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Maxine R.

3
Level 3 Contributor

Contributor Level

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1,855

How I Can Help

I run a Consumer Affairs Blog, which exposes the bone-idle opportunists who indulge in dishonest or hurtful behavior at the expense and risk of others. http://www.ridiculouslife.net/consumer-affairs.html

15 Reviews by Maxine

  • Constant-Content

11/7/11

Constant content is touted as a high quality site for serious writers. You may write about anything you please, so long as it contains useful information, is not written in the first person, and expresses no personal opinions. To guarantee greater success, you are welcome to pick a title from a list of requested titles. You may also name your price per article, and some of the requested titles are priced anywhere between twenty dollars and two hundred dollars depending on the number of words.

Knowing that Constant Content accepts only the very best and most thoroughly researched writing, users toil late into the night, researching the story and minding their grammar. And then they submit. And then they are rejected.

Many users complain of articles being rejected for reasons including a missing comma, a misspelled word, a minor grammar adjustment, citing of references, use of words like 'may be' which apparently indicate opinion, and many more. Of course grammar needs to be perfect and guidelines need to be followed, but it seems, based on the following evidence, that Constant Content is looking for reasons to reject.

Firstly the rejection email with the explanation about the missing comma requires more effort on the part of the editor than simply inserting the comma and accepting the article. Users may certainly resubmit the article, though no more than three times according to the rules. Then it is banished forever.

What raises the most suspicion though, is that, instead of informing users of all the errors in the first rejection, Constant Content will sniff at the missing comma in rejection number one, complain about the use of 'may be' in rejection number two, and finally highlight a misspelled word in rejection number three. The question therefore is why did the editors not list all the errors in the first rejection, thereby maximizing the chance of accepting the article?

Constant content doesn't want the work, and will never accept the articles. Or more
Specifically, constant content wants informative and well researched articles, but doesn't want to credit the user for it. Don't be surprised if you later find your hard work published in some reputable site or paper, slightly modified and under someone else's name. That's right, constant content's mission is information theft. They lure users to do the research, reject it based on unreasonable expectations, and then sell it quietly, claiming all the booty for themselves.

  • ReviewStream

11/7/11

ReviewStream.com
ReviewStream allows users to earn money by writing reviews about anything they desire, including homes appliances, toys, companies, hotels, politics, cities, stores on your street, or even your neighbor's pets. ReviewStream will pay $2.50 per accepted review. Many join ReviewStream, reasoning that as they already review for Yelp, they might as well get paid for it instead.

Well that's not quite how it works. Reviews first have to be approved, and when they are not approved users will never learn why. Instead users are directed to a page that states, in capital letters, "Your review is not valuable, we are not interested in it." After much searching on line, you'll uncover testimonials from previous users revealing that this is ReviewStream's way of refusing any reviews that fall under two hundred and fifty words. This may be the case, but nowhere on the site does ReviewStream state that reviews are subject to a minimum number of words.

Reviews may also be partially approved, in a system called "bulk reviews", whereby users get paid "the bulk rate" of one fifth of the going rate (fifty cents) for a review that is considered mediocre, but not bad enough to dump entirely. ReviewStream encourages users to include personal opinions in their reviews, but what eventually leads them to accept, partially accept or totally reject a review remains a mystery.

The cash out threshold is fifty dollars and many reviewers complain that, since most reviews are only accepted at the bulk rate of fifty cents, they may have to write up to one hundred reviews before reaching that cash out. Many users have also complained about not being paid and being met with unusually aggressive responses from staff when attempting to chase up their dues.

The other complaint is that although ReviewStream claims to respond to submissions within seventy two hours, they will more often than not take considerably longer before letting users know whether they plan to accept or reject their work.

Finally, looking at their Whois records, it appears that ReviewStream is hiding their real address by using a US proxy to register under a US address. Yet a brief email exchange with the ReviewStream staff and their poor grasp of the English language, will raise the question, where in the world is this site really based?

In conclusion, ReviewStream does not inspire trust, their business practices are questionable and user complaints are practically viral on the internet.

  • LifePoints

11/7/11

MySurvey, which is owned by the consumer research company, Taylor Nelson Sofres, pays users to participate in consumer research surveys conducted by various participating companies. There is also a referral system that allows users to earn when they recruit new users to the site.

MySurvey.com actually pays in points, which can then be traded for cash, with one thousand points equaling ten dollars. Ten dollars is the minimum cash out amount.

Referring new users wins a user one hundred and fifty points ($1.50) for each person who qualifies and actively takes surveys.

The reviews for MySurvey mainly consist of users complaining that the payout per completed survey has dropped drastically from seventy five points ($0.75) to just ten to thirty points ($0.10 to $0.30), regardless that some of their surveys can last up to forty five minutes. This certainly places MySurvey in the slave-labor category.

  • Rooms by Zoya B.

11/7/11

Getting ripped off at Rooms by Zoya B

Beautiful furniture for baby, but not cheap. At those prices, I had hoped for a certain level of customer service. Well guess what? As soon as I handed over my money for the bulk of the stuff (crib, changing table, rocking chair), the trouble began:

FIRSTLY, Zoya B needed to send someone to measure our window for curtains. The person rescheduled twice, before finally showing up.
Then we waited three weeks for an estimate. When the estimate came in, I almost gave birth there and then. For one window, the cost would be $4061.

Several days earlier, we had dressed all the other windows in our apartment (a total of five windows) for a grand total of $3414 for all five windows.
So when I called to see whether that really was the cost, I was informed, by an assistant, that Zoya B works exclusively with one woman who charges high prices for making curtains. But if I wanted I could buy the fabric at 10% discount and get someone else to make the curtains. Well thanks for nothing, I don't fancy building my curtains piecemeal. So I went elsewhere to get a full curtain service at a much more reasonable price.

SECONDLY, we made the mistake of accepting that the delivery charges for all the purchased items would be quoted to us at a later date. Word to the wise, if someone refuses to give you delivery estimates at the time of purchase, there is a reason for that. They plan to bend you over and rob you. So, for a delivery of less than 3 miles from their warehouse to our home, we were charged $571. To add insult to injury, it was not sent in one invoice. After receiving two invoices totaling $463, I emailed to say, please, is this the last of the invoices? I was told, yes. Then two days later, another invoice for $108 dropped into my inbox, with a note saying, sorry, we forgot to include this invoice for delivery of the rocking chair.

When we protested this, we were told that we were welcome to collect the items ourselves. So we hired a van and went to their loading dock. The whole experience cost $50.

We have purchased beds, a couch and other large pieces of furniture from stores all over Manhattan and never have delivery charges been so high. Zoya B's assistant banged on about how delivery men make their living out of delivering things and that someone has to pay them. Well guess what, I have never had this expense with any other shops. The amount we spent to make our nursery using Zoya B, had me thinking that delivery would be somewhat factored in the cost.

IN CONCLUSION, at no point during any of this, did Zoya B herself bother to communicate with us. We copied her into emails and told her assistants that we expected to hear from her. But she remained absent.

There is an element of greed here that is unacceptable. Zoya B's furniture is pricey and takes 10-12 weeks to be delivered. She knows that by the time she sends those delivery invoices, I am 9 months pregnant with no time to go elsewhere. That's when she swoops in and takes that last stab of extra cash.

The whole customer service experience has been disgusting. No word from Zoya B, very delayed responses from one of her assistants, and non-stop pathetic excuses from the other assistant. No attempt was made to make the customer happy. Every attempt was made to screw the customer.

My advice is stay away from Zoya B. Sure her stuff is nicer than most, but the baby won't care either way. Remember that all baby products must meet all the relevant safety standards, and that is what counts more than anything else. Go to Buy Buy Baby for instance and you'll get your stuff instantly and with minimal delivery charges. Less stress, more civilized.

  • CashCrate

11/4/11

CashCrate claims to pay users for signing up for offers, trying new products, completing surveys and getting cash back on purchases made at hundreds of your their online retailers.

CashCrate's offers include registering for wardrobe makeover sweeps, signing up for auto insurance quotes and chances to win desirable prizes such as a year's worth of diapers, airplane tickets, or thousands of dollars in gift cards from places like Target or Costco.

All the user has to do is "fill out the form with valid information and participate." What this really means is that the user will be asked to:
1) provide an email address which will be sold to numerous third parties, thereby generating hundreds of spam messages to your inbox every day.
2) fill out a form that needs to include a cell phone number. The moment the cell phone number is divulged, the user will receive text spam at a cost to the USER of $9.99.
3) complete any two offers. These offers may seem free (such as a free trial to whiter teeth), but users will be asked to reveal credit card details in order to cover shipping and processing. Mostly this is a nominal fee of no more than one dollar, but the point is that CashCrate and its advertisers will acquire credit card information that may then be used in any one of a number of credit card scams.

If all the steps are not fulfilled, user participation is considered incomplete and the account will not be credited. Furthermore there are no real surveys on CashCrate, just endless pages of offers, designed to confuse the user and extract as much personal information as possible. CashCrate is visibly a scam and a dangerous one at that. Stay well away!

  • Panda Research

11/4/11

PandaResearch has nothing to offer anyone who is not interested in divulging their credit card information. The surveys range from one to five dollars, which is more generous than the fifty cents offered by Cashcrate and InboxDollars, but every one of these surveys is attached to a free trial offer that must be completed with credit card details.

Panda Research also offers paid emails which pay two cents just for clicking on them, but it might not be worth joining just for that, as their cash out threshold is one hundred dollars. On the upside, it won't take long to figure out that Panda Research is a waste of time, as users will not even be able to begin a survey without first signing up for a free offer using a credit card.

  • InboxDollars

11/4/11

Googling InboxDollars will bring up mixed reviews. As with Cashcrate, InboxDollars, which is owned by CotterWeb Enterprises, works using offers and surveys. The surveys are considered impossible to qualify for, as the survey companies are very specific in the demographics from whom they want information.

With InboxDollars, users earn five dollars for joining and can cash out at thirty dollars. Other than offers, users also receive paid emails, which pay two cents just for clicking them, plus hundreds of addictive games, also with a cash payout. Many users have reported dedicatedly playing their favorite games for several weeks, before realizing that no money has been added to their account. Upon inquiring with the support center, users are typically told that InboxDollars is not responsible and that payment will happen if and when the game hosts ever confirm their having played.

The offers aren't any better, though they are more attractive, as many do not require credit card information in order to be considered complete. However, once an offer is completed InboxDollars closes the page, leaving no record of it having been completed. Many complaints have been submitted by users claiming to be owed credit on numerous offers on which they wasted valuable time and offered up their email for spam. Again, contacting the support center seems to be fruitless, and many are met with rude responses from scammers whose job is to absolve InboxDollars from all responsibility towards the user.
Finally, of those who have made it to the thirty dollar payout threshold, many have complained that upon requesting their payment, InboxDollars mysteriously canceled their accounts and their money was lost.
In conclusion, InboxDollars appears to be a scam, with its main aim to collect email address to sell to third parties, leaving the user with nothing but an inbox full of spam to show for their efforts.

  • SnapDollars

11/4/11

SnapDollars is basically the Canadian version of InboxDollars. The offers are identical; users get five dollars for joining, cash out is at thirty dollars and paid emails are sent every day. Users who have signed up for most of the offers on InboxDollars, will be unable to do the same on SnapDollars, as the advertisers already have the information and understandably don't wish pay twice for the same account. So the message here is to choose either SnapDollars or InboxDollars, but there's no need to sign up for both.

As with InboxDollars, reviews of SnapDollars are mixed, with the negatives including complaints about bad customer service, compensation never received for completing offers, and difficulty in qualifying for surveys. One particularly worrisome complaint comes from users who claim that SnapDollars refuses allow them to cash out their thirty dollars until they first spend fifteen dollars on offers. Others complain that SnapDollars mysteriously loses their mailing address and then removes the cash out button from their page. Basically it seems, from the enormous number of complaints that SnapDollars will do anything to wriggle out of paying its users.

On the upside, if there can be an upside, SnapDollars lets its users know which offers are one hundred percent free, so that they'll know in advance which offers can be completed without ever being asked for credit card details.

In conclusion, the SnapDollars scam is identical to InboxDollars, with SnapDollars being just a little more imaginative in the excuses used to avoid paying users their dues.

  • MyPoints

11/4/11

MyPoints offers the opportunity to earn points for doing what you already do online: shopping, reading emails, playing games, searching the web, taking surveys, and more. Users can then covert those points to gift cards for stores and restaurants of their choosing.

However, upon reading the fine print, users will learn that no gift cards will be dispensed until they sign up for at least one "sponsored offer." And of course these "sponsored offers" require credit card details. Again, as it is not advisable to divulge credit card information, it is not worth joining MyPoints.

There have also been a number of complaints about MyPoints mysteriously closing user accounts as soon as a payout is requested. Based on the volume and consistency of negative reviews alone, it seems reasonable to say that MyPoints is a scam.

  • Mommytalksurveys

11/4/11

Mommytalksurveys targets new mothers, claiming, "Shared experiences between you and your baby are the most rewarding. Now earn cash rewards for sharing your opinions with us." Earnings for most of the listed surveys range from one to three dollars, and cash out is at twenty five dollars.

But there is a catch. Just as with GlobalTestMarket, users have complained that following a ten minute pre-survey using questions closely related to the actual survey, they have been unable to qualify for the actual survey. It is now thought that there are no paid surveys on the site, as the pre-surveys provide all the necessary information required by the client company.

Based on reviews like this, it is recommended that no one wastes their time signing up to Mommytalksurveys.

  • Amazon

11/4/11

Every book in the whole entire wide world is on Amazon. I love you Amazon.

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  • eBay

11/4/11

I love love love ebay. It's so professional and useful. Ebay has helped me clear out my home many times over. All in all, it's been a positive experience.

  • Ridiculouslife.net

11/4/11

A great novel, I can't wait to read the rest of it.
The site also informs readers about OCD and sociopaths. So this is both educational and entertaining.
The blog is funny and hits some hot topics that make most people mad.
I love coming here as often as I can, sometimes just for a refreshing break.

  • OCDuk.org

11/4/11

OCD-UK discussion forum may be a fraud

Due to the fact that the administrators at OCD-UK have been stingy and not allowed links to any other websites relating to OCD, I must remove myself from this forum.

I can no longer support a forum that is clearly interested only in its own popularity and not in the needs of the OCD sufferers, who require as much information as possible, even if that means getting it from multiple sources.

To quote OCD-UK, "we don't allow links to external websites as there are so many ill-informed websites out there."

Yes there are, but there is also a wealth of very useful information out there. Isn't it up to the individual to decide what to read and what to ignore? Or are we living under a communist regime? Keep the masses in the dark!

OCD-UK even deleted one post in which I had merely suggested (no links here) that you Google 'The OCD Circuit,' claiming that "telling people to Google a certain subject could bring up all sorts of websites which can lead to confusion and people getting bad information."

Again, yes it could, but FIRSTLY it is not up to you to protect us from Google. And SECONDLY it is probably thanks to Google that many of OCD-UK's users found OCD-UK. It's certainly how I found them. Perhaps OCD-UK is providing "bad information" since they too are searchable on Google...
Methinks therefore that this excuse might also be a pathetic ploy to ensure that traffic is never driven away from OCD-UK.

It seems that OCD-UK wants their site filled with sufferers, who cry for help, but never get any real answers. Because the more people remain ignorant of the facts, the more likely they are to remain in the forum looking for answers. This is why the moment someone comes along with any helpful ideas, OCD-UK shuts them down and deletes their posts. OCD-UK needs to keep its users in darkness and continually suffering.

I recommend that all members leave OCD-UK, and find a more genuine forum. You will find many OCD support groups and discussion forums on the internet.

Here are just a few:

OCD Tribe
OCD Action (another UK based forum)
Neurotic Planet
SupportGroups
Psychforums.com/obsessive-compulsive
Social Phobia World.com/ocd-obsessive-compulsive-disorder-forum
Stuck In a Doorway
Many many many many many many many many OCD groups on Facebook

Be well, be healthy and always stay informed...

  • BidCactus

3/24/11

Thanks everybody for saving me from ALMOST getting scammed. Bidcactus is pure evil. Why is it running? Why hasnt it been stopped? And why isnt someone in jail?

Maxine Has Earned 133 Votes

Maxine R.'s review of OCDuk.org earned a Fraud Buster vote

Maxine R.'s review of ReviewStream earned a Great Find vote

Maxine R.'s review of InboxDollars earned 2 Fraud Buster votes

Maxine R.'s review of Ridiculouslife.net earned a Very Helpful vote

Maxine R.'s review of eBay earned 3 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of Mommytalksurveys earned 2 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of Amazon earned 2 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of BidCactus earned a Fraud Buster vote

Maxine R.'s review of InboxDollars earned a Well Said vote

Maxine R.'s review of LifePoints earned 5 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of Constant-Content earned a Fraud Buster vote

Maxine R.'s review of SnapDollars earned 3 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of InboxDollars earned 6 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of OCDuk.org earned 3 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of BidCactus earned a Very Helpful vote

Maxine R.'s review of Rooms by Zoya B. earned 4 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of ReviewStream earned 26 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of CashCrate earned 16 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of MyPoints earned 11 Very Helpful votes

Maxine R.'s review of Panda Research earned 8 Very Helpful votes

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