Today I read in the Vancouver Sun about a long list of customer complaints in regards to the site iPhonenow.ca where apparently a lot of people have sent the company money back in December in hopes to get an iPhone since it isn’t available in Canada. Unfortunately, people haven’t gotten the product as expected.

The article went on to say how some people have started to issue charge backs on their credit card and the company is attempting to retaliate by issuing fees to hopefully scare people off from doing so. If you were one of those people who gave them money, I guess it is advisable that you should take some kind of action now.

The eyebrow raising thing about this article when I read it is that I actually know a company here in Vancouver that had an unadmirable business experience with them.
That kind of reminded me the importance of keeping updated with your contacts from time to time to protect each other from questionable individuals. Have to watch out for each other I guess you can say in terms of keeping a healthy community.

I suppose an important lesson here too is that if a company doesn’t deliver a product as intended and you used a credit card, don’t let them drag you on with promises that it will be done before doing anything about. A good example would be a certain store that has a thirty day return policy and when they do not deliver what they promise they hold you out until it passes the thirty day mark. As a result, you will have a tough time getting anything back afterwards.

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This must be prey on the Internet users week or something. While it isn’t unusual to get spam about money making opportunities, this one deserved some special attention I thought as they sure do a lot of things right to entice people to go with their pitch. It was from a company called “Contacting Them”.

While I didn’t care too much about the spam offer, it actually had some good copywriting I must say as they make it sound like they have done some research about your site by using generic information such as how long the domain has been registered for. Then they try to convince you to join them with the phrase of

With that kind of traffic, we will pay you up to $4,800/month to advertise our links on your website.

The thing is too, it will probably get a lot of people to sign up impulsively. I’m always weary whenever people focus so much on how much you can make while using the terms earn “up to” in the message. I went to the page anyways to read the fine print and sure enough it puts a lot more light into the offer

These figures of earnings are examples to help you understand the earning potential - You can make more or less. There are no guarantees of income. *You are NOT paid per click, per impressions or for the period of time our banner is exposed on your website; you are paid per sale generated. You receive a sales commission when members join our paid membership upon your referral or your sub-affiliates’. Recurring monthly commissions are subject to members’ renewals. By default, 2 levels of commissions are paid; to access levels 3 to 10, you need to meet each level qualifications. Please take time to consult the qualifications for each level inside the affiliate area that explains everything in details.

It’s kind of like telling someone that they can earn up to a million dollars a day by cutting the neighbor’s grass. From my experience, good online affiliate programs are like any type of vendors in a traditional business where they focus on the type of products/services that they will enable you to offer.

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This really has been a very casual section so far which I guess suits the original intent. Didn’t really get to do what I wanted though due to some circumstances that has been eating up a lot of my spare time, but that didn’t stop the blog from generating some more income. Today I received another payment from Google for $116.65.

I was thinking that‘s not too bad considering I don’t really focus too much on monetizing the blog as I simply write like normal. This made me curious as to how well that widget bucks program was doing. To my surprise, I am due for a payment as apparently last month I passed the minimum payment point. Ironically, I thought it wouldn’t do well at all since it seems like it is more fitting for a tech site.

The breakdown looks like this so far:

Stock Investment: $800
Blog Web Publishing: $222.19
Million Dollar Term: $100

Total: $1122.19

I guess Google adsense won’t really be an income source once that Forbes network kicks in as all the ads will be converted to advertisements supplied by them. Not bad for a casual start so far I’d say. Almost feels like passive income in many ways.

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“What in the world is this?” I thought to myself when I got this e-mail recently. It just sounded so fishy right from the start. Apparently it is a directory type of service that implies that you have been selected for possible inclusion in some prestigious directory. Here is a copy of the e-mail:

Received: from smtp10.resultsmail.com ([216.158.103.77])
by l-daemon (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-7.05 (built Sep 5 2006))
with ESMTP id <0JVB007LBT6G3X50@l-daemon> Sun,
27 Jan 2008 16:27:58 -0700 (MST)
Received: by smtp10.resultsmail.com (PowerMTA(TM) v3.2r23)
id hjk9sg0g7asi ; Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:29:07 -0800
Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:29:07 -0800
From: Princeton Premier
Subject: Alan Yu’s Selection Into Princeton Premier

Alan Yu,

It is my pleasure to inform you that you are being considered for inclusion into the 2008-2009 Princeton Premier Business Leaders and Professionals “Honors Edition” section of the Registry.

The 2008-2009 edition of the Registry will include biographies of the world’s most accomplished individuals. Recognition of this kind is an honor shared by thousands of executives and professionals throughout the world each year. Inclusion is considered by many as the single highest mark of achievement.

Upon final confirmation, you will be listed among thousands of accomplished individuals in the Princeton Premier Registry.

For accuracy and publication deadlines, please complete your application form and return it to us within five business days.

You may access the application form using the following link:

http://app.formassembly.com/forms/view/3366

On behalf of the Managing Director, we wish you continued success.

Sincerely,

Jason Harris

Managing Director
Princeton Premier

23-35a Steinway Street
Astoria, NY 11105 United States

If you do not wish to receive future e-mail
from Princeton Premier, please use the link below.

For one thing, I was thinking to myself that if you were nominated for some kind of award shouldn’t the organization already have basic information about you? Kind of silly for you to have to fill out a form and provide information in that sense. It would kind of be like wanting to award someone for a lifetime achievement award and then asking the recipient on what it is exactly that they do.

Just from putting all the pieces together, my guess is that once you fill out the form you are then contacted by a person who tries to sell you say a premium membership fee of some sort to have yourself listed in it. I think I’ll pass and keep my wallet closed.

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I saw an interesting thing recently where in a restaurant people were lining up near the entrance as it was busy and people were waiting for a table. Now it just so happens that near the entrance is this small counter area. On it was a long sleeve of napkins that the workers would grab to place on the tables.

An elderly women then comes in and first asks the restaurant greeter to be added on the wait list for a table. Afterwards, she casually, without a hitch, simply walks over to the counter and begins to fill her bag up with napkins as if it was a normal thing to do. While the employees didn’t see it, everyone lining up did and they didn’t really know what to say since she was an elder.

I’m sure that the person saves money this way and that everyone has taken a little extra something at one time or another for future use, but how much is too much?

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