I have to rant against PayPay (and a lot of other 'self service/help' docs.

Just venting some frustration with PayPal.

So I moved more than 2 years ago.  I've updated my address everywhere that paypal will let me.  However, I still get my old address filled in by default on websites.  A Lot. It's starting to drive me crazy.

So I open a support email with PayPall via there 'contact' page and vent a little. Not expecting much to happen, but what ever. Their software does some keyword matching and sends me some FAQ's.  Not a bad idea, except they're wrong.

The email says:

How do I update my mailing address?

Here's how to update your street address:

      1. Log into your PayPal account.

      2. Click the settings cog beside "Log out".

      3. Click Update beside "Address."

      4. Click Edit.

      5. Enter your address information and click Save.

If the new address is your home address, click Make Home. If it is a business address, click Make Business.

Here's how to remove your old address:

      1. Log in to your PayPal account.

      2. Click the Profile icon beside "Log out."

      3. Click Update beside "Address."

      4. Find the address you want to remove and click Remove.  

A few things about this.  One the two steps are different. Once says 'click the settings cog' which is right, the second says 'Click the Profile icon' which doesn't exists.  It's on the same page.  Someone didn't bother to proofread.   Now, assuming you figure out that they really meant cog icon, you get this:

There's no Update anywhere on the page!   The only occurrence of the word is a link to "policy updates" which is a footer on every PayPal.com page.   

I'm supposed to trust paypal with my money when they can't get the simple stuff right? As with most companies, it's not a wether you do the right thing in the big moments, but rather if you do them in the small moments.

Anyway, rant over.  I feel slightly better.

Locked out of my August smart lock (sorta)

A deliberately salacious headline.  So this morning I had this sneaking suspicion that I forgot to lock the door.  No problem!  I bought a smart lock just to solve this problem!  Open the app, click the wifi button and this is what I see.

GAH! the wifi connect has failed again!  Commute back home from work and sure enough, the red light is blinking.  This is the 3rd time the remote connect has let me down.  It's to the point now where I don't trust it and almost wish I'd never gotten it.

The app needs an upgrade.  It should give me a warning when the WiFI can't phone home.  It should also restart itself if it can't phone home after X hours, where X is a configurable number.  I've sent my suggestions via their support channel, we'll see what they say.

Overall, I'm not as happy as I could be with this setup.  When it works, it's brilliant, but the large size of the nob, the cover falling off when smaller hands try to turn it and now with the issues with the wifi connect cropping up it's harder and harder to recommend this.

Lost another Withings Pulse...

So I lost another Withings Pulse the other day.

It was my forth Pulse over all, and is the second one I lost.

I lost my first one by attaching it to the key pocket on my 5-pocket jeans rather than the waste band.  I did it because I hadn't put my belt on yet.  Proceeded to put my belt on but failed to move it for some reason.  It was Tuesday, election day.  I went in to vote and somewhere on my commute to work, realized I had lost it.  This will become a recurring problem with me.  I wear the thing on my right side, and the seatbelt can knock it loose.

The second one had technical problems and Withins Support was awesome about it and replaced it after a bit of back and forth with them, even though I had bought it second hand.  Top marks to Withings customer support (I have contacted them about other things too, and they did well in those cases also).

The third one went into the ocean with me.  It still works as a pedometer, but the O2 and pulse features are shot and the battery only lasts 4 hours.  Salt water is very hard on electronics as you might have guessed.  I thought it was completely fried, but after drying it out and leaving it for 24 hours, then fully charging it, it came back to life, albeit with limited functionality.

The forth one simply popped out of it's rubber holder, again while getting out of my car I suspect. I had been very lucky with this one.  It went into the pool with me once.  The rubber cover kept it dry enough and it suffered no ill effects.  I had lost it before in a similar fashion, but retracing my steps I always found it.  I retraced my steps this time but it didn't turn up. I suspect someone else found it or I didn't loose it where I parked my car.

So now I'm using my phone to measure my steps which turns out to work ok, since I take my phone with me most places.  I think it might be a little generous with the step counts however.  I'm debating on getting another one.  Going to have to put a saved search on ebay and craigslist.  Maybe if I can score one cheap enough I'll do it again.  I need to find a use for all these Pulse accessories I have...

Bought an August Smart Lock for the house. First impressions

So I bought an August Smart Lock on Amazon's 'Prime Day' (what a let down that was).  Here's my first impressions.   It's very nicely packaged.  They took a page from the Apple playbook and made the unboxing experience elegant.  No blister packs to cut open, just some tape holding the lid of the box closed. There's basically 3 parts.  The smart lock, the mounting plates and the adapters.

Now the website claims:

UNIVERSAL
Package includes deadbolt attachment adapters to accommodate standard deadbolts sold today.

Which is true for the most part, but when you get the instruction booklet out, you see a few asterisks, but they're for only a couple of variations and they advise contacting support.  I suspect they have adaptors or alternate screws for those models.

Anyway, you mount the appropriate plate, put the appropriate adaptor on the deadbolt shaft, and then mount the unit.

It goes on in minutes, and batteries are included!

Now's when I'm realizing I've made a mistake in color choice, although champagne might not have looked any better, and the black and red would have been just as bad.

And as you can see by my hand, this thing is big.  I mean way bigger than I thought it was going to be.  It's also a lot thicker than I thought it would be. I don't think the pictures on the website give you a true picture of just how chunking this thing is. It looks awkward on my door since it's so much bigger than the actual door nob.

Ok, moving past it's bulk, it works just like I hoped it would.  First you have to sign up via the app, then you calibrate the open and close positions and you're ready to go.  I was done in 15 minutes.  Waiting for the app to load download was one of the longer parts of the entire process.  The lock opens and closes smoothly and has indicator lights and an audible chime (which can be turned off) when it's done.

It's not all hugs and lollipops however. As the website claims, you can still open it the old fashion way.  Simply turn the incredibly large nob, which is ok for grownup hands.  However, my kids hands aren't so big.   When you grab it with smaller hands and with the palm covering the face of the unit, you often times pop the cover off unintentionally without unlocking/locking the lock.

My hands are big enough that it's not a problem but my kids, who grab with the grip in the photo, pop the cover off rather than unlocking the lock. I think they'll get used to it eventually.  

Now we just sit back and wait for the Xfinity Home folks to make good on their commitment to integrate with 3rd party devices.