Network Solutions Can’t Multiply and Has Secret Pricing

When Husband started doing freelance work he set up a website for the business. We were referred by a friend to Network Solutions for our domain name and we purchased our domain name for five years. We did not shop around for price. At the time I didn’t completely understand or trust this whole web thing so I wanted to go with a company based a trusted referral.

Since then I’ve learned a great deal, but am an expert in no one’s eyes, especially my own. I know just enough to get myself in trouble.

Our domain registration is up this month, and Network Solutions haws been e-mailing me to remind me to renew. The e-mail included the renewal prices:

• 1 year $34.99/yr
• 2 years $29.99/yr
• 3 years $24.99/yr
• 5 years $19.99/yr
• 100 years $9.99/yr

I was not impressed. Last year we signed up for a virtual server so we could do our own web hosting for ourselves and our clients. The prices for domain names with the company we use is far less than Network Solutions charges. A one year registration is only $14.95 for the year. Additional years are only $1 less, so we decided to switch the registration to our server company for one year.

I needed to contact Network Solutions to get an authorization code to complete the transfer. I had no issue with making the call as it’s a good protection against domain theft. Before I called, though, I wanted to see if Network Solutions would offer me the same price on their website. So I went to their website, signed into my account and started the process to get a price on a domain.

I was surprised to see:

	Domain Name		Price
	jewbie.net	Keep my information private	$9.00/year

Huh. $9.00 a year? That’s much less than the $34.99 my renewal reminder offered. And notice there’s no asterisk pointing me to a disclaimer about that price… I thought perhaps it was a deal they offered when a client added a second domain.

I called Network Solutions and spoke to a very pleasant girl who informed me that the $9.00/year was for a 100 year registration and that I would discover that fact “later in the registration process”. While on the telephone with her I went further into the registration process and had to move three pages ahead before they were forced to tell me that:

		Term	Your Price
	Domain Name: jewbie.net	100 Year Domain Service*		$999.00

Of course I had to use the drop down menu to see the single year price:

		Term	Your Price
	Domain Name: jewbie.net	1 Year		$34.99

I have problems with this type of deceptive pricing, most of which I don’t need to explain to you.

And really. Can they not even multiply? Last time I checked 100 X $9.00 = $900.

I decided not even to get into it with the girl on the phone. I was going to be good. I wasn’t in the mood for a confrontation. I just informed her I was transferring my service and asked for the code.

Then she made me a “special offer” to renew my registration for only $15.00 for the year.

Oh really? Why wasn’t I offered this already? “Well,” she replied, “because you called. On the phone.”

Ahhhhhh.

I told her the same thing I tell car dealers and finance managers when they initially offer me a higher interest rate than I could get on my own and then, after being informed of the lower rate I had already secured on my own, offer to meet the lower rate.

“I don’t do business that way,” I told the Network Solutions girl. “If you aren’t willing to offer me the lowest rate from the start then you don’t deserve my business.”

The Consumerist is going to love this one. I think I have my first submission.

And Network Solutions has one less client.

The Bottom Line: Make sure you’re getting the best available price. Today that means checking the website and calling.

Workout’s Deenie and Gregg - a Lack of Respect

Workout is not a show I usually watch. I did catch part of the show last night, though, and it royally pissed me off.

I have seen it a few times, but usually it’s only on in the background after I’ve moved onto another activity while not bothering to turn the television off.

If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s a reality show set in a gym owned by a woman named Jackie. The show depicts gym life and Jackie’s personal life. As part of the show they run a special, intense boot camp program called Skylab for very out-of-shape people to get into shape.

The portion that caught my eye involved Gregg, one of the trainers, and Deenie, one of the trainees. Deenie went into the assistant manager’s office to voice her concerns about her relationship with Gregg. He was late for their training session that day, and he’d been consistently late. She had a hard time scheduling sessions due to his intense schedule, and he also was not returning her calls in a timely manner.

Deenie is a morbidly obese girl who wants to be able to walk into the Gap and buy a pair of jeans. She wanted a relationship with her trainer that’s warm and supportive, motivating her and making her feel that she’s part of a team - just the way Jackie, the owner, described the program.

As they’re talking Gregg arrives and Deenie and the assistant manager confront him. Deenie’s trying to diplomatically tell him what she wants and Gregg is not open at all. Not even a little bit. He tries to make it all about her lack of commitment. She may or may not have a lack of commitment, but what Deenie is trying to address is his lack of respect. She’s paying him. Be on time.  And she wants a relationship with her trainer like the one Jackie described.

Gregg gets very defensive and starts bellowing about her speaking disrespectfully to him (she commented that the dismissive comment he made was “bullshit”), and at this point my blood pressure is boiling.

He’s dismissive, he keeps cutting her off, even says that Jackie doesn’t know what she’s talking about. And Deenie gets upset because she’s not being understood. At one point she comments that she wants more from him than the three hours per week in the gym and he replies that she can call him any time. She says, “You. Don’t. Call. Me. Back.” He doesn’t address this at all. He says, “Just, first of all, it needs to be understood that, I mean that, as far as this situation goes I am the expert.”

WHAT?

Then the assistant manager tells Gregg, in a misguided attempt to calm things down, that all Deenie wants is some love and attention, and Deenie and I both look at the assistant manager like she’s NUTS. He’s not her Daddy (though part of me wondered if she wasn’t reliving a past conversation in THAT relationship). He’s her trainer!  It’s not about love and affection, it’s about R-E-S-P-E-C-T (bow down to Aretha).

That’s NOT it, people. She’s not feeling like her trainer is responsible, and she’s not feeling like they’re a team.

True, she wasn’t effectively communicating her point. Also true, he was not open to listening AT ALL. He’s the expert and she has to trust him. She can’t work out due to injury (which he was derisive about), she tries to reply that there must be other suggestions he can make/things she can do to move things along but she can’t even get it out of her mouth before he gives a dismissive and final “No.”

No? There’s nothing? Nothing?

“There’s got to be a certain respect that comes with us talking or us training together,” Gregg says in an interview later. Exactly, Gregg. Why don’t you start doing that?!!!!!

UGH.

Later Gregg talks to Jackie, the owner, and totally skews it so that Deenie looks like a lunatic. Jackie totally backs Gregg, but tells him to work it out because he’ll feel good if he does, and if it doesn’t work out at least he’ll know he tried.

In the end Gregg calls Deenie and says, “Let’s let bygones be bygones,” and she agrees. And then he admits he doesn’t like her.

I would so not work out with him again. He would be so fired. I think Deenie is setting herself up to fail by staying with a trainer who has no respect for her. It shouldn’t be about him, but at the same time part of the motivation to keep working is knowing you have someone who will walk with you, sweat with you and kick your butt if need be.

Jackie should give this girl a refund. I don’t even need to see another show to know that this girl, who probably should never have been accepted to such an intense program to begin with (for medical reasons), will likely not succeed.

I know that there are good trainers out there who are not only educated in exercise physiology but also in how to keep individuals motivate. Having been a member of several gyms, though, I’ve run across attitudes like Gregg’s before. Why is it that so many trainers have contempt for the people that pay them? Of course many of the students lack consistent commitment. Of course they’re going to get discouraged and want to quit.

If they knew how to keep themselves motivated and knew what exercises to do and how to do them correctly they wouldn’t need to hire a trainer.

If all you want to do is train hardbodies to be harder than only have them as clients. Leave the really challenged people alone. But if you want to really make a difference in someone’s life let go of your contempt and your judgments and ride the wave of emotions to help create a healthier life with a fat chick.

Old Navy and the Tragedy of the Turn-Cuff Socks

Dear Old Navy:

My three-year-old son has wide feet. As a result many of the socks on the market don’t fit him correctly. When he was about three months old I discovered the joy that is the Old Navy Turn-Cuff socks and have been buying them ever since. There have always been a variety of colors so that I could match every outfit. I’ve been thrilled.

I tried Target’s store brand, and even Gymboree’s and they just don’t hold a candle. Target’s don’t wear as well, and Gymboree’s are too stiff and tight - and they run small.

The other day I went into my local Old Navy to stock up and was saddened to see that you are no longer selling the socks individually in the stores. You still offer a multi-pack in white, but only four colors in your boy’s multi-pack - navy, gray, beige and white. Not only that, the store I went to only had sizes up to 12 months and the manager could not tell even me if or when they’d get more in (another issue that irks me to no end).

Navy, gray, beige and white? That’s it ? These are kids. Babies. Toddlers. Preschoolers. Why can’t they have green, or red, or light blue socks? Why must they be in boring shades of neutral?

You do offer more colors for girls. The girl’s pack has two shades of pink, purple and white and the rainbow pack includes purple, pink, yellow and red. But once again boys’ fashion gets shafted.

Old Navy is supposed to be the hip, now, up-to-the-minute frugal fashion store. Navy, gray, beige and white?

I cannot tell you how disappointed I am.

Navy, gray, beige and white.

Sigh.

I Was Lucky. This Time.

Dear Petroliance,

I am alive, and I am thankful.

On Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 9:34 am I was driving westbound on C_____ Rd in P________, Florida. As I was approaching the Railroad tracks at D______ the lights started flashing to indicate an approaching train. I came to a complete stop as the gate arms started descending, and was dismayed to see an eastbound motorist trying to slip through at the last moment.

It was a tanker truck, and it was so late slipping through that I saw the gate arm hit the top of the truck. Right on the tank. The tank that holds whatever highly flammable chemicals you transport.

Yes, it was one of your trucks. I could clearly read “Petroliance” and the phone number (800-226-7011) painted on the back of the tank. Unfortunately I could not make out a truck number.

I am appalled. I sat there as your truck was crossing the tracks, and I flashed back, remembering the accident that happened fifteen years ago just a few miles to the south. That day a train hit a tanker that was sitting on the tracks, and the ensuing fireball fried five people doing nothing more than sitting in their cars waiting for the train to go by. You know, the people who had obeyed the signals and stopped. Of course the tanker driver died that day, too.

Here I was in that very vulnerable spot, first in line nearest the tracks, watching the signal gate hit your tanker.

Did your driver think the five minutes saved was worth the risk? I’ll bet he did. I’ll bet that driver fifteen years ago did, too. But I know that six families and one company (that was likely sued into oblivion) don’t think so.

And neither do I.

Perhaps it’s time to have a refresher course in railroad safety for your drivers, particulary the one that crossed the railroad tracks on eastbound C____ Rd at 9:34 am this past Thursday.

Bigger Packages Are Not Always A Better Value

They must think we’re stupid. Or too busy to notice. Or so entrenched in the “bigger is better” mentality that we won’t care that we’re wasting money.

Well, I’m not too stupid, too busy, or too entrenched. I notice.

I’ve just been noticing it a lot more lately.

I’ll be at the grocery store, or Target, or Walmart, and I’ll reach for the bigger package of cereal, or dryer sheets, or sausages.

And then I’ll compare the smaller package’s price per unit to the larger package’s, and the smaller package is a better deal.

Just today I was at Publix and wanted to take advantage of a sale on breakfast sausages. I can buy a box of 15 links (which, by the way, looks twice the size of the smaller box) at 2 for $5.00, or I can buy a box of 10 links at 5 for $5.00. Needless to say I stocked up with the smaller boxes.

Yesterday I was at Target and their Target brand 24 double roll toilet tissue was on sale for $11.99. Their 12 double roll pack was $5.87…

What do you think of the practice? It feels dishonest, but it really isn’t. They do give us the information, even if it’s not always easy to figure out in three seconds or less. If we take the time to do the math we can figure out the best deal. After all, it’s not their fault we aren’t paying attention.

Yes, it sure is happening more and more lately. Like shrinking package sizes and buy one, get one free deals that aren’t what they’re cracked up to be, I am forced to be ever more vigilant while shopping.

The moral of the story: even if it says “On Sale” or “Value Size” or “Family Size” or “Buy More, Save More” on the package, please do the math.

It just seems unfair to have to, doesn’t it?

Shrinking Package Sizes Screw up My Recipes

I am not an off-the-cuff cook. I’m not one to experiment, to add a dash of this and a pinch of that.

I need recipes. I never really cooked much more than fried matzoh and baked chicken until I got married. I don’t have a spohisticated palate, so deciding which tastes go well together or creating my own dishes just doesn’t happen. It’s never going to. I need someone to tell me exactly how much of each ingredient to add and, as I found out during one unfortunate baking disaster, in which order to add them together.

That was all fine and dandy, as there are plenty of recipes around. I love my Betty Crocker cookbook, though I do covet and hope to find an old copy of the Joy of Cooking. So I was humming along merrily, cooking to recipe, until things started getting complicated.

Why did things get complicated?

Because manufacturers are afraid to raise prices, so instead they’re screwing up my recipes.

Have you noticed it? Did you realize that your toilet paper has less sheets than it used to (no, I don’t cook with it!), or that your canned corn has fifteen ounces instead of sixteen?

Does your cereal now only last you twelve days instead of fourteen?

Manufacturers are shrinking the amount of food we get per package, and they’re certainly not reducing prices. They don’t want us to think about whether or not we still want to buy something now that the price has increased, like so many of us are doing now as we see grocery prices rise. They want us to just keep buying, and hope we don’t notice.

But I notice. You know, I don’t have one single recipe that calls for a 15 ounce can of corn. My corn casserole, a Thanksgiving (and Easter) staple, calls for a sixteen ounce can of creamed corn, and a sixteen ounce can of sweet corn. Sixteen, not fifteen. So, either I buy extra cans or my recipe suffers. I HATE that.

I hate that I have to think about making adjustments, no matter how minor, to my recipes. I hate thinking about whether adding something else will make it thick enough, or cake-like enough. I don’t know the answers!

So thanks, manufacturers. Thanks for screwing up my recipes. I’d rather pay a few cents more (well, I’d really rather not) so that my recipes don’t suffer.

Let’s organize a protest. Let’s all meet at the Del Monte offices and throw stewed tomatoes at them. From the fifteen ounce cans.

They’ll have one less ounce to clean up.

Florida’s Democrats Don’t Get a Vote

Florida Democrats aren’t going to get a do-over primary, and I’m glad.

It’s not that I think their vote shouldn’t count. It bothers me that so many ordinary citizens are going to see their votes mean nothing.

But Florida politicians really gall me. There was no good reason to move up Florida’s primary, except ego. After all, it’s much more important to be one of the first than to honor agreements, or have voters’ votes count.

And Howard Dean galls me. There’s no good reason not to count Florida’s votes, except ego. After all, it’s much more important to be right than than to keep thousands from being disenfranchised.

Who woulda thunk that ego had such a prominent place in politics?

Time To Increase the Grocery Budget. Or Eat A Lot Less.

Alison made a very interesting comment on her blog This Wasn’t In The Plan. She mentioned that other bloggers were talking about higher food prices, but she hadn’t noticed much of an increase anywhere but at Costco.

Amen.

I buy all of my meat and most of my dairy at Costco, and boy, do I notice a difference!

I used to pay $3.29 for 36 eggs at Costco. The other day I paid $5.39. Milk was $2.39. Now $3.99. Cheese was $7.79. Now $10.29.

And it’s not just dairy. Hamburger meat is up from $2.99 a pound to $3.29. Eight pound bags of frozen chicken breasts were $10.69 and are now $14.69. a 2-pack of bread went from $3.29 to $4.69. I could go on and on…

Egads! Stop the madness!!!!

I have also noticed large price increases in produce, but I’ve switched to buying most of that at the local farmer’s market, which charges significantly less than my grocery store.

Curiously, non-fresh foods are not seeing these whopping increases. I’m thinking that’s because fresh foods are mostly provided locally. There’s little product backlog and they have an easier time implementing price changes due to increased costs.

Well, it sounds good, anyway.

I have also noticed smaller, less outrageous price increases at the regular grocery store, especially in canned and packaged goods.

I’m afraid these price increases are just beginning. That’s scary.

Indeed.

Buy One Get One Free. Sort of.

Grocery stores like to make us think we’re getting a better deal than we are.

Case in point. Publix offers Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) specials every week. In every sales circular there are at least ten items offered this way. It’s the first thing I look for in the circular, as I do use it as an opportunity to stock up on things I use regularly, especially things we’re not brand loyal on. Husband doesn’t really care which brand of ranch salad dressing we have, as long as we have it.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with BOGO specials. The only problem is that Publix raises the price on the item shortly before the sale, and reduces it shortly after. Yes, they really do.

How do I know this? I’ve noticed it for quite awhile. Cake mixes, for example, will be $1.17 one week, and then the next week when they are BOGO they’re priced $1.87. Last week the ranch dressing was $1.99, this week, at BOGO price, it’s $2.99. I’ve seen it many, many times.

So, instead of saving 50% on the two items, I wind up saving only about 20-25%. When you add coupons it’s still a pretty good deal, just not as good as they’d have us believe.

If we weren’t so wicked schmaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Still, it’s a wee bit slimy, don’t you think? Especially since they don’t give us mystery deals or let us double our coupons.

I think I’ll ask them why. Stay tuned for the answer, and for more grocery store deal mythbusters…

Zero Tolerance for…Skittles?

Husband sent me an e-mail just now, and here’s what it said:

Maybe you or Deb (my sister) can find out exactly what school this was and get me an e-mail address so I can tell them what I really think of them.

I feel a real dickish moment coming on.

At the very least - maybe you can write about the absurdity of this whole thing.

Personally - I would like to ask them why they didn’t just shoot the kid onthe spot and then execute his whole family.

After reading the article, I wholeheartedly agree.

Michael Sheridan, a student at New Haven’s Sheridan Middle School, was suspended from school for one day, barred from attending an honors student dinner and stripped of his title as class vice president. His transgression?

He bought a bag of candy from another student.

The horror!

As part of it’s wellness policy, the New Haven school system banned candy sales as fundraisers in 2003. There is no candy allowed in the schools. Okay, a bit stringent, but I can support that.

The student who sold the candy also was suspended.

Nothing like killing an ant with an uzi, New Haven.

It makes a great deal of sense to obliterate a child’s sense of accomplishment for having worked hard to attain honors because of a relatively minor transgression. And why on earth wouldn’t we want to spit on children who have the character and gall to wade through the rampant apathy and self-absorption of the middle school biosphere, get involved in their community and learn about the democratic process by taking on the office of Student Government Vice President?

Why indeed.

It certainly wouldn’t have made sense to give him detention, or to have him, in his role as Vice-President, make a presentation to the student body about nutrition.

No, it’s much more important to teach them how to rebel against unfair and overdone punishment, to seethe with injustice.

And why did the nefarious candy dealer get less punishment than the user-addict? Perhaps he’s supplying the school board….?

(By the way honey, the name of the school was right in the article, babe. But I’m sure your ire made your eyes skip over that part. Love ya!)

Update March 15, 2008

Both students’ suspensions have been expunged and the buyer has been reinstated to the Student Council. Apparently the school administration failed to notify the parents of this rule in writing.

I don’t think the school needed to undo all of the punishment. I just thought the punishment should fit the crime.