An Unbiased Look at Ugly Cars

A new blog on the block called FuglyRides.com takes a deep, scrutinizing, and critical look at the aesthetics of the cars that drive on our roads. The central mission is to point out the ugly cars to make them stick out even more - so as to raise awareness and unify ridicule, with the ultimate objective of getting them off the roads via peer pressure. Whether it be oldies such as the AMC Pacer or new fugly rides such as the Scion xB, Chrysler PT Cruiser, or Ford Flex (among many, many others), Fuglyrides.com makes sure to point out all the faults and weaknesses. Check it out for a fun read. And if you have some of your own picks or pics of ugly cars, ugly motorcycles, or ugly anything on wheels, they let you submit your suggestions.

How Much We Sacrifice for Price

Price is King. With the current state of the economy, it has become more apparent than ever that price is the ultimate decision point for almost all of our purchases. Although obvious, companies have never embraced this fact to the extent that they are now taking advantage of it. Back in the day, products differed from each other not only by price, but some highlighted better quality to justify the price. Today, it seems like no one is really paying attention to anything else BUT price itself. One great blog, The Consumerist, has been tracking the most recent manifestation of our focus on price, calling it the "Grocery Shrink Ray." They've been showcasing grocery store items that carry the same price but cleverly decreased the amount of contents inside. I've certainly noticed this myself as well. Even just a couple of days ago I wanted to buy ground coffee but didn't as I noticed that the size of the bag was half (!) of its normal size - although the price was the same.

Although there is really nothing that anyone can do about these decreasing package sizes, this trend made me realize how much we sacrifice for price in other shopping choices. Most importantly, many people often choose to buy a product at the lowest price - no matter where it is that they find this best deal. But I would really warn people against this habit. Most often, we heavily discount future customer service needs. In other words, since we tend to think that our new Plasma TV will work perfectly, we decide to pay less at some shady store (or buy it from some unknown manufacturer) than to pay a premium for some "potential" warranty or customer service if we "might" encounter any problems.

I see this on an almost daily basis in the area where I live. There is a large electronics, appliance, home-goods store in the Southeast called Brandsmart USA. It is an absolute horrible store, yet they have constant and non-stop traffic. Why? One and only one reason: price. It's true that their prices are some of the lowest, and very often beat the prices of the local BestBuy or CircuitCity, etc. Yet the shopping experience is literally disgusting and the way that they go about their business is not only unacceptable in today's modern market, but even appalling. They have salesmen (don't really need to be gender neutral here, since I've never - not once - seen a female salesperson in their stores - only female cashiers) that are worse than car salesmen on your cheapest used car lot. They still work on an ancient system of commissions, so as soon as you place your eye on an item, that department's 7 salesmen will literally attack you. They jump you and start pushing that item, no matter what it is, no matter if it's the worst thing there, no matter if you look like you're interested or not. But as soon as you just hint at the fact that you're definitely not going to buy it, they forget you as if you just disappeared completely. They go and attack the next customer. I've tried just asking some questions about products in the past, and at first they try to answer (I say "try" because every single time I knew more about the product than they did - they are absolutely clueless), and if you seem disinterested they won't even give you any more time to answer more questions. They will say that they are "with another client" or will tell you to "go ask that guy over there."

But that's not even the worst. If you want to buy something, no matter how big or small, you have to first be "entered into their system." They record every single piece of information about you, almost with your child's name and birthplace, just so that they can write some code down on a piece of paper (randomly ripped from whatever is within arm's reach) and tell you to go to the cashier. So you go into the back where they literally have a complete mess. It looks like you're betting on horses or going through some third-world country customs. There are about 30 windows with cashiers sitting in front of computers. You could stand there for an hour or more at times. And remember, this horrible procedure is followed no matter how small your item. Even if it's just a simple digital camera. I'm not talking about $5000+ big-ticket items that might need this type of extra security.

Once you pay, you're still not done! You now get a print-out, and you have to go outside, around the building, and into their (dirty, shady, seemingly dangerous) dock loading area. And that's exactly what it is - a loading area for delivery trucks to pull up to in reverse. So they treat you like you're some wage worker who is supposed to go up to the loading area to pick up your item. There, it's an even bigger mess. You have tons of people just hovering around, and there is no specific line to know who's next. Once you get someone's attention (guys running around in the warehouse area getting your stuff), you give the guy the slip of paper that the cashier gave you. Now this is the only proof of your purchase that you have! So if the guy goes in there and you never find him again (since there are dozens of them) or he loses your paper, you can't do anything about it. But if everything does go smoothly, then after 30 minutes or so the guy will pop back out with your item.

Now he crouches down to your eye level (since they're elevated on the loading dock) and opens the package to have you see that all the contents are in there. What if I'm buying my item as a present and would rather have it factory shrink-wrapped ?!? Nope. No such option. So I guess anything you get at BrandmartUSA as a present will basically look used since it's open-package. Once you agree that it's OK, they have you sign some type of "release" form and off you go.

So about 2 hours after you decide what you want, it's in your hands. This should be enough to convince anyone and everyone not to shop at this messed-up store. Unfortunately, even I have fallen victim to their low prices and have bought several things there despite this horrible shopping experience - clearly consumer unfriendly. But what made me stop shopping here altogether is the lack of customer service if you have any problems with your item in the future. I once bought a cordless phone for the house, and when I plugged it in, it had an echo on every conversation. So I decided that I will return it to get a different model. I even bought extended warranty on it, so I wasted extra money that I wouldn't get back (and I know - no one should ever purchase extended warranty - it's always a scam - and it was a stupid mistake on my part). When I brought it back to the returns desk, with receipt, only several days later, it was another horror show. First I had to wait for 15 minutes at an empty desk before anyone would even come up to help. Then, I started explaining how there is a problem. The girl behind the counter was reading something on her computer and seemed completely disinterested. When I finished she just said, "oh, sorry, is anything wrong with it?". I just explained it to her! But she said she was reading something, so I just explained it again. Turns out that they have to test it! themselves to make sure that there is a problem. So for 45 minutes I stand there while some guy took the phone to the back to plug it in and see what is wrong with it. They finally agreed that there is a problem, BUT (!) since I had an extended warranty they could not just refund the money - it would have to go to their their warranty department to get fixed first. Who does this these days? What kind of policy and procedure is this? I just bought it a few days before that and I can't just return it - only because I spent even MORE money on a useless extended warranty? After I started arguing with them, they called a manager, and 30 minutes later I had a refund. I definitely decided there and then that I would never ever shop at BrandMart USA again.

But an experience like this is what convinces me that we should not be only paying attention to price when shopping. Although future customer service needs are heavily discounted and seem unimportant in our minds at the moment - whereas it seems so enticing that we can get a better price at that same exact moment - I would strongly recommend paying a 10% premium to make sure that you get acceptable customer service (instead customer service that will only make life more difficult for you).

As for Brands Mart USA, I don't know how they are still in business. Of course they get a lot of traffic, so they would not have trouble staying in business in terms of financial liquidity and sufficient profits, but I don't understand how they are allowed to stay in business. It must either be that not enough consumers are complaining or (more likely) that they have some shady arrangements with local authorities. For instance, there is ALWAYS a county sheriff at each one of their stores during all operating hours. What kind of arrangement does a store need to have so that a tax-paid public employee serves only and exclusively that store? I really think that this shouldn't be - but there is nevertheless a Sheriff just hanging out by the front of the store all day long. Also, Brandmart has an A+ rating at the Better Business Bureau - which is completely unrealistic and just impossible. I don't know how they're doing it - but I would bet on the fact that it's not clean or legitimate. Either way, don't just take it from me. There are tons of BrandMart USA complaints online - such as here and here. I'd recommend to anyone to stay away from this store, despite their slightly better prices.

Driving with a Hands-Free Headset

With California recently switching over to no-cellphone driving, I can definitely see how there will only be more problems on the roads as people will have two hands free while using their bluetooth headsets:

Finally a Mouthwash Without Pain: Crest

Everyone wants to have a healthy lifestyle, but it's not always easy. Eating healthy food often means that we have to sacrifice taste. Exercise can get enjoyable once you get into it, but getting started is almost impossible - procrastination kicks in like nowhere else. And then there are those "little" things that should be easy: don't expose your skin to excessive direct sun, floss, rest your eyes if sitting in front of a computer for too long, etc. One task that is an automatic habit for pretty much everyone is brushing your teeth. Well, it would seem easy enough to rinse with a mouthwash that will kill bacteria and help kill bad breadth. Except that the leading product out in the market, Listerine, hurts like heck! I've tried using it for years, all the different flavors that they come out with, and each one of them is identical - after swooshing for more than 15 seconds (and they want you to do it for 30) my mouth starts burning, my eyes start tearing up, and I start to feel numb around half my face.

Mouthwash shouldn't cause excruciating pain to "show you" that it's working. That's where Crest Pro-Health Rinse comes in! I just bought it a few days ago for the first time when I needed to restock on my mouthwash and wanted to try anything but Listerine again. I remembered seeing a commercial for Crest which mentioned that it doesn't cause crazy pain. And it's true! I swoosh for a whole 30 seconds without any pain. It's such a relief that I even started to like rinsing after brushing. I feel better about taking care of my oral health (better than before - since I used to spit out Listerine after 10 seconds sometimes and rinse with water for a minute to get rid of the pain), and it's way easier now.

I'd definitely recommend Crest Pro-Health Rinse. And if you're a person who really feels more confident that the mouthwash is doing its thing only if you "feel" the effects, then this is for you too! After you rinse with Crest for 30 seconds and spit it out, there is an "after-effect" with some minor burning. So it lets you know that it's killing the bad guys in your mouth, but at an intensity 10x less than Listerine. Give it a try. And if you want to go a step further in taking care of your dental and oral health, take a look at this product.

The Bachelorette: Deanna is a Bitch and a Whore

First of all, I don't even know why I'm watching this show. I would never tune into this type of thing by myself, but my whole household watches this because apparently there is nothing better on TV on Monday nights. NBC has the Nashville Star show but none of us are into country music, and all the other channels just have simple sitcoms. But I did start watching this with my family and have to admit that I got into it. I guess that's one thing that this show is really good at: getting people emotionally involved. And how do they do this? Clearly through strategic editing that gets across what they want to get across to strap people to their TVs. But that same "great editing" is what led me to write this post (probably my most assertive yet) by calling that chick Deanna a bitch and a whore. Just the fact that it's ooh-la-la "Deanna" is already indicative of that. Should just be the normal spelling - Diana - like the "non-princesses" have.

So from the normal show editing we all already know that Deanna is overly emotional. That's fine and dandy and all, but she uses this to get into kissing-fests with each and every one (!) of the contestants for each and every single one of the dates. And if that were everything - but it's not. The best part about it all is that she seems to "fall in love" with every single one of the guys. Every other sentence that she uses in her little narrations is "I can see myself spending the rest of my time with X" and "I'm really falling in love with X" and "X is perfect for me", etc. And we hear this over and over and over again. Frankly, I don't think she even knows what it means to fall in love. Clearly she thinks that any date where some kissing happens (which is every date for her) the next logical step is to fall in love. I just can't imagine what goes on in her head. Taking into consideration her intellectual capacity, it must just be: "Oh, I kissed him - that must mean I'm falling in love." But does she realize that the "I kissed him" was caused by her promiscuity and whoreness? I mean c'mon. She's clearly just all about sexual passion and shallow bodily senses - she doesn't go any deeper. She THINKS (!) that she's going deeper because she cries every 15 seconds, but that's definitely not going deeper. She's just a slut that wants all those bodies, which were hand-picked to be in top shape. All she's feeling is lust, and the fact that she has embraced this feeling and labeled it "love" is what makes her a whore. She's also way too easy.

But why is she a bitch? I mean the editing on the show is so great that she comes across as a cute country girl, who is sweet and nice and all those great qualities - while also being a whore on the side (but who cares...she is so sweet and nice and kind and loving and sincere and true and BULLSHIT!). And that's true to some extent. I never thought that I'd also consider her a bitch. But that all came out tonight when they had that special: "The Bachelorette: The Men Tell All". The great thing about that special show tonight was that there was none of that "great editing" that shaped her into a nice and sincere country girl. Instead it was all just her - bare and out there - and she was a total BITCH! She was disrespectful to the last two contestants booted off, Graham and Jeremy, and she clearly didn't give a shit about them. She was aggressive and immediately defensive. Clearly she had no class and no tact. So to add onto her roster, she is not only a whore with the intelligence of a chicken, but she is also a disrespectful bitch that just enjoys the spotlight. And she's proactive about trying to hide this. They showed a clip where she yelled at all the guys for not opening up, and right after showing that part she quickly pointed out how this supposedly shows that she was in it from the beginning for the love - and that she was supposedly serious about it from the start. Why would someone be so proactively defensive about their intentions? Well, I'll give you one guess.

So why was she a bitch? Well, she insulted Graham directly. He did nothing to provoke it and she said how she now sees that she made the right decision. And even better than that, she professed her love for Jeremy throughout the show, and yet now in this "special" she said that she had only fallen in love with the other two (Jason and Jesse). Such a contradicting and hypocritical bitch. Even the host (Chris) noticed that she was pissed. Yet there was no reason to be pissed. She clearly can't control her emotions and doesn't know how to channel her feelings appropriately. She is definitely not ready for any type of "love" or whatever she sees as love. Also the "special" about how "The Men Tell All" aired a couple of funny bloopers where her lack of intelligence was made clear. She can't even speak English. I kind of suspected it with her speech pattern and her ditzy southern accent, where all she says is: "You ain't gonna tell me this ain't been hard for me" (that should be her tag line). Now we also know that she can't use the past-tense correctly when speaking.

So what do we have? A bitchy whore that is disrespectful and too immature to know what love is. Yet she doesn't realize any of this. She feels completely entitled and acts like a little princess. Everything has to go HER way. If the guys don't act like she wants to, then guess what: you're out! I can just imagine what type of power trip she's on. This is probably the first time that she is in control during the whole girl-guy relationship/interaction process. I think it's a big mistake by the show to choose somebody like her and give her the ability to just cut people off that don't act how she wants them to act. Poor girl will think that this is how the world works. It will make life difficult for her in the future.

In the end, I don't feel sorry for Jeremy and Graham at all. At first I did of course, but at that point I only knew that she was a whore - I wasn't aware that she's such a bitch. Jeremy and Graham have to understand that they have been saved! If they really did fall in love to some extent (and who knows if it's just for the show or not...), they should come to the realization that there are hundreds upon thousands of such Deannas out there. She's nothing special. If you want to find a brain-dead girl who will throw her lips and body at anything that moves, just go to one of the popular spring break destinations in March. Whoever ends up with Deanna will have to put up with an entitled princess who thinks she'll always have it her way. Definitely not an easy life with someone like that.

And who will win? Well, just for the fun of it, I'll make my prediction. I won't lie: I really want it to be Jason, but unfortunately I think it will be Jesse in the end. Why? Well, for one, I think that kid should have been off long ago. Sure he seems nice, but he's a kid who snowboards and has a surfer's haircut. How can you take him seriously? He would be fun to hang out with, but for a girl to marry? But since she has kept him for so long, he better go through to the end. Second, I kind of feel like Jason's kid might be a problem in the end. I think Deanna will realize that it's not the best to be a step-mom. But the real reason is that this girl is not that smart and she won't make the best decision, that's why I think that in the end it will be Jesse (unless she listens to her family, who will undoubtedly recommend Jason - I just don't think she will).

IKEA is Way Overrated And Overhyped

I know a lot of people who simply love Ikea. I constantly hear praise - their designs, the colors, the atmosphere, the selection, the food, and of course the prices. Well, I went to Ikea today - and all it did was reaffirm my dislike for the store. Considering that so many people praise it non-stop, the expectations are set so high that for anyone who hasn't been there yet it will be impossible to have a vision of "heaven on earth" fulfilled. I didn't have that vision, since I've been familiar with the store since way before they even started in the US, but I've never liked it.

Take my visit today as an example. We go in and are first enticed by the big posters for incredibly priced lunches. Of course we'd just see them and keep on going, but the escalators by the entrance take you right into the cafe. Oh well, I guess why not grab something to eat. That's fine and all, but you get what you pay for. The food is already sitting there, prepared ahead of time, and looks nothing like on the posters. Sure the prices are small, but did you see the portion size? Very "European" as well. How can I praise their food options if I've already seen what Costco has to offer?

We eat and start to "browse" around. The store is a complete maze - where finding your way around is impossible. But I guess they're prepared for it since they have arrows on the floor to guide you forward. There is also barely any organization. Since they aim to showcase their items in a "set" just like it would be in your home, they have a kitchen with a bathroom and a bedroom all together. So you don't see ALL the bedroom sets in one place (although they do have a section), because there are others scattered here and there with these "complete layouts."

Plus, their stuff looks cheap. Sure, it's less expensive. But they should stop advertising how they don't sacrifice quality. As I was walking around, their furniture wasn't anything special. I would say that only 10% of the selection includes something that's not embarrassing to put in your home - and most of it was from the kitchen cabinets section. Everything else is made of cheap materials: thin wood (and not even real wood of course), small unstable chairs, and simple fabric all over the place. Even kitchen items such as mugs: they're thick and ugly, made of cheap clay that kids use in art classes.

Despite my dislike for all their items, we still managed to find two things that we wanted to buy. One said on the tag "write down the model and color, and ask for assistance" - and the other had an aisle and row number. So of course we proceed down to the self-serve storage/inventory/pick-up area. The find our one item with aisle/row info, and then we approach a clerk to ask for the second item. Well, it turns out that the whole ordering process is completely ridiculous and disorganized. We had to go back upstairs! to "ask someone for help" - turns out you can't just do that anywhere. The label should say thins explicitly. I didn't even see one clerk upstairs and assumed that they're all in the pick-up area. And yet to go back upstairs, we have to follow the huge one-directional maze again. After an extra 30 minutes we get there and ask for help. This is the best part: it turns out that the label/tag on the item we wanted does not give the clerk any order numbers. She has to look at a booklet that has ALL the parts and part numbers for that specific model line. That's over 200+ pieces in there, of which we only needed 5. So she stands there, looking through the booklet, visually matching the store display to the diagrams in the booklet. That's just ridiculous! They even make it hard for the clerks!

After she was done printing our order, which took 20 minutes, we had to go pay downstairs (again) - and better yet, we had to wait another 30 minutes for them to get all the pieces and bring them out to us.

Summary: Ikea is horrible. There is nothing great about it. Cheap, disorganized, bad customer service, bad food, low quality, etc. I don't know what people are so excited about with this store. Ikea was simply smart because it has targeted a specific demographic - people with small living quarters who have to be space-conscious. I will bet you money that if there was a direct competitor for this demographic, Ikea would definitely go out of business. I even feel motivated to start up one myself.

How To Lower Your Cell Phone Bill

I just recently discovered a good way to save on your cell phone bill when I was moving from one state to another. Naturally, I changed my address with all the companies whose services I use, including my cell phone carrier (Verizon). But when my next bill cycle closed and I saw the amount due, it was $15 higher than usual! I checked all the call records and charges, just to find out that I didn't go over the minutes but that the local taxes for the state I moved to were much higher (by over 10%). I researched this a bit and found that the taxes are tied to your address and NOT your cell phone number's area code (since I still had my old one). So of course I just switched back my address - and this is the trick that I would suggest to you.

Since your cell phone taxes are charged by the state which is listed in your account address at your service provider, simply give them a different address. I found this site, which lists cell phone taxes by state. Turns out that New York has the highest taxes (at 21.7%) and Nevada has the lowest (at 6.6%). That's a huge difference! New York taxes on your cell are three times (!) higher than Nevada's.

Now you might think that it's not so easy to change the address since you'll miss your bill and other mailings from your carrier. Well the great thing these days is online billing - often called "paperless billing". Not only do carriers make it available but they constantly and actively encourage it. So just go into your online portal for your cell phone carrier and switch to paperless billing. This way you'll never miss a bill. And as for any other occasional mailings, who wants those anyway? It's usually just garbage - promotions and ads. So when you have online billing activated, you can just go ahead and change your address without a problem. Just go into the section on your online portal that lets you edit your contact information, and put in a random Nevada address that you find online (search for a Nevada business, for instance).

Of course it would be better if you might have a relative or close friend in one of the "low tax" states and you could just use their address - in case you really want to make sure that you don't miss any occasional correspondence. Some of you might think that this is "wrong" or in some way "dishonest". But c'mon - clearly your state is ripping you off if you're in one of the "high tax" areas. There is no reason that you should be subjected to that, especially if other states are charging so much less. So go save some cash!