#techisshitdispatch — Public Fediverse posts

Today's #TechIsShitDispatch adjacent gripe ( #infosec adjacent as well)…
Uncle loses his debit card while out on the town with a friend. I call #Chase to get it replaced. They say even though I have POA for Uncle they still need him on the phone to issue a replacement.
They can't call him to conference him in, they need me to do it.
I'm using Fi Web Calls for this call, which doesn't support conference calls, so I have to hang up and start over. (1/5)

Today's #TechIsShitDispatch adjacent gripe ( #infosec adjacent as well)…
Uncle loses his debit card while out on the town with a friend. I call #Chase to get it replaced. They say even though I have POA for Uncle they still need him on the phone to issue a replacement.
They can't call him to conference him in, they need me to do it.
I'm using Fi Web Calls for this call, which doesn't support conference calls, so I have to hang up and start over. (1/5)

#TechIsShitDispatch
We were on a family outing in our 2018 Accord yesterday. During the drive Spouse suggested we switch #AndroidAuto from her phone to mine so we could listen to music on my phone.
The car absolutely refused to connect Android Auto to my phone. It kept giving a cryptic error about Bluetooth connection failing.
We tried "restarting" the car (pull over, turn off ignition, open and shut door to make sure electronics power down) and the phone, no dice. (1/2)

#TechIsShitDispatch
We were on a family outing in our 2018 Accord yesterday. During the drive Spouse suggested we switch #AndroidAuto from her phone to mine so we could listen to music on my phone.
The car absolutely refused to connect Android Auto to my phone. It kept giving a cryptic error about Bluetooth connection failing.
We tried "restarting" the car (pull over, turn off ignition, open and shut door to make sure electronics power down) and the phone, no dice. (1/2)

#TechIsShitDispatch
Son's 4yo #Acer laptop's keyboard and trackpad are both worn out and need to be replaced, and the laptop in general is banged up and may have hidden internal damage (or maybe we just need to wipe it and reinstall Windows).
Given that Son's about to start college, normally we'd buy a him a new laptop, but RAM prices + the fact that we're currently paying tuition for two kids makes it a good idea to ask Acer how much they'd charge to repair it. (1/5)

#TechIsShitDispatch
Son's 4yo #Acer laptop's keyboard and trackpad are both worn out and need to be replaced, and the laptop in general is banged up and may have hidden internal damage (or maybe we just need to wipe it and reinstall Windows).
Given that Son's about to start college, normally we'd buy a him a new laptop, but RAM prices + the fact that we're currently paying tuition for two kids makes it a good idea to ask Acer how much they'd charge to repair it. (1/5)

I recently filed a support case with #Okta in which I made three suggestions to them for minor but noticeable improvements to their SSO browser extension.
In response, the support rep told me I should submit my suggestions to the "ideas" section in the Okta Help Center.
This is annoying and dumb.
#tech #software #programming #ProductManagement #SoftwareQuality #TechIsShitDispatch (1/3)

I recently filed a support case with #Okta in which I made three suggestions to them for minor but noticeable improvements to their SSO browser extension.
In response, the support rep told me I should submit my suggestions to the "ideas" section in the Okta Help Center.
This is annoying and dumb.
#tech #software #programming #ProductManagement #SoftwareQuality #TechIsShitDispatch (1/3)

#TechIsShitDispatch
The geniuses at #Google have decided to make the #GoogleKeep #Android app prompt you to confirm deleting notes. There is no way to turn this off.
It takes two taps to delete a note even before the confirmation; it's hard to do by accident.
After you delete a note a pop-up appears briefly which you can tap to undo the delete.
If you delete something by accident you can restore it from Trash.
There is NO JUSTIFICATION for the confirmation prompt. It is TERRIBLE UX. 😡

#TechIsShitDispatch
The geniuses at #Google have decided to make the #GoogleKeep #Android app prompt you to confirm deleting notes. There is no way to turn this off.
It takes two taps to delete a note even before the confirmation; it's hard to do by accident.
After you delete a note a pop-up appears briefly which you can tap to undo the delete.
If you delete something by accident you can restore it from Trash.
There is NO JUSTIFICATION for the confirmation prompt. It is TERRIBLE UX. 😡

"Hello [firstname],"
#TechIsShitDispatch #BlueShieldOfCA

"Hello [firstname],"
#TechIsShitDispatch #BlueShieldOfCA

#TechIsShitDispatch #AI #slop
Like so many other colleges and universities, the uni my son is attending in the fall has partnered with https://www.campusesp.com to build their "family hub" site, which is supposed to be our one-stop shop for getting info we need.
Like so many other shitty companies, #CampusESP has removed the search box on their website and replaced it with an AI chatbot. 😡 (1/4)

#TechIsShitDispatch #AI #slop
Like so many other colleges and universities, the uni my son is attending in the fall has partnered with https://www.campusesp.com to build their "family hub" site, which is supposed to be our one-stop shop for getting info we need.
Like so many other shitty companies, #CampusESP has removed the search box on their website and replaced it with an AI chatbot. 😡 (1/4)

#TechIsShitDispatch
An infuriating goodbye to Photoshop | anderegg.ca
https://anderegg.ca/2026/07/12/an-infuriating-goodbye-to-photoshop

#TechIsShitDispatch
An infuriating goodbye to Photoshop | anderegg.ca
https://anderegg.ca/2026/07/12/an-infuriating-goodbye-to-photoshop

#TechIsShitDispatch
A few days ago, I placed an order in a restaurant that uses #Toast for its point-of-sale terminals and entered my email address to receive a receipt via email. The receipt never arrived.
I figured it was a one-off, maybe I typed my email address incorrectly, and shrugged it off.
Today I placed an order at another restaurant that uses Toast. Again, I asked for an email receipt and it never arrived.
It's not me.
I checked my mail server logs. The receipts are not there. (1/4)

#TechIsShitDispatch
A few days ago, I placed an order in a restaurant that uses #Toast for its point-of-sale terminals and entered my email address to receive a receipt via email. The receipt never arrived.
I figured it was a one-off, maybe I typed my email address incorrectly, and shrugged it off.
Today I placed an order at another restaurant that uses Toast. Again, I asked for an email receipt and it never arrived.
It's not me.
I checked my mail server logs. The receipts are not there. (1/4)

#TechIsShitDispatch
Last week I filed a fraud report and request for new credit card number after a mysterious authorization appeared on our account for a charge that couldn't possibly have been made by us.
The authorization was immediately cancelled by the merchant, even before I filed the dispute, so maybe they were testing the waters to see if the stolen card number was still good. 🤷
#ElanFinancialServices #creditCards
(continued)

#TechIsShitDispatch
Last week I filed a fraud report and request for new credit card number after a mysterious authorization appeared on our account for a charge that couldn't possibly have been made by us.
The authorization was immediately cancelled by the merchant, even before I filed the dispute, so maybe they were testing the waters to see if the stolen card number was still good. 🤷
#ElanFinancialServices #creditCards
(continued)

#TechIsShitDispatch at this moment as I type this the #GooglePhotos web app is unable to download multiple selected photos. When you select the photos and type Shift-D, it pops up a "Preparing to download 4 items…" modal which never goes away.
#Google

#TechIsShitDispatch at this moment as I type this the #GooglePhotos web app is unable to download multiple selected photos. When you select the photos and type Shift-D, it pops up a "Preparing to download 4 items…" modal which never goes away.
#Google

This is a thread about how shitty #GoDaddy is.
Last week a scammer started sending out emails impersonating my employer's recruiter, offering people fake job interviews.
The typosquatting domain and email service they're using are hosted at GoDaddy.
Today I filed a GoDaddy abuse complaint.
The complaint form doesn't ask for evidence, nor does it support uploading evidence as attachments. I assumed they would follow up with a request for the desired evidence.
#TechIsShitDispatch #infosec (1/3)

This is a thread about how shitty #GoDaddy is.
Last week a scammer started sending out emails impersonating my employer's recruiter, offering people fake job interviews.
The typosquatting domain and email service they're using are hosted at GoDaddy.
Today I filed a GoDaddy abuse complaint.
The complaint form doesn't ask for evidence, nor does it support uploading evidence as attachments. I assumed they would follow up with a request for the desired evidence.
#TechIsShitDispatch #infosec (1/3)

I guess the Merriam-Webster website (https://www.merriam-webster.com/) has shit the bed?
#TechIsShitDispatch #MerriamWebster

I guess the Merriam-Webster website (https://www.merriam-webster.com/) has shit the bed?
#TechIsShitDispatch #MerriamWebster

So there you have it, all the shit that hit the fan when I was reinstalling and configure a bunch of apps on my phone. None of these problems should have happened. They're all caused by tech companies not caring enough about the quality of their software to make it work well and provide a decent user experience. Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, but we won't realize that promise until the attitudes in tech change and companies start caring about quality.
25/24
#TechIsShitDispatch

So there you have it, all the shit that hit the fan when I was reinstalling and configure a bunch of apps on my phone. None of these problems should have happened. They're all caused by tech companies not caring enough about the quality of their software to make it work well and provide a decent user experience. Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, but we won't realize that promise until the attitudes in tech change and companies start caring about quality.
25/24
#TechIsShitDispatch

#TechIsShitDispatch
Let's talk about the overflowing wheelbarrow of shit I recently encountered while reinstalling a whole bunch of apps onto my #Android phone after deleting them for privacy reasons before going through customs. Buckle up, it's a wild ride.
#Signal #K9Mail #Slack #2FAS #Okta #Vivaldi #Microsoft #Wise #YubiKey #Synology #Jetpack #Automattic #Wordpress #LinkedIn
1/24

#TechIsShitDispatch
Let's talk about the overflowing wheelbarrow of shit I recently encountered while reinstalling a whole bunch of apps onto my #Android phone after deleting them for privacy reasons before going through customs. Buckle up, it's a wild ride.
#Signal #K9Mail #Slack #2FAS #Okta #Vivaldi #Microsoft #Wise #YubiKey #Synology #Jetpack #Automattic #Wordpress #LinkedIn
1/24

#TechIsShitDispatch
Continuing today's theme, the folks who maintain the Massachusetts E-Z Pass website have decided there's no need for them to allow people who are traveling outside the U.S. to access their E-Z Pass accounts. Because it's not like anybody in Massachusetts might need to do so while traveling, eh?
(It works, when I turn on my VPN, which geolocates to Texas. It sure makes a lot of sense to let people in Texas access a Massachusetts site, but not people in foreign countries, eh?)

#TechIsShitDispatch
Continuing today's theme, the folks who maintain the Massachusetts E-Z Pass website have decided there's no need for them to allow people who are traveling outside the U.S. to access their E-Z Pass accounts. Because it's not like anybody in Massachusetts might need to do so while traveling, eh?
(It works, when I turn on my VPN, which geolocates to Texas. It sure makes a lot of sense to let people in Texas access a Massachusetts site, but not people in foreign countries, eh?)

#TechIsShitDispatch
When I go to log into the #NYULangone #Epic #MyChart page to help my uncle manage his healthcare, it claims I can't use MyChart from outside the country.
This is apparently a lie, since I'm currently in Australia and I was able to log in just fine and use the site.
Two shitty things here: (1) coarse geographic exclusions ("in the US" vs "not in the US") are excessive and unjustifiable; and (2) regardless, they shouldn't say they're enforcing things they're not.

#TechIsShitDispatch
When I go to log into the #NYULangone #Epic #MyChart page to help my uncle manage his healthcare, it claims I can't use MyChart from outside the country.
This is apparently a lie, since I'm currently in Australia and I was able to log in just fine and use the site.
Two shitty things here: (1) coarse geographic exclusions ("in the US" vs "not in the US") are excessive and unjustifiable; and (2) regardless, they shouldn't say they're enforcing things they're not.

#TechIsShitDispatch
When I visit the Boston Public Library website from Australia to cancel a hold that is going to expire before I get back, so somebody else in line can have the book, the page reloads several times and then I see the error below.
If I activate my VPN whose exit node is in the U.S. I am able to visit the site with no trouble.
Two shitty things here: (1) it shouldn't block non-US traffic; (2) if it's going to block non-US traffic, it should do it clearly and openly.

#TechIsShitDispatch
When I visit the Boston Public Library website from Australia to cancel a hold that is going to expire before I get back, so somebody else in line can have the book, the page reloads several times and then I see the error below.
If I activate my VPN whose exit node is in the U.S. I am able to visit the site with no trouble.
Two shitty things here: (1) it shouldn't block non-US traffic; (2) if it's going to block non-US traffic, it should do it clearly and openly.

#TechIsShitDispatch
My credit card bank, #PenFed, sends me an email message: "Your Conslidated Statement is ready", with a button: "Review Now".
I click the button. I get the error below in my browser, after first getting a "too many redirects" error which turns into the one shown below.
If I log into the PenFed website in my browser and _then_ click the button in the email, it works fine.
Do companies just, I dunno, not bother to test their websites anymore, or what?

#TechIsShitDispatch
My credit card bank, #PenFed, sends me an email message: "Your Conslidated Statement is ready", with a button: "Review Now".
I click the button. I get the error below in my browser, after first getting a "too many redirects" error which turns into the one shown below.
If I log into the PenFed website in my browser and _then_ click the button in the email, it works fine.
Do companies just, I dunno, not bother to test their websites anymore, or what?

#TechIsShitDispatch
I'm flying to Australia in a few days. Qantas sends me email encouraging me to (among other things) confirm my baggage allowances. To do that, I click the "Manage Booking" link in the email. I get this.
This error happened in Vivaldi. I tried to access the page in Firefox and it worked.
There's no excuse for this. I'm not using a VPN, not doing anything else suspicious. #Qantas and #Akamai just suck.
#infosec

#TechIsShitDispatch
I'm flying to Australia in a few days. Qantas sends me email encouraging me to (among other things) confirm my baggage allowances. To do that, I click the "Manage Booking" link in the email. I get this.
This error happened in Vivaldi. I tried to access the page in Firefox and it worked.
There's no excuse for this. I'm not using a VPN, not doing anything else suspicious. #Qantas and #Akamai just suck.
#infosec

It amazes me how frequently #Google breaks basic, important functionality seemingly on a whim.
They recently moved reminder functionality on #Android from the Calendar app to the Tasks app. Since then, whether tasks generate reminders to the user is completely a crapshoot. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I say to my phone, "Remind me in a half hour to do <x>." It creates a reminder. A half hour later, no reminder. YOU HAD ONE JOB, GOOGLE.
#TechIsShitDispatch

It amazes me how frequently #Google breaks basic, important functionality seemingly on a whim.
They recently moved reminder functionality on #Android from the Calendar app to the Tasks app. Since then, whether tasks generate reminders to the user is completely a crapshoot. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I say to my phone, "Remind me in a half hour to do <x>." It creates a reminder. A half hour later, no reminder. YOU HAD ONE JOB, GOOGLE.
#TechIsShitDispatch

I recently registered for an account at https://exchangerate.com. I used a unique email address to register. Today I received spam at that address from https://assembla.com, which on its face seems to be an entirely unrelated company, but deeper investigation reveals that they are both owned by https://www.ideracorp.com/. Apparently Idera thinks if you sign up for an account at one of their sites, you've consented to all of their companies spamming you. Assholes.
#TechIsShitDispatch #Idera #spam

I recently registered for an account at https://exchangerate.com. I used a unique email address to register. Today I received spam at that address from https://assembla.com, which on its face seems to be an entirely unrelated company, but deeper investigation reveals that they are both owned by https://www.ideracorp.com/. Apparently Idera thinks if you sign up for an account at one of their sites, you've consented to all of their companies spamming you. Assholes.
#TechIsShitDispatch #Idera #spam

#TechIsShitDispatch what kind of monster displays a perfectly normal, non-error-related mesage like this in a red box with a white platform? smdh
(The answer, FWIW, is the people who maintain https://exchangerate.host.)

#TechIsShitDispatch what kind of monster displays a perfectly normal, non-error-related mesage like this in a red box with a white platform? smdh
(The answer, FWIW, is the people who maintain https://exchangerate.host.)

#TechIsShitDispatch
My wife and I are in the process of applying for a new home equity line of credit to replace our old HELOC that is about to "mature" (i.e., stop letting us draw money from it).
Our bank uses #Blend <https://blend.com> for online loan applications.
Today the bank emailed me and told me I need to upload a document through Blend.
I tried to log in.
It said it was sending me an authentication code via text.
It did not, in fact, send me an authentication code via text.
😡

#TechIsShitDispatch
My wife and I are in the process of applying for a new home equity line of credit to replace our old HELOC that is about to "mature" (i.e., stop letting us draw money from it).
Our bank uses #Blend <https://blend.com> for online loan applications.
Today the bank emailed me and told me I need to upload a document through Blend.
I tried to log in.
It said it was sending me an authentication code via text.
It did not, in fact, send me an authentication code via text.
😡

#TechIsShitDispatch
OK, so, I just spent 50 minutes on the phone with #Kroll, the settlement administrator for the #Naviance #classAction lawsuit.
To recap, my wife received two emails from Kroll containing student class member IDs, and I received two emails from Kroll containing parent class member IDs, and I was supposed to be able to use the student class member IDs to file a claim, but neither of them would work on the website.
Earlier thread: https://federate.social/@jik/116631133703901962
(1/5)

#TechIsShitDispatch
OK, so, I just spent 50 minutes on the phone with #Kroll, the settlement administrator for the #Naviance #classAction lawsuit.
To recap, my wife received two emails from Kroll containing student class member IDs, and I received two emails from Kroll containing parent class member IDs, and I was supposed to be able to use the student class member IDs to file a claim, but neither of them would work on the website.
Earlier thread: https://federate.social/@jik/116631133703901962
(1/5)

#TechIsShitDispatch
#Google provides no mechanism for exporting blood pressure data from inside #GoogleFit where I entered it.
The only way to export it is to export all Fit data in #GoogleTakeout.
That means I'm exporting 229MB of data (compressed), an export which takes over an hour to produce, to get access to the 4.1KB (compressed) of blood pressure data I want.

#TechIsShitDispatch
#Google provides no mechanism for exporting blood pressure data from inside #GoogleFit where I entered it.
The only way to export it is to export all Fit data in #GoogleTakeout.
That means I'm exporting 229MB of data (compressed), an export which takes over an hour to produce, to get access to the 4.1KB (compressed) of blood pressure data I want.

#TechIsShitDispatch (and I feel like maybe I should also start a separate series called "class actions are shit dispatch", of which this would be one)
My wife recently received two notices from Kroll via email about the "Q.J. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC, et al." #Naviance class action lawsuit settlement. They each had a "Student's Class Member ID" at the top.
The next day I received two similar notices, but mine instead had "Parent or Guardian's Class Member ID" at the top.
#classaction (1/3)

#TechIsShitDispatch (and I feel like maybe I should also start a separate series called "class actions are shit dispatch", of which this would be one)
My wife recently received two notices from Kroll via email about the "Q.J. v. PowerSchool Holdings LLC, et al." #Naviance class action lawsuit settlement. They each had a "Student's Class Member ID" at the top.
The next day I received two similar notices, but mine instead had "Parent or Guardian's Class Member ID" at the top.
#classaction (1/3)

#TechIsShitDispatch
The current version of #Microsoft #Outlook for #macOS has no working features for responding inline to a message when replying to it.
Previous versions of Outlook, though perhaps never on macOS, had this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/reply-with-inline-comments-within-the-original-message-text-5bc44105-aeb2-49e2-8239-5aeeff52e5a7
The current version has "Indent each line of the original message," which you could kind of use for this purpose by unindenting your comments, but… it doesn't work.
#Microsoft #Outlook

#TechIsShitDispatch
The current version of #Microsoft #Outlook for #macOS has no working features for responding inline to a message when replying to it.
Previous versions of Outlook, though perhaps never on macOS, had this: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/reply-with-inline-comments-within-the-original-message-text-5bc44105-aeb2-49e2-8239-5aeeff52e5a7
The current version has "Indent each line of the original message," which you could kind of use for this purpose by unindenting your comments, but… it doesn't work.
#Microsoft #Outlook

RE: https://federate.social/@jik/116518042176631274

#TechIsShitDispatch
For the 2nd time in 2 weeks Mozilla's Bugzilla is rate-limiting me (429 error) when all I did was view a bug and then try to log in so I could post a comment on the bug.
The comment I was trying to post was a response to someone asking me if I was still able to reproduce an issue I reported quite a while back.
So I took the time to check, and indeed the issue seems to have been resolved, but I can't report that because bugzilla is f*cked.
I wish #Mozilla would fix its shit.

RE: https://federate.social/@jik/116518042176631274

#TechIsShitDispatch
For the 2nd time in 2 weeks Mozilla's Bugzilla is rate-limiting me (429 error) when all I did was view a bug and then try to log in so I could post a comment on the bug.
The comment I was trying to post was a response to someone asking me if I was still able to reproduce an issue I reported quite a while back.
So I took the time to check, and indeed the issue seems to have been resolved, but I can't report that because bugzilla is f*cked.
I wish #Mozilla would fix its shit.

A government agency I'm dealing with on my uncle's behalf asks me to send them a handful of sensitive documents.
They apparently expect me to just send them via email. I'm not going to do that.
First sharing attempt: put them on my Synology NAS, send them a sharing link. ❌ Their network won't let them access my NAS.
#TechIsShitDispatch
(1/2)

A government agency I'm dealing with on my uncle's behalf asks me to send them a handful of sensitive documents.
They apparently expect me to just send them via email. I'm not going to do that.
First sharing attempt: put them on my Synology NAS, send them a sharing link. ❌ Their network won't let them access my NAS.
#TechIsShitDispatch
(1/2)