I’m not angry with Alltel right now. I’m over that. Today it’s Verizon. Back in June I switched my internet from Verizon DSL to Cable and I’ve never been happier. Best service EVER. I canceled my Verizon DSL and downgraded my two phone lines to metered calls. After all, everyone in the family has a cell phone so there was no sense in paying all that money for full featured phone lines.

Well, I thought I canceled and downgraded.

Today marks the third call to Verizon to cancel. Once again I was told that there is no record of my having canceled previously. This is really getting to me. I can’t find anywhere online to cancel or I’d do it that way. At least I’d have a digital record of the cancellation then.

I don’t know if there is some kind of authorize.net site that lets you deal with these types of issues or not but there should be. I’m not going to pay for service that I don’t use. Enough is enough.

I’ll call back in a day or two to find out what happens. How much you want to bet this isn’t over yet.

My friend, Jeremy Hilton, is having a problem with Fields BMW in Florida. In a nutshell, he brought his vehicle in for one problem and left with three new, unrelated ones. The response from the service department at Fields has been rude and arrogant.

After tweeting and stumbling his post, I called Fields myself. (Phone Number removed per Jeremy’s request) I did not curse; I was polite. I stated that I was calling on behalf of Jeremy Hilton to let them know that I’m appalled at the lack of service he received from them. The response? “Oh, so you believe everything you read online?” And when I mentioned that I know Jeremy Hilton (met him recently) the response was then, “OH! So you know him? Okay.” As if knowing him makes any difference.

When asked why it was any of my business, I explained to her that I am a consumer, that I’ve had bad service previously, and that I believe in standing together for a common good. The woman was very obviously perturbed while retaining an arrogant tone.

So, if you’re reading this, head on over to Jeremy’s blog and read his account. Retweet his message, stumble his post, post about it yourself. And do call the customer service number to voice your support of Jeremy. Just be sure to be nice. Oh, and pass the number on to anyone who might want to call. There’s power in numbers and sometimes it takes a large number of us “little people” to make big things happen.

I love my Alltel cell phone service. I have very few dead zones and almost no dropped calls. I love dealing with the representatives on the phone. They’re always very courteous and helpful.

So what’s my gripe? Once again, I’ve had an awful experience in one of the Alltel stores. I absolutely cannot stand the people who work in the Alltel stores. They’re snippy, condescending and just down nasty.

Don’t get me wrong, they’re all sweet and cheery as they try to convince you to upgrade your service or your phone or extend your contract. When they realize that you’re going to get just what you came in for – no more, no less – the saccharine turns bitter and these salespeople turn to ice.

My latest adventure saw me scolded by an impertinent Missy Roberts in the Steubenville, Ohio Alltel store. I’m old enough to have changed this little girl’s diapers and yet she spoke to me as if I were an incorrigible child. Never mind that the whole “the customer is always right” mantra has been thrown out the window, Alltel representatives appear to have been trained to verbally abuse their customers into submission if the “soft sell” and “hard sell” both fail to produce results.

Keep in mind, I’ve been an Alltel customer for over 15 years. I was a customer when they were 360 something or another. In fact, I don’t think their records go back to when we first signed up, in 1991. You would think that the company would hold us long time customers very dear to them, rewarding our loyalty rather than insulting us for not jumping at every sale they have each month.

I know that Verizon is trying to take over Alltel. I know that will make the company even bigger and the customer service could very well get worse. Let’s hope not. Let’s hope Verizon gives the boot to those who don’t know the proper way to treat a customer.

Oh, and for the record, I did customer service and tech support for 7 years so I’m coming at this from both sides. I expect to be treated the way treated my own customers. If Alltel needs someone to train these rude employees, just give me a yell. I may come out of retirement if it means whipping these reps into shape.

As you know, my husband has just left for Hawaii. He’ll be gone until at least June. While I’m already missing him, I am most certainly not missing the smell of cigarettes in my house. Since I quit smoking more than two years ago, I’ve become very aware of the awful odor of cigarettes. Which is why I’m always trying to find ways to eliminate or even mask that awful smell.

Since I’ve always like Renuzit products (especially their odor neutralizer that worked wonders when I was house training Belle) I was very interested in their new product, Tri Scents. I noticed that not only are they offering a very generous store coupon to try their new TriScents, but Renuzit is also offering a $20,000 home makeover!

My house isn’t that old but we did build it ourselves, while living in our garage for eight months. That means that we had to skimp on some stuff here and there and after 15 years, that skimping shows. I’m all set to enter to win a makeover for my kitchen.

You can see from these pictures (Click them to open and make them bigger) that my kitchen looked pretty nice, though plain, 15 years ago. You can also see that the floor is a basic linoleum, that we had every intention of replacing with ceramic tile in a few years. Hasn’t happened. What has happened is that the bar stools that we bought about 10 years ago have ripped holes in the linoleum. My floors look just awful!

The one thing I wouldn’t skimp on was the countertop. I had to have that dark dark gray counter. And part of it had to be specially cut. That was a mistake. I have 5 sons and sons tend to be hard on pretty things. There are more nicks and cuts and burn spots on my counter than I ever imagined possible. It just breaks my heart.

I really want my kitchen redone, or at least my floors and counters. I’ve read the official rules and I’m ready to enter. I dont’ really want a lot of competition but I like all of you so I’ll share this with you anyway. Head on over to the TriScents site and decide which room in your house you’d like made over. Then enter to win the $20,000 prize! I won’t get mad if you win instead of me, but I do expect you to share the pictures with me, so I can enjoy your good fortune, too.

In my family, that would be me.

When I look around my house, I can’t find one electronic item that I did not buy. No matter what we need, I do the research on brands and models, I do the online and brick and mortar price comparison, and I make the final decision and purchase. In fact, after standing by silently as my husband bought our first television more than two decades ago, I gladly accepted the position of Electronic Purchasing Agent. Why? Well, because when purchasing that TV, my husband agreed to a product warranty that cost almost 50% of the price of the TV!

I know a number of people who always buy the extended warranty on a product without even thinking. I’ve tried to explain to them that the sales person at the store where they bought that new car stereo or vacuum cleaner or digital camera is going to get a nice bonus for talking them into buying the warranty. It doesn’t matter. They feel so much more secure knowing that if anything goes wrong, they’ll be covered.

But there’s a better way to be covered. Rather than making a split decision, right there at the cash register, why not think about it a little and if you need the warranty, buy it later, when you get home. Did you know you could do that? Well, with Square Trade you can do just that, and at a much lower price than any warranty you’ll be offered in a store.

Square Trade warranties are typically 10% – 15% of the purchase price, which can be as much as a 50% savings over store warranties. Square Trade covers new items for 3 years and all other items for 1 year. It doesn’t matter where you buy the item, online or in a regular store, you can purchase a warranty for anything you purchase. Whether it’s Wal-Mart, Circuit City, NewEgg or Dell, Square Trade offers a warranty for your purchase.

Perhaps one of the best features of Square Trade is the time factor. You have time to think about your purchase and whether you want a warranty or not. You can also go home and do a little calculating to determine a reasonable price for a 3 year warranty on a product you purchased. Square Trade offers consumers a competitive product at an excellent price; they know it’s to their advantage that the consumer take the time to crunch the numbers. Salespeople in stores want you to make a decision on the spot; thinking about it is definitely not to their advantage.

Square Trade isn’t a new company. They’ve been around since 1999 and are the largest warranty service on ebay. In fact, they’re the only company that offers warranties no matter where you shop. By purchasing all of your warranties from Square Trade, you can keep all of the pertinent information in one location, managing everything online. No more searching through papers for receipts and warranty information; Square Trade keeps everything centralized for easy access.

I realize that not everyone is as skeptical as I am when it comes to salespeople trying to sell me more than I want. We all like to save money, though, so think of Square Trade as a great way to save money. Because that’s exactly what it is.

It’s bad enough when they try to sell me things I could possibly want, like family safe videos or the chance to visit Orlando Villas with the possibility to purchase time share. But when I get a call to sell me siding for my house – my brick house, no less – then I get a little testy.

Here’s the thing. If I’m interested in a product or service, I know how to search for it online. Thanks for trying to help but I’m not interested in using up my cell phone minutes on your advertising gimmicks.

Recently, Calacanis sat down with Ted Murphy, CEO of PayPerPost, for an interesting and lively podcast interview. It’s about an hour long but it is worth watching.

As I watched this, comments and retorts were blurting from my mouth. There was so much I wanted to say to Jason, to set him straight. Ted did a fine job but he missed a few key points. Understandable since he was there, in the heat of the moment and I was able to watch at home in my recliner.

Anyway, I won’t go through the whole podcast. I want to make just one point. Calacanis used magazines and their “Advertisement” disclosure as an example of ethical journalism and to illustrate his objection to bloggers who use sitewide disclosure. I know what he had in mind; I’ve seen those obvious advertisements in magazines, too. But that isn’t an accurate analogy to what bloggers are doing. I was trying to find a better comparison when I finally gave up and retreated to my comfy chair to read my latest edition of Allure magazine. And that’s when it all came together.

Just pick up a copy of the April issue of Allure. Turn to page 174; that article caught my eye because I’ve been a mineral makeup convert for over 5 years. The article, as expected, mentioned the better known makeup brands which also happen to advertise within the pages of the magazine. No problem It was an independant article, right? Well, maybe.

On page 175, toward the end of the article, is an editorial box making mention of some mineral makeup brands. Each and every one of those brands advertise in Allure magazine. There is no notice anywhere near that box signifying the items are paying for a mention. And there are dozens of other mineral makeup companies with excellent products that could have been mentioned there as well. However, none of those companies advertise in Allure.

I will point out as well that people pay for that (and other) magazines. No one pays me to read my blog. In fact, I pay for hosting and my domain in order to publish my blog. I would have to say that magazines have more of a responsibility to explain the process by which particular brands ended up in the sidebar rather than the dozens of other equally qualifying brands that don’t buy advertising space elsewhere in the mag.

Need more examples? Just check out the various regular columns in any magazine. Brands that buy advertising within the pages of a magazine are likely to be mentioned elsewhere in the magazine, not in clearly marked advertisements but in editorial pages and regular columns as well as article sidebars.

And yet Calacanis bashes bloggers who accept the offer to review sites and products for money. You would think that Jason has never accepted compensation, in money or product, for any written or verbal review (and yes, that includes a test item if he’s allowed to keep it after reviewing it). Uh, no. I find that hard to believe. I also find it disingenuous to proclaim that his disclosure is understood within the context of his post because people know him so well yet we peon bloggers must disclose in the first sentence of a post because otherwise, we’re being deceptive. Right. Different rules for the mighty Calacanis.

I can’t help but get the impression that Calacanis’ primary objection to PayPerPost is that he didn’t think of it and implement it first. He just seems like that kind of guy, given his Digg history.

I know Brit wants a diamond engagement ring. I understand that because I remember how I’d picked out the one I wanted 3 decades ago. And she has circled quite a few rings in magazines to give Nick hints about what she wants.

I’ve just passed a site onto Brit and will be emailing it to Nick, too. I want them to make sure they know as much as possible about diamonds and how best to make this important purchase. Abazias.com does more than sell diamonds and diamond rings; they educate.

Granted, I love how easy it is to choose your diamond cut, your price range, carat size, clarity and color. I love that you can use their website to build your own unique ring. But the section of this site that sets it apart from every other diamond site I’ve seen is the Diamond Education pages.

I always have a good feeling about companies that are willing to keep the marketing buzz words at a minimum while focusing on educating the consumer. I like being educated. Abazias.com offers the usual information on the 4 C’s and the difference in their own diamonds but also give an interesting History of the Diamond and even a nice article about Diamond Politics. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a diamond site give such a thorough commentary on diamonds. Well done, Abazias!

I realize that many people are leery about making such a sizable purchase online. Abazias knows that, too, and offers an extensive FAQ that addresses this concern as well as other questions. They’ve also gone the extra mile to offer a list of certified independent appraisers from across the country. It seems that they’ve gone beyond the minimum requirements to assure the quality of their products and the integrity of their company.

I feel much better about Nick and Brit making such a big purchase now that they have this great resource. I just hope Brit lets me help her design her ring. I’ve already designed a few as a test run and I think I’ve got some great samples to show her. Oh, okay, I’ll let her do it herself. I guess I’ll just have to design an anniversary ring for me.

I love green beans but they’re never as good as when they’re prepared with garlic. I think tomorrow I’ll go with the asparagus for lunch and maybe some broccoli for supper. If nothing else, all these veggies are probably good for me. But let’s hope I lose weight, too.

Oh, and I’m having a steak, too.

We were lucky, I suppose. We had treatment available to us. Not everyone does. I’ve seen too many families destroyed by addiction when they had no where to turn. Not everyone has the luxury of drug rehab, either due to finances or location.

Back in 1998, a group of addiction specialists and investors got together and founded the Watershed Drug and Alcohol Treatment Program. They were committed to providing treatment in an affordable way. They opened their first facility in Boca Raton and now have treatment centers in Boynton and Houston, Texas.

I’ve read through the Watershed website and I can’t help but wish that someone would bring this type of treatment to our area. We need it. We need a facility that treats addiction as a disease, because that’s what it is. Addiction is not a character flaw. It’s not weakness. It’s a disease that needs treatment. Watershed treats the disease and helps the person heal.

Perhaps just as important, Watershed has programs for the family as well. Addiction is a family disease. The family group therapy sessions I attended with my son contributed to his ability to remain clean for over 3 years. Watershed recognizes the part played by the enabling family members and works to educate the family about addiction. There is much to be learned.

Watershed Drug and Addiction Treatment Centers off hope to those who feel hopeless. They offer a new, clean life to those who want to overcome the prison of addiction. Watershed goes a step beyond to bring sanity to those living in the insane world of addiction.

This is a sponsored post.