Shopping Blog Posts
Cash for Clunkers
Little known fact about the Cars for Clunkers program:
There is a waiting period between the time the car is bought and when it drives
off the lot. That's because the dealership has to wait for the government's
money to come in.
Filed under the Grand Summer Gazebo 2.0
This past weekend we put up the new canopy on our Grand Summer Gazebo. There was no problems putting it up and it fits like a charm.
The key thing to keep in mind is to not put the top (Small Canopy) on all the way. You'll need to maneuver the bottom part (Large Canopy) over the top. Its a little hard to explain but once you put the canopy on it makes sense.
Here's some Pictures of our Grand Summer Gazebo.
This is what it looked like last year:
This is what it looks like this year:
This is related to the Grand Summer Gazebo topic.
Energizer Rechargeable Batteries
This morning I purchased some Energizer Rechargeable Batteries (2450 mAh) at CVS in Waltham, Massachusetts. I paid $12.99 for the four pack. That comes to about $3.25 a battery.
I was surprise that I wasn't really able to find them much cheaper online. Amazon.com had them for $11.45 plus shipping. I found a few deals on eBay.com but I don't know about the quality of those batteries.
We are going on a trip to LA and Vegas in September and I thought I stock up now on getting batteries for the trip.
Interesting post on Amazon.com: Instead of the Energizer 2500mAh cells, I recommend buying the Rayovac "Hybrid" 2100mAh cells. They have very low self-discharge rate (see my review on "RAYO 4PK AA") and are cheaper than the better-known Sanyo eneloop 2000mAh cells.
I'll have to get Rayovac batteries and try them out.
Nikon D700
Check out this clip on Flickr. Looks like the Nikon D700 would be a great camera to use to take photos in the Haunted Mansion.
The only downside to this camera is that it cost about $1,700! There's probably some other camera that can do excellent night mode and has an interval timer.
Grand Summer Gazebo
Searching for Sunjoy Canopy to replace our canopy on our Grand Summer Gazebo. There are three companies that offer replacements:
This was purchased at Sears by the previous owner. The model number for the Sears version of the Grand Summer Gazebo is G-GZ039PST-2.
The CNDCS Canopy Company has the best deal for the replacement. The only downside is that its not in stock, so we have no idea on when we will get it.
Here's information that I found on The SunJoy Company. They don't have a website:
Sunjoy Industries Group Inc
619 Slack St
Steubenville, OH 43952
(866) 578-6569
We'll keep you updated on the Canopy replacement status.
Economic Crisis
Have you wondered why all of a sudden there's a lot of government bailout information in the news? This is no accident.
The United States government is trying to put some confidence back to the consumers to start spending this holiday season. Black Friday is only a couple of days away, and they are hoping all the good news will save the Christmas season.
Will this work? No one knows. I predict that Black Friday will be big this year, due to all the big deals. I suspect that this year the big deals will be on Flat screen TVs and clothes. Don?t forget to add Circuit City to your shopping list! I'll be looking for great deals on 8GB USB devices.
Walmart and Target
Picture two shoppers: a typical Walmart Shopper and a typical Target Shopper. Which one is going to have less clutter in their home?
Think about it.
Vanilla VISA
If your planning to give Vanilla VISA gift cards this Christmas, watch out! There's a little catch you should know about.
First the cards cost $3.95 to get. So a $50 gift card will cost you $53.95. Not too bad, but if they are a tech user aren't you better off getting a BestBuy, Apple or Circuit City card? IF they like clothes, you could give them a LLBean, Nordstroms, or Timberland gift card. You'll save $3.95, and they still will have the $50 gift card to spend.
The second catch, and this is a biggie, after a year, Vanilla VISA will charge $1.50 a month if you still have a balance on the card. Make sure that you educate whoever that you give the card to that they use it up right away! If you have one from last Christmas, goto Vanilla VISA website right now and check the balance. If you have anything left over, you could always goto the gas station and fill up. Note: You won't be able to pay at the pump, go inside and tell them how much you have left.
So, with the two "catches" above, are you really better off using a VISA gift card? Why not just give them cash? A $50 bill will generate the same reaction as getting a $50 gift card.
Getting a Refund from AOL
If you call to cancel your AOL account, the "member representative" will not offer you a refund for the current month. This is very bad customer service! So instead of customers leaving som what happy, they are even angrier than before.
According to this page, the following explains how AOL charges its members:
CHARGES, BILLING AND THE FREE TRIAL
AOL reserves the right to change our fees or billing methods at any time and AOL will provide notice of any such change at least thirty days in advance in the same manner described above for changes to the Member Agreement. AOL also has the right to collect applicable taxes and impose premium surcharges for some areas of the service and these surcharges may apply even during your free trial. The answers to many common billing questions can be found by going to Keyword: Help, then selecting Accounts & Billing, going to Keyword: Billing, or by contacting an AOL customer service representative at 1-800-827-6364. If you don't like the changes in fees or billing methods, you may cancel your membership at any time, but AOL will not refund any remaining portion of the monthly fee when you cancel your membership. If you have joined AOL as a trial member, you should understand that your free trial time must be used within one month of your initial sign-on and to avoid being charged a membership fee, you must cancel your account before the end of that first month.
If you are not satisfied with the AOL membership representative response, do what I did, write a letter to AOL! I wrote them a nice business letter complaining about their service and demanded a refund. This is the address that I sent my letter, I also sent a copy of the letter to my credit card company:
AOL
22070 Broderick Dr
Sterling, VA 20166
Make sure that you request a refund in your letter! Don't just vent about the customer service!
Christmas Season
Its the Christmas Season..
In the Boston Area, its all about the Malls... Northshore Mall, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Square One Shopping Centre, Emerald Square, Burlington Mall, South Shore Plaza, Holyoke Mall at Ingleside, Independence Mall, Natick Mall, Shopper's World and the Cape Cod Mall.
There are some New England stores that are tradditional stores customers like to visit every year: Bob's Stores, Building 19, Christmas Tree Shops, Concord's Hand Design, LL Bean, Ocean State Job Lot, Paper Store, Spags, Zeb's Country Store, Yankee Candle, and the Vermont Country Store.
Here are some of my favorite shopping areas of New England:
This is a fun mall to find parking spot the day after Thanksgiving. Note: The Hyannis Police department tend to write up alot of tickets to people that park illegally near the Best Buy entrance and Barnes and Noble entrance.
This is a fun mall with a lot of stores. The movie theater at the mall is one of the best in the area.
The food court at the Cape Cod Mall isn't all that desirable. There aren't that many seats and the selection isn't that great. You should check out Cooke's Seafood down the street.