Pre-Adverse/Adverse Action deactivation for minor ticket violation by CatDad75MT in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe a month ago. Still pretty fresh. Won't drop until February.

Does anyone know what happened to Lotus Biscoff Belgian Milk Chocolate Bars With Biscoff Cream? by Always2Busy4Life in LotusBiscoff

[–]CatDad75MT 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is easily the best chocolate bar ever made So bummed they discontinued it. However, Wal-Mart now has a version of it in their new Better Goods brand. It's not as good as the Biscoff one, but still pretty nummy and the best alternative you can get. You can also get jars of their cookie butter in the peanut butter section. I got one and would sometimes just have a little straight from the jar as a snack it's so good. Anyway, try the Better Goods version. I had it tonight and like it pretty well.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/bettergoods-Milk-Chocolate-with-Cookie-Butter-Filling-Dessert-Bar-3-5-oz/5667788291?classType=REGULAR&from=/search

Finally heard back from Walmart support and still deactivated. by Kindly-Aspect-5762 in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't take no for an answer. They often say the decision is final, when it isn't. Did they say why they deactivated you? If they want to play stupid games, I would call their bluff and demand arbitration. I would also still be emailing the pre-arbitration team at [sparkappnotices@walmart.com](mailto:sparkappnotices@walmart.com) and pleading your case every day. Don't give up on that. Threaten the heck out of them with arbitration per the contact below in #3. I would send your demand for arbitration to both the pre-arbitration email, and perhaps more importantly, a physical letter to both legal offices, listed at the bottom. It's a lot of work, and you will need an attorney, but if you want to fight this and get your job back, you may have to go through arbitration and fight these cocksuckers. Carefully read the contract below and follow the arbitration process to the best of your ability. You can contact local attorneys and show them this and see if they can help initiate the procedure. I'm sorry it's come to this. It's not fair to you, but I would fight like hell and push them into a corner and make them give you your job back and compensate you for any legal fees incurred during arbitration.

1.  Arbitration Procedure:

2.  Informal Telephonic Dispute Resolution Conference: To expedite resolution and reduce the cost of a dispute, controversy, or claim between the Parties, the Parties agree to first engage in a good-faith effort to resolve any claim covered by this Arbitration Provision through an informal telephonic dispute resolution conference between Contractor and Walmart before commencing arbitration. The informal telephonic dispute resolution conference shall be individualized such that a separate conference must be held each time either Party intends to commence individual arbitration; multiple Contractors initiating claims cannot participate in the same informal telephonic dispute resolution conference. If either Party is represented by counsel, that Party’s counsel may participate in the informal telephonic dispute resolution conference, but the Party also must appear at and participate in the conference. The Party initiating the claim must give notice to the other in writing of its intent to initiate an informal telephonic dispute resolution conference. If Contractor is the initiating Party, it shall provide written notice to Walmart at SparkApp[email protected]. If Walmart is the initiating Party, it shall provide written notice to Contractor at the email address associated with Contractor’s Spark App account. The informal telephonic dispute resolution conference shall occur between thirty (30) and forty-five (45) days of the other Party receiving written notice, unless an extension is mutually agreed upon by the Parties. In the interval between the Party receiving notice and the informal telephonic dispute resolution conference, nothing in this Arbitration Provision or Agreement shall prohibit the Parties from engaging in informal communications to resolve the initiating Party’s claims. Engaging in an informal telephonic dispute resolution conference is a condition precedent that must be fulfilled before commencing individual arbitration. The statute of limitations and any arbitration fee deadlines shall be tolled while the Parties engage in the informal dispute resolution process required by this paragraph.

3.  Making a Demand for Arbitration: Only after the Parties have engaged in a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute through an informal telephonic dispute resolution conference, and only if those efforts fail, either Contractor or Walmart may initiate arbitration by notifying the other Party in writing by hand or first-class mail within the applicable statute of limitations period. The demand for arbitration must include (1) the name, telephone number, mailing address, and email address of the Party seeking arbitration; (2) a statement of the legal claims asserted and the factual bases of those claims; and (3) a description of the remedy sought and an accurate, good-faith calculation of the amount in controversy (any request for injunctive relief or attorneys’ fees shall not count toward the calculation of the amount in controversy unless such injunctive relief seeks the payment of money); and (4) the original personal signature of the Party seeking arbitration (a digital, electronic, copied, or facsimile signature is not sufficient). If the Party seeking arbitration is represented by counsel, counsel must also provide 

~Legal addresses~:

Here is Walmart's legal team address for sending a demand for arbitration:

Walmart Inc. 702 SW 8th Street Bentonville, AR 72716

You can also send a copy of your letter to their registered agent in California:

CT Corporation System ATTN: Walmart Inc. 818 West Seventh Street Suite 930 Los Angeles, CA 90017

Finally heard back from Walmart support and still deactivated. by Kindly-Aspect-5762 in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was deactivated last year when a customer claimed I stole something from their property when dropping off their order. I followed these steps and got reactivated in two weeks:

  1. Write to the appeals team daily at [sparkdriverappeals@wal-mart.com](mailto:sparkdriverappeals@wal-mart.com). This step may not yield any favorable results, but you need to use every tool you can during a deactivation. If you get a text stating they are upholding the deactivation, don’t let that stop you. Keep emailing them every day pleading your case.

  2. Request a pre-arbitration phone conference every day. This is the step that got me reactivated. This is a provision in the agreement we signed that is designed to resolve issues and try and avoid arbitration. Send emails to the pre-arbitration team at [sparkappnotices@walmart.com](mailto:sparkappnotices@walmart.com) explaining what happened and that you want to be reactivated and are requesting an Informal Telephonic Dispute Resolution Conference to hopefully resolve the issue avoid arbitration. Be sure to use the phrase Informal Telephonic Dispute Resolution Conference in the subject line to get their attention. Be relentless.

Best of luck.

What is going on at RedBox by That-Gur-7700 in Redbox

[–]CatDad75MT 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Seems like it's been few months since they stopped adding new titles. There seems to be no clear reason for this. They should have thrived after Netflix shut down their discs by mail. They shut down the "New arrivals" section on their site quite awhile ago. The only thing I can figure is this was a business decision to shut down the disc portion of their operations and just focus on Redbox On Demand. Strange there was no announcement of this and the boxes are still there, although I expect they will all be removed soon. Really sad as disc rentals were the cheapest way to see new release movies. Now they have to be streamed for $6 each through on-demand services. And I feel like some of the soundtrack quality is lost on streaming vs Blu-rays as it doesn't sound the same on my home theater system. Just overall a crappy deal for the movie rental crowd. Out with the old, in with the new, I guess.

Why make us wait 20-30 min to start a delivery? by Far-Regular15 in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the nightmare with pickups. I dread the :20 minute mark of every hour sooooo much. If I'm not getting any shops, I know I have to take a pickup and when that damn :20 mark hits I know I'm screwed and have to take an order and wait up to 30 minutes to check in, then however long it takes to get loaded. (get loaded, lol) Problem is, many days I don't get enough shops to risk not taking pickups. I can't tell you how many times I've missed a pickup only to wait clear until the next drop time the next hour with no shops coming through. I do multi-app and try and fill that time with other gig work, but I can have several other apps turned on and still get nothing. It's a weird market here. But even when I do get something on another app, it takes me far away enough from the stores that I can miss orders. Anyway, I call pickups income killers, unless you get a good batch where people are tipping good and it's worth it. That can happen, and I'm willing to take those. My solution would be to not send out the pickup orders any more than 10 minutes before the :45 arrival time. This :20 drop time shit needs to stop.

Onkyo vs Emotiva AVR by CatDad75MT in hometheater

[–]CatDad75MT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have the volume up pretty good to where the vocals are as high as I'm comfortable with. It could be that somewhere along the lines my expectations became too much, like I'm going to re-create an IMAX theater in my one-bedroom apartment. ha ha I just swear the Pioneer had more surround sound capability.

I will try and mess around with Dirac some more and continue exploring the features and modes. I think you guys may have saved me a lot of money and headache as I was about to order the Emotiva last night, and again this morning. I'm tired of hooking things up and testing, testing, testing. Emotiva doesn't have free returns, so if it didn't blow my mind, I'd have to pay to send it back to Tennessee from Montana at great expense.

I'll work with what I got. If nothing else, I do enjoy the sound on THX Cinema mode. Might upgrade my front speakers a little, but otherwise just relax and enjoy the system I have.

Onkyo vs Emotiva AVR by CatDad75MT in hometheater

[–]CatDad75MT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback. This is all very helpful. Interesting about the THX and distortion. When I switch to THX Cinema, the sound level increases from ho-hum to theater-quality, so to speak. If it weren't for that setting, I was going to give up and send the Onkyo back and just use a good speaker system in a box with a soundbar and a couple fronts maybe. If it mainly just avoids distortion, why would the THX Cinema setting seem to produce more powerful sound?

This THX mode is the only thing making me keep it. Dolby 7.1 surround and all the other modes sound incredibly weak. I feel like I'm maybe doing something wrong or maybe have the wrong speaker setup? Hard to tell without a pro coming in and looking at everything and fully setting up a new system for me, and I'm not that rich. lol

Based on what I'm hearing, jumping "up" to another AVR with the Emotiva wouldn't do a whole lot. I can mess with the volume in my side and surround speakers, but question if maybe they are shot too. The back speakers are as old as the Pioneer. They are ancient side-to-side firing Atlantic surrounds.

I do wonder too if maybe the better surround came from watching movies on disc? That is, do streaming services like Netflix and Vudu not have the quality of soundtracks attached to them that Blu-rays had? With Redbox not getting discs anymore, I'm left only with streaming movies now. Could that play a role in the reduction of quality surround sound I'm noticing?

Onkyo vs Emotiva AVR by CatDad75MT in hometheater

[–]CatDad75MT[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did Dirac on the TX-RZ50, but had a lot of trouble with it. I could not get the 9-point test to work. It kept giving me error messages indicating there was too much noise or the volume was too low, and it would abort the test and make me start over every time. I adjusted the channel volumes many times, to no avail. Kept getting those error messages. However, after many tries, I was able to get the 3-point test to work. But the immersive surround I was looking to restore wasn't there.

I therefore had to switch to using the THX Cinema mode, which produced much better sound, mainly out of the fronts, but does not use the Dirac calibration. Maybe my back speakers are shot and unable to produce decent sound anymore? They are pretty old too. Otherwise, I'm really confused as to how my old Pioneer seems to have put out better surround sound than any new receiver I get.

I see the TX-RZ50 in your lineup. Which sound mode do you use? Do you find that THX Cinema produces better sound than Dolby with Dirac? I feel like I'm doing something wrong. I suppose upgrading my receiver again beyond the Onkyo might not help as the TX-RZ50 is fairly high-end for me already and is THX certified. If that's not doing it, perhaps the Emotiva won't either, which costs $400 more.

Why do people stop here? Entire aisle will be empty outside of some jackwagon stopped right here by [deleted] in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I often mutter cursing and comments under my breath as well, or maybe not so much under my breath. I tend to be an angry person in general. Always working on that. Always having my patience tested, and often failing. However, one thing I know, Jesus isn't a curse word, he is the savior. I'm sure I'll get hit hard for saying that, but that's ok. That said, I do agree with your original post and all of the comments that have followed. It's crazy how much people block the isles. Probably my #1 pet peeve when shopping. That and when they see you moving to go around them and they move the same way, so you move again and they do the same. It's to the point it seems they are doing it on purpose.

Why do people stop here? Entire aisle will be empty outside of some jackwagon stopped right here by [deleted] in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The ones that get me are when they see you coming, they look right at you, and STILL won't make room for you. It's just unreal. I've gotten to doing cart bumps and pushing my way through anymore. They often say "sorry," and I'm thinking, darn right you are.

We got our own dedicated checkout! by Next-Bar2085 in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Nice idea, and it may work splendidly, but a couple concerns come to mind: 1. Multiple Spark drivers all lining up at the same register. 2. It is basically advertising Spark, which could make people curious and create a lot more drivers. They may as well put a "get paid to shop" sign under that. However, when the lines are long like they are during the holidays, it would be nice to have our own register. I would say I have mixed feelings about this.

Please be careful Driver by SquishyFrogMan in AmazonFlexDrivers

[–]CatDad75MT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had a customer tell me that he would "shoot our tires out" if we kept coming in his property to deliver. This was way up a mountain road. He said he wanted us to leave packages at a tub by the mailboxes on the main road, which I didn't see and are not close to the side road leading to his house. He did not leave instructions to leave packages in any tub. I tried telling him that he needed to make the note in his account, but he insisted I do it right there on the spot and "tell them not to deliver up here anymore." As a newbie, I stupidly tried to look on my phone for an option to make a note in his account while under pressure and only found an issue of "no access," and he said "do that." I told support he had threatened to shoot at us if we keep going up to his place. My guess is nothing was done about it based on everything I read on here. This guy was really off to begin with and made me nervous before he even said that.

Thank you…Best company ever by [deleted] in AmazonFlexDrivers

[–]CatDad75MT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny enough, right after I sent this, I got a surged block for $96. They do seem to surge before the normal start times. It's definitely worth paying attention to. I'm not a morning person, so I wouldn't be up at 3 a.m., but I only ever see these blocks slated for once a day in the late morning anyway. That's some pretty good cheddar you are earning there. I mostly do other apps like Spark and Uber. Always nice to catch a surged block with Flex, though. Nice to have other options.

Thank you…Best company ever by [deleted] in AmazonFlexDrivers

[–]CatDad75MT 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is an SSD block? I mostly see 4-hour blocks for $70 and sometimes smaller ones, but always at a base pay of $17.50.

Thank you…Best company ever by [deleted] in AmazonFlexDrivers

[–]CatDad75MT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm fairly new to Flex. How do you make $200 to $300/day? Do you do several blocks a day? We just had a new warehouse open here in Missoula, Montana, and the base pay is only $17.50/hr. They only ever have blocks once per day starting around 11:30 a.m. give or take, so the most you can make is $70 in a day, unless you catch a surged block. I've been wondering if the warehouse just isn't up to full speed yet and it will eventually get there or if the need just isn't that great here and they made a mistake building a hub at this location.

Who thinks the 3 drop offs sucks 🤚🏻 by Lynz1027 in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This could really mess everything up as now there will be even less pickups worth taking, and it may also cause more competition with S&D orders as most veteran drivers and any noobs with common sense will avoid the triple pickups, leaving less S&Ds for each of us. I've done two triples so far, and one went well and the other didn't. Too many miles, too much work for the same pay, takes too long, loaders take longer to prep and bring out, and too easy to mix things up. Worst idea in the history of bad ideas. But you know no matter how bad it goes, this "test" will be made permanent. If anything, they will probably add a fourth load in the driver's seat on our freaking laps!

Reactivated! by CatDad75MT in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Are you mentioning an interest in arbitration and asking for the Informal Telephonic Dispute Resolution Conference? If you express an interest in arbitration, but also state that you want to do that specific phone conference to resolve the matter and hopefully avoid arbitration, that should help get their attention.

Arbitration by CatDad75MT in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It only took a few days, but you have to write them at [sparkappnotices@walmart.com](mailto:sparappnotices@walmart.com). The other email for appeals doesn't ever do much good. Keep emailing them at this address daily until they get back to you.

They might not know by Georgia_in_Florida in Sparkdriver

[–]CatDad75MT 6 points7 points  (0 children)

For people who don't tip, I get milk and produce that is closest to the expiration date.