Tips and Resources | Dangerous Common Sense

Spam Slowing Down

Spam vs. Good Messages for the Past 30 Days

Symantec is reporting a sharp drop in the number of spam messages sent out since July, 2010 when 90% of all messages were spam. Today, they are recording only 73% as spam.

Obviously it’s not time to throw away the spam filters, especially when your email address is on the Internet for business purposes. I use Spam Arrest and based on the statistics chart for my account this morning, I’m way above 90% spam in the past 30 days. So, your spam results may vary.

Check out what’s been done about spam and why the counts are falling.

By Ozdachs|2011-07-05T08:00:39-07:00July 5th, 2011|Tips and Resources|0 Comments

How LivingSocial is Anti-Social

Our favorite local restaurant alerted me to its upcoming” $50 of food for $25″ deal on LivingSocial. So, I went online yesterday and signed up on my iPhone.

I will buy the deal for Eurkea when it shows up. But, ugh. LivingSocial itself is pretty much a mess:

There’s no obvious way to change your password. When I signed up yesterday on the iPhone I picked a simple password, intending on making it more secure when I was at my desktop and had access to my random character password generator. Now I don’t see any link to change what I first entered. Nothing in their help search for “change password” either.Okay, LivingSocial… but don’t expect me to store a credit card or other sensitive information with you!
Their “recommend a friend process” is cheesy.
- The LivingSocial recommendation page asks you to enter your friends’ email addresses. They show you the spammy message that they’ll send to your friends, but you cannot change it.
  
  “Hey, have you checked out LivingSocial’s Daily Deals? Each day, you get an email with huge discounts to restaurants, spas, museums, and more — all for 50-90% off!
  
  I’m already a member and this is your invitation to join. It’s free — just click on this link to sign up. You’ll immediately get 5 Deal Bucks, and I’ll get 5 Deal Bucks when you buy your first deal.”
  
  That’s not my style, so I won’t be sending friends recommendations. (Okay, if you write and ask, I’ll put in your email address. But, I won’t spam unsuspecting friends with LivingSocial corporate chatter.)
- The graphic at the top of the page implies that you will receive $5 credit for just sending an email message inviting a friend to join. That’s unreasonably generous, but, that’s what they’re offering, right? Wrong! The real offer is “When a friend uses your link, they’ll get 5 Deal Bucks to help them buy their first deal. Once they do, you’ll get 5 as well!” That’s reasonable, but it is not what the graphic says.
LivingSocial Refer a Friend Offer
LivingSocial wants you to live in Los Angeles. Very “Ugh!
“When I signed up on my phone yesterday, I gave the app my permission to use my location, presumably so it would send me local deals. Instead, it showed me current San Francisco Bay deals, but subscribed me to the deal emails for Los Angeles.There doesn’t seem to be a way to pick a home city. Instead, I clicked around and discovered that I could un-subscribe from LA deals and instead ask for San Francisco deals. The process isn’t intuitive, and I am not sure most people would work that hard.

Services like LivingSocial who are playing catch-up to dominant players (Groupon, in this case), have to give consumers a reason to switch to them. LivingSocial is offering only an inferior user experience. I signed up because I’m looking forward to saving $25 at Eureka. But, once that’s accomplished, Groupon is going to be site I spend my bargain hunting time!

By Ozdachs|2011-06-12T09:59:44-07:00June 11th, 2011|Social Media, Tips and Resources|1 Comment

Why You Should Not Use a Debit Card

Banks don’t keep their promise of zero fraud liability on debit cards.
Here’s my personal experience which will get me to rely on sole credit cards (and the Federal consumer protection laws they have).

May 21, 2011
Wells Fargo
PO Box 6995
Portland, OR 97228-9995

REGARDING: FAILURE TO CREDIT FRAUDULENT DEBIT CARD CHARGES IN A TIMELY MANNER

Dear Wells Fargo,

Someone recently charged $100 at an Exxon station in Connecticut to my debit card while I was at sea on a cruise
ship. My first clue that something was wrong was when I was at a port call, tried to get cash from an
ATM, and my request was declined. Apparently, your security system correctly suspected that my
card had been compromised and blocked my card. Of course, I didn’t know about the reason for the
card problem until I returned home and looked at my online banking statement and saw the fraud.

I saw the charge on May 19th and immediately called your bank. I received a FAX of a claim form,
filled out the statement, and FAXed the completed form to your fraud department within an hour.

Friday, May 20th, I received in the mail a new debit card with a letter that said, “… your debit card
number and/or Personal Identification Number were identified as being at risk for unauthorized
transactions. As a precaution measure, we will be closing your current card and issuing you a new
debit card…” Your fraud department sent this on their own initiative, and it reinforces my statement
to you.

Today, I called to see why my account had not been credited for the fraudulent $100 charge.

Pauline at 800-548-9554 first said that my FAX was unreadable, even though I had not been
contacted about problems with its clarity. Then she put me on hold, confirmed with me that I never
lost my card, and said that she would have a temporary credit issued which will post to my account
by Tuesday.

Tuesday? She said that the bank has given itself two business days to scan in FAXed forms and
another two business days to issue credits. So, Tuesday is within the standards the bank set for itself.

This is an unacceptable retention of my money. Your own fraud department believes my card was
misused. I provided you with the requested statements immediately. You should respond and make
my account whole the same day you receive the statement you need from me.

Your debit card promotional material says that I will enjoy “Zero Liability and full reimbursement for
promptly reported unauthorized purchases…” The clear implication is that you’ll credit my account
when I tell you of a problem. You don’t say you’ll credit accounts on your own leisurely schedule.

You are not keeping the promise you are making to consumers.

Sincerely,
Galen B. Workman

By Ozdachs|2011-05-21T16:23:45-07:00May 21st, 2011|Tips and Resources|1 Comment

Off the Grid!

Ozdachs is on vacation and completely away from the Internet!

We’ll be back Thursday, May 19th. There are some posts scheduled while we’re away, but responses to your email or comments will happen after we’re back.

By Ozdachs|2011-04-28T18:30:10-07:00April 29th, 2011|Tips and Resources|0 Comments

Cisco is Killing the Flip Video Camera

Cisco announced today that it is discontinuing the Flip video camera. This is quite a turnaround from 2009 when Cisco bought the company that produced the super-cool device for $590 million. Some write-down!

Wired magazine suggests that the Flip is being killed because its sales have fallen and it’s past its moment of coolness. I think they’re on to something, but it’s not just about the Flip. It’s about large corporations overpaying for something unique and cool, corporatizing the soul out of it, and then having to unload the non-performing asset at bargain prices.

The Flip is/was a smart idea. But Cisco didn’t keep the brand on the edge of technology. There’s no button to upload over the air to Facebook, or something like that. The 2011 Flip is the 2009 Flip. There’s no Flip momentum in the Flip.

Yet, if Cisco had kept its hands off the camera, I’m betting we all would be wanting a Flip. But, a Cisco Flip just doesn’t have the spunk — rosy sale future — that corporate overlords require.

As it is, the Flip is in demand. I tried to order two this afternoon from Amazon.com. Amazon refused, saying that they were limiting Flips to one per client.

With that type of restriction, Flip doesn’t sound like a failure.

By Ozdachs|2011-04-12T16:56:26-07:00April 12th, 2011|Tips and Resources|0 Comments