Why does FreedomPop creates a new account when you order a new phone?

On June 12, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Cell PhoneLeave a comment

Before I say one word, I would just like to make a disclaimer that I am in no way shape or form bashing FreedomPop or any of their employees. I just want to make that clear before I get hundreds, oh wait, no one reads my blog, maybe 1 or 2 people. Carry on.

A couple of days ago I bricked my phone. I know, I’m an idiot, I’ll own that. I bought a jig from eBay to unbrick it, but it didn’t work so we went to a cell phone repair place and they told me they don’t do that kind of work. If my phone was run over by a car maybe, but if I did something to the operating system then that’s my problem, not theirs. I probably would’ve been better off if I had just run it over.

Yesterday I called FreedomPop to let them know that I broke my phone and I wanted to buy a new one. The sales girl was really nice and very helpful. She asked for a 2nd email address, which I found a bit odd, but I didn’t question it. After the call was done and she had ordered me a new phone, I verified it with the Bank of America website that my order was in fact placed, I sat patiently waiting for a bunch of emails from FreedomPop to come to me. I waited and waited the whole day until last night when it occurred to me that maybe I should check the 2nd email address that she asked me for. Sure enough 3 emails waiting for me from FreedomPop. Instead of adding a new phone to my current account, she created a new account for me and didn’t even suggest to me that perhaps I should close the other account. I mean, it would stand to reason that I wouldn’t get charged every month for a phone that won’t turn on, right?

Today when we came home from the doctor’s office I decided to call FreedomPop and ask them what the delio is with that new account and what I am going to do with the 2nd account. The girl, who sounded very similar to the girl from yesterday, but from another department was very helpful and she understood what I was telling her, but kind of not really. She said so let me get this straight, you want to close the account for your phone that doesn’t work? Uh yeah… I mean, if you’ve already created a whole new account for me, why would I keep a 2nd account? I also had $30 in that first account that I wouldn’t be getting back if I didn’t close the account.

I just think it’s a bit odd that they would think it was odd that I wanted to continue being charged a monthly fee for an account that I can’t use because the phone won’t turn on. I mean, if I ever decided to build a brick wall, my phone would be in that wall because it’s essentially a brick. It’s a $99 paperweight. Why would I pay a $30 monthly fee for a paperweight? It doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, I am happy to report that she finally understood what I was asking and she refunded me the $30 that was sitting in that account, that should help to pay for my new phone. She also cancelled my old account and I got the verification email. Now I can move on with my life again lol.

The Jig is Up

On June 11, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Cell PhoneLeave a comment

I got my Jig today to fix my bricked Samsung Galaxy S3 phone, and it didn’t work. My phone is still bricked and there is nothing I can do to fix it. We went to a cell phone repair place, but they don’t fix operating system or software problems, they fix hardware problems, like if you dropped your phone and the glass broke or whatever.

Since I have no other alternative to getting my phone fixed, I decided to just call FreedomPop and tell them what happened and that I need a new phone. They connected me with the sales dept who sold me a new phone for $169 plus shipping and tax and it ended up being $200. The refurbished one I bought from NoMoreRack was only $100 with free shipping, but this one is (hopefully) brand new, so I won’t (hopefully) have the same issues with tweeting pictures or having issues installing apps. They didn’t say when my new phone would arrive, but I have an order number, so I guess I can call. She took down my email address and an alternative email address, so perhaps I will get an email soon with the tracking number.

I am pissed off at myself, but at the same time I’m kind of glad this happened because if this phone has been giving me problems, why should I have to keep using it? I’m sure most people don’t put up with the little things, like not being able to tweet pictures, or installing apps that won’t install any actual files. And why should I have to put up with that if I’m paying for the phone and the service?

Anyway, I’ll be glad when it arrives. I’ll have a new phone number, but when the new phone comes I can call them and request them to transfer my old number onto the new phone. I say old as if I’ve had it for years, but truthfully I’ve only had that number for a few months since I bought it. I’ve already had 1 phone number change this year, I don’t want to have to tell everyone the number changed yet again. It’s annoying lol.

I bricked my phone

On June 10, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Cell PhoneLeave a comment

I did a very stupid thing tonight. I bricked my phone. I know, shame on me. I deserve everything I got from it lol.

What happened was, I bought my phone from NoMoreRack a couple of months ago for $99. It’s a Samsung Galaxy S3 phone and it was refurbished. I was having issues with it not allowing me to do certain things, and I found out that it wasn’t allowing me to do certain things because when it installs apps, it doesn’t install them properly. I tried installing Terraria and it works just fine on my Nook, but not on my phone. I went into the files and saw that the folder wasn’t even there for it. It had installed 1 file in a folder called obb, but it didn’t install the rest of the files in the data folder. I zipped the files up on my Nook and put the zip file on OneDrive and downloaded it and unzipped it and it wouldn’t unzip it. I used File Manager and went into the root settings for rooted devices only and checked the root explorer and checked change system folders and then unzipped it on my SD card, then copied the files from my SD card over to the data folder and it worked, and suddenly I was able to play Terraria on my phone.

So here is what has brought me to this point. A couple of days ago I got a notice that it had downloaded the file for my phone upgrade, it’s actually my root upgrade which is called Philz Touch 6. I went into the root by turning off the phone, then turning it back on while holding the power, home and volume up keys all at the same time, then letting go of the power button when I saw the blue text, then letting go of the home and the volume up button when I saw the little android guy. I noticed that the root is an old old old file, like from 2012 or 2013 or whatever. I figured if it is trying to install the latest version, but it can’t because it refuses to install the files, then perhaps I can do it manually like I did with Terraria. Cause you know, things like that always work out lol. The upgrade went off without a hitch, except for when I went to reboot the phone and it wouldn’t turn back on.

Naturally when something like this happens you go to the message boards and you go to the phones website and yadda yadda. I went to the phones website thinking I’ll just go ahead and buy the same phone from them, but they didn’t give me the option. In fact, I couldn’t find any way for me to even buy a new phone even as an upgrade. I had to email them to tell them that it wanted me to install an upgrade to the phone, and I did, and now it won’t turn on.

I continued doing more researched and found a video on YouTube of a guy who had a similar situation that resulted with a bricked phone. He bought something called a Jig on ebay and in the video he plugged the jig in and it turned the phone on into download mode. He made a 2nd video, but I haven’t seen it yet. I was so impressed that I went to ebay where he said he bought his and I bought one too. It’s just a little thing that plugs in where you charge your phone and it was only $5.59 including the shipping, and it is coming from Santa Ana which is basically in Los Angeles. The estimated delivery is Monday, but I’ve gotten things next day from Santa Ana, so I’m keeping my eyes crossed that it comes sooner. If it works, great, if it doesn’t, well, at least it wasn’t $20 or $100.

I’d be curious how it’s supposed to work though. I mean, the phone bricked when I went to reboot after installing the root. Won’t it do the same thing? One of the message boards said to install Samsung Kies and that would fix things, even in what I would call dos mode, but it’s like root mode. It is supposed to check your phone to make sure it has the correct firmware installed, so if I can get it on in download mode, then perhaps I can plug it in to the computer and it will undo what I did and fix whatever the problem is. I sure hope so, because I honestly can’t afford to put another $200 on my credit card. Maybe in 6 months, but not right now.

And of course I will be back here when this jig arrives so I can update you on my progress, so stay tuned…

Windows 10 for FREE

On June 7, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

It took me 15 years to decide to upgrade from Windows XP, and I only made the decision because I was forced by Microsoft to buy the latest operating system, or allow my computer to be infected with thousands of parasitic viruses that would probably eat away at every microscopic section of my motherboard and all my other hardware which would then force me to have to buy a new computer. I decided I was due for a new operating system anyway, so I figured what the hell, I’ll buy Windows 8.1 full install. I didn’t buy the upgrade because I didn’t want to have to install Windows XP then upgrade to 8.1 every time I reformatted or had to buy a new hard drive. I figure if I’m going to install an operating system, I’d rather install the one I’m going to use immediately and for a long time instead of having to go through 2 installations, which could take an hour each.

The start window for 8.1 looks awesome to me. Everyone said I would hate it, because they assumed I refused to upgrade because I hated the 8.1 start window, but that simply isn’t true. I’m cheap as hell. No seriously, I’m living on a low income disabled budget, which has absolutely no budget for a new $100 operating system. It just so happened that I had a bulk sale for tassels, and that was what helped me buy Windows. See, that’s why I have a Etsy shop. If I need to buy something, I can count on people to buy keychains or earrings if I beg them to lol. My sales are usually nothing every month, so those occasional sales are awesome.

The Start window for Windows 10 looks a lot smaller, to say the least lol. I quite enjoy the 8.1 Start window because when I’m watching TV, it is a dark enough screen that it doesn’t bother me when I’m watching my shows. If the screen is bright from Facebook or if I have a bright desktop image, then it hurts my eyes to look at the TV and have the bright computer screen in the corner of my eye. I hope they have given us an option to choose this smaller window, or a full screen start window. If the image above is our only option, well, then I guess I’ll have to just deal with it.

As with all new operating systems you want to give it a few months before installing just because you may have to live without your printer or your webcam or any other external hardware you might have if they were sitting on their thumbs when they should’ve been making new drivers. There is also a chance that your favorite MMORPG isn’t compatible. You might have to miss raiding for quite a while. Of course I would find out if they have support for Windows 10 before installing it because they may have a version specifically for Windows 10 all ready to go.

I love new things only because I get bored easily, but I’m quite content with what I have for now. I say I will wait to make sure everything works, but I’m sure there won’t be too many issues. I have a Microsoft webcam and a Kodak Printer, which I’m sure will be ready long before Windows 10 is downloaded. I’m sure my keyboard and mouse work since I trust Logitec will have it ready to go. I don’t usually have to worry since they are plug and play.

So if you are one of those people who panic at the thought of something new, take a chill pill and give it time, but don’t miss out on reserving your FREE copy of Windows 10. They are giving you something for free, so take advantage of it while you can. You don’t have to install it immediately, I’m sure you can burn the installation files onto a cd or dvd and install it when you are ready. If you have panic attacks at the thought of issues, then just check to see how other people are dealing with them before you take the leap.

I actually look forward to the new Windows 10 that I just may buy a bigger hard drive and start over from scratch so I have a FAST new experience. We will see in another 7 weeks.

Induction Cookware ORDEAL

On June 1, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

OMG Is it really that difficult for a sales person to sell cookware? Why don’t they have a section SPECIFICALLY for induction cookware? Why do we have to go through the whole magnet test with every pot and pan they sell before we can decide that a set works instead of just saying hey look, it’s the Induction section?

Okay so this is what happened. My partner told me that he spoke with someone at Macy’s who said a full set of pots and pans from T-fal were $99. It comes with a bunch of things including the utensils. But, he decided that he wanted to go to Sears first. He doesn’t want me to cook with regular stainless steel because he’s afraid the food will stick to the pot or pan and I’ll do nothing but bitch about having to clean stuck food. Um… not once has this conversation ever happened in the 21 years we’ve been together lol. We have pots that aren’t non stick that I’ve never had an issue with and never bitched about cleaning, so I honestly don’t know where that is coming from. But I digress. Sears wasn’t really sure which ones would work, so I said why don’t we go to Macy’s and see what their T-fal set looks like.

We went over to Macy’s and had to basically power walk over there because the mall seemed like they were closing every store, and it was only 6pm. We got there, went up to the 3rd floor and the lady there didn’t seem to know what she was doing. Oh and by the way, if you are a Walking Dead fan you will appreciate this. The woman in the cookware section looked almost identical to Carol. All I was thinking was no Carol, I won’t tell anyone. Can I have a cookie now? Anyway, she went to the computer and said they didn’t have anything for induction that was non stick and that she would have to order it.

We went back to Sears and bought the one set that the woman recommended to us (below) only because a magnet stuck to the bottom of 1 of the pans they had on display that she tested. However, when we came home I opened the box and pulled 1 pan out and tested it and it did not work. Dammit! I really wanted this one particular set because look what you get. You get a black ceramic cup that holds the utensils, and you get like 7 utensils too. It also comes with 5 glass bowls with plastic lids and a random cookie sheet lol. The 25 piece mega cookware set was $89 and so was the 7 piece NuWave set, but at least the NuWave set works.

So if you are in the market for induction cookware, make sure it has this logo on the box. If you don’t see that logo, chances are it’s not going to work. Don’t waste your time running around from store to store looking for something and buying it only to come home and find out that it doesn’t work. We ended up buying the NuWave at Walmart. I hate going there, but it was literally our last choice. They were the only place out of all the places we looked that had it. Although, we didn’t go to Target, but I also didn’t see it on their website.

VonShef Induction Hob Heat Diffuser Stainless Steel with Heat Proof Handle

On May 25, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Daily BlogLeave a comment

I had an issue with our portable stove, so I had to buy a new one, and I chose induction specifically because I need more power (arh arh arh). Well, I didn’t realize when I bought the induction stove that it wouldn’t be compatible with all of our pots/pans, and when it came and when I tried using them, that verified my worst fear. So I Googled a solution and found out that if I had one of these little things to place on top of the burner, that it would allow me to use my old pots and pans, so I bought one on sale on Amazon for only $15. Well, the hits just keep coming because this doesn’t work either.

The first thing that shocked me was that my package was delivered on Memorial Day. You know, the day that the mail doesn’t come? Apparently the regular mail doesn’t come, but packages do. That’s news to me. I was so excited to use it, so I put it on the induction stove and hit power and WOOHOO it showed activity. I pressed the function button over to “Water” and put a pot of water on there, just basically to see if it worked. Well, it worked, for an entire minute, then I got the E3 message saying it doesn’t work. So I am back to square one.

Why does this crap keep happening to me? I buy something because we need it, but I buy the kind that requires specific pots and pans, which we don’t have, and so I buy something to make them compatible, and it doesn’t work. Now I am forced to go out and actually buy new pots and pans. When will life be simple again?

UPDATE: I really wanted this to work, so I gave it several chances by using it on all the settings, even lowering the heat, and my induction stove STILL gave me an error message after about a minute every time. I really hate having to return things because I feel I made the commitment to buy it, even if it doesn’t work I should just take the loss and perhaps give it to someone who can use it, but screw that, I want my money back! My being too timid isn’t teaching me a lesson, it teaches the maker of the product to improve their product since it will most likely be sent back to the manufacturer to be recycled.

So what does this mean for me now? I’m not going to spend a lot of money on another one of these things, I’m just going to get a new set of compatible pots and pans, that’s all. My birthday is coming, and I’ve always said not to buy me something that is for working, like don’t buy me a vacuum cleaner for my birthday, or a dust buster, or a friggin’ mop. Buy me something that will make me excited, namely a video game or whatever that has something electronic in it lol. But, I honestly don’t really want anything this year because I already have enough games and electronics to last awhile, so pots and pans doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea now. My partner already told me he’s been researching pots and pans and he found a set for $99 with all the pots and pans and the spoons and spatula etc. I checked and it was $119, but you know, same thing lol. Although, I don’t know if that’s the same exact set he’s talking about, but you never know. Anyway, I look forward to the fake surprised look on my face next week on my birthday lol.

Induction Cooktop

On May 23, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn GadgetsLeave a comment

Well I did it again. I bought something that isn’t compatible with what we have lol.

We have a normal stove top, but it shorted out 9 years ago, so we’ve been using a portable cooktop. It only has 1500 watts, and the left side uses 1000 watts and the right side uses 500 watts. Naturally the knob broke off the one with the higher watts. Normally it would be fine, but a strange key like wire came out with it. I didn’t know how to get that wire back in, so I had no choice but to buy a new cooktop.

We were going to go to Sears to buy a new cooktop, but I wanted to research prices before doing so, because I would hate to buy something for $100 and then find out we could have gotten the same thing cheaper somewhere else. I found that things are much cheaper on Amazon. I found an induction cooktop and of course did a little research into that by watching YouTube videos. The videos showed that it only takes like a minute for the water to boil, which I found to be very cool and it seemed to me that this type of cooktop would be better than what we had. Our old cooktop took 45 minutes to boil 6 eggs, this thing only took 12 minutes. Here are the eggs boiling after 1 minute. I couldn’t believe how fast it was to start boiling water. I also couldn’t believe that it only took 12 minutes.

The only problem that I have with this cooktop is that it requires a very specific type of pot/pan; they have to be magnetic. The requirements said that if you can stick a magnet to the pot/pan then it will work, but it also said in the requirements that the pot/pan can be stainless steel. Well, it turns out all of our new pots/pans are stainless steel, but they wouldn’t work on this new cooktop, unfortunately. The pan I used to hard boil eggs just so happened to work. It’s an old pan that we’ve had for at least 20 years, I don’t know if they were mine or my partners when we met, I just know we’ve had it throughout our entire relationship. We also have a matching stock pot.

So I have the choice of 1 pot and 1 stock pot, but that’s it. I don’t want to have to toss our other good pots/pans, so all I can think to do is to buy an adapter. It’s on sale right now on Amazon for $15 and with shipping it came to $22.34, which is a great price considering they are normally $75 and up, and if I were forced to buy all new induction pots/pans, well that would end up getting into the hundreds, and I just can’t do that. I don’t know how long it will take for that to arrive, but I can wait.

We went to Dollar General tonight to buy some dog food and cat food and I wanted some salad stuff, and while my partner was loading the cart with the pet food, I went over to the cookware and I noticed they have one of those electric portable stoves for $25 lol. This induction cooktop was $50. Oh well, I’d rather have this one that cooks fast than something that might take 45 minutes just to hard boil some eggs. I’m happy with what I have.

FreedomPop Debit Card Issue

On May 21, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Cell Phone, GadgetsLeave a comment

Last month I bought a refurbished Samsung Galaxy S3 from Nomorerack (now Choxi) that I thought I could use with Virgin Mobile to upgrade my phone, but unfortunately for me, Virgin Mobile doesn’t allow their customers to buy unlocked phones as upgrades. If you want to upgrade your phone, you have to buy a Virgin Mobile phone or buy it through them.

My new phone is with a company that I’ve never heard of called FreedomPop. I signed up with my debit card as my payment card and everything was fine until the bank decided that my debit card had been compromised and blocked my card and issued me a new one. When my new debit card arrived, I tried changing it on the FreedomPop website so I could be charged for the next month, but unfortunately, it wouldn’t change. I used my phone to try to change it and it didn’t work, so then I went to my Nook HD+ tablet and it didn’t work, so then I went to my computer and again it did not work. I Googled the issue and found nothing that would help me.

Over the last few weeks I’ve been desperately looking for a resolution, I’ve even called them… TWICE! I called them when my account had 7 days left, and they told me they would contact me by email in 48 hours to let me know that it worked, but instead the email I received was a questionnaire on how they did. Yeah, that didn’t work for me, so I called them again and I gave them the ticket number and told them what happened and begged for help since I had 5 days left. They told me to call the bank because it must be my card and I told them that it can’t be because I’ve used my credit card and I’ve also used my PayPal debit card, and neither of them worked. So the person on the other end put me on hold and came back and said that this is an issue on their end because more customers have had to deal with this. Damn Skippy it’s a issue on your end! 24 hours passed and not an email and not a phone call. I decided to just give them another 24 hours, but still nothing.

Today, I checked my account on my phone and it said I had 3 days left, so I opened up Firefox and went to the billing page and added my credit card number, not my debit card number, and it FINALLY worked! YES! So I immediately added $30 to my account.

You know in the movies when the bomb is about to go off and the timer is going and it is 1 minute, then 30 seconds, then 20, then 15, then 10, then 5, then you start counting down 5, 4, 3, 2 and then they cut the correct wire just before it goes to 0 and the bomb doesn’t go off? I feel like that just happened, but I had 3 days left rather than 3 seconds.

The thing about FreedomPop is, if they couldn’t fix this issue, all I had to do was call them and tell them to just put me on their free plan until they could fix it. I mean, it’s not like I really need to pay for my account since I rarely call or text anyone, and I hardly ever use the 4G LTE or even 3G. I’m basically always on the WiFi with this at home. So really, it doesn’t matter, but I just like having the peace of mind knowing that I can have unlimited phone calls and texting just in case I ever come out of my shell and decide that I can’t shut the f up and have to call everyone and their mother. You know, just in case.

Anyway, if you are having an issue like this with FreedomPop, try a new browser and try a new card, if that doesn’t work then call them and keep calling them until they fix it. If they can’t fix it, then just go to their free plan.

Craigslist PayPal Scam

On May 12, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn ScamsLeave a comment

Today is the second time I have spoken with someone regarding this issue. Someone I know was trying to sell her engagement ring, and she placed an ad on Craigslist. Just for the record, she lives in Tennessee and the person who responded said they live in Ohio. This person said they sent $4,350.00 to my friend via PayPal, but my friend did not see the money in the account that she had just created for this specific purpose. She received several emails from “PayPal” and here they are with my commentary. I’ve highlighted several issues with these emails.

First off, you can tell if an email is a scam by looking at who sent you the email. Notice how it says service@paypal.com, but then it says paypalsfundsalerts@inbox.lv? Well, if you get an email that shows 2 different email addresses, red flags should go up. Out of curiosity, I went to inbox.lv and that website does exist and anyone can create an email address with any name they want. This is not a valid paypal email address because they would not go out of the @paypal.com system. It just doesn’t happen. So that is my first red flag.

This is the first email. I used Gimp to highlight. I created a box around the text, then used the paintbrush to add yellow with 50% transparency, which is why the black text looks faded. I just wanted to clarify that before you went any further.

Ok so here is the first email. They emailed her to tell her that they placed a temporary hold on the funds of this transaction. Why would they do that? I know she has just created this PayPal account for this very purpose, and she never intends on using PayPal again because she doesn’t trust it. She has a checking account with a brick and mortar bank, why would she need PayPal?

So I’m a bit confused here. They placed a temporary hold of $4,3500.00, but she is supposed to Money Gram $750 to someone, then send them a picture or scanned copy of the Money Gram to PayPal? What? That’s not how this works. This is crazy to me!

This is who she is supposed to send $750 to. Who is this? This is a 3rd party. PayPal would NEVER have you send money to a 3rd party via Money Gram. I’m sorry, but this is crazy to me.

Another red flag for me is that they would NEVER spell Walmart or Money Gram without caps. Also, check out my 2nd highlight where they started a new sentence without the space.

Ok, so that is the first email. She told this person that she never got the money and that she didn’t feel comfortable sending $750 via Money Gram. I mean, why would she feel comfortable doing that? I feel uncomfortable for her. So then she gets this email. First of all, look at the date. 12/05/2015. Todays date is 5/12/2015 so they got that backwards lol. If PayPal were to send an email out, they would have the correct date. Second, when someone sends you money on PayPal, a representative does not contact you personally. It just doesn’t happen. The computer will generate an email telling you that you need to verify your account before the funds will be deposited into your account. So that is a huge red flag for me. Third, they misspelled PayPal. You see my highlight that says papal. The last thing about this email is the Money Gram Transfer. I am still very confused about that.

And finally they sent out a third email. Let me just repeat what I said before, if PayPal were to email anything to you, it would be their computer, not an actual person. They are pleading this Hazel persons case. “You Have to understand that Hazel Lane is a loyal customer of PayPal.” You have to understand is their first sentence? Why? I don’t understand this. Why are they pleading for someone? They spelled have with a cap. Then read my 2nd highlight “to loose the money.” You don’t loose money, you lose money. Then they said it is clear you are trying to scam her which will be taking up legally. WE WILL, is what they meant to say. Then finally “which can lead you loosing this account.” You don’t loose something, you lose it. Oh and they are threatening 5 years in prison. Then finally in the last highlight they did it again with the separation of sentences where they added a period, but then forgot to add a space, but this time the next sentence begins without the cap and it says “please for any Question reply directly back to this email.”

Oh and finally the logo at the end SCAM DEFENCE. Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s spelled with an S not a C. Defense. Also the N is raised a bit oddly in that logo.

I told her what I thought and that she should call PayPal directly and I found their number on Google Search and she called and they told her that this is a scam. I told her to cut off communication with this person and to delete her PayPal account since she has no intention of using it any further. I also advised her to change her email password and to block this person on her phone since they were communicating via text message.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know when you are being scammed, but some people, particularly young and elderly people don’t get scammed too often, so they don’t see the signs right away. That’s why I am happy that she sent me a message asking me what I thought about this whole thing. Another friend of mine fell for this scam when she tried selling her laptop on Craigslist. They pressured her to ship it out overnight, so she ended up shipping out her laptop and never got a dime and spent around $50 shipping the laptop to… get this… NIGERIA! If that is not a big giant red flag, I don’t know what is. If you are ever in doubt, the minute you see the word Nigeria, RUN! Don’t pass go, just run! And when I say run, obviously I mean shut it down. Stop all communication and call PayPal directly.

If you have to question something, then perhaps there is something wrong with it. Also, you know the old adage, say it with me, If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you want to see what a TRUE PayPal email looks like when you get money, this is it. They don’t add any fancy graphics or personalize anything. Know the difference and stay safe.

What I hate about video games

On May 12, 2015 By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

First off let me just say that I absolutely LOVE to play video games. I’ve been playing video games since Pong back in the 70’s. My first gaming system was the Atari 2600 and I’ve loved video games since I was a teenager. Video games have dramatically changed since Pong, and so has the thing that I hate the most about them, and that is the price.

First off, the consoles cost a ton of money. My PS4 was $400. I know they put a lot in to making these things and they should cost a lot of money, but come on, $400? I think they can come down to about $250 and still make a huge profit. God forbid you spill coffee on your game controller, that cost $60 to replace.

The thing that I hate the most though is the cost of video games. In 2007 when I had bought my PSP, I was shocked to see that the same games for my PSP was dramatically cheaper than the console version which was about $60 or $70. My PSP games (new) were no more than about $20 to $40 at the time. That’s why I was glad to have the PSP and not a console, but now I have a console and have to pay high prices.

Recently I got a $50 gift card for Amazon and I bought 2 games. They are both $40 or $50 on the PlayStation store, but they were both $19.99 on disc format on Amazon. One of them was Just Dance 2015, which by the way has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that I cannot dance to save my life. I tried one dance and they were so fast, I just couldn’t keep up. I was out of breath. They have all these extra songs you can buy for .99 to $2.99. I mean, they have a lot of songs too. If the game is $50 in the PlayStation Store, how can they charge so much for extras? I checked the extras for the other game I bought Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor and this is what I calculated.

Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor cost $39.99 in the PlayStation Store, plus all the add-ons cost $68.83. How in the heck can anyone afford to pay $108.82 just for a video game? Video games are like stories, they eventually end at some point. You can play them again and again, but who wants to do that? Once you finish, you want to play another game, and how much is that game going to cost after you factor in all the add-ons? It’s ridiculous. I think if they are going to charge that much money for add-ons, they should just give you the game for free. It works for DC Universe Online, so why doesn’t it work for other games?

It took me a long time to even want a console, and I only wanted one because I wanted to play video games on a bigger screen, not just my old PSP or my cell phone, or even my Nook HD+ tablet. I wanted to play on the HDTV screen because it was a bigger experience. I know the game companies and the artists go through a lot of trouble and can take years of hard work and they have to pay actors to voice the characters. I know it cost a lot of money, but seriously, $109 for 1 game for 1 person is beyond ridiculous. Even if they gave the game away for free they would still make billions from the $68 worth in add-ons.

I’m just voicing my opinion. I know this is a big business and they aren’t in it to make people happy but to make themselves money, I get that, but come down on the price a bit and you will still be billionaires while your customers have to eat Top Ramen for a month to be able to afford 1 game.

UPDATE:

Ok so just a little backpedaling lol… I received the game Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor and bought up all the little .99 cent, $1.99 and $2.99 add-on’s, which left 2 of the $9.99 levels and the $24.99 thing, which turned out to be a season pass that I had no idea would have given me those 2 $9.99 levels for free. I don’t really know if it would have given me anything else, but it did say it gave me 2 other things that didn’t require a download, so I’m just going to assume I paid for those. Darnit! Next time buy the season pass and see what is left. Oh and the season pass was on sale for only $13.71, so that saved me a lot of money. I wasn’t going to buy the season pass or those 2 levels until something was on sale, and I’m glad I waited. Oh and every add-on is totally worth every dime.

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