Jaqi M.

One of our babies-in-fur (dogs) began throwing up on the evening of the 10th of January and continued to do so at various intervals through the night. At around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning I joined another site (similar to Pawp), wherein you could chat with a vet online (which I will also review, shortly). The vet on that site was nice, but of course, she ended with "take her to the vet in the morning." I actually expected that, as no clinic is yet set up (I believe) which can offer FULL veterinary care nor can they prescribe medications, etc. I was just desperate, and needed some advice and peace of mind until I could get our baby to our vet.

UNFORTUNATELY, the next morning we were advised by our regular vet, who happens to be 46 miles from us, that they were also booked for the following three days and were then closed the next. (They are very popular due to their prices and experience, and due to the pandemic, they are now going solely by appointments). I then began phoning around and made an appointment with a vet I had never seen, who was the only one open with appointments available. He was TERRIBLE. Close to $1,000.00 and a MYRIAD of tests later, he said he "wasn't sure what was going on" and that we would have to wait for the results of a fecal exam despite me having asked if they tested in-house before booking the appointment.

There is definitely much more to it, but would be here all day so long story short, we were basically sent home to wait for the fecal exam test results. Well, after two or three days of my girl not improving, desperate, at the end of my wits and having devoured everything I could across the internet, I joined Pawp. There was originally an issue connecting to the video chat from my laptop (my settings I believe, and not an issue on their part) but I connected quickly on my phone with their phone app.

In one word, based on my interaction with both "Julie B" (over text chat) and with "Danielle O" (over video chat), Pawp is AMAZING!

While both Julie B. And Danielle O. Were great, I simply cannot say ENOUGH good things about Danielle O., who I video-chatted with. She is a person who exudes... the type of person I WANT to be. She was kind, considerate of what my pet and I were going through, she was knowledgeable, informative, caring, respectful... I could go on, but I am about to cry. In fact, the vet with whom I visited just two or three days before, could honestly learn SO much from the lovely people I "met" "at" Pawp and in regard to how to deal with both a pet and pet parent, in crisis.

In closing, I know, (at least I hope), there are those who love their pets as much as I do. To them, and everyone, really, who may need a little more direction regarding their pet's health than what a Google search may provide or to those who need the comfort of an experienced voice to help with a pet in need, I would recommend Pawp in a heartbeat! Pawp, through its licensed vets & nurses, is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which I found useful since most of my video calls and chats to them and to the other site I will review shortly, were mostly mid-morning (1:00 - 4:00 a.m.), PLUS there is no limit to the number of times you can contact them AND your membership includes up to SIX pets, not just for health issues but for anything dog (pet?) related.

Lastly, I want to stress that this review is a real account of my experience with Pawp, and while, again, I do not believe that any of these sites may currently prescribe medications (especially in the state where we reside), I cannot emphasize ENOUGH just how helpful they were to me. My furry-baby-girl was in acute need of help, and they HELPED. I was offered intelligent ideas from experienced people and was talked out of near helplessness. I am SO happy and grateful to them.

I am updating my previous review in which I originally harped on MediaMonkey for my inability to remove the Cast option and for the inability to register a new account on its forum. It is difficult, however, to - in good conscience - leave a low rating or bad review despite its minor flaws, BECAUSE it REALLY is THAT GOOD.

Of ALL the video libraries and players I have tried, MediaMonkey does MORE - and does it better.

While it is not perfect, 1. There is no other player or library organizer that comes close to its capabilities for both PLAYING and ORGANIZING music and video regardless of whether you have 20 files or 20,000 files; 2. There's a reason it is the most popular option; 3. Once you try it, it is doubtful anything else will do.

It is sleek; streamlined; (mostly) easy-to-use; highly customizable in regard to individual needs and uses; appropriately customizable in terms of layout options; somewhat customizable in appearance/colors; excellent at handling almost every audio and video file format you can throw at it. It can find and DOWNLOAD files from your local device, a network device, from a disk and even the internet... and YES, there's MORE:

It can sync your audio, video, podcast and audiobook files to and from your Android or iPhone, VIRTUALLY** eliminating the need for that old, outdated, bloated, ridiculous iTunes!

**Note that I said "virtually". Unfortunately, MediaMonkey does not have the capability to store or manage photos. If it did, MediaMonkey would undeniably make BANK! $$$ (A program named iMazing, which I will also review, is leagues better than iTunes, but costs ~$49.99/year. If MediaMonkey got in the 'photo-syncing-game' without raising its price for MediaMonkey Gold edition, EVERYONE would drop iTunes and other such software like a hot potato. Speaking of prices, MediaMonkey standard is FREE and does practically all a basic user needs it to. MediaMonkey Gold is their paid version, and those who know me from my other reviews will know I am pretty frugal and would not say this unless I mean it: it is WORTH what it costs (currently $39 lifetime license I THINK).

Also note please, that I am in no way associated with MediaMonkey except that I have been a user for over EIGHT years.

In closing, as they say that a picture speaks louder than words, I am including images of my MediaMonkey Library. It's beautiful, isn't it?

Hotels.com has been a go-to on a few occasions simply because in doing a general search, they happened to offer the lowest rate for where we wanted to stay. This weekend, however, we had made a non-refundable reservation through them and thought we'd lose the full cost of the room, being that I felt under the weather and chose not to travel. Without much hope of receiving our money back, my husband contacted hotels.com and asked if we could move the date of the reservation. The agent not only said she would do so, but offered us the choice of canceling or having the change-fee of $89.00 waived. THIS is how every company should operate, and in doing so, they've earned our business each and every time we travel going forward.

Ever since my husband and I had a couple of really, REALLY bad experiences with LG a few years back, we began turning our backs on LG and started adding to our (then) small Samsung collection of goods. An Edge, a couple of Galaxy phones, a microwave, a refrigerator, a washer and dryer set, then a couple of years back, a 58" UN58NU6080 TV, and just a few months back, an 82" UN82RU8000 - which may very well be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen ;).

SO, yesterday we decided to install a Sony home theater system I inherited as a hand-me-down from a friend, on the Samsung UN82RU. While we were able to get the sound to work on the channels and apps associated with the Sony blu-ray player, we could not hear anything from Live TV, SamsungPlusTV (or its channels), from our cable Flex box, or any other channel not on the Sony app. As such, at our wits end, I attempted to phone Sony, and reached a message that they were not taking calls during the pandemic, and to please try them through other means or look for answers on their forums. I then tried Sony Live Chat, and they were closed for the day... I then CALLED Samsung.

Now, there is a reason I capitalized the word: "CALLED".

In today's 'world', where it is almost impossible to actually reach companies and/or their live agents... Samsung connected me to someone in less than FOUR minutes. What's more, they helped troubleshoot our issue and rule out that it was a Samsung problem, helped tweak the TWO TVs, and answered some minor questions we'd always been dying to ask about THEIR features, etc. They were great. BUT, that's not the reason for my review!

In short, (TL; dr version), the reason for my review, is that after the call, it DAWNED on me, that in all these years of surrounding ourselves with Samsung products, not once, not EVER, have we had to deal with Samsung because not ONCE, NOT EVER has a Samsung product EVER failed us or stopped working on us.

Not EVER. In years.

In today's world, that is almost unheard of - and it really shouldn't be.

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EDIT:
WOW! I posted this review without having seen their score on here or having read other people's reviews. I am confused/baffled and dumbfounded! My reviews are always 100% honest, and to realize others have so many problems with Samsung is just... inconceivable. I am pretty unfamiliar with Sony (until now), and absolutely detest LG due to some failing equipment we had from them in the past and their utter lack of customer service on high-priced items. To us, Samsung is King, and I'm surprised and sorry that others have had bad experiences with them. :(

About masks: "Oh no, it's just that they're terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future." - Dread Pirate Roberts - The Princess Bride.

Much like in using masks nowadays, the care one must take with our online presence grows every day. As such, my husband had talked about beginning to use a VPN Provider. One night, while surfing, I saw an ad for Zenmate and a special they were running, so I signed us up. It was an excellent experience with an excellent company, and I would recommend them. Connections were fast and the browsing was not affected in the slightest except on one website. In fact, just the thought of having an extra layer of protection made surfing better and the fact that this company provided a 'masking' service as seamlessly as it did, was great.

We are no longer with them, as an IT guy where my husband works recommended we try another company, but we now pay FOUR times as much. If you are looking for a simple, straightforward, inexpensive but good VPN, I recommend you give Zenmate a try.

I live a low-carb lifestyle for the most part, which includes little to no sweeteners in drinks. When I first began to eat this way a couple of years ago, giving up orange juice and a can of diet coke a day, were the most difficult things for me to do while my body adjusted. As I also hated drinking plain water, my options were pretty limited for a long time. Almost a year back, however, I discovered LaCroix Sparkling Water, and I can tell you that my family is obsessed with it. While it comes in a variety of essences (note that I did not say flavors), we LOVE the Coconut one - and I don't normally like coconut anything. It is particularly good when it is ice cold. The thing is, that it is NOT sweet. It contains no calories or sweeteners. Think of a Perrier, with more than a hint of coconut. Just delicious!

My family and I have been with almost every single carrier. That is TRUTH. In fact, in thinking back, I cannot think of one we have not been with within the past few years.

During that time, we have found that the top carriers (Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, et. Al.) SOMETIMES do put a bit more effort into customer service (mostly, not); however, companies with this well-known branding footprint are normally on the high-dollar side. Additionally, not only are they on the high-dollar end of the spectrum, they have hidden fees, ever-changing fees, fine print, and worse than all that, they have: up-selling ad-nauseum. On Sprint they automatically sign you up for a phone protection plan, which is optional, but you have to specifically opt out from it. When you do try to opt out, however, they switch you to a salesperson who is fantastic at what they do. You would have thought the one I got was my best friend who thought I loved taking pictures and tried to convince me how much I needed this protection at "only" $8.00 more a month. Lol. Well, if you are like me, and like to find the best service possible, at the lowest price possible, these are not for you.

On the other hand, we have the low-cost carriers and in this group I am also including the 'government assistance' carriers. They're all pretty much terrible. Again, you get what you pay for.

Enter GenMobile, who I believe is the new kid on the block. Their customer service (at least for now) is TOP-NOTCH. It is EXCELLENT. Bravo, GenMobile, and were I rating just this, it would be a five star review. Their prices are also really, really hard to beat. With plans starting at $5 a month for unlimited text (text only); $10 for unlimited talk and text; $15 for Talk, text, & data; and so on, they are among, if not the, lowest cost service providers I have found. Still, a five-star review would be warranted. Now, let me explain why I gave them a 4.

We recently ported two numbers to GenMobile just to keep the numbers and to test their services before we move our current main numbers from Walmart Mobile Family Plan to them. Since it was only meant to hold these numbers until we can play musical phones with our actual phones, we chose the lowest-cost $5 text-only plan. The porting was easy and fast, I did not need to wait for a sim card (this was based on the phones I used to port to though, and has no bearing on GenMobile) and they work as expected. The problem I encountered is SPAM!

Now, I do not know if the spam was a carry-through from my old numbers which were about to expire on my old carrier, or if GenMobile, to help offset the cost of their low cost service "sells" the numbers out to spammers. If the latter, it is a big deterrent, and a personal pet peeve of mine.

All-in-all, I DO recommend this company to those needing low cost cell phone service and plan to move one of our first main numbers to them this coming week.

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Update: MOST ALL of my family's phones are now on this Network. They have EARNED our business. I'll come and update with details, but trust me. EXCELLENT SERVICE, plans, free minutes and data, plus they keep your account active and provide you free text messaging for fifteen days if you forget to pay instead of disconnecting AND I was able to get a really old phone number back. Just amazing company. (Please don't change, GenMobile)!

Before I get into my review, I need to provide a little background on myself. I HATE WATER. Like, REALLY hated it throughout my entire life. There. I said it.

For as long as I can remember, drinking plain water has been a struggle. I just never enjoyed the taste (or lack thereof), consistency (or lack thereof), or even the thought of drinking water. Knowing that good hydration is important, however, I'd try and FORCE myself to drink as much as 1/2 a gallon a day, but mostly could only reasonably down a couple of 8 oz. Glasses. Nowhere near what I needed. My water-drinking-difficulties even changed the way I drink anything - period. Since I literally forced myself to drink water, I'd count every sip I took of water, every swallow, gulp, 1... 2... 3... 4... and so on and so on. So much so, in fact, and I guess for such a while, that I inadvertently developed the (bad) habit of 'counting down' pretty much anything I now drink. Weird, I know; but true. I felt that I had to share that so that you could get an idea of how very much I hated water. A few years back, I started drinking sparkling water which is really very good when cold. That helped my water intake somewhat, but buying ENOUGH to meet what my water intake should be, plus the fact that not all sparkling waters are created equal, and there was still a gap in my life for Mr. "Right Water".:)

Then, (queue harps), I found LifeWtr at WalMart. :) The bottles were somewhat eye-catching, and a pack of six was on sale, so I bought one.

WOW.

I cannot stress enough how different this water is. It just TASTES like what pure crystal water SHOULD taste like: PURE and delicious, while not really "tasting" like anything! I know that sounds like a lot of babble, and if I had to sum it up in one word, it would be: "GREAT". I wanted to use "delicious", but I don't want to give the impression that it actually tastes like anything other than really good water.

I LOVE it.

With as much of it as my family is now drinking, the price does frighten me just a teensie bit because I don't want to have to pay as much as I am paying for it every week, but my hubby and I agree that it is really good, so, for the time being, I am so very happy at having found it - to me, it is a god-send.

To begin: I am a firm believer that a pet owner, should be able to purchase flea and tick, as well as heartworm PREVENTATIVES for their pets WITHOUT the need of a prescription! The ONLY reason that an Rx is required, is of course, for the vets to make money. While that is fine and well, some people just don't have the money and there is NO reason in the world for the PET to suffer because of it. Until pets are seen as more than property, there is no reason to have to go to the vet for a piece of paper for something pets NEED consistently.

That said:
1. The first time I ordered from here, there was an error in processing the online order. I then called them and reached a LIVE person. This was awesome. They were very helpful and although we could not get the card problem corrected and I had to call my credit card company before I placed the order, the personal one-on-one, live interaction was appreciated.

2. I honestly believe that the 'bad' reviews are shill reviews that are being left by people who don't want this business selling directly to the pet's 'parents', and are trying to dissuade people from buying from them.

3. I received the Heartgard I finally ordered in just a couple of days (yeay!), and IMMEDIATELY checked the package for any tampering (can't be too sure), and since I had unfortunately thrown away the last package we purchased from our last vet, went online and found images of real packaging and compared the two. Everything seemed correct, and in place, lot numbers, etc. Dogs did well on it.

4. Website now closed, but it was a great place to order online! BudgetPetCare is now my go-to.

First of all, who among us does not detest these "credit" agencies in general? I mean, seriously, WHO empowered and allowed these three groups to possess such sensitive data on each of us? If our laws were not what they were, surely this would end summarily, and these agencies would FOLD as well as be liable for using our personal information without our consent.

Unfortunately (or until someone really digs down and takes them on), we're relegated to being at their mercy in regard to what they think our credit file should look like. In that regard, however, I have to say that Experian is leagues above the other two credit reporting bureaus (Equifax and TransUnion, respectively).

Experian's site is SO much easier to navigate despite being more well-populated with the links and information you need; online disputes are easy to file; and for ONCE, here is a company whose emails do NOT SUCK. They are informative and actually HELP you on your road to building credit or maintaining it. (Check out their Experian "Boost" option which helps your credit based on monthly bills).

All in all, two thumbs up, especially in comparison to the other two.

Having had REALLY, really bad experiences with WalMart Grocery Delivery for YEARS (since its inception), then having moved on to other delivery services which well, truly, all had failings and flailings... two things have occurred:

1. I have come to value: a). The EFFORT WalMart members used to, and do, put into the delivery; b). I value the yearly subscription plan; AND, c). I value that Walmart does not rest on its laurels, but is ALWAYS looking for ways to INNOVATE!

2. Wal-Mart has HONESTLY gotten better with practice.

I know, I know... I can hardly believe it myself! And yet... I began using them again. Hopefully it isn't just the "honeymoon stage" ;), but everything has run pretty smoothly since we've been back together, WalMart Delivery and I. Deliveries are on-time, there have been a couple of small missing items (sadly), a couple of out-of-stock items (but these were subbed well), and NOW they have an IN-HOME option where the driver works for Walmart and can bring your groceries inside. Prices are higher than I remember and they do not have the specials on meat that HEB does, but all in all, it evens out.

STRIDES, Walmart! STRIDES. Keep up the good work and I will edit/update with FIVE, big, FAT, JUICY STARS. :)

I am a bit torn in leaving this review, both because HEB has its faults and because Walmart has improved in the last year. A recent issue however, makes me want to give credit to HEB where it is due.

To begin, "TL;DR" version (I can't blame you):
- Some store associates seem genuinely happy to help; others, not so much. It's a gamble as to which you will encounter.
- Store employees seem very disempowered in terms of what 'corporate' allows them to do in order to rectify simple issues on the storefront end.
- Main / Corporate / Support number operates on limited hours, and some CSRs are not helpful at all
- Company back-end coders sometimes cannot quite get digital coupons to work correctly.
- Upon release of the Weekly Advertisement Flyer, the new weekly savings/sales prices do not replicate on store servers until several hours later (sometimes until the next afternoon), meaning that prices reflected in cart are incorrect (and again, store employees are not allowed to manually correct them).
- Often, order status comes back with almost half, or MORE than half, of your order being "out of stock", but not ONLY do the items continue to be listed as 'IN STOCK' (meaning you're able to put them in your cart again), but if you cancel the entire order (because who wants to pay full delivery price, plus the driver tip, for half an order?), any one-time-use coupons are henceforth read as already used and cannot be used going forward.
- H-E-B offers NO Annual or Monthly Subscription Plan, meaning that at even their lowest delivery rate of $6.95, that's ~$170 a year (and over $300 at their $12.95 delivery window), for two orders a month - which is hardly a starting point, considering that most everyone I know orders or shops more frequently than that. Combined with products and goods being out-of-stock as often as they are (which means you would have to either travel to the store or place more orders than anticipated, this business model will eventually destroy customer loyalty as again, NO one wants to pay a delivery - AND TIP - charge, TWICE, for the delivery of the remainder of goods that STORE could not deliver the first time around
- Product selection is good, but not as good as the Wally Supercenters (of course); and, not to beat a dead point, what does selection matter if it isn't in stock?
- Overall, prices of goods are... debatable. Some are good, others just a bit higher than others, and every so often lower. Definitely, (mostly), less expensive, overall, than Randalls. More expensive than Joe Vs, Foodtown or similar. Which brings me to the final Bullet Point (although I go into more in Full Review):
- CHECK your final receipts! The math on the final receipts never seem to match either the totals when ordering or placing the orders, nor do they add up when manually adding them up. Now, I am not saying that H-E-B is being purposefully deceitful, but that they are manipulating that 'delivery or curbside prices may not be what is reflected on site or in store...' blurb (I am paraphrasing), a little too much.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

NOTE!: Long review:

To begin, not as many grocery chains that COULD be 'doing' home delivery have opted to do it, or if they have, they do not do it as well. The fact that H-E-B had those Texas-Sized melons to get in the delivery pool with Wal-Mart (insert Jaws theme), is very brave. I would say Kudos for that, but they know that DELIVERY is the FUTURE. Just as with 'smart' devices (bulbs, plugs, etc.) and knowing they will be the norm, HOME DELIVERY has long-since been set to be the biggest game in town. The ONLY reason that it has not achieved the heights and all-around encompassing acceptance and use it should already have by the general public, is precisely BECAUSE of all the issues I have listed in my bullet points. Still, that H-E-B is pushing forward is noteworthy.

Secondly (and this from someone who normally HATES store-brands), while H-E-B carries all the big brand names we're all familiar with, its own H-E-B "branded" items such as Heritage Farms, Mi Tienda, H-E-B, & a couple of others I may be forgetting, are actually pretty great-tasting MOST* of the time! In fact, MANY of their store-branded products, not just food items, are even BETTER than name-brand counterparts. Both their cold and hot deli choices, and their bakery goods are generally DELICIOUS; bread crumbs, tortillas, seasonings, trash bags, storage bags, ice cream, certain cereals, OTC meds, even frozen foods - if you normally buy it, chances are that H-E-B has its own version - and chances are that it is really good if you're willing to try them. *(Oh, just not their Pound Cake - stay away from their H‑E‑B Original Pound Cake; it's crusty, funny tasting and awful). With prices being what they are, I am sure that such quality (again, xney on the pound cake), store-brand selections would appeal to many.

The downside to the self-branded choices, is that there are several ways in which you can see that H-E-B is JUST a company like any other and it REALLY looks at its bottom dollar. For example, to save money (or at least I think so), they completely ruined a couple of excellent soup choices almost a year ago by completely changing their recipe and making them unbuyable and obsolete. The other thing, and perhaps this is just me, but I feel as if they are PURPOSEFULLY "TRICKY" with the wording on their LABELS! "BPA not intentionally added" of course does NOT mean that it is BPA-"free". "95% Chicken *excluding water*", of course, means it is NOT 95% chicken. Their "Ingredient Disclaimer" which reads: "Actual product packaging and materials may contain more or different information than that shown on our website. You should not rely solely on the information presented here...", leaves just a hint of WHAT the HECK? :) Still, as long as you are a smart consumer and read through the ad-speak, you can find good deals on their brands which are generally somewhat (sadly, not overly so) less expensive than most brand-name items.

Lastly, one of the BIGGEST reasons why H-E-B DELIVERY is SO MUCH BETTER than Wal-Mart, is because H-E-B does NOT use AWFUL Doordash to deliver! (SEE MY NEW CAVEAT AT THE VERY END OF PAGE)! They use "Favor"; and yes, it's kind of weird that there should be SUCH a HUMONGOUS difference in the actual act of delivery, seeing as drivers are probably picked from the same local pool of drivers, but FAVOR (another heb company) is a MILLION times better*! *AGAIN: (SEE MY NEW CAVEAT AT THE VERY END OF PAGE)!

Now, for the not-so-great. H-E-B offers digital coupons. I would shop them a lot less if not for these coupons. BUT, they seem to raise the price of the item for which the coupon is set (just by a bit) before releasing the coupon. You also cannot normally use them the morning when they change out the weekly specials, and the employees cannot simply incorporate the deduction into your order if they fail to automatically digitally apply. Worse, sometimes, the math just isn't right even after applying them. In fact, the math on the entire order sometimes feels 'off' on the final receipt. (See Images). In terms of these coupons, if you use a "Limit 1 per Customer" kind, versus an "Unlimited Use" one, and you happen to cancel the order, you cannot use that coupon again (even though you canceled the order and did NOT use it), because the system sees it as already-used.

This leads us to a recent personal experience. A store associate who I will call "K", and I, have spoken on many occasions beginning when I started ordering from them and was still learning the "H-E-B ordering ropes" (such as the coupon issues; the no weekly sales items until several hours later; the not-yet-mentioned way to best request substitutions instead of choosing "do not substitute"; the few times when items have been missing; my frustration when HALF my order has been out of stock, only to still see the items still listed as "in-stock"; etc., etc., etc.). Well, the day before last something I ordered from Amazon was to take four days, so - LIGHTBULB! - I checked H-E-B and they had it, so I cancelled the Amazon order. I also purchased a few other items including $36.00 or so (I almost made it $45.00) worth of cut fruit for which there was a "SAVE $3.00 off every $15.00 you spend on cut fruit" coupon, giving me $6.00 off my order. In total, it was an $85 order to be delivered that evening between 7:00-8:00 p.m. At around 7:00, I received a text that nearly EVERY cut fruit item was out of stock and had to be removed. Apparently, the store was out of all watermelon, all strawberries, all cantaloupe...? But I did not question it. As this had happened before (half my order being out of stock), however, I DID phone the store, and reached "K". I asked that she cancel my order. All of it.

The next day, I tried calling the store SIMPLY to see if they had gotten pre-cut fruit in. I kid you NOT when I tell you that I spent almost forty minutes JUST trying to reach someone! NO one in Produce picked up, I was transferred around three times by the poor operator, and on what was to be my last call, I got lucky and an "R" answered. He was courteous and said he'd go check, after which he said they had plenty of cut fruit. He EVEN went as far as to say he'd work with the Curbside / Delivery Desk if I was going to place the order again. I said I would. I told him I would pick up the canceled order from the evening previous and just hit 'select all' and reorder. UNFORTUNATELY, upon doing so, the coupons were not working – and they should have, as they were Unlimited Use coupons, not the Limited 1 Per Customer ones. I then phoned the Digital Coupon Help Desk, but they took a while to answer the line DURING WHICH TIME I received a call from a frustrated "K". She said: "R says you were about to place an order and I haven't seen anything come in." I explained that indeed, I was attempting to, but that I was having an issue with the coupons I had used the night before. She says: "There were no coupons on your order last night." I insisted there were. She insisted there weren't. LOL! Finally, I said, "Look, I assure you that not only did I spend almost an hour last night getting the sizes and cost of the fruit bowls JUST RIGHT so that the coupons deducted $6.00, I ALSO played with getting it up to $9.00 off – before deciding NOT to spend $45 on fruit which might go bad." I continued … "NOT ONLY THAT, but I can PULL UP the canceled order and can still SEE the $6.00 deduction." I THINK where I really lost her though, was when I added that "In any logical mind, HOWEVER, it is CLEAR that even if this were NOT the case that it did not, and does not have any bearing on the order I was placing at this time and trying to apply the coupons to." I then, for good measure, sent her a copy of the canceled order that clearly had the deducted coupons she insisted were not on there. Not the greatest of experiences.

As I have said before... OUR WALLETS are much too powerful to share with those companies that spend millions on advertisements to lure you in, but do little to keep you. In other words, don't support a company which doesn't support you.

*FINALLY, the reason why I 'upped' my score, added a 'caveat' about Favor, and why the "K" issue is about erased, is this: Our house, including plumbing and electrical, is being renovated. We're staying at a hotel until work is completed. The other night we ordered $133.00 in groceries, and our Favor driver RAN OFF with them. YUP, just stole them! Being pretty spent from a new property purchase, movers, storage and hotel costs, I was SO upset that this happened. I immediately called HEB and reached "Paige". I'm pretty certain she contacted Favor and they were unable to reach the driver. Well, instead of tying up my funds, she RE-SHOPPED the order (less things which were by then out-of-stock) and had it redelivered. THAT TAKES EMPOWERMENT, decisiveness, managerial critical thinking, and lastly, humanity.

I started on the "Smart Home" train not as early as some, but definitely sooner than most. The first review I left for Geeni was merited, as all I said was true (I may be overly lengthy in my reviews, but I always strive for 100% TRUTH). In fact, on one of our subsequent purchases, I received TWO 1-Plug Geeni's out of four, that did not work / connect (or even light up into pairing mode). Those, however, were the 'old days'.:)

Here we are a couple of years after my original review, and as is expected, the "Smart Home" game has made LEAPS FORWARD. Now, the question is what can you NOT control with an app or through your voice? The answer is... very little.

Geeni, as part of the Smart Home movement has also made giant strides in the right direction. Our latest Geeni gadget is a Smart Strip (named "Peripherals" in images). It is excellent, and what's best, is that it is not only compatible with the Geeni App, but it works seamlessly with the Smart Life App (aka Tuya App), which is one of the most used apps around.

There is NO WAY I could imagine going back to not controlling our electronics with our voices or through our phones. NO WAY.

The only reason I am not giving Geeni FIVE stars, is that I am still a bit bummed about the Mercury plug and the two non-working Geeni ones. I tend to hold a grudge, especially when it comes to money. (Hey, I said I'd be 100% honest).:)

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OLD REVIEW:

Suffers greatly from 'Lack of Customer Support' & 'Did Not Perfect Device Before Marketing' Foibles

To begin, at around $12 for one power outlet and $20-ish for two (these are average prices & can vary greatly), I am not certain how economically sound this way of smartening-up the power devices in your home may be in comparison to other methods, but I became a fan of my first Geeni power outlet and so began my descent into the rabbit hole.

I will tell you about it.

I started by buying ONE Geeni power outlet for our tall, corner bedroom lamp. The installation of the outlet and pairing it with my iPhone (while not plug-and-play simple), was simple ENOUGH. I came across a couple of glitches and had to have it search and run through its installation process a couple of times before it "paired", but all-in-all, it went quickly enough.

I LOVED IT. My hubby loves it. (By the way, more than one phone can control the same devices by mirroring the phones). Aaaand, not only can we turn that one lamp on and off from our phones, but we also scheduled it to come on and turn off at certain times. Awesome!

Since we love it so much, my husband thought about getting another one to power an entire 6-outlet surge-protected strip, so we did. I purchased a "Merkury" power outlet which is also manufactured by Geeni and which is supposed to use the same app to control the device. Here is where we ran into issues.

Although we managed to confirm that both the Merkury products and the Geeni products are one and the same, for some reason we could never get the Merkury outlet to "pair" with our phones, or work.

Not only that, but customer service was pretty lacking. First of all, the directions in the package do not cover adding a new device to an already existing home setup, and their website is pretty lacking in information on it. Upon calling them, you are on hold for forever while they "LOOK" for an agent to help you. I called a total of SEVEN times connecting to a real person, three times. The first was a very nice gent who I could hardly hear and who would talk louder for only a moment after I asked him to and who then devolved into low-speak again, who had me try a few different things, none of which worked. The following real person was a lady who kept talking over me, told me to turn Bluetooth off and then (I swear I could tell), suddenly made believe she couldn't hear me, then hung up on me. The third and last time, I connected to a very nice gent (who may have been the first guy again), who I could hardly hear, and who was not able to help. After a while of troubleshooting, he suggested I take it back to the store.

SOOO, in a nutshell, while Geeni/Merkury seem to have let me down as of right now on the second outlet, being able to power electrical devices from your phone - ROCKS! EVERYONE will be doing it soon and in a few years, it will just BE the norm. Oh, and I am NOT one of those people who love their phones and do everything on them. I hardly ever surf on my phone, preferring my good ol' trusty laptop. Heck, I hardly even answer calls on my phone. Managing our lights (for a start), oooohhh, that's a different story now!

Really helped my granny a lot during some months she was on this service and during which time I could not run lunch over to her and Doordash was getting way too expensive. Some of the volunteers aren't very sunny or well-dispositioned, but the service itself was a god-send.

Updated review:

I cannot remember ever waiting so long for one of their shipments to arrive. It has been FIFTEEN days since I placed a $240 order for flea meds for our three dogs, and the Global Tracker estimates another 8 days to arrive. Beyond the time it now takes (because on some things, if you plan successfully, you can wait), their "tracking" system sounds like a SCAM. Basically, you pay extra for a tracking number - which they do not give you unless you contact them for it.

I am beyond sad that a really, really good business has gone the way of 'down the drain'.

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Original Review:
A few years ago, in looking for a lower cost option as to where I could obtain my pet's heartworm preventative, I came across a site which had been opened by a couple of veterinarians and which did not need prescriptions, and where the items they sold were purported to be the "REAL" and "EXACT" products you would get at your vets. The reviews, although not many, were positive. Although wary, I figured I would take the chance and see what it was exactly that I received.

I placed an order for one pet only, waited for about a week, and then received the heartworm preventative I had ordered. I immediately compared both internal and external packaging. I looked for misspellings in their directions, ingredients, etc. It passed the test in that the packaging was pretty much identical. Still with a little bit of trepidation, I administered the first monthly dose to my dog. No issues. I then ordered from them a couple of more times before they closed. In their closing messages however, they recommended BudgetPetCare. Well, based on the recommendation from where I had been happy shopping, I visited BudgetPetCare's site, and immediately felt comfortable ordering from them. Again, not only was it recommended from a company who had established itself as what they said they were, but I liked their website layout; their no-frills, informative pages; their prices; and their money-back guarantees.

I placed the first of a few orders through them, that very day.

That was a couple of years back, and I have been satisfied with every purchase since then.

If there is one (minor) thing to be aware of, it is the number of promotional emails you receive from them once you order. It may be less or more of a problem for you, depending on how much of a pet peeve receiving unsolicited email is for you personally, but it was just this side of annoying for me. On the flip side, I would not recommend unsubscribing from them, because they always contain coupon codes, and the like, to save you a few extra dollars off of their already low prices.

In short, I cannot recommend them enough! Unfortunately, it is a sad fact of life that some pet owners find it difficult to decide between keeping up with the cost of their pet's well-being and paying the light bill (or in some cases, a new set of earpods). BudgetPetCare HELPS!

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EDIT:
Needed my dog's Heartgard, so I prepared to order it from BudgetPetCare, and discovered they have begun to carry something called NuHeart. Researched it and saw it was supposedly a 'generic' Heartgard, and a lot less $$. Ordered it expecting it to take over a week, which was fine, but it arrived in 5 days, which was nice. I read the inserts for both types (based on dog weights), felt comfortable giving it to my dogs on August 18th (17 days ago) and have seen no adverse reactions. The one minor detractor is that it comes in little pills versus the meat-like chunks that Heartgard come in and which my dogs seemed to prefer. On a good note, the pills are easily given (my dogs did not just volunteer to eat them) and they are also water-soluble from what I read. See new pictures.

Normally, my reviews are pretty long (although, I prefer to think of them as detailed) ;). With this one, I will be short: Netflix needs to REALLY get over itself. It is not the Belle of the Ball. With prices STARTING (I will explain myself in a bit) at $19.99 a month for less than what a streaming service should offer*, the term 'success has gone to (its) head', mostly fits.

To begin, the $19.99 "Premium" Plan they offer, excludes (does not include) quite a few popular films. As such, how exactly can it call itself PREMIUM? It's not. Its subscribers are simply PAYING premium rates for less-than premium service. Aha!

Let's move on, do as Netflix so obviously did when determining their plan price structure, and work backwards from there. It's as if you get punished if you choose any less expensive plan than premium. With the Standard Plan, currently at $15.49, you lose out on being to access even more films than the premium plan does not carry; and not just a handful. We're talking trains of titles. The worst part of it? Like I imagine some evil step-parent would do, the Title Icons are VIEWABLE to you, they just have a little red "lock" on them which tells you that you are not worthy, because you are not ponying out an EXTRA $4.50 on top of the $15.49 in order to access them. LOL. BAD you! :) Oh yes, and you can only watch at a max resolution of 1080p, because 4K+HDR is also reserved for the better-paying 'child'. Lol!

Don't even GET me started on the BASIC with Ads Plan! For $6.99 a month, Netflix will allow you to wet your whistle by allowing you to access some of its content, but ONLY on ONE screen and ONLY at a max resolution of 720p. Sheesh! Really? I must have some hang-ups because THIS makes me think of that same evil step-parent locking you out of the TV room, but allowing your sibling to watch with them while you to peep through the keyhole. (ROFLMAO. Okay, enough with my - I mean the kid - analogies). ;)~

Call me a bit weird, but I have a thing about not begging any company to please take my money for subpar items, service or content. "But it ISN'T subpar", you may argue, and you are of course, welcome to your opinion. However, the last time Netflix was voted the "best original content media company" was seven years ago! According to a more recent survey, Netflix is losing customers by the bushel and now has the "lowest percentage of satisfied subscribers based on the value they receive from the service".

By "settling" or going along, WE consumers are writing future pricing - and trust me, it's going up.

At the time of this writing, Netflix has a global paying membership of over 90 million. How can so many people be content with so little? If half canceled their service, *SEE* how quickly Netflix membership prices drop. Now, wouldn't that be SO much more entertaining to *WATCH* than a lot of their "original content"? After all, Netflix "originals" make up over 40% of its U.S. Library. Am I the ONLY one who sees that as NOT a good selling point? Just today, the top film was The Hunger Games. Great film, sure, but for $19.99, shouldn't there be more recent content which can vie with such an icon franchise?

For access on demand streaming, DEMAND better; pay less.

KUDOS WHERE KUDOS ARE DUE, AND THEIR SPORT CHANNEL SELECTION IS "GREAT"
Sport channel selections are top-notch from what my husband and brother-in-law don't say. (Get it? They don't say, because they're too busy watching them). In all seriousness though, they are thrilled with the selection, and in-between manly grunts and chili fries, they have voiced their sincere approval. YouTubeTV, from what I understand, beats ESPN in a lot of ways.

REGULAR TV CHANNELS
I have binged so many past Cake War episodes that I think I gained five pounds just watching. Now I just sit farther from my screen. ;) Lifetime, however, is not included, and I'm addicted to one of the shows on there, so that's a miss. Edit*** Earlier broadcasts can sometimes not be easily re-watched. Example: HLN is presenting excellent coverage on the George Floyd case, but upon missing one day's coverage, neither that day, nor any previous days (termed Episodes on YTTV's Site), were available to view).

TOO MANY ISSUES with MOVIE SELECTIONS
While YouTubeTV offers a better SELECTION of more current / newer movies than Flex or Peacock or Tubi alone, because they pull them from each of those platforms, their collective offering is pretty solid, although not excellent. PROBLEMS include:
1. Normally, their featured films are "UPCOMING", meaning you need to wait a day or two for them to begin streaming. SO, you click on a featured title expecting to view it, only to find out you have to wait days for it to come on. (Seriously, Youtube, whoever came up with the idea to tease, or not 'deliver', something we are specifically clicking on and prepared to view, only to be told it is still not playing, should be fired.
2. With movie trilogies, sagas or franchises, only a fraction of the complete series is normally included. Sometimes it is a good fraction, but still a fraction. Example: 19 out of the 23 Marvel Franchise films.

PLATFORM
The platform itself is bulky and not very user-friendly. It loosely resembles the regular YouTube channel rather than other streaming services, which is okay for YouTube, but not for a streaming service. It needs a complete revamp in several areas to do with searching/finding. For example, if you want to watch Fox or CNN, or whichever your cup of tea may be, you can search for either, but the results are much too broad or too few, confusing, murky, not very descriptive, not laid-out well and most of all, mostly not playing even if you specifically search under "LIVE TV". Definitely another miss.

VPN
YoutubeTV will refuse to work with a VPN, and that is a major con for us. More and more of us have moved toward using VPNs for online security and I sometimes like to use social media while I have the TV on in the background. With YouTubeTV, you cannot run a VPN without it refusing to connect. Huge miss.

COST:
I am frugal. I like good things, but I love good deals, and the fact that we're paying almost $76.00 a month for this service, bugs me enough to where I am keeping an eye out for alternative options, one of which is HULU, who offers ALMOST the same number of channels for $10-$12 LESS a month. "What's $12?", you may ask. Well, it's 3 gallons of milk, two quarts of Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip ice cream, a co-pay on a prescription, the difference between an older model and newer model external hard-drive on Amazon, a dog toy which will last for a week in this home, and enough to gas up my car for 3.5 visits with my grandmother. On the other hand, can I really put a price on seeing my husband happy after a long day's work, relaxing on a plush leather recliner and watching his favorite NFL team score a touchdown while he waits for a slice of my latest cake-decorating masterpiece?

It's a tough call, but in a nutshell, if we could find a streaming service which offers the same channels for less, we'd move quickly. YouTubeTv while plentiful with CHANNEL SELECTIONS lacks way too much in other departments to win over our loyalty.

Stardock (Stardock.com) touts itself as "a cutting-edge innovator specializing in desktop utility software and PC entertainment". Basically, they market utilities for your PC (laptop, desktop) that are meant to improve some functions and to customize or "beautify" your workspace.

MY personal favorites include CursorFX which *used to* (now they are selling many) allow you to download and use a myriad of animated cursors (they are lovely), and their IconPackager which they SAY allows you to change all your Windows icons "at once" with custom icon packages. Also lovely... but in theory more than practice.

You see, the problem is that while the promise of these great customization programs is fantastic, seldom does the follow-through match.

I do genuinely like CursorFX and at $4.99 it is (in my estimation) worth it, because there is a huge database on WinCustomize.com where you can download cursor packages for use with it. (EDIT: note that they limit downloads to 6 a day and more and more now, are charging for some 'featured' cursors). I will include pictures of a few different cursor themes below. The problem, in addition to limiting downloads and now charging for some, is that beyond selling it as such, they also say that you can create your own cursors with it... and that's a reach. You need additional programs to create usable static cursors, and if you want to animate them, well, good luck with that! There is no good tutorial on doing so, and the response from the Stardock Help Desk and/or community forum leaves a LOT to be desired. I actually had one guy trying to up-sell me to a $29.99 program which I had no need for.

IconPackager is pretty nice as well, except there are only a limited number of packages you can download to go with it, and of these packages, not all of them change "ALL" of your system's icons, as the program says it will do. Many, many times you end up with a system that has a few IconPackager icons and the rest are your default icons, which looks pretty terrible (exactly the opposite of what you were going for). To correct this is A LOT of work since you have to do it manually and half the time it doesn't work unless you use an outside program to supplement the icons or finish it off. It feels unfinished, and hardly worth the price when you not only have to do all the work yourself, but when it messes up (and it will), and you have to start over. Also, as with CursorFX and making your own cursors, support for IP is pretty limited as well, although you DO get users and "skinners" who are amiable and try to help.

The major issue is that despite these people who try to help, generally, if one goes through the Stardock forum, you will see many users asking for help, direction, etc. on several of the programs Stardock sells, and the majority of times you will see a reply which reads: "we are forwarding this along to our technical help team for an answer" (I am paraphrasing), but it is hardly EVER followed up with an ACTUAL ANSWER.

In short, it feels as if Stardock as a whole, is an entity with great ideas... but ZERO follow-through.

They are good at selling their programs which for the most part seem to be only half-finished, half-tested and half-perfected, and which have no support behind them. That's a shame, because there are many, many like me who love to customize their workspace and who would happily buy from them and recommend them, IF ONLY their programs were all that Stardock PURPORTS THEM TO BE.

They are not.

2.5/5 Stars

To begin, they are LEAGUES better than Yellow Cab, and slightly less expensive than Uber. Unfortunately, they are still greedy, disorganized and unprofessional.

We "found" Lyft when Yellow Cab left us stranded, and our first several rides with them went SO well, that for MONTHS we literally became addicted to not driving, and just took Lyfts everywhere. A few months in however, the shine began to wear off. We began noticing that a few of the drivers weren't the greatest. Some were unkempt, a little rude, got lost - yes, even with GPS, they got lost... It was so hit or miss, we began driving again. It is difficult though to go back to driving once you are driven around so much.:)

The straw that broke that camel's back however, was a round-trip to pick up an order of wings. Again, this driver could not set his GPS, and got lost on the way there. That was not a problem that time, as we weren't on a tight schedule or anything. AFTER the trip however, I saw a $25 charge on my card above and beyond the fare and tip.

When I contacted Lyft to inquire about it, they said it was for cleaning the driver's car, since we had supposedly left grease in it from the wings. Knowing our order had not leaked (I carried the bag on my lap and had a tan dress on), I immediately canceled my credit card and asked for proof from them. They sent me pictures of a clear puddle of LIQUID on the SEAT. Ummmmm, where we had been sitting(!), floor, and base (or footrest) of door. I told them that it was not grease from our order, as our wings were "hot" wings and the oil and sauce on them would have been at least a little orange, and not "clear" (the seats were white leather). I also asked them to explain how SO MUCH oil was on the SEAT where our butts had been. Did the order leak THROUGH me? Did they think one of US leaked oil? Wouldn't the oil have been at least a little hot? Wouldn't we (or the driver for that matter), have noticed this oil at the time and made an effort to CLEAN it? More so, for there to be the amount of oil in the pictures, wouldn't common sense dictate that the wings themselves had to have been SWIMMING in oil/grease that we then would have had to purposefully invert onto the seat? Did they think we ordered the "Wings In Grease Soup Special"?

It was obviously a scam on the part of the driver, but no one at Lyft was smart enough to put it together, or cared to even TRY, which says a lot about them. The two agents with whom I communicated had ZERO common sense, and after a few emails back and forth, I simply contacted my banking institution and opened a dispute for the $25 charge which was immediately credited back while they conducted an investigation, and which became final around a month later. In the interim, however, I received yet another message from Lyft which stated that a $SEVENTY-FIVE$ dollar charge would "not go through" and to please "update" my card.

Ha! As if.

We have never used them again, nor will we.

Their offerings, while super processed, are really very yummy, but on the high $$ end when considering other options. The items are normally well-packaged and are easy to heat and eat. Delivery, of course, is very convenient to have, and in my estimation, a huge part of the reason Schwan's is still around.

My issue with them is not the food itself, but rather with the experience we had with them. We used a coupon code twice (which brought what was ordered down to a more reasonable price/cost), and the second time, the driver said he could not accept it, after it had already been accepted online upon placing the order. In the end, he did honor it, after which he said he could not accept it "next time".

While I understand that coupon codes are normally a one-time deal, this one did not specify that anywhere, and again, it was accepted with no problem both times upon placing the orders. In fact, had the total cost not been brought down somewhat by the coupon, we would have not ordered either time. (To us, the items Schwan's offers are somewhat overpriced for what they are, and ordering would not have been worth it). More so, however, it was the driver's attitude that sealed the deal for us and convinced us we would not order from them again. As I later read, it seems as of the driver's are paid a percentage of sales, so perhaps this is why he was so adamant about not accepting the coupon, but all we knew at the time, was that we placed the order, entered a coupon, it gave us our total, and then at the door he wanted to charge us more.

No big loss.

With the advent of grocery stores that deliver now, and especially Walmart joining in there is just no occasion I ever foresee where we would consider Schwan's again.