Consumer Diary: Kizik, JOANN, Recycle, Electricity
Audio By Carbonatix
My wife saw this ad and checked out the amazing bargains. Courtesy of Harlan Levy
Consumer columnist and West Hartford resident Harlan Levy has more than 20 years of experience writing stories about everyday experiences that anyone could encounter.
Harlan Levy. Courtesy photo
By Harlan Levy
The oddest consumer thing just happened to me. It belongs as Item 1 in my new ”How Can This Be” file.
On June 5, I ordered from Amazon a pair of brown slip-in shoes – the $149 Wasatch-Cappuccino – from Kizik. Amazon delivered it on June 7. Too bad they were too short. So on Monday, I brought them to Whole Foods to return them. However, I couldn’t find the order to return them and get a refund.
Later I called my credit card company to search for the charge. Weird: It was not there. Then I called Amazon customer service and spoke with Ms. Ibrh. She told me there was no record of the purchase or the delivery.
“Maybe it was someone else’s order,” she suggested.
”No,” I said. “I definitely ordered the shoes, and they were delivered on Friday.”
”Well, since we have no order in your account, you can keep them,” she said.
“Have you ever heard of something like this happening?” I asked.
“First time,” she said, “and I’ve been doing this for more than a year.”
I guess the Internet has a hidden flaw. Is that unbelievable???
Meanwhile, the shoes look great, but they don’t fit. I’ll try to convince my son to take them. (Good luck with that.)
There are my unreturnable slip-in shoes that have no record that I ordered them from Amazon and paid for them from my credit card. Amazon said I can keep them. Too bad they’re a size too small. I put this in my new “How Can It Be” file. Photo credit: Harlan Levy
JOANN scam
A few days ago my wife almost fell for the JOANN scam.
JOANN, the iconic 80-year-old nationwide crafts retailer, filed for bankruptcy in January, announcing it was closing all 400 stores by May 31. Meanwhile, it offered a giant clearance sale only at their physical stores. That’s when Scammer Nation kicked off a campaign setting up fake websites with fraudulent deals offering 80 to 90% off. Consumers found out about these deals by browsing sites like Facebook, Pinterest, or Nextdoor.
If you click on the ad for an online JOANN sale, you’ll go to the bogus JOANN’s website and see super-cheap deals.
My wife was lured by ads for super cheap sewing machines. A Singer priced at $199.99 for $29.99. What a bargain, she thought. But before clicking on the site she paused, as befits a savvy shopper. She checked the JOANN website and concluded that the online offers were “just too good to be true.”
If she decided to buy, she would have charged it and received an emailed receipt. But the receipt would not have come from JOANN. And her credit card statement would show she paid someone else and wouldn’t be getting that Singer sewing machine.
How to avoid falling prey:
- Confirm a sale is legit, checking with the store directly or go to the company’s website using a URL you know is real to avoid another scam, the “search result” scam.
- Pay by credit card, not a debit card. It’s easy to file a fraud report and get your charge canceled.
- Always keep records so you can dispute charges if you must.
Here’s the emailed ad (what a deal!) my wife almost fell for. Courtesy of Harlan Levy
Recycling
Last week the town sent out emails clarifying the recycling rules, aware that some residents were just pitching everything with the triangular symbol into the blue barrels.
Here are the rules:
- Don’t bag, crush, or shred recyclables.
- When in doubt, throw it out. “’Wish-cycling’ contaminates the whole batch.” (I never heard of wish-cycling, although I wish I rode my mountain bike that sits silent and sad in our garage.)
- A recycle symbol doesn’t mean it’s recyclable. If it can fall through a 2×2 inch hole, it’s too small to recycle and will fall through gaps in processing equipment.
- Compostable products aren’t recyclable. Don’t recycle tanglers like cords, floss, or wire. They jam processing equipment.
Town of West Hartford Recycling Cheatsheets were sent to residents last week
Town of West Hartford Recycling Cheatsheets were sent to residents last week
New electricity rates
Eversource will provide a new residential electricity rate on July 1: 9.75 cents/kilowatt hour for generation. The delivery charge is a separate non-negotiable rate. To get a better rate, search online for energizect.com to see our various suppliers’ offerings. I’m going for Town Square and its 9.31c/kh rate for six billing cycles.
Now you know.
NOTE: If you have a consumer problem, contact me at [email protected] (“Consumer” in subject line), and, with the power of the press, maybe I can help.
Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.
