, but also says that she is still not eligible for a rebate. She promises my girlfriend that she will call her back the next day after she talks to her manager to see if anything can be done.

The next day comes and goes. The "not eligible for a rebate" phone remains ringless. The day after, my super-annoyed girlfriend calls T-Mobile back and complains about the horrific experience she had. They don't care. They don't even pause when she says she is going to complain about all the reps she has had to deal with. Their response, paraphrased, was something like "go screw yourself and your rebate."

Well, T-Mobile, GO F**K YOURSELF! Guess who's not going to renew his contract after THAT experience. I had always been happy with T-Mobile, for them to not realize that a $50 rebate is not worth losing 6 customers over, well that's plain moronic.

YOU HAVE BEEN BLACKLISTED!