" /> The Juggle Zone: Bargain Blog: September 2004 Archives

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September 29, 2004

Guinness Believer Event

Guinness Believer Events are an opportunity for us to share a beer with our friends, and perhaps make a few new ones along the way. The conversation will be lively, the food will be satisfying, and the Guinness will be cold!

Click here to sign up.

September 27, 2004

OfficeMax Rebates

They're continuing to come in. Today $222 worth of rebates arrived!

September 25, 2004

UPDATE 2: Homemade Passport Photos

Needing more pictures for Visas, I took some shots of myself and the Mrs. Put them all together with the picture I previously used of the boy, I created a single 4x6 image with 2 of each of us. I returned to the same Eckerd Drug Store I had previously used. In my haste during the prior visit I hadn't noticed that I was charged the non-sale price of 29¢ instead of the 20¢ sale price. For 36¢ I wasn't going back. But now that I needed another print, I might as well.

When I mentioned to the clerk that I had been overcharged, she offered that she could either credit me or deduct it from my purchase. I didn't care, so she decided to deduct it. As you may recall, I was only printing one picture, and the sale was still going on. When she went to ring up my purchase, she pulled out a calculator, multiplied 9 * 4, got 36, then subtracted 20. With 16 displayed on the calculator, she tossed her head around, as if in deep thought, then informed me that my one picture, after credit, would cost about 10¢. Trying to restrain my laughter, I pointed out that she should be giving me 16¢, not charging me 10¢! With a puzzled look on her face she asked why I wanted her to charge me 16¢ instead of 10¢. I then tried to explain things in the clearest language I could muster. "Let's start from the beginning," I said. "I was overcharged 9¢ on 4 pictures, for a total of 36¢, right?" She agreed. "The new picture costs 20¢, right?" She agreed. "So you should be giving me 36¢, and I should be giving you 20¢, right?" During this last part of the explanation I made coming and going gesticulations. After a few moments of deep concentration, a light bulb seemed to go off, and she said, "Oh, I get what you're saying." She filled out some paperwork, handed me 12¢, and waited for me to leave. I looked at the change, confused. She looked at it and realized, "Oh, I forgot to give you your nickel." (16¢ + tax = 17¢, for those wondering.) Oops.

September 24, 2004

Free USPS Scales

I just got spammed by the USPS with an offer for free Stack & Weigh Scales. Click here to see a picture.

September 23, 2004

Survey

A friend of mine is starting a company, and they're seeking some input. If you want to fill out a quick survey for no reward at all, click here.

September 22, 2004

"D" Problem ... Solved

I had been wondering why so few comments were coming in lately when Lippy complained that he couldn't post ... every time he tried he'd get an error stating:

Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:
Your comment could not be submitted due to questionable content: d
Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment.

After a little investigation, I determined that the blacklist contained an entry for "d," preventing all posts that contained a "D." The problem has since been fixed. Comment freely! It is, afterall, a free country.

UPDATE: Homemade Passport Photos

I previously posted instructions for making passport photos at home. I recently had the opportunity to test them out. In preparing to apply for a passport for my son, I obviously needed passport photos of him. After a few initial attempts at taking shots at home, I was concerned due to a variety of factors, and particularly regarding shadows on the background due to my use of a single flash.

Because of the problems I encountered, and a general time constraint that existed, I decided to seek out professional photos to remove any chance of delay. I found a place that offered 2 pictures for $8, that said they do infants. When we arrived, however, we informed that they had no stand for infants ... we'd have to hold him. They used a specialized Polaroid camera that takes two pictures at once. After about 5-10 minutes the pictures were ready, and they over-exposed. The clerk/photographer agreed, and decided to try again. Her method of lowering the exposure was stepping back from the subject. While the new pictures which took another 5-10 minutes to develop were more properly exposed, the subject was much smaller than allowed. We gave up, and left without any pictures.

Because of this flop I decided to revert back to my original plans. To hedge my bet, I took numerous shots, producing a number of 4x6 digital images to have printed. When I went about finding a local B&M to print them quickly, I ran into further trouble. One Rite Aid's machine was broken. Another's was backed up several hours. I finally decided to try the local photo shop, which had a machine to print digital pictures, but it was in the process of being upgraded. However, he had a sign advertising passport photos, and I inquired about infants. He assured me he could, so I gave it a shot. To my dismay he pulled out a digital camera to perform his "magic," took one shot, then disappeared into the back of the store. In about 2 minutes I saw him trimming the printed pictures, which he handed to me. I'm not sure what steps he took in between, or even if the pictures were printed with an ink-based machine, but either way they were extremely over-exposed. When I pointed this out he informed me that he is "more strict than the Passport people. They'll accept this picture - we've never had a rejection."

Not trusting him for a minute, I made sure to pay by credit card, in the event there's any problem. I also pursued finding a B&M that could print my homemade pictures. I eventually found my way to an Eckerd's, which, for $0.29 per print, had a machine that prints your pictures while you wait. (The machine was compact, and available to the customer directly. The only involvement the Photo guy had was ringing up the pictures.)

When my wife went to get the passport on Monday, they rejected the "professional" pictures. I haven't had a chance to return them yet, but I'll let you know how that goes when I do. They also rejected some of my pictures based on head size, which I found a bit surprising given the effort I had put in measuring carefully using a jig I created in PowerPoint. I then realized that the Eckerd printer cropped a bit off the edges of the pictures, effectively stretching the remaining portion of the image. Fortunately they accepted one of my sets and, with expedited processing, we now have the passport in hand.

September 21, 2004

OfficeMax Rebates

They're starting to roll in. Today (well, yesterday), 3 came in - $40 and $30 for the chair, $7 for the jewel cases.

September 20, 2004

Unique Gift

Provided you plan ahead (6 weeks), you can get a unique gift, of sorts, from our government. Courtesy of The White House Greetings Office, personalized greetings are available for such events as:
1) ANNIVERSARY GREETINGS. Anniversary greetings are extended only to those couples who are celebrating their 50th (and subsequent) wedding anniversary.
2) BIRTHDAY GREETINGS. Birthday greetings will be sent only to individuals 80 years of age and above.
3) OTHER GREETINGS. A limited number of special occasions other than birthdays and anniversaries exist for which the Greetings Office will send appropriate recognition to United States citizens. These occasions include important events such as:
-Wedding (send your request after the event)
-Baby's Birth (must be born during the George W. Bush Administration; send request only after baby's birth)
-Eagle Scout Award
-Girl Scout Gold Award
-Bar/Bat Mitzvah or equivalent occasion

It's interesting how the coming of age event listed is the Jewish one.

September 19, 2004

UPDATE 5: freeiPods.com

Well, my iPod has changed status to "Sent to Vendor, Waiting on Product." freeiPods.com describes this as "We have placed your order, but are most likely waiting for inventory to arrive before we can ship it out." They offer to an option to "change your 20Gb iPod to the HP 20GB iPod," which they explain as follows, "HP has begun manufacturing the iPod. They have more supplies on hand, and your order will usually ship out faster if you select this option. Their iPod is exactly the same as Apple's execpt another company makes the hard drive, and the packaging on the box is branded for HP. If the HP is available then we will ship it, but you may also get the Apple iPod." (The typo is theirs.)

I'm not in a rush per se, but it may be worth switching.

September 12, 2004

Yet Another Credit Card

I've sung the praises of my Chase LPG card, mentioned my MBNA WorldPoints card, and I've carried others, but soon I'll be carrying another - the Citi Dividend Platinum Select. My wife's card, Citi was the first she ever had. Though she hardly used it, they first switched from a vanilla card to a vanilla Platinum Select. Recently they further upgraded her to the Dividend card, which has a nice perk. In addition to the relatively standard 1% cash back on purchases, it provides 5% back on purchases at drug stores, supermarkets, and gas stations. The drawback is the need to earn $100 to get a check, but to make it easier, they started her off with a $20 credit. Additionally, they gave her $20 toward purchases made by October 15. I figure we'll use it until we hit $100 in cash back ($1600 in 5% qualifying purchases).

Books

With the start of the new school year comes the need to buy more books. Lots of them. As in the past, I've been buying them using my LPG credit card, but it still takes a little getting used to shopping based solely on tax/shipping costs, and nothing else.

I was able to get $560 worth of books (13 books) all delivered next day for only $24.45. I'll earn $8.22 in FatCash, plus get about $80 back in LPG claims.

More Ice Cream

As if access to Max & Mina's wasn't enough, a new ice cream shop, Cold Stone Creamery, opened in town. Part of a chain, their shtick is not unusual flavors, like Max & Mina's, rather they mix what would normally be toppings into the ice cream, in front of your eyes. The mixing is done on a long stone block, hence the name.

The ice cream, made fresh daily, is terrifically smooth and rich in flavor (as well as calories, I'm sure*). I ordered the largest size, with a waffle cup. While I was able to finish the entire serving, it was

*Turns out the base portion (White Chocolate Ice Cream) of my Cold Stone Original Creation, Nights in White Chocolate, was 910 calories. Add in the double white chocolate chips (160 * 2 calories), caramel (100 calories), whipped topping (50 calories per dollop - I'm sure mine had several), and chocolate dipped waffle bowl (310 calories), and you've got yourself nearly a day's worth of calories in a convenient bowl of ice cream.

UPDATE: BarterBee.com Bugs Me

For those concerned blog readers who have little faith in the FW powers that be, I thought I'd formally update you as to the status of the BarterBee standoff.

FW did indeed credit the $7.95 to my FatCash account. The schwag is presumably in the mail. BarterBee will not be charging me $5.00 for the envelopes because the credit card number I gave them has already expired.

Net result: $5 profit and free FW schwag.

UPDATE: Free Routers

The FAR Routers that I ordered from Outpost are $12.11 cheaper at another online store. Can you say LPG? That's $36.33 in my pocket! :)

September 10, 2004

UPDATE 4: freeiPods.com

Congratulations! We have approved your account and referrals. You may now order your totally FREE iPod.

Processing! (We are currently working on processing your order information and sending it to our vendor. This process usually takes about 3-5 business days.)

UPDATE 3: freeiPods.com

Five of my referrals have finally completed offers, and I've now entered the waiting period. As described by freeiPods:

Congratulations! You have currently completed all requirements to get your totally FREE iPod. We now need to confirm your account and referral offer completions. Please check back after 7 business days to see your status.

September 8, 2004

UPDATE 3: OfficeMax Sucks: BBB Complaint

Having not heard from either OfficeMax or the BBB since I sent my rebuttal letter, I sent a quick email to the BBB Arbitration Manager in charge of the investigation, to find out the current status of my complaint.

I received your letter dated August 5, 2004, regarding this OfficeMax
complaint (16004134), and sent in a rebuttal within a few days.
However, I have not heard back since then. Please update me as to the
status of this complaint.

She quickly replied:

Your rebuttal was sent to the company for response. They notified me they
are working to get this complaint resolved. Hopefully, I will have an
answer soon.

Is there hope of getting proper restitution?

Mm Mm Good?


Hungry, I headed down to the vending machines, and happened upon a Jumbo Iced Honey Bun from Cloverhill Bakery. It was so white I wasn't sure whether it was over-glazed or in a colored package. Turns out it was the former.

After it popped out of the vending machine, I flipped it over to check out the "nutrition" information.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 bun (135g/4.75oz)
Servings Per Container: 1
Amount Per Serving
Calories 640 Calories from Fat 370
Total Fat 41g
Saturated Fat 11g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 340mg
Total Carbohydrate 63g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 31g
Protein 5g
Calcium 6%
Iron 15%

Wow! All that for just $.70!

Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), it didn't taste as good as it looks. Of course, I didn't heed their advice ("Delicious Microwaved!"), but I think the nasty chemical-esque after-taste would present itself regardless. But what do you expect for a baked good that has a 30 day shelf life?

September 7, 2004

Airline Fees

Airlines are always looking to make a buck. Or five, or ten. American Airlines instituted a new policy at 9 am EST on 9/7. Similar to a policy enacted by Northwest Airlines last month, they will charge $5 for customers who buy a ticket through a telephone reservations center and $10 for customers who buy at the ticket counter. The only difference seems to be the absence of a $7.50 fee for the travel agent systems. In Northwest Commits Corporate Suicide, Charles Leocha pointed out the many problems with such a policy. While American solved some of them by excluding the $7.50 fee, others remain.

The reason I point out the time the policy took place is because I made a reservation in the early hours of 9/7 (around 2 am), and went to book it at around 10 pm. While there was no warning of the impending fee when I made the reservation, the hold music/recording at 10 pm did mention the fee.

When I booked, I sought an exemption from the fee because the ticket I was booking was a "lap ticket" for my infant son (who will be flying on my lap), a type of ticket that CANNOT be booked online. I discovered that "American said it would waive the fee ... for speakers of some foreign languages who don’t have a full range of ticketing options." How about for those who have no alternate ticketing options?

While that was not enough to convince the supervisor with whom I spoke, the fact that I had made the reservation mere hours before the new fee policy was put in place was. The fee was waived.

As an added bonus, the supervisor noticed that I had been charged the lap fee for the domestic leg of an international flight. She removed that, further reducing the fare.

September 1, 2004

BarterBee.com Bugs Me (LAST UPDATED: 9/12 @ 2 AM)

About 1 month ago, there was a FW thread/ad from a new company called BarterBee. (A couple days later, there was another more formal ad posted.) Basically, BarterBee.com allows you to trade-in your old CDs, DVDs, and Video Games for new and more interesting ones.

I don't own very many CDs, DVDs, or Video Games, and of those that I do own, have no plans to trade any of them. However, the ad stated that "Best of all, FatWallet.com negotiated for you to start with enough points to get up to 5 CD’s right away!" Cool! 5 points could be worth 2-3 items (most items list for 2-3 points, some more, some less). So I started to sign up. Then I got my confirmation email, which stated, "After you confirm your membership and list 5 or more of your CDs, you will be able to start taking advantage of your membership to request CDs from others." Since I had nothing to list, it didn't look to promising, but I wasn't really worried about it, because it was a free 30 day trial.

As things turned out, indeed they wouldn't let you get stuff with your 5 free starter points, so I gave up on the thing. However, they didn't give up on me. A few days later I was sent an email stating that "...we have mailed you 5 envelopes with protective sleeves. Your account has been billed in the amount of $0.00 dollars." It was a bit weird though, because the prior email had said "As soon as you list your CDs we will promptly mail you your BarterBee.com envelopes." But OK, whatever. Send me free envelopes, I don't care.

Skip ahead to yesterday, when I notice a charge from BarterBee on my credit card online. I contact them about canceling, and have been in negotiations with them ever since (see below).

While I continued to make headway with each round of conversation, I figured I should express myself to the FW community, and the FW leadership. This was, after all, an advertisement that had the endorsement of FW! You'll find the FW part of things at the end of the Me vs. Bob dialog.

Me:
I signed up to check it out, since it was free. The first thing that annoyed me was the misleading advertisement at FatWallet where I signed up from. I was under the impression that the points I was given (5) would allow me to order some music and/or movies, but after signing up found out that I first had to list stuff. Since I had nothing to list, I didn't pursue anything, because the confirmation email indicated that without listing items my registration wouldn't be complete. Next thing I know, I get charged a monthly fee, even though I never completed the registration requirements. Bottom line, I'm not very happy to have been charged, I would like to have the charge refunded, and I will NOT be using barterbee. I had thought of recommending it to friends who do have music/movies to trade, but at this point I don't feel comfortable doing that.

Bob:
I'm sorry you weren't happy with your BarterBee.com membership, but the terms of the membership, listing 5 items in order to request an item, is all over the promotion offer pages in addition to being listed twice in bold on the first two pages of the registration forms.

TEXT FROM REGISTRATION FORM
---------------------------------

You are registering as a member of BarterBee.com under our special '30 Days Free Special' promotion. This is a limited-time offer. If you keep your membership more than 30 days, you will automatically be billed the $2.95 monthly membership fee. In order to activate your account, you will be required to list 5 discs before you may request a disc from another member.

Your membership is month to month and may be canceled at any time. If you cancel your membership during the first 30 days then you must send back the unused envelopes sent to you. If we do not receive back the envelopes within 30 days of cancellation, your credit card will be charged $5.00 for the envelopes."

In addition you were sent an email you had to respond to in order to confirm your membership. Even by doing nothing, we would have canceled your membership and not charged your credit card. Since you were on the 30 day special, you had 30 days to cancel your membership with out us charging your credit card. You waited over a month to say you were not satisfied and that you didn't understand what you signed up for.

TEXT FROM CONFIRMATION EMAIL MESSAGE
---------------------------------

Simply click on the link below for your new membership to take effect. Once you do, the wonderful world of BarterBee.com awaits.
Get started today!

CONFIRMATION LINK

If you do not confirm your membership within 48 hours, your account may be deleted.

After you confirm your membership and list 5 or more of your CDs, you will be able to start taking advantage of your membership to request CDs from others.

As soon as you list your CDs we will promptly mail you your BarterBee.com envelopes.

Your credit card has NOT been charged and will not be charged until you finish this final confirmation step. After confirmation your credit card will be charged the initial membership startup fee of $0.00. When you receive your credit card statement, you will see the charge of $0.00 listed for the merchant BarterBee.com.

David, please let us know how we could have made this clearer for you.

If you will return the envelopes/sleeves that we have sent you, we will credit
your card with $2.95 minus the postage/envelope of $1.50 to mail them to you.
Please mail the envelopes/sleeves back to:
BarterBee.com
16795 Lark Ave.
Suite 210
Los Gatos, CA 95032


Regards,

Bob
Customer Service, BarterBee.com

Me:
Needless to say, I am very dissatisfied with your response. I didn't cancel earlier because I hadn't completed the activation of my account. As you stated yourself, "In order to activate your account, you will be required to list 5 discs." Even if you ignore that fact, I was signed up for a 30 day trial, and as stated in your company's email, the barterbee site was down for several days. Subtract those days from my trial time, and I did cancel within 30 days. If you ignore both of those facts, then your claim is that I was signed up for more than 30
days, and therefore the requirement to return the unused envelopes does not apply. As stated on the sign-up page, "If you cancel your membership during the first 30 days then you must send back the unused envelopes sent to you. If we do not receive back the envelopes within 30 days of cancellation, your credit card will be charged $5.00 for the envelopes." You can't have your cake and eat it, too. While I don't except any charge from Barterbee, there is no way you are entitled to both charges.

USPS regulations prohibit billing for items sent without authorization. I never requested that they be sent. But even after they were, I was informed that I would be "billed in the amount of $0.00" for them.

Bob:
I am sorry to see that there is so much confusion with this situation. Bottom line is that if you canceled before the 30 days were up, you would be required to return the envelopes and your account would not be charged the $5.00 for envelopes as stated in the membership terms.

.... If we do not receive back the envelopes within 30 days of cancellation, your credit card will be charged $5.00 for the envelopes.

If you would like to send back the envelopes within the 30 days, then I
will be happy to have your card credited with the $2.95 without charging
you for the original postage to mail them in the first place.

Bob
Customer Service, BarterBee.com

Me:
If barterbee pays the postage, I'll send them back. Otherwise, no go. I have no plans to pay any money for a "FREE" trial which I never even activated!

Bob:
We are trying to accommodate you, but you did agree to the terms and conditions, you did confirm that you wanted to join by clicking on the link in the confirmation email, you did receive the envelopes, and you didn't cancel within 30 days. Even if you did cancel within 30 days, you would have had to mail back the envelopes back which is stated clearly on the form you filled out. All the above is clearly stated on the site and the email we sent you.

Your account has been charged with $2.95, but we will credited you back this amount if you return the envelopes.

Bob
Customer Service, BarterBee.com


My FW Post:
hoola said:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{snip}
nothing to loose i guess.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought so, too, until I was charged for a second month. (I never cancelled because I never completed my registration.) Then they threatened to charge me for the "FREE" envelopes they sent me. Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper.

TheQueenBee's Response (Bob):
Hello David,

As we covered in our email exchange, we're sorry you weren't happy with your BarterBee.com membership, but the terms of the membership, listing 5 items in order to request an item, is all over the promotion offer pages in addition to being listed twice in bold on the first two pages of the registration forms.

In addition you were sent an email you had to respond to in order to confirm your membership. Even by doing nothing, we would have canceled your membership and not charged your credit card. Since you were on the 30 day special, you had 30 days to cancel your membership with out us charging your credit card. You waited over a month to say you were not satisfied and that you didn't understand what you signed up for.

Kind Regards,
QueenBee

My FW Response:
Your ad (above) also states "Best of all, FatWallet.com negotiated for you to start with enough points to get up to 5 CD’s right away!" I don't know how you define right away, but to me, "right away" doesn't mean "after you list 5 items."

And it's also convenient how you decided to send me envelopes, even though I never completed that last, ever so important step, of actually listing anything! (As your confirmation email stated, "After you confirm your membership and list 5 or more of your CDs, you will be able to start taking advantage of your membership to request CDs from others. As soon as you list your CDs we will promptly mail you your BarterBee.com envelopes." [emphasis mine])


Me (to FW Mods):
I just wanted to let you know about a problem I am having with this advertiser. After seeing the ad, and the FW endorsement, I decided to take a look. It looked interesting enough that I even started to sign-up, and that is when things went downhill. After submitting my information, I found out that despite the ad's claim that "Best of all, FatWallet.com negotiated for you to start with enough points to get up to 5 CD’s right away!," in fact, one had to list 5 items before being able to get any. Realizing that I didn't have anything to trade, I decided not to complete the final step of membership, listing stuff.

A few days later they sent me 5 mailing envelopes, despite the fact that their earlier email stated "As soon as you list your CDs we will promptly mail you your BarterBee.com envelopes." (and I had not listed any CDs).

31 days later I notice a charge from Barterbee on my credit card statement online. I contact them about it, and have been in email discussions with them ever since. They want to either return the envelopes that I never requested or charge me $5.00(!) for them.

As of the latest round of negotiations (3 or 4 emails back and forth later), they are finally willing to refund the monthly fee they charged me, but only if I pay to return the envelopes which they never should have sent to me in the first place.

The bottom line is this. I wanted to let you know that the praise you bestowed on them isn't necessarily deserved. If you feel that it is your place to intervene on my behalf, I'd appreciate it, but if I need to deal with this myself (and/or with my credit card company), I will understand.

Thanks,
-David

FW Mod Responds:
Hi David,

We are sorry to hear of the trouble that you have experienced with this Advertiser. I am contacting our BarterBee representative to see what we can do to help get this resolved.

Thank you for letting us know, and for being a valuable part of the FatWallet Community.

I'll send you a PM when we have more information. You can also reach me directly at ******@fatwallet.com.

Sincerely,
******
FatWallet Affiliate Team
Advertising Coordinator
******@fatwallet.com

FW Mod Responds:
Hi David,

We’ve been doing some research into the issues you’ve had with our recent advertiser, BarterBee. It is unfortunate that such a small amount of money has blossomed into such a large customer service issue. We will be processing a credit to your Cash Back account in the amount of $7.95 (the $2.95 membership fee that was charged, and the potential $5.00 charge for the return envelopes). We’d also like to offer you some FatWallet Schwag as a way to show our appreciation for your valued participation in the FatWallet Community. We have a new shipment of Hats and Mugs – and we’d like to send you one of each. Could you please reply with your mailing address?

Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention. We will be updating the advertising threads to clarify with what we've learned from your experience.

Sincerely,
****** ******
FatWallet Advertising Coordinator
******@fatwallet.com

Me:
I really appreciate FW going to bat for me on this one. I agree that it is a shame that such a small amount of money became such a problem. I'm proud to be a member of such a warm community.

The schwag sounds great!

Please ship it to the following address:

David Wallach
###############
#######, NY #####

FW Mod Responds:
Hi David,

No problem. We are happy to help.

Have a nice weekend,
******

Me, concerned when after several days pass, no FatCash credit shows up:
You previously stated that "We will be processing a credit to your Cash Back account in the amount of $7.95 (the $2.95 membership fee that was charged, and the potential $5.00 charge for the return envelopes)." While I recognize you used the future tense, I figured it would have happened by now. Am I being too impatient or did something go wrong?

-David

FW Mod responds (next day):
Hi David,

The amount has been added to your Cash Back account with a date of 6/8 so that you can cash it out immediately.

:)

Sincerely,
******

Being polite, I respond:
Many thanks!
-David


Me (to FW's Tim):
I sent an "Alert Moderators" message about this issue, but wanted to let you know directly about a problem I am having with a FW advertiser. It is in regards to the BarterBee ad1 and ad2 - I'm not sure why there were 2 posts). Here is the message I sent to the Mods:

I just wanted to let you know about a problem I am having with this advertiser. After seeing the ad, and the FW endorsement, I decided to take a look. It looked interesting enough that I even started to sign-up, and that is when things went downhill. After submitting my information, I found out that despite the ad's claim that "Best of all, FatWallet.com negotiated for you to start with enough points to get up to 5 CD’s right away!," in fact, one had to list 5 items before being able to get any. Realizing that I didn't have anything to trade, I decided not to complete the final step of membership, listing stuff.

A few days later they sent me 5 mailing envelopes, despite the fact that their earlier email stated "As soon as you list your CDs we will promptly mail you your BarterBee.com envelopes." (and I had not listed any CDs).

31 days later I notice a charge from Barterbee on my credit card statement online. I contact them about it, and have been in email discussions with them ever since. They want to either return the envelopes that I never requested or charge me $5.00(!) for them.

As of the latest round of negotiations (3 or 4 emails back and forth later), they are finally willing to refund the monthly fee they charged me, but only if I pay to return the envelopes which they never should have sent to me in the first place.

The bottom line is this. I wanted to let you know that the praise you bestowed on them isn't necessarily deserved. If you feel that it is your place to intervene on my behalf, I'd appreciate it, but if I need to deal with this myself (and/or with my credit card company), I will understand.

Thanks,
-David

Tim Responds:
Wow! That sounds pretty incredible...

I will forward your message over to the person that handles that account... I am quite certain it will be handled shortly.

Tim

Me:
A FW Staff member named ****** has contacted me already, and is looking into the matter.

Thanks for your concern,
-David

Tim:
****** is keeping me in the loop as well... sounds like we'll be able to get you taken care of as well as clarify the situation for other users.

Me:
Great! It's unfortunate that this situation came about, but I'm glad it will be resolved for myself (and others).

Free Routers

A thread at FW informed me of an offering of up to 3 free Netgear 4-Port Web Safe Routers (model #RP614). No tax, free shipping. How could I refuse? I didn't. When they come, I figure I'll either give them away or maybe even sell them.