Be wary of Arcot, a credit card security company that's devoid of customer service.
 
Nels had to sign up for Arcot's SecureCode to complete an online purchase. Now he wants to cancel it, but can't find anyone at Arcot who can help him. The web pages he's sent to are dead ends, and he left messages with Arcot's executives that were never returned.

I purchased Portishead's album Third on Monday morning. It was an international purchase, so WorldPay.com enabled the credit card transaction. After I entered my credit card and billing info, I was redirected to a Web page hosted at arcot.com. To my surprise, a second form once again requesting my credit card info was presented to me.
 
Since I already entered my information once, I read this new page carefully. The page was a sign-up form for a fraud protection service called SecureCode. A small link indicating terms and conditions opened a pop-up page with two paragraphs, the second of which was entitled "Terms and Conditions" but the entire body of the paragraph was just the sentence, "Your financial institution will provide the terms and conditions for this service." repeated 6 times.
 
It is sufficient to say that I did not want this service, but wound up being forced to re-enter my credit card info because WorldPay.com would not let me complete the transaction until I completed the enrollment form. I got my receipt for the purchase, and immediately began to investigate how to cancel my enrollment with this service.
 
Searching high and low for a contact e-mail address on mastercard.com, I found only a 1-800 number. Calling that number, I spoke with a support rep who knew nothing about WorldPay.com or the SecureCode service, so I demanded to speak with someone who did. I was eventually informed that SecureCode is a voluntary free service provided by Arcot Systems, and that I would have to cancel my enrollment at the financial-institution-specific portal on arcot.com. Going to http://www.mastercard.com/securecode, I was able to search for my financial institution's portal and found this site:
 
https://secure2.arcot.com/vpas/usaa_sc/enroll/index.jsp?locale=en_US&bankid=1461
 
This page simply did not allow me to cancel my enrollment. So, I decided to try to get someone at Arcot Systems to help me. I called their contact numbers that I found on their Web site and for the next 5 hours I spoke with several people, including a tech on his BlackBerry who was on-call for their Web systems on his way into work in Sunnyvale, California, and a sales person who claimed that he was "the top of the food-chain" at Arcot Systems and who eventually hung up on me. After explaining my situation 8 times, and asking each person to cancel my enrollment with SecureCode, I was told flat out, "we can't do that" 6 times, and hung up on twice.
 
All in all, I spoke with 8 people, left 3 voice-mails, sent 5 e-mails, received 3 e-mails, and also spoke with the secretary of the CEO of Arcot Systems, Ram Varadarajan, and asked her to set up an appointment to have Mr. Varadarajan call me to discuss why I am unable to cancel my enrollment with SecureCode. He never called me back.
 
What can I do? Do you have any advice for me? Can I file a civil suit and demand that Arcot Systems eliminate my information from their records? Can I file a restraining order? I need help.

Okay, first we want to stress that you should never fill in a form with your credit card info just because you're impatient and want to complete a transaction. But clearly you're already dealing with the consequences of that impulsive data-entry moment, so we'll move on.
 
Have you tried revisiting the site where you purchased the album, to see if the SecureCode service was offered through the merchant instead of the card issuer?
 
You could also call your bank and explain the situation, and ask them to either cancel the membership for you or issue you a new card.
 
And the next time you shop online, consider generating a single-use card number from PayPal or your own bank if they offer it.
 
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"Shop Online Safely With Temporary Credit Cards"
(Photo: Getty)

The manuscripts that later became On The Origin of Species are going online for the first time. The good guys at the Cambridge University library, who were the only people with access beforehand, have put Charles Darwin's notes on his book and another 20,000 archive items online, turning it into one vast educational/scientific resource. Apparently it's actually so vast that if you downloaded one image a minute, it'd take you two months to view it all.

The hosting site, Darwin Online, went live 18 months ago, but largely held just the final product publications of Darwin's lifelong research interests. With the addition of the new material, people will now be able to read his notes, his notes on reference reading he'd done, interesting press clippings he kept and private communications with others.

There're some gems in there too: his first scribblings doubting the "stability" of the species, made on his voyage aboard Beagle; his first pencil outline of the species theory, all 61 pages of it (about half crossed-out as his writing progressed). There's even a memo written by his wife Emma, concerned about Charles' religious doubts.

Apparently the archive, stored as images of the texts, will be most useful to Darwin scholars, due to his notoriously scribbly handwriting. But if you're into cooking, then there's also some recipes for muffin pudding and other dishes from Emma, and instructions on how to boil rice from Charles himself. [Darwin Online, New Scientist and BBC News]

Filed under: Digital Cameras, GPS

Picking up a camera with built-in WiFi not good enough for you? How's about a point-and-shoot with integrated GPS? DigiTimes has it that Altek, a Taiwanese ODM / OEM maker of digicams, has just unveiled a camera with an 8-megapixel sensor, 3-inch touchscreen and GPS. The latter will enable users to "automatically record the longitude and latitude of where a picture is taken," giving the geotagging crowd one gigantic reason to take notice. Reportedly, the firm is already negotiating orders with potential clients in Europe and the US, and shipments could start heading out as early as this quarter.

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When most DVDs are released, production studios put up some posters and run a few television spots. However, when ThunderCats Season 2 hits store shelves...lets just say Lion-O isn't settling for an afternoon at Kinko's. Instead, he boldly emblazons the ThunderCats signal onto London's Houses of Parliament. While some surely see the stunt as a subversion to a great tradition of government, others will realize that during the global fight against terror, nothing instills fear into our enemies like occasional real world manifestations of 1980s cartoon superheroes. [shinyshiny]

Kroger is getting into the stimulus bonus action! Unwilling to be outdone by Sears, Kroger is offering a bonus if you put your stimulus check on a Kroger gift card. They have Kroger gift cards? My what a sexy gift. Honey, you shouldn't have.

From their press release:

"Grocery bills represent a significant expenditure for the average American family. In fact, the average family of four spends between $105 and $235 per week* on food purchased at a store and prepared at home," said David B. Dillon, Kroger chairman and chief executive officer. "Kroger's program allows our customers to stretch their grocery dollars further. We are excited about the opportunity to touch the lives of millions of families across the country by helping them extend their household budgets through this special program."

We expect this sort of promotion to become annoyingly ubiquitous in the next few weeks, don't you?

Kroger Stores Offer Customers Free Groceries (Press Release) [Kroger]

Reader Hayden had to email the CEO of Sirius radio just to get them to ship him some replacement adhesive backing for his car radio. Every homebrewed solution he tried couldn't get his Sirius radio to stick to his dashboard. When he called Sirius, he got bounced around between disconnections, robots, people who couldn't speak English, a guy who insisted Sirius didn't have stock any replacement tape. So Hayden kicked it straight to the man at the top with a nice cogent complaint letter, cc'd to us, various Sirius execs, the BBB, the Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs, and some popular gadget blogs. Apparently that's what it takes to get some replacement tape. His complaint letter, inside...

Mel Karmazin Chief Executive Officer Sirius Satellite Radio 1221 Avenue of the Americas, 36th Floor New York, NY 10020 Phone: (212) 584-5100 Fax: (212) 584-5200

I have been a Sirius subscriber since December 2005. I added a second receiver to my subscription in 2007 (account # [redacted]).

I own two Sirius Stratus Dock & Play receivers (model# SV3TK1).

The adhesive backing that ships with these models that allows customers to mount the dock to their dashboard or windshield each failed within 1 - 3 months of my radio purchases.

I have tried every store-bought solution to re-affix my Sirius Stratus radios, including double-sided tape, crazy glue, and mounting putty. None have been effective.

I am unwilling to drill holes in my vehicle dashboards, affecting the resale value of my cars, to mount my Sirius radios, which I typically upgrade every 12 - 24 months.

I have been unable to enjoy my Sirius Stratus radios or my Sirius subscription for more than four months on one radio (ESN [redacted]) and two months on another (ESN [redacted]).

On April 14th, I contacted Sirius to inquire about shipping me a replacement adhesive backing. While the backing that shipped with my radios did fail within 1 -3 months, it did allow me to enjoy my Sirius Stratus radio and Sirius subscription in the mean time.

I contacted the Sirius sales department at 1-888-539-7474. The Hispanic female who answered my call was barely intelligible and I was unable to communicate to her exactly what I needed, even using words such as "tape", "adhesive", "backing", and "vehicle mount". Eventually I asked for the "parts department" and I was instructed to call 1-800-869-5187.

I called 1-800-869-5187 and dialed the prompt for technical support. The computer system asked me for my phone number, which I entered, but then the system prompted me to make a payment on my zero ($0) balance and gave me no other options. I dialed 0 several times and was able to reach a customer support representative, who placed me on hold and then I was disconnected.

I called 1-888-539-7474 back and was disconnected while holding for a representative.

I called 1-888-539-7474 a third time. Explaining exactly what I needed a third time, I was instructed to call 1-800-422-7142.

I called 1-800-422-7142 and spoke with Robert. He informed me that Sirius does not stock tape and even though the vehicle mount was included with my Sirius Stratus radios, it is not covered under warranty and could not be replaced.

This experience was very frustrating.

As a long-time Sirius subscriber, I would appreciate it if Sirius would kindly ship me two replacement adhesive backings for my Sirius Stratus Dock & Play radios, replace the vehicle dock part, or replace the radios completely. Please ship two of them to my home address below.

I also ask you to consider crediting my Sirius subscription service for the three months I have been unable to enjoy my Sirius Stratus radio or subscription due to your products defects and as a gesture of good will following my poor customer service experience.

As someone who regularly makes technology recommendations to friends and family, your response or lack thereof may impact whether or not I recommend Sirius satellite radio to them in the future, let alone maintain my subscription. Some of them CC'd on this email, in addition to popular consumer product and technology publications.

I look forward to your response by week's end, Friday, April 18th. I can be reached on my cell phone at [redacted} or by email at [redacted].

Sincerely,

Hayden [redacted]
[contact info redacted]

CC:
James E. Meyer
President, Operations and Sales

Scott Greenstein
President, Entertainment and Sports

Jim Collins
Vice President, Corporate Communications

BBB of Metro NY Complaint # 6313789
Fax: (212) 477-4912

Georgia Governors Office of Consumer Affairs
Fax: (404) 651-9018

The Consumerist
tips@theconsumerist.com
Engadget
Gizmodo

The letter was a success. Two days later, two people from Sirius contacted Hayden. One overnighted him the replacement adhesive backing, for free. The other offered him 3-months free service.

Windows only: Ad-Aware, the hard-to-believe-it's-free spyware-cleaning app, has released a beta version that includes full support for Windows Vista and 64-bit platforms. Also included in the upcoming free version is a rootkit removal tool, faster update downloading, and an interface make-over that looks a bit more modern than the blue buttons long-time users are used to. All the ease-of-use and thoroughness that make Ad-Aware's current version part of our Lifehacker Pack of must-have downloads likely apply to this beta, as well. Ad-Aware Beta is a free download, requires a registration and email confirmation to grab.

A perfume called Conquest which comes in a credit card made of steel, capable of storing 20 milliliters of musk-loaded liquid? Atomize it away, Mr. Spitzer, because this seems like the perfect addition to the wallets of punters, NY state ex-governors or anyone with perfume-to-go needs. Whoever you are. [Tuvie] galleryPost('conquestperfume', 3, '');

If you have a serious Sirius radio issue and ground level customer service isn't helping you out, escalate your call to the executive customer service line at 888-635-5142. Also, here are some email addresses and a mailing address for the CEO to send your missives off to:

Corporate email address format: [first initial of first name][last name]@siriusradio.com
CEO Mel Karmazin - mkarmazin@siriusradio.com
James E. Meyes President, Operations and Sales - jmeyer@siriusradio.com
Scott Greenstein President, Entertainment and Sports - sgreenstein@siriusradio.com

Mel Karmazin
Chief Executive Officer
Sirius Satellite Radio
1221 Avenue of the Americas, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10020
Phone: (212) 584-5100
Fax: (212) 584-5200

Filed under: Household

Someday soon, the phrase "dripping with light" won't just be an abstruse lyric in a post-punk song you've written... light may actually be dripping on things. At least that's what researchers at Nikki Chemical Co. and the Nagoya Institute of Technology hope to see happening by 2010. The team of scientists has created a white, fluorescent material which can be used to create white light, yet can be molded into a number of shapes. The mushy lamps consist of an organic compound, which is coupled with ultraviolet light and a glasslike inorganic compound that gives the substance structural protection. The combo can handle temperatures to 500 degrees Celsius, uses half the power of typical fluorescent lights, and will last longer than white LEDs due to heat resistance. Also, did we mention it's like Silly Putty? [Warning: read link requires subscription]

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