Being a real estate agent, point #2 is incredibly relevant to our industry. Sadly, as Realtors are abandoning reciprocal link state pages, these same Realtors are migrating to contextual link pages. The second form of link spam will replace the former. Google came down on our industry with a 30-day penalty for a select few for their reciprocal link state pages, however, I suspect Google will not be so kind on our industry is reciprocal link spam is discovered in a new form.
A valid document should not make any difference. Search Engines could care less about valid documents or almost any of the HTML for that matter. This was a while ago, but I saw an experiment that some one completed and compared a valid document with an absolutely horrid document with made up tags, many tags unclosed and it was actually beating the valid document.
What happened was purely coincidental, or was it? Is it possible that spiders come back the other site on a regular basis, because their site changes more often and search spiders are aware of that? nudge nudge wink wink
Spiders are after 1 thing on the internet, and that is content. Search engine WANT to find and index your content.
That all said, VALIDATE VALIDATE VALIDATE, but spiders will not care.
I was going to get into this on the last blog posting response but I got sidetracked. Do not worry about the day to day on this. These new pages will be in flux for a while to come!
You get different results in google.com than you do google.ca, I have even seen different results within the same city of Calgary. Google has servers and server farms EVERYWHERE, and they take time to propagate. The engines are also trying to make heads or tails of all these pages that are new about this new hot topic. Some pages are getting picked up and some lost. It will take time to sort it all out.
Do not focus on the day to day, just instead spend your time focusing on a campaign, then execute on it. It would not surprise me if the results are still in flux at the end of the contest.
Large images take a long time to load. If your image isn’t that important then it simply kills your visitors’ time. Heavy files make your visitor wait which is certainly exasperating. Many sites use heavy video and audio files which take ages to load which might turn your visitor off from your site.
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Tanya
Look I have been in Judo manitoba for years, and on the international level and have seen this coach Shirin Farag compete. 3 weeks ago at a canadian tournament called REndez Vous Canada she fought, AND WITHOUT A HEAD SCARF!!! So what does this tell you about the honesty in saying that she hasn’t had a problem, cause she didn’t wear it!
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Steve
A bit over the top,don’t you think?Your reaction to this ridiculous situation is…well,ridiculous.
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admin
No I don’t think so. I wote I felt like doing these things. It is a gut reaction. I am sensible enough to realize that it doesn’t solve anything, and that most of these people are being lead by fanatic leaders with their own agendas.
I just find it extremely upsetting that people can be lead by an emam or mullah in this fashion. I mean who, in their right mind, can think that killing someone is a rational reaction to naming a bear Mohammad. The peasants would rather be lead than think for themselves.
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Dan
Agreed, when I read that headline I was floored. Its one thing to allow religion but to execute someone over it? Purely, completely ridiculous. As if Western society needed another reason to mock Muslim religion.
like Hitchens says: “Religion poisons everything.”
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admin
Absolutely. Just because they are doing it in the name of a religion doesn’t mean you can’t comment on it, or condemn it. Religions, and religious groups have had it way to easy as far as I am concerned. If this was a group of transit workers, or soccer players, or some other group screaming for her head we would be totally aghast. But since it is a religous group we just seem to take it all in stride.
WOW… it seems like zuime & you had an awesome time in vegas!! i LOVE your theory about “i would’ve blown money the roulette wheel so i might as well spend money on something else!!” that will be my excuse for excessive shopping when i go to vegas! 🙂
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sophie
yup. you are one of those multi-talented person. got everything. jealous!!! these look amazing! 🙂
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sophie
awwww… you are an absolute sweet heart. thanks dave and you are so right. our paths will cross soon as this industry is so smalls but also because you can’t get rid of me that easily!!! will miss you dave!!!
Discrimination definitely sounds wrong, but have you ever thought: why do insurance company refuse drivers with records of reckless driving? It’s all based on statistics. Currently, and statistically, gay men in modern societies do in fact have a higher percentage of HIV infections.
Health Canada is trying to minimize receiving tainted blood (based on statistic reports), minimize the chance of getting sued by tainted bloor receivers, and try to save as many people as possible “logically”.
Time will change, and hopefully gay men will no longer be the group that has a higher population of HIV infected people.
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admin
Oh Absolutely!
I got a copy of the Advance Data from the National Center for Health statistics (US) and there are some crazy statistics.
Gay men account for almost half of all the new HIV cases and yet are such a small segment of the population. I came across another article claiming if you are a gay male practicing anal sex your increased likelyhood of HIV goes up 8000 times! I find that a bit hard to swallow but there is definitely an increased chance.
However I think the problem is they are equating something you do with something you are.
If 50% of the reckless drivers are Chinese, should we ban all Chinese from driving?
“If 50% of the reckless drivers are Chinese, should we ban all Chinese from driving?”
Depends on the severity.
If 50% of bull dogs have super high tendency to bite the heads off of young kids in a park, as a city legislator, would you consider banning such dogs?
Now consider this:
If 50% of the blood donated by gay men are HIV positive that would kill the blood receiver, as a health organization, would you consider rejecting donation from gay men?
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admin
Yes and no.
If 50% of blood donated by gay men was infected then you would be justified in such precautions. However, the stats are that 50% of the new HIV cases are gay men.
This is only because it is really easy to get HIV from anal sex, and perhaps gay men’s propensity for multiple partners. Nothing really to do with being gay. By that I mean if you were a straight woman who enjoyed a lot of anal sex with different men, then you would probably have the same risk. It is the behavior that is determining the risk. But they don’t ask if you enjoy anal sex. They specifically ask if you have sex with men.
But to use your bull dog analogy, let’s say there are 5000 bull dogs in Canada. If 50% of attacks by dogs were by bull dogs, and there were 4 dog attacks this year, and 50% were by bulldogs then there are only 2 attacks. But If 50% of bull dogs attacked, and there were 5000 bull dogs, then we are looking at 2500 attacks by bull dogs. Quite a different number.
The funny thing about statistics is that by changing one little thing you get a very different result.
“People do not a right to donate blood” is asking for trouble, even though it leaves room for people to think about.
However, “It’s a privilege (to donate blood)” is something that I could agree with. I would compare it to countries which have fresh clean water to donate to poor countries to countries that have very polluted water. I doubt anyone would want water from the Yellow River in China. It’s really a privilege for a country to have clean water.
Privilege is a right or law relating to a specific individual. One cannot claim that blood is public, and limit its use to public use only (ie: I cannot donate to my sister or myself only to the public blood bank) and then claim privilege.
While donating water to China might be the right thing to do, having clean water is not a privilege. That is the law does not apply to me (or Canada) only. There is nothing barring the Chinese from cleaning up the Yellow River, there is something barring me from donating blood.
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Lorna
Capitalism at its worst.
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Robert Zurrer
You are looking into the eyes of your 8 year old daughter, whose kidney’s have failed. There is an 8 year waiting list in BC, and 8 years on dialysis will either kill or seriously disable her for life. Do you buy a kidney for your child, or do you watch her die a slow death?
Would you tell Mohammend Yar, the man who sold me his kidney, that he cannot sell his kidney to raise enough money to pay his debt and get his children and wife back from a kidnapper?
I wonder what your real answer would be.
Robert Zurrer
P.S. It became illegal in Pakistan 6 months after I bought my kidney.
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Mark
Mr. Zurrer’s post is disingenuous. He did not buy a kidney to save his eight-year old daughter from death or disability. He bought it for himself.
As to Mohammend Yar, the fact that Mr Yar was in, essentially coercive circumstances makes Mr. Zurrer’s crime more heinous.
You had him over a barrel, Mr. Zurrer. Maybe you should have gone for more organs while you had the chance?
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admin
Mark brings up a good point. Mr. Yar was over a barrel. How does the situation change if the very people who kidnapped Mr. Yar’s family were the same people who profitted from the transaction?
I don’t see anything particularly wrong with the UK proposal.
Unless you also object the method of deducting points off drivers for speeding and careless driving.
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admin
You missed the point, by all means penalize downloaders. But I don’t think you can make ISPs responsible for them. You can deduct point off for speeding, but you can’t penalize Ford for making a car that can go so fast.
We are going to have Mr. Zurrer on the radio tomorrow, Thursday Feb. 28th at 12:35pm EST. He will participate in a phone-in, so if you have anything to say about this debate, we’d love to hear your comments. 514-790-0006 or 1-877-760-0006.
Thanks for your interest in 4Q. Just wanted to clarify a very important point that you raised. The beauty of 4Q is that it will allow companies to benchmark their data against web leaders. In this way, they can gain visibility into how well their sites stack up in the crucial area of customer satisfaction. The purpose of this initiative is absolutely NOT to capture data for one company and then use it to pitch our consultancy services to their competitors (we do not have a consultancy arm). We are approaching this as advocates of customers and end-users. Therefore, we value and protect privacy to the greatest possible extent.
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admin
Michael,
It is reassuring to know that individual companies will not be singled out it is crucial to note that if a company was in a niche market anyone purchasing that data would, theoretically, be able to draw conclusions from the customer response data as it pertains to their competition.
I am in no way suggesting that iPerceptions is doing something underhanded, but rather users need to understand it is a trade off. While the 4Q service is free, users need to understand that they will be sharing their data with you and that you will do what you will with that data
Google analytics is free, but Google uses that data, my data, to their own ends which may or may not be in keeping with my personal views. I understand they collect data and accept it as a trade off for using their services.
I realize that you will have to trust Google enough to even take their word, but atleast there are clearly outlined information that you can use as input in forming your opinion.
Thanks much.
-Avinash.
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admin
Hi Avinash,
Thanks so much for your input.
I noticed the post on Google is dated March 05, 2008. So unfortunately that information wasn’t available when I wrote the post. I am pleased that Google finally allows people to control their own data.
Personally I don’t have an issue with them using mine. I think that it is fair in return for the great service they offer through Google Analytics. I just think companies need to be very upfront about what all parties get out of the deal. Too often they just bury the details in all the legal mumbo-jumbo, because most people don’t bother to take the time to read it.
I totally agree about the smoking ban. As a new father, nothing infuriates me more than seeing some irresponsible ass smoking with his little girl in the passenger seat looking out the window in the middle of winter (true story).
In retrospect and if I had the balls at that particular point in time, I’d have let him have it.
Nonetheless… it’s now likely to become a law and if the government and Police can’t enforce many of our most basic laws, how can they expect to enforce this one…?
Maybe it’s a step at least in the right direction? Not too sure…
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admin
I agree. I am going to write a post on public shaming once I figure it all out in my head. It stems from this incident where this woman’s dog pooped on the subway, refused to clean it up and someone captured it on their cellphone.
They then posted it on youtube or something like that. You can easily imagine the hub-bub.
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alexandra samootin
With reference to illegal organ donation please view my website http://www.illegalorgandonor.com to see how Australia overcomes the problem of a shortage of organs. My 20 year old healthy son, Andrew David Shea, was set up to have a cycling accident. I was told that Andrew was killed instantly. Instead Andrew was taken away from the accident site alive and used as an illegal organ donor. My son died a horrible death. Family are involved. A lot of people got money. I am seeking justice for my son’s murder. From Andrew’s sad mother, Alexandra Samootin
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Ben Dyball
As a result of offensive and slanderous material contained in the Samootin web site it has been taken down. Hotfoot can you contact me at bendyball@bordernet.com.au I was the police officer who attended this job in 1994.
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Carol Bergal
Dave,
I agree with what Mr. Lomborg and his team had to say, however (yes….I said however) everything on his list is on a political scale. I vote and I vote how my heart tells me to vote. (Pro World Peace, A Better World, Helping my fellow man.) I pay taxes and would rather my tax money went to the things on Mr. Lomborg’s list. I’ll even contribute what I can to helping but there’s the problem…I by myself can’t even make an tiny dent (not on my salary) in his list. I can however practice things that will help slow the process of trashing my planet. I recycled when recycling wasn’t cool. I shut lights off before that was cool too! It is called thrift. For me the “Earth Hour” is a reason to pester my neighbors to start and to spend some time with a bottle or two of white zinfandel and my neighbors in the middle of the street. After all every little bit helps and we can all do a little for all of it.–Carol
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admin
Hi Carol,
I appaud your efforts but I think there are two messages here. 1) If you really want to help the planet, even more than turning off your lights for an hour, then take the bus. Ride a bike. Walk to work.
It is shocking that turning off the lights of Sydney for a year would on remove 48, 616 cars.
Another way to look at it is just 48,616 create as much pollution as the powering of a major city! So by getting out of your car for an hour does a lot more good than turning off the lights.
2) The other take away is that there are other issues we could solve. We would stem the tide of AIDS and malaria. Provide clean drinking water to everyone on the planet. End world hunger for a fraction of what it will cost us to clean up the climate.
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adrian
simple really
CHINA = SHAME
CHINA PEOPLE MUST BOW THIER HEADS IN SHAME, THEY ARE A DISGRACE!
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admin
Are you an idiot? I see from your email address (which others can’t see) that you are from the UK. Lets take a look at England’s long and lustrious history of oppressing other cultures and genocide shall we?
We could talk about the Aborigines in Australia still fighting for their land, or the First Nations here in North America wiped out by the Hudson Bay Company while sanctioned by the Royal Family of England.
Or we could talk about the India East Company and the changing of Calcutta into a slum to aid in the production of cotton to line the pockets of the English. Or we could chat about Amritsar where English soldiers opened fire on women and children.
Or, if so inclined we could talk about apartheid in Africa and all the “wonderful” things England has done to keep the sun from ever setting on her empire.
China does not equal shame. That just shows your ignorance of the Chinese people and the situation over there.
The ultimate goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness, not to really save the Earth by merely turning off lights for an hour.
This campaign is successful, in my opinion, because it got everyone talking about it. Subliminally more people now at least feel a little bit of guilt if we waste electricity which in turn causes more global warming. People want baby step, not shutting off all power plants.
Why don’t you also bash gay pride, it’s also a colossal waste of time because no one should care about other’s sexuality.
I love Canada and Toronto, but the stupidest thing Toronto has is the TTC. I am ok with old trains (Tokyo’s subway system is very old but also very modernized), but TTC’s ticketing system is plain stupid. One fare to travel anywhere is also wrong – it leads to bankruptcy all the time. And TTC collectors sitting by the gate watching people drop their tickets and coins into the bin is also unbelievably outdated. Modernize it by installing electronic ticket vending machines and gates and be flexible with the ticket price by allowing people to pay more (or less) if you travel longer distance (or shorter distance) is the way to go.
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admin
Yes, Earth Hour was about awareness, but what exactly did you learn? Did you not know the planet is fucked? Were you previously unaware that our dependency on power was contributing to global warming? Jesus a piece of the Antarctic ice shelf 7 times the size of Manhattan just collapsed. What bigger a sign do you need?
Rather than turning off the power for an hour and then patting each other on the back, how about people get out of their fucking cars? How about we hold the same corporate sponsors who participated in this event, and got to brag about “doing their part” to the same commitment every single day? Everyday asking them to turn off the lights at night when there is no one in the room. It is just common sense.
Earth hour didn’t do shit. It wasn’t even enough to cause people to rethink how they use power. I know that because tonight I can come downtown and look at all the buildings lit up again. And come summer I can walk down Queen st. enjoying the air conditioning blasting out of the open doors that shops have to entice customers inside.
If we were really serious about this, we would begin to impose massive penalties to power abusers, and reward companies for power conservation.
As for gay pride, it too is about awareness. However in it’s case some people still don’t understand that homosexuals are not “faggots with dirt under their fingernails that transmit diseases“. And until that is clearly understood by everyone, it should continue. After that, then we can stop.
I don’t see how Earth Hour and Gay Pride very different from each other. You just want to believe that no one has learned anything from Earth Hour. It’s just that you are biased against its effectiveness, it doesn’t mean that :
1) on the government level that no one is doing anything to penalize big energy waster
2) no one is taking an extra step to save the planet.
Like the AIDS awareness campaign, now people at least know that it’s not only a gay disease – it takes time to get the message across. At the same time, scientists have been trying to find a cure. Most of the “colossal waste of time” campaigns do work, but on a global scale in a less aggressive way.
Funny you mention AIDS as it is near the top of the list on things we CAN solve, but for some reason we would rather have big parties celebrating some issue we can’t.
As for PRIDE, I could easy argue that Pride is a celebration of who we are as a group of marginalized people and the struggles we have overcome. Earth Day is a celebration that the planet is going to shit and we can’t think of anything better to do that turn off the lights for an hour.
I’m not saying that climate change is not important, but it frustrates me that everyone can jump on the bandwagon and then say, “job well done!”
Earth Day did nothing to solve the problem. Hell’s teeth, it didn’t even address the issue. The issue isn’t you leaving your lights on at home. If Sydney turned off the lights for a YEAR that is only the equilavent of 48,616 cars off the road.
Why didn’t they ask people to ride the bus to work, or ride a bike, or walk or telecommute? Because people are lazy and turning off their lights for an hour is the most effort they can possibly muster.
Some people have even worked out the DAMAGE done by earth day in the additional CO2 release from all the candles.
She negotiated on the open market and went for what she considered the best price and terms. The latter includes not having to do business with a corporation that, according to her, infringed her copyright by selling her composition for ringtones.
This, Dave, is the free market at work.
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Mark
Good post.
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admin
Hey Joe,
You are absolutely right, they had no right to go and allow people to use that ring tone. But come on, do you think she was hard-done-by by the CBC and the millions of dollars she was paid for the use of that song?
If the CBC was a private company there is no way they would have continued paying royalties for 30 years.
They would have bought the song for $2000 when she and the song were unknowns and gone their separate ways. Instead she got a sweetheart deal for decades and soon as it looked like she wasn’t getting her cut she bailed.
Also by definition, in a free market environment buyers and sellers do not coerce or mislead each other nor are they coerced by a third party. What roll do you think the copyright holdings company had in this game if Dolores DID want to donate the song?
I just wanted to thank you, on behalf of my mother, for your support of the hockey theme. I also wanted you to know my side of the story, because it’s important to me. What I hope you will acknowledge is that the CBC has had an exclusive media platform on which to air its side of the story.
First, to clear up some misconceptions. For 25 years, CBC paid my mother no license fees at all for the music. It was only in the last 15 years that they began to pay any license fee at all.
Last week, after more than a year of CBC bullying, threatening and endless changing of positions, we offered the CBC the following deal: forget the lawsuit – just pay our legal fees (which we incurred because of CBC’s breach of usage as agreed in the license deal) and let’s keep the same licensing deal as before. That’s it…same as before. $500 per episode of HNIC. They did not accept.
They kept bullying us, telling us the song was worthless, threatening to drop the song altogether if we didn’t give them exactly what they wanted, absolutely on their terms. If not, they’d hold a national contest and replace the song. Honestly, it became increasingly clear to us that this was their plan all along – to offer deals that were impossible for us to accept, so they would have the excuse to drop the song without being blamed for doing it. On Thursday, they sent us an email rejecting the offer and saying that it was sad we could not come to an agreement.
Then on Friday, Scott Moore of the CBC announced the Song Contest to replace the theme. So, it was clear, for sure, that this was over for us.
My belief is that when it started to become clear to the CBC that the public wasn’t happy with their decision, they announced that they would negotiate further. Frankly, my mother was so depressed, she just said – no, they don’t really want the song. It’s better at least if it dies a dignified death.
When CTV made an offer, they promised that they’d use the song, and they’d use it in association with Canadian hockey. Of all the things, this mattered most to my mother.
I know you are probably upset that we didn’t resolve our differences with the CBC, but no matter what they say publicly, they really, clearly, didn’t give a shit about the theme. Their only concern was they should not be seen to be the villains in getting rid of it. My mother became a very convenient scapegoat.
To a composer, their music is like their baby – they don’t want to see it buried, or forgotten, or sidelined. And my mother, being a rather strong woman, just wasn’t willing to be bullied and threatened any more. A lot of people are going to call her greedy and opportunistic. Well, they just don’t know her at all. It’s going to sound trite if I say that “it wasn’t about the money”. But ask any composer of music if they want to see their work buried, and never played again. It’s easy to focus on the money. But it was never, ever about the money. Life, and people, are just a lot more complex than that.
That’s my side of the story, for what it’s worth.
Madeleine Morris
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admin
That is interesting Adrian, thank you for sharing that. I have one question though. If they didn’t pay royalities for 25 years, then why start paying her all of a sudden. Did they purchase the song, or think that they purchased the song?
If it wasn’t about the money, then why not give it to the Canadian Hall of Fame or the national archives. That song is considered as Canadian as the national anthem so she could have easily made sure it was never forgotten. Even better using the GNU lisence drop it on the open market for everyone to download and share.
Wow buddy… what a load of crap. Dont get me wrong im sure there are some stuff thats true but you really should get your shit together before you go ranting about stuff you dont know or understand. How can someone make claims on the operation of an organization without even working for them.
You talked about calling the cops instead of the driver dealing with it. Once on the bus I saw a guy punch a driver and took off running. what do you do then. calling the cops rarely ends with nothing.
As for the fare, do u really believe that EVERYONE pays the 2.75. I know people that peel tickets and short change drivers and as for the province or the city they only cover about 7% of TTC overhead, 13% comes from ads and the rest is from the farebox.
As for being late… thats like being pissed off at them when they are late in a snow storm.
Look I know its a piss off but the only ones that know what they go through are the drivers. There’s a reason that transit operators are ranked 3rd most stressfull job. Maybe we should both apply and see what its really like. and then we can both shut up lol
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admin
Hi KB.
First off, to say I can’t complain about the way the TTC is run because I don’t work for them is asinine. By your point, everyone complaining about Rogers and the iPhone or Bell and Telus charging $0.15 for incoming text messages should shut up because they don’t work for them. Or that I shouldn’t complain about the war because I am not in Afghanistan or in the military.
As a daily customer I think I am more than qualified to point out what is wrong. I can see that drivers get harassed you know what the solution is? Put them in a cage. That’s what they did in London England to deal with the problem. Or how about, make the TTC free. I am sure that the vast majority of conflicts between drivers and riders is in regards to fares, so just get rid of them. Improve the advertising spaces, include video on the subway and charge advertisers to sell to a captive audience.
Also how is paying the union, oops I mean the drivers, more money going to solve the assault issue anyway?
Not to mention the fact that when the TTC went on strike, they claimed to give everyone 48 hours notice. Instead they left at midnight on a Friday screwing everyone who has out for the evening. They could have waited until the end of service, it wouldn’t have hurt them. Or they could have given the 48 hours they said they would.
As for being late, schedule the mother fucker already. How many times have you been left standing there waiting for a streetcar only to be met by 4 in a row? Get rid of the streetcars, put in some buses and then they can leapfrog stops so they don’t have to stop at every one. Not to mention the fact that the street cars can’t get out of the way for emergency vehicles. I’ve lost count at the number of times I have seen the fire trucks near work get stuck between a streetcar and an idiot who can’t figure out how to get out of the way.
I have ridden transit in dozens of countries many of which eclipse our own. It shouldn’t take a group of rocket surgeons to figure out how to make it efficient. Instead I have to walk through a puddle INSIDE the fucking station every time it rains because no one can be bothered to clear the drain. Rather than hiring someone who can actually do the job, they waste our money putting posters up that tell us how wonderful they are because Bob didn’t run over a five-year-old on the tracks!
Thanks for the offer to join them, but I prefer a job where people are encouraged to excel not maintain the status quo.
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Mark
Toronto is awful, today. Overcast, hot, humid, smoggy.
Nice to see you have decided to join the blogosphere :).
I think both you and Patrick are right on this one. If by conversions you’re only truly looking at point of sale, then you are most definitely missing out on a lot of value-driver metrics of your business.
For me it comes down to a fundamental difference between lead and lag measures. Conversions are great at telling me what did work or what did happen, but they give me no indication on what we expect will happen in the near future.
Take one of mine and Novo’s favourite metrics for example – recency. The traditional marketing research person would tell you that the way in which they define a “customer” is “anyone who has bought from you at least once AND WHO IS LIKELY TO BUY FROM YOU AGAIN”.
I love this definition because you’re not really a customer of mine if you never ever plan to come into my store again. You were a customer then, but not now.
Recency is actually a “lead” measure for future conversions. If for example an e-commerce website notices that visitors are allowing more time to pass in between visits, then this is a key lead measure that their sales could potentially be off in the next period.
Hamel got things started with “Conversion is King” blog post:
So I was talking with my co-worker Patrick Glinski about my notion of conversions being the only metric that matters and he brought up an interesting problem with it. If you have a business, and your only concern is sales (conversions) then over time you will lose because you are ignoring the other parts of your business. To continue with my Rolex example, if Rolex only focused on the sale, the conversion, and not on the aspiration, eventually everyone who could buy one, would have then Rolex wouldn’t have any new potential customers.
To which, Sukmanowski replied:
Take one of mine and Novo’s favourite metrics for example – recency. The traditional marketing research person would tell you that the way in which they define a “customer” is “anyone who has bought from you at least once AND WHO IS LIKELY TO BUY FROM YOU AGAIN”.
I love this definition because you’re not really a customer of mine if you never ever plan to come into my store again. You were a customer then, but not now.
Recency is actually a “lead” measure for future conversions. If for example an e-commerce website notices that visitors are allowing more time to pass in between visits, then this is a key lead measure that their sales could potentially be off in the next period.
To which Hamel Replied in New customers vs. old customers:
I would like to point out that recency is only important in its relation to conversions. Conversions are the hub of all metrics because it is the most important metric. Mike has definitely given me stuff to think about. Thanks Mike.
And it’s at this point that I’ll throw myself into the line of fire.
There are different flavors of Recency. There’s the flavor of Recency that uses time since conversion as the measure. There are other, more subtler flavors, time since last visit, for instance.
Different products will have a different conversion recency periodicy, and Novo argues this in Drilling Down. A vehicle purchase will have a periodicy measured in years, whereas consuming FREE! content from a website (if that’s considered conversion, refer to a previous post here about defining conversion) will have a recency periodicity measured in days, and in some cases, an irregular hourly type of cycle. (For instance, checking the New York Times or Bloomberg five times a day while at work, then once at 9pm (if your work day ends at 8:59pm) and then not touching it again over the weekend.)
I believe that recency is a great measure of ‘habit’, and a habit is just a simpler way of saying “periodic behavior”. Habits tend to be sticky, and not necessarily because there’s a total ‘addiction’, though, there’s certaily an element of addiction to routine. (How about I just say that I’m conflicted with the semantic difference between something that is habitual and something that is an addiction?)
Recency is powerful like that, and it has to be tempered with frequency to derive a good LifeCycle.
To the question of 10 new customers over 10 retained customers, I think I’d prefer 10 loyal customers. I don’t have to pay to acquire new customers, I just have to pay to keep the loyal ones I have happy. Certainly, those costs increas, but at some point, those costs of retention start to exceed the cost of acquisition…at which point, you let them go.
Ultimately though, there’s some breakeven point, as Hamel has alluded to.
There’s something to LifeCycle management that’s quite important.
I’m glad that Hamel and Sukmanowski have started this up – it’s what blogging should be.
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Mark
I think the focus on conversions is a bit pedantic. Yes you have to track sales, or leads, or whatever your site conversion is. But that’s the basics, and is kind of short term.
It’s also, and forgive me for using the term, not very user-centric. I say this because even though you may be running an ecom site, users may be coming to your site for a lot more reasons than simply buying.
I’m not so sure I would worry about new vs. old, so much as I would worry about happy, and likelihood to purchase again and recommend. To that end, you have to support a lot of non-purchase funnel behaviours: customer service, product documentation, complaints procedures, etc.
And find way to measure those type of non-purchase types of conversions well.
A conversion is often a business defined byte of information. It is essential to look at what users are coming to the site for, and support, at minimum, those activities as well. Conversion is too narrow a focus.
Recency is surrogate for
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Erkan
Hi Dave,
Just wanted to ask a question. I started to do alot of reading on the web analysis topic. I have just graduated with a social science degree and was looking to get into the Web Intelligence certification program at UBC. Im just looking for some tips in taking the right path in becoming a true web analysis, can you help?
Just for the record, the BQ got 50 seats – not 60. Anyway, I agree as far as it goes that the current system is broken; as for the conclusion that not voting is somehow wrong, I think that as long as the electoral system is the way it is, I disagree with you.
I wrote about this aswell.
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admin
Thanks Marc, I was grabbing the numbers off of CBC and misread. Why do you think people shouldn’t HAVE to vote?
“The fact is that anyone not voting with the majority in their particular riding is wasting their vote, because short of a small stipend paid to their party, the people they voted for can do exactly nothing with that vote.”
Just replying to your comment on my blog here; I did mention the money going to the party in that line (it’s the bit about the stipend). I’m just saying if you want to give them a dollar seventy-five, it’s probably easier to send the money by post than line up for a half-hour in an already locked-up riding (my riding, for example, went BQ by several thousand votes – they’re a juggernaut, here).
I like the French and German systems, they have the best of both worlds, after a fashion. As it stands, we’re kinda boned.
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Nicole
I forgive you, Dave.
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Nicole
I forgive you, Dave.
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Nicole
I mean, I forgive you Dave. Without the comma.
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Nicole
I mean, I forgive you Dave. Without the comma.
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Renee
Oh yeah, what are you sorry for?
Do you even know? That is the true test, are you willing to explore the wrongs you may not yet acknowledge or understand?
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Renee
Oh yeah, what are you sorry for?
Do you even know? That is the true test, are you willing to explore the wrongs you may not yet acknowledge or understand?
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mark
that almost made me cry at work.
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Bonnie
More kitty pictures!! Oh, yeah, and stuff about you and Zuimei………..
love you!
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SteveM
I agree wholeheartedly and had not drawn the parallels with the state of OS’s, software, browsers, etc. from the dark ages… Analytics and measurement companies have been able to resist the pull of standardization and open source for a lot longer than the rest of the web/software world. It’s an idea whose time has come, for sure. Would Google actually go for something like that is the question?
You make good points, and I’m going to give them thought, and then respond.
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Nery
What about forgetting page views all together and start tracking things like:
time engaging user?
interactions per minute?
content most requested?
and I’m sure we can easily think of others.
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Tim
Earth Hour is a gesture to raise awareness of a non-problem. Global warming/climate change has hijacked the real environmental movement i.e. protecting ourselves from poisons and pollution.
1. Diseases – Control of HIV and AIDS
2. Malnutrition – providing micro nutrients
3. Trade Barriers and Subsidies – Trade liberalization
4. Diseases – Control of Malaria
Good Projects
1. Malnutrition – development of new agricultural technologies
2. Water and Sanitation – small scale water technologies for livelihoods
3. Water and Sanitation – community managed water supply and sanitation
4. Water and Sanitation – research on water productivity in food production
5. Governance and Corruption – lowering the cost of starting new business
Fair Projects
1. Migration – Lowering barriers to migration for skilled workers
2. Malnutrition – Improving infant and child nutrition
3. Malnutrition – Reducing the prevalence of a low birth rate
4. Diseases – Scaled up basic health services
Bad Projects
1. Migration – Guest-worker programs for the unskilled
2. Climate – Optimal carbon tax
3. Climate – The Kyoto protocol
4. Climate – Value-at-risk carbon tax
Now, going by your article, that’s what we should be spending $50 billion on, in that order. Yet, let’s think: you need a planet to actually be able to spend money on. Else, what’s the point?
I’m all for these great causes, which is why I started the 12for12k Challenge to benefit 12 different charities/causes/needs.
But I wouldn’t be able to help any of these with no planet. No-one would, no matter how much money you spent. So helping the planet is just as key when it comes to the long-term help for these issues you raised via Lomborg’s presentation.
There’s one other thing you forget to mention. Yes, 48,000 + cars isn’t a lot when you look at it over a year. But that’s for one city.
Look at Earth Hour now – at the time of writing, there are just short of 1200 cities across 80 countries. Whatever you say, that’s a damn lot of cars.
Amen. We need a highly efficient (for obvious reasons) meme that basically tells people: “stop raising awareness and start making a change”. People already know much of what is wrong.
First, thank you for the link to 12for12k, I appreciate you offering this.
I agree – Toronto does need to do more, as does every city, town and citizen. If my math is off, I apologise – never was my greatest subject in school 🙂
I think my main point was (and this is where we probably agree) that everyone needs to do something. Where we probably disagree is on just criticising efforts without constructive points being raised.
If I misunderstood you on either front, then that’s my mis-call.
Cheers again for highlighting the need for change, in whatever format.
My wife and I are currently looking to buy, and I’m amazed at the condition (aesthetically) that some people have their homes in.
If you’re trying to sell something, make it worth the sales pitch to start with. It’s a buyer’s market – at the end of the day, we can buy any home, it doesn’t have to be yours.
Can the seller say a similar thing?
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admin
Hi Dan,
I criticize it because as a species that depends on statistics in our daily lives, we are horrible at it – myself included and I do this for a living!
We need to stop acting impulsively and rationally think about what challenges we want to solve, how we are going to solve them, and measure the results.
The Earth Hour is a PR blitz that no one stopped to think about. No one has assessed the cost versus the benefits. It just feels like the “right thing”.
Instead, as I mentioned in my original post we should be focusing our collective efforts on issues we can solve. That is why I like 12for12K. Child hunger, Children soldiers, micro-loans; these are things I can measure the results in real terms.
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Nicole
Wow. Wasn’t planning on being moved to tears on a Thursday afternoon as my students were leaving. I can’t help but think this is more about one soul speaking to another soul, rather than a mother to a son.
At least it shows that with a bit of hard work you can earn good money
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Victor
You are not the only one who watched the television and remembered 6/4.
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admin
That’s just it though. We watch television and do nothing. Myself included. No remembrances no huge rallies or protests. No masses of flowers deposited in front of the Chinese embassy…
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Jim
Seems that video games are all that matters these days, so, why not use them to get to people? Even in matters such as these. I’m having an epiphany!
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Diane Beard
I am shocked, but glad. My husband was taking me to Famous People PLayers for my birthday, tomorrow, and they have some logistic problems and wont’ be open, so he asked me about an alternative plan. I had also seen this show and was excited to try this restaurant….now I won’t. I expect more from a place that Lynn Crawford puts her gold stamp on. I respect her greatly. I am a food stylist, so presentation is very important to me too.
Hey Dave — great post. Did you know… we do preference based emails too? If you log in to your account online, you’ll be able to tell us what you want you want to hear about specifically. We’ll still send more general emails about sales (like the one you received) but we’ll also tell you about the types of books/other products you specifically want to know about. If you want to know more, shoot me an email at rracine@indigo.ca or connect with me on twitter: @indigo_renee We appreciate being mentioned!
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admin
I am thinking of a system where if I got a Chapters member card could it tie my purchases to a profile and then send me emails based on an what I have purchased. And then it would change what it sends based on my responses for those emails.
That’s funny about John. If I recall, the “required” reading before we even starting the source was called “Programming Logic” I think… I think Margo wanted us to read Steven Covey’s 7 habits?
Anyways, the programming logic was all about logic gates and stuff. I remember when he asked how many people had read it… there was a hush in the room! Thus started the tenure of an amazing professor, skinning of cats and “you understood’s!”
“As an Amazon.com customer, we thought you might be interested in shopping on Amazon’s special website for shoes and handbags–Endless.com. ”
Yep, that appeals to me as a married male with 2 kids. A new amazon site with shoes and purses.
Goodbye Amazon.
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admin
I had an interesting thought. What if we charged advertisers for junk email? If organizations like Amazon had to pay a nickel for every email they send what would the result be? I mean ignoring the whole net neutrality issue…
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Karen
I like what you have to say; your arguments are clear and though out, even though I don’t agree with all of them.
I agree that no strategy in the social media space is worse than not entering the space at all. It seems foolish to not have a clear goal and then make sure everything you post publicly meets that goal.
I think that people should be able to report their experiences. If I happen to see someone sleeping on the job, or going for coffee when on the clock, I should be able to show that. However, if mainstream media picks up my picture or video, they should do their due diligence and follow up. As a citizen, I don’t have to be non-biased and can slant things how I want…journalists should realize this possibility and make the effort to get the whole story. I’ll likely only show my side – what I saw, heard, experienced – because that’s what I care about.
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Sophia
You mean a multinational corporation with billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of customers, didn’t roll out the red carpet for your mutual funds?
You might as well blow the whole place up.
First off, I’m sure they’re really eager to hear about your ingenious ideas about how to make their service “better” for you.
Secondly, you don’t provide the e-mail you sent, just their “reply”. This is problematic because perhaps, there are many circumstances that may need to be made more clear (in your e-mail), before iTrade can give a reasonable response, and giving you some vague answer, “1 – 35 business days” isn’t helpful, and would only further your rage.
The reply, appears to be an automated message. It really reads:
“We’ve received an e-mail from you, and we appreciate your interest in our company, but please use the avenues provided for your questions.”
No point in getting your panties in a twist over being lazy, and not wanting to make a phone call.
One of my favorite customer service quotes is “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.” -PETER DRUCKER
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Ryan P
I could not agree more! My building spends a large sum of money on overtime, just to prepare for this event. They also have staff onsite that night to solve any issues with lights that normally stay on for safety reasons . Our overall building consumption does not drop at all .We historically use more power during that day for some reason .The whole thing is a joke
Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
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Paul
Another relevant point is that the energy cosumed by lights is mostly output as heat. So if you switch your lights off for an hour you will create a reduction in heat in your house. Luckily we all typically have modern thermostats so your heating system will pick up the slack and burn more fuel to compensate. So at most you save is the tiny amount output by bulbs as light energy – the only value in this exercise is symbolic at best.
I always participate in the “Earth Hour”. This event is a symbol that we should be more aware of our environment and that we should focus on protecting mother earth.
It’s nothing Geoff. I hope you and Melissa get to build your house.
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dave mills
Great post Dave
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Alex B
Hey Dave, hope all is well(this is Alex Brasil we’ve met before at Web Analytics Wednesdays). I live about 40 doors down from 204 and find this absolutely disgusting/embarrassing. Was away during this meeting.. almost glad I was– it angers me too much to even watch the video.
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Alison Brown
Hi Dave,
I am Melissa’s sister. I just read your blog. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your thoughts in regards to this issue. It is much appreciated that people like yourself care about Melissa and Geoff’s situation and take the time to express it.
Best wishes to you
Alison
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john low
I agree that Bussin is being heavy handed–but is there no way to build a house that allows the family what they need but also preserves some of the character rather than just building a million dollar cube? There must be a way, otherwise neighbourhoods will loose their character which is one important thing that makes them nighbourhoods.
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admin
John, the buildings are the least of what make a neighborhood. And your right there isn’t a way to keep the house and make it wheelchair accessible and that is too bad. But the wheelchair accessibility has to come before the “character” of a neighborhood.
You called it a “cube” because you don’t like it, and you would like it to stay the way it is because you do. I might call it modern, elegant, clean. In contrast I might say the turn of the century houses are old, musty, out-dated. But the problem is, that is all subjective.
The house was not slated for heritage status, they checked. Bussin is simply upset because her ego has been bruised. It is absurd to think that everyone in the Beach should call her personally and ask if it is okay for them to develop the property they purchased. She is a councilor, not a monarch.
The Teehans have done everything reasonable to ensure the house was available for the purposes they needed it and after that, too fucking bad. If it is so important to keep heritage buildings and the “character” of the neighborhood then all the neighbors should be clamoring to nominate their own houses for heritage status.
Until that happens they should just mind their own business…or better yet try to make their own homes wheelchair accessible.
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mjfin
Very modest, minor changes, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Soccer has a HUGE problem, starting and ending with the lack of scoring. A world cup match with a 1-0 score? Rules should change to promote scoring. Here are some suggestions:
1) Off-sides penalties. A rule that eliminates fast breaks and limits scoring. Eliminate it, or at least allow one player to go “off-sides” legally.
2) Make the goal wider.
3) Make the goal higher.
There. Done. As in complete no-brainer.
The object is to NEVER end a game with a penalty kick, as if everybody got bored in the end and just decided to have a bunch of kicks to get the damn drudge over with.
Goal size adjustments would have a trial period, over a few months during off season games, to set the average scoring by each team to about 8-9 goals per game.
This is such an obvious change that most Americans think the International “Football” Committee (or whoever sets soccer rules) are complete morons.
I even have a name for the new rules. Call them “American Rules”. It might even make the sport popular in the U.S.
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Nick
Hi Dave, thanks for the review. Personally, that place is one of my favs for brunch. You should try it and compare.
Thanks,
Nick
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admin
I have been thinking about your suggestions regarding the goal and the size of it and I have to disagree.
Complaining that soccer doesn’t have enough goals in it is like complaining there is only one winner in the Indy 500.
Soccer if about creating plays, making opportunities happen, taking chances. Soccer is, in essence a game of give and take.
Look at basketball in comparison. What a joke. 98-101 is not an unrealistic score. Every time someone reaches one end of the court or the other they score. It’s too easy. Most games are decided in the dying seconds. While exciting, why not just cut out the second half and save some time.
Soccer on the other hand is a game of strategy. Not just running up and down a court. American football is also a game of strategy but it sucks because there are too many stoppages in play. Soccer has better flow to it.
The argument that soccer needs more goals is only a reflection of American’s inability to appreciate the nuances and subtleties of the game. I suppose that is why American’s like big flashy spectacles like the Super Bowl.
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Jerry Boyle
A quote worth repeating:
” I already have a local councillor, Sandra Bussin in Beaches-East York, famed for her rudeness and hostility to constituents. I once got an entire column out of her voice mail greeting. No more, thanks.”
earth hour is really a great way to promote environmental awareness`,-
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jenny
Scares me as a new driver – I don’t ever want to know what it feels like to take someone’s life with my car. There needs to be better sharing of the roads so cyclists aren’t picked off. 🙁
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admin
While I agree I never want to know what that feels like, in this case it was Jure who was at fault. One of the articles mentions he was on a mountain road with blind corners descending very fast. I highly recommend reading this article on the NYTimes
I disagree with you on this completely. I remember reading a book on logo design, it says memorable logos are often controversial.
The logo with the maple leaf in this post is amateurish with no dynamics at all. It could mean anything. A Canadian union of some industry, may be.
The London 2012 logo has strong action visuals, its 80’s color scheme do take time to digest, but to me it’s eye-catching and gutsy.
The font of the Pan Am logo is a very modern and popular font called Bryant. I think you can find it in Wired magazine or some other trendy magazines. However, I think the font is too monospaced for this design. They chose this color scheme probably to represent the sun, field and water.
Yes, also damn those television makers and console makers who hate freedom, that they allow parents to prevent their kids from watching adult channels and playing M rating games. The kids should all buy their own Hi-def TV/game consoles/cellphone so that the parents can’t set up censorship locks!
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Ted
Its over, you would think at 100,000 plus a year in salary plus 50,000 expenses and all that power she would at least show a little compassion for her constituents.
She actually threw herself a “victory” party a few months ago evidently on her re-election.
I will have to check that out if its true or not.
lol
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Stephen H
This is fantastic! Hopefully the police will be given greater monitoring powers so that we can finally exterminate all forms of life that I don’t like. We’ll know who likes pot and who doesn’t based on their utility bills. From there it will be an easy genocide. Thanks Supreme Court!!!
love, Conservative voter
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Homer
I really despise how Canada has gone from a free society to becoming policed americans. Especially in Alberta. You always fell like you are being watched here. Time to move to the Arctic…
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Ian
Dave, while I’m not an apologist for the TTC (and it pains me to think that I might be considered as such), I have to disagree with you’re assessment. I come in on the Bloor side (and used to live on the Danforth side) and come down University and up Yonge on a daily basis.
Yes the old cars are predominant on the B/D line, but they do exist on Y/U/S, which is the line that carries much more traffic. I for one am looking forward to the cascading of the ‘red’ Yonge trains to replace (hopefully) all the old yellow/orange ones on Bloor/Danforth. When I go north on Yonge, I get on at King, and I’m glad that I do, because at all the other stations up to Bloor many people have to wait for 2 or 3 trains to find a spot to fit.
I don’t agree with the current policy of continually extending the subway lines (How about a Downtown Relief Line?) but I know people that get on Yonge at North York or Sheppard and are packed in, while Bloor may not be like that until Dufferin.
Regarding the ads, I noticed the same thing too, and thought that maybe the TTC is having problems selling ads and the ones that have the most eyeballs get sold first.
Enjoy the holidays!
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admin
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the comment. To be honest I don’t think they are really racist, it just seems to be that you would logically replace the oldest cars. I think the socio-economic situation is merely correlated, not causal.
The fact that there are few line maps on the B/D line causes some concern, I mean surely they could add a few, maybe one at the ends of each car?. I noticed it years ago, and have written them about it, but I haven’t bothered trying a proper study, just my own observation.
The eyeballs on ads is a good point, but then how can we increase ridership on the B/D line, not by using old cars that’s for sure.
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sarah
I would like to hear about it if you are submitting a complaint to BBB… In all fairness, something should be done to protect consumers…
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Fred
Good to know you’ve received a refund from Buytopia. I’ve asked for one as well. I guess they’ve been backlogged with complaints and it’s taking them time to sort this out.
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Fred
Good to know you’ve received a refund from Buytopia. I’ve asked for one as well. I guess they’ve been backlogged with complaints and it’s taking them time to sort this out.
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Mike
I would also like to submit a complaint and file against them. I was a customer before the coupons promotion. They use to have good quality meat and I would get great service from Marlon himself. I even supported there venture into Thornhill that closed a few years ago.
Now I feel like we are being cheated. I don’t even care how long it takes to get the meat or the ridiculous coupon redemption hours, but when they are trying to pass off mass produced, unhealthy meat as organic, they have now put my health and the health of my family at risk.
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Mike
Through research they have also inflated the prices and changed suppliers and are not providing Organic meat.
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admin
What research? Can you share?
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Mike
Through research they have also inflated the prices and changed suppliers and are not providing Organic meat.
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admin
What research? Can you share?
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Billy Sue
Thanks for your thoughts.
I spoke with Dev this afternoon (after sending an ignored email last week, calling a few days ago and being told to wait for their call this afternoon – when I called THEM this afternoon, they said they had no record of my earlier call or their instructions to me to wait for their call today).
Dev refused to give me a refund, despite my numerous unsuccessful attempts to redeem my coupon and my concern that it will never be redeemed. After reciting various rebuttals to pretty much every issue that has been raised on the forums – most of which I didn’t mention – he enetertained the idea of being the middleman to get my order. I suspect that won’t work and it will just lead to more frustration.
So, how did you manage to get your refund? Do I need to start a blog about Buytopia? 😉
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Billy Sue
Thanks for your thoughts.
I spoke with Dev this afternoon (after sending an ignored email last week, calling a few days ago and being told to wait for their call this afternoon – when I called THEM this afternoon, they said they had no record of my earlier call or their instructions to me to wait for their call today).
Dev refused to give me a refund, despite my numerous unsuccessful attempts to redeem my coupon and my concern that it will never be redeemed. After reciting various rebuttals to pretty much every issue that has been raised on the forums – most of which I didn’t mention – he enetertained the idea of being the middleman to get my order. I suspect that won’t work and it will just lead to more frustration.
So, how did you manage to get your refund? Do I need to start a blog about Buytopia? 😉
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admin
Yes in short. I haven’t actually gotten the refund yet just an email stating it had been processed. I am still waiting for it to show up on my credit card.
Any time I am negotiating for a refund, I try to make it as easy as possible for the person on the other end of the line. I have all the details ready in case they need them. Most often they are not responsible for the mess nor in a position to move heaven and earth for me so I try to make sure my request is reasonable. By being polite but firm, and having a solid argument I tend to get my way.
The other thing is make sure they understand you will not let this go. I blog about it, I tweet about it, and I will tell others about it good or bad. I will also contact the BBB and I will sue. I have been to small claims court before and no one gets to steal from me. ever.
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admin
Yes in short. I haven’t actually gotten the refund yet just an email stating it had been processed. I am still waiting for it to show up on my credit card.
Any time I am negotiating for a refund, I try to make it as easy as possible for the person on the other end of the line. I have all the details ready in case they need them. Most often they are not responsible for the mess nor in a position to move heaven and earth for me so I try to make sure my request is reasonable. By being polite but firm, and having a solid argument I tend to get my way.
The other thing is make sure they understand you will not let this go. I blog about it, I tweet about it, and I will tell others about it good or bad. I will also contact the BBB and I will sue. I have been to small claims court before and no one gets to steal from me. ever.
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Marcie
I, too, purchased the $100 coupon and ran into similar problems. The Butchers may have been well intentioned at the beginning but clearly, their plan was not thought through….not my fault! The only rudeness or verbal abuse I witnessed when visiting the store was from the owner, directed towards his customers. The meat I purchased was over priced and of poor quality plus we were limited to $100 worth of meat only, so “we don’t run out”. Next thing I knew, there were even more restrictions. They were changing the rules constantly, at the last minute sometimes, so I decided enough was enough. If this isn’t fraud, it’s as close as it gets. I complained to the coupon vendors and got a full refund…..after the supposedly 30 day refund policy had expired. Don’t take this lying down.
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admin
As of today, June 13th I am still waiting for the refund to show up on my credit card…
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TO Guy
I will never do business with Buytopia. Until they provide a full refund they are just as guilty as the Butchers. Who knows they may be in on this scam as well. Webpiggy has done a refund though.
I will keep pursuing these people until I get a full refund, they have violated all of the terms on the voucher. It is disgusting.
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TO Guy
I will never do business with Buytopia. Until they provide a full refund they are just as guilty as the Butchers. Who knows they may be in on this scam as well. Webpiggy has done a refund though.
I will keep pursuing these people until I get a full refund, they have violated all of the terms on the voucher. It is disgusting.
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notjustme
Well, I am sorry to say that I am glad it is not just me! I went to the store today and it was CLOSED. Their website says they have had to hire security to deal with voucher holders! Ummmm I can see why! I have been to the store 5 times and have left empty handed each time! They have also stated on their website that they will only honour vouchers Thursdays and Fridays 6:30-9:30…this is completely not convenient for me, the consumer!!! I have just e-mailed the coupon site to ask for a refund and I will definitely be contacting the BBB! This is ridiculous! I get coupons ALL THE TIME and have always had FABULOUS experiences! I hate the thought that this was the first coupon that the author bought and that they won’t be buying anymore! I just got two deals this week!
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admin
So, it’s been two weeks since I received the email stating I have been given a refund and still nothing. I send them one last email and after that I am filing with the BBB.
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admin
So, it’s been two weeks since I received the email stating I have been given a refund and still nothing. I send them one last email and after that I am filing with the BBB.
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admin
I just received this.
(Please do not respond to this email; this account is not monitored)
Dear Dave,
A refund has been processed to your credit card in the amount of $99 for the Butchers deal you purchased. Please allow up to 10 business days for this credit to show on your card statement.
(Please do not respond to this email; this account is not monitored)
Dear Dave,
A refund has been processed to your credit card in the amount of $99 for the Butchers deal you purchased. Please allow up to 10 business days for this credit to show on your card statement.
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt. What a scam
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
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TO Guy
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt. What a scam
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
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TO Guy
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt.
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
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TO Guy
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt.
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
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Mike Hubbard
Thanks for your research on this. Against my better judgement, I bought two separate deals for The Butchers. The Buytopia experience has been similar to yours, culminating this week in my email request for a refund from Anatoly at Buytopia. (Good luck? We shall see.)
The earlier coupon ($175) with Dealfind has also been impossible to redeem. Since it was offered a month or so before Buytopia, it would seem to support the conclusion that The Butchers were operating a deliberate scam, with no intention of anteing up. To be fair, the Dealfind people seem to be showing some integrity – upfront, dealing with the issue and processing refunds.
Of interest – I bought from Dealicious two coupons for $40 of meat each from Medium Rare on Dundas. Very smooth – no bitching when I redeemed the coupons, and the meat was superb; they even do their own smoking and aging on site. Too bad these “good guys” can’t get some recognition! Cheers! Mike Hubbard, Orangeville
Last Friday my daughter and I tried to redeem part of our voucher and were given the sob story about how The Butchers is the victim in this voucher debacle. While we were standing on the sidealk outside the store at least 15 people came by and were turned away because they too had vouchers. Everyone was disappointed but very polite and agreed to come back today Friday the 24th after 6:30 p.m. I noticed today when I checked their wesite that the store is now closing for renovations so that they will “be able to honour the vouchers”. I wonder what is going to happen tonight when all those good people come back at the appointed time?
Shame on The Butchers for handling this so badly. I will never ever shop there. I am truly afraid that they will try to pass off inferior produce to voucher holders.
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yls
Buytopia isn’t refunding most people’s The Butchers vouchers. Like 99.9% of them aren’t being refunded. I refuse to ever buy a voucher from them based on this and will also stop shopping at Webpiggy for the same reason (they also have recently stopped refunding people’s vouchers for The Butchers although they were for a while).
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yls
Buytopia isn’t refunding most people’s The Butchers vouchers. Like 99.9% of them aren’t being refunded. I refuse to ever buy a voucher from them based on this and will also stop shopping at Webpiggy for the same reason (they also have recently stopped refunding people’s vouchers for The Butchers although they were for a while).
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K
My family went there few times to redeem the coupon, but they were so rude, and they literally kicked us out. The lady told me that even though it should already be open they are not ready yet and she suggested that i come back later. When I came back later, they were saying that those who have coupons cannot redeem them, and will have to use them at their “summer time”
This happened few times already. And I have requested to have my coupons refunded due to bad experiences. I’ve never seen this type of customer service… I guess I wasn’t the only one, if they were going to encounter problems, they should have never sold vouchers to the public. I have wasted my time, energy and money, even…. Would not recommend to the others!!!
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Dale McMillan
My coupons were through buytopia. They have not responded to email. When talking to them on the phone they refuse to give a refund. They state the vouchers are good for a year and they will not offer refunds until the year is up.
I would be very interested in a lawsuit against the Butcher shop but more important I believe the lawsuit needs to be against the seller of the coupon. They are who we made the contract with.
I spoke with Jonathon (sp) at Buytopia and he would not even provide his last name for my records. They are refusing to admit they are responsible which in my mind they are, as my contract (money paid) was to them.
I have contacted 680 news in the hope that they may pick up the story but I doubt if it is newsworthy enough for them.
Any ideas or suggestions?
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AC
I bought one of these and like many people made several attempts to order meat (online, I wouldn’t set foot in the store), to call to follow up and didn’t hear back. I contacted Webpiggy and they offered a refund or to deliver the meat, fool that I was I gave them one last chance. One month later, still no meat, and I’m still calling and emailing to follow up. Webpiggy is no longer offering refunds so I’ve filed a complaint with the BBB. I was advised to call “a supervisor” at Webpiggy to discuss the matter further but I don’t think they’ll offer me anything but a credit. As if I want anything to do with Webpiggy??!! It’s safe to say I will never ever buy one of these coupons again. Disaster!
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admin
I agree, Earth Hour is nothing more than a feel-good media grab. What kind of “new” awareness do we need? Everyday the news is full of stories about the environment eco-this and eco-that. The environment is now used by corporations to sell more of their products. Ever seen a Brita ad? Hell even car manufacturers are trying to peddle their wares as being eco-friendly. It’s rubbish, and time someone called “bullshit”.
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AC
I bought one of these and like many people made several attempts to order meat (online, I wouldn’t set foot in the store), to call to follow up and didn’t hear back. I contacted Webpiggy and they offered a refund or to deliver the meat, fool that I was I gave them one last chance. One month later, still no meat, and I’m still calling and emailing to follow up. Webpiggy is no longer offering refunds so I’ve filed a complaint with the BBB. I was advised to call “a supervisor” at Webpiggy to discuss the matter further but I don’t think they’ll offer me anything but a credit. As if I want anything to do with Webpiggy??!! It’s safe to say I will never ever buy one of these coupons again. Disaster!
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Mike Hubbard
We went down a number of times from Orangeville and had experiences similar to others. I am now trying to get a refund, which I have requested from Buytopia on five occasions, both by phone message and email, over the last month. Anyone have any luck with this? Suggestions? The Dealfind company stepped up to the plate with refunds. Buytopia seems to be ignoring us.
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Mike
Has anyone considered going to your credti card co. (Visa, MC etc.) They can be very helpfull in geting refunds & if lots of people go this route, then the deal companies could hve problems using ghte credit card facilities that they so dearly depend on.
Worth an attempt?
my story is the same as dave hamel’s except I went there several times in and throughout april, called and was treated rudely by the owner cursing and hanging up on me when i too mentioned it was a scam … I called buytopia and complained how rudely I been treated… they said they were goning drop them as a client. I too tried the delivery route and that wa s ridiculous as well… always coming up with bull excuses. excuses are like armpits we all gotem and they sometimes stink… People on the street were very impatient and disappointed at every trip i made they openly complained in the line arround the front of the street… well we were all taken and those butcher people, staff included ( nobody can belive those in authority, not even the pawns, when all the clients are upset constrantly)— who know not who their father’s are (bastards is the real term) and they keep on keeping on as though nothing happened… (Scammers, menances, public thieves, false advertisers,false business contracts, who take what is not theirs and offer what they can’t deliver.) if it sounds too good to be true it probably is huh? these kind of people do not care about better buiness… they’lljust change the name and move on…class action suit? inindate small claims court? police charges for fraud? whatever I’m in…
I found your post in search and did not expect much but in the end you hit it right on the head.
This is something I have begged Google for and predicted would occur.
So YES, wholeheartedly, I should not have to make circles, I should see nothing in my Stream as G calls it, but the most popular posts due to the fact that Google already knows what I am interested in after 12 years of my own websites, blogs, social bookmarking at Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and over 56,000 comments I have posted on other’s blogs.
Yes I should create my own circles, Yes I should post to those circles, Yes I should organize those I follow into Circles.
But, Google needs a front page like Digg and StumbleUpon where I can find the most popular posts without having to add anyone, or follow anyone.
Take a look at Google customized search and Google News, both are customized on the fly by our interests, demographics and our search history.
G+ is failing us without what Google does best, recommend great content to us. Whoever can do that, be it Google, Twitter, Facebook, Digg or StumbleUpon, they will crack the next level of social and news on the web.
Hey there, You have done an admirable job. I will absolutely reddit it and I’ll suggest to my friends. Most likely they are going to be benefited from this page.
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Clarkson
Hey! Just did a google search on G20 and to my amazement your blog post is in the first page of results. HOLY BANANAS! That’s awesome. Going to go read it now, but too excited to wit to email you and say congrats
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Paula
I purchased my voucher from dealfind in February 2011. I have been following all of the ‘developments’ regarding The Butchers and I have been patiently and naively waiting to redeem my voucher. Today I decided enough is enough and have contacted dealfind.
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Erica
Sorry, but it’s not the truth. Jure was my best friends and I can tell you that he was training on a mountain track, not a road,….the man that who killed him was drunk, and he was driving back from the wood where he was gathering some woods…..
it wasn’t Jure’s fault…he was training off-road with his mountainbike. When you go in the wood with your mountainbike do you expect to find a CAR there ?????? I don’t.
Hi there,
I first bought a small amount of coupons when they first offered the deal, I forget the exact price. Two days later I went to the Butchers and redeemed my coupons. I actually think I was the first person to redeem the coupons. It wasn’t the most organized system but everything went perfectly well and my family was satisfied with the purchase. Keep in mind this was all before the coupon craziness hit. Seeing as it all went very well the first time around I decided to purchase a larger amount when they offered another deal through anther coupon website. This time I ordered a larger amount.
Then I started hearing all about the problems. Nervous I just threw away a few hundred dollars, I contacted the store (this was during the summer). The owner and I chatted and explained to me there have been some issues and if I could be patient he promises me my coupons will be honoured. Last week (early Oct) I decided to see if the whole mess had cleared up (or perhaps my money was gone forever). I went to the company’s website and read that I was to contact buytopia and place my order through them . I contacted buytopia and they took my order, I asked them if I could just pick up the order instead and they told me to contact the store. I called the store (now under a new name but same management) and spoke to owner. He told me I could come by next week and redeem my coupons, he also gave me his personal cell phone number.
A few days later I went in was greeted by the owner and had no issues using two-thirds of my coupons. I was very happy with the quality and the selection. Also, the store has recently been renovated – looks good.
Much like others I was also quite suspicious but I honestly do feel this is a store going through some serious growing pains and the owner’s intent was not malicious. It is a smaller store so if you are planning on making a large order, I would contact them first other than that it was all good.
Cheers,
Thank you to the call of duty too great your article is also a wonderful
Loay from Iraq
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Margaret
WIth the introduction of all the restrictions and then the closure/reopening of the store (stating it will still not redeem vouchers until late November) the voucher I bought now bears no resemblance to what it currently is. As such I contacted DealFind for a refund which they very promptly did. DealFind has behaved very well. THe Butchers have behaved atrociously. Good luck to him on his reopening as I think he’s going to need it as I suspect many in the neighbourhood will be avoiding his business in the future….I certainly will.
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C. Matthews
We should get together and file a class action suit against Buytopia and The Butcher Shop. I certainly don’t have time to screw around with this as I’m sure most everyone who is in the same boat feels.
I had a bad feeling about this right from the start. I thought Buytopia was a respected ‘business’. Guess not!
C.M.
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C. Matthews
We should get together and file a class action suit against Buytopia and The Butcher Shop. I certainly don’t have time to screw around with this as I’m sure most everyone who is in the same boat feels.
I had a bad feeling about this right from the start. I thought Buytopia was a respected ‘business’. Guess not!
C.M.
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RC
@C. Matthews – was thinking the same thing. I purchased my voucher from WebPiggy, which disclaims liability in its terms for such claims. I would expect similar language in Buytopia’s terms, but could probably join up the sites’ voucher holders against the Butchers / Marlon’s meats. Frankly I’d be seeking not only a refund but also the promotional value
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RC
@C. Matthews – was thinking the same thing. I purchased my voucher from WebPiggy, which disclaims liability in its terms for such claims. I would expect similar language in Buytopia’s terms, but could probably join up the sites’ voucher holders against the Butchers / Marlon’s meats. Frankly I’d be seeking not only a refund but also the promotional value
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JM
So, I will be attempting to get my meat for the 9th time this evening – my coupon expires next week and I have been trying to redeem it for almost a year! I bought it from Kijiji ($25 for $50 worth of meat) and even thoughI have contacted Kijiji many many many times – I ave received no response from them either! This whole experience has soured me on using any coupon sites at all – especially Kijiji…and *if* I get my voucher redeemed tonight, it will be the last time Marlon will see my face in any of his shops! I can’t believe what an ordeal this has been!
For a couple of moments, I actually allowed myself to believe my order would finally get filled. I go an e-mail about 3 weeks ago saying it would be available for pick-up December 17…that was stupid of me.
I received an e-mail today stating that they were “unable to fill customer’s orders” and that they would be “looking into refunding vouchers” in 2012. It was addressed to “Dear customers” so I assume they’re re-negging on everyone’s deals…
Buytopia also refused to give a refund even though they assured me months ago that they would provide a refund if the deal fell through.
I’d say a class action sounds like a great idea.
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DF
For a couple of moments, I actually allowed myself to believe my order would finally get filled. I go an e-mail about 3 weeks ago saying it would be available for pick-up December 17…that was stupid of me.
I received an e-mail today stating that they were “unable to fill customer’s orders” and that they would be “looking into refunding vouchers” in 2012. It was addressed to “Dear customers” so I assume they’re re-negging on everyone’s deals…
Buytopia also refused to give a refund even though they assured me months ago that they would provide a refund if the deal fell through.
I’d say a class action sounds like a great idea.
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RG
Well, It seems the saga continues. After receiving assurances from webpiggy in October that my order was being processed and would be delivered in 4-6 weeks I only find out today (after emailing webpiggy for an update) that all orders are cancelled and only redeeming the face value of the certificate or ( refund) is permitted. We’ll see how that goes
hmmm…. Sounds like someone is re creating the playbook on how to cheat on your exams.
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admin
I am sorry to hear how many people got screwed by all this. I went by the butchers and noticed the revamped store (remember they were closing in the midst of all the hubub) On their website they claim you have until Labor Day 2012 http://www.marlonsmeat.com/faqs to redeem. I did notice the fish store is still not in place. I would love to find out the final numbers because the waters seem very muddy as to what the truth is and what Marlon actually intended.
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RG
Well, It seems the saga continues. After receiving assurances from webpiggy in October that my order was being processed and would be delivered in 4-6 weeks I only find out today (after emailing webpiggy for an update) that all orders are cancelled and only redeeming the face value of the certificate or ( refund) is permitted. We’ll see how that goes
hmmm…. Sounds like someone is re creating the playbook on how to cheat on your exams.
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admin
I am sorry to hear how many people got screwed by all this. I went by the butchers and noticed the revamped store (remember they were closing in the midst of all the hubub) On their website they claim you have until Labor Day 2012 http://www.marlonsmeat.com/faqs to redeem. I did notice the fish store is still not in place. I would love to find out the final numbers because the waters seem very muddy as to what the truth is and what Marlon actually intended.
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Madeline
I just came across your article at this late date. i too purchased many vouchers for myself and members of my family back in March. After the worst experiences for all of us, every time we went, (all of yours ring so true and resonate well with me) I got all of my money back from Dealfind. Marlon is a crook of the first degree. He even used the excuse of his father having cancer to be a reason for such horrible business practise. That’s sinking pretty low, even if his father is ill, it’s got nothing to do with his actions. I don’t understand why he got away with it and hasn’t been charged. He even lied about the source of his meat. He said he used Beretta meats, a high quality organic farm, and upon research, Beretta let it be known they stopped doing business with him long before the coupon campaign. And he just kept on lying; he started another with Webpiggy, then refused to honour them. But he didn’t stop there, he started yet another coupon campaign for the fish store, which I don’t think ever opened, and which only allowed a small percentage of the coupon to be used for fish, the rest had to be used across the street for meat and nervous breakdown.
I hope he lost his shirt. He’s certainly lost his reputation., and hurt a lot of people. I pity his employees. He’s a lying, cheating asshole.
I see him online as Marlon’s Meats now, with a 2 star rating. and that’s probably being kind.
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bob loblaw
The ‘roadies’ at the top of your list match because they get given that stuff, and the people who design it make sure it matches. They don’t necessarily care about how it matches or doesn’t, the important part is that it’s free.
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admin
You may have a point, especially with Rules #8, #14, #17. But I suspect these guys would match their shit anyway. AND I would direct your attention to this video of Jens Voigt (my personal favorite) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiBbZJTx9s) and more recently Johnny Hoogerland (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFHjpEIma0A) both of whom had crazy crashes and continue to ride. Say what you will roadies are top.
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Tim
Much of mtn biking is downhill? Meh.
Lift-assisted mountain biking is a minuscule part of the sport. We climb mountains. CLIMB. And not on smooth asphalt either. The vertical stats of my road racing friends pale in comparison to our everyday rides. Many of our road racing/riding friends love to get with us on MTBs so that they can learn some bike handling skills.
Yes, MTBs have more fun. Yes, we are more badass.
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admin
MTB vert stats maybe higher, (I would like to see the data on that one first though) but how long is a mountain bike ride? Couple hours, maybe an afternoon, perhaps a whole day.
Road racing has a race that doesn’t stop for 9 days. (http://www.raceacrossamerica.org). The tour is day after day of 100s of kms for weeks.
Don’t get me wrong, I love mountain biking, I used to live in Victoria and spent a couple of years on the Hartland trails, I interned with Bike Magazine, I rode downhill at Mammoth on a bike that must have weighed 25 lbs. I crashed at Downieville, here is picture of my face after 16 miles of amazing single-track.
Mountain biking teaches great bike handling, balance and control; but when it comes to sheer determination, pain endurance, and bad-assery I will put my money on roadies.
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Jason
I’ve bought several coupons and have been screwed out of a lot of money…. this person should go to jail as far as I’m concerned, and I’d like to see something happen. The police should be doing something about this.
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Evelyn
Well, I guess I have also been scamed. I was told that I could send in my order (which I did via email to buytopia and it woudl be delivered. Boy was I stupid. Nothing has come and Buytopia doesn’t even bother to respond to emails any more. They must have an email address that goes to their junk pile. Well if you want a class action suit against the Butcher I am all for it. Count me in. I want my $100 back.
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Evelyn
Well, I guess I have also been scamed. I was told that I could send in my order (which I did via email to buytopia and it woudl be delivered. Boy was I stupid. Nothing has come and Buytopia doesn’t even bother to respond to emails any more. They must have an email address that goes to their junk pile. Well if you want a class action suit against the Butcher I am all for it. Count me in. I want my $100 back.
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Ilze
I went to Marlons Meats yesterday and they told me that they are no longer honouring the vouchers and that I should contact Buytopia for a refund. I called Buytopia today and they said they can’t give refunds because they paid the Butcher Shop up front and don’t have the money. They are seeking legal action against the shop and I should call back in a week. I feel that if the meat store is required to pay Buytopia back, they will simply claim bankruptcy. Buytopia should accept responsibility for bad business decisions and refund its customers who got scammed.
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Ilze
I went to Marlons Meats yesterday and they told me that they are no longer honouring the vouchers and that I should contact Buytopia for a refund. I called Buytopia today and they said they can’t give refunds because they paid the Butcher Shop up front and don’t have the money. They are seeking legal action against the shop and I should call back in a week. I feel that if the meat store is required to pay Buytopia back, they will simply claim bankruptcy. Buytopia should accept responsibility for bad business decisions and refund its customers who got scammed.
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HKCCRCLC
The latest news, as of Friday Jan. 27, is that you can’t even get the face value of your coupon. After a couple of weeks of getting $30 worth of meat at a time (so paying customers could keep up his cash flow!) Marlon told me they’re litigating against the coupon companies and no longer honouring any coupons at all. I’m in the neighbourhood and could become a permanent customer since the product itself is good…but there are other organic Butchers whose honesty and business sense I can respect and those are the ones I’ll buy from.
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HKCCRCLC
The latest news, as of Friday Jan. 27, is that you can’t even get the face value of your coupon. After a couple of weeks of getting $30 worth of meat at a time (so paying customers could keep up his cash flow!) Marlon told me they’re litigating against the coupon companies and no longer honouring any coupons at all. I’m in the neighbourhood and could become a permanent customer since the product itself is good…but there are other organic Butchers whose honesty and business sense I can respect and those are the ones I’ll buy from.
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jeff martin
This whole thing is a scam. Marlon has made millions on this. All the coupon companies have made millions. Remember it does not cost the coupons companies anything. Bottom line. Avoid Marlons. Avoid all these coupons companies. they are scum
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jeff martin
This whole thing is a scam. Marlon has made millions on this. All the coupon companies have made millions. Remember it does not cost the coupons companies anything. Bottom line. Avoid Marlons. Avoid all these coupons companies. they are scum
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Brock
Three words: Class Action Lawsuit.
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admin
Get on it then. Time is running out. If people are seriously pissed then start contacting each other, get together and begin the lawsuit.
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Brock
Three words: Class Action Lawsuit.
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admin
Get on it then. Time is running out. If people are seriously pissed then start contacting each other, get together and begin the lawsuit.
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Benjamin
I just got off the phone with a rep from Buytopia, and they informed they cannot give any refunds because they have already paid the money to The Butcher. They are sitting down with them to discuss legal action in the coming weeks.
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successful complaint
I too received a refund through my credit card this week. It took months of threats including filing a complaint with the Consumer Protection Branch but I got the money back.
Peter knows that the contract is between Buytopia and the customer and that’s why he will give you a refund in the end.
The Consumer Protection Branch staff are very much aware of this issue. If you want to file a complaint they will become involved but you first need to send Buytopia a demand letter.
Here is a link to the Consumer Protection Branch’s complaint process:
I called and spoke to Shalabh at Buytopia on Tuesday (Feb 7th) and tried to get Peter the “senior manager” on the phone, but convienently, he was “in a meeting”. I was assured he would phone me back- but I never heard back from him or anyone (surprise surprise). I have been trying to get a refund for SEVERAL months and even submitted an order through Buytopia back in November because I was told I had no hope of a refund, and that “the butchers IS honoring the vouchers” – but after reading all these blogs/comments, I see no one is going to get any meat from this place (not that I’d even want it or trust it at this point)
Oh, and the Buytopia guy assured me that Peter has NOT given out ANY refunds…..
So, I will keep calling and hounding Buytopia, trying to get a hold of this Peter guy, but I just wanted to say that if ppl are going to get together and file this lawsuit- COUNT ME IN!!!!
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Stephanie
I called Marlon’s last week and they said to get a refund from the company I got my voucher from. I emailed Buytopia and have heard nothing from them. TeamSave gave me a credit right away.
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Stephanie
I called Marlon’s last week and they said to get a refund from the company I got my voucher from. I emailed Buytopia and have heard nothing from them. TeamSave gave me a credit right away.
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Patricia Beattie
I too had this experience with this company as well as Buytopia. I sent in a complaint to the BBB and Buytopia responded by saying they would not refund me for the full amount but only for the amount they were paid as a commission. I declined this offer as I followed their refund policy which extended past their 30 day policy because they did not respond in a timely manner. That was the last correspondence with them and the BBB explained that they cannot force a company to comply.
So, I am still trying to find another means to get a refund. It is not about the money, it is now the principal that these companies are still allowed to be operational and have the balls to offer deals. I agree with the last post, if there is a lawsuit count me in as well and if anyone has any updates or advice it would be greatly appreciated!
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Still Having Problems
I am still having problems trying to get my money back.. At this point I just want my $99 back, I don’t care about interest.. I just want what is fair.
I’ve written to Buytopia many times, and it’s almost been a year.. It’s frustrating.
I’m going to send Buytopia a demand letter.. as suggested by “Sussessful Complaint” and writing to the Consumer Protection Branch .. i just hope it’s not too late.
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christine jones
I am with you on this. We have been calling and e-mailing, no one from Bytopia responds, we have told them we will get the cops involved as it is fraud. I agree lets get as may of us together and file a law suit. i am in
That’s really very nice story!! I’ve imagine to eat dinner on such amazing sequences. Looks like Ukai-tei is the perfect place for that! I’ll definitely visit this food place if I ever visit Taiwan. Cheers 🙂
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admin
We could, and I would love to. But as I point out how do you explain engagement? Things start getting very complex and unless you are part of an organization that already embraces metrics, it will be a hard sell.
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Sue MarlonPather
Good afternoon fellow fraud victims!
If you’re interested in an attempt to recover some or all of the money you spent at The Butcher’s Organic/Marlon’s Meats, please email suemarlonpather@gmail.com.
I am not a lawyer. I am, however, betting that Mr. Pather and his accomplices have assumed that the individuals he defrauded will not be able to work together to pursue him. I’d really like to prove him wrong and I’m willing to administer a list of people interested in a class action. Once a reasonable number of people have indicated their willingness to participate in a class action civil suit, I will communicate our options via email. If we have an overwhelming response (fingers crossed) I intend to form a committee of interested individuals to manage the process.
Your information will NOT BE SHARED without your explicit permission and will be only be communicated to the lawyer that we ultimately engage to represent us.
Please note that harassment will not be tolerated and will be reported to the authorities.
Please provide
1. your name
2. a daytime telephone number
3. your email address
4. the terms of the deal you purchased
Looking forward to hearing from you! Please spread the word and don’t hesitate to be in touch!
While I do agree with what you are saying, a good portion of the people who do participate in Earth Hour have a tendency to do their homework and therefore do a lot more than just sit around in the dark for an hour, waiting for it to be over so that they can update their facebook status, announcing how much they care about the planet. Yes, the corporations and newspapers who advertise it are rather hypocritical, but in the end, it’s always the people who have the power and they have to decide what to do with it.
On Earth Hour, I have a tendency to do more than just an hour, I unplug whatever I can manage and I build blanket forts with my friends while telling ghost stories. I also don’t buy bottled water, I bring my own bags when grocery shopping and I most certainly don’t leave a light on in a room if I’m not in it. It’s little things that make a difference.
If you are going to write this bullshit at least get your facts straight. They are LRT’s not streetcars. If you are to stupid to know the difference then you are more like Ford then you know.
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admin
If don’t have anything to contribute to the conversation then keep quiet while the adults are talking. LRT’s are simply long street cars, same tracks. LRTs are also simply subway cars above ground. The change from subway to LRT means there is either an exchange at Don Mills where you switch like at Kennedy or the subway train will need to continue it’s journey above ground. Personally I hope for the latter. Getting people to have to transfer is slow and inconvenient.
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aston martin
in your solution, how do you explain Yonge/ Sheppard through to Leslie/ Sheppard being dominated by a lot of High Density Housing, 20-40 stories high as you recommend, and ridership still being so low
are you proposing adding even more condos to that area ?
and if the current failure of a Sheppard subway line has so much HDH already, why do you think adding more further east, into scarborough, would be the solution
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admin
That is a good question. The ones around Sheppard and Leslie are only just finished. If you look at the Google maps you can see the plethora of houses, not condo along the Sheppard line, while along along the Sheppard to Finch area is condominiums. We need population density if we want subways.
Also, we keep seeing stories in the news about how expensive housing is in Toronto. So, more condos means more supply which means lower prices. To me it is a win/win. If you want to live in the suburbs, and some do, then by all means but you can’t then complain about the commute.
your solution then, is to add even more condominiums;
more condominiums along Sheppard, at a density greater than what is currently present along Yonge/Sheppard to Leslie/ Sheppard.
If you really want subways there, this must be necessary, is your argument. However I do not think those that want subways so desperately, also want this kind of density. Especially not in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto.
Also, putting more condos does not mean less expensive housing. Actually it’s the opposite since they are entirely separate sections of real estate. You’d actually have cheaper condos, and fewer detached homes, and therefore higher prices on existing housing.
So in response to your post I would say no, Toronto does not need subways. We don’t have the density to support it, no matter what zoning laws you put in place. The under-utilization of the Sheppard line is evidence that even with high density housing, you still can’t achieve maximum utilization. You need high density commercial zones as well as residential. You need a downtown core, similar to yonge/ sheppard or yonge/finch. except you need that in scarborough.
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admin
I understand your trepidation, I would agree that people who live in suburbs, don’t want to live in high density areas, but then they can’t complain about the transit they have. The sad truth is we cannot afford to run transit in low density areas. The possible solutions are to either change the density or introduce zoning and charge them more money. (which I would do anyway since it’s a no-brainer that the more you ride the more you should pay)
More condos does mean cheaper “housing”. Not cheaper “houses”, so if you own a home then you’re pretty much set. Right now, a two bedroom condo in downtown Toronto is $600K, my condo at Yonge & Finch has two bedroom units for $409K. Even if the house price doesn’t drop at least people will be able to get their foot in the real estate door through the condo route. As it stands anyone not pulling in a combined income of $100K a year can kiss their chances of affording a house in Toronto good-bye.
The Yonge-Sheppard line does not have high density. That’s my point. If you look at the map there are some condos near sheppard station and some near Leslie (now), but when they build the line, there was nothing.
If I were able to put in a subway line right now, I would run one along Queen St. from River Street to Parkdale/Liberty village, possibly touching the Regent park area. That would remove the street cars from Queen street free up the extra lane. I would also remove the street side parking in favour of parkades, which wouldn’t be cheap to encourage people to use transit. Toronto has to stop building out and start building up. Build parkades up, build housing up. This spreading out only hurts us in the end. I would encourage you to watch this.
And finish a subway line to the airport. It’s embarrassing that Toronto still doesn’t have dedicated transit to Pearson.
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Jack Armstrong
Some of you may have past by “Marlon’s meat” in the past few weeks or called the shop only to notice the signage outside has been removed and their phone number has been put out of service. Please know the shop is open and operating using the back door. This is to avoid voucher holders as the expiry date is near to redeem.
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Shirley Obtuse
I have to say, I really love the line about earth hour being a “big advertising circle jerk”.
To be honest, This year for Earth hour. I’m doing the exact opposite. We’re throwing a party in which we are going to use every single electrical appliance we own withing that hour. All of our lights will be on. Our oven will be baking cookies or something, our kettles will be brewing tea, our rooms will be lit up, completely, our TV’s on, radio’s blaring and computers charging.
It will be fun. And when people ask us wtf we’re on about. I will use a line out of your blog and say how earth hour is nothing but a corporate circle jerk.
And then I will tell people all the things we do, all of the products we buy, and all of the businesses we support that actually do support the environment.
For me, it’s truly about going beyond the hour. Even if that means exposing that hour for what it truly is.
I hope other people throw parties to honor the hypocrisy that is earth hour.
After all, if people want to shut off their light for one hour to commemorate all the ways they fail to support our environment. I’d like one hour out of the year to take a break from doing my part in limiting my footprint.
Cheers!
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herb
I could not agree more. Let’s not hope too many people buy this cr** in our part of the world, as I don’t feel like dealing with power fluctuations 😉
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Grant Mansell
I too would like to take part in filing a complaint, I was one of the lucky ones that got something out of them but even that was a miricle. They still owe me just under $300 in meat. Class action lawsuit agenst The Butchers, I”M IN!!
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Marilyn Young
My purchase was from Buytopia for $100.00 for $400.00 worth of organic meat. I just called to make an appointment, and the number is out of service.
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Laura Dobrowolski
My purchase was also from Buytopia ($99 for $400 worth of organic meat). Today I called the store – number out of service. Also the website is gone. I’ve left a message with Buytopia regarding a refund.
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Kelly
After MANY conversations with that criminal, Marlon, and many conversations with buytopia, I did finally get a refund from buytopia, so I don’t know if that prevents me from filing a compliant or not? I am OUTRAGED that Marlon seems to be getting away with this. About a month ago a had an argument in his store because once again his “policy” had changed and he wasn’t giving any refunds out. He said to me he didn’t care about the people who bought the coupons, because all of his old customers come back. This is what I don’t understand, how could his customer base continue to support a criminal. If he lied about the coupons, don’t ya think he could be lying about the quality of his meat? If I can help….would love to!
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Fed Up With Marlon
Consumers fight back!! You can do something. Marlon hasn’t left town. Go into his new store, yes, the one that we all paid for with the coupon money, and let him know what you think. Be warned, he will get angry. He seems to forget why we are so frustrated. But it surely made me feel better that I had told him how dishonest he was/is. If enough people do this, perhaps he will feel the impact — because bottom line, he still has our money.
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mary helen mills
I also am waiting on a reply from Buytopia regarding my refund for the butchers.. I have sent several messages & no reply to any of them
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Candice
I have been fighting with Buytopia since December with regards to this issue. They refuse to refund my money! (And im not the crazy type to yell, swear or hit ppl lol) I agree with the Admin, in that we need to get together… I refuse to loose $200! I don’t really know how to connect, but i can be found on twitter – @CandiceFaust can anyone having this issue plz msg me so we can literally, storm the Bastille!
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Candice
I have been fighting with Buytopia since December with regards to this issue. They refuse to refund my money! (And im not the crazy type to yell, swear or hit ppl lol) I agree with the Admin, in that we need to get together… I refuse to loose $200! I don’t really know how to connect, but i can be found on twitter – @CandiceFaust can anyone having this issue plz msg me so we can literally, storm the Bastille!
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Sally Styles
Personally I only purchase from deal sites that have a great return policy. One of my favourite deal site is http://www.hungrybuy.com. They have a 30 day no questions asked return policy so that way I know I’m covered for any possible incidents like what happened with the Butchers.
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prashant
very good!!!
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Diane Beard
I can’t seem to find a phone number for Buytopia on their website. Can you share the number. I have written them numerous emails at “meat@buytopia.com” responding to an email they sent me in October, promising I would have my meat very soon. They have not responded to the dozens of resends of my reply.
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Diane Beard
I can’t seem to find a phone number for Buytopia on their website. Can you share the number. I have written them numerous emails at “meat@buytopia.com” responding to an email they sent me in October, promising I would have my meat very soon. They have not responded to the dozens of resends of my reply.
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Summer MacDonald
If you are all still interested in a lawsuit. I’M IN!!!! I don’t have twitter, but feel free to email me.
THIS IS RIDICULOUS and something needs to be done.
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Debbie
Where you may also want to focus your efforts is with Buytopia. It is Buytopia who should have been screening their vendors and established the contract with The Butchers. In speaking with Buytopia, they are not giving any refunds because they do not have the capital to do so. They mentioned that the are pursuing legal action, this is not completely the case, they are still in mediation with the Butchers, there isnt any formal legal action taking place at this time. This is not the first shady deal Buytopia has engaged in, refer to the La Vie en Rose deal that promised 50% off – actually it was 30% http://trueler.com/2011/12/29/false-advertisement-buytopia-la-vie-en-rose-boutique/
One may want to consider how ethical and reliable Buytopia is.
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Corby
Dude! We’re in Niagara Falls right now!!! Way to go though! That was even an exhausting drive, let alone doing it on a self propelled two wheels!
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Jenny
Woot woot! Congrats Dave!! 🙂 🙂 Well done!
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Jean
I brought 3 of the Butcher Shop vouchers. After constantly calling Buytopia they have now given me a $300 credit on my Butopia account. Not exactly what I wanted but better than nothing, I guess!! They also told me they are taking legal action against the Butcher Shop.
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Eduardo Garibay
I bought four of these vouchers and all I got was two chickens a pork tenderloin. These guys are criminals. A law suit, I’m in too!
Dave, I’m in the same boat. Have you had any success contacting anyone to release your domain, yet? I’ve given up trying to get a techincal resolution since my site and email has been down for over a week and no one has responded.
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admin
Yes! I heard back from Tracy shortly after I wrote the post and then this morning I got the transfer code. I submitted the domain transfer but now I need to wait for the process to happen.
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B Shelton
Good luck. I had great success with them for many years as well, but they did indeed go downhill fast. Glad to at least find out they’re still in business. I need to quickly start the process of getting the domain transfer before it’s too late.
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Jamie Shannon
I had spent a lot on these coupons, I have decided to take action myself. I think i will take the Buytopisa route and also plan to visit Marlons and see for myself how he will react. We are all so polite in Canada, he’s lucky.
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h.d reynolds
In same boat – except, I hadn’t noticed any decline in service until today – when not only my two sites but also the nexpoint.net main site have all vanished. Their main number 866-639-7646 is responding with a canned ad for ‘GoBig.com’ [some travel service] and the 540-442-9499 number is disconnected. They just billed me for another year’s worth of hosting on Aug 2 … if anyone is in the same boat and sees this, email me at ideoplast@yahoo.com, would be nice to figure out if we can get any sort of refund from Xibi Group – if they are the new owners of the business …
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Jim Carr
I started with some company in 1998 that through acquisitions/mergers became Nexpoint. It has been horrible recently. I finally transferred my dedicated server and started moving my domain registrations as the renewals came up. Today (8-22-2012), their entire system is down. Can’t get to the name servers.
It’s funny, because they kept asking me if there was anything they could do to keep my business. Yeh. Not go down. Not answer my Server Down! tickets for days on end. Little stuff like that.
Yikes! This is a disaster for us. Our non-profit organization is in the middle of a popular program with Sony and we have thousands of people trying to visit our website for the first time and send email to us.
My website was gone on 8/20/12. Nexpoint and my website was OK early in August and called them to change password and update and everything was fine. Pray with little hope they come back or my website is gone forever. I called Bergen County consumer affairs and have not heard back. Count me in any legal action.
Frank L.
We are sorry for inconvenience cause to you.
We are facing some technical issues at our DC end. Our DC admins are still working hard to resolve the issues.
Meanwhile your patience is appreciated.
Please contact to nexpointhost@gmail.com
really slow and annoying , almost 4 days their servers are down, i think this talk enough about their business and future…Soon we will have to talk about them in past time!
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admin
I got this email recently:
Hello,
Please accept our sincere apologies for the problems you have had recently regarding our hosting service. To correct it we have a qualified team working full time to restore services. Our Verio datacenter has passed along problems that they cannot deal with on to us and we are doing our best. We estimate 48hrs to fix issues on all accounts. The only way to fix the problem is physically move servers to the new Data Center and we are in the process of doing that . Once again we are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you and we want to thank you for your understanding of our unforeseen issues.
Regards,
Customer Support
It was addressed to someone else and I was bcc’d on it for some reason. It came from nexpointhost@gmail.com You know you’re in trouble when your hosting service uses gmail for their mail servers.
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Brendan
I’m in the same boat as all of you. I have multiple sites hosted with Nexpoint, all paid on annual contracts.
Please let me know if any of you hear back from them. I sent an email to their gmail account but have not received a reply.
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ivgi
The link to your presentation is not working – can you help?
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admin
It’s back up. Try again.
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tjmnet
Found this thread looking for more information.
It’s September 4, 2012 and the situation with nexpoint has not changed.
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Karem
I’d also like to add a note about the service. It was painfully slow. Without any AC this place was hot, and it took over 20 minutes to get our drinks. It’s unfortunate, but I will not be returning either. I really wanted to like this place, especially after some of the pictures I had seen online. Onto other places!
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waldopepper
It’s sad that they can’t tell customers what’s going on and that they apparently have no online presence now (um hello technology company). Using their Twitter account might help, but that hasn’t been updated since 2009!
I received this similar reply today so I guess they’re not quite out of business yet. Even though it will be a pain to do, as soon as they’re back-up we’ll be transferring our hosting somewhere else because they are simply too unreliable now. Will anyone actually stay with them?
PS I think I still have some discount codes for Dreamhost that make it practically free for the first year if anyone’s interested.
—————————————————————————-
Hello,
We can understand your frustrations. We apologies for inconvenience caused to you.
Our DC admins are still working hard to resolve the issues.
We dont have ETA about the resolution. but we will let you know once everything is fine.
Meanwhile your patience is appreciated.
I also had bought some coupons from Dealfind, and was looking to use my coupons this weekend. After reading a few links on the company, and now reading this site, I hope to recover my $220 I spent from Dealfind. I just emailed the customer service, we will see what they say.
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Geoff
Hey Dave,
I just posted this thing on registering for organ donation on Facebbok and a friend pointed out this foolishness about gay (men only?) people being disqualified from organ donation in Canada.
I want to recognize you for writing this post and the one that led me here. I don’t know how much credit to give your mom, but she was the reason you came out as you say, so fair to say she gets some credit.
People often say that loved one’s no longer with us live on in our memories and in the way we live out their memory. That’s sometimes hard to imagine, so to close the circle, I’m writing you as a total stranger to make tangible to you how your’s and your mother’s story have reached me. And I’m better off for the experience. And your mom still gets some of the credit.
I had two sites hosted by them. Both are still down as of today. I had a support ticket opened back in late July about my email going down, then the sites went. Back in late Sept they brought their own sites up, but not mine. I opened a second support ticket asking when my site would come up. I got a reply that they were working on restoring servers. Since then and as of tonight their support site is down too.
If any law suit is being considered I would be interested in joining it. I was billed by them 2 weeks before the outage began and all communication with them has resulted in exactly the same replies as noted by Dave. I have yet to move my sites as they are a low priority currently but I definately would like a refund for services not provided.
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Nic
Dave,
Interesting you have chosen this topic to discuss. Since my son was born, I have dreaded the idea of having my little guy vaccinated. In fact, I was relieved that he missed his first shots (given at 8 weeks), only to be delayed until he was 13 weeks old.
I have had many discussions with friends that have children. Well-informed, highly educated friends that decided to put off vaccines until their children were older. I don’t know of anyone that outright refused immunization, but I don’t know if I would accuse them of being completely irresponsible. I don’t feel it is that black and white. There are some risks involved with having vaccinations. The website you referred to, WHO, lists (with rates of occurrences) the potential risks of vaccinating. For example, generalized urticaria (hives that can lead to anaphylaxis) and nervous system dysfunction have been reported. The rates show the occurence of death or injury (as you have indicated in the graphic photos) associated with ‘catching’ the disease is far worse and more likely to occur, than the injury and death associated with immunizations. But that doesn’t make it an easy decision. (For me, I ended up using the WHO numbers to decide to immunize my son)
It can be overwhelming to know your actions affect the life of a vulnerable human being. My experience with having my child vaccinated was not without incident. One of the immunizations – rotovirus – was given to him orally. He suffered vomiting for a day, and diarrhea for several days after. For a little guy that doesn’t hav much weight to lose, this was worrying. Consequently, we have decided not to go with the ‘booster’ immunization for this disease.
This is a topic I would discuss further, but I have other priorities at the moment. I am glad you brought it up.
Your loving sister,
Nicole
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admin
Hi Nic,
I love the fact you wrote that you ended up using the WHO numbers to decide to immunize your son. Decisions based on reason and deduction are always preferable to ones based on tradition and superstition.
I suppose what I found upsetting about this story is that the mother, who obviously loves and cares for her daughter wouldn’t look at actual data and instead chose what I would say is tantamount to hocus-pocus and wishful thinking.
I know people who chose to immunize their child for one disease at a time instead of the vaccine cocktail so that the body was only working on one disease at a time, so waiting until your child is a few weeks older (and stronger) makes perfect sense. I assume you had a discussion with your paediatrician and voiced your concerns. I am sure you collected data prior to making your decision.
As you mention immunization is not without risks, and I cannot imagine the guilt and grief a parent who immunized their child would go through if that child had a negative reaction or died. But statistically children are in greater danger from household pets, or car accidents, or an allergic reactions to nuts than they are by vaccines.
At the moment more people are refusing to immunize their children based on a spurious report by a discredited doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who has subsequently lost his license. This is because celebrities like Jenny McCarthy (known for posing in Playboy and being the former girlfriend of Jim Carrey) decided to make it her cause and in our society people would rather take their health advice from a woman who takes her clothes off than a group of scientists and doctors who have years of learnings about the body.
I have a complaint about this company Buytopia.ca . I have purchased KitchenAid mixer since Nov 29th 2012. Paid by visa which I already got the billed and up to date never received the product. I have made several phone calls to 1-855-442-2220 and get only voice mail. There are other option when calling the above phone number. So I did, there I spoke to some one explaining my problem and they told me to call 1-800-242-0898, the shipping company name OFFICE DOT KING. Please I need someone to look into this company because its a FRAUD / SCAM still in business taking consumers money.
This item was published on Nov 23rd 2012 in the Metro newspaper weekend eition Promo code BlackFR23) by Buytopia.ca.
I had to pay 2500 to have my web site rebuilt plus I lost other work on their servers. I’m trying to assign the invoice to NEXPOINT and follow up with further damage claims. can you or anyone else involved here assist me?
I spent all day on the phone with Gov. Christie’s office and no one seems to have any idea what the meaning of domestic cyber crimes Jersey… It seems like the whole problem started when NEXPOINT somehow ended up in New Jersey… Also someone said there was a Pakistani connection to Xibi group alot of hits from there servers were coming from Pakistan? Will someone please speak up??
God knows how many other web sites… How many people were hurt by Nexpoint Dave?
robert mwe3nyc@gmail.com
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admin
Hey Rob,
Sorry but I don’t think I can help you. I am in Canada, and we’re not that litigious. I had backups of my files so I wasn’t really that badly off. It was a nuisance for me but not really damaging.
D
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V
Hi!
Where in Chinatown did you get it unlocked?
I know there are a million places but not sure where exactly, or how to know if one is reputable.
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admin
I can’t remember the name but it was on College St. One of the issues is anyone can unlock the phone. If you buy a phone outright, not on a plan, the phone company is obligated to unlock it for you to take to any carrier according to the CRTC. Some will try to charge you for it. What I wanted to do is get it jailbroken to change the OS but that is much more complicated apparently.
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Rey
They don’t put put them on, because they can’t!!
Most have a curve which makes them peel in a week.
Seriously my friend had one put on professionally, It was a fucking awful job. Bits of dust, bubbles, an absolute joke!
These plastic bits of tat are so shit. Designed to rip people off.
they scratch easier than the screen, so whats the point?!Either have a slightly scratched screen, or a screen that has bubbles, dust AND scratches & looks fucking awful! – I’ll take a slightly scratched screen. everytime I see these on a phone I have to laugh..:) Put one of these on & Instantly make your phone 10 years older – great!
man ive been frustrated since july 2012, no way of communicating with nexpoint, they owe me for 6 months
now on top of it all $100 was taken out of my paypal account today! plus they have my website, cant get it released . class action
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alex smoth
reminds me of the judgement day
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Jack Armstrong
Heres the new number 416-481-5777
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Bernice
Not having any luck trying to contact Nexpoint to relaese domain name. Where any of you able to contact Nexpoint for a release of your domains. I thought if I waited till it expired I would be able to repurchase it but am being told Nexpoint has to release it to me first.
Any help would be grateful
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Alana
Hi,
Did you ever hear back about this?
I bought the same thing and was in the same situation (insert the verbal abuse I got from the owner when I went there).
As I am sure you know, the owner took off and it is now open under a different name (all apart of the scam if you ask me).
He is probably on some island drinking a pina colada with the over 2 million earned thru this scam.
shamefull.
I heard last summer there was a class-action law suit being filed thru Global News, yet when I googled, nothing came up.
My name is Will and I work for WTB, Wilderness Trail Bikes. We are coming out with a new tire this spring and I would like to use a photo you took from the Downieville Classic race, the Cruiser Cup from 2001 that features Fred Falk, our Operations Manager. The photo would be used with supporting collaterals that would be sent to media – the tire’s name pays homage to Fred and the image would help explain who Fred is and his history with WTB. I would love to include a photo credit to you as well as try to drive traffic to your website if you would like that. Please let me know at your soonest convenience – sadly, as is the case with all of these things, I have a looming deadline.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Will Ritchie
WTB, Inc.
Content Editor writchie@wtb.com
415-389-5040
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Anonymous
Lel, is this what the almighty British empire has turned into? A totalitarian police state? Despicable
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mouseymousekowitz
You don’t really “get” postmodernism, do you?
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admin
What’s there to get? I don’t find cynical or “ironic” art witty or particularly engaging.
“We get it, if Hitler was a happier fellow, who made it as an artist, perhaps he wouldn’t have killed 6 million Jews.” *Yawn*
Toronto is one of the largest city in North America and has more residents than six of Canada’s ten provinces. Toronto needs a functional Mayor who knows what the job entails and how to do the job. For the past four years, we’ve had little more than a glorified mascot. It’s time to move on.
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Lael Popham
I was in UVic Visual Arts today and couldn’t stop thinking about you! Please contact me so we can “talk”. Hugs, Lael……
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Nic
One word, “Freaky”. No wait, two words, “F%&*g Freaky”
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Jenny
greg and I got a good laugh from that side by side: fantastic!!
For the small amount of money that you part with every week. View it as a cheap option. Imagine if the office did win and forgot to put your money in that week or you opted out. I guess you got an instant promotion but it could be a very empty office.
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Tania Santana
Hi Dave. My husband is going through what you have gone through. His byopsy is going to be tomorrow with Dr. Singal. He is ok with it…I am terrified! He already had an MRI where they did not find any cancer in the USA and a test at the University of Michigan with mix results. Thank you for your site and all your information.
Tania
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Dave
Hi Tania, Your husband is in good hands with Dr. Singal. If the MRI showed nothing that is a good sign. I wish you both all the very best. It is a stressful situation to be in, but it sounds like your husband is much more stoic than I was. Dave.
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Jenny
I also really enjoyed We were here. It was really powerful.
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Andrew
He hasn’t disappeared. He is back…down the street at a store called Camden Market. Saw him there last week as I was walking by.
Appreciate you posting your adventure from the clinic, I am of a similar age and have the opportunity to do the same thing in a few months so the advance tips were helpful!
Question – do you get to choose your doctor? I mean it’s your money and some of us prefer doctors with more experience, others prefer newer docs who might be up on more current methods etc, and some would prefer one gender or another…so are you just assigned a doctor or do you get a vote? Thanks!
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Dave
Hi Jeff,
Yes you do get to choose your main doctor, so if you prefer a man they will accommodate. I would recommend you look up which doctor you want to see. Last time I went I didn’t specify which physician I wanted to see and I didn’t have a great experience. I found the physician that was assigned to me to be cold and uncaring so I haven’t been back since.
The various specialists you don’t get to choose; there is one optometrist, one cariologist etc.
I have no idea how I ended up on this blog BUT my husband had prostate cancer this year and ended up with surgery and is very WELL
reading your account I felt for you and this why I am writing
He researched like crazy- clearly you are doing the same
How we discovered his cancer is a very LONG story but
MRI is how we found his essentially… but you must do it with the correct protocol… so therefore not just some standard MRI
When you look for a surgeon you want the guy with the biggest numbers.
The guy in Ontario is Bobby Shayegan in Hamilton at St Joseph’s Hospital
The next best guy is in London Dr Stephen Pautler
Then Toronto
Both of these guys do a DaVinci procedure – less invasive
If you need to know more I could put you in touch with my husband
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Dave
Thanks Cathy, I am fortunate to be on active surveillance. The plan is to remain here as long as I can. I’m pleased your husband is doing well. That is reassuring to hear.
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Jenny
u2. I can list off of a dozen of their songs that I don’t just like but love. The European robin on my left bicep is a nod to U2 (and the Stones). 🙂 For me, Running to Stand Still is a close second to Bad and Stay (Far away so close) rips my heart out every time. Funny you mention Beautiful Day as your trip theme bc I listened to it a lot while travelling too and found it just catches the rhythm of the journey so well!! Thanks for this post!!!! *hugs*
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Jenny
I agree and disagree. I’ve been a landlord and tenant. While the rules favour the tenant, the rulings often end up in favour of the landlord. I’ve known someone who had an infestation and tried to get out of her place – ruling was in landlord’s favour. I love the idea of a yelp for properties though. That’s why the airbnb model can be so useful: a higher caliber tenant with good references can presumably be more easily sniffed out and ditto for the landlord.
Hands down agree about short term rentals. Cost us over $700 to get our place cleaned after the short term tenants left and they left our coffee table outside all window, our gate doors open all the time so now they sag. On the damage front that’s all super minor compared to what some people get but imo indicative of the don’t give a shit attitude of people who aren’t in it for the long haul. :/
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Dave
Funny you should mention infestation. We had tenants who brought in bedbugs after they went to New York and stayed in a hostel. It cost us several thousand dollars to deal with it. Is that fair? Should we have had to pay for an issue they caused?
I appreciate that some people get screwed by crappy land lords but there has got to a better way to protect both parties and ensure people have a safe, comfortable place to live.
Dave, this was a good read…. thanks for posting.. I can’t find Part 1 and any follow on.. did you publish? I’m thinking of joining Medcan *my dime, not work, and next week….I found your review totally helpful.. except for the body shots.. ouch.. giving me anxiety already!
This piece beautifully captures the essence of true hobbies—pursued for joy, not utility. It resonates deeply, reminding us to value these activities as essential for a fulfilling life beyond work and responsibilities. A must-read for anyone seeking balance.
Immediately Morisette’s song, ‘I’m a B, I’m a lover; I’m a child,… comes to mind. I do not think I’m the person in the mirror. Or the role player in my home, work, and community. I’m a child of the stars, a steward of the land, a witness to love, hate, death and growth. And a servant to my cat.
Being a real estate agent, point #2 is incredibly relevant to our industry. Sadly, as Realtors are abandoning reciprocal link state pages, these same Realtors are migrating to contextual link pages. The second form of link spam will replace the former. Google came down on our industry with a 30-day penalty for a select few for their reciprocal link state pages, however, I suspect Google will not be so kind on our industry is reciprocal link spam is discovered in a new form.
Hey Dave,
A valid document should not make any difference. Search Engines could care less about valid documents or almost any of the HTML for that matter. This was a while ago, but I saw an experiment that some one completed and compared a valid document with an absolutely horrid document with made up tags, many tags unclosed and it was actually beating the valid document.
What happened was purely coincidental, or was it? Is it possible that spiders come back the other site on a regular basis, because their site changes more often and search spiders are aware of that? nudge nudge wink wink
Spiders are after 1 thing on the internet, and that is content. Search engine WANT to find and index your content.
That all said, VALIDATE VALIDATE VALIDATE, but spiders will not care.
Good luck!
I was going to get into this on the last blog posting response but I got sidetracked. Do not worry about the day to day on this. These new pages will be in flux for a while to come!
You get different results in google.com than you do google.ca, I have even seen different results within the same city of Calgary. Google has servers and server farms EVERYWHERE, and they take time to propagate. The engines are also trying to make heads or tails of all these pages that are new about this new hot topic. Some pages are getting picked up and some lost. It will take time to sort it all out.
Do not focus on the day to day, just instead spend your time focusing on a campaign, then execute on it. It would not surprise me if the results are still in flux at the end of the contest.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title Creative learning and learning the hard way. Thanks for informative article
smells like the Google Sandbox effect?
Great post. I have never seen such a good writeup before. Especially your introduction to web analytics is very funny!
Hi there,
Very well said! – and thanks alot for adding links to my “comments” on the matter.
I published the presentation on slideshare as well:
http://www.slideshare.net/dennis.mortensen/web-reporting-vs-web-analysis/
Cheers 🙂
Dennis R. Mortensen, COO IndexTools
http://visualrevenue.com/blog
Large images take a long time to load. If your image isn’t that important then it simply kills your visitors’ time. Heavy files make your visitor wait which is certainly exasperating. Many sites use heavy video and audio files which take ages to load which might turn your visitor off from your site.
Look I have been in Judo manitoba for years, and on the international level and have seen this coach Shirin Farag compete. 3 weeks ago at a canadian tournament called REndez Vous Canada she fought, AND WITHOUT A HEAD SCARF!!! So what does this tell you about the honesty in saying that she hasn’t had a problem, cause she didn’t wear it!
A bit over the top,don’t you think?Your reaction to this ridiculous situation is…well,ridiculous.
No I don’t think so. I wote I felt like doing these things. It is a gut reaction. I am sensible enough to realize that it doesn’t solve anything, and that most of these people are being lead by fanatic leaders with their own agendas.
I just find it extremely upsetting that people can be lead by an emam or mullah in this fashion. I mean who, in their right mind, can think that killing someone is a rational reaction to naming a bear Mohammad. The peasants would rather be lead than think for themselves.
Agreed, when I read that headline I was floored. Its one thing to allow religion but to execute someone over it? Purely, completely ridiculous. As if Western society needed another reason to mock Muslim religion.
like Hitchens says: “Religion poisons everything.”
Absolutely. Just because they are doing it in the name of a religion doesn’t mean you can’t comment on it, or condemn it. Religions, and religious groups have had it way to easy as far as I am concerned. If this was a group of transit workers, or soccer players, or some other group screaming for her head we would be totally aghast. But since it is a religous group we just seem to take it all in stride.
The economist has an interesting take on it.
http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10233589&top_story=1
dave – these are great
WOW… it seems like zuime & you had an awesome time in vegas!! i LOVE your theory about “i would’ve blown money the roulette wheel so i might as well spend money on something else!!” that will be my excuse for excessive shopping when i go to vegas! 🙂
yup. you are one of those multi-talented person. got everything. jealous!!! these look amazing! 🙂
awwww… you are an absolute sweet heart. thanks dave and you are so right. our paths will cross soon as this industry is so smalls but also because you can’t get rid of me that easily!!! will miss you dave!!!
Discrimination definitely sounds wrong, but have you ever thought: why do insurance company refuse drivers with records of reckless driving? It’s all based on statistics. Currently, and statistically, gay men in modern societies do in fact have a higher percentage of HIV infections.
Health Canada is trying to minimize receiving tainted blood (based on statistic reports), minimize the chance of getting sued by tainted bloor receivers, and try to save as many people as possible “logically”.
Time will change, and hopefully gay men will no longer be the group that has a higher population of HIV infected people.
Oh Absolutely!
I got a copy of the Advance Data from the National Center for Health statistics (US) and there are some crazy statistics.
Gay men account for almost half of all the new HIV cases and yet are such a small segment of the population. I came across another article claiming if you are a gay male practicing anal sex your increased likelyhood of HIV goes up 8000 times! I find that a bit hard to swallow but there is definitely an increased chance.
However I think the problem is they are equating something you do with something you are.
If 50% of the reckless drivers are Chinese, should we ban all Chinese from driving?
“If 50% of the reckless drivers are Chinese, should we ban all Chinese from driving?”
Depends on the severity.
If 50% of bull dogs have super high tendency to bite the heads off of young kids in a park, as a city legislator, would you consider banning such dogs?
Now consider this:
If 50% of the blood donated by gay men are HIV positive that would kill the blood receiver, as a health organization, would you consider rejecting donation from gay men?
Yes and no.
If 50% of blood donated by gay men was infected then you would be justified in such precautions. However, the stats are that 50% of the new HIV cases are gay men.
This is only because it is really easy to get HIV from anal sex, and perhaps gay men’s propensity for multiple partners. Nothing really to do with being gay. By that I mean if you were a straight woman who enjoyed a lot of anal sex with different men, then you would probably have the same risk. It is the behavior that is determining the risk. But they don’t ask if you enjoy anal sex. They specifically ask if you have sex with men.
But to use your bull dog analogy, let’s say there are 5000 bull dogs in Canada. If 50% of attacks by dogs were by bull dogs, and there were 4 dog attacks this year, and 50% were by bulldogs then there are only 2 attacks. But If 50% of bull dogs attacked, and there were 5000 bull dogs, then we are looking at 2500 attacks by bull dogs. Quite a different number.
The funny thing about statistics is that by changing one little thing you get a very different result.
“People do not a right to donate blood” is asking for trouble, even though it leaves room for people to think about.
However, “It’s a privilege (to donate blood)” is something that I could agree with. I would compare it to countries which have fresh clean water to donate to poor countries to countries that have very polluted water. I doubt anyone would want water from the Yellow River in China. It’s really a privilege for a country to have clean water.
I disagree.
Privilege is a right or law relating to a specific individual. One cannot claim that blood is public, and limit its use to public use only (ie: I cannot donate to my sister or myself only to the public blood bank) and then claim privilege.
While donating water to China might be the right thing to do, having clean water is not a privilege. That is the law does not apply to me (or Canada) only. There is nothing barring the Chinese from cleaning up the Yellow River, there is something barring me from donating blood.
Capitalism at its worst.
You are looking into the eyes of your 8 year old daughter, whose kidney’s have failed. There is an 8 year waiting list in BC, and 8 years on dialysis will either kill or seriously disable her for life. Do you buy a kidney for your child, or do you watch her die a slow death?
Would you tell Mohammend Yar, the man who sold me his kidney, that he cannot sell his kidney to raise enough money to pay his debt and get his children and wife back from a kidnapper?
I wonder what your real answer would be.
Robert Zurrer
P.S. It became illegal in Pakistan 6 months after I bought my kidney.
Mr. Zurrer’s post is disingenuous. He did not buy a kidney to save his eight-year old daughter from death or disability. He bought it for himself.
As to Mohammend Yar, the fact that Mr Yar was in, essentially coercive circumstances makes Mr. Zurrer’s crime more heinous.
You had him over a barrel, Mr. Zurrer. Maybe you should have gone for more organs while you had the chance?
Mark brings up a good point. Mr. Yar was over a barrel. How does the situation change if the very people who kidnapped Mr. Yar’s family were the same people who profitted from the transaction?
I don’t see anything particularly wrong with the UK proposal.
Unless you also object the method of deducting points off drivers for speeding and careless driving.
You missed the point, by all means penalize downloaders. But I don’t think you can make ISPs responsible for them. You can deduct point off for speeding, but you can’t penalize Ford for making a car that can go so fast.
We are going to have Mr. Zurrer on the radio tomorrow, Thursday Feb. 28th at 12:35pm EST. He will participate in a phone-in, so if you have anything to say about this debate, we’d love to hear your comments. 514-790-0006 or 1-877-760-0006.
you are a hoot!! you should write a book!!!
Wow – the paintings are great!! loved the trip story too. You are one talented guy!
Dave,
Thanks for your interest in 4Q. Just wanted to clarify a very important point that you raised. The beauty of 4Q is that it will allow companies to benchmark their data against web leaders. In this way, they can gain visibility into how well their sites stack up in the crucial area of customer satisfaction. The purpose of this initiative is absolutely NOT to capture data for one company and then use it to pitch our consultancy services to their competitors (we do not have a consultancy arm). We are approaching this as advocates of customers and end-users. Therefore, we value and protect privacy to the greatest possible extent.
Michael,
It is reassuring to know that individual companies will not be singled out it is crucial to note that if a company was in a niche market anyone purchasing that data would, theoretically, be able to draw conclusions from the customer response data as it pertains to their competition.
I am in no way suggesting that iPerceptions is doing something underhanded, but rather users need to understand it is a trade off. While the 4Q service is free, users need to understand that they will be sharing their data with you and that you will do what you will with that data
Google analytics is free, but Google uses that data, my data, to their own ends which may or may not be in keeping with my personal views. I understand they collect data and accept it as a trade off for using their services.
Dave:
I am late to this party, my apologies.
Google now allows you full control of what happens with your Google Analytics data. You can choose to share as much as you want or none at all.
Check out this post:
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2008/03/benchmarking-now-available-plus.html
and/or
http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?answer=87515
I realize that you will have to trust Google enough to even take their word, but atleast there are clearly outlined information that you can use as input in forming your opinion.
Thanks much.
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
Thanks so much for your input.
I noticed the post on Google is dated March 05, 2008. So unfortunately that information wasn’t available when I wrote the post. I am pleased that Google finally allows people to control their own data.
Personally I don’t have an issue with them using mine. I think that it is fair in return for the great service they offer through Google Analytics. I just think companies need to be very upfront about what all parties get out of the deal. Too often they just bury the details in all the legal mumbo-jumbo, because most people don’t bother to take the time to read it.
Thanks again,
Dave
I totally agree about the smoking ban. As a new father, nothing infuriates me more than seeing some irresponsible ass smoking with his little girl in the passenger seat looking out the window in the middle of winter (true story).
In retrospect and if I had the balls at that particular point in time, I’d have let him have it.
Nonetheless… it’s now likely to become a law and if the government and Police can’t enforce many of our most basic laws, how can they expect to enforce this one…?
Maybe it’s a step at least in the right direction? Not too sure…
I agree. I am going to write a post on public shaming once I figure it all out in my head. It stems from this incident where this woman’s dog pooped on the subway, refused to clean it up and someone captured it on their cellphone.
They then posted it on youtube or something like that. You can easily imagine the hub-bub.
With reference to illegal organ donation please view my website http://www.illegalorgandonor.com to see how Australia overcomes the problem of a shortage of organs. My 20 year old healthy son, Andrew David Shea, was set up to have a cycling accident. I was told that Andrew was killed instantly. Instead Andrew was taken away from the accident site alive and used as an illegal organ donor. My son died a horrible death. Family are involved. A lot of people got money. I am seeking justice for my son’s murder. From Andrew’s sad mother, Alexandra Samootin
As a result of offensive and slanderous material contained in the Samootin web site it has been taken down. Hotfoot can you contact me at bendyball@bordernet.com.au I was the police officer who attended this job in 1994.
Dave,
I agree with what Mr. Lomborg and his team had to say, however (yes….I said however) everything on his list is on a political scale. I vote and I vote how my heart tells me to vote. (Pro World Peace, A Better World, Helping my fellow man.) I pay taxes and would rather my tax money went to the things on Mr. Lomborg’s list. I’ll even contribute what I can to helping but there’s the problem…I by myself can’t even make an tiny dent (not on my salary) in his list. I can however practice things that will help slow the process of trashing my planet. I recycled when recycling wasn’t cool. I shut lights off before that was cool too! It is called thrift. For me the “Earth Hour” is a reason to pester my neighbors to start and to spend some time with a bottle or two of white zinfandel and my neighbors in the middle of the street. After all every little bit helps and we can all do a little for all of it.–Carol
Hi Carol,
I appaud your efforts but I think there are two messages here. 1) If you really want to help the planet, even more than turning off your lights for an hour, then take the bus. Ride a bike. Walk to work.
It is shocking that turning off the lights of Sydney for a year would on remove 48, 616 cars.
Another way to look at it is just 48,616 create as much pollution as the powering of a major city! So by getting out of your car for an hour does a lot more good than turning off the lights.
2) The other take away is that there are other issues we could solve. We would stem the tide of AIDS and malaria. Provide clean drinking water to everyone on the planet. End world hunger for a fraction of what it will cost us to clean up the climate.
simple really
CHINA = SHAME
CHINA PEOPLE MUST BOW THIER HEADS IN SHAME, THEY ARE A DISGRACE!
Are you an idiot? I see from your email address (which others can’t see) that you are from the UK. Lets take a look at England’s long and lustrious history of oppressing other cultures and genocide shall we?
We could talk about the Aborigines in Australia still fighting for their land, or the First Nations here in North America wiped out by the Hudson Bay Company while sanctioned by the Royal Family of England.
Or we could talk about the India East Company and the changing of Calcutta into a slum to aid in the production of cotton to line the pockets of the English. Or we could chat about Amritsar where English soldiers opened fire on women and children.
Or, if so inclined we could talk about apartheid in Africa and all the “wonderful” things England has done to keep the sun from ever setting on her empire.
China does not equal shame. That just shows your ignorance of the Chinese people and the situation over there.
The ultimate goal of Earth Hour is to raise awareness, not to really save the Earth by merely turning off lights for an hour.
This campaign is successful, in my opinion, because it got everyone talking about it. Subliminally more people now at least feel a little bit of guilt if we waste electricity which in turn causes more global warming. People want baby step, not shutting off all power plants.
Why don’t you also bash gay pride, it’s also a colossal waste of time because no one should care about other’s sexuality.
I love Canada and Toronto, but the stupidest thing Toronto has is the TTC. I am ok with old trains (Tokyo’s subway system is very old but also very modernized), but TTC’s ticketing system is plain stupid. One fare to travel anywhere is also wrong – it leads to bankruptcy all the time. And TTC collectors sitting by the gate watching people drop their tickets and coins into the bin is also unbelievably outdated. Modernize it by installing electronic ticket vending machines and gates and be flexible with the ticket price by allowing people to pay more (or less) if you travel longer distance (or shorter distance) is the way to go.
Yes, Earth Hour was about awareness, but what exactly did you learn? Did you not know the planet is fucked? Were you previously unaware that our dependency on power was contributing to global warming? Jesus a piece of the Antarctic ice shelf 7 times the size of Manhattan just collapsed. What bigger a sign do you need?
Rather than turning off the power for an hour and then patting each other on the back, how about people get out of their fucking cars? How about we hold the same corporate sponsors who participated in this event, and got to brag about “doing their part” to the same commitment every single day? Everyday asking them to turn off the lights at night when there is no one in the room. It is just common sense.
Earth hour didn’t do shit. It wasn’t even enough to cause people to rethink how they use power. I know that because tonight I can come downtown and look at all the buildings lit up again. And come summer I can walk down Queen st. enjoying the air conditioning blasting out of the open doors that shops have to entice customers inside.
If we were really serious about this, we would begin to impose massive penalties to power abusers, and reward companies for power conservation.
As for gay pride, it too is about awareness. However in it’s case some people still don’t understand that homosexuals are not “faggots with dirt under their fingernails that transmit diseases“. And until that is clearly understood by everyone, it should continue. After that, then we can stop.
I don’t see how Earth Hour and Gay Pride very different from each other. You just want to believe that no one has learned anything from Earth Hour. It’s just that you are biased against its effectiveness, it doesn’t mean that :
1) on the government level that no one is doing anything to penalize big energy waster
2) no one is taking an extra step to save the planet.
Like the AIDS awareness campaign, now people at least know that it’s not only a gay disease – it takes time to get the message across. At the same time, scientists have been trying to find a cure. Most of the “colossal waste of time” campaigns do work, but on a global scale in a less aggressive way.
Funny you mention AIDS as it is near the top of the list on things we CAN solve, but for some reason we would rather have big parties celebrating some issue we can’t.
As for PRIDE, I could easy argue that Pride is a celebration of who we are as a group of marginalized people and the struggles we have overcome. Earth Day is a celebration that the planet is going to shit and we can’t think of anything better to do that turn off the lights for an hour.
I’m not saying that climate change is not important, but it frustrates me that everyone can jump on the bandwagon and then say, “job well done!”
Earth Day did nothing to solve the problem. Hell’s teeth, it didn’t even address the issue. The issue isn’t you leaving your lights on at home. If Sydney turned off the lights for a YEAR that is only the equilavent of 48,616 cars off the road.
Why didn’t they ask people to ride the bus to work, or ride a bike, or walk or telecommute? Because people are lazy and turning off their lights for an hour is the most effort they can possibly muster.
Some people have even worked out the DAMAGE done by earth day in the additional CO2 release from all the candles.
HA!
She negotiated on the open market and went for what she considered the best price and terms. The latter includes not having to do business with a corporation that, according to her, infringed her copyright by selling her composition for ringtones.
This, Dave, is the free market at work.
Good post.
Hey Joe,
You are absolutely right, they had no right to go and allow people to use that ring tone. But come on, do you think she was hard-done-by by the CBC and the millions of dollars she was paid for the use of that song?
If the CBC was a private company there is no way they would have continued paying royalties for 30 years.
They would have bought the song for $2000 when she and the song were unknowns and gone their separate ways. Instead she got a sweetheart deal for decades and soon as it looked like she wasn’t getting her cut she bailed.
Also by definition, in a free market environment buyers and sellers do not coerce or mislead each other nor are they coerced by a third party. What roll do you think the copyright holdings company had in this game if Dolores DID want to donate the song?
Greed, Joe. Greed & shame.
(Not sure if this post got lost – of, if it’s just in moderation. If this be a dupe, please excuse!)
A blog post from the songwriter’s daughter @ http://madeleinemorris.blogspot.com gives fresh perspective:
The Hockey Theme
I just wanted to thank you, on behalf of my mother, for your support of the hockey theme. I also wanted you to know my side of the story, because it’s important to me. What I hope you will acknowledge is that the CBC has had an exclusive media platform on which to air its side of the story.
First, to clear up some misconceptions. For 25 years, CBC paid my mother no license fees at all for the music. It was only in the last 15 years that they began to pay any license fee at all.
Last week, after more than a year of CBC bullying, threatening and endless changing of positions, we offered the CBC the following deal: forget the lawsuit – just pay our legal fees (which we incurred because of CBC’s breach of usage as agreed in the license deal) and let’s keep the same licensing deal as before. That’s it…same as before. $500 per episode of HNIC. They did not accept.
They kept bullying us, telling us the song was worthless, threatening to drop the song altogether if we didn’t give them exactly what they wanted, absolutely on their terms. If not, they’d hold a national contest and replace the song. Honestly, it became increasingly clear to us that this was their plan all along – to offer deals that were impossible for us to accept, so they would have the excuse to drop the song without being blamed for doing it. On Thursday, they sent us an email rejecting the offer and saying that it was sad we could not come to an agreement.
Then on Friday, Scott Moore of the CBC announced the Song Contest to replace the theme. So, it was clear, for sure, that this was over for us.
My belief is that when it started to become clear to the CBC that the public wasn’t happy with their decision, they announced that they would negotiate further. Frankly, my mother was so depressed, she just said – no, they don’t really want the song. It’s better at least if it dies a dignified death.
When CTV made an offer, they promised that they’d use the song, and they’d use it in association with Canadian hockey. Of all the things, this mattered most to my mother.
I know you are probably upset that we didn’t resolve our differences with the CBC, but no matter what they say publicly, they really, clearly, didn’t give a shit about the theme. Their only concern was they should not be seen to be the villains in getting rid of it. My mother became a very convenient scapegoat.
To a composer, their music is like their baby – they don’t want to see it buried, or forgotten, or sidelined. And my mother, being a rather strong woman, just wasn’t willing to be bullied and threatened any more. A lot of people are going to call her greedy and opportunistic. Well, they just don’t know her at all. It’s going to sound trite if I say that “it wasn’t about the money”. But ask any composer of music if they want to see their work buried, and never played again. It’s easy to focus on the money. But it was never, ever about the money. Life, and people, are just a lot more complex than that.
That’s my side of the story, for what it’s worth.
Madeleine Morris
That is interesting Adrian, thank you for sharing that. I have one question though. If they didn’t pay royalities for 25 years, then why start paying her all of a sudden. Did they purchase the song, or think that they purchased the song?
If it wasn’t about the money, then why not give it to the Canadian Hall of Fame or the national archives. That song is considered as Canadian as the national anthem so she could have easily made sure it was never forgotten. Even better using the GNU lisence drop it on the open market for everyone to download and share.
Hang in there Hamel!!!
Great TED presentation. 🙂
This speech is *so* your brain on oxygen.
Wow buddy… what a load of crap. Dont get me wrong im sure there are some stuff thats true but you really should get your shit together before you go ranting about stuff you dont know or understand. How can someone make claims on the operation of an organization without even working for them.
You talked about calling the cops instead of the driver dealing with it. Once on the bus I saw a guy punch a driver and took off running. what do you do then. calling the cops rarely ends with nothing.
As for the fare, do u really believe that EVERYONE pays the 2.75. I know people that peel tickets and short change drivers and as for the province or the city they only cover about 7% of TTC overhead, 13% comes from ads and the rest is from the farebox.
As for being late… thats like being pissed off at them when they are late in a snow storm.
Look I know its a piss off but the only ones that know what they go through are the drivers. There’s a reason that transit operators are ranked 3rd most stressfull job. Maybe we should both apply and see what its really like. and then we can both shut up lol
Hi KB.
First off, to say I can’t complain about the way the TTC is run because I don’t work for them is asinine. By your point, everyone complaining about Rogers and the iPhone or Bell and Telus charging $0.15 for incoming text messages should shut up because they don’t work for them. Or that I shouldn’t complain about the war because I am not in Afghanistan or in the military.
As a daily customer I think I am more than qualified to point out what is wrong. I can see that drivers get harassed you know what the solution is? Put them in a cage. That’s what they did in London England to deal with the problem. Or how about, make the TTC free. I am sure that the vast majority of conflicts between drivers and riders is in regards to fares, so just get rid of them. Improve the advertising spaces, include video on the subway and charge advertisers to sell to a captive audience.
Also how is paying the union, oops I mean the drivers, more money going to solve the assault issue anyway?
Not to mention the fact that when the TTC went on strike, they claimed to give everyone 48 hours notice. Instead they left at midnight on a Friday screwing everyone who has out for the evening. They could have waited until the end of service, it wouldn’t have hurt them. Or they could have given the 48 hours they said they would.
As for being late, schedule the mother fucker already. How many times have you been left standing there waiting for a streetcar only to be met by 4 in a row? Get rid of the streetcars, put in some buses and then they can leapfrog stops so they don’t have to stop at every one. Not to mention the fact that the street cars can’t get out of the way for emergency vehicles. I’ve lost count at the number of times I have seen the fire trucks near work get stuck between a streetcar and an idiot who can’t figure out how to get out of the way.
I have ridden transit in dozens of countries many of which eclipse our own. It shouldn’t take a group of rocket surgeons to figure out how to make it efficient. Instead I have to walk through a puddle INSIDE the fucking station every time it rains because no one can be bothered to clear the drain. Rather than hiring someone who can actually do the job, they waste our money putting posters up that tell us how wonderful they are because Bob didn’t run over a five-year-old on the tracks!
Thanks for the offer to join them, but I prefer a job where people are encouraged to excel not maintain the status quo.
Toronto is awful, today. Overcast, hot, humid, smoggy.
Hey Dave!
Nice to see you have decided to join the blogosphere :).
I think both you and Patrick are right on this one. If by conversions you’re only truly looking at point of sale, then you are most definitely missing out on a lot of value-driver metrics of your business.
For me it comes down to a fundamental difference between lead and lag measures. Conversions are great at telling me what did work or what did happen, but they give me no indication on what we expect will happen in the near future.
Take one of mine and Novo’s favourite metrics for example – recency. The traditional marketing research person would tell you that the way in which they define a “customer” is “anyone who has bought from you at least once AND WHO IS LIKELY TO BUY FROM YOU AGAIN”.
I love this definition because you’re not really a customer of mine if you never ever plan to come into my store again. You were a customer then, but not now.
Recency is actually a “lead” measure for future conversions. If for example an e-commerce website notices that visitors are allowing more time to pass in between visits, then this is a key lead measure that their sales could potentially be off in the next period.
Just some food for thought :).
Best,
Mike
Hamel got things started with “Conversion is King” blog post:
So I was talking with my co-worker Patrick Glinski about my notion of conversions being the only metric that matters and he brought up an interesting problem with it. If you have a business, and your only concern is sales (conversions) then over time you will lose because you are ignoring the other parts of your business. To continue with my Rolex example, if Rolex only focused on the sale, the conversion, and not on the aspiration, eventually everyone who could buy one, would have then Rolex wouldn’t have any new potential customers.
To which, Sukmanowski replied:
Take one of mine and Novo’s favourite metrics for example – recency. The traditional marketing research person would tell you that the way in which they define a “customer” is “anyone who has bought from you at least once AND WHO IS LIKELY TO BUY FROM YOU AGAIN”.
I love this definition because you’re not really a customer of mine if you never ever plan to come into my store again. You were a customer then, but not now.
Recency is actually a “lead” measure for future conversions. If for example an e-commerce website notices that visitors are allowing more time to pass in between visits, then this is a key lead measure that their sales could potentially be off in the next period.
To which Hamel Replied in New customers vs. old customers:
I would like to point out that recency is only important in its relation to conversions. Conversions are the hub of all metrics because it is the most important metric. Mike has definitely given me stuff to think about. Thanks Mike.
And it’s at this point that I’ll throw myself into the line of fire.
There are different flavors of Recency. There’s the flavor of Recency that uses time since conversion as the measure. There are other, more subtler flavors, time since last visit, for instance.
Different products will have a different conversion recency periodicy, and Novo argues this in Drilling Down. A vehicle purchase will have a periodicy measured in years, whereas consuming FREE! content from a website (if that’s considered conversion, refer to a previous post here about defining conversion) will have a recency periodicity measured in days, and in some cases, an irregular hourly type of cycle. (For instance, checking the New York Times or Bloomberg five times a day while at work, then once at 9pm (if your work day ends at 8:59pm) and then not touching it again over the weekend.)
I believe that recency is a great measure of ‘habit’, and a habit is just a simpler way of saying “periodic behavior”. Habits tend to be sticky, and not necessarily because there’s a total ‘addiction’, though, there’s certaily an element of addiction to routine. (How about I just say that I’m conflicted with the semantic difference between something that is habitual and something that is an addiction?)
Recency is powerful like that, and it has to be tempered with frequency to derive a good LifeCycle.
To the question of 10 new customers over 10 retained customers, I think I’d prefer 10 loyal customers. I don’t have to pay to acquire new customers, I just have to pay to keep the loyal ones I have happy. Certainly, those costs increas, but at some point, those costs of retention start to exceed the cost of acquisition…at which point, you let them go.
Ultimately though, there’s some breakeven point, as Hamel has alluded to.
There’s something to LifeCycle management that’s quite important.
I’m glad that Hamel and Sukmanowski have started this up – it’s what blogging should be.
I think the focus on conversions is a bit pedantic. Yes you have to track sales, or leads, or whatever your site conversion is. But that’s the basics, and is kind of short term.
It’s also, and forgive me for using the term, not very user-centric. I say this because even though you may be running an ecom site, users may be coming to your site for a lot more reasons than simply buying.
I’m not so sure I would worry about new vs. old, so much as I would worry about happy, and likelihood to purchase again and recommend. To that end, you have to support a lot of non-purchase funnel behaviours: customer service, product documentation, complaints procedures, etc.
And find way to measure those type of non-purchase types of conversions well.
A conversion is often a business defined byte of information. It is essential to look at what users are coming to the site for, and support, at minimum, those activities as well. Conversion is too narrow a focus.
Recency is surrogate for
Hi Dave,
Just wanted to ask a question. I started to do alot of reading on the web analysis topic. I have just graduated with a social science degree and was looking to get into the Web Intelligence certification program at UBC. Im just looking for some tips in taking the right path in becoming a true web analysis, can you help?
Thanks
I’ll post a reply in the next 3 days.
You raise good points that require some thought.
Just for the record, the BQ got 50 seats – not 60. Anyway, I agree as far as it goes that the current system is broken; as for the conclusion that not voting is somehow wrong, I think that as long as the electoral system is the way it is, I disagree with you.
I wrote about this aswell.
Thanks Marc, I was grabbing the numbers off of CBC and misread. Why do you think people shouldn’t HAVE to vote?
“The fact is that anyone not voting with the majority in their particular riding is wasting their vote, because short of a small stipend paid to their party, the people they voted for can do exactly nothing with that vote.”
Just replying to your comment on my blog here; I did mention the money going to the party in that line (it’s the bit about the stipend). I’m just saying if you want to give them a dollar seventy-five, it’s probably easier to send the money by post than line up for a half-hour in an already locked-up riding (my riding, for example, went BQ by several thousand votes – they’re a juggernaut, here).
I like the French and German systems, they have the best of both worlds, after a fashion. As it stands, we’re kinda boned.
I forgive you, Dave.
I forgive you, Dave.
I mean, I forgive you Dave. Without the comma.
I mean, I forgive you Dave. Without the comma.
Oh yeah, what are you sorry for?
Do you even know? That is the true test, are you willing to explore the wrongs you may not yet acknowledge or understand?
Oh yeah, what are you sorry for?
Do you even know? That is the true test, are you willing to explore the wrongs you may not yet acknowledge or understand?
that almost made me cry at work.
More kitty pictures!! Oh, yeah, and stuff about you and Zuimei………..
love you!
I agree wholeheartedly and had not drawn the parallels with the state of OS’s, software, browsers, etc. from the dark ages… Analytics and measurement companies have been able to resist the pull of standardization and open source for a lot longer than the rest of the web/software world. It’s an idea whose time has come, for sure. Would Google actually go for something like that is the question?
You make good points, and I’m going to give them thought, and then respond.
What about forgetting page views all together and start tracking things like:
time engaging user?
interactions per minute?
content most requested?
and I’m sure we can easily think of others.
Earth Hour is a gesture to raise awareness of a non-problem. Global warming/climate change has hijacked the real environmental movement i.e. protecting ourselves from poisons and pollution.
Explore the dark side!
http://www.climateaudit.org
http://www.wattsupwiththat.com
Hmmm… let’s check your points.
Very Good Projects
1. Diseases – Control of HIV and AIDS
2. Malnutrition – providing micro nutrients
3. Trade Barriers and Subsidies – Trade liberalization
4. Diseases – Control of Malaria
Good Projects
1. Malnutrition – development of new agricultural technologies
2. Water and Sanitation – small scale water technologies for livelihoods
3. Water and Sanitation – community managed water supply and sanitation
4. Water and Sanitation – research on water productivity in food production
5. Governance and Corruption – lowering the cost of starting new business
Fair Projects
1. Migration – Lowering barriers to migration for skilled workers
2. Malnutrition – Improving infant and child nutrition
3. Malnutrition – Reducing the prevalence of a low birth rate
4. Diseases – Scaled up basic health services
Bad Projects
1. Migration – Guest-worker programs for the unskilled
2. Climate – Optimal carbon tax
3. Climate – The Kyoto protocol
4. Climate – Value-at-risk carbon tax
Now, going by your article, that’s what we should be spending $50 billion on, in that order. Yet, let’s think: you need a planet to actually be able to spend money on. Else, what’s the point?
I’m all for these great causes, which is why I started the 12for12k Challenge to benefit 12 different charities/causes/needs.
http://12for12k.org
But I wouldn’t be able to help any of these with no planet. No-one would, no matter how much money you spent. So helping the planet is just as key when it comes to the long-term help for these issues you raised via Lomborg’s presentation.
There’s one other thing you forget to mention. Yes, 48,000 + cars isn’t a lot when you look at it over a year. But that’s for one city.
Look at Earth Hour now – at the time of writing, there are just short of 1200 cities across 80 countries. Whatever you say, that’s a damn lot of cars.
Amen. We need a highly efficient (for obvious reasons) meme that basically tells people: “stop raising awareness and start making a change”. People already know much of what is wrong.
Hi there Dave,
First, thank you for the link to 12for12k, I appreciate you offering this.
I agree – Toronto does need to do more, as does every city, town and citizen. If my math is off, I apologise – never was my greatest subject in school 🙂
I think my main point was (and this is where we probably agree) that everyone needs to do something. Where we probably disagree is on just criticising efforts without constructive points being raised.
If I misunderstood you on either front, then that’s my mis-call.
Cheers again for highlighting the need for change, in whatever format.
I feel your pain, fella.
My wife and I are currently looking to buy, and I’m amazed at the condition (aesthetically) that some people have their homes in.
If you’re trying to sell something, make it worth the sales pitch to start with. It’s a buyer’s market – at the end of the day, we can buy any home, it doesn’t have to be yours.
Can the seller say a similar thing?
Hi Dan,
I criticize it because as a species that depends on statistics in our daily lives, we are horrible at it – myself included and I do this for a living!
We need to stop acting impulsively and rationally think about what challenges we want to solve, how we are going to solve them, and measure the results.
The Earth Hour is a PR blitz that no one stopped to think about. No one has assessed the cost versus the benefits. It just feels like the “right thing”.
Instead, as I mentioned in my original post we should be focusing our collective efforts on issues we can solve. That is why I like 12for12K. Child hunger, Children soldiers, micro-loans; these are things I can measure the results in real terms.
Wow. Wasn’t planning on being moved to tears on a Thursday afternoon as my students were leaving. I can’t help but think this is more about one soul speaking to another soul, rather than a mother to a son.
At least it shows that with a bit of hard work you can earn good money
You are not the only one who watched the television and remembered 6/4.
That’s just it though. We watch television and do nothing. Myself included. No remembrances no huge rallies or protests. No masses of flowers deposited in front of the Chinese embassy…
Seems that video games are all that matters these days, so, why not use them to get to people? Even in matters such as these. I’m having an epiphany!
I am shocked, but glad. My husband was taking me to Famous People PLayers for my birthday, tomorrow, and they have some logistic problems and wont’ be open, so he asked me about an alternative plan. I had also seen this show and was excited to try this restaurant….now I won’t. I expect more from a place that Lynn Crawford puts her gold stamp on. I respect her greatly. I am a food stylist, so presentation is very important to me too.
1. Sher-E Punjab (351 Danforth Ave.)
2. Rua Vang Golden Turtle (125 Ossington Ave.)
3. Caribbean Bistro (2439 Yonge St.)
4. Irie Food Joint (745 Queen St. West)
5. Spadina Garden (114 Dundas St. West)
Wow I don’t think I have eaten at any of those. See this city is awesome for food!
In no particular order:
1. Sushi Kaji
2. Marcello’s
3. Bairrada (on College)
4. Julie’s Cuban
5. Jules
Hey Dave — great post. Did you know… we do preference based emails too? If you log in to your account online, you’ll be able to tell us what you want you want to hear about specifically. We’ll still send more general emails about sales (like the one you received) but we’ll also tell you about the types of books/other products you specifically want to know about. If you want to know more, shoot me an email at rracine@indigo.ca or connect with me on twitter: @indigo_renee We appreciate being mentioned!
I am thinking of a system where if I got a Chapters member card could it tie my purchases to a profile and then send me emails based on an what I have purchased. And then it would change what it sends based on my responses for those emails.
As luck would have it an article was just published on the WAA’s website on the sort of thing I am thinking of. http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/en/art/756/
Great site. Gives me inspiration for my fitness goals this year.
That’s funny about John. If I recall, the “required” reading before we even starting the source was called “Programming Logic” I think… I think Margo wanted us to read Steven Covey’s 7 habits?
Anyways, the programming logic was all about logic gates and stuff. I remember when he asked how many people had read it… there was a hush in the room! Thus started the tenure of an amazing professor, skinning of cats and “you understood’s!”
LOL
The most recent email in my inbox…
“As an Amazon.com customer, we thought you might be interested in shopping on Amazon’s special website for shoes and handbags–Endless.com. ”
Yep, that appeals to me as a married male with 2 kids. A new amazon site with shoes and purses.
Goodbye Amazon.
I had an interesting thought. What if we charged advertisers for junk email? If organizations like Amazon had to pay a nickel for every email they send what would the result be? I mean ignoring the whole net neutrality issue…
I like what you have to say; your arguments are clear and though out, even though I don’t agree with all of them.
I agree that no strategy in the social media space is worse than not entering the space at all. It seems foolish to not have a clear goal and then make sure everything you post publicly meets that goal.
I think that people should be able to report their experiences. If I happen to see someone sleeping on the job, or going for coffee when on the clock, I should be able to show that. However, if mainstream media picks up my picture or video, they should do their due diligence and follow up. As a citizen, I don’t have to be non-biased and can slant things how I want…journalists should realize this possibility and make the effort to get the whole story. I’ll likely only show my side – what I saw, heard, experienced – because that’s what I care about.
You mean a multinational corporation with billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of customers, didn’t roll out the red carpet for your mutual funds?
You might as well blow the whole place up.
First off, I’m sure they’re really eager to hear about your ingenious ideas about how to make their service “better” for you.
Secondly, you don’t provide the e-mail you sent, just their “reply”. This is problematic because perhaps, there are many circumstances that may need to be made more clear (in your e-mail), before iTrade can give a reasonable response, and giving you some vague answer, “1 – 35 business days” isn’t helpful, and would only further your rage.
The reply, appears to be an automated message. It really reads:
“We’ve received an e-mail from you, and we appreciate your interest in our company, but please use the avenues provided for your questions.”
No point in getting your panties in a twist over being lazy, and not wanting to make a phone call.
Sincerely,
The-Girl-With-No-Patience-for-Self-Indulgent-Twats.
One of my favorite customer service quotes is “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.” -PETER DRUCKER
I could not agree more! My building spends a large sum of money on overtime, just to prepare for this event. They also have staff onsite that night to solve any issues with lights that normally stay on for safety reasons . Our overall building consumption does not drop at all .We historically use more power during that day for some reason .The whole thing is a joke
son
Between me and my husband we’ve owned more MP3 players over the years than I can count, including Sansas, iRivers, iPods (classic & touch), the Ibiza Rhapsody, etc. But, the last few years I’ve settled down to one line of players. Why? Because I was happy to discover how well-designed and fun to use the underappreciated (and widely mocked) Zunes are.
Another relevant point is that the energy cosumed by lights is mostly output as heat. So if you switch your lights off for an hour you will create a reduction in heat in your house. Luckily we all typically have modern thermostats so your heating system will pick up the slack and burn more fuel to compensate. So at most you save is the tiny amount output by bulbs as light energy – the only value in this exercise is symbolic at best.
I always participate in the “Earth Hour”. This event is a symbol that we should be more aware of our environment and that we should focus on protecting mother earth.
i have 20 squidoo pages which are mostly related to health and medicine. i enjoy making squidoo pages and sharing information “,.
This is really sad. I almost got ran over by a car and truck the other day. People need to slow down and respect the road some more.
Melissa and I thank you.
It’s nothing Geoff. I hope you and Melissa get to build your house.
Great post Dave
Hey Dave, hope all is well(this is Alex Brasil we’ve met before at Web Analytics Wednesdays). I live about 40 doors down from 204 and find this absolutely disgusting/embarrassing. Was away during this meeting.. almost glad I was– it angers me too much to even watch the video.
Hi Dave,
I am Melissa’s sister. I just read your blog. Just wanted to say thanks for sharing your thoughts in regards to this issue. It is much appreciated that people like yourself care about Melissa and Geoff’s situation and take the time to express it.
Best wishes to you
Alison
I agree that Bussin is being heavy handed–but is there no way to build a house that allows the family what they need but also preserves some of the character rather than just building a million dollar cube? There must be a way, otherwise neighbourhoods will loose their character which is one important thing that makes them nighbourhoods.
John, the buildings are the least of what make a neighborhood. And your right there isn’t a way to keep the house and make it wheelchair accessible and that is too bad. But the wheelchair accessibility has to come before the “character” of a neighborhood.
You called it a “cube” because you don’t like it, and you would like it to stay the way it is because you do. I might call it modern, elegant, clean. In contrast I might say the turn of the century houses are old, musty, out-dated. But the problem is, that is all subjective.
The house was not slated for heritage status, they checked. Bussin is simply upset because her ego has been bruised. It is absurd to think that everyone in the Beach should call her personally and ask if it is okay for them to develop the property they purchased. She is a councilor, not a monarch.
The Teehans have done everything reasonable to ensure the house was available for the purposes they needed it and after that, too fucking bad. If it is so important to keep heritage buildings and the “character” of the neighborhood then all the neighbors should be clamoring to nominate their own houses for heritage status.
Until that happens they should just mind their own business…or better yet try to make their own homes wheelchair accessible.
Very modest, minor changes, like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Soccer has a HUGE problem, starting and ending with the lack of scoring. A world cup match with a 1-0 score? Rules should change to promote scoring. Here are some suggestions:
1) Off-sides penalties. A rule that eliminates fast breaks and limits scoring. Eliminate it, or at least allow one player to go “off-sides” legally.
2) Make the goal wider.
3) Make the goal higher.
There. Done. As in complete no-brainer.
The object is to NEVER end a game with a penalty kick, as if everybody got bored in the end and just decided to have a bunch of kicks to get the damn drudge over with.
Goal size adjustments would have a trial period, over a few months during off season games, to set the average scoring by each team to about 8-9 goals per game.
This is such an obvious change that most Americans think the International “Football” Committee (or whoever sets soccer rules) are complete morons.
I even have a name for the new rules. Call them “American Rules”. It might even make the sport popular in the U.S.
Hi Dave, thanks for the review. Personally, that place is one of my favs for brunch. You should try it and compare.
Thanks,
Nick
I have been thinking about your suggestions regarding the goal and the size of it and I have to disagree.
Complaining that soccer doesn’t have enough goals in it is like complaining there is only one winner in the Indy 500.
Soccer if about creating plays, making opportunities happen, taking chances. Soccer is, in essence a game of give and take.
Look at basketball in comparison. What a joke. 98-101 is not an unrealistic score. Every time someone reaches one end of the court or the other they score. It’s too easy. Most games are decided in the dying seconds. While exciting, why not just cut out the second half and save some time.
Soccer on the other hand is a game of strategy. Not just running up and down a court. American football is also a game of strategy but it sucks because there are too many stoppages in play. Soccer has better flow to it.
The argument that soccer needs more goals is only a reflection of American’s inability to appreciate the nuances and subtleties of the game. I suppose that is why American’s like big flashy spectacles like the Super Bowl.
A quote worth repeating:
” I already have a local councillor, Sandra Bussin in Beaches-East York, famed for her rudeness and hostility to constituents. I once got an entire column out of her voice mail greeting. No more, thanks.”
– Heather Mallick column in the Toronto Star
when establishing a business, a good customer service is always necessary’..
DAVE COOK, MISSISSAUGA MAYOR CANDIDATE: HEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADS UP!!
http://tinyurl.com/2dx6xmj
RAM SELVARAJAH, MISSISSAUGA MAYOR CANDIDATE: An Introduction
http://tinyurl.com/2bexgpq
GEORGE WINTER, MISSISSAUGA MAYOR CANDIDATE: An Introduction
http://tinyurl.com/2cy4a9o
(more candidate speeches to follow)
Additional resources:
HAZEL MCCALLION news conference: “THE *BEST* CITY IN CANADA” –AND WE “LEAD CANADA IN MANAGEMENT”
http://tinyurl.com/395vlkl
HAZEL MCCALLION’S HANDLER TRIES TO GAG TORONTO SUN FROM ASKING MAYOR THE JUDICIAL INQUIRY
http://tinyurl.com/2wtc3dj
HAZEL MCCALLION MEETS RICHARD NIXON
http://tinyurl.com/34fmhej
earth hour is really a great way to promote environmental awareness`,-
Scares me as a new driver – I don’t ever want to know what it feels like to take someone’s life with my car. There needs to be better sharing of the roads so cyclists aren’t picked off. 🙁
While I agree I never want to know what that feels like, in this case it was Jure who was at fault. One of the articles mentions he was on a mountain road with blind corners descending very fast. I highly recommend reading this article on the NYTimes
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/05/sports/playmagazine/05robicpm.html?_r=4&pagewanted=print
The guy was amazing.
I disagree with you on this completely. I remember reading a book on logo design, it says memorable logos are often controversial.
The logo with the maple leaf in this post is amateurish with no dynamics at all. It could mean anything. A Canadian union of some industry, may be.
The London 2012 logo has strong action visuals, its 80’s color scheme do take time to digest, but to me it’s eye-catching and gutsy.
The font of the Pan Am logo is a very modern and popular font called Bryant. I think you can find it in Wired magazine or some other trendy magazines. However, I think the font is too monospaced for this design. They chose this color scheme probably to represent the sun, field and water.
i don’t use Squidoo anymore, i often use Hubpages to make new articles”~`
customer service should be put first with any kind of business**:
Yes, also damn those television makers and console makers who hate freedom, that they allow parents to prevent their kids from watching adult channels and playing M rating games. The kids should all buy their own Hi-def TV/game consoles/cellphone so that the parents can’t set up censorship locks!
Its over, you would think at 100,000 plus a year in salary plus 50,000 expenses and all that power she would at least show a little compassion for her constituents.
She actually threw herself a “victory” party a few months ago evidently on her re-election.
I will have to check that out if its true or not.
lol
This is fantastic! Hopefully the police will be given greater monitoring powers so that we can finally exterminate all forms of life that I don’t like. We’ll know who likes pot and who doesn’t based on their utility bills. From there it will be an easy genocide. Thanks Supreme Court!!!
love, Conservative voter
I really despise how Canada has gone from a free society to becoming policed americans. Especially in Alberta. You always fell like you are being watched here. Time to move to the Arctic…
Dave, while I’m not an apologist for the TTC (and it pains me to think that I might be considered as such), I have to disagree with you’re assessment. I come in on the Bloor side (and used to live on the Danforth side) and come down University and up Yonge on a daily basis.
Yes the old cars are predominant on the B/D line, but they do exist on Y/U/S, which is the line that carries much more traffic. I for one am looking forward to the cascading of the ‘red’ Yonge trains to replace (hopefully) all the old yellow/orange ones on Bloor/Danforth. When I go north on Yonge, I get on at King, and I’m glad that I do, because at all the other stations up to Bloor many people have to wait for 2 or 3 trains to find a spot to fit.
I don’t agree with the current policy of continually extending the subway lines (How about a Downtown Relief Line?) but I know people that get on Yonge at North York or Sheppard and are packed in, while Bloor may not be like that until Dufferin.
Regarding the ads, I noticed the same thing too, and thought that maybe the TTC is having problems selling ads and the ones that have the most eyeballs get sold first.
Enjoy the holidays!
Hi Ian,
Thanks for the comment. To be honest I don’t think they are really racist, it just seems to be that you would logically replace the oldest cars. I think the socio-economic situation is merely correlated, not causal.
The fact that there are few line maps on the B/D line causes some concern, I mean surely they could add a few, maybe one at the ends of each car?. I noticed it years ago, and have written them about it, but I haven’t bothered trying a proper study, just my own observation.
The eyeballs on ads is a good point, but then how can we increase ridership on the B/D line, not by using old cars that’s for sure.
I would like to hear about it if you are submitting a complaint to BBB… In all fairness, something should be done to protect consumers…
Good to know you’ve received a refund from Buytopia. I’ve asked for one as well. I guess they’ve been backlogged with complaints and it’s taking them time to sort this out.
Good to know you’ve received a refund from Buytopia. I’ve asked for one as well. I guess they’ve been backlogged with complaints and it’s taking them time to sort this out.
I would also like to submit a complaint and file against them. I was a customer before the coupons promotion. They use to have good quality meat and I would get great service from Marlon himself. I even supported there venture into Thornhill that closed a few years ago.
Now I feel like we are being cheated. I don’t even care how long it takes to get the meat or the ridiculous coupon redemption hours, but when they are trying to pass off mass produced, unhealthy meat as organic, they have now put my health and the health of my family at risk.
Through research they have also inflated the prices and changed suppliers and are not providing Organic meat.
What research? Can you share?
Through research they have also inflated the prices and changed suppliers and are not providing Organic meat.
What research? Can you share?
Thanks for your thoughts.
I spoke with Dev this afternoon (after sending an ignored email last week, calling a few days ago and being told to wait for their call this afternoon – when I called THEM this afternoon, they said they had no record of my earlier call or their instructions to me to wait for their call today).
Dev refused to give me a refund, despite my numerous unsuccessful attempts to redeem my coupon and my concern that it will never be redeemed. After reciting various rebuttals to pretty much every issue that has been raised on the forums – most of which I didn’t mention – he enetertained the idea of being the middleman to get my order. I suspect that won’t work and it will just lead to more frustration.
So, how did you manage to get your refund? Do I need to start a blog about Buytopia? 😉
Thanks for your thoughts.
I spoke with Dev this afternoon (after sending an ignored email last week, calling a few days ago and being told to wait for their call this afternoon – when I called THEM this afternoon, they said they had no record of my earlier call or their instructions to me to wait for their call today).
Dev refused to give me a refund, despite my numerous unsuccessful attempts to redeem my coupon and my concern that it will never be redeemed. After reciting various rebuttals to pretty much every issue that has been raised on the forums – most of which I didn’t mention – he enetertained the idea of being the middleman to get my order. I suspect that won’t work and it will just lead to more frustration.
So, how did you manage to get your refund? Do I need to start a blog about Buytopia? 😉
Yes in short. I haven’t actually gotten the refund yet just an email stating it had been processed. I am still waiting for it to show up on my credit card.
Any time I am negotiating for a refund, I try to make it as easy as possible for the person on the other end of the line. I have all the details ready in case they need them. Most often they are not responsible for the mess nor in a position to move heaven and earth for me so I try to make sure my request is reasonable. By being polite but firm, and having a solid argument I tend to get my way.
The other thing is make sure they understand you will not let this go. I blog about it, I tweet about it, and I will tell others about it good or bad. I will also contact the BBB and I will sue. I have been to small claims court before and no one gets to steal from me. ever.
Yes in short. I haven’t actually gotten the refund yet just an email stating it had been processed. I am still waiting for it to show up on my credit card.
Any time I am negotiating for a refund, I try to make it as easy as possible for the person on the other end of the line. I have all the details ready in case they need them. Most often they are not responsible for the mess nor in a position to move heaven and earth for me so I try to make sure my request is reasonable. By being polite but firm, and having a solid argument I tend to get my way.
The other thing is make sure they understand you will not let this go. I blog about it, I tweet about it, and I will tell others about it good or bad. I will also contact the BBB and I will sue. I have been to small claims court before and no one gets to steal from me. ever.
I, too, purchased the $100 coupon and ran into similar problems. The Butchers may have been well intentioned at the beginning but clearly, their plan was not thought through….not my fault! The only rudeness or verbal abuse I witnessed when visiting the store was from the owner, directed towards his customers. The meat I purchased was over priced and of poor quality plus we were limited to $100 worth of meat only, so “we don’t run out”. Next thing I knew, there were even more restrictions. They were changing the rules constantly, at the last minute sometimes, so I decided enough was enough. If this isn’t fraud, it’s as close as it gets. I complained to the coupon vendors and got a full refund…..after the supposedly 30 day refund policy had expired. Don’t take this lying down.
As of today, June 13th I am still waiting for the refund to show up on my credit card…
I will never do business with Buytopia. Until they provide a full refund they are just as guilty as the Butchers. Who knows they may be in on this scam as well. Webpiggy has done a refund though.
I will keep pursuing these people until I get a full refund, they have violated all of the terms on the voucher. It is disgusting.
I will never do business with Buytopia. Until they provide a full refund they are just as guilty as the Butchers. Who knows they may be in on this scam as well. Webpiggy has done a refund though.
I will keep pursuing these people until I get a full refund, they have violated all of the terms on the voucher. It is disgusting.
Well, I am sorry to say that I am glad it is not just me! I went to the store today and it was CLOSED. Their website says they have had to hire security to deal with voucher holders! Ummmm I can see why! I have been to the store 5 times and have left empty handed each time! They have also stated on their website that they will only honour vouchers Thursdays and Fridays 6:30-9:30…this is completely not convenient for me, the consumer!!! I have just e-mailed the coupon site to ask for a refund and I will definitely be contacting the BBB! This is ridiculous! I get coupons ALL THE TIME and have always had FABULOUS experiences! I hate the thought that this was the first coupon that the author bought and that they won’t be buying anymore! I just got two deals this week!
So, it’s been two weeks since I received the email stating I have been given a refund and still nothing. I send them one last email and after that I am filing with the BBB.
So, it’s been two weeks since I received the email stating I have been given a refund and still nothing. I send them one last email and after that I am filing with the BBB.
I just received this.
(Please do not respond to this email; this account is not monitored)
Dear Dave,
A refund has been processed to your credit card in the amount of $99 for the Butchers deal you purchased. Please allow up to 10 business days for this credit to show on your card statement.
Cheers,
Buytopia Refunds
(For all support related inquiries, please email support@buytopia.ca)
I just received this.
(Please do not respond to this email; this account is not monitored)
Dear Dave,
A refund has been processed to your credit card in the amount of $99 for the Butchers deal you purchased. Please allow up to 10 business days for this credit to show on your card statement.
Cheers,
Buytopia Refunds
(For all support related inquiries, please email support@buytopia.ca)
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt. What a scam
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt. What a scam
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt.
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
Everyone check the butcher shop site…They are closing for renovations. They are going bust no doubt.
Glad to hear about your Buytopia refund. Let us know if it makes it to your credit card. They could have and should have handled this way better. The guy on the phone said that if they don’t pay the invoice buytopia is taking legal action
These guys don’t deserve to be in business.
Thanks for your research on this. Against my better judgement, I bought two separate deals for The Butchers. The Buytopia experience has been similar to yours, culminating this week in my email request for a refund from Anatoly at Buytopia. (Good luck? We shall see.)
The earlier coupon ($175) with Dealfind has also been impossible to redeem. Since it was offered a month or so before Buytopia, it would seem to support the conclusion that The Butchers were operating a deliberate scam, with no intention of anteing up. To be fair, the Dealfind people seem to be showing some integrity – upfront, dealing with the issue and processing refunds.
Of interest – I bought from Dealicious two coupons for $40 of meat each from Medium Rare on Dundas. Very smooth – no bitching when I redeemed the coupons, and the meat was superb; they even do their own smoking and aging on site. Too bad these “good guys” can’t get some recognition! Cheers! Mike Hubbard, Orangeville
If you’d like to hear a fairly comprehensive report on this misguided “deal”, here is a piece done by the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2011/06/06/coupon-deal-websites/
Yay my refund actually came through. Awesome!
Yay my refund actually came through. Awesome!
Last Friday my daughter and I tried to redeem part of our voucher and were given the sob story about how The Butchers is the victim in this voucher debacle. While we were standing on the sidealk outside the store at least 15 people came by and were turned away because they too had vouchers. Everyone was disappointed but very polite and agreed to come back today Friday the 24th after 6:30 p.m. I noticed today when I checked their wesite that the store is now closing for renovations so that they will “be able to honour the vouchers”. I wonder what is going to happen tonight when all those good people come back at the appointed time?
Shame on The Butchers for handling this so badly. I will never ever shop there. I am truly afraid that they will try to pass off inferior produce to voucher holders.
Buytopia isn’t refunding most people’s The Butchers vouchers. Like 99.9% of them aren’t being refunded. I refuse to ever buy a voucher from them based on this and will also stop shopping at Webpiggy for the same reason (they also have recently stopped refunding people’s vouchers for The Butchers although they were for a while).
Buytopia isn’t refunding most people’s The Butchers vouchers. Like 99.9% of them aren’t being refunded. I refuse to ever buy a voucher from them based on this and will also stop shopping at Webpiggy for the same reason (they also have recently stopped refunding people’s vouchers for The Butchers although they were for a while).
My family went there few times to redeem the coupon, but they were so rude, and they literally kicked us out. The lady told me that even though it should already be open they are not ready yet and she suggested that i come back later. When I came back later, they were saying that those who have coupons cannot redeem them, and will have to use them at their “summer time”
This happened few times already. And I have requested to have my coupons refunded due to bad experiences. I’ve never seen this type of customer service… I guess I wasn’t the only one, if they were going to encounter problems, they should have never sold vouchers to the public. I have wasted my time, energy and money, even…. Would not recommend to the others!!!
My coupons were through buytopia. They have not responded to email. When talking to them on the phone they refuse to give a refund. They state the vouchers are good for a year and they will not offer refunds until the year is up.
I would be very interested in a lawsuit against the Butcher shop but more important I believe the lawsuit needs to be against the seller of the coupon. They are who we made the contract with.
I spoke with Jonathon (sp) at Buytopia and he would not even provide his last name for my records. They are refusing to admit they are responsible which in my mind they are, as my contract (money paid) was to them.
I have contacted 680 news in the hope that they may pick up the story but I doubt if it is newsworthy enough for them.
Any ideas or suggestions?
I bought one of these and like many people made several attempts to order meat (online, I wouldn’t set foot in the store), to call to follow up and didn’t hear back. I contacted Webpiggy and they offered a refund or to deliver the meat, fool that I was I gave them one last chance. One month later, still no meat, and I’m still calling and emailing to follow up. Webpiggy is no longer offering refunds so I’ve filed a complaint with the BBB. I was advised to call “a supervisor” at Webpiggy to discuss the matter further but I don’t think they’ll offer me anything but a credit. As if I want anything to do with Webpiggy??!! It’s safe to say I will never ever buy one of these coupons again. Disaster!
I agree, Earth Hour is nothing more than a feel-good media grab. What kind of “new” awareness do we need? Everyday the news is full of stories about the environment eco-this and eco-that. The environment is now used by corporations to sell more of their products. Ever seen a Brita ad? Hell even car manufacturers are trying to peddle their wares as being eco-friendly. It’s rubbish, and time someone called “bullshit”.
I bought one of these and like many people made several attempts to order meat (online, I wouldn’t set foot in the store), to call to follow up and didn’t hear back. I contacted Webpiggy and they offered a refund or to deliver the meat, fool that I was I gave them one last chance. One month later, still no meat, and I’m still calling and emailing to follow up. Webpiggy is no longer offering refunds so I’ve filed a complaint with the BBB. I was advised to call “a supervisor” at Webpiggy to discuss the matter further but I don’t think they’ll offer me anything but a credit. As if I want anything to do with Webpiggy??!! It’s safe to say I will never ever buy one of these coupons again. Disaster!
We went down a number of times from Orangeville and had experiences similar to others. I am now trying to get a refund, which I have requested from Buytopia on five occasions, both by phone message and email, over the last month. Anyone have any luck with this? Suggestions? The Dealfind company stepped up to the plate with refunds. Buytopia seems to be ignoring us.
Has anyone considered going to your credti card co. (Visa, MC etc.) They can be very helpfull in geting refunds & if lots of people go this route, then the deal companies could hve problems using ghte credit card facilities that they so dearly depend on.
Worth an attempt?
my story is the same as dave hamel’s except I went there several times in and throughout april, called and was treated rudely by the owner cursing and hanging up on me when i too mentioned it was a scam … I called buytopia and complained how rudely I been treated… they said they were goning drop them as a client. I too tried the delivery route and that wa s ridiculous as well… always coming up with bull excuses. excuses are like armpits we all gotem and they sometimes stink… People on the street were very impatient and disappointed at every trip i made they openly complained in the line arround the front of the street… well we were all taken and those butcher people, staff included ( nobody can belive those in authority, not even the pawns, when all the clients are upset constrantly)— who know not who their father’s are (bastards is the real term) and they keep on keeping on as though nothing happened… (Scammers, menances, public thieves, false advertisers,false business contracts, who take what is not theirs and offer what they can’t deliver.) if it sounds too good to be true it probably is huh? these kind of people do not care about better buiness… they’lljust change the name and move on…class action suit? inindate small claims court? police charges for fraud? whatever I’m in…
Just found your blog. Love it! This is a great article – I tweeted it out!
Good post, but I think 250 lbs is closer to 1/8th of a ton …
I found your post in search and did not expect much but in the end you hit it right on the head.
This is something I have begged Google for and predicted would occur.
So YES, wholeheartedly, I should not have to make circles, I should see nothing in my Stream as G calls it, but the most popular posts due to the fact that Google already knows what I am interested in after 12 years of my own websites, blogs, social bookmarking at Digg, Facebook, Twitter, and over 56,000 comments I have posted on other’s blogs.
Yes I should create my own circles, Yes I should post to those circles, Yes I should organize those I follow into Circles.
But, Google needs a front page like Digg and StumbleUpon where I can find the most popular posts without having to add anyone, or follow anyone.
Take a look at Google customized search and Google News, both are customized on the fly by our interests, demographics and our search history.
G+ is failing us without what Google does best, recommend great content to us. Whoever can do that, be it Google, Twitter, Facebook, Digg or StumbleUpon, they will crack the next level of social and news on the web.
Hey there, You have done an admirable job. I will absolutely reddit it and I’ll suggest to my friends. Most likely they are going to be benefited from this page.
Hey! Just did a google search on G20 and to my amazement your blog post is in the first page of results. HOLY BANANAS! That’s awesome. Going to go read it now, but too excited to wit to email you and say congrats
I purchased my voucher from dealfind in February 2011. I have been following all of the ‘developments’ regarding The Butchers and I have been patiently and naively waiting to redeem my voucher. Today I decided enough is enough and have contacted dealfind.
Sorry, but it’s not the truth. Jure was my best friends and I can tell you that he was training on a mountain track, not a road,….the man that who killed him was drunk, and he was driving back from the wood where he was gathering some woods…..
it wasn’t Jure’s fault…he was training off-road with his mountainbike. When you go in the wood with your mountainbike do you expect to find a CAR there ?????? I don’t.
That is interesting information Erica, the article I was referring to is here: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/jure-robic-killed-in-accident Do you have any information to share?
What a lovely video
Hi there,
I first bought a small amount of coupons when they first offered the deal, I forget the exact price. Two days later I went to the Butchers and redeemed my coupons. I actually think I was the first person to redeem the coupons. It wasn’t the most organized system but everything went perfectly well and my family was satisfied with the purchase. Keep in mind this was all before the coupon craziness hit. Seeing as it all went very well the first time around I decided to purchase a larger amount when they offered another deal through anther coupon website. This time I ordered a larger amount.
Then I started hearing all about the problems. Nervous I just threw away a few hundred dollars, I contacted the store (this was during the summer). The owner and I chatted and explained to me there have been some issues and if I could be patient he promises me my coupons will be honoured. Last week (early Oct) I decided to see if the whole mess had cleared up (or perhaps my money was gone forever). I went to the company’s website and read that I was to contact buytopia and place my order through them . I contacted buytopia and they took my order, I asked them if I could just pick up the order instead and they told me to contact the store. I called the store (now under a new name but same management) and spoke to owner. He told me I could come by next week and redeem my coupons, he also gave me his personal cell phone number.
A few days later I went in was greeted by the owner and had no issues using two-thirds of my coupons. I was very happy with the quality and the selection. Also, the store has recently been renovated – looks good.
Much like others I was also quite suspicious but I honestly do feel this is a store going through some serious growing pains and the owner’s intent was not malicious. It is a smaller store so if you are planning on making a large order, I would contact them first other than that it was all good.
Cheers,
Thank you to the call of duty too great your article is also a wonderful
Loay from Iraq
WIth the introduction of all the restrictions and then the closure/reopening of the store (stating it will still not redeem vouchers until late November) the voucher I bought now bears no resemblance to what it currently is. As such I contacted DealFind for a refund which they very promptly did. DealFind has behaved very well. THe Butchers have behaved atrociously. Good luck to him on his reopening as I think he’s going to need it as I suspect many in the neighbourhood will be avoiding his business in the future….I certainly will.
We should get together and file a class action suit against Buytopia and The Butcher Shop. I certainly don’t have time to screw around with this as I’m sure most everyone who is in the same boat feels.
I had a bad feeling about this right from the start. I thought Buytopia was a respected ‘business’. Guess not!
C.M.
We should get together and file a class action suit against Buytopia and The Butcher Shop. I certainly don’t have time to screw around with this as I’m sure most everyone who is in the same boat feels.
I had a bad feeling about this right from the start. I thought Buytopia was a respected ‘business’. Guess not!
C.M.
@C. Matthews – was thinking the same thing. I purchased my voucher from WebPiggy, which disclaims liability in its terms for such claims. I would expect similar language in Buytopia’s terms, but could probably join up the sites’ voucher holders against the Butchers / Marlon’s meats. Frankly I’d be seeking not only a refund but also the promotional value
@C. Matthews – was thinking the same thing. I purchased my voucher from WebPiggy, which disclaims liability in its terms for such claims. I would expect similar language in Buytopia’s terms, but could probably join up the sites’ voucher holders against the Butchers / Marlon’s meats. Frankly I’d be seeking not only a refund but also the promotional value
So, I will be attempting to get my meat for the 9th time this evening – my coupon expires next week and I have been trying to redeem it for almost a year! I bought it from Kijiji ($25 for $50 worth of meat) and even thoughI have contacted Kijiji many many many times – I ave received no response from them either! This whole experience has soured me on using any coupon sites at all – especially Kijiji…and *if* I get my voucher redeemed tonight, it will be the last time Marlon will see my face in any of his shops! I can’t believe what an ordeal this has been!
Aw this is great. You have an awesome dad.
For a couple of moments, I actually allowed myself to believe my order would finally get filled. I go an e-mail about 3 weeks ago saying it would be available for pick-up December 17…that was stupid of me.
I received an e-mail today stating that they were “unable to fill customer’s orders” and that they would be “looking into refunding vouchers” in 2012. It was addressed to “Dear customers” so I assume they’re re-negging on everyone’s deals…
Buytopia also refused to give a refund even though they assured me months ago that they would provide a refund if the deal fell through.
I’d say a class action sounds like a great idea.
For a couple of moments, I actually allowed myself to believe my order would finally get filled. I go an e-mail about 3 weeks ago saying it would be available for pick-up December 17…that was stupid of me.
I received an e-mail today stating that they were “unable to fill customer’s orders” and that they would be “looking into refunding vouchers” in 2012. It was addressed to “Dear customers” so I assume they’re re-negging on everyone’s deals…
Buytopia also refused to give a refund even though they assured me months ago that they would provide a refund if the deal fell through.
I’d say a class action sounds like a great idea.
Well, It seems the saga continues. After receiving assurances from webpiggy in October that my order was being processed and would be delivered in 4-6 weeks I only find out today (after emailing webpiggy for an update) that all orders are cancelled and only redeeming the face value of the certificate or ( refund) is permitted. We’ll see how that goes
hmmm…. Sounds like someone is re creating the playbook on how to cheat on your exams.
I am sorry to hear how many people got screwed by all this. I went by the butchers and noticed the revamped store (remember they were closing in the midst of all the hubub) On their website they claim you have until Labor Day 2012 http://www.marlonsmeat.com/faqs to redeem. I did notice the fish store is still not in place. I would love to find out the final numbers because the waters seem very muddy as to what the truth is and what Marlon actually intended.
Well, It seems the saga continues. After receiving assurances from webpiggy in October that my order was being processed and would be delivered in 4-6 weeks I only find out today (after emailing webpiggy for an update) that all orders are cancelled and only redeeming the face value of the certificate or ( refund) is permitted. We’ll see how that goes
hmmm…. Sounds like someone is re creating the playbook on how to cheat on your exams.
I am sorry to hear how many people got screwed by all this. I went by the butchers and noticed the revamped store (remember they were closing in the midst of all the hubub) On their website they claim you have until Labor Day 2012 http://www.marlonsmeat.com/faqs to redeem. I did notice the fish store is still not in place. I would love to find out the final numbers because the waters seem very muddy as to what the truth is and what Marlon actually intended.
I just came across your article at this late date. i too purchased many vouchers for myself and members of my family back in March. After the worst experiences for all of us, every time we went, (all of yours ring so true and resonate well with me) I got all of my money back from Dealfind. Marlon is a crook of the first degree. He even used the excuse of his father having cancer to be a reason for such horrible business practise. That’s sinking pretty low, even if his father is ill, it’s got nothing to do with his actions. I don’t understand why he got away with it and hasn’t been charged. He even lied about the source of his meat. He said he used Beretta meats, a high quality organic farm, and upon research, Beretta let it be known they stopped doing business with him long before the coupon campaign. And he just kept on lying; he started another with Webpiggy, then refused to honour them. But he didn’t stop there, he started yet another coupon campaign for the fish store, which I don’t think ever opened, and which only allowed a small percentage of the coupon to be used for fish, the rest had to be used across the street for meat and nervous breakdown.
I hope he lost his shirt. He’s certainly lost his reputation., and hurt a lot of people. I pity his employees. He’s a lying, cheating asshole.
I see him online as Marlon’s Meats now, with a 2 star rating. and that’s probably being kind.
The ‘roadies’ at the top of your list match because they get given that stuff, and the people who design it make sure it matches. They don’t necessarily care about how it matches or doesn’t, the important part is that it’s free.
You may have a point, especially with Rules #8, #14, #17. But I suspect these guys would match their shit anyway. AND I would direct your attention to this video of Jens Voigt (my personal favorite) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfiBbZJTx9s) and more recently Johnny Hoogerland (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFHjpEIma0A) both of whom had crazy crashes and continue to ride. Say what you will roadies are top.
Much of mtn biking is downhill? Meh.
Lift-assisted mountain biking is a minuscule part of the sport. We climb mountains. CLIMB. And not on smooth asphalt either. The vertical stats of my road racing friends pale in comparison to our everyday rides. Many of our road racing/riding friends love to get with us on MTBs so that they can learn some bike handling skills.
Yes, MTBs have more fun. Yes, we are more badass.
MTB vert stats maybe higher, (I would like to see the data on that one first though) but how long is a mountain bike ride? Couple hours, maybe an afternoon, perhaps a whole day.
Road racing has a race that doesn’t stop for 9 days. (http://www.raceacrossamerica.org). The tour is day after day of 100s of kms for weeks.
Don’t get me wrong, I love mountain biking, I used to live in Victoria and spent a couple of years on the Hartland trails, I interned with Bike Magazine, I rode downhill at Mammoth on a bike that must have weighed 25 lbs. I crashed at Downieville, here is picture of my face after 16 miles of amazing single-track.
Mountain biking teaches great bike handling, balance and control; but when it comes to sheer determination, pain endurance, and bad-assery I will put my money on roadies.
I’ve bought several coupons and have been screwed out of a lot of money…. this person should go to jail as far as I’m concerned, and I’d like to see something happen. The police should be doing something about this.
Well, I guess I have also been scamed. I was told that I could send in my order (which I did via email to buytopia and it woudl be delivered. Boy was I stupid. Nothing has come and Buytopia doesn’t even bother to respond to emails any more. They must have an email address that goes to their junk pile. Well if you want a class action suit against the Butcher I am all for it. Count me in. I want my $100 back.
Well, I guess I have also been scamed. I was told that I could send in my order (which I did via email to buytopia and it woudl be delivered. Boy was I stupid. Nothing has come and Buytopia doesn’t even bother to respond to emails any more. They must have an email address that goes to their junk pile. Well if you want a class action suit against the Butcher I am all for it. Count me in. I want my $100 back.
I went to Marlons Meats yesterday and they told me that they are no longer honouring the vouchers and that I should contact Buytopia for a refund. I called Buytopia today and they said they can’t give refunds because they paid the Butcher Shop up front and don’t have the money. They are seeking legal action against the shop and I should call back in a week. I feel that if the meat store is required to pay Buytopia back, they will simply claim bankruptcy. Buytopia should accept responsibility for bad business decisions and refund its customers who got scammed.
I went to Marlons Meats yesterday and they told me that they are no longer honouring the vouchers and that I should contact Buytopia for a refund. I called Buytopia today and they said they can’t give refunds because they paid the Butcher Shop up front and don’t have the money. They are seeking legal action against the shop and I should call back in a week. I feel that if the meat store is required to pay Buytopia back, they will simply claim bankruptcy. Buytopia should accept responsibility for bad business decisions and refund its customers who got scammed.
The latest news, as of Friday Jan. 27, is that you can’t even get the face value of your coupon. After a couple of weeks of getting $30 worth of meat at a time (so paying customers could keep up his cash flow!) Marlon told me they’re litigating against the coupon companies and no longer honouring any coupons at all. I’m in the neighbourhood and could become a permanent customer since the product itself is good…but there are other organic Butchers whose honesty and business sense I can respect and those are the ones I’ll buy from.
The latest news, as of Friday Jan. 27, is that you can’t even get the face value of your coupon. After a couple of weeks of getting $30 worth of meat at a time (so paying customers could keep up his cash flow!) Marlon told me they’re litigating against the coupon companies and no longer honouring any coupons at all. I’m in the neighbourhood and could become a permanent customer since the product itself is good…but there are other organic Butchers whose honesty and business sense I can respect and those are the ones I’ll buy from.
This whole thing is a scam. Marlon has made millions on this. All the coupon companies have made millions. Remember it does not cost the coupons companies anything. Bottom line. Avoid Marlons. Avoid all these coupons companies. they are scum
This whole thing is a scam. Marlon has made millions on this. All the coupon companies have made millions. Remember it does not cost the coupons companies anything. Bottom line. Avoid Marlons. Avoid all these coupons companies. they are scum
Three words: Class Action Lawsuit.
Get on it then. Time is running out. If people are seriously pissed then start contacting each other, get together and begin the lawsuit.
Three words: Class Action Lawsuit.
Get on it then. Time is running out. If people are seriously pissed then start contacting each other, get together and begin the lawsuit.
I just got off the phone with a rep from Buytopia, and they informed they cannot give any refunds because they have already paid the money to The Butcher. They are sitting down with them to discuss legal action in the coming weeks.
I too received a refund through my credit card this week. It took months of threats including filing a complaint with the Consumer Protection Branch but I got the money back.
Peter knows that the contract is between Buytopia and the customer and that’s why he will give you a refund in the end.
The Consumer Protection Branch staff are very much aware of this issue. If you want to file a complaint they will become involved but you first need to send Buytopia a demand letter.
Here is a link to the Consumer Protection Branch’s complaint process:
http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Complaint_Steps_to_File.aspx
Don’t give up.
I called and spoke to Shalabh at Buytopia on Tuesday (Feb 7th) and tried to get Peter the “senior manager” on the phone, but convienently, he was “in a meeting”. I was assured he would phone me back- but I never heard back from him or anyone (surprise surprise). I have been trying to get a refund for SEVERAL months and even submitted an order through Buytopia back in November because I was told I had no hope of a refund, and that “the butchers IS honoring the vouchers” – but after reading all these blogs/comments, I see no one is going to get any meat from this place (not that I’d even want it or trust it at this point)
Oh, and the Buytopia guy assured me that Peter has NOT given out ANY refunds…..
So, I will keep calling and hounding Buytopia, trying to get a hold of this Peter guy, but I just wanted to say that if ppl are going to get together and file this lawsuit- COUNT ME IN!!!!
I called Marlon’s last week and they said to get a refund from the company I got my voucher from. I emailed Buytopia and have heard nothing from them. TeamSave gave me a credit right away.
I called Marlon’s last week and they said to get a refund from the company I got my voucher from. I emailed Buytopia and have heard nothing from them. TeamSave gave me a credit right away.
I too had this experience with this company as well as Buytopia. I sent in a complaint to the BBB and Buytopia responded by saying they would not refund me for the full amount but only for the amount they were paid as a commission. I declined this offer as I followed their refund policy which extended past their 30 day policy because they did not respond in a timely manner. That was the last correspondence with them and the BBB explained that they cannot force a company to comply.
So, I am still trying to find another means to get a refund. It is not about the money, it is now the principal that these companies are still allowed to be operational and have the balls to offer deals. I agree with the last post, if there is a lawsuit count me in as well and if anyone has any updates or advice it would be greatly appreciated!
I am still having problems trying to get my money back.. At this point I just want my $99 back, I don’t care about interest.. I just want what is fair.
I’ve written to Buytopia many times, and it’s almost been a year.. It’s frustrating.
I’m going to send Buytopia a demand letter.. as suggested by “Sussessful Complaint” and writing to the Consumer Protection Branch .. i just hope it’s not too late.
I am with you on this. We have been calling and e-mailing, no one from Bytopia responds, we have told them we will get the cops involved as it is fraud. I agree lets get as may of us together and file a law suit. i am in
That’s really very nice story!! I’ve imagine to eat dinner on such amazing sequences. Looks like Ukai-tei is the perfect place for that! I’ll definitely visit this food place if I ever visit Taiwan. Cheers 🙂
We could, and I would love to. But as I point out how do you explain engagement? Things start getting very complex and unless you are part of an organization that already embraces metrics, it will be a hard sell.
Good afternoon fellow fraud victims!
If you’re interested in an attempt to recover some or all of the money you spent at The Butcher’s Organic/Marlon’s Meats, please email suemarlonpather@gmail.com.
I am not a lawyer. I am, however, betting that Mr. Pather and his accomplices have assumed that the individuals he defrauded will not be able to work together to pursue him. I’d really like to prove him wrong and I’m willing to administer a list of people interested in a class action. Once a reasonable number of people have indicated their willingness to participate in a class action civil suit, I will communicate our options via email. If we have an overwhelming response (fingers crossed) I intend to form a committee of interested individuals to manage the process.
Your information will NOT BE SHARED without your explicit permission and will be only be communicated to the lawyer that we ultimately engage to represent us.
Please note that harassment will not be tolerated and will be reported to the authorities.
Please provide
1. your name
2. a daytime telephone number
3. your email address
4. the terms of the deal you purchased
Looking forward to hearing from you! Please spread the word and don’t hesitate to be in touch!
Best,
Steph
While I do agree with what you are saying, a good portion of the people who do participate in Earth Hour have a tendency to do their homework and therefore do a lot more than just sit around in the dark for an hour, waiting for it to be over so that they can update their facebook status, announcing how much they care about the planet. Yes, the corporations and newspapers who advertise it are rather hypocritical, but in the end, it’s always the people who have the power and they have to decide what to do with it.
On Earth Hour, I have a tendency to do more than just an hour, I unplug whatever I can manage and I build blanket forts with my friends while telling ghost stories. I also don’t buy bottled water, I bring my own bags when grocery shopping and I most certainly don’t leave a light on in a room if I’m not in it. It’s little things that make a difference.
The words are absolutely amazing…!
If you are going to write this bullshit at least get your facts straight. They are LRT’s not streetcars. If you are to stupid to know the difference then you are more like Ford then you know.
If don’t have anything to contribute to the conversation then keep quiet while the adults are talking. LRT’s are simply long street cars, same tracks. LRTs are also simply subway cars above ground. The change from subway to LRT means there is either an exchange at Don Mills where you switch like at Kennedy or the subway train will need to continue it’s journey above ground. Personally I hope for the latter. Getting people to have to transfer is slow and inconvenient.
in your solution, how do you explain Yonge/ Sheppard through to Leslie/ Sheppard being dominated by a lot of High Density Housing, 20-40 stories high as you recommend, and ridership still being so low
are you proposing adding even more condos to that area ?
and if the current failure of a Sheppard subway line has so much HDH already, why do you think adding more further east, into scarborough, would be the solution
That is a good question. The ones around Sheppard and Leslie are only just finished. If you look at the Google maps you can see the plethora of houses, not condo along the Sheppard line, while along along the Sheppard to Finch area is condominiums. We need population density if we want subways.
Also, we keep seeing stories in the news about how expensive housing is in Toronto. So, more condos means more supply which means lower prices. To me it is a win/win. If you want to live in the suburbs, and some do, then by all means but you can’t then complain about the commute.
View Larger Map
your solution then, is to add even more condominiums;
more condominiums along Sheppard, at a density greater than what is currently present along Yonge/Sheppard to Leslie/ Sheppard.
If you really want subways there, this must be necessary, is your argument. However I do not think those that want subways so desperately, also want this kind of density. Especially not in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto.
Also, putting more condos does not mean less expensive housing. Actually it’s the opposite since they are entirely separate sections of real estate. You’d actually have cheaper condos, and fewer detached homes, and therefore higher prices on existing housing.
So in response to your post I would say no, Toronto does not need subways. We don’t have the density to support it, no matter what zoning laws you put in place. The under-utilization of the Sheppard line is evidence that even with high density housing, you still can’t achieve maximum utilization. You need high density commercial zones as well as residential. You need a downtown core, similar to yonge/ sheppard or yonge/finch. except you need that in scarborough.
I understand your trepidation, I would agree that people who live in suburbs, don’t want to live in high density areas, but then they can’t complain about the transit they have. The sad truth is we cannot afford to run transit in low density areas. The possible solutions are to either change the density or introduce zoning and charge them more money. (which I would do anyway since it’s a no-brainer that the more you ride the more you should pay)
More condos does mean cheaper “housing”. Not cheaper “houses”, so if you own a home then you’re pretty much set. Right now, a two bedroom condo in downtown Toronto is $600K, my condo at Yonge & Finch has two bedroom units for $409K. Even if the house price doesn’t drop at least people will be able to get their foot in the real estate door through the condo route. As it stands anyone not pulling in a combined income of $100K a year can kiss their chances of affording a house in Toronto good-bye.
The Yonge-Sheppard line does not have high density. That’s my point. If you look at the map there are some condos near sheppard station and some near Leslie (now), but when they build the line, there was nothing.
If I were able to put in a subway line right now, I would run one along Queen St. from River Street to Parkdale/Liberty village, possibly touching the Regent park area. That would remove the street cars from Queen street free up the extra lane. I would also remove the street side parking in favour of parkades, which wouldn’t be cheap to encourage people to use transit. Toronto has to stop building out and start building up. Build parkades up, build housing up. This spreading out only hurts us in the end. I would encourage you to watch this.
And finish a subway line to the airport. It’s embarrassing that Toronto still doesn’t have dedicated transit to Pearson.
Some of you may have past by “Marlon’s meat” in the past few weeks or called the shop only to notice the signage outside has been removed and their phone number has been put out of service. Please know the shop is open and operating using the back door. This is to avoid voucher holders as the expiry date is near to redeem.
I have to say, I really love the line about earth hour being a “big advertising circle jerk”.
To be honest, This year for Earth hour. I’m doing the exact opposite. We’re throwing a party in which we are going to use every single electrical appliance we own withing that hour. All of our lights will be on. Our oven will be baking cookies or something, our kettles will be brewing tea, our rooms will be lit up, completely, our TV’s on, radio’s blaring and computers charging.
It will be fun. And when people ask us wtf we’re on about. I will use a line out of your blog and say how earth hour is nothing but a corporate circle jerk.
And then I will tell people all the things we do, all of the products we buy, and all of the businesses we support that actually do support the environment.
For me, it’s truly about going beyond the hour. Even if that means exposing that hour for what it truly is.
I hope other people throw parties to honor the hypocrisy that is earth hour.
After all, if people want to shut off their light for one hour to commemorate all the ways they fail to support our environment. I’d like one hour out of the year to take a break from doing my part in limiting my footprint.
Cheers!
I could not agree more. Let’s not hope too many people buy this cr** in our part of the world, as I don’t feel like dealing with power fluctuations 😉
I too would like to take part in filing a complaint, I was one of the lucky ones that got something out of them but even that was a miricle. They still owe me just under $300 in meat. Class action lawsuit agenst The Butchers, I”M IN!!
My purchase was from Buytopia for $100.00 for $400.00 worth of organic meat. I just called to make an appointment, and the number is out of service.
My purchase was also from Buytopia ($99 for $400 worth of organic meat). Today I called the store – number out of service. Also the website is gone. I’ve left a message with Buytopia regarding a refund.
After MANY conversations with that criminal, Marlon, and many conversations with buytopia, I did finally get a refund from buytopia, so I don’t know if that prevents me from filing a compliant or not? I am OUTRAGED that Marlon seems to be getting away with this. About a month ago a had an argument in his store because once again his “policy” had changed and he wasn’t giving any refunds out. He said to me he didn’t care about the people who bought the coupons, because all of his old customers come back. This is what I don’t understand, how could his customer base continue to support a criminal. If he lied about the coupons, don’t ya think he could be lying about the quality of his meat? If I can help….would love to!
Consumers fight back!! You can do something. Marlon hasn’t left town. Go into his new store, yes, the one that we all paid for with the coupon money, and let him know what you think. Be warned, he will get angry. He seems to forget why we are so frustrated. But it surely made me feel better that I had told him how dishonest he was/is. If enough people do this, perhaps he will feel the impact — because bottom line, he still has our money.
I also am waiting on a reply from Buytopia regarding my refund for the butchers.. I have sent several messages & no reply to any of them
I have been fighting with Buytopia since December with regards to this issue. They refuse to refund my money! (And im not the crazy type to yell, swear or hit ppl lol) I agree with the Admin, in that we need to get together… I refuse to loose $200! I don’t really know how to connect, but i can be found on twitter – @CandiceFaust can anyone having this issue plz msg me so we can literally, storm the Bastille!
I have been fighting with Buytopia since December with regards to this issue. They refuse to refund my money! (And im not the crazy type to yell, swear or hit ppl lol) I agree with the Admin, in that we need to get together… I refuse to loose $200! I don’t really know how to connect, but i can be found on twitter – @CandiceFaust can anyone having this issue plz msg me so we can literally, storm the Bastille!
Personally I only purchase from deal sites that have a great return policy. One of my favourite deal site is http://www.hungrybuy.com. They have a 30 day no questions asked return policy so that way I know I’m covered for any possible incidents like what happened with the Butchers.
very good!!!
I can’t seem to find a phone number for Buytopia on their website. Can you share the number. I have written them numerous emails at “meat@buytopia.com” responding to an email they sent me in October, promising I would have my meat very soon. They have not responded to the dozens of resends of my reply.
I can’t seem to find a phone number for Buytopia on their website. Can you share the number. I have written them numerous emails at “meat@buytopia.com” responding to an email they sent me in October, promising I would have my meat very soon. They have not responded to the dozens of resends of my reply.
If you are all still interested in a lawsuit. I’M IN!!!! I don’t have twitter, but feel free to email me.
summermacdonald@rogers.com
THIS IS RIDICULOUS and something needs to be done.
If you are all still interested in a lawsuit. I’M IN!!!! I don’t have twitter, but feel free to email me.
summermacdonald@rogers.com
THIS IS RIDICULOUS and something needs to be done.
Where you may also want to focus your efforts is with Buytopia. It is Buytopia who should have been screening their vendors and established the contract with The Butchers. In speaking with Buytopia, they are not giving any refunds because they do not have the capital to do so. They mentioned that the are pursuing legal action, this is not completely the case, they are still in mediation with the Butchers, there isnt any formal legal action taking place at this time. This is not the first shady deal Buytopia has engaged in, refer to the La Vie en Rose deal that promised 50% off – actually it was 30% http://trueler.com/2011/12/29/false-advertisement-buytopia-la-vie-en-rose-boutique/
One may want to consider how ethical and reliable Buytopia is.
Dude! We’re in Niagara Falls right now!!! Way to go though! That was even an exhausting drive, let alone doing it on a self propelled two wheels!
Woot woot! Congrats Dave!! 🙂 🙂 Well done!
I brought 3 of the Butcher Shop vouchers. After constantly calling Buytopia they have now given me a $300 credit on my Butopia account. Not exactly what I wanted but better than nothing, I guess!! They also told me they are taking legal action against the Butcher Shop.
I bought four of these vouchers and all I got was two chickens a pork tenderloin. These guys are criminals. A law suit, I’m in too!
garibayed@yahoo.com
I bought four of these vouchers and all I got was two chickens a pork tenderloin. These guys are criminals. A law suit, I’m in too!
garibayed@yahoo.com
Dave, I’m in the same boat. Have you had any success contacting anyone to release your domain, yet? I’ve given up trying to get a techincal resolution since my site and email has been down for over a week and no one has responded.
Yes! I heard back from Tracy shortly after I wrote the post and then this morning I got the transfer code. I submitted the domain transfer but now I need to wait for the process to happen.
Good luck. I had great success with them for many years as well, but they did indeed go downhill fast. Glad to at least find out they’re still in business. I need to quickly start the process of getting the domain transfer before it’s too late.
I had spent a lot on these coupons, I have decided to take action myself. I think i will take the Buytopisa route and also plan to visit Marlons and see for myself how he will react. We are all so polite in Canada, he’s lucky.
In same boat – except, I hadn’t noticed any decline in service until today – when not only my two sites but also the nexpoint.net main site have all vanished. Their main number 866-639-7646 is responding with a canned ad for ‘GoBig.com’ [some travel service] and the 540-442-9499 number is disconnected. They just billed me for another year’s worth of hosting on Aug 2 … if anyone is in the same boat and sees this, email me at ideoplast@yahoo.com, would be nice to figure out if we can get any sort of refund from Xibi Group – if they are the new owners of the business …
I started with some company in 1998 that through acquisitions/mergers became Nexpoint. It has been horrible recently. I finally transferred my dedicated server and started moving my domain registrations as the renewals came up. Today (8-22-2012), their entire system is down. Can’t get to the name servers.
It’s funny, because they kept asking me if there was anything they could do to keep my business. Yeh. Not go down. Not answer my Server Down! tickets for days on end. Little stuff like that.
Yikes! This is a disaster for us. Our non-profit organization is in the middle of a popular program with Sony and we have thousands of people trying to visit our website for the first time and send email to us.
If there´s a class action brewing, we want in.
Nathan
yeah, my site is down now over 24 hours and my banner advertisers are complaining to me already!
please help me
rob stevens
mwe3.com
My website was gone on 8/20/12. Nexpoint and my website was OK early in August and called them to change password and update and everything was fine. Pray with little hope they come back or my website is gone forever. I called Bergen County consumer affairs and have not heard back. Count me in any legal action.
Frank L.
Hello,
We are sorry for inconvenience cause to you.
We are facing some technical issues at our DC end. Our DC admins are still working hard to resolve the issues.
Meanwhile your patience is appreciated.
Please contact to nexpointhost@gmail.com
Regards,
Adam
Had 2 websites hosted on a dedicated server with them. Just paid for for 3 more months. I have been trying to get a hold of them but to no success.
really slow and annoying , almost 4 days their servers are down, i think this talk enough about their business and future…Soon we will have to talk about them in past time!
I got this email recently:
Hello,
Please accept our sincere apologies for the problems you have had recently regarding our hosting service. To correct it we have a qualified team working full time to restore services. Our Verio datacenter has passed along problems that they cannot deal with on to us and we are doing our best. We estimate 48hrs to fix issues on all accounts. The only way to fix the problem is physically move servers to the new Data Center and we are in the process of doing that . Once again we are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused you and we want to thank you for your understanding of our unforeseen issues.
Regards,
Customer Support
It was addressed to someone else and I was bcc’d on it for some reason. It came from nexpointhost@gmail.com You know you’re in trouble when your hosting service uses gmail for their mail servers.
I’m in the same boat as all of you. I have multiple sites hosted with Nexpoint, all paid on annual contracts.
Please let me know if any of you hear back from them. I sent an email to their gmail account but have not received a reply.
The link to your presentation is not working – can you help?
It’s back up. Try again.
Found this thread looking for more information.
It’s September 4, 2012 and the situation with nexpoint has not changed.
I’d also like to add a note about the service. It was painfully slow. Without any AC this place was hot, and it took over 20 minutes to get our drinks. It’s unfortunate, but I will not be returning either. I really wanted to like this place, especially after some of the pictures I had seen online. Onto other places!
It’s sad that they can’t tell customers what’s going on and that they apparently have no online presence now (um hello technology company). Using their Twitter account might help, but that hasn’t been updated since 2009!
https://twitter.com/NexpointWebHost
I received this similar reply today so I guess they’re not quite out of business yet. Even though it will be a pain to do, as soon as they’re back-up we’ll be transferring our hosting somewhere else because they are simply too unreliable now. Will anyone actually stay with them?
PS I think I still have some discount codes for Dreamhost that make it practically free for the first year if anyone’s interested.
—————————————————————————-
Hello,
We can understand your frustrations. We apologies for inconvenience caused to you.
Our DC admins are still working hard to resolve the issues.
We dont have ETA about the resolution. but we will let you know once everything is fine.
Meanwhile your patience is appreciated.
Regards,
Customer Support
—————————————————————————-
I came across this http://hostjury.com/reviews/ It might help people with their new hosting.
this is hell of bosterds
I have no idea what that means.
I also had bought some coupons from Dealfind, and was looking to use my coupons this weekend. After reading a few links on the company, and now reading this site, I hope to recover my $220 I spent from Dealfind. I just emailed the customer service, we will see what they say.
Hey Dave,
I just posted this thing on registering for organ donation on Facebbok and a friend pointed out this foolishness about gay (men only?) people being disqualified from organ donation in Canada.
I researched it, me being me and the internet being the internet, and I landed on your article (http://www.davehamel.com/2009/05/25/nice-site-hope-hes-not-gay/) and subsequently here.
I want to recognize you for writing this post and the one that led me here. I don’t know how much credit to give your mom, but she was the reason you came out as you say, so fair to say she gets some credit.
People often say that loved one’s no longer with us live on in our memories and in the way we live out their memory. That’s sometimes hard to imagine, so to close the circle, I’m writing you as a total stranger to make tangible to you how your’s and your mother’s story have reached me. And I’m better off for the experience. And your mom still gets some of the credit.
A tree of love has far reaching branches.
Take good care.
Has ANYONE succeeded in getting their data? Please contact me directly if you have advice. I have 8 years of work sitting at Nexpoint!
I had two sites hosted by them. Both are still down as of today. I had a support ticket opened back in late July about my email going down, then the sites went. Back in late Sept they brought their own sites up, but not mine. I opened a second support ticket asking when my site would come up. I got a reply that they were working on restoring servers. Since then and as of tonight their support site is down too.
If any law suit is being considered I would be interested in joining it. I was billed by them 2 weeks before the outage began and all communication with them has resulted in exactly the same replies as noted by Dave. I have yet to move my sites as they are a low priority currently but I definately would like a refund for services not provided.
Dave,
Interesting you have chosen this topic to discuss. Since my son was born, I have dreaded the idea of having my little guy vaccinated. In fact, I was relieved that he missed his first shots (given at 8 weeks), only to be delayed until he was 13 weeks old.
I have had many discussions with friends that have children. Well-informed, highly educated friends that decided to put off vaccines until their children were older. I don’t know of anyone that outright refused immunization, but I don’t know if I would accuse them of being completely irresponsible. I don’t feel it is that black and white. There are some risks involved with having vaccinations. The website you referred to, WHO, lists (with rates of occurrences) the potential risks of vaccinating. For example, generalized urticaria (hives that can lead to anaphylaxis) and nervous system dysfunction have been reported. The rates show the occurence of death or injury (as you have indicated in the graphic photos) associated with ‘catching’ the disease is far worse and more likely to occur, than the injury and death associated with immunizations. But that doesn’t make it an easy decision. (For me, I ended up using the WHO numbers to decide to immunize my son)
It can be overwhelming to know your actions affect the life of a vulnerable human being. My experience with having my child vaccinated was not without incident. One of the immunizations – rotovirus – was given to him orally. He suffered vomiting for a day, and diarrhea for several days after. For a little guy that doesn’t hav much weight to lose, this was worrying. Consequently, we have decided not to go with the ‘booster’ immunization for this disease.
This is a topic I would discuss further, but I have other priorities at the moment. I am glad you brought it up.
Your loving sister,
Nicole
Hi Nic,
I love the fact you wrote that you ended up using the WHO numbers to decide to immunize your son. Decisions based on reason and deduction are always preferable to ones based on tradition and superstition.
I suppose what I found upsetting about this story is that the mother, who obviously loves and cares for her daughter wouldn’t look at actual data and instead chose what I would say is tantamount to hocus-pocus and wishful thinking.
I know people who chose to immunize their child for one disease at a time instead of the vaccine cocktail so that the body was only working on one disease at a time, so waiting until your child is a few weeks older (and stronger) makes perfect sense. I assume you had a discussion with your paediatrician and voiced your concerns. I am sure you collected data prior to making your decision.
As you mention immunization is not without risks, and I cannot imagine the guilt and grief a parent who immunized their child would go through if that child had a negative reaction or died. But statistically children are in greater danger from household pets, or car accidents, or an allergic reactions to nuts than they are by vaccines.
31 fatal dogs attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States
2,000 car accidents
http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/children-car-accidents-the-alarming-statistics-695796.html
150 deaths due to food alleries
http://www.achooallergy.com/food-allergy-faqs.asp
At the moment more people are refusing to immunize their children based on a spurious report by a discredited doctor, Andrew Wakefield, who has subsequently lost his license. This is because celebrities like Jenny McCarthy (known for posing in Playboy and being the former girlfriend of Jim Carrey) decided to make it her cause and in our society people would rather take their health advice from a woman who takes her clothes off than a group of scientists and doctors who have years of learnings about the body.
your loving brother,
Dave
I have a complaint about this company Buytopia.ca . I have purchased KitchenAid mixer since Nov 29th 2012. Paid by visa which I already got the billed and up to date never received the product. I have made several phone calls to 1-855-442-2220 and get only voice mail. There are other option when calling the above phone number. So I did, there I spoke to some one explaining my problem and they told me to call 1-800-242-0898, the shipping company name OFFICE DOT KING. Please I need someone to look into this company because its a FRAUD / SCAM still in business taking consumers money.
This item was published on Nov 23rd 2012 in the Metro newspaper weekend eition Promo code BlackFR23) by Buytopia.ca.
so dave where is the class action law suit against NEXPOINT that we all agree should happen?
robert
mwe3.com
Dave
I had to pay 2500 to have my web site rebuilt plus I lost other work on their servers. I’m trying to assign the invoice to NEXPOINT and follow up with further damage claims. can you or anyone else involved here assist me?
thank you
robert
mwe3.com
mwe3nyc@gmail.com
I spent all day on the phone with Gov. Christie’s office and no one seems to have any idea what the meaning of domestic cyber crimes Jersey… It seems like the whole problem started when NEXPOINT somehow ended up in New Jersey… Also someone said there was a Pakistani connection to Xibi group alot of hits from there servers were coming from Pakistan? Will someone please speak up??
God knows how many other web sites… How many people were hurt by Nexpoint Dave?
robert
mwe3nyc@gmail.com
Hey Rob,
Sorry but I don’t think I can help you. I am in Canada, and we’re not that litigious. I had backups of my files so I wasn’t really that badly off. It was a nuisance for me but not really damaging.
D
Hi!
Where in Chinatown did you get it unlocked?
I know there are a million places but not sure where exactly, or how to know if one is reputable.
I can’t remember the name but it was on College St. One of the issues is anyone can unlock the phone. If you buy a phone outright, not on a plan, the phone company is obligated to unlock it for you to take to any carrier according to the CRTC. Some will try to charge you for it. What I wanted to do is get it jailbroken to change the OS but that is much more complicated apparently.
They don’t put put them on, because they can’t!!
Most have a curve which makes them peel in a week.
Seriously my friend had one put on professionally, It was a fucking awful job. Bits of dust, bubbles, an absolute joke!
These plastic bits of tat are so shit. Designed to rip people off.
they scratch easier than the screen, so whats the point?!Either have a slightly scratched screen, or a screen that has bubbles, dust AND scratches & looks fucking awful! – I’ll take a slightly scratched screen. everytime I see these on a phone I have to laugh..:) Put one of these on & Instantly make your phone 10 years older – great!
man ive been frustrated since july 2012, no way of communicating with nexpoint, they owe me for 6 months
now on top of it all $100 was taken out of my paypal account today! plus they have my website, cant get it released . class action
reminds me of the judgement day
Heres the new number 416-481-5777
Not having any luck trying to contact Nexpoint to relaese domain name. Where any of you able to contact Nexpoint for a release of your domains. I thought if I waited till it expired I would be able to repurchase it but am being told Nexpoint has to release it to me first.
Any help would be grateful
Hi,
Did you ever hear back about this?
I bought the same thing and was in the same situation (insert the verbal abuse I got from the owner when I went there).
As I am sure you know, the owner took off and it is now open under a different name (all apart of the scam if you ask me).
He is probably on some island drinking a pina colada with the over 2 million earned thru this scam.
shamefull.
I heard last summer there was a class-action law suit being filed thru Global News, yet when I googled, nothing came up.
Thanks!
Alana
Hi Dave,
My name is Will and I work for WTB, Wilderness Trail Bikes. We are coming out with a new tire this spring and I would like to use a photo you took from the Downieville Classic race, the Cruiser Cup from 2001 that features Fred Falk, our Operations Manager. The photo would be used with supporting collaterals that would be sent to media – the tire’s name pays homage to Fred and the image would help explain who Fred is and his history with WTB. I would love to include a photo credit to you as well as try to drive traffic to your website if you would like that. Please let me know at your soonest convenience – sadly, as is the case with all of these things, I have a looming deadline.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Will Ritchie
WTB, Inc.
Content Editor
writchie@wtb.com
415-389-5040
Lel, is this what the almighty British empire has turned into? A totalitarian police state? Despicable
You don’t really “get” postmodernism, do you?
What’s there to get? I don’t find cynical or “ironic” art witty or particularly engaging.
“We get it, if Hitler was a happier fellow, who made it as an artist, perhaps he wouldn’t have killed 6 million Jews.” *Yawn*
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Toronto is one of the largest city in North America and has more residents than six of Canada’s ten provinces. Toronto needs a functional Mayor who knows what the job entails and how to do the job. For the past four years, we’ve had little more than a glorified mascot. It’s time to move on.
I was in UVic Visual Arts today and couldn’t stop thinking about you! Please contact me so we can “talk”. Hugs, Lael……
One word, “Freaky”. No wait, two words, “F%&*g Freaky”
greg and I got a good laugh from that side by side: fantastic!!
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Dave,
For the small amount of money that you part with every week. View it as a cheap option. Imagine if the office did win and forgot to put your money in that week or you opted out. I guess you got an instant promotion but it could be a very empty office.
Hi Dave. My husband is going through what you have gone through. His byopsy is going to be tomorrow with Dr. Singal. He is ok with it…I am terrified! He already had an MRI where they did not find any cancer in the USA and a test at the University of Michigan with mix results. Thank you for your site and all your information.
Tania
Hi Tania, Your husband is in good hands with Dr. Singal. If the MRI showed nothing that is a good sign. I wish you both all the very best. It is a stressful situation to be in, but it sounds like your husband is much more stoic than I was. Dave.
I also really enjoyed We were here. It was really powerful.
He hasn’t disappeared. He is back…down the street at a store called Camden Market. Saw him there last week as I was walking by.
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LOL GET OVER IT LOSER
Stay classy Marlon, stay classy
Hi Dave
Appreciate you posting your adventure from the clinic, I am of a similar age and have the opportunity to do the same thing in a few months so the advance tips were helpful!
Question – do you get to choose your doctor? I mean it’s your money and some of us prefer doctors with more experience, others prefer newer docs who might be up on more current methods etc, and some would prefer one gender or another…so are you just assigned a doctor or do you get a vote? Thanks!
Hi Jeff,
Yes you do get to choose your main doctor, so if you prefer a man they will accommodate. I would recommend you look up which doctor you want to see. Last time I went I didn’t specify which physician I wanted to see and I didn’t have a great experience. I found the physician that was assigned to me to be cold and uncaring so I haven’t been back since.
The various specialists you don’t get to choose; there is one optometrist, one cariologist etc.
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I have no idea how I ended up on this blog BUT my husband had prostate cancer this year and ended up with surgery and is very WELL
reading your account I felt for you and this why I am writing
He researched like crazy- clearly you are doing the same
How we discovered his cancer is a very LONG story but
MRI is how we found his essentially… but you must do it with the correct protocol… so therefore not just some standard MRI
When you look for a surgeon you want the guy with the biggest numbers.
The guy in Ontario is Bobby Shayegan in Hamilton at St Joseph’s Hospital
The next best guy is in London Dr Stephen Pautler
Then Toronto
Both of these guys do a DaVinci procedure – less invasive
If you need to know more I could put you in touch with my husband
Thanks Cathy, I am fortunate to be on active surveillance. The plan is to remain here as long as I can. I’m pleased your husband is doing well. That is reassuring to hear.
u2. I can list off of a dozen of their songs that I don’t just like but love. The European robin on my left bicep is a nod to U2 (and the Stones). 🙂 For me, Running to Stand Still is a close second to Bad and Stay (Far away so close) rips my heart out every time. Funny you mention Beautiful Day as your trip theme bc I listened to it a lot while travelling too and found it just catches the rhythm of the journey so well!! Thanks for this post!!!! *hugs*
I agree and disagree. I’ve been a landlord and tenant. While the rules favour the tenant, the rulings often end up in favour of the landlord. I’ve known someone who had an infestation and tried to get out of her place – ruling was in landlord’s favour. I love the idea of a yelp for properties though. That’s why the airbnb model can be so useful: a higher caliber tenant with good references can presumably be more easily sniffed out and ditto for the landlord.
Hands down agree about short term rentals. Cost us over $700 to get our place cleaned after the short term tenants left and they left our coffee table outside all window, our gate doors open all the time so now they sag. On the damage front that’s all super minor compared to what some people get but imo indicative of the don’t give a shit attitude of people who aren’t in it for the long haul. :/
Funny you should mention infestation. We had tenants who brought in bedbugs after they went to New York and stayed in a hostel. It cost us several thousand dollars to deal with it. Is that fair? Should we have had to pay for an issue they caused?
I appreciate that some people get screwed by crappy land lords but there has got to a better way to protect both parties and ensure people have a safe, comfortable place to live.
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Dave, this was a good read…. thanks for posting.. I can’t find Part 1 and any follow on.. did you publish? I’m thinking of joining Medcan *my dime, not work, and next week….I found your review totally helpful.. except for the body shots.. ouch.. giving me anxiety already!
You can find it here http://www.davehamel.com/2013/10/26/and-then-i-was-40/
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This piece beautifully captures the essence of true hobbies—pursued for joy, not utility. It resonates deeply, reminding us to value these activities as essential for a fulfilling life beyond work and responsibilities. A must-read for anyone seeking balance.
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Immediately Morisette’s song, ‘I’m a B, I’m a lover; I’m a child,… comes to mind. I do not think I’m the person in the mirror. Or the role player in my home, work, and community. I’m a child of the stars, a steward of the land, a witness to love, hate, death and growth. And a servant to my cat.
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