Jeremy Duffy - Awareness Advocate » Ripoffs

Symantec Partners with Lifelock

Jeremy — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:11:53 +0000

Wow. Symantec has always been a fairly reputable company that I've had little issue with other than that their security software is historically bloated and a resource hog. But now that they've partnered with Lifelock, I can only assume one of two things: Symantec is willing to throw their customers under the bus for money or they have no quality control. Either way, I think it's definitely time to stick with McAfee.

If you want to stay safe while working on your computer or browsing web sites, you can get Norton Internet Security or Norton AntiVirus with a 30-day LifeBook service and 10% off the subscription, along with two movie tickets. After the trial period ends you will be charged automatically with $9 a month, or $99 annually.

Granted, McAfee also does this "free trial" BS in order to trick customers into subscriptions that they didn't know they were getting, but at least the free trial is for their anti-virus software and not some shady ID theft insurance deal.

Lifelock Loses Court Battle and Two Bullet Points

Jeremy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 03:23:35 +0000

Lifelock was sued by Experian for placing fraud alerts for anyone and everyone when the alerts are supposed to be set by individuals themselves and only when they feel they are at risk for ID theft. While I think the whole fraud alert system is bogus and it doesn't really matter if you set one or not, I can't help but snicker that the courts ruled that the practice of a 3rd party company setting them for customers (like Lifelock does) is not legal.

Considering that the first 2 bullet points on Lifelock's "what we do" page is "set fraud alerts" and "set them again after they expire", their list of what you supposedly get for the money you pay is going to look quite anemic indeed.

Acai Berry Company Ripoff Exposed

Jeremy — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:55:05 +0000

Whether this Acai berry has any useful properties or not, when people purchased the "risk-free trial offer" ended up getting charged for tons of extras based on the sneaky way that the company set up their online purchasing system. Customers had to actively find and de-select options for upsell products and add-ons that were selected by default. Anyone that failed to notice them was charged.

Be careful when dealing with infomercial and snazzy website ads for products that claim much, but deliver little. Particularly in the case of food, drinks, or medicines where you won't be able to see the truth of the claims for years (if ever).

Lifelock Under 6th Class Action Lawsuit

Jeremy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:35:57 +0000

I have no idea how I missed this, but it's great news regardless!

If you signed up with Lifelock and are unhappy with their service or guarantee or just want further info on the class action you can contact David Paris at Marks & Klein, (732)-747-7100.

I almost wish I had signed up for Lifelock so I could get involved.

Lifelock Partners with Transunion… Sort of

Jeremy — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:30:13 +0000

Specifically, the agreement between LifeLock and TransUnion will automate and streamline the processes through which fraud alerts and opt outs are set, confirmed to be in-force and credit reports are provided for LifeLock members. These enhancements will serve to further strengthen LifeLock's delivery of proactive consumer identity theft protection services.

In other words, Transunion has decided to allow Lifelock to place fraud alerts and opt-outs on behalf of customers instead of suing them for abusing the system like Experian did. Wooo.

They advertise this like it's some great thing, but all it does is make life easier for Lifelock and doesn't have any benefit to you as a customer at all.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Gift Cards

Jeremy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:49:08 +0000

It's that time of year when companies are pushing gift cards again. Safeway is even selling gift cards for other companies (how convenient). Here are the top 5 reasons to reconsider before forking out cash for a tiny plastic card:

5) Bankruptcy or Worse

The company may be bought out, declare bankruptcy, or go out of business. A caller at our local radio station was complaining that she had received a $150 gift card to a store that is now going out of business and wouldn't honor the gift card anymore. Ouch. Considering the times, this is probably not that unlikely of an event (Congress isn't likely to bail out any of your given retail stores, even if it's your favorite).

4) Gift cards can be stolen

Granted, no one is likely to pull a knife on you and demand your gift cards (though if they take your wallet, it's the same thing), but the far more common scenario is this: Go to Safeway where they have those racks of various stores' gift cards. Pick a popular store that has mostly high-dollar items. Write down the information on the back of several of the cards sometime in October or November. Just before Christmas, call the number to check the balance of the cards and see if any are active. Go shopping.

Think this is far-fetched? It happens.

3) Fees and Restrictions

Many have fees, expiration dates, restrictions, and other legal snags that make the gift card hard or impossible to use. You find that awesome sale item online only to find out that you can only use gift cards in the stores. If you keep the card in your wallet for too long, you could find yourself with little to no money left due to a declining balance.

2) Gift cards can be lost or forgotten

Keep in mind that by giving someone a gift card, you are giving them a job of getting off their butts and going to the store to find something they want at whatever store you selected. Some people find it hard to find the time or energy to make their way to the store for days and weeks or longer. Eventually, they may forget the card is there or lose it somewhere.

1) It's a damned lousy gift

Even if you pick a store that surely won't go out of business using your telepathic powers, you are a legal whiz and read all the terms and conditions and know it's a good deal, you are driving the recipient to the store as you hand them the card, and they also know exactly what they want, there's still one big problem: Imagine Christmas morning as a kid. You excitedly rip off the wrapping paper to find some wonderful toy or game and can't wait till your parents tell you that you can go off and play with it which you do for the rest of the day and probably the next few as well. Remember how disappointing it was to get clothes or something else practical that you couldn't play with?

Christmas may be about different things to different people (let's not argue that here), but I submit what is and has always made it truly magical was the excitement of fun gifts and toys. Once I finally realized that a few years back, I have made a conscious effort to make sure that everyone I give a gift too has something they can play with. A gadget, a movie, a video game, whatever. If they weren't excited to be done with "present time" and go do something with your gift, you did it wrong.

Nothing says, "I don't know or care about you, but I'm obligated to get you SOMETHING so this seems like a good idea since I won't run the risk of getting you something you won't like" like a gift card.

Disclaimer

I know that there are SOME cases where buying a gift card is a good thing. This is usually only when someone in your family wants something really expensive that no one can afford and everyone knows it so they pitch in with gift cards. I've never seen that go badly so long as it was under those circumstances.

The other thing I know people will beat me up for in comments if I don't say something first is how hard it is to get someone a good gift sometimes. Here's two tips:

1) Get them something AND a gift card. Make a damned effort you lazy bum.
2) Get you and your family on a gift registry. I made one of my own for my family on my website years back and it's been great! I always know what kinds of gifts my family would like no matter how scattered our time together or phone conversations may be. Even if I don't buy them exactly what they have listed on the site, I at least have an idea of what kinds of things they would like.

So with that said, have a happy and gift card responsible season!

Beware Engine Flushes

Jeremy — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:39:45 +0000

Apparently, "flushing" your engine can destroy it and leave your car a useless lump.

(H/T to Digg.com for the link)

Disgruntled Employee (Whistleblower) Slams Gamestop’s Rapacious Business Practices

Jeremy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:37:10 +0000

A disgruntled former employee of GameStop calling himself "WhistleBlowerZero" has created a 9-part YouTube video series which explains quickly, but in exhaustive detail, the many reasons why you, Dear Consumer, should not shop at GameStop.

That pretty much sums it up. I listened to a few of them and the best part is that it's both amusing and packed with real world information and math that explains exactly why Gamestop is a huge rip-off.

Beware “Brick in a Box”

Jeremy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:50:49 +0000

Sometimes when you buy something online or at a major retailer, you'll get it home to find out that it's full of bricks or bathroom tiles instead of the product you expected. Sometimes this is due to shifty warehouse workers and sometimes because a customer buys a product, says it's defective and returns it even though they replaced it with bricks. If the customer service counter doesn't check the box before accepting it, it goes back on the shelf and you get stuck with it.

The store's response to this is generally not going to work in your favor, but there are ways you can make sure you don't end up with the brick.

Read the article for full details, but here are the two main tips they cover that I agree with:

Pay with credit card – This will give you many types of buyer protection automatically like the ability to do a chargeback.
Check the item before you leave the store – Make sure you know what's actually in that box before you walk out. It's much harder for them to make the claim that you put a brick in it inside the store.
Policies aren't laws – Just because a story says "it's policy" doesn't mean you should give up. They often have very bad policies and even some that might be considered illegal. You should fight for what's right regardless of what the store says is "policy".

How to Deal With Flight Cancellations

Jeremy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:17:15 +0000

With the stark increase in flight cancellations this year, it's in your best interests to have some idea of how to fight back.