Ben O.

We have been using Spybot Search Destroy for a decade or 2. Recently I have begun to question just what it does.

After a scan (generally I run a full scan on the first Sunday of the month), the green bars never seem to change; they always seem to be what I would call about 10%.

My scan on Sunday (04/07/2024) resulted in run-time error messages. Eventually I had to remove the program and reinstall it.

I then decided to test a theory, so I ran a full scan.

1,222 minutes! (20.4 hours)

Then 27.4 minutes to remove the items I selected (all of the green bars looked to be about 10%)

Then I ran another scan, only 4 hours this time.

All of the items again showed the ~10% green bar.

Then another 27.4 minutes to "correct" the problems.

My conclusion is that Spybot Search Destroy is not doing much (if anything.)

Bye-bye.

The Maryland529, Maryland College Investment Plan, used to be a good idea. The web site was a little iffy to negotiate but was reasonably straight forward. In February 2024 the plan announced it was "...delegating certain program management service to a new provider, Ascensus College Savings Recordkeeping Services, LLC (Alcensus)." This follows a publicized problem Maryland529 had with investors not being able to withdraw their funds.

In March 2024, the plan sent out a letter with a list of "Here is what you need to do:"

Unfortunately, there were no instructions on how to navigate the website to do the things "you need to do." The site is not well laid out so a certain amount instructions would be useful.

If the program management service is this bad, there are definite questions to be asked about how Maryland529 is handling investor's money.

Worthless site. Pretty pictures but nothing useful. Poorly laid out. Mostly goes nowhere.

"Contact us today. Our customer service center is standing by to assist you."

Link to phone numbers go nowhere.

In reality, Customer Service (sic) is non-existent.

I don't need support often but when I do, I expect it to live up to their claims.

I called to speak with a "live" agent and found I needed a PIN. There is no option to either receive a PIN or get to someone who can give me a PIN. I finally got an agent (I won't tell you how). While looking for my records, we were disconnected. Went through the same procedure, and a different agent, and finally got a PIN and a suggested answer.

I had another question and tried to use their "chat" option. The agent was answering my questions when the site "timed out".

I received a survey which was designed to show how "nice" the agents are but not how good the service was.

I have no suggestions of the customer except "Good Luck".

For ConsumerCellular, "Spend less on ads and more your Customer Service.

As a test, placed an order. Bad move.

Got the standard home delivery in 44 min.

At 70 min. Tried to check tracking on-line. Well, that doesn't work. Nothing! Called the "store". Got a robo response that the order was "out for delivery" and would be there "in 10 min."

Of course, 10 min later there in still no pizza. We are now at 80 min.

5 min. Later, I'm on the way to the phone to cancel the order when it finally arrives. Elapsed time 85 min. The pizza was, at best, room temperature.

Conclusion: Take your business elsewhere.

Second conclusion: They deserve less that 1 star but I can not give them zero stars..

All of a sudden I am getting a notice that I have reached my "daily limit". Today I have not read as much as normal so this notice is new.

Apparently they want me to sign up for their app. No. They do not need that kind of information from me.

I do not think Fox needs me to sign up. Sad.

Goodbye CNN.

Full disclosure: I have my own dentist and have never heard of or used Churchville Family Dentistry.

I received a mass mailing today from some third party in Tampa, FL. Obviously a mass mailing company that keeps the cost low by sending lots and lots of post cards for anybody.

The question in my mind is: Just how good is Christopher Rahimi, DDS, Zachary Reicher, DDS, or Nahid Shahry, DDS if they can only get business by mailing hundreds of postcards to people who do not want them.

We have been drinking Crane Lake wines (and others) for many years. Why are their corks soooo hard to get out. We use a Corkscrew Rabbit Style Lever Wine Bottle Opener (we are on our 2nd unit). The latest cork would not budge (again). In a somewhat dangerous operation, we "dug" the cork out, little by little, then had to strain the wine.

For the record it was a bottle of Crane Lake White Zinfandel.

BTW, don't bother to try to contact Crane Lake via their website. Nothing works. Sort of like their corks.

Full disclosure: We did not buy this item. It was a gift.

The box states: "6 and up". Don't believe it!

This was received by a little girl for her 9th birthday. She is an avid "crafter". She was helped by an adult with advanced sewing skills.

A 9-year old could not have completed this alone.

Add to that, there were pieces missing that had to be "created" from other supplies.

The finished product was very nice but this would have been very frustrating for a child.

It should probably be listed for "12 and up".

I had not been in here for about 15 years (maybe more). Now I remember why.

While he staff seems to be friendly and the store is airy with lots of room in the aisles.

But the wine selection is very poor with not much choice in bottle size or type.

Prices appear to be at least 20% more that a well-known discount store less than 12 miles away.

I did not make a purchase and will not return and I, of course, do not recommend this business.

I am writing this on behalf of the business that lost my business due to xFinity.

I have shopped at this business for at least the last 45 years. Yesterday, shopped and made a cart full of items. As I approached the checkout, someone made the observation that there was an xFinity truck outside. When I tried to check-out, my credit card was rejected...time after time. Until they discovered that the internet was down with no warning and the xFinity truck was no where to be found.

The business lost over $100 from me, and from anyone following me. Of course, not being able to make a purchase, there is no receipt.

I now have a bad taste in my mouth for this business. Thanks to XFinity.

I definitely do not recommend xFinity for your business.

Note: I dumped my home xFinity (Comcast) decades ago due to non-existent customer service and very unreliable internet service.

From www.mondotimes.com:

"Harford County Weekender is a weekly newspaper in Bel Air, Maryland, USA covering local news, sports, business, politics and community events."

"Founded in 1985, the Weekender is distributed free of charge in five different editions. The editions are North Bay (serving Aberdeen, Havre de Grace, Perryman, Perryville and Port Deposit), South Bay (serving Belcamp, Edgewood and Joppa), East (serving Abingdon, Bel Air and Churchville), West (serving Bel Air, Benson, Fallston and Forest Hill) and North (serving northern Harford communities)."

"This newspaper is owned by Homestead Publishing Co."

Actually, the Harford County Weekender is published by the Bel Air Aegis (Harford Co., MD) which, in turn, is published/printed by the Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD and surrounding counties).

This is a throw-away newsprint paper that has suddenly started to appear (again) on my lawn overnight. It runs to about 8 half-pages and 2, maybe 3, inserts. No real news and no real ads. Essentially, it is unrequested litter.

Want to stop it?

There are 2 phone numbers, in large print, on the upper right corner of the first page that are supposed to be for the newspaper and ads.

The first number, *******400, has been disconnected!

The second number, *******710, goes to a probable robo-operator whose sole purpose is to push a Medical Alert promotion (a.k.a. SCAM!). The script exactly matches the one used in illegal telemarketing calls.

After a deep dive, I could only access The Baltimore Sun customer service (sic) line which is manned by Filipinos with a minimal knowledge of English and no way to reach a person in the United States. I stopped The Baltimore Sun home delivery over 4 years ago because it was unreliable and the papers were constantly wet. The Sun claimed they had no control over the delivery guy (even though they were paying him).

I requested my name/address be removed. I doubt that will happen.

There are 3 ways to register your GE appliance. Online, QR code, and post card. The first two are basically the same. I recommend the post card.

The website first tries to get you to create an account. I do not need an account to register an appliance. Looking closely, you can just move on as a "guest". Then they still REQUIRE! Your telephone number and email address.

If you like to get mail, email and phone calls, then this is for you.

Otherwise, use the post card and leave those blanks...BLANK!

Full disclosure: We love TCM (Turner Classic Movies) and we enjoy wine.

For several years, TCM has been promoting their TCM Wine Club. Every month or two, you can receive a shipment of 12 bottles. The wines supplied in the TCM Wine Club are pretty good although a bit pricy (Note: About 2 months ago they had a price increase), although part of that is a result of shipping costs. Wines are supplied via Laithwaites who appears to be a player in the "wine club" business. (Note that Laithwaites has its own wine club.)

Why the low rating?

The wine shipment has to be signed for. The delivery service, which I will not name, is typical. They arranged for a delivery date. The driver lightly taps on the door and is gone. They apparently have no concept of a "doorbell" or are incapable of pushing a button. We arranged our schedule to be home awaiting the delivery but found a note about a failed delivery.

Then try to contact "customer service" (sic). I don't know what country they are in but several attempts convinced me they all had failed the one week crash course in English.
They claim they cannot contact anyone who actually speaks English.

Result: They lost a customers who like wine.

I needed an appliance repaired (not bought at Sears). I was shuttled to a call center (apparently out of the country). All I wanted was an idea of their rates. After answering way too many questions about me (not about my problem). I was finally told the rate started at over $200. This is more than twice any other rate.

They priced themselves out of a simple repair scored a low rating and a notation to never call them again.

My small (3 store) local chain was bought out a few years ago by ACE Hardware. They got rid of all the employees, local high school and retirees. Replaced them with people, mostly kids for non-local schools, who kept getting lost in the newly re-arranged stores. Probably the only ones who would work cheap.

In the few intervening years, the only thing that has improved is that their employees do not get lost as often. But they still don't know where anything is or what it is used for.

Oh, BTW, everything is sold pre-bagged. Want a single something -- You have to buy a half dozen.

This is not a HARDWARE store.

I needed something repaired. They are convenient. The price was right. One employee showed me to the cashier. The cashier called to someone in the back over and over asking questions. If items were not marked with bar codes, I suspect the cashier would never be able to ring anything up. Bad signs so far.Eventually I left the item to be repaired.

Due in 3 days. Actual time: 6 days.

Finally they called and went to pick it up. Different cashier. Same story. Several calls to the back before I finally could pay and leave.

Quality of repair remains to be seen.

They claim to be Your Neighborhood Store. True. That is wher they are. So is Lowe's and Home Depot.

They also claim "Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man". Not true. Not helpful.

Full disclosure: I am a senior citizen and did not use their services (sic).

Needed, a relatively simple, repair job. Just more than I thought I could do. I was directed to their web site and received an estimate. A BIG estimate. Nearly $200

Eventually I received other estimates that ranged between $35 and $60.

I could buy this new for approx. $119.

This business has way too much overhead!

One just opened up near me (closer than 25 min), so I tried to look at their menu online. After I found a menu, I found I couldn't read most of it. Small print and no prices.

I then went looking for the new store but all that got me was a store about 25 min. Away, even though the "new" store shows as a link.

These are the poorest websites I've seen in many years.I want to see the food laid out by category so I can compare them. I also want to see the prices!

I am not going to a fast food takeout joint without some idea of what they sell and I am certainly not ordering by phone, etc. blindly.

I have to assume they are not interested in new business.

Based on their website, I'm taking my business elsewhere

Bought a refrigerator from Lowe's. It was delivered on time, installed, and the old refrigerator was removed. So far, so good.

I found 4 "extra" parts inside. I figured out where 3 of them went but the 4th stumped me. I also had another question relating to safety. So I called Frigadaire's supplied number.

Call #1: Eventually (not immediately) the robo-voice said there was a 33-min. Wait. There is no "call back" option.

Call #2: Eventually (not immediately) the robo-voice said there was a 45-min. Wait. There is no "call back" option.

This does not portend good for the future of this refrigerator. An awful lot of people seem to need customer service.

Wish I had known how bad their customer service (sic) was before buying a Frigadaire. All I cn say now is BEWARE!

I would prefer to be a lot shorter but here goes. If you go online to find out about products at Lowe's, you get "MiLo". That is a worthless automation with apparently very few answers. It can not answer most simple questions and is not programmed (I use that term loosely) to find a live human being. BTW, it is Jan 1st. And Home Depot's AI did connect with a human being who answered my questions and probably made a sale.