First of all Elizabeth, welcome to Wise Bread. Second, while I don't enjoy tax season for the reasons you list, I do like that all kinds of deals are out there trying to lure people into spending their refund. Even those who have the correct amount held back should love a deal, huh? Again, really great to have you on board.
Thanks for the funny article! I never thought about it before, it is a little true! I think I'll do my taxes tonight so I can get that exciting feeling ;)
No, I absolutely detest tax season. That might just be because I'm reminded of how much money I paid to support bailouts and such. I really don't see how it is like Christmas at all. At Christmas time i really enjoy giving gifts to people, but tax season is all about the government sucking you dry. Sorry to be such a downer, but I find tax season absolutely depressing.
What are the chances of a small company calling someone the "b" word and then that person blogs about it and it gets read by hundreds or thousands of people. I think it is great. Maybe these small companies need to learn they can't treat people like this and get away with it. Regardless of who is right or wrong.
I am glad Carrie wrote the article, and that it engendered so much discussion, because I learned so much from all of it. Although I do it more and more, I am still only marginally proficient at ordering online, still have never used paypal or ebay. I am happy to have learned everything I just did about paypal, and how it works, but to expect that everyone knows all of those ins and outs is not realistic. So although I appreciate the business owners' comments, I can understand Carrie's not knowing, and suspect that a majority of the folks, even many who use paypal, don't know the intricacies of it.
I think when you do anything where you deal with lots of people you run into glitches, and responding with potty mouth is never going to be good business practice.
I get what you're saying Elizabeth, but the sad reality is that we really shouldn't be celebrating the fact that for the past year we've overpaid the government, and are finally getting our money back. It's like giving the government a free loan at 0 percent interest. That's not something I celebrate.
What's even more upsetting is that some states like California are withholding refunds. In other words, they've overcharged and they won't give you your money back. That's wrong and to compare that to a holiday seems a little short sighted.
I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I guess I've come to expect articles on this site to carry a bit more insight into personal finance. How about discussing better ways of filing that involve putting your money in a CD vs. the government coffers? Overall there needs to be more education about taxes, and I apologize if I've tried to squeeze that our of this.
Right or wrong up to that point, the B-word is specifically insulting to women. Sexism is also a hate crime. I can't condone the company's language no matter what led up to it.
The problem really started when they didn't send an order confirmation. And while the customer is to blame, it's a predictable error, and the retailer should send more worms, perhaps charging again for shipping. I suggest you live up to the name they called you and do a chargeback on the credit card you used with paypal.
I would also suggest incorporating the following remineralization products into a preventative dental health routine. The assist in the natural remineralization process that occurs in our mouths and make your teeth stronger. My dentist has noticed a big improvement in periodontal health and the reversal of early caries (cavities)
1) Recaldent
Used to be in Trident White gum, until they took it out and came out with (a more expensive, go figure...) gum called Trident Xtra Care. Not sure how much Recaldent is in each piece though.
A better/stronger product with Recaldent is GC MI Paste, which you put on your finger and spread over your teeth and let it sit for a few minutes before expectorating it. Marketed to dentists to treat white spot lesions and as a post-bleaching treatment, you can buy it yourself from places like dentist.net
2) NovaMin
Consumer products are just starting to appear with this product, also a remineralization compound which originally was developed/marketed as "BioGlass" which is used to help implant and bone material graft together. As the name suggests, it's a mixture of ionic forms of calcium, phosphorus, silica, and sodium which are constituents of glass, very "natural" ingredients. Dr. Collins makes a toothpaste with this compound in it called Restore. There is also a product called Oravive that just came on the market, I believe.
In any case, I agree that the dental (and medical) professions are often times focused more on fixing problems than preventing them, and that these professionals are usually ignorant of some of these preventative treatments or how to use them. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but when you think about it, there is no financial incentive for medical professionals to encourage preventative care! They make their money by treating problems, not preventing them. In any case, nobody cares more about your own health than YOU do; I strongly encourage everyone to do their own research regarding how to take care of themselves.
"Because of the inequality, groups have argued that the current tax system supports an one income family and encourages women to stay at home."
First I would like to say that I was offended that this article would promote sexism like this. Why would the woman have to stay home? I am a woman, and I have a six figure salary, which is roughly 4x my husband's income. Whatever happened to empowering women?
I've had family run into similar problems. They ordered a Nintendo Wii and had some issues with the customer service. Though I am all about helping small businesses, you really roll the dice when you work with one. Look for online reviews (that's what Google is for), etc... for help.
I would encourage everyone always to do their own research and use their own judgment when seeking medical or dental care. The products recommended by Dr. Ellie are sold on the open market and considered safe. I would point out that conventional drugs and antibiotics used to treat infections and other health problems all have risks as well. As noted above, oral hygiene is linked to overall bodily health (in a causative fashion) and so it is much more than a matter of convenience or vanity.
This reminds me of when I bought my fiance a, very expensive!, book from his wishlist from Amazon. His wishlist address was out-of-date and the book was sent to his prior address and returned back to Amazon. I was refunded, but a little upset about the book. I didn't realize until I called them, what the problem was. I felt bad, and the price had increased. They were incredibly nice and even though it was against policy, shipped the book to the new address at the old price. I for one, enjoyed this warning article.
I think if what you are saying is TRUE, then it cannot be libel.
Also, bad customer service can come from small or large companies. I like to read consumerist.com to find out about how different companies treat consumers.
I have seen in quite a few eBay listings that the seller will only ship to the PayPal address. If this person buys on eBay on a regular basis, then she has seen that as well.
Mistake number 1: Kirby did not update her PayPal information on a timely basis.
Mistake number 2: When the order page did not ask for a shipping address, Kirby should have immediately emailed the seller to question how they would know what address to ship to.
Mistake number 3: Expecting a small, low margin business owner to lose additional money giving you more merchandise for free because you screwed up.
Mistake number 4: Going public in a widely read blog with identifying information about the seller, perhaps to punish the seller by depriving him/her of some business? Can you spell l-i-b-e-l ?
Back in the late 80's my twin brother bought a '79 Z-28 Camaro from a dealer and after driving it for several days he got around to detailing it inside, (We owned a detail shop at the time), and found three $10,000 money market certificates under the console glove box! He also found some other papers that had the previous owners name on it and we were able to track him down in the phone book. After asking him if he remembered leaving something in the car he kind of freaked out and told my brother about the certificates. We told him where our shop was and he came to get them.
First of all Elizabeth, welcome to Wise Bread. Second, while I don't enjoy tax season for the reasons you list, I do like that all kinds of deals are out there trying to lure people into spending their refund. Even those who have the correct amount held back should love a deal, huh? Again, really great to have you on board.
Thanks for the funny article! I never thought about it before, it is a little true! I think I'll do my taxes tonight so I can get that exciting feeling ;)
No, I absolutely detest tax season. That might just be because I'm reminded of how much money I paid to support bailouts and such. I really don't see how it is like Christmas at all. At Christmas time i really enjoy giving gifts to people, but tax season is all about the government sucking you dry. Sorry to be such a downer, but I find tax season absolutely depressing.
What are the chances of a small company calling someone the "b" word and then that person blogs about it and it gets read by hundreds or thousands of people. I think it is great. Maybe these small companies need to learn they can't treat people like this and get away with it. Regardless of who is right or wrong.
This sounds like a great book!
I am glad Carrie wrote the article, and that it engendered so much discussion, because I learned so much from all of it. Although I do it more and more, I am still only marginally proficient at ordering online, still have never used paypal or ebay. I am happy to have learned everything I just did about paypal, and how it works, but to expect that everyone knows all of those ins and outs is not realistic. So although I appreciate the business owners' comments, I can understand Carrie's not knowing, and suspect that a majority of the folks, even many who use paypal, don't know the intricacies of it.
I think when you do anything where you deal with lots of people you run into glitches, and responding with potty mouth is never going to be good business practice.
I would rejoice this year if I had overpaid the government!! Given what has happened to my 401K and IRA, a 0% return sounds a lot better than -33%....
I laughed when she got to the computer. and how "one tiny change on the CPU" is the only difference between new and old computers. hahahah.
I get what you're saying Elizabeth, but the sad reality is that we really shouldn't be celebrating the fact that for the past year we've overpaid the government, and are finally getting our money back. It's like giving the government a free loan at 0 percent interest. That's not something I celebrate.
What's even more upsetting is that some states like California are withholding refunds. In other words, they've overcharged and they won't give you your money back. That's wrong and to compare that to a holiday seems a little short sighted.
I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I guess I've come to expect articles on this site to carry a bit more insight into personal finance. How about discussing better ways of filing that involve putting your money in a CD vs. the government coffers? Overall there needs to be more education about taxes, and I apologize if I've tried to squeeze that our of this.
I would love tax season more if we had a flat tax. Just imagine how much easier tax filing would be if we all had to pay a flat rate!
Thanks,
Nate
So cool... way to take the initiative and be creative! A whole town has benefited. :)
Right or wrong up to that point, the B-word is specifically insulting to women. Sexism is also a hate crime. I can't condone the company's language no matter what led up to it.
The problem really started when they didn't send an order confirmation. And while the customer is to blame, it's a predictable error, and the retailer should send more worms, perhaps charging again for shipping. I suggest you live up to the name they called you and do a chargeback on the credit card you used with paypal.
I would also suggest incorporating the following remineralization products into a preventative dental health routine. The assist in the natural remineralization process that occurs in our mouths and make your teeth stronger. My dentist has noticed a big improvement in periodontal health and the reversal of early caries (cavities)
1) Recaldent
Used to be in Trident White gum, until they took it out and came out with (a more expensive, go figure...) gum called Trident Xtra Care. Not sure how much Recaldent is in each piece though.
A better/stronger product with Recaldent is GC MI Paste, which you put on your finger and spread over your teeth and let it sit for a few minutes before expectorating it. Marketed to dentists to treat white spot lesions and as a post-bleaching treatment, you can buy it yourself from places like dentist.net
2) NovaMin
Consumer products are just starting to appear with this product, also a remineralization compound which originally was developed/marketed as "BioGlass" which is used to help implant and bone material graft together. As the name suggests, it's a mixture of ionic forms of calcium, phosphorus, silica, and sodium which are constituents of glass, very "natural" ingredients. Dr. Collins makes a toothpaste with this compound in it called Restore. There is also a product called Oravive that just came on the market, I believe.
In any case, I agree that the dental (and medical) professions are often times focused more on fixing problems than preventing them, and that these professionals are usually ignorant of some of these preventative treatments or how to use them. I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but when you think about it, there is no financial incentive for medical professionals to encourage preventative care! They make their money by treating problems, not preventing them. In any case, nobody cares more about your own health than YOU do; I strongly encourage everyone to do their own research regarding how to take care of themselves.
"Because of the inequality, groups have argued that the current tax system supports an one income family and encourages women to stay at home."
First I would like to say that I was offended that this article would promote sexism like this. Why would the woman have to stay home? I am a woman, and I have a six figure salary, which is roughly 4x my husband's income. Whatever happened to empowering women?
a book for the rest of us. Those who need to get the network working but don't need to pass a technical interview.
I've had family run into similar problems. They ordered a Nintendo Wii and had some issues with the customer service. Though I am all about helping small businesses, you really roll the dice when you work with one. Look for online reviews (that's what Google is for), etc... for help.
Just be careful!
Great post.
Please enter me for the giveaway, would love to fix my home network!
I would encourage everyone always to do their own research and use their own judgment when seeking medical or dental care. The products recommended by Dr. Ellie are sold on the open market and considered safe. I would point out that conventional drugs and antibiotics used to treat infections and other health problems all have risks as well. As noted above, oral hygiene is linked to overall bodily health (in a causative fashion) and so it is much more than a matter of convenience or vanity.
Catherine Shaffer
Wise Bread Contributor
I could learn a thing or two from this!
This reminds me of when I bought my fiance a, very expensive!, book from his wishlist from Amazon. His wishlist address was out-of-date and the book was sent to his prior address and returned back to Amazon. I was refunded, but a little upset about the book. I didn't realize until I called them, what the problem was. I felt bad, and the price had increased. They were incredibly nice and even though it was against policy, shipped the book to the new address at the old price. I for one, enjoyed this warning article.
I think if what you are saying is TRUE, then it cannot be libel.
Also, bad customer service can come from small or large companies. I like to read consumerist.com to find out about how different companies treat consumers.
I have seen in quite a few eBay listings that the seller will only ship to the PayPal address. If this person buys on eBay on a regular basis, then she has seen that as well.
Mistake number 1: Kirby did not update her PayPal information on a timely basis.
Mistake number 2: When the order page did not ask for a shipping address, Kirby should have immediately emailed the seller to question how they would know what address to ship to.
Mistake number 3: Expecting a small, low margin business owner to lose additional money giving you more merchandise for free because you screwed up.
Mistake number 4: Going public in a widely read blog with identifying information about the seller, perhaps to punish the seller by depriving him/her of some business? Can you spell l-i-b-e-l ?
Thanks for the opportunity to get this book...I think it will be a great addition to our DIY library.
Back in the late 80's my twin brother bought a '79 Z-28 Camaro from a dealer and after driving it for several days he got around to detailing it inside, (We owned a detail shop at the time), and found three $10,000 money market certificates under the console glove box! He also found some other papers that had the previous owners name on it and we were able to track him down in the phone book. After asking him if he remembered leaving something in the car he kind of freaked out and told my brother about the certificates. We told him where our shop was and he came to get them.