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User: Guest

Posts by hello  

Joined: 5 Dec 2006 / Male ♂
Last Post: 6 Nov 2009
Threads: Total: 22 / Live: 3 / Archived: 19
Posts: Total: 890 / Live: 128 / Archived: 762
From: USA
Speaks Polish?: Yes
Interests: real estate, politics, Poland

Displayed posts: 131 / page 1 of 5
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hello   
10 Jul 2009
USA, Canada / WDT Chicago nightmare, phone down for 5 days (and counting) [14]

To be fair I must say the problem was mutal, it turned out my phone jackets got somehow reseted due to electricity outage and after plugging/unplugging them and waiting for a few seconds all the problem was completely fixed. So I will still be using them.
hello   
24 Jun 2009
USA, Canada / WDT Chicago nightmare, phone down for 5 days (and counting) [14]

i'm with them for the last 3 years or so and i've never had a problem...

Do you have a LOCAL service with them? I mean the local service here, not international.

This WDT sounds like some sub par company to me?

Yep, it's something like World Discount Telecommunications
hello   
24 Jun 2009
USA, Canada / WDT Chicago nightmare, phone down for 5 days (and counting) [14]

I live in Chicago and never heard of it?

You mean you never heard of WDT company or about problems with this company? They advertise daily on Polish radio 1030 and others (they probably co-own this radio so no wonder they can put their ads every hour or so).

Thats who I have for landline and internet

That's what I also had but then wanted to save a few bucks and got this. They work OK for calling to Poland but when it comes to local phone line - TOTAL DISASTER.
hello   
24 Jun 2009
USA, Canada / WDT Chicago nightmare, phone down for 5 days (and counting) [14]

I've been a customer of WDT (mywdt.com in English or mojewdt.com in Polish) for a few months now. In that time my local phone was down twice - once for 4 days, this time for 5 days already. I mean completely down - my main line has not been working for 5 days. When I called them today they said the repair is being done by some X company and it could still last 1-2 more days. I live near the city, not in a village btw. Whenever there is a storm I could expect my phone line being down for days.

This is the worst phone service I've had since Poland was in communism in the 80ties. I'm switching back to AT&T even though they are a little more expensive. Anyone had similar problems with WDT and could share a review? Is it run by Polish people? I hope not because with this service they had better not advertise as a Polish phone service.
hello   
11 Jun 2009
History / Poland's King Jan III Sobieski - the stopper of Turkish Janissaries! [64]

On Russian TV, there is an "intellectual show" called "What? Where? When?", it's kind of a brand game, not the one they purchased by the license. It's an original Russian show.

I was told that recently they had a question related to the famous _saying_ Poles have. It's some way related to Jan Sobieski's whiskers and the sabre. The question they had in that game was about "WHAT kind of object is justified when it's missing, but Poles say so?" Something like this.

The saying was like: "Jan Sobieski had whiskers and the big sabre".

And it was about a handkerchief. For example, when some kid has the handkerchief missing, to clean the nose, he's using the finger and says "Jan Sobieski had whiskers..." then to clean the finger, he wipes it against the pants and says "...and the big sabre".

Do you know about such saying and how would it sound in Polish?
hello   
6 Dec 2008
USA, Canada / National City Bank complaint. Polish-client experience. [20]

Previously when I called Midamerica bank, there were a few Polish speaking persons willing and able to talk in Polish. Now it appears there is one Polish interpreter running around the cubicles and translating between English and Polish to those who demand it in Polish.

I ask why to increase pay if the service went from good to poor? Again, I'm talking from the viewpoint of a Polish customer, maybe for American customers their service is better. They gave them a raise, but then customers like myself and other customers pay higher fees. How nice of them.

I can't answer simple security questions? Get real, I had on my desk 31 amounts from October. But that was not good enough because their computer system cannot handle 35 days of data storage. Regardless that, they did not keep information I originally had with MidAmerica bank, like old phone numbers or addresses. I even told them the location of the bank where I opened an account, and that was for nothing.

You suggest stop payment on a check - if it was still Midamerica, it would not cost as much as $35 that National City offers! That's probably twice as much as it used to be with the old bank.

All in all, National City Bank has gone the typical American way of other American banks -- "Do not bother me, I know better, and I do what I'm told." With banks run by Polish staff you at least had a chance to resolve your problem using your mind, intelligence, and common sense. That's not the case any more with NationalCity.
hello   
6 Dec 2008
USA, Canada / National City Bank complaint. Polish-client experience. [20]

Quite a normal practice. How would she/he know who is calling?

ALL this information I provided correctly to them as they confirmed. But that was still not enough; they apparently have too much time to waste on nothing there.
hello   
5 Dec 2008
USA, Canada / National City Bank complaint. Polish-client experience. [20]

If you are a Polish person who lives in the US (especially in Chicago area), here is some piece of advice to you that you will thank me for.

If you had an account with MidAmerica Bank you should now be aware the bank was bought by National City bank (nationalcity.com). Now they try to act as if they are the same bank and offer the same quality service.

MAKE NO MISTAKE - the people from the National City Bank are morons and if you value your money do not ever deal with the morons! Here is what happened:

I sent a relative who lives in another state a check over a week ago (close to 10 days now). He has not received it yet so he contacted me. We concluded someone could have stolen the mail so I decided to call National City bank to find out if maybe the check was cashed or what is going on with it. I was afraid someone could be trying to cash the check and commit fraudulent transaction. So I called their customer service number as listed on their website: (888) 622-4932. I got connected with a representative. She asked me about my name and my social security number. It went smoothly. But then she wanted to know my phone number on the account. Since I opened this account a few years ago, the phone number in their file was probably old. But I still remembered it and provided. She said - sorry, but the number is wrong. Then I said, not possible, but here are two other numbers. She claimed they were wrong again, even though it was impossible since in my life in Chicago area I only used these three phone numbers. Then she asked me about the branch I opened my account with. I told her that it was on Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. I don't know why she asked me that because she sighed like an idiot and moved on to the next question which was "Can you tell me last deposits you made on this account"? I told her it's hard to remember, but I have it in my papers. So I checked my papers and told her "OK, I have my last statement from Oct 1 to Oct 31 - which day do you need?" She replied that "sorry, but we don't have such an OLD information in our system. I will need your three most recent transactions."

I told her "What? Today is December 5 and I only receive your monthly statement, you haven't sent me the statement from November yet. Is for your system 30+ days too old?" She shrugged and didn't know what to say. Banking system that only keeps information for 30 days is good for kids, maybe.

I need to mention I talked to two different customer service people. After my first call I took my time to gather all information I had and called again. With the second person there was the same story - they cannot find any information from the former bank. And they won't help me with that - even if I told them I strongly suspect banking fraud. But they don't care, they prefer to follow their stupid agenda even though they have no actual information they could verify it!

All in all, it appears that the transfer from MidAmerica bank to National City bank was a total failure. From what I can tell they did not manage to transfer any information other than the account number. If you are a former MidAmerica bank customer, I suggest you to run away and open a new account in a serious bank. If you have a problem like I did, all your social security numbers, phone numbers, former addresses, maiden names, etc. are for NOTHING because they failed to put it in their system! You are like a man who wants to get a social security benefit without an ability to prove you actually have a social security number!

One more thing - this is a joke like they try to get POLISH clients and they don't even have a Polish customer service people! All they have is an interpreter (you have to wait for her a few minutes to show up) and then when you talk in Polish she would translate it into English. I imagine they only have one Polish interpreter per location so you can bet to wait for a Polish speaking persons for an hour sometimes. In the former MidAmerica bank there were many Polish speaking customer people available. NationalCity is cutting cost and firing Polish people, but they still want Polish people money!

Now I recall how active they are when they advertise on the Polish Radio in Chicago or Polish magazines. They tell you that "National City is your, Polish bank. It's as safe, still "Polish", and as great as never." But they forget to tell you that "National City's banking system is as screwed up as it can be and you can only bet your luck to have money safe with us. And we fired most of the Polish personnel to have the positions filled with American staff who cannot assist its clients with as simple thing as checking if a check was cashed or not. But we do appreciate your business."

And if I mentioned National City's banking fees went up compared to what MidAmerica offered, I would be accused of being too biased.

So, Polonia and Polish people in the USA, let's not give up our rights to a high quality POLISH and NON-MORONIC banking service and try other options than National City Bank. Unless you want to hear a receiver hang-up sound of a National City customer service person who is not willing nor able to help you.
hello   
5 May 2008
History / "Poland's Concentration Camp" ?? [570]

Check this thread about "Polish" concentration camps on public radio.
polishforums.com/chicago_public_radio_on_polish-34_16823_0.html
hello   
3 May 2008
UK, Ireland / Poles leave Britain to return to Poland [89]

It's interesting Poles come back to Poland in spring. But in spring everything is more optimistic, people wear pink glasses, moronic things don't bother so much.....

However, half of those who come back today will return by the end of the year when everything, including the weather, gets depressing.
hello   
10 Apr 2008
Real Estate / New flat / apartment - insurance in Poland? [9]

I would wait unti the final purchase, it only makes sense to me. If you are not the owner, the "old" owner should and usually have his own insurance. It's like you went to a car dealer and talked about pricing and bought insurance in advance before buying the car.
hello   
4 Feb 2008
Love / What are Polish Women like? Just started to date one. [256]

You almost answered your own question. She must like you. And there's no big difference betwen Poland and UK now so a "Western Guy" doesn't suit very well in your case. Learn to get a good job to keep up with her.

Some simple messages in Polish:

Lubie Cie - I like you
Lubie byc z Toba - I like being with you
Kocham Cie - I love you
Chce Cie pocalowac - I want to kiss you

Good luck.
hello   
29 Jan 2008
USA, Canada / Polish Citizen, US legal resident, but no Polish Passport... [67]

Polish passport will be enough to go to Poland. But you don't really need Polish passport - you can travel on US passport without any problems (there are many Poles that have both Polish and US passport and they travel on the US one for some reason).
hello   
21 Jan 2008
Travel / POLISH PKP BAD ATTITUDE [14]

I also had bad experience with Polish PKP (Polskie Koleje Panstwowe). They just don't care and don't know much about good customer service. They sold me a 1st class ticket and didn't bother to check there were no free seats there (so I had to stand for 8 hrs in a corridor next to cigarette smoking guys). Not to mention the conductor had the whole compartment for himself and would not allow the passangers in.
hello   
18 Jan 2008
Real Estate / Where to look on the internet for Poland Real Estate [112]

Good list. I didn't know mamdom charged so much though.

Another tip - if you don't know Polish, have some Polish speaker go through some popular Polish websites (like onet.pl or gazeta.pl) and they have good offers too.
hello   
16 Jan 2008
Life / Polish mentality towards Pakistan [108]

From my subjective experience I prefer not to be in business relationship with Pakistani people, some of them are not very fair and try to cheat you whenever they can.
hello   
13 Jan 2008
USA, Canada / What do Polish people think of the USA [287]

I need to now what makes poland different from the US

In general, most people in the USA are like slaves who have food and accomodation (in most cases). The information and news in the US are carefully selected so that no relevant information that could arise anxiety or concern in the society are showed on public channels. This is to prevent a revolution of the unfair system where 95% of people work for the wealth of 5% people. Most Americans care about their own and pretty mundane business - to have food, shelter, sex, TV. They don't need anything more, so the system - which goal is to provide just that - thrives in spite of so many economic and social problems.

In Poland (and Europe in general) the government serves the people. If there is injustice among one group, they go on the streets and fight for their rights and public TV shows everything. In the US - they would put you in jail if you wanted to go on the streets without a special "permit" and the TV would show maybe a few seconds of the demonstrations, with silly or condemning comments.

So the USA is much, much less democratic than average Americans think.
hello   
11 Jan 2008
News / Original cars manufactured in Poland [64]

Are you kidding?

Yes, I was right:

With the exception of the GM LS-2 All-aluminum V8 engine (also used in the Chevrolet Corvette), the Leopard 6 Litre Roadster is completely hand built in Mielec, including the entire aluminum body, in a state of the art production facility.

hello   
11 Jan 2008
News / Original cars manufactured in Poland [64]

What about Leopard

The design is Polish, BUT the engine is from Corvette (as far as I remember). So it's not really a 100% Poland-made..