B&H
Photo Video I was very pleased with my online purchasing experience B&H Photo Video. I received Incredibly fast service ordering via their Web site. I placed my order at lunch time and it was onboard a Federal Express truck before the end of the day! (See note below.) The www.bhphotovideo.com Web site has the very best product information of any photographic Web site I have ever seen. They have some of the best pricing around too and they don't try to bate-and-switch you or call you up trying to sell you an extended warranty prior to shipping your purchase like some online retailers have been known to do. This was my second major purchase from them and I'm sure I'll do business with them again. Note that selected Federal Express over United Parcel Service. I paid an extra $18.00 ($41.00 total) to get the 2-day Federal Express service rather than $23.00 for the 2-day UPS service. UPS screwed me once before and as long a retailer offers a choice other than UPS, I don't plan on ever using their service again. Tone's Cayenne Pepper Prevacid I have a slight problem with major heartburn, especially after feasting on my favorite meal, pizza! The large amounts of cayenne pepper I put on my pizza could have something to do with it, but I believe the main culprits are the tomato sauce and heredity. Oh well, I can't be expected to give up eating pizza! I'm currently prescribed with one 30 mg capsule daily, and let me tell you, it's a life saver! Prevacid's benefits are especially apparent after eating a couple of delicious slices of pizza! Speaking of heartburn... if you're looking for a super-inexpensive method of stopping heartburn cold in its tracks, you should try one of my favorite drinks, "An Old Shoe". Although I gave this drink its name... because that's what it tastes like... I actually learned how to make this concoction from my father-in-law, Rich. To make An Old Shoe, add one teaspoon Arm & Hammer baking soda to 4-6 oz. of water... stir well... and slam it! Within minutes, the baking soda begins neutralizing the acids in your stomach, relieving the symptoms of heartburn. Of course, the obvious by-product of the acid-neutralization process is carbon-dioxide gas. Tip: Don't slam an Old Shoe when you're expecting to kiss anyone in the next five minutes or so. Plochman's Yellow Mustard - Plochman's Yellow Mustard gets my vote for best yellow mustard on the planet. Plochman's doesn't have that vinegary taste that the "other" yellow mustard has. If you're a yellow mustard fan, you deserve to give it a try. Your neighborhood grocer doesn't carry Plochman's? You can order it from their online store! Sign me up for "The Mustard Lover's Club"! Carvin UPS - United Parvel Service When my Dell PowerEdge server arrived at my home with the entire front door of the computer ripped off it's hinges and some internal components damaged, I immediately contacted UPS. They told me to keep all of the packaging the computer shipped in and that they would send an insurance investigator out in a few days. Two days later, the insurance investigator came out and took a look at the computer and the box/packaging it was shipped in. He told me, (paraphrasing) "Well, it looks like you have a claim here. It's plain to see that the computer was very well-packaged and was mishandled during shipping". I was happy to hear that UPS was going to honor their insurance policy, I mean what good is paying extra for an insurance policy if you're not going to get some reparations if they damage the item you shipped. Well... if only it was that easy! Unfortunately, when dealing with UPS, it's the person shipping the item that has to submit the insurance claim! I contacted the company in Arizona who sold me the computer on eBay and requested that he submit the claim to UPS, including proof that the computer was worth the price we insured it for; the amount I paid on eBay. A couple days later, the man contacted me and told me he had sent in the required paperwork. After weeks of no response from United Parcel Service, I contacted them regarding the insurance claim. They basically rewound the tape and told me the same thing; the sender has to submit the claim, etc. I told them the sender had contacted me and told me he had sent in the paperwork. UPS said they never received it and asked for it to be resent. I contacted the sender and asked him to send it in again. After additional time without a response from UPS, I contacted them again. They told me the same story, that the sender would need to provide proof of the computer's value, etc. I told them the paperwork had already been sent in twice! They asked me to have the sender provide the paperwork again. By this time, the guy who sold me the computer had had enough of UPS and told me he had sent in the paperwork twice, and he wasn't going to send it in again. Great... UPS stalls long enough that the sender gets exasperated and by default, UPS saves by not having to pay an insurance claim! I'm sure some people might suspect the integrity of the man who sold me the Dell PowerEdge server on eBay. Was the computer really in perfect shape when he shipped it? Did he really send in the requested information to UPS? I firmly believe he did and here's why. Most of the companies selling used servers like this one generally stripped the computer of all but one hard drive, (this computer holds 5 hard drives), so they could profit by selling the other hard drives individually on eBay. All five hard drives were still intact when I received this computer. Oh, here's something extra in the box too, a brand new mother board, in case the original goes bad. How many con-artists would provide you with a spare motherboard for the computer? Not many. For these reasons, plus the fact that the server was packed very well, complete with spray-foam packing, etc., I believe this was an honest person. Honest people try to assist in a situation like this, so I'm confident sent in the paperwork, twice. Fact is... I'm the one who got ripped off by "Big Brown" doo doo. It probably would have only cost UPS about $100 to fix the door on my PowerEdge and replace the CPU cooling fan that had been dislodged by their violent handling of my package. Even though this event occurred in March 2001, as I write this description for my new InMyHumbleOpinion.info Web site in March 2006, five years later, I still feel 'dissed' and have gone out of my way not to do business with United Parcel Service! I'll pay a couple of bucks extra to use Federal Express or use the United Postal Service, just so I never have to see that big brown truck stop in front of my house again. I'm quite confident that they have already lost much more than they ever would have spent on the insurance claim, because I have all but quit doing business with them. Upcoming... 1969 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible 1975 Oldsmobile Delta 88 Royale convertible Roland DB-500 Personal Thoughts... What can big brown doo doo for you? |