First Solo CD by CHARLIE X
First Solo CD by CHARLIE X
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The Xman
©
2004 CharlieX |
CONSUMER CORNER This page is a listing of music and other related experiences that I encounter on a day to day basis. I will be listing the good bad and the ugly when it comes with dealing with vendors and services. Please add to the guestbook blog if you have had experience with any of these companies! I will share your stories here. REMEMBER, these 'rants' are based solely on my personal experience with these companies...your mileage may vary! Ok..lets start with something somewhat positive. June 2008. Peachtree Woodworking I ordered a 'plastic rail" to fit the slot on my Sears table saw so that I could build a Sled. I ordered it on the phone and the CSR was very clear and confident that this item would fit all sears saws. I got the item and ..or course, it was not even close to fitting. The item cost about 4 bucks but the shipping was closer to $10. If i return it, I am out the shipping both TO AND FROM. I emailed them to tell them that it was really their error since they sold this to me by assuring me that it would fit my saw. Their response was that sears has many different sizes for their slots and they have no idea which size mine is! A very different response from when they were selling the part to me. However, they eventually agreed to refund my shipping TO me...but i still had to pay to send it back. Overall, i was out the cost of my shipping back to them but i guess it was better than being out the entire amount. I wont be ordering from them again in the future unless i KNOW EXACTLY what I'm buying and would never rely on their staff for information. But they did not just blow me off and take my money...which is kinda rare these days. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx July 2008 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PAYPAL! I recently bought an amp from EBAY. Here is the description:
That is the full description. I won the amp and it was DOA. There were tons of things wrong with it, and needed a lot of rebuilding In other words, it was NOT AT ALL described as above I won the Paypal claim and had the Paypal Protection Plan. (for the record, I took the amp to my tech, Jim Walton, who did an awesome job putting it back together I was keeping it, but wanted to test the Paypal warrantee Here is what you NEED TO KNOW about the paypal protection plan As stated, I won the claim easily as the posting claims the amp worked but it did not work. The protection works like this. You have 10 days to send the item back to the fraudulent seller BEFORE you get a recovery. Repeat, BEFORE you get your money back! So..here is what they are really doing. You have a seller who lies in his description and blows you off. He takes your money and then paypal wants you to send the item back to him before he gives you anything. Then paypal claims that the only recovery you can receive is whatever is left in his paypal account at the time that he gets the item back. How much money do you think will the seller leave in his account when he knows your 're taking it? This is great for the rip off seller. He gets your money AND gets the item back and can repeat the process all over again with the next guy. You are out the money AND what ever value the item had as is. Do not bid on things thinking you are protected by the paypal protection plan. It only protects unscrupulous sellers. HERE IS WHAT I DID. I called my credit card company and did a 'Charge back' for the repair bill. They immediately credited the amount on my card. Now, the seller has 10 days to prove his case. If he does not prove his case or blows it off, I keep the charged back amount. The seller never responded so I did fine on this deal. I must also note, the 66 Fender Pro Reverb is one of the best sounding amps ever made...I love this thing.. Most bidding goes fine on Ebay, but as more people are on there, there will be more bad sellers. Feedback ratings are easily manipulated but can be an indicator if you know what to look for. GOOD LUCK !! For a reference here is the verbatim response from Paypal. Dear Charles LaTorre, -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx------------------------- Sept 2008 THE DEER HEAD INN in Delaware Water Gap Pa. I love the Deer Head. It is certainly one of the best (if not THE best) place to hear great jazz anywhere. That's quite a statement, but considering what they charge (not much- $5 charge to see Leibman band, or Bucky etc) and reasonable dinner rates, coupled with the fact that you can sit 2 feet from the band, well...you don't have these things at the Vanguard or Blue Note unless you are the mayor of NY. I recently went there for the Delaware Water Gap Fest, which coincided with Hurricane Hanna ( or Hurricane Hayna if you're from NEPA), I booked a room at the Deer Head earlier in the week and did not yet know the track of the Hurricane. Keep in mind the Deer Head policy of 10 DAYS cancellation notice. 10 DAYS!! If you cancel in less time than that, you lose the entire charge for a room (185 bucks a night!). The festival went on as planned under a tent and so I still went, but I could have lost that money. I have stayed there on many other occasions by taking advantage of the Deer Head Jazz Packages which include everything except drinks. I think the deal is a good one, and a great convenience at the end of the gig, you just go upstairs to your room instead of getting in a car. BUT, MAKE SURE you can attend whatever you book or you will be out a LOT of cash. 10 day cancellation policy. I will say the rooms are done up very nicely, and have no TV, no phone and oddly enough, the room I stayed in on the 4th fl had no place in the shower to put down your soap or shaving gear. You have to hold all of that in your hand or balance it on the frame of the shower door. Kinda weird as it seems they spared no expense otherwise. Anyhow, the Deer Head is still my favorite place and are not on the 'Never Again' list, but make sure you can get there. If you're not sure, stay at one of the places in East Stroudsburg where you get a normal and reasonable 24 hr notice policy. One last note on the DHI. It may be time to update the menu. It is VERY hit and miss. I ordered the Panini last week and could not eat it. I have had dinners there before that are 'OK" but maybe they can do something to make it more appealing? Also, after dinner, if you want to hear the rest of the sets, they do not sell any type of snacks or other finger foods that they can probably sell a lot of after 10 pm. Bottom line, the DHI is a great place to hear great music at great prices and I look forward to going there again soon. FED EX- I recently started a small business where I make cabinets for people who have a lot of vinyl records and have no place to store them. You can see them on my 'Stuff for Sale" page. So..I sent 3 cabs to a customer in Va. ..When you send something via Fedex, you fill out a ‘Ground Shipment’ form. On that form you put a ‘Declared Value’ in the box. This is the extent of the insurance they offer. In other words, (actually these words) Fedex does not provide insurance for your items. This is per customer service at Fedex. I will note however, that if you ask a question of 3 Fedex employees..you will get 3 different answers, as they do not appear to have a clue as to what’s goin on. So, the customer received the cabinets ..all 3 were TOTALLY smashed. Note that the buyer cannot put in a claim. If you order something that Fedex brings, and they smash it, the SELLER can put in a claim…NOT YOU. SO..if the seller says..”I don’t really give a *^&%^…YOU ARE OUT THE CASH..this is per the FEDEX CSR that worked my claim. But..I felt really bad for the customer, who was out $300 plus shipping. The Fedex review process is supposed to take 7 to 10 days. One MONTH later I finally get a response. The CSR called and said they received my paper work…Oh…I didn't’t mention….When you ship something fedex, you fill out a form and there are many copies of the form. The info is also entered into the FedEx computer system. BUT where there is a claim…you guessed it…they have NO RECORD of you. You are required to send copies of all of your shipping documents to Fedex by US mail. So, I did all of that too. The CSR says they received all that and that they will ‘review’. Fedex was to pickup the cabinets from the customer and ‘Inspect’ the damage. The CSR also told me that it may help if I supplied some pictures of the damaged items that I received from the customer when he received them. Another 3 weeks go by for their 7 to 10 day review. I call her back and she says….the inspection determined there was ‘NO VISIBLE DAMAGE’ to the shipments. Ok, here are the pictures (they got these too) ……take a look for yourself.
Hmm...no damage here ..DUH...hmmm??(*%
Then there was:
The 3rd cabinet looked like this...looks fine to me... duh??
hmmm...looks perfectly usable as a cabinet to me.....I'd store my kids in there..no problem.... Yea right...Looks to me like the Axe of God has struck these things!
There are more pics...I think I made my point. They looked at these as well as the actual cabs...and concluded that there 'WAS NO VISIBLE SIGN OF DAMAGE''. But wait!! there's more!! The CSR said that I could also submit these pics and have a 're review'..where they would take a second look. So..of course, I said,,,yes, and please get someone other than Stevie Wonder to look at the pictures and cabinets. Another month goes by only this time I'm calling every few days for a response. At the end, same conclusion. Ok...i get it now..there is no Fedex review of claims. There is no insurance for your shipments. If they smash your stuff..you are out the money. I ended up refunding the bulk of the cost to the customer..it wasn't his fault, nor mine. But what was I gonna do other than act like FedEx and say...'Duh..i don't see a problem' What is your FEDEX story...post it on my guestbook blog! |
hmmm...looks ok huh?? you see anything that may be otta wack here...duh..not me...