Okay, Dollar Tree doesn't want you to know this but I will tell you. For many years, I have doubted the quality of Dollar Tree store brands. It turns out that I was right--for the second time.

It is good to know that Dollar Tree has been in the news lately because of their growth and revenues. Dollar Tree is doing very well. Https_//www_fool_com/investing/2020/11/24/dollar-tree-to-expand-higher-price-points-concept/ Motley Fool "Dollar Tree to Expand Higher Price Points Concept After Solid Q3 Results" and https_//www_supermarketnews_com/retail-financial/dollar-general-dollar-tree-stay-expansion-track "Dollar General, Dollar Tree stay on expansion track". Unfortunately, they are doing well at the expense of their customers.

Let me give you a little background. In November of 2019 the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) issued a warning letter to Greenbrier International, Inc., their parent company, for tainted over-the-counter (OTC) medications which were being sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores. These stores had to pull many foreign OTC medications due to the fact that they were tainted. Yes, tainted. According to the FDA, the warning letter was issued "for receiving over-the-counter (OTC) drugs produced by foreign manufacturers found to have serious violations of federal law. The warning letter outlines multiple violations of current good manufacturing practices (GMP) at contract manufacturers used to produce Dollar Tree's Assured Brand OTC drugs as well as other drug products sold at Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores." The customers who bought these medications were risking their lives but, as Dollar Tree operates, the customers were never warned. Https_//www_fda_gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-issues-warning-letter-dollar-tree-stores-receiving-potentially-unsafe-drugs "FDA issues warning letter to Dollar Tree stores for receiving potentially unsafe drugs".

Right now they are selling unusable products and not warning customers, again. They haven't pulled these products and there is no recall. I checked their recall page. They are just leaving them in their store for unsuspecting customers to buy. Other companies have recalls. Not Dollar Tree. They don't want to remove these because that is $1,875,000 that they would lose. So, they just pawn them off on unsuspecting customers. Let me explain.

I have had three children and I'm older. So, I sometimes need bladder pads. For those who don't know, they're like panty pads but for bladder leaks. Dollar Tree had some for only one dollar. So, I thought I would try them. The very first one I used leaked through. I was shocked. How could that have happened? I opened a fresh one. There was no plastic liner, just padding. Without plastic liners to stop leaks, you have a real problem.

The next time I was in Dollar Tree, I looked at the panty pads. Someone had opened one of the packs. There was one laying on top of the packages. I picked it up and looked it. It didn't have a liner either. I do like that some people are smart enough to open a package and check to find out if they are usable. I bought a third type just to examine it. No, no liner.

I contacted Dollar Tree Customer Service but I was transferred to a voicemail twice. I called back to ask to speak to a real person. A woman with a hostile voice told me that transferring me to the voicemail was all that she could do.

So, I checked how many Dollar Tree stores there are. Dollar Tree states on their about page that there are 15,000 Dollar Tree Stores. The store I was in had about 125 total packages, 25 of five items. If you multiply the number of packages of these items by 15,000 stores, you find that Dollar Tree is selling a total of 1,875,000 packages of bad merchandise. So, they have $1,875,000 worth of merchandise to get rid of. Guess what? They are getting rid of them by selling them to you without telling you that they are defective.

I have filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). I will keep shopping at Dollar Tree but I will stick to buying less costly known brands at Dollar Tree, never their brands. Dollar Tree store brands really can't be trusted. Buyer beware.

I used to love Google and swear by them. But not anymore. I have learned too much about the problems with using Google services.

My Robinhood account was hacked. I received an email notice that I had logged in to Robinhood. I had not! Luckily, I had taken the money out. The hackers got nothing. But my credit union account was also hacked. They took out thousands of dollars. They did this by using my email username and password to verify that "I" was authorizing an ACH transfer to their account. Then, they deleted the email. I had to go into my deleted emails and restore the ones that they had used to determine that had actually happened. I did verify that this occurred. So, they hacked at least three of my accounts. Luckily, I constantly work against hackers and scammers. I knew how to handle it. So, I did get my money back. But what if this was all of the money that I had in the world and I needed it to live on? What if I did not know how to handle fraudulent situations? Did Google care at all? No. As long as they are making money, they are happy. Watch "The Social Dilemma" on Netflix.

So, let me explain a few things. Google will try to refute my claims. Before they do, I want to tell you how secure my laptop is. Then I will tell you how they hacked my usernames and passwords. I have a boot partition security program to protect my boot from viruses that hackers might want to deploy. I have a ransomware protection program. I also have the usual firewall and Windows Defender. Then, I have a web defender from a reputable virus protection company as well as unhackme which I run once a day. I have a keystroke logger protection program and a few others. My wiFi is secured and I change my username and password frequently. I even disconnect from the internet when I'm not using it and turn my computer off when I am doing something else. What I am trying to say is that they could not have gotten my usernames and passwords from my laptop. They had to have come from somewhere else. That somewhere else is at Google passwords online, https://passwords.google.com/. You may not know it but Google offers a free service where they keep a backup copy of your usernames and passwords when you save them in Google Chrome. That way, if you ever lose them, you can go to passwords.google.com to find them. The problem is that, obviously, this can be hacked. Mine were. So, I suggest removing all of your passwords from passwords.google.com and from Google Chrome Browser then change all of your passwords. Never ever save them in Google Chrome. I even recommend not using the Google Chrome Browser at all. Use Avast Browser or AVG Browser. They are free and genuinely secure. Choose DuckDuckGo as your search engine. It does give you excellent search results. Do not, under any circumstances, use Epic Browser. They claim to be secure but their search results are almost all ads. If Epic is only out for the advertising dollar, they are probably not as secure as they claim. I don't know, yet, about MS Edge and Bing. Honestly, I haven't researched them yet. I will then I will write a review about them.

Now, let's move on to Google Maps. I was using Google Maps on my phone as my GPS. I didn't like my actual GPS because it took me to a wrong place ONCE. So, I thought that Google would have the latest and greatest GPS system. Oh was I wrong. First of all, I travel a lot. I go to cities that I don't know. So, I depend on a GPS to get me from point A to point Z. Sometimes I pull in somewhere for a cup of coffee or to fill up my tank. I've noticed on cloudy days that when I'm leaving wherever, Google Maps will say "go south on Main Street" or something similar. The problem is that on a cloudy day, I don't know which way is south when I am in unfamiliar territory. So, I just turn right or left. Then, if I am going in the wrong direction, Google will tell me "make a u-turn". The problem with this is that I might be in heavy traffic. I can't just make a u-turn. I have to find a place where I can turn around. Then, on a few of my trips, Google Maps would take me the long way around. I could get into details to explain this but let me just say that it would take me around a beltway when I could simply go down a city street with a much shorter distance. It also took me many miles south when I was trying to go north. It wanted me to take the four lane highway instead of the shortest route. I even tried to change my destination to a place that was due north. It still took me east for a long distance before giving me a route to the north. I went many, many miles out of my way.

Suffice it to say, that, as a long time Google user, even understanding that Google is the top search engine, I will never use Google anything again. I advise you to not use Google either.

I would never spend the high prices that the major American software companies charge for photo editing programs. I'm not a professional photographer. I do love photography as a hobby, though. While I was searching for free alternative photography software, I stumbled on Giveaway sites where you can download legal, commercial software given away by various software companies. One company that often offered this software was Franzis.

Franzis is a company in Germany. They are well known in Europe. After trying out some of their free software, I could see why. All of their software is above and beyond in its technical capabilities and their prices are amazingly low.

They offer anything that you could want for photography including HDR, raw, denoise, sharpen, focus, remove objects, black and white, color, hip and retro looks, enlarging, drawing styles, nature, retouch, presets, stock photos, mockups, and backgrounds, and more.

You can even buy Franzis bundles for a much lower price than buying each program separately. They also sell their previous versions for between $20 to $40. The older versions work great. They are the last version before the latest version. They just don't have all of the new features that the latest versions do.

They also have two giveaways on their site. You can try these for yourself to see the quality of their software. They are "PhotoBuzzer - One-Click image editing with WOW-Factor" and "HDR projects 4 Pro - The perfect engine to create awesome HDR-Images from single images and exposure series".

Whether you are a professional photographer, a person who takes your photography seriously, or you just love editing your personal photos to perfection, you need to check out this site.

When I shop, I want the best for a really low price. Quality and price are both important to me. So, when I decided that I wanted all stainless steel appliances, I started shopping around to see what there was. At Lowe's I found a Hisense 17.1-cu ft refrigerator, 32 inch width, model No. Is HBM17158SS. It is an exclusive. Right now, it is priced at $899 but I bought it for $699 in February. Keep an eye on it and the price will drop again. It is all stainless steel. It is even Energy Star Certified for a lower energy bill and it is also good for the environment.

This refrigerator is counter-depth. So, it will not stick out far from your counters and it can accommodate larger items because it has large storage areas. It has adjustable glass shelves and adjustable bins in the door. You can even adjust the divider in the crisper. It has spill-proof shelves. So easy to clean. It also has LED lighting so that you can easily see what is in your fridge. The refrigerator temperatures range between 36°F to 46°F.

The freezer is a bottom-freezer which is what I wanted. It is easy to access and it has roller bearings for easy pull-out. It will also accommodate larger items. The freezer compartment ranges from 5° to -11°F. What Hisense calls super freeze technology "rapidly lowers the freezer compartment temperature to as low as -11°F to freeze fresh food faster and maintain the temperature of the frozen food during periods of high usage, full grocery loads, or temporarily warm room temperatures." I have left mine set to -2°F which is still subzero. Most refrigerators with subzero freezers sell for many thousands of dollars.

It has air filtration with a dual evaporator cooling system to keep foods fresh and it is frost-free. It also has electronic temperature control so that it will stay at the perfect temperature that you set it too.

Since it is stainless steel, it is fingerprint-resistant and easy to clean. Just a little 409, wipe it off, dry it with a lint-free cloth and it is perfect again.

It has a reversible door so that you can open the door from whichever side you choose. It has a reversible door so that you can open the door from whichever side you choose. You do have to use the included hardware if you decide to change it from the setup side.

The noise level is 43, quiet. I never hear it.

Lowe's even delivered and set it up for free.

It comes with a 2-year warranty on parts and labor. They only thing that is excluded is physical damage.

The only downside is that it doesn't have an ice maker but I have seen many ice makers have problems. I actually prefer ice trays to ice makers.

This is my perfect refrigerator. I completely recommend the Hisense HBM17158SS.

Trying to deal with Square Trade was very difficult. I was back and forth with them many times before I could get them to let me file a claim. I had purchased a refurbished TV on Ebay. It was not under a manufacturer's warranty and the Square Trade coverage was only for one year. So, if it had a problem after one year, it would not be covered. One day, after seven months of use, it suddenly had a white line from top to bottom on the screen. I tried to file a claim but the Square Trade website claim area said that I needed to contact Philips to verify that my TV was not under the manufacturer's warranty before I could file a claim with Square Trade. Since Square Trade had given me a protection plan until November 5,2020, they were aware that it was not covered by a manufacturer's warranty. If there had been a manufacturer's warranty that covered one year, their protection plan should have been from November 5,2020 until November 5,2021. I did verify with Philips anyway. After I had done so, I went back to Square Trade and found the same statement in my claim area. So, I chatted at Square Trade. I was told that I needed to upload my receipt. I did so. Then I saw the same message again a few days later. I chatted for a second time. I was told that my receipt had not been uploaded. I uploaded again with the chat agent online with me then told him that I had made screen shots of the upload. He even stated that it would be difficult to do the upload. I told him that I am a geek and I did it very quickly. I wonder what would have happened if someone who is not as adept at computers had tried to do so. Then he told me that I would receive an email in two days. After over a week, I had still not heard from Square Trade. At that time, I chatted for the third time and was told that I would need to call a Square Trade claim specialist. The Square Trade claim specialist asked if the damage was accidental which was not covered. I said "No, the TV was not moved at all from the time I purchased it and placed it on my entertainment center." Then I was passed to a TV technician. At this point, I told him that I was recording the conversation. First, he told me that I could not do that. I told him that I could because Square Trade stated that they could record the conversation. He put me on hold for several minutes then came back to speak with me. He, again, asked me if the TV had been moved at all. I took this to be an attempt to negate my service plan by trying to consider the problem accidental damage. I told him that I had not moved it at all since placing it on my entertainment center. He had me do several tests with the TV. Then he asked me to upload various pictures of the problem with the TV along with the model and serial number. Over a week later, I had still not heard from Square Trade again. I called the Square Trade claim specialist number again and told them so. They had me speak with another TV technician. Finally, I reached a reputable person at Square Trade. He looked at the record of my prior conversation and stated that he could see that I had already tested the TV with a Square Trade TV technician. Then he told me that the TV could not be repaired because the parts would cost more than the value of the TV and that a check would be mailed out for about $25 less than I paid for the TV. He based the payment on what the TV would be worth right now, not what I had paid for it. Square Trade does state this when you purchase a protection plant. I did receive my check a few days later. I wish that a better company would offer service plans. Square Trade is pretty much a scam even though I like other Allstate insurance. I have it for my home and car. Check my screen shots as proof.

My tire ran over a screw. I didn't want to call roadside assistance to put my donut on because it was the third tire in a little over a month. So, I bought a can of Fix a Flat. I have used Fix a Flat for over 20 years. It always works. I asked my son to remove the screw before I used the Fix a Flat. He said "It won't work". "All of the air will leak out of the tire". But, as usual, it did. It put enough pressure in the tire for me to drive to a convenience store to finish adding air with their air compressor.

When I got my car to the tire repair shop, the repair man took the tire off the car and began to check it. After about fifteen minutes, he came to me to tell me that it was fine. In fact, he acted as if I was crazy. He had placed the tire in water to look for air bubbles (the air coming out of the tire) and didn't see any. He had put soap on it to look for air leaks. He said that he had even put 50 psi pressure in the tire that is supposed to have 32 psi and it didn't blow. I told him that I knew that there was a puncture. I turned the tire around and around, looking for the puncture but I couldn't see it either while it was wet. He put the tire back on my car and parked it outside. A few minutes later, I could see the puncture because the tire was dry. At that point, I left. I have been riding on it for about a month now. It has not lost any pressure.

Tire repair shops hate Fix a Flat because it leaves some of the Fix a Flat goo inside the tire. It is messy for them, but it works. I need my tire to be inflated even if it is hard on the tire people. I always warn them that I used Fix a Flat before they do a repair. One mechanic told me to try another type of tire repair in a can. I won't because I won't mess with a good thing. I know that Fix a Flat will work. It won't fix a gaping hole but it will fix a good size puncture if you run over something. You can trust Fix a Flat. You can see that I really had a screw hole in my tire in the images. I have proof. And it is so easy to use. You just unscrew your valve stem cap, screw the Fix a Flat tube onto your valve, fill your tire, then drive it for a few miles so that it can coat the inside of your tire. After that, fill it to the proper pressure and you will be good to go.

I clean my face with facial cleansing wipes on hot days so that I don't have to take an extra shower. I had run out of facial wipes. So, I started looking for more. I found the perfect wipes at, of all places, Dollar Tree. When I buy anything, I look for price but I really look for quality. I was amazed to see the quality of Global Beauty facial wipes. The ingredients were exceptional. I know from past experience that many expensive, major brands use ingredients that are not good for our skin or hair. All of the ingredients in Global Beauty facial wipes are safe and effective. For instance, the Cocoa Butter cleansing wipes have water as the first ingredient (they have to be wet). Then, glycerin, cocoa seed butter, argan oil. It is important to note that the higher an ingredient is listed, the more of the substance it contains. So, the prime ingredients are glycerin, cocoa seed butter, and argan oil. Then glyceryl stearate (a glycerin and stearic acid compound) which has a has a rating of 0 by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) database which means it is absolutely safe. These wipes also have many vitamins which are good for our skin. And they are PH balanced, hypo-allergenic, not tested on animals, and can be used for all skin types. There are even many types of wipes, aloe vera, retinol, collagen and more.

Global Beauty facial wipes are amazing. They should cost much more. Go away Estee Lauder. There are even 30 per package, more than many of the others.

Check out their website. It is a few more dollars to buy their products at their website but not much and they have 60 or more facial wipes instead of the 30 wipes along with many high quality beauty care products.

UPDATE: I received a phone call from a no caller ID number which turned out to be a Training Regional Manager from Mavis. He told me that he had seen the review and so was contacting me. When I mentioned the email from Mavis Customer Service, he told me that his Regional Manager had not received it. He said that he will be checking with the Regional Manager about the situation. I will update here whenever anything progresses--if it does.

I had spongy brakes. So, I went to Mavis Discount Tire. For many years, they had been honest and had made many repairs for me. Not true today.

I called the day before and asked for an appointment. The man I spoke to told me that he made a ten o'clock appointment for me. When I arrived, I saw that the shop was very busy. All bays were filled and the parking lot was also full. I told the man at the counter my name and that I had a ten o'clock appointment. He looked at his computer then told me that the other man had not written it down. I told him that I would like to come back later because it was obviously busy. He told me that it would be busier later. I wondered how that was possible.

After three hours, my car was finally in the bay with the wheels removed. The man at the counter went into the bay area, looked at my brakes then came back to me to tell me that my brake pads were fine and would not need to be replaced. I asked if I could go into the bay area. He allowed me to do so. I didn't bother to look at anything except the rotors because he had told me that the pads were fine and that the caliper needed to be replaced. I believed him. I should not have and I should have taken pictures. My rotors were fine. They had a little rust around the edges but there was no scoring of the rotors at all. They were otherwise like new. I knew from past experience that they did not need to be replaced.

After another hour, the counter man said that my car was finished. At this point, I was so tired of waiting that I just paid the bill without even looking at it. I should have looked over the bill and questioned many of the charges but I just wanted to leave there. Later, I received an email with the bill. I saw that the brake pads that the counter man had said did not need to be replaced had been replaced. I also saw that the rotors which I knew did not need to be replaced had been replaced as well.

Since I knew that Mavis employees were dishonest, I contacted Mavis customer support. They sent me an email stating that the Regional District Manager would get back to me about the issue. It has now been almost two weeks and he never got back to me. Maybe that is because I told them that I knew that they operated on commmission. I had surmised this by the fact that they trumped up the bill.

So, I made an appointment with my local, trusted mechanic. When I spoke with him, he asked me "Why would you take your car there?" I explained that it took three to four days to get into have him look at my car. Then he told me "They operate on commission. You should never take your car there." He explained that he was honest and would never replace something that didn't need to be replaced. See my Firestone blog reasons for spongy brakes image. Rotors and brake pads don't cause spongy brakes. If the calipers were bad, my car would have pulled to one side and squealed when braking. Now I can report them to my state repair shop licensing agency to prove that they are fraudulent.

My words of advice: Number one--don't take your car Mavis. Number two: If you are in a real hurry and need to do so, be patient, don't just pay for unneeded repairs like I did. Number three: Bring someone who knows cars and have them look at the "needed" repair before you say yes. Never let them go to town on your car. They will replace everything that they can just to increase your bill. Even tell them that you would like to take pictures before the repair is done. In this way, they will know that you have evidence. My evidence is the bill, the emails, and the Firestone blog image. Number four--when they complete fraudulent repairs, report them to your state repair shop licensing agency.

After someone asked about the site, I checked it. It does not contain job listings. It is a site dedicated to affiliate links. That is, the site recommends sites with links. When someone clicks on the link, this site receives money. All of the links lead to businesses asking you to pay money to earn money. A legitimate job site does not use affiliate links. It lists jobs. I know what affiliate links are because I have had my own websites in the past and used affiliate links. You can tell that this is what is happening when you click on a link and see "subid2=779178766" or similar on the search bar. This is how topjobsreviewed.com is getting paid. The reviews are phony and I would doubt that they were seen on MSNBC, ABC, USA Today or any of the other sites they show. If they were, it was to advertise their site. Stay away from topjobsreviewed.com. This smells like a scam.

I have spent a year searching for a remote job due to illness. Many sites do not offer jobs for everyone. If you don't have a bachelor's degree and several years of experience, you will not find a job. Many of these sites charge for the privilege of not finding a job. Some sites just don't offer very much. Also, there are many scam site on the internet. I have signed up for a few only to find out that they just wanted my email address so that they could attempt spam me or scam me. You have to be very careful which websites you use to seek employment.

Today I had a unique experience. Theworkathomewoman.com sent me an email listing including "The Best Work-From-Home Jobs for 2020". It had jobs that I can do as well as resources to help me and even jobs for beginners. No degree required. And her job postings are free.

Theworkathomewoman.com offers legitimate work-from-home opportunities. She has been featured on Forbes, CNN, Woman's Day, Mashable and many more. You can sign up for her emails very easily. Just click her "Get it here" link. She will send you a "free 36-page Scam Prevention Planner to research companies, track your applications, and steer clear of work-from-home scams." You will also be signed up for her emails filled with job information.

Her free resources are amazing. Her articles will assist you with your job search, resume, training and qualifications and all for free.

Not only does she offer jobs but "Start a Business", "Start a Blog", and "Make Extra Money" articles.

Theworkathomewoman.com is extensive. It is filled with job ideas, prospective employers, and, most importantly, remote jobs that many people will qualify for.

And, gentlemen, it is not just for the ladies. You can come here too. It's really great information.

She does state "This post may contain paid and/or affiliate links. Please refer to our disclosure policy for further information." However, she also states "This page includes affiliate links. Please be aware that we only promote advertising from companies that we feel we can legitimately recommend to our readers." You can also choose to not have your information sold.

I highly recommend her website.

I was searching for a listing of search engines. I found that Alexa had "The top 500 sites on the web" and thought that it would be good because Alexa use to list search engines rankings before Amazon bought it. As I went through the listings on Alexa and checked each search engine, I found that at least half of the listed search engines were defunct, no longer search engines, or were companies selling products. Others were now malicious sites that have taken over many of the domain names. I had to be really careful to not infect my computer while checking the urls. The top sites are still in existence but what are their true ranks?

There is no way to contact Alexa support unless you sign up for a trial membership. So, you can't even question their data. A membership starts at $149 a month. Certified Alexa Rank starts at $19.99 for 10 million page views per month. What are they certifying? What are people really getting for that amount? The information is old. How can site owners be given rankings if Alexa doesn't even know what it is ranking?

Alexa is a scam. I would advise website owners to think twice before signing up Alexa.

I haven't bought anything at BrandsMart USA but I will! I was looking for a window air conditioning unit. They had the best price online for what I wanted. The only problem that I had was that they wanted to charge a lot for shipping. I wrote BrandsMart USA customer service and told them that I didn't buy my AC there because of the shipping charges. Then I bought one locally. I should have waited an hour because they IMMEDIATELY wrote me back saying that I should not be charge when ordering over $100. I know that this is true because I checked them out on the Better Business Bureau website. They are accredited by the BBB and they have an A+ rating. If you need appliances of any type, big or small, check them out. I'm going to start checking them first when I need any type of appliance.

Last year I bought a Toshiba RAC-PD1011CRU 10,000 Cooling Capacity (BTU) Portable Air Conditioner at a great price. It is chilling my living room again this year. This AC rolls from room to room easily and it is not evaporative. So, I don't need to fill it with water all of the time as I would with many portable ACs. It has many settings and even comes with a remote control. It is also a dehumidifier. It's two in one!

I thought that I would just roll it around to different rooms but I decided to buy a window AC for my bedroom this year. So, I bought a Toshiba RAC-WK0512CMRU window AC. It, too, blasted out cold air within only a minute of turning it on.

I like the Toshiba designs. That is one thing that I look for when buying anything. Some companies have not changed their designs in decades. I'm sorry but they are outdated and ugly. Also, I trust Toshiba. They are a reputable company. I don't know some of the other companies that I saw and I wouldn't buy anything made by a company that I don't know to be reputable.

I didn't want to spend a lot, either, as I would have done with most of the major name brand companies. Toshiba does have the best prices for whatever BTUs you want. I always check for the best product at the best price from a reputable company. I like being a smart shopper.

Besides these things, Toshiba ACs come with everything you need for installation. You don't need to try to find the right installation kit.

So, I completely endorse Toshiba air conditioners.

In fact, the only problem I had was that the window unit was quite heavy. My daughter told me so when she installed it. She told me that her ACs were lighter. I don't know which brand she has. I researched to find out that the lighter an AC is, the less area it can cool. The weight is due to the amount of copper used in the AC unit. The more, the better.

So, while you are considering air conditioning units, definitely keep Toshiba in mind.

And if you ever have an issue, you can easily get in touch with Toshiba at https://www.toshiba-lifestyle.com/us/. This includes their US 800 number and Technical Support Outside the US among other things.

I shop at both Lowe's and Home Depot. I trust both stores to carry many items that I want at good prices. I like them both for different reasons at different times.

They are both very similar but there are differences. I always look up items online before going to either store. One will sell something that I want for much less than the other. It doesn't matter if it is a low dollar item or a high value item. They will carry very similar products but the prices for those products will vary a lot between the two stores. Then, they vary slightly with what they offer. One might have something in the quantity that I want while the other will not. One might have a color or design that I prefer.

Lowe's had landscape fabric pins for less than at Home Depot. Home Depot had vinyl sheeting flooring for less than Lowe's. With the flooring comparison, Lowe's does not carry TrafficMaster. I checked reviews online and TrafficMaster is quite similar to Congoleum which Lowe's does carry.

I did have a problem with my local Home Depot store when I purchased my range. They had the best price but it was a floor model. Since it was a floor model, they were going to charge me for delivery and for installation. I found out that I could order it online, not a floor model, for the same price and have it delivered and setup for free. I didn't try to buy a floor model appliance at Lowe's. They had the best price for the type of refrigerator that I wanted and they delivered for free.

I really like both stores but I think that you need to check online before shopping at either store.

After spending hours downloading free software from Ashampoo, I thought that I should do Ashampoo a favor and tell people how great they are.

I have used Ashampoo software for years. They have always given away free programs and I don't buy much software. I have used their free Winoptimizers for several years with no problems. There are a lot of excellent freeware and open source software programs online. So, why buy commercial? Of course, you have to really search to find the good ones. Then they usually don't have all of the features of commercial software. A few do. Some are a little buggy but they do have the features you want and they are free. I should tell you that I have worked with software for almost twenty years. Yep, I'm an old geek.

Ashampoo offers lots of free high quality commercial software along with tons of specials on the software that they do sell.

After my huge number of downloads, I felt obliged to actually purchase something. They did have something that I needed at an excellent price. I'm not sure how I would have found that free. I paid $20 for PhotoZoom. Now, I can finally resize images without distortion or image loss. It's worth it.

They offer so many products--multimedia including audio or video or photography, system utilities, office, cad, security, burning and many more. When you view the products, you can choose the category that you want or view all of them. Under Windows 10, I found 24 free full version programs available to download. They also have software for older Windows versions as well as android, ios and MacOS. They even offer software for I don't know how many languages if you don't prefer English. They have trials if you want to try out the software that they sell before you buy it. They also have demos. Their deals page has 47 discounted programs.

Their customer service is even excellent. I had a question. When I submitted my question, the page stated that we will get back to you within half an hour and they did. How's that for service? Their company has been in business for 21 years. They aren't going to be gone when you need to ask a support question.

The only downside I could see was that they did not offer a manual. There is one built into the software but who wants to read it anyway. I would only go there if I had a problem. However, while searching for the manual, I found out that they have a YouTube channel with so many videos that I couldn't even count them all. They have at least one for each program. They also have FAQs as well as tips and tricks for their softwares on their site.

So, to me, Ashampoo is an excellent company, one you need to check out if you love software as much as I do.

No, I don't work for Amika but it might sound that way after I'm done telling you how much I love them. I'm a buyer, not a seller. I didn't even know that Amika existed until my daughter asked me to buy some things for her. They didn't cost too much and she's my daughter. So, I did.

There was a problem with the first shipment. It was the dead of winter and the items arrived in a wet box. They had exploded because they had frozen. I called Amika. They were very nice and they immediately sent out new ones, no questions asked. I was very impressed. I'm used to dealing with poor customer service, poor quality, high prices, even downright fraud. Read my other reviews. Amika was an honest to goodness good company.

After this, I went back to their website to see if they had anything that I wanted. Of course they did. I'm big on using good hair care products--no laureth sulfate, no parabens, no harsh chemicals. I would like to keep my hair, not have it fall out because of harsh chemicals. Just read the back of a bottle of most hair care products to see what I'm talking about. They advertise the great things they put in their products but they don't tell you about all of the bad ingredients that they also add. I was shocked at what I saw on the back of one bottle of a major brand that states all of the great ingredients they put in their products. So many bad things in it. Amika states on their about page "We only make products that make us proud. Highly effective haircare that have always been cruelty-free, formulated without sulfates, parabens, aluminum starch and over 1,300 questionable ingredients banned by the European Union."

On top of that, Amika is fun. They have a beautiful, fun website and amazingly artistic designs on their products. Their products are high quality at reasonable prices.

They even have a wonderful page of information on diverted products, products that are not authorized by Amika to sell. It explains why it would be bad to find their products at a discount site.

The only thing bad I can say about them is that I'm not in love with their chatbot. I wanted to ask about a hairdryer but it couldn't help me and you can only call them 9 to 5 Monday to Friday. You can email them. If you email them on the weekend, I'm sure that they get back to you by Monday. As I said before, they are quick to respond.

So, Amika is the best place I know of to shop for hair care products.

I recieved an email from PCH telling me that I could enter the $10,000 a week for life sweepstakes. So, of course, I clicked on the link. It took me to $5,000 a week for life. I should tell you that I attempted to enter on the same day I received the email. I check my email many times a day. I contacted PCH customer support to ask what was wrong. Oh, the answers they gave me!

First, they told me a lot of frivalous information about how to enter PCH contests. I know how to enter PCH contests. I've been entering for many years, even when they only had paper entries. I receive emails everyday and enter everyday. At the bottom of that email they told me "it is not win $10,0000 a week for life it is win $10,000 instantly and $5000 a week for life".

Naturally, my next email included an attachment to show them that, yes indeed, it was for $10,000 a week for life, not a one time $10,000 opportunity. Then they sent me a link which turned out to be how to clear my cookies. Then, after I kept asking them, they sent me an email asking me whether I had cleared my cookies.

At this point, I was angry. I emailed them back that I cleared my cookies on three browser, restarted my computer then tried to click the link in my email on all three browsers. I also told them that I had Googled and found the PCH blog. It, too, contained a link to the $10,000 a week for life sweepstakes. The blog link also took me to $5,000 a week for life. I also told them that I am a website developer, that is the truth, and explained how links work. I asked for a direct link to the $10,000 a week for life sweepstakes. Of course, they never gave me one. There isn't one. Below that I told them that I would write bad reviews on major websites if they did not provide one.

At this point, they replied that they would like me to call them. I replied that, obviously, that would give me no proof.

So, if you would like to enter a PCH sweepstakes, don't believe that you can ever enter the $10,000 a week for life sweepstakes. That is bogus. PCH is fraudulent. Do they even have winners of other sweepstakes and contests? They used to. I won $200 about 20 years ago. Now, I'm not sure.

Porkbun has excellent domain name prices, free WHOIS privacy, and free SSL certificates. You won't find that at most of the big name registrars. You can try their hosting for free and if you decide to keep it, it's only $24.00 per year. Try finding that elsewhere. They also offer almost any domain name extension you might want.

And they don't jack the price up high for renewals like most domain name registrars. Above all, they don't play games like ionos who adds things you didn't request. They are, hands down, the best company to buy a domain name from. I have used them for many years for many domain names without ever having a problem. They even offer great phone support if you have a question. And they are also just plain fun.

I absolutely recommend Porkbun!

I'm really disappointed with Price Chopper in Watertown, NY. I shop there and I have my prescriptions sent there. Today I needed an important prescription but I was too sick to drive to get it. I checked online and found that they would deliver for $5. So, I called the pharmacy. They told me that Watertown Price Chopper doesn't do this and that I could have it mailed out but that would not happen until next Tuesday, 4 days from now. I finally called a cab and had it delivered. Now I will not only start using a pharmacy that will deliver but I will be checking everything when I shop at Price Chopper. I don't trust them anymore.

I post reviews all of the time except at ConsumerAffair.com. I used to but they never posted my reviews and I wondered why not?

After a little research I found out why not. They have two sides to their story. On the one hand, they tell consumers that they are there for "For life's important purchases" as if they are informing consumers about companies that they might be checking. And, yes, they do post reviews--good and bad. One would presume that they will give consumers valuable information so that they know which companies to patronize and which to stay away from but...

There is much more to the story. It works like this. They allow the companies who pay them to "resolve" the issues that they have with the consumers who have written the reviews. They also post affiliate links. Affiliate links are links to companies to which the posters are paid to send consumers via the links. In other words, a company wants to draw people to their websites. So, they pay other companies, like ConsumerAffairs, to post links which will lead shoppers to their sites. I realized this when I tried to look for Home Depot. There was no search function. I could not search for Home Depot and many of the "accredited companies" had "learn more" links that gave information then used another link to ask for my contact information to assist the companies in question to get in touch with me. That's sales, not honest reviews.

There's more. Some of the unaccredited companies only have reviews. Other companies have "Author Reviews". That is, the contributing editor of the section, I chose "Find the Best Bathroom Remodeling Contractors", touts the features and benefits of the company in question. So, I presume they have also paid ConsumerAffairs. After all, the author reviews don't give pros and cons, only pros. I also presume that the companies that are not written about did not pay. Those are the honest reviews--yes, they do have a few. They allow you to look at ratings from 5 stars to 1 star. That's good. There is some use for ConsumerAffairs.

At the bottom left of the page is a button/link that says "Want your company to be on this guide?" So, of course, I clicked on the button. Here I was brought to the page for companies. It stated "Millions of shoppers use ConsumerAffairs.com each month to research purchases and leave reviews. Our platform provides you with a complete solution to engaging with and managing these reviews, all while getting you high-quality prospects." So, they stated that they are slanting the reviews and giving sales leads to companies. They don't currently give details on the page. They have a contact form to fill out but they did use to give details. When they did, I screenshot them. Yes, I've been here before. Previously, they stated "ConsumerAffairs for brands is your complete solution for online reputation management". If you would like to see this for yourself, use the wayback machine. Go to December 2019. They went into great detail about how they help businesses.

Also, on the homepage you can click the "How it Works" button to see that they help businesses instead of consumers.

So, some of their reviews are genuine but most are paid advertisements. I don't write reviews there anymore. I write reviews here and on Trustpilot among others.