Google Drive vs. Dropbox - Episode 237

Over the past year of using both Dropbox and Google Drive to send files and folders to clients and consultants we work with I've encountered some strange things.

Usually it's someone who can't comprehend the fact that the file isn't in the email and subsequently has problems with clicking on the link and not understanding that they have to download the file.

I think both Drive and Dropbox ask people to sign in when they click a shared link which is annoying and unnecessary. But where Dropbox has the edge is when you go to download you can either save the files to your personal dropbox or download the files as a zip file.

They give you the choice! Imagine that!

But Google Drive just says "Open in Drive" which completely confuses people who don't use or have never heard of Drive.  There should be another blue button beside it that says "Download".

So the only way to download multiple files is to go into each file and click the download button. This can take forever if there are several files.

They have to slowly ease people into this new world order of cloud storage rather than force them to learn how cumbersome it can be.

Sperry Software: Attachment Save

My office uses email a lot and we push it to it's limits. Much to my chagrin my coworkers and other offices continue to insist on sending emails of drawings, products, photos etc. all of which are large attachments.

In the early years this would have been less of an issue if we used Google Apps as the file size limits and the inbox limits are much larger. However because of legacy and systems (too long to get into) we are still using Microsoft and Outlook. Recently we switched to Office 365 which was an experience in itself (read about that here) and I thought these issues would basically go away. They say that your inbox can be 50GB so I figured this would be huge. No longer would we have to worry about large attachments, at least not for several years, when I assume that limit will go up.

BUT I was in for a surprise when Microsoft Tech Support told me that Outlook doesn't like to sync more than 3-4 GB onto your computer from the cloud. So it was back to our old way of doing things.

We have used Sperry Software's Attachment Save Outlook add-in for years and it has always worked with the various versions of Outlook that we installed. So I installed it on Outlook 2013 and it seemed to work perfectly. But I discovered a bug where you can lose all the text from an email.

Steps to recreate issue:
1. Click ‘reply’ to an email in our inbox (or presumably anywhere in outlook)
2. then start typing up a reply.
3. Close the reply but save the draft
4. Delete/Discard the draft
5. Go back to original email in inbox and the body and subject text has disappeared. Any attachment will still be there.

Windows Version: Microsoft Windows 8.1
Outlook Version: 15.0.0.4675
Engine Version: 5.1.5250.14242 (32-bit)
Language: English

TL;DR
The Sperry add-in is causing a bug that deletes all the text from an email if you view the draft it deletes all the text from the email.

This is a major problem for us as emails are legal records of decisions made and we are required by law to keep them on file for 7 years.

I have since started a bug report with Sperry and they say they are looking into it which is nice but it's been a couple months and I haven't seen any progress. 

I could try another add-in as there are several that do the same thing (here is a list). But that would mean training everyone and buying another product. They say they are working on a fix but we are getting desperate. Losing emails is bad for business.

WARNING: Canadians Renting Cars with Expedia & Hertz

Recently we went to Grand Cayman and had a great time. However the rental car experience was not so great.

The car we rented was clearly the cheapest car on the island but that wasn't the issue.  The issue was we reserved the car on Expedia.ca which gave us the final cost in CAD. So that was what we expected to pay.

One unexpected surprise is that Hertz (and probably most companies on the island) make you pay a $20 USD licence to be allowed to drive. They say it is a government fee but it was not on any documention that Expedia sent us.

But the bigger surprise came when upon returning the car to Hertz they charged us in USD instead of CAD. So because of the exchange rate on our credit card and the extra licence the cost of the rental car went from $270 CAD to $340 CAD.

So I called Expedia and after sitting on hold and talking to a rep for almost 2 hours they told me that they could not refund me. It would have to be Hertz since they are the ones who charged me. So he said they would talk to Hertz for me and gave me an expedia email address to send my documentation to.

So I crafted an email and included the Expedia quote and the Hertz bill. The next week I get an email saying that this email does not support Canadians and Expedia.ca and they gave me a 1-800 number to call which matched the original number that I called.

Apparently I am stuck in a vortex of corporate game of "screw the customer"

Needless to say I will never reserve a car on Expedia again. I think it is unethical that they can give you a quote and then completely change it when you show up to pay.