Tag Archives: prize giveaway

So… How Was Your Cruise?

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Tonight's special at the Carnival buffet
Tonight’s special at the Carnival buffet
(credit: anhourinthekitchen.com)

Ah, the Carnival Triumph cruise debacle! Jon Stewart dubbed it the Ship of Stools (it’s funny ‘cause it’s GROSS.) CNN treated it like the worst humanitarian disaster since Hurricane Katrina. At least one bystander (me) wondered how an onion sandwich would taste. And, on cue, the first lawsuits are rolling in.

But, do the passengers have a case? Well, according to the fine print we ALWAYS take time to read, it would seem not…

Carnival shall not be liable to the passenger for damages for emotional distress, mental suffering/anguish or psychological injury of any kind under any circumstances, except when such damages were caused by the negligence of Carnival and resulted from the same passenger sustaining actual physical injury, or having been at risk of actual physical injury, or when such damages are held to be intentionally inflicted by Carnival.  Marketplace.org

To make amends, Carnival is offering up a buffet of refunds, consolation money, free cruises and onion sandwiches. Personally, I can’t imagine signing up for another cruise after this experience, can you?

So, what do you think? Is Carnival’s gesture enough? What more could they do? Are we too lawsuit-happy? What would you do in this situation? And, most importantly, have you ever had an onion sandwich? Let us know!

Last Minute Valentine Gift Ideas!

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white-elephant-gift-exchangeWhen it comes to gift-giving they always say, “It’s the thought that counts.” On Valentine’s Day, and other holidays both important and made-up, I like to amend this statement by saying this is only true when actual THOUGHT went into the gift.

This week, in roadside vacant lots across the land, suckers gentlemen may purchase a wide assortment of desperate romantic gifts. The one I am seeing most often is a shrink- wrapped teddy bear & candy basket arrangement, ranging in size from “Aw cute!” to “Dude, can I borrow your truck?”

So, as a public service for the romantically challenged, I have combed one or two websites the entire internet for fun Valentine’s gift ideas!

From MoneyTalksNews.com:

  • Tame the clutter: Be a hero for cleaning out the garage, like you said you would last September!
  • Foot rub: Remember that old man on Funny Videos who used the disc grinder on his wife’s crusty heels? That’s love y’all!

From the BBC:

  • Choco-face! How about 3-D scanned, laser-etched sculpture of your face in chocolate? Totally tasty and not creepy at all!

From the New York Post:

  • Frisky Fortunes! Concerned parents cause makers to pull sexy/romantic fortune cookie messages. Better grab the romance before they’re gone!

Fun ideas? Unique? Totally lame? Say what you will, these are all better, more romantic ideas than this one: Detroit lawyer holds Valentine’s contest – first prize a free divorce! Reached for comment, the attorney said: “It’s the thought that counts!”

Anyway, best of luck, lovebirds. If, SOMEHOW, this article didn’t give you any good ideas, check these (for real) gift guides FOR HER, and FOR HIM.

And Happy Valentine’s day!

The Best and Worst Super Bowl Ads of 2013

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(credit: employmentandthelaw.com)

My Super Bowl viewing habits have changed over the years. First off, I am not the biggest Super Bowl fan. That old adage that there is about 12 minutes of play in a 4-hour presentation is the reason why. But the commercials used to help. Then, it got to the point where I would tape the game and then play it back and watch only the commercials. THEN, it became reading the Web the next day to hear about the Best ‘n’ Worst, and then looking them up online.

Progress is exhausting, yo!

Now, there’s a website where you can watch the ads BEFORE the game. It gives smarty-pants armchair critics (ahem!) the chance to form opinions early and lord them over their friends.

So check out website. And leave a note in the comments or over at the MindFieldOnline Facebook page.  Likes? Hates? Surprises? Any “Little Darth Vaders” in this year’s bunch?

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the game commercials!

Your Favorite Brands!

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a992-cup-man-trophy-1292-pOf 2012, anyway. Every year, polling firm YouGov does their Brand Index. Here are your favorite consumer brands of 2012, with dumb commentary by yours truly:

1. Subway: #1 for the 3rd straight year, it’s believed that Subway’s use of NFL stars and Olympic champs in the ads led to their top ranking. I wonder if the ridiculous footlongs-that-are-only-11-inches-long “controversy” will hurt their score next year?

2. Amazon: As we noted a few posts ago, my only complaint about Amazon is that they ship your item in a box big enough for 15 of that item. Otherwise, they offer a good product, decent price, and on-time delivery. As for their high rating, the Kindle’s popularity – and the fact that Kindle is basically an Amazon-delivery device, has certainly helped.

3. Cheerios: Cheerios moved up 2 spots from last year, possibly based on the addition of 2 new flavors: Dulce de Leche and Peanut Butter Multi Grain. Next year’s flavors include Barbecue, Sour Cream ‘n’ Chive and Habańero X-Treem.

4. History Channel: History Channel – I’m sorry – “History!” always seems to make the Top 10. This year, “Hatfields and McCoys” with Kevin Costner seems to be the driver here. Sorry, but I soured on History after sitting through a “Swamp People” marathon at my mother-in-law’s house at Thanksgiving. So, a title card at the beginning that says “People have been making their living in the swamp for 300 years” makes it History? Pass.

5. Lowe’s: I hate having to walk 2 miles to buy a pack of screws, and it annoys me that they have dedicated IN and OUT doors so that there is never a truly convenient parking spot. Other than that, great store. Lowe’s moved up a spot this year, believed to be due to the fact that their people all carry iPhones and iPads, and can answer your questions, like, NOW.

6. Ford: Interesting. The Ford Focus is so strong right now that Ford is advertising them as the Focus – without “Ford.” Personally, I cheered Ford when they ran the ad that said, “We didn’t accept the bailout!” …only to see them pull the ad 10 minutes later. There’s no politics in car ads, apparently 🙂

7. Target: With remodeled stores and a strong rewards program, Target moved up from #9 last year. Good for them, but I felt the big grocery expansion was only so-so, with prices that Wal-Mart beats every day. And I HATED their Christmas ads (the guy and girl carolers shaming the dad. Blech.)

8. Kindle: Yep, when your 74-year-old mom has a kindle, it’s officially arrived. Kindle has the #1, 2 and 3 best-selling products on Amazon worldwide.

9. YouTube: Two words: “Gangnam Style.” The most-watched internet video of all time. Thanks, Korea! (hashtag: #killmenow)

10. Google: Still Top 10, but a big stumble from #4 last year. Worries about user privacy, and the fact the Google+ is kind of lame, have hurt. But they have gone all-in with Android, and Google Maps for iOS was a big hit, so they are strengthening their presence across a variety of platforms.

What do you think? Are some of your favorites here? Who did they miss? Who shouldn’t be here? Let us know, and have a great weekend!

CES Show Part 2!

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Hey nerd..."life" is already 3D!
Hey nerd…”life” is already 3D!

Back in the day, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the 2nd biggest show in Las Vegas. But we professional video gadget freaks always assumed they got a leg up (so to speak) by holding their show at the same time as the Adult Video convention.

In the 1990s, I always attended the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention in Las Vegas. Back then it was Sin City’s biggest show of the year, where TV and video production people (like me) went to look at the newest cameras and special effects gear. The CES was just NAB’s annoying little brother – but times have changed!

The CES is now the biggest show of the year. This year 3,500 vendors exhibited their wares to 150,000 attendees. We talked last time about the many smartphone-related advancements on display, but there’s more to discuss!

Such as…

Wrist devices that stream content from your smartphone. They tell you when you have an important call, email or text message. Also streams weather, sports scores, stock tickers, and on and on. And the wrist devices are all digital, so you can create your own custom watch face, just like you would make a wallpaper for your PC.

Gesture controls. Sort of a remote without the remote, these allow you to control your TV, etc., with a series of hand gestures. A 3-D camera captures and interprets your hand signals. They think this is going to have a host of uses in the future. Hyndai’s even putting it in cars so you can control various functions like the radio.

Even bigger and sharper digital TVs’. Forget HD- the new buzzword is 4K. Also known as Ultra HD, it supposedly has a picture 4 times sharper than “regular” HD.

Even more intelligent bio-tracking devices. Miles walked, calories burned, all fed into your smartphone, where a fitness app tells you to pick up the pace, fatty!  Related: a Smart Fork that vibrates when you are eating too fast!

3D printers. We have a long way to go before Captain Picard can tell the wall to give him “Tea. Earl Gray. Hot” and it simply appears. But it’s pretty cool to watch a printer make an actual 3D object out of plastic. Heck, one guy built a working gun, which is pretty cool and very disturbing.

Here are some links if you want to read further! And have a great weekend!

(photo: getty-ces-image.jpg)

Fun with Shipping and Handling!

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This past Christmas, I ordered a pogo stick from Amazon for my nephew. It arrived in a box suitable for a 60-inch flatscreen TV, as shown in this TERRIBLE photo:

IMG_0997[1]

No big deal. I thought it was kind of funny. I actually cut down the box and made three more boxes for gift wrapping because I’M CHEAP.

It turns out that oddball shipping like this is pretty common, as evidenced by pics like these:

Bubble wrap shipped in bubble wrap
Bubble wrap shipped in bubble wrap
A gift card shipped in a box you could fit a bowling ball into.
A gift card shipped in a box you could fit a bowling ball into.
And… whatever this is.
And… whatever this is.

According to the confessions of a shipping guy as told by The Consumerist, “…there is actually a perfectly legitimate reason why that SD card got put into a box that could accommodate a pair of winter boots.”

Basically, it comes down to money, regulations, and productivity measurements. For instance, you’d think they could send the gift card in a mailer envelope. But bubble envelopes are expensive, and they go straight into the landfill if you don’t separate the bubbles from the paper, which we all have time to do, right? Didn’t think so. And landfill equals regulatory hassle!

As for the BIG boxes, they do their best to keep as few sizes of box in stock, to save on inventory costs. Or, they may have the right size of box but, during peak times, they just run out of them. At any rate, making all these boxing decisions when they are trying to ship 35,000 items a day really slows them down, and they get dinged by the head office for poor output.

In other words, RELAX ABOUT THE SHIPPING. There, I feel better. Check out the original piece for many more examples and the reasons behind the madness. And have a great weekend!

PS… Can you believe this is our 200th blog post? It doesn’t feel a day over 195!

Express Lane to Frustration!

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Seriously, don't get your hopes up.
Seriously, don’t get your hopes up.

There’s a study at LifeHacker.com that says using the 10-items-or-less express lane really doesn’t save you any time. I can tell you that, at (my) Walmart, I have found this to be true. Their express limit is 20 items. I once rolled up with 24 items, all apologetic and whatnot. The girl told me that they are not allowed to refuse anyone, even if you rolled up with two carts full like some X-TREEM Coupon weirdo. If you can deal with the hateful stares, loud sighs and epic eye-rolls of the shoppers behind you, then go for it!

The time-sucking culprits are called Line Stoppers…people who bring weird, special circumstances with them. You get them all at Wally’s…the guy trying to cash a payroll check. The college kid using three different gift cards, but only taking certain amounts from each. The woman with 30 items making three separate transactions for herself, mom and grandma.

They left out my favorite, though: Extremely Old Dude! This happened to me a couple of days ago at a Publix Market. I get in the express lane behind an E.O.D. He kept mumbling things that sounded like questions, forcing the cashier to stop and ask him to repeat himself. He did and, though she now understood the English words coming out of his mouth, she was stumped. Call a manager? Call a manager. Time to pay, so he writes a check. That is, once she was finished ringing him up and gave the total, only then did he pull out his checkbook and begin to write. “P…U…B…L…I…X…” Then he wanted $50 cash back. She gave him two 20’s and a ten. No, he really wanted all fives. Transaction finished… but time for one more joke. In all, not an “Express” experience!

Anyway, read the article and tell us, do you think you save time in the express lane?

Cable Bundling Blues

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I think you misspelled "overpriced."
I think you misspelled “overpriced.”

It’s a common complaint about cable TV: to get the channels you want, you have to buy a bunch of channels you will never watch. It’s called Bundling and, if you don’t like it, you are invited to come down to our dirty, depressing office next to the check cashing place and drop off your cable box.

So, it’s a little ironic that the cable (and dish) companies are now the ones complaining about bundling.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt has made no secret of his distaste for the bundles of channels his and other cable companies are forced to accept in order to carry the few channels that customers actually watch. Now, says Britt, it’s time to actually do something about it.  The Consumerist

Now is the time, you see. Not all these years we have been screaming to cut the bundle, but now, because the cable guys are losing money. They have reached the point where they can’t pass any more of the cost on to us. Time Warner lost 140,000 subscribers in the past quarter alone.

If I had been a Time Warner customer, I would be among the 140K. Nothing personal, it’s just dollars and cents. I did the math, cancelled my subscription and went with a Roku box, digital rabbit ears, Netflix and Hulu. I am saving $100 a month, but your mileage may vary. And there are drawbacks like waiting, sometimes a while, for shows to land on Netflix or Hulu.

How about you? Do you feel, as Springsteen once said, “there’s 57 channels and nothing’s on?” Would you ever cut the cable?

Your Call is Very Important…

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092711_onholdphone

There is a popular image of retail “customer service” as a call center in some faraway land filled with people you can’t understand, yet somehow their names are Chad or Stacy. (An image, I believe, that retailers don’t mind perpetuating if it keeps you from calling.) But, somehow people still use the telephone.

So how was their experience on Black Friday, one of the toughest shopping days of the year? The Consumerist reports on a survey:

The survey, conducted by the folks at STELLAService, looked at the 35 largest online retailers — most of which are websites for major bricks-and-mortar stores — to determine how these companies performed at responding to phone and online chat requests. Consumerist.com

The results:

2012 Top 5:

JCPenney :22 sec, Office Max :30 sec, Amazon :59 sec, Target 1:05, Gap 1:33

2012 Bottom 5:

HSN 5:46, Dell 8:49, Walmart 11:20, TigerDirect 12:14, Costco 12:34

Read the article to see all the results. Did you call any customer service on Black Friday? How was your experience?

And, for the record, MindField Online uses home-grown customer service talent. If you can’t understand them, it’s just because they are from West Virginia! 😉  Have a great weekend!

(photo: apartmenttherapy.com)

Naming Names, Naughty and Nice

The watchdogs over at Consumer Reports have cracked open the suggestion box and put together their annual Naughty and Nice list for the holidays. The list includes input from CR staff and Facebook fans. There were 100 nominees, and CR narrowed it down to the 10 best and worst.

Companies were dinged for hidden or tricky fees, fine print, and unfriendly practices; others were lauded for generous and outstanding customer service.

And to keep it fair, the list looks specific policies and practices such as hidden fees, return policies, etc. “They’re jerks!” doesn’t make the cut!

Anyway, here are some of the more famous names on the list, with an eye toward holiday shopping:

Nice: Home Depot, Honda, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Red Wing Shoe Co.

Naughty: CompUSA, Forever 21, Abe’s of Maine, Vonage, Tiger Direct

There are many other examples of policies – good, bad and mindless – at the original article, so check it out!  Do you have any examples?

Speaking of nutty hidden fees, remember this post about RyanAir?