Only a buck, sounds legit.
Category Archives: Selling it
Caution: RabbitTV
This appeared in my email today:
Sound too good to be true? Well, guess what.
From SFGate:
Q: I’ve been seeing TV commercials for Rabbit TV, a USB stick that supposedly provides free access to thousands of television stations worldwide over the Internet – including all the big networks, Disney and ESPN. Apparently when you plug it into an Internet-connected computer, a menu appears with links that take you directly to video streams. The Rabbit TV costs $10 a year. As a person who pays nearly $100 a month for satellite TV, I’m afraid this sounds too good to be true. Is Rabbit TV legit, or is it a scam?
A: It’s a big-time scam. All Rabbit TV does is point you to websites that have video. And, with rare exceptions for breaking news, the big U.S. networks don’t show live programming on the Internet. Ditto for ESPN, Disney and other top cable networks. With Rabbit TV, live streaming is limited to small local stations, religious and shopping channels. Repeat: There is nothing on Rabbit TV that you can’t get by entering a URL into your browser.
In fact, you can get the same experience that Rabbit TV provides by going to wwitv.com. That’s World Wide Internet Television, which, like Rabbit TV, has a clickable menu for accessing websites of global TV stations that show live and recorded programming.
This piece of junkvertising reminds me of the most deceptive advertisement I’ve ever seen.
Rabbit TV responds with the following text on their rebuttal website:
Q: Why would I use Rabbit TV when I can access most of the same stuff on my own?
A: Viewers want to spend time watching content, not searching for it.
Similar to the print publication TV Guide, who for years made you aware of what was going to be on your television set every week, Rabbit TV is simply more robust, interactive, and option-packed for the new age of TV, automatically gathering, categorizing, managing and organizing an overwhelming 2 million+ video updates daily. It also introduces you to loads of new content you’d never find on your own everyday, including massive worldwide options that aren’t even available through cable or satellite.
Rabbit TV does all the work, so you don’t have to.
If Rabbit TV were advertised as an information aggregator service, it would probably pass muster. Based on their spamvertising and their deceptive website (I don’t recommend clicking that link, but I provide it in the interest of full disclosure), however, they appear to offer one thing but in actuality offer something entirely different, and that’s where the problem lies.
The drones are still hoping that there’s a sucker born every minute; sadly, they’re right. No one is immune – all of us can be taken in by a slick operator if the conditions are right, because these slimeballs are very good at what they do. All we can do is educate ourselves and strengthen our resolve to be vigilant. And, of course, pass the word along.
I’ll stop (barely) short of calling it a scam myself because apparently there are some people who like this service; judge for yourself, but be careful out there.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Auto Repair: It pays to shop around
We recently took my wife’s good old 97 Tercel, “Jack”, in for his yearly emissions test. Sadly, he failed – it seems that his catalytic converter had gracefully given up the ghost. After 15 years, that’s not unexpected. So we began to check local repair shops for a replacement. What I found was a real eye-opener. Here are the quotes I was given from local service people. Prices reflect parts and labor.
| Brent Brown Toyota, Orem, UT | $1078.59 |
| Larry Miller Toyota, Salt Lake City | $973.00 |
| Midas Salt Lake | $300.00 to $350.00 |
| Exhaust Unlimited | $220.00 to $1000.00 |
| Auto Performance Napa Autocare, Provo, UT | $350.00 |
| Autoworks Car Care, Payson, UT | $220.00 |
Most places quoted me based on some ultra-special converter they said the car needed, which in itself cost around $800.00. We ended up going through Autoworks in Payson; they did a fine job, Jack passed his test, and off we went, happy at having saved significant money.
I have nothing against a business model based on honest markup for a fair profit, but some of these places definitely don’t have the customer’s best interest in mind.
Another story that I just happened to recall, since I’m on the subject. Years ago, my first wife and our children took a trip to SoCal in our 1983 Buick Skylark. We had a wonderful time, and about 15 minute after we had gotten on the freeway in San Diego to head home, our transmission went out. I arranged a tow truck, and not knowing anyone in the area, had our car taken to AAMCO.
Big mistake.
They hauled our car in, took the transmission off, quoted us $1875 to repair it, and refused to put it back in unless we paid them to do it. Bastards. I later found out that nationwide, AAMCO is known for meaning “All Automatics Must Come Out.” I told them where they could stick their scam, and arranged for Interstate Transmissions to come get our car (and the tranny in a box). I sent my family home by air, rented a vehicle and stayed with my brother-in-law for a few days until the car was done, and Interstate charged me something like $1175, which included a lifetime warranty. And a good thing, too – because the transmission did go out again a year later, and they honored their warranty and fixed it at no additional cost.
Never take the first quote you get on something; always check around; and remember, a big name doesn’t guarantee honest or fair service. Be careful out there.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Beware the Stealth Install
I get a lot of use out of a program called Free Studio from DVDVideoSoft. I really appreciate their product, and I get to use it for nothing, so I have no axe to grind with this company – but they get to be the teacher in the moment.
They have a cluster of products that operate under the Free Studio Manager head, and periodically one of them will update. Every time I download and install a newer version, I have to be careful that I don’t install something that I don’t really want, commonly known as crapware or foistware.
Here’s the first menu that I see:
Notice that the “Express” option is going to give me the AVG toolbar. Now, in this case again, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I used AVGFree for years before migrating to MS Security Essentials (the latter program uses far less overhead), and was very happy with it – I never had a single infection in all the years I was using it. But I just don’t use toolbars, so I didn’t want this one.
In order to decline the install, one has to hit the “Custom” radio button – but notice that it’s greyed out, which will cause some people to miss it, and others to think it’s been disabled. It is, however, completely functional.
Clicking the “Custom” button allows you to uncheck all the options for AVG and continue. But we’re not done – there’s another menu to get past first.
I have no idea what Sendori is, other than some sort of security program, but I don’t care to install it – so I have to uncheck the “I accept” statement, and hit next. At last my program installs.
I get that DVDVideoSoft needs to monetize their product in some way, so again I’m not really complaining – but be sure that you carefully read all the menu options you are presented with when installing sofwtware – even the stuff that you have bought and paid for. Particularly annoying is any program that wants to install the “Ask” toolbar – it will also infect your browsers, change your homepage, alter your default search engine, and your default keyword search options. Oracle is a major offender here; fortunately, Java is less and less needed for anything useful. If you want to go the second mile, there’s a Change.org petition asking Oracle to stop bundling this piece of crapware with its products.
So just be careful… it’s a jungle out there.
EDIT: Click through for another superb article about this sleazy technique.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Pimsleur Approach: Still at it
Every now and then something goes squirrely on a website that I’m viewing, so I fire up my other browsers to see if it’s a coding issue. Firefox and Chrome both have Adblock Plus installed, so I never see affiliate marketing or sponsored ads, but Internet Explorer is not so endowed. This morning I encountered this:
I have blogged in detail about pimsleurapproach.com (I recommend the original article), but their deceptive advertising campaign continues, so I felt moved to put up another warning.
Note: The same caveat applies here – I’m not talking about the Pimsleur method, currently owned by Simon and Schuster, which I happen to think is quite effective for obtaining some basic proficiency in a language; I’m talking about affiliate marketers like this outfit, whose slick website and deceptive marketing campaigns trick countless consumers into buying products they don’t want and never ordered.
Red Flags – if you see any of these marketing techniques, run the other way without looking back. Commercial concerns that use them have fewer scruples than a hungry weasel in a hen house.
- Attention grabbers. The words “shocking” or “one weird trick,” or other similar things.
- “Limited availability” – People find objects and opportunities more attractive to the degree that they are scarce, rare, or dwindling in availability.
- “As seen on Oprah/PBS/Forbes/CNN, etc. – People are more willing to follow the directions or recommendations of a communicator to whom they attribute relevant authority or expertise
- Large print / Small print – The Pimsleur Approach advertises 8 lessons for $9.95, with a 30-day money-back guarantee. What many people don’t see is their small-print, gray-type footnote box and “key facts” popup, which say that one month after your initial order, you will receive a new course every 60 days (always with a 30-day money-back guarantee), for which you will cheerfully pay $264.00. Most of the abundant complaints found at boards like Ripoff Report come from people who didn’t read the fine print, unauthorized charges to their credit cards, rude and aggressive customer service agents who threaten your credit rating, and difficulty obtaining a refund because of the way that the company times their shipments.
- Browser Hijacking – If you get on to a page and click your “back” button, you may get one of these:
This tactic screams “unethical.” Next to blinking text on a website (which you notice you almost never see any more) it’s one of the most hated advertising techniques out there, along with popups and popunders. If you see it, the company is saying to your face, “we don’t give a rat’s south-40 about you, we just want your money.”
There’s nothing wrong with the Pimsleur Method and the courses published by Simon and Schuster. I’ve used several of them successfully as a springboard into further study, and they can be fun and enjoyable, especially if you’re on the road. Many libraries have multiple copies which you can check out for free, and if you want the courses, go directly to Pimsleur’s website, or to Amazon where you can find many of these courses at a substantial discount. Just stay away from pimsleurapproach.com, unless you want to deal with a company whose principal goal is to separate you from your money at any cost.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Life Insurance: Spam ‘n’ Scam
The Internet is a perfect place to steal people’s money legally. All you have to do is write something, post it, and the equivalent population of Belgium will take it as gospel truth. There’s a lot responsible for this phenomenon, but lack of education appears to be the primary culprit.
This appeared in my mailbox last night, typical of the kind of UCE (junk mail) that Comcast’s filters allow to slip through.
Warning: NEVER buy life insurance from Globe Life, this is not an endorsement!
I could smell the rotting fish almost before I opened my malibox this morning. Red flags:
- The fact that they’re spamming at all. Ethical companies don’t spam.
- The “marketer” or affiliate being paid to send out this putrescence is “Future Modern Logistic” which has no internet presence and a UPS Store PO Box for a mailing address
- The bait-and-switch tactic using a huge headline plus an asterisk[*] followed by lots of small print is immediately suspect.
- A quick search of “Globe Life Insurance” brings up page after page of consumer complaints.
- Using shills to promote the company, even if the writer couldn’t get a “C” on a third-grade composition. Have a look at this “endorsement” I found at nationwide-insurance.org – the website is a black-hat SEO spamdexing site which provides no useful content but rather spurious data and backlinks to other sites in an effort to boost their search ratings:
“Globe Life Insurance Scam-Our Honest Review
There are some insurance companies that do scam except is the globe life insurance scam legit? Globe life insurance corporation is a great company who offers a great insurance policy. When we are asked if we think they are one of the insurance scams our answer is no. They have great insurance deals and if you seem up insurance reviews you will notice their reviews are great. Plus you can go online and get free insurance quotes for life and health insurance. When you get an insurance quote make sure you select the right semester life insurance. Also they supply event insurance in case you want to connect to two. We also have a protective life insurance company scam you might want to check out”
Bad punctuation, horrid grammar, and it goes on for about 8 more paragraphs of the same kind of liquid dung. I mean, who in the name of Mogg’s holy grandmother would consider doing business with a company that descends to this kind of tactic? Perhaps the kind of people who believe the “Cash4Gold” infomercials…
The Internet is a huge place, and I don’t anticipate that a small voice like mine, crying in the wilderness, will have a large impact. But if one single person reads this and as a result, refrains from doing business with Globe Life or another disreputable company of the same caliber, it will have been worth the time.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
*Like this. By reading this blog post you are legally obligating yourself to send $50,000 per year to the blogger in perpetuity, and to eat nattō three times a day without complaining about how slimy it is.
She chose… poorly.
That cute little plastic thing in the filter looked cool, but it did absolutely nothing to reduce the harm being inflicted on her body.
Useless products from a bygone era
Striptease Tie
The Nothing Box. I always wanted one of these, but the fact that it died hard after a year put me off.
The Pet Rock
The Invisible Dog – another brilliant idea from the 70’s.
Pogs. Originally the stopper for a glass bottle of milk – today the perfect example of a collecting craze created by marketing and based on nothing. Happily, short-lived.
Original pog.
Use this “one weird trick” to rob consumers blind!
When I’m using my home computers, I never see ads. Ever. Browser add-ons Ad Block Plus and F.B. Purity (available for both Firefox and Chrome) ensure that affiliate ads are a thing of the past. My Droid is not so fortunate, and this morning I happened across this one:
I smiled wryly because despite its overwhelming appearance everywhere, the “weird trick” (in this case, “sneaky linguistic secret”) meme is still generating millions of dollars from uneducated and unwary consumers.
- Check out this article at the Daily Kos about “one weird trick discovered by a mom.”
- For more about how affiliate marketing scams work, an excellent read is found at the Washington Post’s “Ubiquitous ‘tiny belly’ online ad” article; I have discussed the Açaí berry scam in detail as well.
Now that that’s out of the way, the “Pimsleur Approach” is a scam. Plain and simple, no ifs, ands, or buts.
- Be aware: This is NOT the Pimsleur Method, (a legitimate language-learning concern) but rather a marketing scam run by a network of affiliates, some of them known criminals, who are promoting Pimsleur products.
We’re talking about rampant spamming and deceptive marketing practices; before Comcast filtered them out, I used to get several of their spam mails each week, and the complaints boards are full of unhappy people – just have a look at the WOT (Web of Trust) feedback site for pimlseurapproach.com, or Ripoff Report’s complaint board.
- Look at the phony endorsements: PBS, Forbes, and the Daily News. I’d bet each of these concerns have mentioned the Pimsleur Method at one point or another, but not this particular company.
- “Doctor’s Discovery” refers to Paul M. Pimsleur, PhD, whose research focused on understanding the learning process of children, who acquire languages without understanding its formal structure. Pimsleur developed an audio language course method that is actually quite effective in acquiring a basic level of proficiency in a language, but “learn a language in 10 days” would have Dr. Pimsleur spinning in his grave.
- Have a look at their website:
Most people sign up for the $9.95 offer without reading the (†) box, which states:
† Pimsleur Rapid Fluency Purchase Program:
One month after you receive your Quick & Simple you’ll begin receiving 30 day trial copies of advanced Pimsleur courses in the language you selected. Each course is yours to try for 30 days. You’ll receive a new course once every 60 days. For each course you keep we’ll bill you in four monthly payments of $64. Remember, there’s never an immediate obligation to buy any course because of the 30-day trial period provided with each shipment. And you may cancel future shipments at any time by calling 1-877-802-5283. See Key Details.
The “Key Details” spell out in greater detail your obligation to receive and be charged $256.00 for each additional course they send you, the first 30 days after you place your initial order, and every 60 days thereafter.
Yes, it’s all there on the website, but cleverly hidden in small, gray type which most people won’t read. The complaints boards are rampant with people being charged recurring fees, difficulty obtaining refunds, rude customer support agents (a hallmark of shady operators who bully unhappy customers), and of course, the unbridled spamming.
Stay far away from this company. I’ll be writing more about the actual Pimsleur Method later, but if you want to check it out, just head for your local library. It’s a good bet they have several of the beginner courses there for you to check out for free and see if you like the method. If you can’t find anything at your branch, go directly to Pimsleur’s site (they are now a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster); they offer a free lesson with each language so you can see how it works. If you decide you like the method, head over to Amazon where you can usually find the courses at a significant discount.
Just don’t have anything to do with this sleazy “Pimsleur Approach” outfit.
This has been a public service announcement from The Old Wolf.
Blog Spam
I love the way WordPress filters out spam comments automatically – they have a strong system (Akismet) and thus far nothing has slipped through. In the last few days alone, I’ve accumulated the following shill “comments”:
- Perfume sales – 1
- Brazilian email marketing lists – 6
- Sex related or Viagra – 4
- SEO – 1
- Scout underwriters (whatever the hqiz that is) – 1
- Translation Services – 1
- Swedish refrigerators – 1
Many of the comments are written to look like real comments from real people, but contain embedded links or additional commercial text. An example: “This is a nice site over here. I think I’ll visit your website more if you post more of this kind of specific information. Many thanks for posting this information.” But the comment was posted by a sex chat website. These comments are automatically filtered and no one ever sees them; in your face, spammers.
It just blows my mind how many people out there ignore all conventions of decency when it comes to pushing their product. Simply astonishing. Discussion forums are also frequently the target of what are called “spambots” – programs that register on a forum with usernames like “bksjwevrruz”, exclusively for the purpose of posting spam. Even if the comment posted is innocuous, somewhere in the username or user profile is a link back to the spammer’s website which a crawler will pick up and count as a linkback, thereby raising the host site’s ranking (or so they hope.)
It’s a jungle – as Quaritch said about Pandora, “Out there beyond that fence every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for jujubes.” Except on the internet, the eyeballs they want are clicks on their pages, so they can get your money, steal your personal data, or infect your computer with malware.
Be careful out there.
The Old Wolf has spoken.
Playing in the World Game 