On several occasions I’ve written about the things I’ve tried in order to make a few extra bucks. I guess it’s safe to say that at the moment, I’m not doing any of them.
As you know, I left my part-time job at Sears because it wasn’t worth the $7.25 an hour. Sure, I was supposed to get commissions on major sales, but the only items we sold in my department that earned a fair commission were riding mowers and treadmills. Well, I’m here to tell you that most people do not buy riding mowers and treadmills between the hours of 6-9 pm Monday through Thursday. Normal folks make major purchase on the weekends when they have time to look around. What they buy Monday thru Thursday is mower blades, oil, workout gloves and dumbbells or what some call accessories. There is no commission on accessories.
Since quitting my part-time gig at Sears, I’ve looked into a several new opportunities. What I can’t understand about the people who run some of these “opportunities” is why they are not in jail. A while back I subscribed to a newsletter that gave suggestions for starting a business at home. I mostly ignored the things they wrote about because they start off with things like “Make $10,000 a week from your kitchen table”. Well I go by the adage that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so I ignored most of the ideas.
Every now and then I would see something interesting and would research it to see what other people thought about it. It seems funny that a couple of times I found a lot of good reviews before I ordered it and then a lot of bad after I started having problems. I ordered a certain “assemble products at home” program and then waited for the promised email confirmation of my order. By the second day I received nothing and called the companies number (not 800). I got an answering machine that time and the next. I sent two emails asking if they received my order and got nothing. I then sent an email requesting a refund and they responded asking for my correct address and the name of the kit (they had several) I had ordered. I figured that at least I would get my refund. Five days later the kit arrived in the mail. It had been mailed the day after I sent my refund request. I sent the kit back unopened and sent an email telling them “nice try but I had lost confidence in the company” I also told them they had ten business days to get my refund to me. After eight days I sent a reminder email, telling them I would contact the Better Business Bureau on the tenth day. Nothing! So I processed an online complaint to their local BBB in Austin, TX on a Friday and the BBB sent me an email on Monday saying they had forwarded the complaint. While on the BBB site I noticed that there had been 36 complaints in the last three years, most of them unresolved. On Friday I received the first of two checks, it seems they had sent the wrong amount the first time. I also got a call from the owner of the company saying that he apologized for the mix up but he had some new people working for him. I told him that since there had been two phone calls and four emails ignored, he might want to look at replacing the new people as well.
The last two opportunities came by US mail delivered, unsolicited, to my house. Both of them sounded like real opportunities to make money and I could see where they could really work. This time I checked them both on line by searching by the owners name and then the word “review”. It turns out that there was a class action lawsuit against one for false advertising although you really could make money from it, if they would just pay you as agreed, which they seemed to have a hard time doing. The other could have worked as well if their prices were more competitive and they didn’t provide shoddy work.
Anyway, I’m still looking and am hoping to take advantage of some of my 94 web sites to do it. What do you think? Have you ever had a similar experience? Let me know by posting a comment and hopefully a recommendation. Just remember I will check it out and hold it against you forever, if it’s not real.
Posted by Tom S on Mar 18, 2010 in
Current Events,
General Info,
Home & Family
Well, we are down to the wire on the health care fiasco. Like it or not, a decision is likely to come in the next couple of days. The voices of the people have become too confusing and our representatives have once again decided to ignore us. They have also ignored the fact that the only thing that needed reform was the cost of health care. There was no need to redo the entire system, we only have to control, lawsuits, prescription costs and provide additional competition, in the form of the ability to get insurance in other states.
But I didn’t come to talk about health care, although you still have time to contact your representatives and tell them how you feel. I want to talk about the second most important issue today, that’s right, Home Insurance.
Why do we pay home insurance for 17 years and then the first time we make a claim our rates go up. Well, actually it was the second time, but the point is, why? Both claims were for under $2,000 and I will pay for them in only four years because my premiums went up by $700 a year. Now I can’t even search for new insurance because every company I talk to stops the discussion after asking how many claims I’ve had in the last three years. I guess two is the magic number.
It’s not like they did any work. All they did was send an independent adjuster here, who was in the neighborhood anyway (according to him). He wrote down a bunch of numbers and sent them to the insurance company, who sent me a check. I had to do all the work to correct the damage. Who pays for my time?
I think this sucks!! I wonder if they will lower my rates after I’ve paid back the money they paid me for the claims? I think not!! In fact, it’s almost guaranteed that my rates will continue to go up every couple of years. So after we finish talking about health care reform, we can jump on the housing insurance industry. Then we can go after car insurance, because I have a beef with them too, but we’ll save that for another post.
It’s getting to be too long between posts. That’s because I’m working two jobs and don’t have the time to sit and write like I want to. When I do write, I’m writing about the things that interest me and affect my life. I love writing my blog and maintaining all of my websites but it all seems one sided.
Many of you have sent me emails and called me to ask how you can leave a comment on my site. I guess I haven’t explained it right because I haven’t seen a comment for some time. I’d love to hear what you have to say, good or bad. I don’t want to continue to write if no one is interested in what I’m saying. If you leave a comment I’ll know where I stand and others will be able to read your comments and voice their opinion as well. I only ask that you keep any discussions at an adult level with no name calling , cussing or any of those other high school antics. Everyone, including you, is entitled to their opinion and like it or not this is America and you should respect an individuals right to free speech.
I have the option of disapproving comments and keeping them off of my site. However, if I deem a comment unsuitable for my blog, I will clean it up and let you all know what has been said.
So, to leave a comment you simply look to the right of the title of my post. There you will see what looks like a small piece of paper with a stick pin holding it. On the piece of paper there will be a number indicating how many comments have been left for that post. It will start at “0″ and go up as comments are added. Click on whatever number is there and it will take you to the comment form. Now, depending on your browser, screen size and length of my post, you may have to scroll down to see the form.If you happen to notice that the little piece of paper has disappeared and you do not see the form, then you have scroll down.
If you are getting notifications of new posts via email, you cannot leave a comment until you go to my site at www.TellMeAboutThat.com. If you’d like to be notified of new posts by email, you have to sign up for notifications on the right side of my blog page under “Subscribe to my Blog”. You may have to scroll down to see it.
You can also go back and comment on previous postings by looking under “Post Categories”, also on the right. If you click on a category you will see all of the previous posts pertaining to that subject. You can then select the one(s) you want to read and then post a comment if you desire.
So, I’m waiting to hear from you. Tell me what you like or don’t like or give me ideas about what you would like to see. Just remember there is only one of me and I can’t keep everybody happy.
