GSIS sues Questronix and IBM

GSIS fails running their software made by Questronix running on IBM DB2. GSIS sues Questronix and IBM. That’s sounds like GSIS bought fresh milk from the grocery store, then it expires. They still drink it without looking at the expiration date. They get stomach aches, then they decide to sue not only the grocery store, but the farm and probably even the cow. More here at ABS CBN News.

Added info as shared to me by Bert Peronilla through Facebook who has a PhD in Computer Science:

I like your analogy on the GSIS, IBM, Questronix situation. Here are some technical details as I understand them as of today (July 24, 2009.)
GSIS claimed that the application crashes were found by IBM Toronto Lab to be caused by an “overflow” condition when the table space exceeds the limit of 2 TB. This limit of 2 TB for a table space in one partition for DB2 Version 9.1, (which is the one used by GSIS,) is documented in IBM manuals for this version of DB2. Proper performance monitoring of the application should have alerted GSIS that they were approaching the 2 TB limit. However, this was not caught by GSIS and this led to the “overflow” error.
DB2 should have caught this “overflow” condition and issued a WARNING message, followed by a graceful shutdown of the application instead of allowing the application to crash. IBM has sent a DB2 special build to remedy this error which was installed on the GSIS system as of May 26, 2009. Questronix claims that this “overflow” error is no longer occurring after May 26, 2009.
IBM cannot be sued for this error because it is clearly documented in all IBM software contracts that it does NOT guarantee that the software is free of bugs. If GSIS obtained their DB2 directly from IBM and had a Maintenance Agreement with them, IBM will try to fix any program errors to the best of their ability, and if they are not able to do so, this gives the customer the opportunity to try to get their money back. Only for what they paid for DB2; IBM contracts have a Disclaimer that they cannot be sued for any consequential or any other damages.

I like your analogy on the GSIS, IBM, Questronix situation. Here are some technical details as I understand them as of today (July 24, 2009.)

GSIS claimed that the application crashes were found by IBM Toronto Lab to be caused by an “overflow” condition when the table space exceeds the limit of 2 TB. This limit of 2 TB for a table space in one partition for DB2 Version 9.1, (which is the one used by GSIS,) is documented in IBM manuals for this version of DB2. Proper performance monitoring of the application should have alerted GSIS that they were approaching the 2 TB limit. However, this was not caught by GSIS and this led to the “overflow” error.

DB2 should have caught this “overflow” condition and issued a WARNING message, followed by a graceful shutdown of the application instead of allowing the application to crash. IBM has sent a DB2 special build to remedy this error which was installed on the GSIS system as of May 26, 2009. Questronix claims that this “overflow” error is no longer occurring after May 26, 2009.

IBM cannot be sued for this error because it is clearly documented in all IBM software contracts that it does NOT guarantee that the software is free of bugs. If GSIS obtained their DB2 directly from IBM and had a Maintenance Agreement with them, IBM will try to fix any program errors to the best of their ability, and if they are not able to do so, this gives the customer the opportunity to try to get their money back. Only for what they paid for DB2; IBM contracts have a Disclaimer that they cannot be sued for any consequential or any other damages.

Spam call I need to cancel within 7 days

All of us get these spam calls on the phone. And I normally just decline any kind of offer since I am aware of their marketing tactics. It is simple, they normally offer something for free, you use it and if you do not cancel within some number of days, you will be charged automtically.

It does seem that most of these companies make their money from people that forget to cancel and they get charged and eventually will cancel. This does nto sound like a nice long term source of revenue for the company since I believe a majority of people will cancel their subscriptions right away. But they do this in the numbers, just keep on calling and getting more and more people sign up. Even if  most will cancel, they will still make a good significant amount of money.

I receive a call from Super Savings / Unicare Auto Club

The call I received was not from  a toll free number. It was from a local number: (310) 599-5774. Now that the call is over, I searched online for information on this number and I found out that this number has been used from various offers.

  • A Free Pizaa
  • Offers in Debt Settlement/Refinance/Consolidation starting by saying they have $6,000 in debt and press 1 to continue.
  • Consumer Rewards with som free cash of $100
  • $300 Gift Card for Walmart

In my case it was a Gas Card offer with $200 worth of Gas. In todays economy, I was a sucker for the offer. Took a shot and will just make a point I unsubscribe and cancel these services right away and I get to keep the gas card.

During the call, the telemarketer was speaking very fast, so fast that you can barely understand everything. Works similar to the small fine print you see on paper documentation.

But one thing I made a point in doing was interupting in the call and clearing up the numbers and services and company names the operator was telling me. So it does seem I will receive this gas card(s),  but in the process you are being signed up on multiple services. If I took down my notes well, it seems I was signed up for:

  1. Super Savings Club – I should cancel within 7 days by calling 866-682-7658
  2. Unicare Auto Club – I should cancel within 7 days by calling 866-832-4286
  3. Vanguard – I should cancel within 7 days by calling 866-684-3931
  4. National Union – Will not be signed up, but I was told I will receive a call from them for another offer within the next 30 days.

It was clear that I was told within 7 days upon receipt of the mail so I verified how does the letter look like and what is the company on the envelope. I was told it is Red and White and is large would contain a lot of coupons and will have Super Savings and Unicare.

So after the call, as my wife advise, might as well call up the numbers to be sure they exist. I called up and it was beyond office hour and a recorded message said I can call during office hours, which is Monday to Friday, 10am to 5pm eastern time. The funny thing is I called 3 different numbers and yet the recorded message was exactly the same. Exactly the same voice, exactly the same message.

Ok on every search of these numbers, all I get is negative stuff, that this is a scam. And it seems the 310-599-5774 caller has various identities online.

  • Using Whitepage Reverse Lookup
    Type: Land Line
    Provider: Digitcom Services (July 18, 2008)
    Location:  Compton, CA
  • Using Phoneowner.info
    Caller ID: Intercon Corp. (July 18, 2008)
    Caller: Debt Reducer
    Caller Type: Telemarketer
  • Posted on Whocallsme.com
    Caller ID: CUSTOMER SERVIC (May 19, 2009)
    Caller: (caller would not reply)
  • Posted on Whocallsme.com
    Caller ID: TN Removal List
    Caller: 310-599-5774
  • Posted on Whocallsme.com
    Caller ID: Vista Services (July 9, 2009)
    Caller: 310-599-5774
  • Posted on 800notes.com
    Caller ID: 1-310-599-5774
    Caller: Intercon Corp. (July 15, 2008)
    Caller Type: Collection Agency
    As reported by an independent researcher, the number is shared between Intercon Corp in Compton CA 90221-2140 and is shared between standard telephone line and paging.
    From public records, the number is registered to Digitcom Sevices, Inc. filed with the state on July 18, 1995 with filing number 01923292. The company name was changes on February 23, 1999 to DSI Technology, Inc. And again in June 8, 2000 to Wildgate Wireless, Inc.

So let’s see what happens in the next few days, once I get those gas cards, it mission terminate all services. If I get no gas cards, I’ll call up my credit card company and cancel the card.

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