I am Lars Vargas

Category: Journal

Day to day stuff that’s will likely bore you to tears. My life, such as it is.

  • Fry’s price matching works!

    I’m genuinely surprised in a happy way.

    Fry’s has a price matching policy. It’s not plastered all over the store, but I found it on the good ol’ Interweb after a short search:

    If within 30 days of purchasing an item from Fry’s you see a lower in-stock price at a local competitor with a low price guarantee, Fry’s will cheerfully refund 110% of the amount of the competitor’s low price guarantee. Or, if within 30 days of purchase, a local Fry’s, or a local competitor without a low price guarantee has a lower price, Fry’s will refund 100% of the difference.

    NOTE: All comparisons are based on price, excluding any applicable sales tax. Low price guarantee for notebook computers, microprocessors, memory, CD and DVD recorders, camcorders, digital cameras, and air conditioners is within 15 days from purchase date. To apply for Fry’s low price guarantee, simply bring in your original cash register receipt and verifiable proof of a current lower price.

    *All comparisons are based on in-store tagged price at the time of request, excluding sales tax. Offer good on all fresh-boxed products of the same exact model in stock at a local competitor. We reserve the right to limit this offer to one of each model. Offer does not apply to wireless phones and pagers that require a service agreement. Offer does not apply when price includes bonus or free offers or one-of-a-kind or limited-quantity offers.
    NOTE: Does not apply to expired ads. Fry’s ads valid for only stores listed in the ad.

    Last night I bought a GPS unit for my car. The price was $399.99. It was a bit of an impulse purchase, but was within my budget and seemed reasonable. I didn’t really do much research other than trying to find my home address (in a 2-year-old development) on different units to see how fresh the maps were. This was the only one that had it. (more…)

  • I am officially old.

    There were things I did in my younger, crazier years that would probably kill me if I attempted them now. And if they didn’t kill me, I’d probably want to be dead. It’s no secret that I like my spicy food really hot, usually as hot as or hotter than a restaurant can make it. I also haven’t had a cigar in about seven years. So why not combine them? (more…)

  • Read first. Apply second.

    The lovely Mrs. Vargas called me yesterday and suggested that we go out for a sushi dinner. I liked the idea. I like sushi.

    Since I work at home, my attire can sometimes be politely described as “casual” and other times, um, well, I wouldn’t want to be in public or under the scrutiny of Glamour’s eye. But I had actually gotten up early, showered, shampooed, and was dressed for public activities in shorts and a nice Hawaiian shirt. (more…)

  • Wanna sell me something? Think carefully about how you do it…

    ARRGH! An insistent little person just rang my doorbell trying to get me to use her carpet cleaning service. Um … no … I don’t think so. I told her nicely that there is no solicitation in this neighborhood and she should probably leave. Now.

    In case her boss reads this site, here goes: (more…)

  • Telemarketing scum: Wizard Carpet Cleaners of Las Vegas

    I loathe telemarketing calls. That’s why our home phone is on the National Do Not Call Registry. When a telemarketer calls, I alert them to this fact and ask them to remove our number from their list. They usually apologize, and we never hear from them again. Fair enough. Mistakes happen.

    Unfortunately, Wizard Carpet Cleaners can’t seem to clean up their own act. First of all, they use an auto-dialer with a recording of a woman claiming to be “Susie” and trying to alert me to a deal on carpet cleaning. You can listen to the message and then connect to a representative by pressing 1.

    Pressing 1 sometimes gives you an answering machine, but is usually answered by a man. I have received several calls (about 2 weeks apart, usually) and the same guy always answers. He answers by mumbling “Wizard” and that’s it. If you didn’t know the company name, you probably wouldn’t figure it out.

    When questioned about company name and phone number, this person becomes rather belligerent and asks why you need this information. Excuse me? What legitimate business isn’t proud to let people know who they are and how to get in touch? He sometimes gives the information, sometimes doesn’t. The law requires that he give the information out, so there’s one violation right there at least half the time. Of course, any call after the first is a violation since I asked to be removed from their list.

    I have Wizard Carpet Cleaning to simply remove us form their auto-dialer. But he doesn’t want to do that, so I am going to post here. Hopefully the search engines will pick this up as he doesn’t have a web site, and potential customers can avoid them. If they don’t follow the law regarding their telemarketing practices, I’d be pretty scared about using them in my home or office.

    Today’s conversation was the funniest. I told him that he is in violation of Federal law by calling a number on the Do Not Call Registry and wanted to give him one last chance to remove my number. Rather than listening, he tried to get clever and accused me of pretending to be a federal attorney, whatever that is. I never claimed or even remotely implied that I was an attorney, but simply someone who wants “Susie” to go away.

    At that point, he got really angry and hung up. Too bad. He now has yet another complaint at the Do Not Call Web site and will continue to get them every time I get a call. Hopefully everyone else in Las Vegas will report Wizard Carpet Cleaning and we can get his magic calling wand taken away.

    By the way, they might have terrific service and clean carpets like nobody else. I’ll never find out, though. Their marketing approach is so odious that I would rather lick my carpets clean than have these guys touch them.

  • Why Can’t Rain Happen Before I wash the Car?

    I live in a desert. We have VERY little rain. I understand this. That’s why it’s a desert, after all. Because of the lack of rain, we also have lots of dust. I have a black car which apparently has a special dust-attracting paint job (factory applied). (more…)

  • A Few Good Books

    James Lileks is one of the funniest writers around. His sense of humor is a bit weird, but he’s always got a great take on the mundane as well as the ridiculous. His daily Bleat blog (www.lileks.com/bleats) is a must read. His web site (lileks.com) will entertain you for hours.

    He also has a new book, Mommy Knows Worst. We just got our copy and it’s a scream.

    Take a look at the link above. Order a copy or two or three. (more…)

  • This is NOT the Party to Whom You’re Speaking!

    OK, Las Vegas … what gives? Since we moved here, we have received more wrong number calls in three months than we did in a decade anywhere else.

    Apparently we got the phone number that people named Vince and Gayle [Last Name] used to have. How do we know this? They get more phone calls than we do, and the callers ask for them by name. I guess they left town, and apparently when they left town, they did it in the middle of the night. The people calling for Vince and Gayle do not sound like happy folks wanting to talk to contest winners, nor do they sound like concerned relatives. They sound like professional collection agents, taking stern tones with anyone who answers. (more…)