Category: Bad Product

The Nastiest Spam Scam Yet from har.com

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Technology3 Comments

Today I got the nastiest spam message yet. Here it is – I removed my name from the image:

Spam Scam

Even though I am pretty savvy with email and experienced in recognizing spam, when I got this my reflex was to open it immediately. It looks legitimate and threatening.

Then I looked at the sender’s address at information358@har.com and I got suspicious. Of course, the zip file attached gives it away. Anyone clicking on this file and opening it would undoubtedly unleash havoc on their computer. And I am sure with a message like this, it happens to a lot of people.

When I Googled har.com it didn’t take long to find other people who have the same problem.  Here is a link.

The key to remember is: Anyone that legitimately needs your attention isn’t going to do it via email. So there should never be a reason to open up an email with any attachment from any stranger.

Delete!

Read All About How I Got Scammed – Big Time

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Commentaries1 Comment

Have you ever found yourself in a position of having won a small claims suit and then having to collect on a judgment? I did in the fall of 2012 in a real estate eviction case. I found a collection agency to try and collect, and in the process I got scammed, and my former tenant got scammed too – by my collection agency.

I thought I had hired somebody to help me get justice, and in reality I became the mark of a con artist.

Read all about it here.

 

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Drug Money

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Commentaries5 Comments

After I wrote the post below a week ago, one of my readers (JB) pointed out that the story had been debunked and the amount of money actually found in the house in the raid in March 2007 was “only” $205 million. I am generally pretty good with checking my numbers before I parrot them, but I was way wrong here. It goes to show you that I have no idea how much money a pile of money actually is. This is another post for another day.

Anyway, the pile of money below is not anywhere near 22 billion – but I guess the rest of my points stand. I am leaving the post as I wrote it at the time. And now off to calculating what a billion dollars looks like.

***

Drug Money
22 Billion Dollars of Cash

The home of a Mexican drug lord was raided. The stash above is over 22 billion dollars. This reminds me of the fictional pile of cash that Walter White in Breaking Bad kept in a storage locker. That fictional pile was “only” seventy or eighty million dollars. This real one is 22 billion.

The pile above was not the only stash. There were closets full of cash throughout the house. Here are more pictures of the home.

This is all “drug money.” But what, when you think about, is drug money?

It is money people in America took out of their wallets and paid some dealer for marijuana, cocaine, meth, or whatever other drugs there are. Much of that money coming out of real American wallets stays in the local “economy,” with the petty street dealers, the local distributors, and the like. Only the end profit goes back all the way to drug lords, and this is what we are looking at in this picture.

Let’s also remember that this is only one out of perhaps 20 or more major Mexican drug lords. It’s just the one that got caught. There are probably a dozen more piles of cash like this in other mansions in Mexico, not to mention those in Colombia, Venezuela and other Central American and South American countries.

They use this immense amount of cash to bribe politicians, military, police, secret police, drug enforcement, judges and business people. Take a brown shopping bag, throw in a few stashes of cash (a few handfuls are a few hundred thousand dollars) and give that brown bag to whomever you want, and chances are you will get what you asked for – a blind eye, a favor, a killing, anything at all.

There are only two reasons why such piles of money exist:

1. The product these people sell is illegal in the United States, thus creating an underground black – and lethal – market.

2. The United States consumer of drugs is willing to pay that kind of money for the privilege of obtaining the product.

Our consumption in the United States makes this possible. Talk about the lower classes creating the 1%! Here is a perfect example of it.

There is a way to stop it overnight: Just stop buying the stuff.

Of course, that won’t stop the guys driving around the Lamborghinis, living the good life, spending the hoards of cash in the meantime.

Hokey Gifts from Forbes Magazine

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Crack-UpsLeave a comment

I enjoy reading Forbes Magazine enough to subscribe to it occasionally when I get a good offer. But usually the renewals are expensive, and by then I am tired of the magazine. I remember how often I don’t even get to read an issue before it’s outdated, and I let my subscription lapse.

A half year after that, Forbes sends me a direct mail  piece, offering a $21 renewal for a year, and a “free gift” comes with it. This time the free gift was a bag.

The $21 was good enough for me to decide that I want the magazine again. I wrote on the order card to forget about the bag, that I didn’t want it.

When I got the bill, it said that as soon as I paid, they’d send me the “free gift.” I wrote the check, and wrote on the response slip to please hold the bag, I didn’t want it.

Today I got the bag.

Forbes
Forbes “free gift” with $21 annual subscription. Banana for scale.

This little bag came in a plastic USPS priority envelope. The shipping must have cost a couple of dollars. The bag, made out of cheap smelly plastic with thin fabric straps, must have been made in China and I can’t imagine how it didn’t cost another two dollars. Shipping it from China to the U.S. is another two dollars. The whole thing is useless. I don’t know what I would do with it. It’s too small for anything useful, and too flimsy for any valid purpose. It’s going to lay around the house for a while until eventually I throw it away, never used.

Forbes is spending almost half the subscription value (my guess anyway) on this item I didn’t want and told them several times I didn’t want.

Forbes is a classy magazine, with ads for Rolex, private jets, and Bugattis. I cannot imagine that any single Forbes reader would be caught dead with this bag, with Forbes written on it. What are they thinking?

Now here is the kicker: As I wrote this post, something felt like deja vu. So I searched my own blog and found this post from almost five years ago, when they sent me a cheap watch – and I that the same rumination.

Please, Forbes, figure it out. We really don’t want your hokey gifts!

Hotels in Sochi

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Travels1 Comment

The Olympics are about to start. Twitter is flooded with reports from journalists arriving to hotels not finished, no rooms and no water.

Here are two of the more hilarious examples:

Toilet in SochiVery inviting.

Sochi Water

Here are more marvelous examples.

It sure looks like the Russians have outdone themselves. I am glad I am not going to Sochi.

You Are the Product at Facebook

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Business, TechnologyLeave a comment

Facebook stock has jumped recently due to better than expected earnings. The site is riding high, and people are getting very rich from it. But it’s free, right?

Nothing is free in this world. Especially online. Always remember, if you are on a website and you are not paying for it, you are the product.

You Are the Product

I have recently paid a little more attention to the ads Facebook presents to me on the right side of the screen. That’s where it makes its money. And what is going on there has annoyed me. Here are today’s ads with my commentary:

Facebook Ads1

Remember, if a website is free, you are the product. The site is after your private data, which is sells to hucksters that are looking to make money by selling fun, xex and love.

Does Facebook really think men my age respond to this stuff? Apparently they do, because as I stated above, their earnings recently have jumped and the only way they can jump is if users like me click on these ads and then buy stuff.

Amazing Pictures of Mail Theft in Progress

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Commentaries, Need to KnowLeave a comment

Theft

Check out these pictures of a mail theft in progress.

The amazing thing is, as the poster writes after the last picture:

Total time was about 2 minutes.  I called the police, they said call the post office, post office told me to call the postal inspection services, they told me that someone may call me back. Bottom line is they don’t care, so if you don’t want your mail stolen, don’t use those boxes.

This is a great example of our government and its efficiency at work for us.

Elephant Abuse in Thailand

On By Norbert HauptIn Animal Intelligence, Atrocities, Bad Product, TravelsLeave a comment

Elephants are known to be one of the most intelligent species on Earth, right along with cetaceans and primates (which includes humans).

According to Wikipedia, the elephant brain of elephants is similar to that of humans in terms of structure and complexity. Elephants exhibit a wide variety of behaviors, including those associated with grief, learning, mimicry, play, altruism, use of tools, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, memory, and language. Further, evidence suggests elephants may understand pointing: the ability to nonverbally communicate an object by extending a finger, or equivalent. All indicate that elephants are highly intelligent; it is thought they are equal with cetaceans and primates in this regard. Due to the high intelligence and strong family ties of elephants, some researchers argue it is morally wrong for humans to cull them. Aristotle once said that elephants were “the animal which surpasses all others in wit and mind.”

I learned a lot about elephants when I read the book Modoc, which I reviewed here.

In Thailand, wild elephants were once abundant, but now there are only about 2,000 left. In contrast, 4,000 elephants are kept in captivity by humans, both for work and for tourism. It is the highlight of many a vacation to have a picture taken riding an elephant.

I was shocked when I saw this  video, which exposes some of the abuse of the elephants, just so tourists can have their pictures. This is a must-see video for anyone about to travel to Thailand.

Beware of Wal-Mart Scam

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product1 Comment

Here is a powerful reason why you should not shop at Wal-Mart. This guy bought what he thought was an iPad, took it home, opened the box, and found a couple of empty ledger books. Wal-Mart isn’t making good on the purchase. This means that if you buy anything at Wal-Mart that’s in a box, you had better open the box in the store before you take it home, because if it does not contain the product you expected, you are on your own.

Note: you only need to watch the first 6 minutes. After that, he repeats everything he said several times. He is obviously upset, as I would be, too.

Wal-Mart – Evil Empire or Opportunist?

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Business, China, Economy2 Comments

This is a scene in front of one Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving night. People line up to get in, and when the doors open, the stampede starts quickly. The guards are simply overwhelmed.

American consumerism has gone amuck. We line up, jump barriers and get into fistfights for the privilege to buy a toaster, a television set or a video game. We have created a society of consumerism completely absorbed by commercial goods.

Wal-Mart pays its employees an average of $8.80 – it’s the largest employer in the country and one that pays the lowest. Of the goods sold at Wal-Mart, more than 90% are imported. More than 70% of all the stuff Wal-Mart sells comes from China. Estimates are that over 10% of all job loss in America in the past decade was due to Wal-Mart alone.

Yet, our young people line up at night on Thanksgiving to spend their dollars (earned or welfare) at Wal-Mart, which sends the money directly to China – after it pays its employees $8.80. The rampant consumerism, the shipping of manufacturing to China, the extension of the welfare state in America, the lack of education of your young people and the loss of real values, common sense and dignity will bring this country down, if it hasn’t already.

At the same time, there are protests at Wal-Mart and other retailers about their low wages and the extended hours imposed on employees, particularly during the holiday season. Protests may get our attention for a few minutes. A much more effective strategy would be to simply stop shopping.

Do you think that Wal-Mart would notice that it was not smart to make people work on Thanksgiving day if nobody showed up to shop? The doors would close quickly. Wal-Mart is not the evil giant that we make them out to be. Wal-Mart is simply an opportunist.

Wal-Mart can pay $8.80 because there are plenty of people willing to work for $8.80. Wages won’t go up until they can’t find people anymore willing to take these jobs. Wal-Mart can sell Chinese stuff and send our money to China because we’re willing to stand in line to give our money to them.

Stop working for Wal-Mart, stop shopping at Wal-Mart, and things will change quickly.

Kleargear.com – Watch What You Sign

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Business, CommentariesLeave a comment

KleargearThis company (www.kleargear.com) may have ruined online commerce for me. I have been a proponent of online commerce. My company is delivers its product online. We don’t happen to sell stuff, but we provide our services online. So I support the concept.

Kleargear looks like a cool place. They sell neat novelties. It looks like their stuff is great for gifts. If I stumbled upon their site, I’d want to buy things.

Then I found out that when you buy something from their site, you have to consent to a number of clauses before you can purchase. Ok, what’s wrong with that?

Well, one of those clauses, according to a Mark Frauenfelder on BoingBoing, is this:

Non-Disparagement Clause

In an effort to ensure fair and honest public feedback, and to prevent the publishing of libelous content in any form, your acceptance of this sales contract prohibits you from taking any action that negatively impacts KlearGear.com, its reputation, products, services, management or employees.

Should you violate this clause, as determined by KlearGear.com in its sole discretion, you will be provided a seventy-two (72) hour opportunity to retract the content in question. If the content remains, in whole or in part, you will immediately be billed $3,500.00 USD for legal fees and court costs until such complete costs are determined in litigation. Should these charges remain unpaid for 30 calendar days from the billing date, your unpaid invoice will be forwarded to our third party collection firm and will be reported to consumer credit reporting agencies until paid.

Would you really continue to purchase from a company that had this clause in front of you? Hell, I would RUN fast and far. It would simply not be worth it to me. But I am not sure I would even see this in the buying process. Knowing me, I’d blindly blow right past it and hit “Buy Now.”

Here is what they apparently do: When you post a negative comment in a review site of any type, or on a blog, or on Facebook, they send you an email giving you a 72-hour warning. If you don’t heed the warning, they send you an invoice for a $3,500 fine. If you don’t pay the fine, they report the amount due to collections and report you to the major credit bureaus, which of course ruins your credit, and your ability to buy a car or a house at reasonable rates, if at all.

Check out the horrifying story of Jen Palmer here. This actually happened to her, after buying something three years ago at Kleargear. Apparently, the company sometimes does not ship the goods or ships bad goods. Reviewers claim that there is no way to ever get through to a human being when contacting support. Apparently they don’t answer the phone or respond to emails.

If you google “kleargear sucks” or “kleargear scam” you will quickly see that many people consider the entire business one big scam. Here is just one of the review sites that will give you the willies.

Here is another outrageous review on ComplaintsBoard.

The bottom line is, the moment you hit the “buy” button on Kleargear, you are at their mercy. If you happen to receive your order and you are happy, congratulations. But if anything goes wrong, you’re stuck. They apparently keep your money and don’t answer the phone or email. If you complain online, anywhere, anyway, and they find out about it, they send you a bill for $3,500 to punish you. If you don’t pay the bill, they come after you and they ruin your credit.

Way to do business!

Why do I think this could ruin online commerce? Because I have bought many things at many sites, and I don’t always read all the terms and conditions before I buy. I tried to find the non-disparagement clause above in their site’s terms and conditions just now, and I could not find it. It looks like a legitimate site. The only way I apparently would come across this clause is if I actually went in and bought something. But I must admit, once I make a buying decision for a novelty gift, I don’t go and read a bunch of terms and conditions. I put in my credit card number, or my PayPal account, and I click “Buy Now” and be done with it.

I had my own bad experience with MobilityPass about four years ago, where I spent about $200 on a product and service that never worked. Search for MobilityPass in this site and see all my related posts. I never got my money back, after everything I tried. I was screwed by a scammer. And the scary thing is, four years later, they are still out there at http://www2.mobilitypass.com.

Companies like this ruin it for all the legitimate small businesses that want to sell online. I want to trust my suppliers. Weary consumers will simply retrench and go to Amazon, where they are assured of good prices, flawless fulfillment, great return policies and overall good quality of service. That’s why Amazon, and trusted sites like it, are taking over the retail world.

Is Kleargear a scammer like MobilityPass? I don’t know. But I am not going to find out.

Food Waste at Hampton Inn

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Sustainability, TravelsLeave a comment

I stay at Hampton Inns quite often. A couple of weeks ago I was at the Hampton Inn in downtown Albany. Their breakfasts are not elaborate, but I generally only have orange juice, eat some fruit, some yoghurt and, when they have them, I’ll eat a hard-boiled egg.

When I checked out it was about 11:00am, and their breakfast buffet closes down at 10:00 or 10:30. I was looking for a snack for the road, so I went over to the breakfast area and found they had left some muffins out. I picked up a couple, grabbed a napkin, and happened to glance into the trash can as I walked away:

Waste at Hampton Inn

Amongst the Styrofoam dishes, napkins, muffin wrappers were a whole bunch of already peeled hardboiled eggs.

It was a stinging realization.

They peel the eggs and place then into a container from which the guests pick them out with tongs. This makes it easy for the guests, but apparently they can’t save the leftover eggs for the next day.

I know that hardboiled eggs in their shells last for many days, even weeks, if properly refrigerated. For the cost of customers peeling their own eggs they could save their eggs for the next day.

I can count twelve visible eggs in this single photograph, and I didn’t do any digging. This must be going on every day.

Each one of those eggs could keep a hungry child alive for another day in Africa.

The Airport Bottled Water Scam

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Commentaries6 Comments

When going through security, we all have to give up our water bottles, just so we have to buy new ones on the other side.

Yesterday I was thirsty at the San Francisco Airport. I bought a bottle of water for $2.95 and drank it in 20 seconds. I needed that.

Today I was at Home Depot and saw a whole tray of 24 bottles for $2.79.

Tell me airport water bottle sales is not a scam.

The Dumbest Design Innovation Ever

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Crack-Ups, First World Problems4 Comments

My award for the worst, dumbest, most asinine, idiotic product innovation ever goes to a ball-point pen.

If there is one product in our society that does not need any more innovation, it’s the pen. Yet, marketing companies seem to be hell-bent on creating ever more clever designs and add gimmicks to pens so they can be sold in bulk to company marketing departments in order to be given away at conferences. There must be 100 pens to every human in the United States, and that’s not counting the ones still in boxes at Costco and Staples.

I found several of these pens in our company’s cabinet in the conference room where we keep extra supplies. I don’t know where they came from, and I can’t identify the manufacturer. They also have no marketing message. Perhaps they are teaser products to get us to buy lots of them – which we definitely won’t do.

Pen 1

When I first looked at this pen in the image above, nothing struck me as unusual. It felt particularly light, being made all out of plastic, but otherwise I didn’t think it was anything special – until I started using it.

When I clicked on the button at the end, the point came out in the front, so far so good. However, I was not able to retract the point again by clicking on the button, as is customary with about all other pens in the universe. The designers of these pens wanted to be clever.

Pen 2

As you can see in the image above (blue arrow), the point extends and the pen is now ready to write. The button (green arrow) is pushed in. I had to check the pen carefully to figure out how to retract the point again. Then I noticed that the pen was transparent, and I saw a little clear plastic triangle attached to the clip (red arrow). When I pressed on the clip, it released a little spring in the body of the pen, which in turn retracted the point and the button popped back out, ready for another cycle.

I thought that this was a fairly complicated mechanism to accomplish the simple task of retraction and it would certainly confuse the user by forcing him to resort to pushing on the clip to make this happen. That would be like making a car user recline the seat to open the gas tank. Huh?

Then I realized that the little triangle would probably get in the way of using the clip to put the pen into a breast pocket or the inside pocket of a jacket. The little triangle would certainly get in the way.

So I tried it.

Pen 3

Pop! The clip broke off the first time I tried to put the pen into my shirt pocket, because I had to pull out the clip with my fingernail for the fabric to slip over it. The little triangle point release mechanism got in the way.

So now I have a pen that’s trashed. The clip is broken off and will soon be lost. The plastic stub where the clip was now has a sharp edge that scratches the hand when I use the pen to actually WRITE. I cannot clip the pen into my pocket anymore – it has no more clip. And worst of all, with the clip gone, the retract mechanism is broken. Now I must use my fingernail just right where the little triangle used to go to retract the point.

In summary, this little clever innovation made sure that the pen would be totally destroyed pretty much the first time anyone actually would use it to write – which is exactly what happened to me.

Idiotic.

 

WhiteHouseDossier is Making Stuff Up

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad ProductLeave a comment

WhileHouseDossier

I pulled the snippet above from the website www.whitehousedossier.com today. The note from their attorneys on the bottom in italics essentially rescinds the statement.

I have a problem with this kind of journalism, which is becoming more and more widespread, especially on the Internet. This is a Quote of the Day. This site has the nerve to give me nonsense quotes, stuff they made up, presumably to be funny, in an effort to attract me to go back.

Of course, I am doing them a favor as a result of this by sending them viewers through the links in this post, and perhaps that’s exactly what they want.

But I am not sending my respect.

If you have nothing to report, say nothing.