Marie"Mamie" C.'s Profile
Reviewer level: 4
26 Reviews
103 Votes
93 Very Helpful
1 Funny
4 Fraud Buster
2 Great Find
3 Well Said
16 Comments/Posts
12 Fans
743 Profile Views
4 Firsts to Review
Member since: April 2010
I use the internet to my advantage
26 Reviews by Marie
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I saw an ad on television about this website so I checked it out and registered. They claim you are going to make money taking surveys. They get some of your personal information and then dole it out to other websites who start contacting you through e-mail and bugging you for even MORE personal information.
I did take at least 5 surveys and spent time going through those surveys only to be told at the end of them that I did not qualify for the survey. The one survey I did get to qualify for was a long, drawn out survey about paper towel use. ha ha
This is ridiculous website that is trying to scam people for personal information. If you don't give some of them your full birth date and household income they won't let you proceed. With each survey you have to fill out a bit more personal info and I did notice that they will drop in an added personal question here and there to slowly gather more info about you as you continue to take surveys. I'm not sure what they intend to do with all this personal information on hundreds of thousands of people but if you've registered here, get out as fast as you can and ask for your personal info to be removed from every website that bigspot has given it to. I sincerely doubt this will do anything but ask anyway.
This is entirely too creepy at best. I am almost positive it is a ruse and a scam only to try to collect as much personal information about people as possible.
Run!, don't walk away from bigspot.com!
i think those questions are supposed to help advertisers and marketers know which audiences they should target and how. but you're right, it is too much, and surely they could figure out a better way to do their work in this age of privacy... did you ask bigspot to remove your personal info? and what did they say?
Yes, I did. They haven't answered me yet. I'll let you know!
This is a local kitchen cabinet refinishing company. If you are looking for reviews on this business you have come across one by reading this.
Refacing and replacing kitchen cabinets is much more expensive than refinishing and since we had nice wood cabinets we looked into refinishing as an option.
When I had the estimate I was told that my kitchen cabinets would look like new when they were done. They showed me pictures of refinish jobs they had done and they looked pretty good. It took them 3 days to do the work which was sloppy and shoddy. They left pieces of moulding off that they needed to stain and replace, they told me they would install new crown moulding also. They stained the crown moulding and once the cabinets were done they said they couldn't cut and install the crown moulding because they didn't have the tools or experience.
Within 2 days the stain started peeling off of various places on the cabinets. Also they DO NOT look new at all but look like old cabinets that have had a restain job. Their patching can be seen through the stain, sanding was done quickly and sloppily, etc. etc.
I have had them back twice to try to fix what they didn't do properly and the second time I came home from work to find dry stain dripped all over my brand new flooring.
I realize that they want to come correct the problem every time I call them back but I don't think they have the expertise to do it right. It still doesn't look right and more stain is now chipping off as if it was painted on which means sanding wasn't done properly and with the attention and care needed to have a proper adhesion of the stain and finish.
I won't even have them back to correct any more problems and have to live with the job they did. That is several thousand dollars gone that I could have applied to refacing my kitchen cabinets.
Live and learn, my mistake for not looking into them further. Hopefully this review helps someone else.
I've been a member of ebay for more than 10 years and I've managed to do very well in buying and selling on ebay. Sometimes the shipping charges are outrageous but shipping charges are posted by the sellers.
I like the fact that we are buyer and seller protected but their charges to the seller are getting larger and larger as the years go by. The best way to pay or get paid with ebay is through pay pal but they also have charges to the seller.
One thing I would recommend is to not buy shoes on ebay. Usually they are seconds and don't fit correctly.
Make sure, before you buy, to read each seller's feedback list. Sometimes it's worth it to spend a little extra on something that is listed by multiple sellers to know you are buying from a good and reputable seller. Just yesterday I had that choice and chose to spend an extra $10 on something because that particular seller had 100% positive feedback.
All in all, my experience with ebay has been a good one.
Although the fees have increased for sellers on SOLD items, the listing fees are lower so it doesn't cost as much if an item doesn't sell.
As far as the shoes go, unless you are buying a brand and style you have or tried on in a store; it is hard to get a comfortable fit.
I don't like the abuse of eBay Buyer Protection. Ironically I had sold a brand new product, and it was shoes; never used once, new in box, the box was packaged within another box, and the shipment was insured! Yet, the buyer told me that the shoes arrived damaged. I found it terribly difficult to believe, but I offered her a full refund when she sent the shoes back to me, OR filled out the insurance form and surrendered the damaged product to the post office for proof that the shoes were in fact, damaged. She refused to send me back the shoes, and she also refused to fill out the insurance form to surrender the shoes. It was obvious what was going on, here. She wanted the shoes for free. She wanted a refund from me and also to be able to keep the shoes. She opened a dispute against me and eBay recommended she send the shoes back to me, and recommended I refund her upon receipt of the shoes. She refused. So I escalated the case to eBay. eBay allowed me to keep my earnings and also refunded her as well, at eBay's expense. Honestly, I feel it wasn't fair, even though I was not penalized or forced to provide a refund as they found neither of us to be in the wrong.... but my opinion differs. Then again, I'm sure eBay has the money for this type of thing, considering how high their seller fees are. My best advice is take MORE than a couple pictures of the product, perhaps even pictures of you packaging the product so these scammers don't get away with this.
Excellent point Lee! As a seller you are held hostage buy bad buyers and can be taken advantage of more so than sellers abusing buyers. I have had a similar claim that an item was scratched and wanted a deep discount. For all I know it would have been scratched and returned if the discount wasn't given so at the risk of receiving an unsalable item back (plus return shipping cost) I had no real logical choice. Not having the option to leave neg feedback on these buyers hurts the whole community.
Glad the eBay seller protection protected you Lee and sorry these unscrupulous buyers can get away with it.
Starting in July 2011, selling fees will be based on sale price PLUS shipping cost at a lower percent. This will help with the low cost/ high shipping cost to avoid the higher fees. Overall, a honest shipping cost should cost a seller less.
When buying a car from a dealer with 100% feedback, READ their feedback history. You may find cars are not mentioned.It can create a very misleading impression.
I think their shoes are expensive but they have some very nice shoes that I can't get around town. There is a huge selection of shoes and good ones too. Like I said, though, the good shoes are expensive.
I love Quack Watch because their truly are so many newfangled remedies and health claims circulating with a sole for profit intention.
They intelligently debunk claims and, although they can be extreme in some cases, give great information, especially when one is engaging in debate and needs backup!
Very enjoyable and factually entertaining.
there's one like this out of the UK called senseaboutscience, but I think it's way more scientific and draining to read...
Dr. Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch Exposed In Court Cases
At trial, under a heated cross-examination by Negrete, Barrett conceded that he was not a Medical Board Certified psychiatrist because he had failed the certification exam.
This was a major revelation since Barrett had provided supposed expert testimony as a psychiatrist and had testified in numerous court cases. Barrett also had said that he was a legal expert even though he had no formal legal training.
The most damning testimony before the jury, under the intense cross-examination by Negrete, was that Barrett had filed similar defamation lawsuits against almost 40 people across the country within the past few years and had not won one single one at trial.
During the course of his examination, Barrett also had to concede his ties to the AMA, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Court Case: Stephen Barrett, M.D. vs. Tedd Koren, D.C. and Koren Publications, Inc.
Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County for the State of Pennsylvania
Court Case No.: 2002-C-1837
This site is all about trying to help women with hormonal issues but their main objective is to have you purchase their supplements and herbals which can be very expensive. Their herbal remedies made me feel sick and their vitamins were expensive, coming in individual daily packets that a person would be instructed to take 3 times a day. That was at least 14 pills a day which was entirely too much.
I sent the vitamins back for a refund which I did get without any problems.
Oh my goodness, 14 pills a day!?? The herbal thing is a bit out of control now - people can just market themselves as herbal / vitamins, etc. and get away with charging a lot. Thanks for the tip on this one!
Women to Women would like to take this opportunity to clarify: there is a legitimate explanation for why so many pills are needed. Our supplements contain pharmaceutical grade nutrients in quantities that match the requirements of most adult women, and we select forms that are most bioavailable (that is, that break down and get absorbed easily). Not all of these nutrients can be contained in the same pill because some of them have a tendency to interfere with others in terms of absorption or optimal chemical processing in the body. If we crammed them all into one pill, much of the nutrient benefit would be lost, and our customers would be paying for nutrients they wouldn’t be getting any benefit from. Our programs only work when women get the nutrients we provide! Moreover, some women need to take certain nutrients at different times of day. For example, we put B vitamins in the multivitamin/mineral pill, but we put calcium and magnesium into another pill, so that women who have difficulty sleeping (which is a lot of them) can take the ones that contain B vitamins during the day and their calcium/magnesium pills before bed. B vitamins have a tendency to “rev” some women up and prevent sleep; calcium & magnesium do the opposite. So as you can see, it would not help anyone if we put them in the same pill! This also enables women with thyroid issues who take thyroid replacement hormone – a great many women we serve – to take their multivitamins in the morning with their thyroid medication while reserving the calcium, which tends to interfere with absorption of thyroid meds, for nighttime. Believe it or not, timing DOES matter when it comes to nutrition.
We offer women multivitamin packets containing 3 pills + one omega-3 softgel, taken twice daily, for a total of 8. There are additional herbal supplements depending on the individual’s needs, that could potentially (if used as directed) bring that number to 11-13. We know this is a lot of pills! But as we hope we’ve explained above, there is a method to the madness; we didn’t decide to split our nutrients into multiple pills simply because we want women to swallow multiple pills. In fact, if we could find a way to change that, we would – customers don’t like it, and we are attempting to make life easier for our Members, not harder, and we’re continually looking for ways to deliver the same quality in fewer pills (or in liquid form that is tolerable to taste). At the moment, though, our current regimen works well for the majority of our Members – just look at our testimonials pages and see what they say. http://www.womentowomen.com/womens-stories/default.aspx
We hope this helps you understand why we do what we do.
I actually don't have a problem with spokeo. It has helped me to see which accounts I have at different sites that may be visible to others and to go to those sites and either remove my accounts or make them private.
For self protection I would suggest searching for yourself through name, email and other search options. Then see where you may have public info about yourself and either remove that info or make it private on those sites.
Spokeo can be used to your benefit in some instances like this. It can also be helpful when you are getting unwanted emails, etc...to identify the sender who is offending you.
If you make yourself not visible on spokeo by going through these routes (if this is what you want) it can be a great tool.
Dear Marie,
As you stated, Spokeo is also a great resource for locating old profiles. Many of our users have implemented our service to successfully locate forgotten accounts with various sites, and deleted them. Also, many of our users have had great success in revealing the companies and telemarketers behind unwanted phone calls, and emails.
Sincerely,
Spokeo
I did have extra charges from proflowers at Christmas time but I made sure the valentine flowers were delivered on a different day. Still, I'm glad for the other reviews for proflowers and won't be ordering from them anymore. Some flowers they will charge for a vase and other ones they won't. It is as if they have a quota for each order and will find some way to make that quota from the customer, regardless of what you order.
how did you get around those extra charges? did they actually refund you?
No, the charges were actually shown to me before I paid for the entire order. I looked closely and it took me a long time to find a bouquet that did not have charges for the vase, etc. The delivery charge was large. Still, the flower order was cheaper than 1800flowers which I've used for many years. Based on the reviews here, though, I won't be using proflowers anymore. I never did ask for a refund and didn't get charged for anything extra later on.
I see, now I understand. A lot of the reviews for proflowers are from 2010, but it looks like, based on your experience, that there's still some fine tuning they need to do.
It makes sense that they may be trying to fix things. Thanks!
Total scam but most of these on line bidding sites are. They are making millions by charging you for bids. For real bidding ebay is the winner.
Jerry mansbridges
Beezid is the worst. I can't believe how much money I've thrown away.
Ditto. Beezid gets a big thumbs down.
I agree. The site took me for 70 bucks. This was the third site I've used and it is by far the worst.
I'm with you guys. I feel like someone at Beezid should be going to jail...
scam scam scam I agree I did actually win product but after 5 weeks of no product showing up they said sorry japan had a disaster and your not getting anything but they are still auctioning off the same product 2 times a day
cant believe am readin all your complain that beezid is a scam or illegal. its a marketing strategy. little common sense is what you need to understand it. You think it’s a scam coz you lost muney, but if you actually bought an ipad for $12.00 would you call it a scam?
Here’s how it work.
Lets say IPAD cost $500
Winning bidder won it for $12.00
$12.00 is accounting to 1200 bidder
Assuming 1 bid is $1
$1200 – this what beezid gets from the bidding
then the winner only pays $12.00
so…
Beezid gets $1200(from its awesome marketing strategy) + $12 (from the winning bidder) minus $500 (for their own pocket to purchase IPAD)
= $712 beezid earning from its business.
It aint scam, its business strategy. its like casino, you gamble to win.
Sometimes you win big, most of the time you lose big. It is what it is.
AGAIN!!! Its gambling not scam =)
i play beezid and won 3 item (I GOT THE ITEM) though i stop coz its very addictive. am losing big rather win big just like in casino. =)
just explaining what it is coz am one of those jealous who didnt think of this strategy. =)
FYI to all who said they won but didnt receive their item. dont be fool, coz they lost their muney and didnt win anything thats why their upset. you may email beezid ,they do reply [takes a week or 2 though]. even when you complain on paypal they would reply [takes less than a week, asusual paypal is great =)]
I once thought its a scam and paid my fist winning item through paypal and didnt receive the item. when i call paypal, PAYPAL immediately suspend all BEEZID account so beezid immediately replied that they will re-ship my item. (foolish me, my aunt receive the item for me but i didnt know thats why i complain, so they reship the item. i got the item twice by paying only once =P).
The next item i won, paid it through card and didnt have any problem. =)
you can have them re-ship you item if you didnt receive it.
oh yeah, it takes 2-3 weeks for you to get the item so just be patient you know.
I agree! Bid "packs"? WTF? I shouldn't have to pay for the opportunity to make a purchase!!
Rex Odom-a new member--I got riped off $70.00 beware people
I had some good luck with Beezid. Going in you have to know that you pay for bids that's the way it works. You buy a bunch of bids then you hit up the auctions. I've been going to Penny Auctions for about 6 months and I think Beezid is legit. I received my new monitor one week after it shipped. I don't understand all the negativity.
that's so encouraging to hear. I have been looking at beezid for a few months now, and I think I'm ready to start bidding. There are a few things I want, so I'm glad you actually got what you paid for.
I ordered 2 items that come in 3 sizes. They sent the wrong size so I sent them back. They charged me shipping and restocking fees which amounted to almost the price of the items themselves so I am out most of the money I spent with nothing to show for it.
I would have been better off keeping the items. They have bad business policies for returns!
I agree. This site is awful. Wish I'd seen this before ordering.
This is a great website to help relearn how to live without cigarettes. If someone really wants to quit smoking it is a great resource to, at least, get started understanding why and when a person smokes and how to recognize these situations and subsequently learn how to change behavior.
I'm not sure how many people it has helped but given the lack of live community support for nicotine addiction, it is a great place to start.
I've only used dirpy a few times. If I had more time and a new IPod I think it would be a lot of fun to play around with.
The Farmville application on Facebook is fun for a lot of people. If a person has the time it would seem like a lot of fun.
I think that is great for those who enjoy playing but, for me, it floods my Facebook wall with a bunch of junk that I have to sift through just to see the personal posts and communications with my Facebook network of friends. Then, I feel like I will be offending my 'Farmville lovers' friends by blocking the application. I hope my friends/family don't take it personal but I did block this application and I am enjoying Facebook a lot more now.
Ancestry.com has great records if you are into doing your geneology. They have old census records and is a great place to get started if you do not want to do tons of researching yourself. Geneology can be a difficult task, requiring hours of research and sometimes difficult procurement of records. Ancestry.com is very helpful in this respect.
The DNA testing they offer is nice and could be fun but I haven't tried it yet.
This is well worth the price if you are really into Family Ancestry.
Might do my geneology for mothers day and so thank you for reviewing this website!
Your welcome!
I really love this website. It's so much easier to just order here and get the supplies you need for your pets in one fell swoop. Their prices are good, in fact, a bit lower than most large Pet Store chains and they have specialty products that you can't usually find at the stores.
One great thing is that the prescription medications you need for your pest are much cheaper here than if you were to buy the medicine at your local vet. You do need a pet prescription for some. Usually I will ask for the prescription from my vet and the vet sometimes lowers their prices to match 1800petmeds.
All in all, it is a fun place to shop if you are a pet owner/lover.
I went to this site because of a few good reviews here on site jabber. I'm not at all thrilled with Bid Pigs. First of all, you have to pay just to bid. I purchased one of their discounted bid packages for $30.00 which gave me 50 bids. Each bid cost me $0.60. I decided to bid on something and had to continually bid because someone had automatic bids on this item. I ended up spending over $15.00 in bids, not counting what I would have had to pay for shipping of the item, to receive a $25.00 retail item I could have purchased locally without shipping and I STILL hadn't won the bid. I calclulated the odds of me winning this item for just a bit less than retail and it just wasn't worth the stress of continual bidding.
Since I had already wasted $15.00 or more on bids and having nothing to show for it, I ended up using the "Buy Now" feature for the item. I didn't lose my $15.00 but, between what I paid for the item and its shipping cost, I ended up paying more than the item was actually selling for at my local stores. Calculating this, I paid almost $28.00 for an item that retails for $25.00. I was a few dollars in the hole instead of $15.00 in the hole and nothing to show for it.
I am not sure if this is the intention of the site owners. Also, I'm a little suspicious of the 'bidders' who are bidding so highly on things.
The purpose of a penny auction is to buy things for pennies on the dollar. It doesn't seem to be working out that way for most.
Also, there are so few auctions, maybe 3 a day. Some of the items are good but others are meh. I don't think this site will last too long.
I MUCH prefer ebay. I can bid there and if I don't win anything I don't have to pay anything. I can get a much better value over there.
I believe there is a new policy at bidpigs that states if a person bids more than the item's value plus shipping the bidder will get credit back in bids for the difference. So here is my question - What would be the benefit in sitting at the computer making penny bids, wasting time, if a person could go to the neighborhood vendor (for the gift cards being auctioned), save time and pay the same amount? People go to penny auctions to buy things for pennies on the dollar. I don't think this policy will make much of a difference to the consumer/auctionee who is expecting to win auction items at a discount. Where is the discount here? This new policy only insures that a bidder will end up spending more time at the computer to win 'items' for their face value and not much less, if at all.
Also, they only credit your 'savings' on an item at 50 cents per bid if you win an item, whether you paid more for your bids or not. In order to buy discounted bids at 50 cents per bid you have to spend $150.00 on bids! Otherwise your bids cost more money depending on the 'bid package' you decide to buy.
Also, the policy of adding 'extra' time to the auction end every time someone makes a bid is only an effort on the site owner(s) part(s) to extend auction time in order to allow people to spend more money bidding (bids can cost anywhere from 50 cents each to 67 cents a piece) on their bids so that they will purchase more bids - thus more money in the pocket of the website owner(s) and NOT beneficial to the bidders/members in the least.
The only things that I think will ever be able to be purchased at a discount at bidpigs are things that nobody really wants/needs or outdated/obsolete items.
I can't wait to use up all the bids I have paid for and leave this website. I would suggest to anyone who has joined to use their bids and then get out of there. They are not going to last much longer at this rate.
The idea of this website was a good one but the items offered as well as the quantity of items offered is very lacking. Also, the policies should have been thought out well in advance and not just made up as the website goes along.
This is a website run by amateurs and will duly show that within a short amount of time. Consumers are not ignorant and expect a decent deal at an auction site.
Sorry for the bad review and comments to the website owners but I believe it is only right to tell the truth here.
I reiterate, Bidpigs.com is a big disappointment, extremely stressful and, if you are not careful, will end up being a big rip-off for you. I just don't like being subtly scammed.
We used overstock.com two years ago for Christmas gifts. One of the gifts we ordered was sent to another state. Constantly checking on where our order went to, we finally got a response and they claimed to mail a new one out. It turned out that the second order also got mailed to a different state! Continually trying to get resolution to the situation, we just gave up. We never got our intended purchase and we never were given any type of refund.
The prices at overstock.com are not really discounted. They may receive overstock items but some things are actually more expensive than if you were to purchase at a local retailer.
Unfortunately I can't give this website a good review.
I love hulu.com. I can go to the website and watch an entire season of tv shows in a day or two for free. They have a decent inventory but it would be great if they were able to get more to choose from. Even so, you can pop over to hulu and go through their inventory and find something you want to watch, be it a movie or a favorite television show that you may have missed or would like to check out before deciding to sit in front of the tv every week.
Lots of fun for movie and tv lovers.
I've almost sold my TV because I watch Hulu so often. I even like how you can sometimes choose whether to watch several short ads or one long ad. And I love 30 Rock =)
I have ordered flowers from this site for quite awhile. I have rarely had problems with them until I ordered a standing cross for a relative's funeral. The cross was about half the size it was supposed to be and the flowers were half dead. It was a total embarrassment to say the least.
However, I complained about it and ended up receiving a full refund for this particular order. It didn't make up for the terrible mistake that was made because you don't get to do this sort of thing over again but I did get refunded.
I can't place the blame on 1800flowers, though, because the local florist should have known exactly what they were supposed to deliver for the funeral.
Every other order I have ever placed with them has turned out very positive and I've been doing this for many years.
It's nice to be able to look at pictures of what you are ordering and tailor your selection to the recipient and the occasion.
Nothing is perfect and there will always be an occasional mix-up but, approximately 95% of my orders over the years have been successful.
I really don't care that they wire orders to local florists because I enjoy the convenience of being able to see a picture of what I am ordering from my own office. I don't mind paying a bit more for the convenience.
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