I hate teasers

Teasers are those lousy, misleading sound bites and headlines that are designed specifically to entice you to stay tuned or click a link only to be disappointed by the lack of substance that follows.

News shows used to be the worst by stating things like 'research shows that most homes contain an item in your kitchen that could make you very sick and possibly kill you.  We'll let you know what it is after this break' and then they cut to a commercial and you can't wait for them to get back only to learn that if you have the same sponge sitting on your sink for the past 13 months that it might grow some bacteria that might not be the best for you...duh.

The practice has grown beyond any semblance of sensibility on the web.  Sites like MSN and Yahoo have taken this to a whole new level of ridiculous and then they double down with their advertising links from the likes of Taboola.  (By the way if you see any advertisement by Taboola I suggest that you ignore it completely and do not click it even if you think it might be legit as I have never, ever found anything of value associated with them.)  They use titles that sound like something but are really nothing.  They are designed to draw you in but never deliver.  The term for this is click bait.

Yes click bait, just like the bait you find on a hook used to lure a fish to latch on and lose its life thus becoming someone elses' dinner.

They always take a popular subject (and there is always something to choose from) and allude to the possibility of having some new information about said subject or update about your fan favorites.  And then you sucker in only to realize that the only purpose they had was to sucker you in.  The web site they link to may have something to do with said subject (but many times it does not) because the real intent is to overwhelm the viewer with ads in the hope of getting the viewer to act on the ads or at the very least expose you to even more ads.

Even though the percentage of views that actually convert to a buy are probably very, very small it must still be profitable because we continue to be exposed to so much of it.  The cost to load millions upon millions of these ads is less than the revenue they see from their efforts or they wouldn't bother.

And there is a lot of them bothering with it.  It feels like 99% of all these ads are of this nature.  (I am pretty sure it is only 98.9% but I don't have the statistics to prove it.)  And you wonder why we have gotten so good at ignoring ads, whatever they are or wherever come from.

It amazes me that the advertising industry can be this big and spend so much money and have so little concern for their customers or reputations of the companies they represent.  It is so hard to find quality or excellence in advertising on the internet, print or broadcast let alone memorable moments or anything worthy of water cooler discussions.

Even when we want to like and talk about ads and try to make them a main topic of focus as big as the event they are tied to such as the Super Bowl, where the biggest and brightest culminate all their skill and effort into creating the hoped for viral adoration of millions to justify their fees, we can still be disappointed.

As someone who enjoys and prefers the advertising driven content over the paid subscription business model, I am left wondering what the future will bring.  I believe that the volume of advertising to content has driven much of the subscription market where you pay for the content to be ad free.  We have gone from a show that was sponsored by a company that mentioned the sponsors name in the show to a few well spaced and placed ad interruptions but with the majority of the shows hour being content, and now having longer and more frequent interruptions where the content barely covers the majority of the hour.  When a 96 minute movie takes 3 hours of broadcast time you know something is messed up.  No wonder TiVo became so popular with it's ability to skip ahead past the commercials.

And if the quality of the commercials continues to fall off across the board, then you know a vacuum will develop and that means opportunities for those who are willing to offer an alternative to fill that vacuum.  You see it happening already when you see how many have left local radio for internet and satellite broadcast and the big move from cable to internet sourced TV.

The content has to be pretty incredible to overcome what advertisement is doing to it.  That is asking a lot given the current state of programming.  Changes are coming and I am hoping for good things to come from it.  Actually I am counting on it.  I am always looking for a better way.  Let's hope we get it.  This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Amazon ratings warning

I had heard a comment about this before concerning the Amazon Fire Phone where the ratings started out on the rough side and later when they were trying to clear out the old stock with a sale, they cleared the star ratings and basically started over in an attempt to get a better star rating.  I saw this but wondered if it had anything to do with the phone being pulled from the market for a period before giving it one more effort.  They brought it out with a much better price and threw in a year of Amazon Prime for less than half the original introductory price.

If this was merely a second attempt to market the phone and/or a version 2.0 of the phone, then it would make sense to make this the equivalent of a new product and deserving of a new star rating but if it was not, and the fact that they were still listing a rather large number of total reviews given just days after the reset, then they were playing games.

I have read others mention that this was happening and for items other than just the Fire Phone but didn't take a lot of heed.  I couldn't believe, or didn't want to believe that Amazon would do this.  Besides this seemed like a numbers game that others might play but not our tried and true Amazon.

Then I got an e-mail that talks about saving big on Xfinity Internet.  Always looking for a deal I clicked to see and was met with the opening visual:

At first glance it doesn't look too bad other than the price is kind of high for a measly 25 Mbps and excluding equipment, install, taxes and fees.  Go faster and it gets worse.  Still it looks like 916 customers have given it an average of 4 stars.  Pretty good by normal ratings standards.  Remember that on a scale of 1 to 5 the median is 3 and not half of 5 or 2.5.

Now after the first impression, you being the savvy shopper you are, you look down the screen to see what some of those reviews actually say and then com across this:

Initially it is still looking good.  Sure 3.8 is not the full 4 stars that it shows being filled in but 3.8 is still a good way to the higher side of middle ground.  But wait a minute.  86% of the 916 reviewers gave it a one star.  If you have read many reviews you will know that the only reason for some to give a one star review is because they have no way to give them a zero star review.

So let's do some math.  Don't worry, I will keep it simple.
916 * 86% = 788 then times 1 equals 788
916 * 2%  = 18 then times 2 equals 36
916 * 2% = 18 then times 3 equals 54
916 * 2% = 18 then times 4 equals 72
916 * 8% = 73 then times 5 equals 365

Double check 788+18+18+18+73 = 915  within one is better than government.
Now add 788+36+54+72+365= 1,315 for total stars given

so that means if we take the total stars and divide by the number of reviews we should get the real star rating of 1,315/916 = 1.435589519650655 or rounded out to 1.4 stars.  By the way, even if I throw in the extra person to make it a full 916 and give the benefit of the doubt that the missing count would have given a full 5 stars the number still rounds to 1.4 (1.441048034934498 to be exact).

Wait a minute, they calculated it to be 3.8 and rounded it to 4 when filling out the stars to display.  What gives Amazon?  Real math doesn't even come up to half that amount.

Is this just really bad math, somebody falling asleep at the wheel, or are you playing games because you have a deal going with Xfinity that is paying you to push their product on your web site and through you customer's via their e-mails.  If the later, then this is major league bogus, deceptive and fraudulent and should be beneath you or any business that desires to deal from a place of integrity.  If this is an innocent mistake then you have got other problems that need to be addressed and corrected quickly.

I understand that stuff can happen, typos occur and sometimes mistakes are just that.  If it starts to happen often or you start to hear examples coming from more than a few minor sources, it may indicate a trend or a change in policy that may negatively impact the relationship between a company and its customers.  I am not ready to make the call just yet because I have had a pretty good relationship with Amazon myself but this is worth watching to see where it goes form here.  If I were an investor looking at the company, I would definitely want to know more.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farrwest.

Increase your e-mail awareness

Since I am continuing to send myself an e-mail trying to sell myself Viagra, and growing increasingly tired of the many implications I decided to do a little checking to see where the link was going. I did this without opening the e-mail’s link. I just hovered the curser over the link and looked at the address listed below. I then entered the address into www.networksolutions.com/whois-search and it came back showing the current registrar as Beijing Innovative Linkage Technology LTD. It also shows the name server as ns1(2,3,4).collig.ru. In other words they are using a Russian domain.

There is some other information and some phone numbers but I am not pursing it any farther. I don’t know whether someone is spoofing them the same way they are spoofing my e-mail address to make it look like I am sending myself these e-mails or what but I don’t like it. If our government was really concerned about our welfare they would be actively reaching out and attacking these people. What they are doing is deliberate and with intended consequences. This is not an accident.

If there are any of you out there that love to hack and disturb but still want to do something for a good cause and stand for something right, here is your target. Take out a spammer. Actively eliminate those that are deliberately out to do harm. I don’t have the wherewithal (resources or knowledge to do it) though I really wish I did.

We have all seen the warning about not clicking on a link from an unknown source or untrusted party and that is good advice. It seems that is still only a portion of the advice you need as I can’t even trust my own e-mail now. Either way please be careful out there. The war that is waging out there is bigger than any of us realize and we are getting caught up in the crossfire, so when in doubt…duck.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Credit Consumers Beware

I still can not believe how stupid people think I am. I hope that they do not think the same of you.

What causes me to say such a thing has to do with the lame wad advertisements that come in the mail wanting me to do something extremely foolish such as take out a loan with them. The latest one came today from an 'American General Financial Services' company that thinks I am dumb enough to fall for the spiel that I can end the Credit Card Hassle by locking in fixed monthly payments and APR with them. They are even so kind as to let you pick a monthly payment due date that works best for you.

Thankfully they no longer hide the worst of it though there is the ever present small print, it just isn't as small as it used to be. So in big bold letters they tell me that my payment will be $156.31 per month for a loan of $5,150 (a strange number to be sure)for 48 months at (now get this) 19.85% APR. Who in there right mind would even consider a deal like this? People very hard up that haven't learned any better that's who and that is why I hope you are never in a position to do anything but laugh at the joke and the company that sends these out.

Now if that wasn't bad enough, they have the wonderful asterisk that refers to the note of small print at the bottom, this one at least is big enough that even I can read it, which might have been a mistake because it just adds to the insanity, so here goes.

"*Not a guaranteed offer. All loans subject to our normal credit policies. Rates and terms advertised are for very well-qualified borrowers and require collateral. Rates will vary based on individual creditworthiness and loan size. Rates will be higher for unsecured loans. Reply by..."

Can you believe anybody besides the government would have the gall to make you such an offer? What kind of fool do you take me for? How did you get my name and if you bought it off a list I want a cut to cover the abuse.

This is not the first offer from them nor the first from companies like them but I seem to be in the zone for these kinds of offers lately. Another one that came recently was a very official looking tri-fold envelope where you rip off the edges just like an official government notice. It had a picture of the statue of liberty on it, the words 'Form 1008-S Payment Reduction Notification' in the upper left corner and a warning that there is a "$2,000.00 Fine or 5 Yrs. Imprisonment or both for any person who interferes with or obstructs delivery of this letter or otherwise violates - 18 United States Code 1702 et seq. Advertisement - Newsletter". Pretty scary stuff...so I immediately handed it to my wife to open.

I saw it coming a mile away. It was more crap, an offering to do a refinance with them compete with many goofy references to the economic stimulus act which I had trouble following because I tend to read things a little more carefully than the next guy. The small print did indicate that it was a legal advertisement (aren't they all) and that "Schroeter Law Group is not sponsored or affiliated with you current lender (no edit check here) and this advertisement is not authorized by your current lender and your loan information was not provided by your current lender." I guess not since the name they used was not my current lender, nor were any of the amounts listed.

By the way, they go to the county recorders office and buy this information from our local public officials thereby having access to your name and address if you have bought or sold or refinanced a house recently. Again, we should somehow be able to stop this at the source, or at the very least get a cut back for a referral fee.

The last one I will mention came from a Dorcy Law, whoever that is, and I only find that out by their slightly referred too web address at the end of the letter. The rest of the letter came with the same illusionary mentions of the Obama Administration's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan of 2009 but nothing much else to go on. I say illusionary because I don't recall in all the hoopla and media hype about the stimulus packages passed and/or talked about, that an actual name was placed on an actual program actually instituted by the government, let alone any details on how it would work or who it would benefit. Rightly or wrongly I probably just assumed that I wouldn't qualify to receive, I would only qualify to pay for it.

Any way, it came from the Loan Modification Division, something that surely sounds more like an office section than the name of a company but that is what they had listed in the address heading along with a Washington DC address. (Does anything good come out of Washington DC these days?) In fact, there were no other names given than mine and the name of the original lender from the court records from way back when, and the only way I found a possible real company name (or at least a tie to one) was the reference in the web address at the bottom of the sheet. The letter wasn't even signed (how hard is it to get a computer to sign its own letters, I mean really) but was closed with the words "Sincerely, Sr. Home Retention Specialist". I wonder if they felt bad about printing the 800 number to contact them based on their level of effort to remain as anonymous as possible.

I do get upset when I see these things come in the mail and almost get to the point of wanting to call them up and expressing myself to them (or at the very least play with their heads and gain a little amusement for the effort) but then I get over it and decide that it really isn't worth the effort. These people are hopeless...but I don't have to be. And neither do you. There are so many loser organizations out there currently vying for your attention that we just shouldn't waste any more time on them that we have to. Thankfully some are way, way more obvious than others. Just do me a favor and watch out. If no one falls for their nonsense they certainly won't last long.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

I got Junk Mail

Ever since I was old enough to have an address associated with my name I have been exposed to junk mail. I am not just talking about all the silly stuff they try to send you the minute you set up an e-mail account. I am sure you are all well aware of the myriad methods of spam and other loosely direct sent ads that overwhelm your in-box once your e-mail address is known. I am sure there are computer programs out there that randomly generate addresses to known server domains in attempts to find a 'live one' just so that you can receive the latest method of physical enhancement or reduction depending your gullibility.

I am rather referring to the spam e-mails ancestor, the original junk mail that travels by snail mail and arrives in the mail box located outside in a physical form that requires you to interact with it by direct physical means.

I actually like this form of advertisement. Really. It is the direct and physical nature of it that appeals to me, mainly because I can deal with it on my terms and on my time table. E-mail needs to be dealt with right now. Once opened it demands attention, mostly because if you decide to deal with it later it will sit there waiting and building up with all the other e-mail messages you have waiting for your attention. O sure you could file it into another folder, one marked 'to be read later' and let that one build up until one day you force yourself to look at them and notice that you were invited to a special party all expenses paid, for you and all your friends and close associates and all you need to do is RSVP by Friday only to find that the Friday the e-mail is referring to happened two and a half years ago.

Actually this is a good method for handling certain e-mail for your work address. It is amazing how many work assignments can get lost or company policy statements can go unread without affecting your routine daily life structure. I have found that if you quit producing a neglected and useless report and no one says anything about it for the next six months it probably won't ever be missed and your time will be better spent elsewhere. Of course if it is missed for what ever reason and it is still a neglected and useless report your time will still be better spent elsewhere. Such is the existence of a cubicle dweller, but that is another topic.

Our topic is good old fashion junk mail. Now there are some that say that you should open your mail as you receive it and deal with it immediately as a form of good time waste management. Well sometimes I am just not ready to deal with it thank you very much and hard physical mail makes that possible. If I want to wait until later to read it I can and the urgency I place on this hard mail depends on the pile I put it in and how high it stacks up without falling over or allowing me the ability to create a path around it on the floor.

Hard physical mail comes in self contained packaging other wise known as envelopes that give an indication generally of who sent it and what is in it. Here I have the ability to decide if this is something I really want to deal with right now or is it something I have to deal with right now or, or is it something I can put aside for later review.

But e-mail also comes in a form of envelope just like hard mail, I hear you say. It has an address of the sender and it even comes with a subject line to let you know what the topic of the message is. But this is where it breaks with hard mail or should I say hard mail is easier to discern. Hard mail comes with a return address that is either truthful or not and you know at a glance what you are getting. If it is from a friend they will have their address on it and you will recognize it, if it is a bill or advertisement from someone you know they will also have their address and sometimes a logo that you will recognize and know. If it is junk the return address will be none existent or a p.o. box number or other address without a name listed, or if a name is included it will be some made up funky name built to resemble someone else's name like "United States First Federal Integration Refinancing District Office". This tells you someone has something to hide and it is pretty evident right now.

Come to think of it, that is kind of what the spam mail tries to do also. The difference is that some do not list an e-mail address or some will use phony addresses. I have even received e-mail that supposedly came from myself. If they can send out spam using my own address what is to stop them from using the address of your friends. Besides we have all heard of how they send e-mail trying to pretend it is coming from your bank or credit card company in order to steal your account information. Deceiving people are deceitful no doubt about it.

Of course e-mail accounts prevent this or at least they try to prevent this with spam filters. Spam filters by the way only work a little for me. I have had more spam make its way into my in-box and more real letters make their way into my spam box than makes sense. I don't understand why it happens but it does. I think we rely on our computers too much by letting them make way more decisions for us than we should, especially seeing how often they get it wrong. Point is you can't trust them to do everything for you, you are going to have to do much of it on your own.

So our e-mail accounts have tried to develop ways to work like we use too, or at least how time management consultants tell us we are supposed to. They provided folders and sub folders to use to sort through and keep track of all our e-mail traffic. In order to sort through the e-mail you pretty much have to open it up and read it unless it is the same old drivel advertisement from emazon or am-bay telling you about the great yo-yo sale they have going this week and how they remembered that you once looked at a picture of a yo-yo so you must be an aficionado, and though you know it is junk you can't quite commit yourself to labeling all e-mail from them as junk just in case they do send you something important like a half price sale on that left-handed smoke shifter you have had your eye on, especially ones that come in your school team colors of purple and green.

So like all mail, you need to go through it and determine if there is any value to you in it and will you act on it now, later, or never. It is the 'never act on' mail that makes me glad for hard snail mail. If you get spam it is electronic. If you really get upset and want to reply to the so and so that sent you this piece of time wasting mind numbing crap the best you can do is hit the reply button and spend even more time hammering out a message to them that will fully explain in detail what you think of the piece of drivel this cretin was thoughtful enough to leave in your in-box. After much venting and fuming and fusing over just the right wording to use you hit send only to find that the address given is none functional. That's right, it is a dead address, phony or spoofed and your message goes nowhere, and all that energy that charged you up the first time around enough to want to make a reply just got recharged and still has no place to go.

Hard mail on the other hand almost always has some number or address associated with it because they are trying to get you to take action and spend money on them (especially since they spent real money on you not that cheap electronic money they use to send spam). But I have found that it is generally still a waste to get my knickers in a knot and try to make a direct reply and have found that it is much better to dispose of my frustration energy by shredding, folding, bending, and mutilating physically the item that caused that frustration in the first place. This is done directly through hands on contact. Very satisfying. Something you just can't do with an e-mail...unless you print it out, but why bother.

Later I will have to share some stories of my junk mail with you that I find amusing. I have tried to save a few from immediate shredding just because they are so over the top with stupidity. Never deal with anyone that expects you to be dumber than they are in order for the deal to work.

One more thing about hard mail that I really love. It is not a sleazy phone call from a telemarketer. If ever I have wanted to reach out and touch someone. Beyond telling them directly to put you on their "Do Not Call List" I tell them to send me what they have via snail mail. If they don't have my address I am not about to give it to them and if they have it most are not willing to send you anything by post anymore. It actually cost them something to do this and not everyone is willing to work for your business anymore. It's a shame really. It helps subsidize the US Post Office, and from what I hear they can use all the help they can get. If they do send you something you have real hard mail that might help you change your mind about them and their product or at the very least you will have something to shred.

Remember to recycle as appropriate. There is bound to be plenty of good fertilizer in there somewhere.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Beware credit companies, the consumer is coming

You may have noticed an increase in credit and credit card offers lately. Don’t be drawn in. The rules are about to change and the increase in offers is an attempt to lock in the old rules on those willing to play by the old rules.

So what are the old rules vs. the new rules? I am not sure, but I do know this, they involve high fees and high rates with harsh penalties, new or old. Like so many things coming out of Congress these days in the way of financial regulation, the details somehow get lost in the delivery to the public. I do know that there are rules trying to reign in the current almost obscene method credit card companies are using to adjust rates and charge fees.

In fact if you have listened to Clark Howard, Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey you have probably heard at least one call from a listener telling their story of how the credit card company was changing the rules on them mid stream and wondering what they could do about it seeing how they had been a long time good customer with that company. If they do not have any free cash available to close out their account then most times the answer seems to be try to negotiate with the company or try to live with the new terms. (Wherever possible provide yourself some options.)

Trouble is many people have been living on the edge for so long that there is no room for new terms. All of their spending money is pre committed and they are stretched to pay the minimum balance on these credit cards as it is. Sad to say but many people had a very hard time making their new minimum payment the last time Congress got involved and raised the required minimum payment on outstanding balances as the Congress’ way of trying to help (by force) people to lower their debt levels.

The latest round of increased minimum payment is coming about because of changes in the interest rates charged to the card holders by the card companies. The higher the rate, the higher the interest charges and the higher the minimum payment based on that higher charge. These rate changes come about because of changing terms that made your fixed card now a variable card or even worse. Some card companies have added clauses that state if you are late or default not only on their account but that of anybody else’s account they will raise your rate to loan shark levels, and they are doing it.

“But I had an agreement with them” you say “they shouldn’t be able to change the rules mid stream.” They shouldn’t but they do and it comes in the form of a little tiny printed piece of paper that comes with your statement every so often. Do you take the time to read all of them all the way through? Buried in the legalize is the change and if you aren’t paying attention they have you because it usually comes with a phrase or two that indicates your options are two, either continue to use the card and by default accept the new terms, or notify us now and we will cancel your account and your bill is now due in full for the outstanding balance.

If you are able then my suggestion is to pay off the amount in full and close out the account. Let’s put the power of the consumer back in our pocket. There are still lots of competition for credit cards out there if the number of offers I get is any indication which means there are still many companies that should be competing for my business. I as the consumer have the power to pick and choose who has the best deal to meet my best interest. I get to decide which if any is right for me, and I will vote with my hard earned dollars who I will work with, even if that means none at all.

After the new rules go into effect we should begin to see a new set of offers from companies that are trying to decide how best to play the new game in town. If you can hold off till then I think you will be better off for it. When it comes, I think it will be in all of our best interest to take a close look at what the new offers are and compare them to what we have now and actively switch to a better provider if one is found. Credit Card Companies you have officially been put on notice. If you don’t treat me better, and with the respect I deserve then You Are Fired.

The new rules Congress is laying down should make it harder for the companies to change your rules mid stream like they are doing in abundance now, but to get the new rules to apply to you it sounds like you will need to create a new account where the new rules will apply. I hope that is not the case but if it is I see it as an opportunity for those willing to spend the time and effort to search out better and more trustworthy companies to work with in the future. I will share with you my ideals of standards for a credit card in a later entry.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Cash for Clunkers program is fiasco

I am of the opinion that the Cash for Clunkers program was and is one of the biggest mistakes this country has made. It sums up and represents all that is wrong with the government’s approach to correcting this so called economic meltdown. Let me explain.

Cash for Clunkers is once again a knee jerk governmental reaction to a problem that would solve itself on its own if left to the natural forces of supply and demand. The idea instead is to follow the plan put forward by Germany and another country that slips my mind at this time and create an incentive for consumers to go out and spend their money. One major difference between our plan and theirs is that they limited the purchase to home grown vehicles, where as we limited it to gas thrifty cars no matter where they came from.

On the surface this sounds great. Haven’t we been told that the car industry was in trouble and then proved it by taking over two of the three remaining original American car companies. This would drive consumers to their doors just drooling over themselves in an effort to buy a car that Uncle Sam was willing to put the down payment on. And what a down payment, $3,500 to $4,500 and for what, my old worthless beater that was just barely running as it was. Besides if I tried to buy the car on my own, the dealer certainly wouldn’t give me anything for it and I would have to try and sell it myself or get a salvage yard to come haul it away.

Besides that, Congress social engineering kicks in and says why not make the deal available only to those that trade that old beater in on something that gets better gas mileage. That way, we can save the planet while helping to reduce our dependence on oil energy. What a deal.

What a deal is right. First of all, free money is never free. It has to come from somewhere and that somewhere is those that pay taxes and from those that don’t in the form of inflation as the dollar continues to tank for fear that the only way out of this excessive spend rate is to start the printing presses. There are some that will understand this but there are far too many yet that don’t. Those that don’t will soon feel the effects but sadly still not understand what happened or why.

The next thing we notice is that the money only went so far and so a second helping twice as big as the first was dished up while Congress patted itself on the back for finally doing something that helped people directly instead of just subsidizing the financial mistakes of Wall Street. Only thing is this big dollop of dollars like those before it does not help all Americans or even most Americans. It only helps those that fall into their specially defined category, namely those with a clunker/beater that is worth less than the amount of the rebate and gets lousy gas mileage. I have a friend that thinks her car is ready for the scrap heap (though knowing the type car it should be far from it) and all the hype has made her interested in trading in to take advantage but she found out she doesn’t qualify because her old steed is already a fuel efficient vehicle.

The other qualifier is that you must be in a position to be able to afford a new vehicle and not later but now. This isn’t always easy even in the best of times, but that is o.k. because you can just take out a loan. (Wait a minute; wasn’t that what got us into this mess in the first place, easily obtained excessive debt?) So if you can’t qualify for a loan or if you are not willing to qualify but you don’t have a pocket full of cash, sorry Charlie.

But who wouldn’t buy a car now; the incentive from the government is just the icing on the calk. The dealers must be dealing like crazy to stay afloat, after all we still remember the deals they were willing to make after 9/11and back then they were selling way more cars than they are now.

If you happened to look at any of the ads for new cars, have you really seen any deals being presented. Most of the dealers are moving cars so fast they don’t seem to worry about making a deal. They know that if you don’t want it they have another one right behind you that is more than willing. Besides they only have a limited inventory of eligible cars and the government is providing the incentive and they don’t even have to bargain on the value of your trade in so why not sell all cars at full retail MSRP? The dealers can’t help but be overjoyed because now they have buyers that won’t even bother to question the price.

And what of these old cars that are being turned in for free money. Well there first thing to do is to make sure they don’t get put back on the street, so they are destroyed with a mixture in the engine to seize it up for good and then off to the smasher to make sure that the vehicle is beyond the use of any mere mortal. The cars are not even sent to a junk yard to scrap the recyclable parts and put them to use on existing cars that could easily use that unscarred fender or rear axle to return an existing vehicle to serviceable condition without the need of going to a new parts supplier that will have to make the new part using new material (even if it is from recently smashed up traded in clunkers) and lots of energy to form that material into the needed part.

For those of us that have had to live on a budget and are of limited means, a used part was sometimes the only means of keeping our cars alive in good repair. That brings up the other hidden cost to this whole program. Used cars support more than just those that drive them. There is a whole industry built up to support those used cars. Used cars are also the means by which many people have been able to raise their standard of living.

As a person trades in their old vehicle and buy a new one, their old vehicle has value and is still useable by someone who is willing to pay money for that use. They themselves might be trading in their older vehicle in an effort to upgrade and in so doing free up another used vehicle to pass on to someone that has a need for cheap transportation. That vehicle is a means for some to get a much needed job, or to deliver a sick mother to a doctor appointment, or deliver children to school. The vehicle creates possibilities that would otherwise have a person do without.

As all of these vehicles disappear, there will be a whole group of people that rely on these most entry level of vehicles that will have to learn to do without for awhile. Their cost of entry just went up greatly because the supply of good serviceable cars has suddenly shrunken.

So who wins with this lousiest of all programs? The bailed out auto industry? Not if you look at the list of the top 10 qualifying cars and notice that not one of which comes from one of those bailed out car manufacturers. About the American car manufacturer and labor? Well if you look at the cars that are being bought and notice that many of those Toyotas and Hondas and the two Fords that made the list are built in America then yes perhaps some citizens benefited. But for how long? Is this just a massive promotional sale that will only last as long as the ‘free money’ but will return to gloom and doom as soon as it is gone? All indications are that the plants are not ready to crank up production just yet as this has just been an easy way to move existing inventory, in other words, things still look pretty bleak over all for the industry.

But what about the economy, won’t this provide the much needed stimulus we have all been talking about? If you were one of the ones that just happened to be in a position to take advantage of this program then you paid full retail for a vehicle that you are now committed to paying for the next 5 years for. This commitment of future cash flow means that the money is spent and cannot be used for any other purpose or purchase. The fact that the government subsidized the purchase, much like a tax deduction for mortgage interest, doesn’t make it any less spent, and unlike the government you cannot spend you income more than once.

As was illustrated earlier, this does nothing for the lower income brackets but steal away from them a sooner opportunity to move up a notch or two. And what about all the cars that will now be getting better gas mileage, doesn’t that help? States are already crying because they don’t receive enough of your money in the form of taxes so how do you think they will feel when you no longer by enough gas to cover their expected gas tax revenue. They are going to want more, mark my words. Also, I firmly believe that the free market would have given us cars and trucks with much higher gas mileage ratings than we have today if they had just been left alone and let the free market help drive demand rather than letting the government set mandates. If you could convince enough people that they really wanted high mileage vehicles, the market would and will supply them. Where there is value and demand there is a market.

So the only ones that benefit from this fiasco even if it is just temporarily are the car dealers that got one last chance to gouge the consumer if they were lucky enough to retain a dealership after the last round of closures. And if they are gouging, as any consumer should readily see, then are they really the dealers that should have survived the last round of closures. I look around and see the ones that made it near my area and definitely wonder ‘what were they thinking’? Come to think of it, I have been asking myself that question about a whole lot of things lately.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Las Vegas Traveler Alert

Just got back from the other city of lights, Las Vegas. It has been a little while since my last visit and the city continues to change, and not always for the better. We have family there and it is always good to get away for a visit with them. Others came in from other towns and we quickly made a mini reunion of the shared few days. It was a good visit.

Before becoming a married man, I used to travel to Las Vegas pretty often throughout the year. Again, it is good to have family there for visits but it was also fun to see the city, the lights, and the people and just generally take in the energy that the place gives off.

It has been very interesting to see the growth, and imagination that surrounds a city full of possibilities. Over the years I have seen many different buildings and attractions come and go. Some for the better and some I truly miss.

In the past each casino or family of casinos had a unique take on their interpretation of the Vegas experience. It was fun to compare the different approaches by wondering around the city and seeing the way the buildings were decorated inside and out, to see the costumes that were worn and to notice the type of clientele that would frequent the establishments. The people were as varied as the four corners of the earth they came from. All walks of life were represented and all found a place wither it was the flash of Caesar’s or the clown tent atmosphere of Circus Circus. They also shared a common interest which created a kind of harmony within the segregated world that is Vegas. A person could spend hours just watching the people and never have to drop a penny to be entertained.

As I said, each casino had its own method of trying to draw in the crowds and they genuinely tried to compete for your business. There were attractions for you to come and gawk at, special room rates and unbelievable buffets at very reasonable prices. You could come to town and have a quick get away without feeling like it was a big production event or the one and only vacation you took for the year. You felt like there was value for your money and not just a feeling that you saved for a lifetime to spend it all on an overpriced vacation destination like you would find in Southern California or Mid Florida for example.

Now let me state here and now that I am not a gambler. I have tried it a few times and find that it is not for me. Very small stuff, I think a half roll of quarters was the biggest slot play I had done. I preferred playing pinball truth be told. I also understand statistics and odds and I know when the odds are stacked against the player that it is better not to play. In all the years of visiting cities that offer gambling the one thing I have noticed is that their house always got bigger while I continued to live in the same dwelling. Funny thing that.

In fact, I enjoyed going to watch the people and the promotions, the marketing and the advertising, the attractions and the attracted if you will. There is a definite psychology involved here and learning it would stand anyone well in the business world and in life. I haven’t learned all there is to learn by any means but I have learned that greed is a great motivator and selling point for those wishing to draw in customers. Like any business, there are those that can do it with integrity and there are those that sink to deception.

Las Vegas has always had its share of scammers and shillers and it doesn't take much work to distinguish between those you would be willing to do business with and those that you would never visit (or never again if they took you in once).

Because there were different casinos there was competition and they honestly tried to attract your business with effort. Lately though the city has gone through major merger and acquisition activity to the point that there are only a few very big operators. This is a shame because some of the once great names in the industry have become nothing more than corporate facades. Though they thought they could find economies of scale by combining marketing forces and increasing buying power through combined purchases of supplies, what they really did was decrease the level of choice by homogenizing the casino experience.

Sure the carpet is different and the color scheme changes as you go from one casino to the next, but is it really any different. As the mergers have made the companies interchangeable, the building architecture has done likewise to the point that you can walk from one to the next, staying indoors and sometimes not even realize that you have changed casinos. (This is not just a Vegas phenomenon as I have noticed this in Reno and a few other places as well.)

So change happens I know. That is one of the things that Vegas does best. It is in a continual state of reinventing itself. It will continue to try to come up with the next best new thing for tomorrow. Unfortunately it still needs to live with today, and that brings me to the travelers alert.

The bargains of yesterday are no more.

I know that this simple saying will bring some mockery by anyone that is or has been a regular visitor to Las Vegas and I even find myself hesitating to put it out there. I have traveled to Las Vegas less and less over the last few years for the very fact that it is not the same bargain destination that allowed me to visit so often in the past. I was the first to lament the loss of the bargain buffets and got sticker shock as the price of the special treats I used to allow myself such as the Friday night Seafood buffet at Sams Town went over $10 and then quickly went over $20. I was saddened when Hoover Dam started charging for parking and then gave more expensive abbreviated tours. I miss the factory tours at the marshmallow factory and the Ocean Spray bottling plant. I hope they never close Ethel M’s though they had just shut down for a remodel while I was there.

Most of all I miss the free admittance ticket I always received at the Imperial Palace to see the wonderful collection of cars in their auto collection. I am a car nut and this was a regular stopping place for a guy who could appreciate just such a collection. I didn’t make it this trip because the gal passing out the passes in the front of the casino only had 'buy one get one' coupons and that wouldn’t do me any good this trip. Sorry Imperial but I didn’t even enter the building when I found out what you had done. I felt betrayed.

(By the way, in front of the Imperial Palace was the only place I would take something from the people that were handing out little pieces of paper. All along that street are other people handing out pieces of paper most of which gets thrown away immediately when it is discovered that it is just some advertising smut. Some makes it to garbage cans but much of it ends up on the ground. Like the people that litter a parking lot with advertisements placed on your windshield, this practice should be stopped.)

But the last straw that is breaking this regular’s back is the introduction of tacky tack on fees. The hotel Orleans where we stayed for part of this visit has introduced a “Resort surcharge fee” on top of their normal daily rate. WARNING; this is not the only place to start charging this fee. The fee is supposed to cover free local and toll free calls from the room, in-room coffee (which I don’t drink), discount coupons, 10 minutes internet access in the business center and use of the fitness center. The price for all these ‘resort’ amenities is $5 per day. Not a great deal of addition given the room rate I got but still this is the chintziest of pricing gimmicks and irritates me no end. Orleans is part of the Boyd group and I would guess that they have added this pricing tactic to all their other hotels as well. By the way, the $5 surcharge was one of the lower add-ons as I saw as much as $25 per day to stay at the new M Resort.

First off, as I said; I hate pricing gimmicks. I can usually see through them and figure out the true price but I just hate the idea of them and will usually walk rather than deal with a business that stoops to these kinds of practices. (Are you listening out there? I dislike this practice so much that I will go elsewhere.) Second, the Orleans was at least somewhat up front about it and put notices in many places so that you would not be caught unawares. They even have signs on the counter at check-in and make you sign a form saying you acknowledge the charge at check-in. This is much better than finding out after the fact and trying to correct what you might think is an overcharge. Then again, with the number of notices placed I would bet they have got many a guest in a difficult and shocked end of trip gotcha. Third, the claimed resort surcharges provides for amenities that are generally standard (i.e. included) at any equivalent hotel. To pretend that there is enough value in these piddly offerings to charge extra for them whether they are used or not is really just sad.

To see this trend extend to so many hotels in the Vegas area is even sadder.

Local calls and toll free numbers should be free to call no matter what hotel you stay at. I am always amazed when I am staying at one of the nicer places and they want to charge you to make a call. At least the choice is yours. I am also surprised and disappointed when I stay at a more expensive hotel that wants to charge extra to use the fitness room. Just what does all that extra cost actually get me if not the nicer bed, the bigger towels, the bigger TV and some special perks that you can’t find at the budget stays? If I more than double the price of the local Motel 6 and all I get extra is a little vial of shampoo, lotion and conditioner then I will feel ripped off.

So now when I do go to Vegas and I have to play games to figure out what the room is really costing me and I feel like I am being nickeled and dimed, then perhaps it is time for me to start looking elsewhere for a new quickie getaway spot. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them. Everyone needs a break from the daily grind, and it shouldn’t have to make you break the bank to do it. I know that everyone has different levels of what constitutes a bargain basement getaway but that is what makes it fun.

On the other hand, with as many traffic cops as there are out there (thank you homeland security) perhaps I would be safer to leave the car in the drive, catch the bus and visit the local Wal-Mart for a fun filled afternoon of people watching. I think it just might fill some of the same niche that Vegas used to do for me…and I might still find a bargain or two.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Are their any grownups in Washington DC?

I am upset, disappointed, frustrated, infuriated, and all types of angry over what has happened in this country by our government and its people as it pertains to the economy.

I know I am not the only one.

The absurdity is overwhelming. I could not conceive of this as a reality scenario in even the most horrific Stephen King novel. I am completely dumbfounded and in a state of shock to think that there is even a remote possibility that the things I have seen and heard lately concerning our government and the economy are somehow based on anything approaching real life let alone the mind of a very imaginative fiction writer. How could any of this be real?

Hypocrisy is running rampant in Washington DC. The blame game is in full swing and no one but the other guy is to blame for the current mess we are in. I am amazed at the way Congress and the President are showing their disgust at employees of AIG receiving their agreed upon and contracted for bonuses totaling $165,000,000+ yet no one is saying much about the rest of the $2,000,000,000,000 of tax payer dollars that has been spent or promised for their solution to the economic downturn. (If you don’t understand the magnitude of those numbers and the actual difference between them, you are not alone, Congress does not either.)

They are now talking about taking legal action to ‘reclaim’ the bonuses if they can’t get them back voluntarily through shame or guilt. They are even talking about writing legislation to create new tax laws specifically aimed at taking back these peoples pay checks. Honestly, who is more guilty of a criminal act and gross negligence?

I am not defending the employees for their action as employees, their performances or whether they met the terms of their bonuses or not. I am not focusing on the management at AIG who felt it was necessary to make such agreements to obtain and retain the kind of employees they deemed fit for the positions they had. I am talking about our government’s actions to help. They stepped in and threw money at the problem without understanding the problem or asking questions or checking facts. They gave the money without any strings attached, (though that is hard to believe as anytime the money gives out anything there are strings attached). And now because a business that was labeled ‘too big to fail’ tries to continue to run business the way it always has (which is partly why it is in the shape it is) and we are supposed to be outraged and focus our attention on the employees because they got paid to do what they are paid to do? I don’t think so.

If Congress had let AIG fail, as businesses are supposed to be allowed to do when things don’t work out, the house of cards could have fallen, the damage would have been assessed and the remaining goods sold to valid companies at fire sale prices if need be, but then life and business goes on. AIG under bankruptcy law would have been able to renegotiate with court approval such things as employee agreements, pensions, and creditors payback. Congress could have let any of this happen and actually could have directed regulators to help facilitate the process in an orderly fashion but instead they chose to take the knee jerk reaction that threw money at the problem in the misguided notion that they had to do something. Hence they nationalized the bank (which is scandalous in any situation) without really taking anything over. They became the very noisy and boisterous silent partner. Unfortunately they did it using our tax payer money.

Though all of this is really sad and pathetic and Congress should voluntarily shut down and close shop from shame and embarrassment, the really scary thing that worries me the most is the way they are going after a target (the employees) with a vengeance that is unwarranted. If anything, Congress is every bit as culpable as the employees they are attacking and more so because this is only the tip of the giant iceberg they have created to take down the Titanic we fondly refer to as the USA.

My wish is that they would work at least as hard to renege the bailout/stimulus package they put in place, reclaim our hard earned tax dollars, both present and future, and cut their drag on my economy. Go ahead President Obama, cancel all the lousy financial actions Congress and you have passed in the past 6 months with the same vigor that you are trying to wipe out any actions taken by the previous administration. If you did that, I really would begin to have ‘hope’ again as that is a real ‘change’ I could believe in. Until then….

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Too good to be true, Part 2.

You may have read my other e-mail about “Too good to be true?” where I shared with you an e-mail offer that promised a large chunk of money if I would assist the person in moving some money from a long forgotten bank account out of the country and into my account. Evidently I was not the only one to receive this fabulous offer as some of you let us know that you also saw this same thing. You were smart and decided to check it out before getting caught and taken by that scam. Good for us.

Well I got another e-mail that just looks too darn good to be true. What do you think? Here it is as it came to me. Note the wonderful English and typing skills.

International Certified Bank Draft.
Thursday, March 5, 2009 10:59 AM
From:
"Mr. Jess Williams."
To:
My Dear Friend,

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition.

I am using this opportunity to thank you for your great effort to ourunfinished transfer of fund into your account due to one reasonto assist me in transferring those funds despite the fact that it failed us some how.

I have authorized Mr Alan Smith where I deposited my money to issue you an international certified bank draft cashable at your bank. My dear friend I want you to contact Mr.Alan Smith for the collection of this international certified bank draft. The name and contact address of the Mr. Alan Smith is as follows.

CONTACT AGENT Mr. Alan Smith.
EMAIL: mralan_smith@hotmail.co.uk
PHONE: +234 275 008 03

Ask him to send to you the total $500,000 (five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) which I kept for your compensation for all the past efforts andattempts to assist me in this matter. I appreciated your efforts at that time very much,so feel free and get in touch with Mr. Alan Smith. and instruct him where to send the amount to you.

Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the joy after all the suffering at that time. At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects which I and the new partner are having at hand. Remember that I had forwarded instruction to him on your behalf to receive that money, so get in touch with him and he will send the amount to you without delay.

Finally, my sincere advice to you as a christian is that you should endeavour to pay your tithe to a bible believing church when you get the money.

May God continue to bless and guide us at all times.Cheers.

Sincerely,
Mr. Jess Williams.

Well, there you have it. Doesn’t it just make you want to immediately call or e-mail the given contact point and let them know of their mistake. After all as a good christian that endeavours to pay your tithe to a bible believing church you must be the kind of honest person that would try to clarify that mistake. I don’t recall knowing a Jess Williams or Alan Smith or helping either of them in any business endeavor whatsoever. It just wouldn’t be right for me to ask them to send me $500,000…or would it? I mean maybe they are meant to send me that money. To have that much money they must be very smart men and they must know what they are doing and they did send this e-mail to me personally and besides, I deserve it, I work hard, I do my best to get ahead but can’t seem to quite get there, why shouldn’t I be the one to participate in this easy money. Besides won’t my church be happy when I give them a large check to pay tithes on the money they send. Just think of all the good that will do. What was that number again? Gotcha!

Now they have contact they will find some excuse to hook you in to performing some other act for them. They will just need you to do such and such first, or the bank won’t let us do a cashier check but we can do an electronic funds transfer that will also get the money to you faster, what is your account number and I’ll send it out today? Or they have a service fee to right the cashier check, just send me enough to cover the fee and the money is yours. Some will even go for a second or third ding if they can get anything out of you stringing you along with the ‘we are almost there, we just need a little more to take care of…’ routine. Besides what is a little investment on your part if you have the chance at so much more, then what is a little bit more if you are that close to getting it all, and then ‘I can’t stop now, look how much I have invested, I need to get it back at least.’

What would you do if you got this e-mail, or one of the many floating around out there like it? Maybe you did get this very same e-mail, what did you do? Some of us have been around the block a time or two and recognize the signs but there are others that are seeing some of these things for the first time. That is why these kinds of things continue to appear. There is always someone new, there is always someone greedy and gullible and willing to take a chance that it just might work…this time. Trust me, as the times get tougher we will see many more of these kinds of scams appear. Please be careful out there and help others to be careful too. Bringing these things out into the open is the best course of action. Bad things usually wither and fade away when exposed to the light. Shine on.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Doggone Telemarketers

I got a call yesterday. Now normally a phone call is a good thing, or at least it should be. This one however came from a computerized telemarketer. They are the worst. The computer told me that I had to act quickly in order to extend the warranty on my vehicle. The computer gave me two choices, one to talk too an agent or two too be removed from their list. Since I have received several of these calls before and hitting two didn’t seem to help, I pressed one.

A person who called himself Steve came on the line and asked me for the year and model of my car. I in turn asked him for the name of his company. He immediately replied “nunya”. I told him he wasn’t being funny before he had the chance to complete his “nunya business” joke but he went ahead and did it anyway insulting me in the process. He then called me names, while I tried again to pry the name of the company or its location out of him. He then said “my job sucks” and hung up on me.

This was at 5:55 pm last night and I immediately tried to call Qwest to see if there was anything that could be done to identify, block or reprimand said caller. After all we are registered with the “Do Not Call” registry for just this reason.

The Qwest phone was answered by a computer. Computers have no business being on or near phones. Computers don’t understand English even though they pretend to be bilingual. After 15 minutes of convincing the computer that I wanted to talk to a human I was finally put through to customer service, or that is I would have been if they were open having just closed at 6:00 pm. Remember that I started this call for assistance minutes before the closure but got tangled up with a computer.

I tried again as I was furious with the rude caller and now with the lack of service rubbing salt in the wound I was determined to find a solution. I recalled from the previous attempt that one of the selection items was for technical support and it was offered 24/7. Another round of confused computer got me to a human. He unfortunately worked the internet issues but Ryan was at least kind enough to try and help me with the problem. He put me on hold while he tried to find someone that could help.

Warning, for a telephone company Qwest has the absolute worst hold recordings. It is one annoying voice that repeats over and over the same Qwest advertisements to you trying to convince you to sign up for more of their products. No musical interlude, no real variety, just the same lame 6 sentence script repeated over and over and over.

Ryan came back on and told me that he also found the customer service department closed but gave me their number again and the hours of operation and wished me well. 30 minutes later and still no results.

Later that night, 8:12 pm to be exact, the phone rings again and the same computer with the same automotive warranty offer is calling me. Again I press 1 determined to find out who is dumb enough to try this yet again. If it is Steve, he is about to get an ear full.

This time it is Jennifer with the same opening question of what is the year and model of your car. I reply in a kind voice, “Jennifer what is the name of your company”? Without as much as a sigh she hangs up the phone on me. Cold dead silence. No I really want to do something. This shouldn’t happen to me and it shouldn’t happen to anyone I know and it shouldn’t happen to anyone I don’t know. This company does not deserve to exist.

Today I try again to take action. I call Qwest. Again the computer answers, it still doesn’t speak my language but it finally puts me through to someone that does. This does not help. It turns out that they do not have access to my records and cannot tell me who called. They would have to have a court order to access them. I was also told that they do not keep those records. They offered this solution, hit *57 immediately after to start a trace. They will then charge me a fee, $1.85 in this state, to run the trace if it is successful and no charge if it is not. She also told me that the chances of it working were not good. She then offered to sell me an upgraded package for the phone including caller id, caller block and some other nonsense that would double my phone bill. No thank you.

She then gave me the phone number for their annoyance department. I called that and guess who answered. After going the rounds with the computer yet again, I finally got to talk to a human. Much the same we can’t do anything about it, sorry, and have your tried our extra services along with their extra fees. She did tell me that this is happening a lot and that the government is aware of the problem. She ended by giving me the number for the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) and the states attorney general.

I looked up the attorney general on the web and after perusing their site I found nothing that gave me any confidence that they would actually do anything about this problem. They do have a buyer beware list posted but it mainly is a list of business they have fined over the past couple of years over technicalities. And like any good government agency I am sure that they kept the fine for themselves and the defrauded consumers get nothing. I never will understand that.

I then went ahead and called the FTC and talked to someone that took the information for a complaint and sounds like they will send me a form to fill out. I at least got a reference number. She relayed the fact that there are a lot of automotive warranty scams going on right now. I told her the timing was right as I had just gotten the African e-mail scam yesterday (you can see it in one of my other post).

So I still don’t have a solution, and I am still pretty miffed. If the government knows about this why aren’t they actively pursuing the criminal activity and bringing justice to bear? If we can have a war on terrorism, why can’t we have a war on fraud? Why is it we spend more resources picking on people that disagree with archaic asinine speed limits that serve no other purpose than controlling the general public, than we do to track down and put an end to people that willingly and knowingly commit theft through fraud and abuse? What these people are doing is no accident, it is deliberate and intentional. They should be held accountable.

I know I get easily flustered by this and it makes me far more upset than I should allow, but when our government that is meant to protect us from just this kind of thing, does not live up to its responsibilities at the high costs we pay, maybe it is time to start cutting back. Quit expecting everything from our government but at the same quite paying everything for it as well.

And what about Qwest? You would think that a company that brags about its customer service over and over and over would take a little more active role in resolving those that would abuse the telephone services of their customers. You would think that they would work more strongly at ensuring their customers had a worthwhile and satisfying experience with the use of their product. Of course, I would like to see the internet community ban together and eliminate the spammers, or at least put a big hurt on.

Am I expecting too much? Yes, and No. I do expect better. Especially when better is so easy to identify and better is so simple to do. But if it was so simple wouldn’t they be doing it? Some do, and some don’t. Either way, I know that they could. And when expectations are not met for whatever reason, disappointment comes in and the business/consumer relationship is strained. Therein lays the problem and also the opportunity. Businesses that continue to disappoint their consumers will eventually find that another business will come along that is willing to fulfill their consumers’ expectations. Those consumers will no longer be their consumers. The same applies to governments.

Changes take time but they do happen. Let’s keep our expectations high and our outlook for the better. We don’t always have to accept as we look for what we expect.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.

Too good to be true?

I opened up this e-mail today. I got a good laugh and thought I should share it with who ever would like to take the time to read it. If you aren't laughing along then you may be a prime candidate for this numskull. If you are even remotely interested then you are not paying attention. Remember that you should check out any and all things that seem suspicious before taking any action. You can always check out www.snopes.com. They and others have all heard of this African scam. Do a little research, you might find it interesting.

ONLY AN EXAMPLE

FROM: PATRICK MPHO
E-MAIL: patrickmpho2009@live.co.za, patrickmpho009@gmail.com
20 BOTHA CRESCENT,
SANDTON, JOHANNESBURG,
SOUTH AFRIACA
MD/CEO,

APPEAL FOR ASSISSTANCE

I know that this message will come to you as a surprise since we don't know each other before, but for purpose of introduction, I am PATRICK MPHO the Bank Manager of AMALGAMATED BANK OF SOUTH AF RICA (ABSA).

First and foremost, I apologize using this medium to reach you for a transaction / business of this magnitude, but this is due to Confidentiality and prompt access reposed on this medium. Be informed that a member of the South Africa Export Promotion Council (SEPC) who was at the Government delegation to your country during a trade exhibition gave your enviable credentials / particulars to me. I plea to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described hereunder for the benefit of all parties and hope you will keep it as a top secret because of the nature of this transaction.

There is an account opened in this bank in 1990 and since 1998 nobody has operated on this account again. After going through some old files in the records, I discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently it would be forfeited for nothing. The owner of this account is MR. SAMUEL CARTER, a foreigner, and a miner at Kruger gold co., a geologist by profession and he died since 1998.

No other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well that his company does not know anything about this account and the amount involved is (USD$35,000,000M) thirty five million United States Dollars.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a local bank here, but can only be approved to any foreign account because the money is in US dollars and the former owner of the account is MR. SAMUEL CARTER a foreigner too.
I know that this message will come to you as a surprise as we don't know ourselves before. We will sign an agreement, but be sure that it is real and a genuine business.

Please reply urgently so that I will inform you the next step to take immediately. Send also your private telephone and fax number including the full details of the account to
be used for the deposit.

I want us to meet face to face or sign a binding agreement to bind us together so that you can receive this money into a foreign account or any account of your choice where the fund will be safe. And I will fly to your country for withdrawal and sharing and other investments. I am contacting you because of the need to involve a foreigner with foreign account and foreign beneficiary.

I need your full co-operation to make this work fine because the management is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner, who has correct information of this account, which I will give to you later immediately, if you are capable and willing to handle such amount in strict confidence and trust according to my instructions and advice for our mutual benefit because this opportunity will never come again in my life.

I need truthful person in this business because I don't want to make mistake I need your strong assurance and trust. With my position now in the office I can transfer this money to any foreigner's reliable account, which you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending my physical arrival in your country for sharing. I will destroy all documents of transaction immediately we receive this money leaving no trace to any place.

You can also come to discuss with me face to face after which I will make this remittance in your presence and two of us will fly to your country at least two days ahead of the money going into the account. I will apply for annual leave to get visa immediately I hear from you that you are ready to act and receive this fund in your account.

I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms of the ministries and foreign exchange departments. At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 30% of the tot al amount, 70% will be for me.

I look forward to your earliest reply

yours truly,
PATRICK MPHO
+27840466670

END OF EXAMPLE

Well that is it. That is just how it came to me and I am sure many, many others. Not a word was changed, corrected, or adjusted. The names have also not been changed to protect the innocent on account of there not being any innocent listed. If there truly is a Patrick MPHO, I hope his ambitions are properly rewarded by the proper authorities.

Of course I could try and make this stuff up but apparently there is too much competition.

This is Ed Nef with a view from the Farr West.