Julia F.

After having moved to a new home, I noticed that the Optimum internet service was pretty patchy even though it had been totally reliable at two previous addresses. It finally got to the point that the service was cutting in and out frequently, and then dropping out altogether for hours at a time. I spoke to a lot of agents on the phone, and had a couple of techs come over, first to swap out the modem/router, and then to test the exterior line and switch it over to one with a strong signal. Fingers crossed, it should be solid from here on out.

I really feel compelled to write in praise of all of the Optimum agents and techs that I dealt with along the way. I never had to wait long before I could get through to a human on the phone, and the agents were so patient, knowledgable, pleasant, and helpful. The same goes for the techs who came to my house. I can't remember the last time I dealt with a large company that had such satisfying customer support and service, across all departments, so I sincerely hope that Optimum is taking care of these wonderful people because they so deserve it!

Any "conspiracy theories" I had initially come up with that I had been saddled with junk gear, or that the spotty service was to force me to upgrade to a more expensive plan, were completely unfounded. I am genuinely thankful to everyone at Optimum for getting me back online and able to complete my daily workload.

If you order seeds or gardening supplies, then Gurney's can be great and fast to ship. They have serious discounts that are hard to pass up, like $100 off a $200 order. You really can't beat that deal.

However, I will never bother to order plants or bare roots from them ever again. In 2020 and 2021, Covid was creating a serious impact on shipping dates -- I get it! I was patient and understanding even though plants were being mailed out way past the initially promised ship date, during the scorching temperatures of high summer, resulting in plants arriving either dead or mostly dead. I never contacted them to complain. And even though there are still massive issues with supply chains and shipping in 2022, I don't think those are the reasons I still haven't received two items out of the three I ordered almost TWO MONTHS ago. When I ordered those items, the site clearly showed that they were in stock and would be shipped within TWO WEEKS. Nope. I suspect they oversell items like an airline overbooks seats on a plane. The estimated shipment dates in their order confirmation email quietly pass by without any follow-up from them. Then they'll eventually ship out one item at least a month late, and the estimated dates for the remaining items in the shipping notification email for the first item will show that anywhere from two weeks to a month have been added on. Even those dates are likely to get pushed back further without any word from Gurney's

Can't Gurney's computer system track the past-due dates for the items they've sold and send out emails to the waiting customers to say, "Hey, we're sorry we're late. Here's the new estimated date. Would you like to keep waiting or request a refund?" But then that would invite people to do what is well within their rights to cancel massively overdue orders and not be strung along for months as the weather continues to get hotter and hotter.

When you're stressed and trying to report a lost pet ASAP, the HomeAgain site is pretty clunky, especially if you're trying to edit a pet's profile or create an alert on your phone. The first rep I spoke to immediately after my cat ran away was extremely unhelpful and just kept asking me what his microchip number was when the rep should have been able to access that info after she verified I was the account holder. I was in a gas station parking lot and not parked in front of my computer at home. I hung up and called back to speak with someone who was more on the ball. Once I got home and tried to download the poster for my missing cat, there was a technical glitch that meant I was downloading an empty file, or a file with stock images in it for the sample poster featuring a German Shepherd, and I had to call to speak with a rep who fortunately happened to actually be helpful in spite of the many issues she was encountering on her end with the system. Even though I went over the exact wording for the poster with the rep helping me with the technical glitch, the final wording of the poster was not exactly what I had designated, but I didn't want to have to keep calling to tweak things I should have been able to fix through my online account.

They only sent out an alert email three times, and when I called back after several weeks of my cat missing to say I had an updated location for his latest whereabouts, and could they please send out another alert, the rep I spoke with said yes, and that everything was good to go after I gave her the new address. But nothing was sent out, so I would have to call again to ask why no alert was emailed when I was assured it would be.

I think the level of service you get is only as good as the rep you speak with, and that's not acceptable considering most of the reps didn't seem that helpful. But maybe it's a crappy job and it's hard to keep good people providing support.

Losing an animal is an extremely stressful and emotional experience, and the least HomeAgain can do is hold up its end of the bargain for lost pets rather than just being in the business of making microchips and accessories. I don't think the pet location aspect of the package is adequate, and that's a shame because my vet chose a HomeAgain chip, and I'm stuck with their service that is likely to be as inadequate should I lose either of my other two cats.

I totally edited my previous review because it sounded pretty paranoid.

When my cat first went missing, I put up a post on the local Craigslist Lost & Found board to get the word out. Then I started receiving responses from what seemed like concerned individuals recommending that I use MyLostPetAlert.com, but every message had almost the exact same wording even though they were from different addresses, which seemed suspicious. Regardless, I went ahead and paid for the "rural" package, or whatever they call it -- Woof? -- in the hopes that more neighbors, vets, and shelters in my area would be reached than I could manage by myself.

The things I liked about the service are that the basic package is affordable for the average person, and I also liked that they use a voice actor to record the personalized message that is played (by robocall?) over however many neighbors' phones you pay for in a particular service package.

The things I didn't like are that I suspect they use bots to trawl through lost pet posts online to then send what looks like messages from concerned individuals who do not work for the company. If that's the case, I would suggest to them that they just go ahead and be aboveboard about how they represent themselves. "Hi, we're sorry about your missing animal, but we're a service that helps you locate your pet, and this is how you can reach us." And anytime I update my Craigslist posting, I start getting phone calls from *another* location service called PetAmberAlert.com. Where are they getting my phone number if it's never been in my Craigslist posts, nor even my name or any identifying info? See? I sound paranoid, right?

Anyway, if you're desperate and can spare the money, sure, use this service. But I really recommend you do some research online about how to find (and think like) a missing pet -- for example, it turns out calling out your cat's name while searching for it is a bad idea -- and enlist anyone you can find to help you create and distribute flyers and posters to the areas around where your animal was last seen. You might have to keep searching and putting in the effort for weeks or months, but Do. Not. Give. Up. Hope. You will be amazed how resilient a lost animal can be. I was certain my cat had died because he was injured when he got loose, and the weather was so hot and dry for weeks afterward. However, he is alive, but unfortunately still on the loose almost two months later. I've been receiving updates about his whereabouts from local residents, and I hope to trap him soon!

Good luck!

I've been using Grubhub for several years, and have generally had quite positive experiences, but their friend referral program sucks. The program is described like this: refer a friend; friend has to make an order of over $15 before tax, delivery fee, tip, etc.; friend gets to apply a $12 promo code on that first order; then "up to four days later" you receive a code via email for your own $12 discount.

Almost two weeks went by after my friend made a first order and was able to apply the $12 discount to it, and I never got my code. I contacted Grubhub and they told me that they can't give me a code, because they need to verify my and my friend's email addresses (what?) and then I can place a full-price order, for which they'll then *refund* $12 to my account. I kept saying, "Those were not the terms of the program in any way, and I don't want to make an order with just a promise of a refund that might never be made." Besides, that means I'm making *two* orders to get this stupid $12 discount. Not. The. Terms.

If you dig for the *full* referral program terms online, you'll find a paragraph that says they basically don't have to honor the terms of the discount for any reason whatsoever. Since I am absolutely fed up with businesses shrugging and acting like they're above any accountability, I tried to delete my Grubhub account. Well, good luck with that! You have to dig around online yet again to find a secret email address to which you can send a cancellation request -- Please, sirs, may I close my own account?-- but they might not even respond or do anything to help you close your account.

I am done with Grubhub.

It took me years of YOOX shopping to figure out what the heck their crazy system is. Yes, the descriptions are woefully lacking, and I'd much prefer that they allowed customers to leave reviews on items until they're completely out of stock, but the thing that's made me stick with the site is the fact that I've figured out how to end up with goods that were made in Italy or other parts of Europe, from shoes to clothes and bags. They don't always have the lowest price, but they do always have unique European pieces that you're never going to find at American department stores (they also sell plenty of stuff made in China, so it's not all high-end). If you like shopping through a site that has a high amount of stock for all of the merchandise being sold, that has a lot of photos of the items from every angle, that allows customer reviews, and that doesn't deal in a lot of past-season pieces, then YOOX probably isn't for you. But if you like to hunt down distinctive pieces that you're not going to see on anyone else in your town, YOOX is definitely for you. I've never had customer service or shipping issues in the several years I've been a customer, even when one of my shipments came all the way from Italy.

Even though I don't think it was very apparent to me upon my registering with the site and making a purchase that I was enrolling in a membership, it quickly became evident that that was the case because I saw the bit about having to skip before the 6th of each month or I'd be charged for a credit. I'm even fairly sure that I tried to skip being charged at the beginning of the month after I made my first purchase with JewelMint, ShoeMint, and StyleMint, and received a message saying that I had to make a purchase at full price before I was considered a member, and so wasn't required to skip because I wasn't going to be charged for a credit anyway. My first purchases must have been sale items, and therefore they wouldn't make me eligible for automatic membership. My one complaint is that some goods they sell are of much better quality than others, and I ended up giving them a long break because I was tired of the quality being a gamble, but never did I feel like I was being taken for a ride. Never did they threaten me to stop skipping months or I'd get dropped as a customer or be in violation of their terms. I've been stuck with some crappy purchases from other retailers because I was hasty and didn't read all the fine print (or anything, ha ha) but I can't say the Mint companies have been shady. I wish they didn't require a Facebook account to review products because Facebook sucks, but whatever, they want to increase their promotion by linking everything through social media.