Have your made your fantasy picks yet?

Happy Friday friends! It’s true…football 2014 has started.

Have you made your fantasy football picks yet? Just so you know, I had to stop playing fantasy football. It’s not that I’m better than it, nor was I actually very good at playing; it is just too big of a distraction from the games I really want to watch, so this year I am NOT going to play.

Now with that being said, I know that just about every one of my friends is in a league or two and I’m definitely not “normal” in that sense. In fact, some of my buddies think that I’m absolutely nuts. Hey guys, you’re just going to have to deal with it!

For the rest of you that are either NFL fans or not, it’s hard to not notice that the football season has started. In fact we are running a football promotion with discounts on every repair service that we offer through our newsletter that is going out to tens of thousands of customers today. Keep an eye out for it, because there will be a special coupon just for you football fans out there. It’s a great time to get hat iPad or Computer repaired. Well you don’t actually have to be a fan, but you might notice a common “pigskin” theme hit your email inbox shortly. Not signed up for our newsletter yet? Sign up now!

Until then, have a great afternoon and I’ll be back soon with more great Mission Repair info.

Take care, Ryan

Hummingbird and a coupon inside!

Good morning friends-

I woke up this morning and took a walk outside to the hummingbird feeder just outside my door. There were several birds around the feeder and all but one flew away as I approached…

I got a little closer…and a little closer…until this little guy just didn’t want to fly away. So I snatched up my iPhone and clicked the picture above. I was about a foot away from this cute avian so he posed and I started snapping away. I got a few of him fluttering about but in this pic he stopped and “eyeballed” me just as I was “eyeballing” him.

He probably thought “wow, look at how close this guy is getting to me. They never get that close, they always run away”. 😉

At the very least I thought the picture came out well so I wanted to post it for all to see!

This makes me feel like posting a coupon for Mission Repair in honor of my feathered friend. Let’s take 10% off of your repair order now through the end of July, 2014 with coupon code HUMMINGBIRD. Just enter this coupon online or bring a copy of this blog with you when you visit one of our locations today or tomorrow to receive your discount. This coupon cannot be combined with any other offers.

Thanks again for reading, I’ll be back soon with more great Mission Repair information!

Take care, Ryan

Internet Fraud. It’s a challenge.

Hello friends,

I’ve been dealing with a few orders that have come through our website here at Mission Repair that are suspect…

In today’s “order online” age of business, the potential for fraud orders is high; a criminal can hide behind a computer screen from anywhere in the world and try “everything in the book” to scam businesses out of their products.

Worried about online security? You should be. Fraud is on the rise, greatly impacting online business owners and their customers. We take your security very seriously investing in current and ongoing security-based infrastructures and to make sure our website (www.missionrepair.com) is fully PCI/CISP certified. All of this is dedicated to help protect you (and us!) from cyber criminals.

While we here at Mission Repair mostly provide services to our customers, we also sell parts and do it yourself repair kits for iPhones, iPods and tablets as well. There are many people that want to do this kind of work, so it just makes sense that we sell them the repair parts and tools that they need!

It’s pretty much a given that a fraud order here at Mission Repair will be for a product rather than a service. Other red flags that pop up for us are:

1. The customer will ship to a completely different address. Sometimes out of the country.
2. The shipping will be Overnight. They want to receive the product(s) fast.
3. The telephone number on file for the customer doesn’t match the geographic location of the billing address and typically is never answered.
4. The IP address of the customer doesn’t match the billing address. Yes, we capture everyone’s IP addresses upon order placement.
5. The orders are placed online rather than being called in.
6. The email address on file doesn’t particularly match the customer billing information. Typically, most people have SOMETHING in their email address that signifies that it’s them. Not always, but sometimes.
7. The order seems exceptionally large and high dollar.
8. We can see other previous attempts via our saved shopping carts of the same or similar orders with different credit cards.

While any ONE of these is typically never a red flag, when an order has ALL of the them, we take extra steps when we can to verify the order and ship or cancel when appropriate.

What typically happens is that the criminal obtains the victim’s credit card number and billing address – somehow – and then places an order online using the customer’s information. It’s then shipped to a different location. This way, the criminal gets the product(s) and is never to been seen again…while the innocent victim receives their credit card statement in the mail a couple of weeks later to see the bad news…fraudulent charges to businesses they they’ve never heard of! Yikes it’s scary.

Firstly, let me tell you that it’s safe to purchase off the Internet as long as you know that the site you’re using is secure. Like Mission Repair’s website. We are fully 100% PCI/CISP certified which means that we exceed industry standards in solidifying our hardware and hosting facilities. We pass inspection from an independent auditor who performs on-site assessments, and we complete a rigorous screening process to remain on credit card certified lists.

What is PCI? The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Essentially any merchant that has a Merchant ID (MID) should be PCI compliant. Not sure? Ask the company you are buying from!!

We’re required to delete your credit card information from our databases and I’ve also gone a step further; your credit card information is blocked from all of my employees after it’s entered so all we can EVER read back to you is the last 4 digits after an order is placed. It’s just one more step to security and we are determined to keep you safe.

Why am I talking about all of this? well i just got a call from my Merchant asking me about an order that is under investigation for fraud, which sparked me to tell all of you that we take this criminal activity very serious. Remember that as a consumer you can call your credit card company at any time to dispute fraudulent credit card charges…and always check your statements. Just a little tip to keep the world going ’round.

Have a good day!

Best, Ryan

Time travel possible at Mission Repair? Sort of.

Hello friends,

Are you a coffee drinker? Well, I picked up the habit when I worked as an outside Salesman at a different company many years ago – it just seemed like it was the right thing to do. The issue now is that if I’m at work, I drink the stuff. I do my best to avoid it on the weekends, but there are times that I splurge.

For those of you that are like me I’ve opted to install a commercial grade Keurig machine at the Mission Repair headquarters here in Olathe just for our customers. I know, it’s a small thing but customers that are waiting for their repair to be completed are welcome to grab a complimentary cup or coffee, hot chocolate or tea.

I went to grab a cup for myself this morning and noticed that I was going to brew a cup of Eight o’clock at seven o’clock.

There’s a bit of a time paradox there- 8 at 7. It would be difficult to explain this without the picture, and it was reminiscent of time travel and 1.21 gigawatts. If you don’t know what that’s referring to, then you need to catch up on your Eighties Michael J. Fox movies 🙂

In any case- whether you need it a repair or not, you’re welcome to stop by for a cup of coffee any time, say hello! If you show up in a DeLorean, you get extra credit.

Take care, Ryan

What a day – Jack frost is nipping at my nose.

Good evening friends,

I know that we already talked about it earlier in the day, but the weather in Kansas City was a bit troubling for us. We had a call for about 8″ of snow today and we got it.

For those of you that don’t live in snow states, this might be a strange concept for you. For those of us that live in the Midwest, it’s typically not a problem…but it does create some hassles.

Applebee’s closed due to weather today? Come on!

For example, flights from KCI (Kansas City Airport) were cancelled tonight, which included the FedEx planes that are carrying all of the repairs that we shipped today. So trying as hard as we did- we got things in and out, pretested, repaired and quality controlled for shipping; devices just won’t reach their destinations tomorrow as planned.

Additionally, as the roads become slower when traveling around the city, we need to plan for a few extra minutes of driving time when we are due to arrive somewhere. I had a business meeting today, I was a little late, but we’re all in the together so these things are typically acceptable.

Applebees closed. This was the big bummer. I guess they felt it necessary to close their restaurant early to let their employees go home. I had to go the Chipotle instead for a burrito!

All in all, the weather just makes for a bit of hassle for all of us, but we need it. It can’t always be beautiful outside can it?

Well, for whatever problems the weather in our area caused for you, I hope your travels were safe and sound. I’m home now, smelling the awesome crockpot of Santa Fe Chicken with cilantro rice that Dandra has cooking.

Cilantro rice? Darn, I went to Chipotle for lunch, had a burrito bowl with cilantro rice in it. Oh well, I won’t tell Dandra that little tidbit, give her accolades for her version of the tasty rice and eat it with a smile. Thanks Old Man Winter; if it wasn’t for you I would have had a chicken strip platter for lunch 😉

Take care, Mission Repair will be open in the morning as usual and I’ll be there. Good night.

Ryan