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Dannen F.

2
Level 2 Contributor

Contributor Level

Total Points
524

5 Reviews by Dannen

  • FaxZero

10/11/22

I tried to send two faxes in one day. The rule is you can send 5 faxes of 3 pages plus cover sheet in one day. I checked carefully. My first fax was two pages and one cover letter of one page and the second was three pages and one cover letter of one page.

They make you go to your email and confirm (a way to harvest your email for sure) but seemed like a small price to pay if successful. The problem is that faxes clearly within the ranges (I checked) were not only being rejected, the email of rejection tells you they will hold your fax until they receive premium payment with no way to cancel.

After a little bit I get another email saying my fax was rejected because the recipient's phone was busy for three tries. So which is it? Too big or can't get through?

They whole thing feels very smarmy and if I had to guess they have an algorithm set up to snare X number of faxes that qualify for free as rejected hoping that people trying to use the free fax service will pay anyway. I'll just move to a different service and if I need to pay in the future it won't be to this one. It's really not a good look.

Products used:
Free fax service

Service
Value
  • Ibotta

7/3/22

My sibling showed me her ibotta account after having used it for over a year. She shared the information with me not because she was trying to get a referral but because she loved it and made so much money after having massagged it over time. So I asked for a referral, which she wasn't sure they had, but she found and sent it to me. I quickly through googling found out that they set up their referral process to make it super likely that you and the other won't end up with the bonus. I read up really really carefully to make sure all was well.

She also gave me a lot of advice about how to maximize it so I would have less trial and error.

When I got in there I quickly realize that it was only serviceable for non-food purchases (honey is just better and I don't really like honey, but on this count if I had to pick one it would easily be honey over ibotta), and limited food stores they have established online linking systems with. They do let you upload recepits from non-linked stores, but it turned out so time consuming it felt like a play to get consumers in the door even though many would probably not try. It kind of feels like a way for certain big box stores to siphen people off from those other stores by getting customers of the offline stores in the door and then redirecting them to the easier process of the linked stores.

None of the stores I use have the linking system. They allow you to upload receipts. I opted to give up on ibotta because it was so difficult and it was during a pandemic so any real hope of getting receipts accepted was toast (I can't believe they didn't make adaptations during an actual pandemic).

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I decided to refer my adult daughter because I thought maybe she could handle the receipt uploading. I helped her step by step. It was a nightmare. Going through a big grocery list to line up products. Then when we got to the pick up the store didn't offer receipts anymore, only e-receipts, which ibotta doesn't accept. When we got back I got a special format from the store so she could submit. The receipt reader took the photos but the ai couldn't read the products. She had to go through and manually add all of the products. We had to put up bar codes, which is fine, but when we discovered a barcode the reader couldn't read, it wouldn't let us take a picture. It autosnaps the bar codes quickly in a row so we had to line up alllll of the multiple products so we could get them in line. We had to do this for several products. It was exhausting and for the comparative savings it was pennies for way too much sweat.

The app doesn't let you see what bar code information is captured and so we couldn't see if it got it right. (in one case it captured the bar code of one of the boxes four times. If she hadn't caught that, it would have automatically disqualified).

Its multiple days later and not even a hint of anything in her account. Not even the 25 cent "upload a receipt" any offer.

When we compared our experience with my sister we could easily see that we were only going to have the most minimal reasonable benefit from the process if we fell into a slim margin of people. Otherwise there are so many "eke out some dimes" on coupon programs that are far superior. This one will just waste a lot of time, in some cases way too much physical exertion, when you can use that time and less exertion clipping physical coupons.

I wanted to give it at least two stars because of my sisters experience, but not only is that hers and not ours (I was directly hands on to guiding my daughter though each step), she is the queen of saloming through difficult systems to pinch those pennies. Most people are absolutely not on her level. So a one star it is because I just wouldn't waste my time and I wouldn't waste anyone elses unless they fell into a super hyper specific demographic.

Products used:
ibotta online desk top interface and ibotta app

Service
Value
Quality
  • Mint Mobile

5/20/22

I originally went with Mint Mobile because I was with Cricket and when ATT took over it slowly drove Cricket into the grounds. After putting my family in danger hijacking my cell service to force me to 5G I defected to mint. My teen already had Mint (for over a year) as does her dad (for a few years) and they seemed to find it satisfactory. I've been with Mint for 3 months. Even prior to going with Mint I've never had problems receiving or making calls to my daughter or her dad (that wasn't absolutely a Cricket side problem)

I am very pleased with Mint. It meets my needs.

Its price is good, the internet is not perfect but good enough (I suspect that is actually my old phone problem as and I am able to hotspot off of it no problem, which is my real need) and definitely far better than Cricket's; and good enough to justify with not going with Verizon who has done some truly awful things during the California wildfires.

Other than the below (which I resolved quickly), I've never had problems making calls, receiving calls or sending and receiving texts. In fact Cricket would do this weird thing that made me download images texted to me without knowing what they are, and I couldn't send or receive pics, but with Mint does not and I get and send pics like any other normal service.

The SIM card came in in a timely manner and I was notified with ease. I think its because I haven't replaced my phone in a few years but it did take me a second to realize the cards popped out like a nesting doll in smaller and smaller sizes rather than them sending two different sizes. Insertion was easy.

I have used customer service twice, today, regarding figuring out their pricing plans so I can renew my service. I used the chat box the first time and it drove me nuts because I could not get my question answered, it sent me in circles. I called and it was resolved. It was about activation as Mint lets you have a temporary number while your number is ported so I wasn't sure if I put the sim card in and activation if I would mess up the port.

It didn't. They use the temporary number SIM technique as your old number is still active on your old phone and the new number is active on the Mint sim card. However everything ported perfectly withing five hours (I actually believe it was one or two but my memory is a little hazy).

Today I used customer service again to answer some questions about their pricing since I plan on renewing. It said I was in a 35 min queue but I got someone in 9 minutes. This does not bother me as in the past few years I have rarely spent time in a queue with any business under 20 minutes. The agent was able to answer all of my questions to my satisfaction. I was pleased with it.

The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of five is because
1. When I drove out of my area into the cornfields I suddenly was unable to make any calls; internet worked though. I googled it and found I needed to switch a setting on my phone and then voila, no problems since then. I don't really consider that a Mint Mobile problem, but if someone else runs into it, then they will know to go into phone settings.
2. Mint tries to keep up with you since you won't pay a monthly bill (you pay in advance and your savings is based on how far in advance, which I love). I found it annoying at first, which is why it impacts the score above, but I begrudgingly admit its actually been really helpful as I misunderstood something about their service (a me issue not a their issue) and their reminders letting me know I could save money by going with a cheaper plan since I didn't use much phone data actually led to me realizing they were right. So, you win this one daddy mint.

I also usually don't download apps (old cranky phone) and was kind of annoyed with their email reminders and suggestions about the app (I don't like people telling me what to do) but it turns out I really like the app. There really isn't much to do since you've pre-paid everything, but its simple and clean and I can access my data usage easy.

I absolutely recommend Mint to anyone that can pre-pay their phone bill and has Mint service in their area. I wrote this review because I realized I was only writing about the products I disliked. When I thought about a product I liked Mint was the first one to come to mind.

Products used:
Mint Mobile introductory 3 month package unlimited plan.

Service
Value
Shipping
Quality
  • Lenovo

5/20/22
Verified purchase

I purchased two laptops in 2021 from lenovo. One was a ThinkPad T14 with top specs (technically ordered in 2020 but not delivered till 2021) and an idea pad 5 with decent specs.

I immediately hated the T14. It didn't do nearly as well with things as the Idea pad 5 despite the incredible specs in the T14 versus the idea pad. Eventually the T14 started overheating so bad, the fan often never coming on, that the fan started making a horrible unbearable noise. People couldn't sleep with it on and I couldn't have video chats or calls. Fortunately I put in a ticket right before the warranty expired but I have no faith it will be honored as the mail is delayed. We'll see. That said, if they don't fix it, it only becomes a matter of time before it becomes a brick. No laptop that costs more than $1000 (this was almost 1500 with a black friday sale) should become an overheated noisy brick within a year.

The ideapad 5 was ok for the specs. It was also hot and didn't cool down well but having a wide base and thinner body I could keep it from burning up. Until after the warranty expired. A piece fell off the screen on the bottom and I couldn't get it back on. The screen over a week began to pull away from the body even though I was very careful. Until today when the screen connections literally fell apart from the body. I have no other laptop. I can't afford to get it repaired and the Lenovo warranty is out. I gave lenovo every dime I have and now I have junk. I have bought many laptops in my life, including used ones from pawn shops. Though I have those I hate and love and I have literally never had one literally fall apart in my hands. Seriously, this thing is actually falling apart. I have to have the screen gently propped up against a box of soymilk or other things just to keep it together. Pretty soon it will be a useless piece of junk.

I will never buy lenovo again and I recommend you do not either unless you like tossing your money away on disposable laptops.

Products used:
Think Pad T14, Gen 1, high specs; IdeaPad 5, mid specs

  • Auction.com

5/9/17

Tl; dr: This site is basically a collection of bad banking practices that caused the economic meltdown. Scammy, spammy, untrustworhty, and 100% bad for the buyer. I'd stay away. I wish I already had.

I went to auction.com to bid on a Freddie Mac property. It was on the market for a while, I went to look at it and after the real estate agent representing Freddie Mac wouldn't even take my bid because he felt it was too low. I called Freddie Mac to get a better understanding of their selling agency policies and in normal foreclosure bank fashion they used double speak and shifting to not actually say something that would give them responsibility. Nevertheless This experience made me feel like the listing on auction.com was legitimate.

So when the agent emailed me to let me know it was going to auction, everything felt at least normally legitimate. I was already a little annoyed because I feel like banks aren't awesome and the use of an auction site was to get the highest price while shifting all the undesireable contract terms and costs to the buyer. But, I set my top price lower to accomodate for this and registered for the site without even thinking about whether it was safe or scammy.

I placed the first bid, having read that they would proxy bid to try to brng it up to reserve. I was already annoyed with this, but it felt close enough to business as usual that I just decided to stick to my number and if it wasn't out of reserve to not worry about trying to buy it.

After I registered I placed a proxy bid at the lowest price and then watched it carefully wondering what it would actually sell for and if there was a reserve (not initially disclosed until the auction started). Sure enough there was a reserve, but the reserve amount was not disclosed. Frustrating, but business as usual for one sided power transactions. I got the first big in at 6 am. At about 10 am I was notified someone out bid me. I looked and saw the reserve was not met and just assumed it was the counter bidding process. I ignored it because initially the bid increments were set waaay to high at $10,000 and with a counter bid that meant it was already out of my top price. Then the bid increment was dropped to 5000. I assumed this was the bank realizing it messed up, as the property was basically ignored except for my opening bid and their counter bid. I watched it a bit more closely because something was starting to nag at me and because I realized that any smart buyer would *not* buy this property above a certain amount. Then I saw another bid, and for a second, thinking there was another bidder in the mix, thought about going up just $5,000. But that nagging feeing got to me again.

I realized that as long as the property was under reserve, in the pattern happening on this property, that the last bid was likely a counter bid. Which meant that auction.com had counter bid *twice*in a *row*. And also meant I was the only one in the auction.

At first I was accepting of the coutner bidding thing, pre-auction, just grumbling about how if there was a reserve price with a desire to counter bid like that, they should just start the auction at the reserve price. But during the auction it really became clear to me that when the seller is bidding to boost the price to the reserve, its *not* an auction. Its a negotiation. The site should not use this feature and even pretend to be an auction. Its absolutely shill bidding, and even when disclosed, its dishonest and lacking integrity. Its absolutely the bank's (and auction.com by being the mediary that sets part of the terms) desire to maxmize all the best things while shifting all the worts things about property transfer, but disguising it as an auction.

Its not worth the extra premium, the disencfranchising terms, that loss of protection of the inspection and title work as part of the contract, if the seller through the auction.com designed process, *bids against the buyers*.

I did a search then and came across this site and honestly my heart sank. This was a joint venture buy and its the other guys credit card and phone number on the account, I have to inform him of the risk that A) his credit card number might get stolen and b) he might get spammy calls from an auction site thats only supposed to deal with me, to try to bring up his bid. All because I legitimately thought this was a legitimate avenue based on working with a realtor and freddie mac.

I've only been to two other (live) auctions that were like this and I can tell you nobody wants to work with those banks or auctioneers again. The difference is, that if the second one gets caught, they'll get their license yank/the first bank ended up shooting themselves in the foot, but auction.com is allowed to run this scammy unethical shill bidding process and be legitimized by also ehtically-compromised mortgagers. Worse, the computer clearly kept bidding against itself, the reserve was never over come, and at the end of the auction, the listing completely disappeared, without any trace in the dashboard, history or on the site. Other auctions in the region that concluded are still listed, but marked over. This one is just gone, no trace. I'm guessing by the other reviews its because it didn't sell and it will be back on the auction site again until the house falls down (totally happens in this region, banks insisting on a certain price, dropping it only to still be too high given the deterioration, and then the city tearing it down). Update: Yup, a day after I wrote this review it appeared again as an auction, with the same upening bid, lower bidding increments, and no hint that it was already failed auctioned once. They're going to dragnet for a sucker for this house paying too much, and its going to be sad.

I'm giving two stars rather than one because, while the whole process was uncomfortable and misleading, even where they were upfront, they haven't actually screwed me yet.

I'd like to say I can't believe Freddie Mac would use this site, but the truth is, it and other mortgagers are probably just as home-sale-judgment-and-integrity impaired as the site, they've just had a much longer history to get themselves seen as legitimate in the way they operate business.

I wish I would have looked at these reviews and taken a pass. Now I need to worry about whether they will screw or annoy my business partner, potentially damaging our relationship, because I'm the one who suggested we bid on this site.

The name of the site is misleading because this is not a true auction, not as long as the seller can counter bid. Thats really negotiating while trying to trick buyers into think they are attending an auction with the rules and benefits of an auction and actually bidding. Call it negotiate.com or something else. Not really an auction site. Just another avenue for skeevy mortgagers.

Dannen Has Earned 22 Votes

Dannen F.'s review of Mint Mobile earned a Very Helpful vote

Dannen F.'s review of Auction.com earned 21 Very Helpful votes

Dannen Has Received 1 Thank You

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Tod C. thanked you for your review of Mint Mobile

“Thank you Dannen for your review, it has made my decision easier.”

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