The Chronic Consumer

I just read that PeoplePC Online is offering a special introductory rate for their unlimited Internet package. If you sign up using the promo code OTB404, you’ll get the first three months of service for $4.97/mo. After that, the service goes back to its regular price of $9.95/mo. This offer is only available to brand-new PeoplePC Online subscribers and you must be at least 18 years old to take advantage of it.

Visit www.peoplepc.com for details.

I ordered a few books from Barnes & Noble, and inside the box there was also an envelope containing shopping coupons and discount codes for several different stores. The only one I might end up using is a discount code for free shipping at jcp.com, which is the JCPenney website. The offer is good on orders of $75 or more and is valid until July 11, 2007. All you have to do is enter the code BBNOB7B during checkout and you’ll be all set. Hope this helps some of you!

I love to indulge on nice bath products from places such as Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and The Body Shop. I have a large collection of gels, sprays, bubble bath, soaps, and lotions in various scents and colors from all of these stores. One of the products I’ve recently tried is something called Strawberry Body Polish from The Body Shop.

Strawberry Body Polish is a foaming body wash and gentle exfoliant. It comes in gel form, which is definitely what I prefer (because it’s easier to control the amount used). I’ve been using this body polish for a couple of weeks now, and I really love it! It smells fantastic, and has had a noticeable impact on my skin in just a short time. My skin is softer and smoother due to the exfoliating action of the polish — just as promise.

I was able to buy a large 6.75 oz. tube of Strawberry body polish for $17.50. It’s a bit more expensive than other shower gels I’ve used, but I think it’s worth it. I absolutely love this product and recommend that you give it a try!

PhotoStamps.com is a website that allows you to turn your personal photos into usable stamps that are authorized by the U.S. postal service. Although I’ve personally never used the service, I think it sounds like a really neat idea and am planning to test it out one of these days.

I just received a free shipping offer from the site, which I wanted to share with all of you here. The promo code to use is BOOKS, and there’s no expiration associated with this offer (none that I can see at any rate) so just keep it in mind for the next time you want to order some stamps.

A friend of mine just had a bad experience with a transaction on eBay. She won the auction, paid for her item right away, and then never received it even though the seller swears up and down that it was sent. Now my friend has to go through the hassle of initiating a claim on PayPal, so who knows how long it’ll be before she gets her money back (I’m sure she will, eventually).

When she was showing me what happened, I noticed that the seller she bought from had a TERRIBLE rating!! So many other people had left negative or neutral feedback that I couldn’t believe my friend actually took a chance and bought something from the person. But she said it was such a good deal that she couldn’t pass it up — which brings me to the point of this post.

I love eBay and have scored some fantastic bargains over the years. But you always, ALWAYS have to check the seller’s feedback score before buying anything. If the person has screwed over everyone else, what makes you think he or she won’t do the same to you? No “bargain” is worth the headache and hassle of trying to prove your side of the story if the transaction ever gets disputed.

I thought this was common sense on the part of eBay shoppers, but apparently not. Remember that when you buy from eBay, you’re dealing with regular people for the most part (not necessarily retail outlets), so you’ve definitely got to stay on your toes!

Like most shoppers, I enjoy purchasing name-brand items without having to pay retail price. So I’m always checking out websites that offer discount luxury goods to see what kind of bargains I can find. One site that specializes in these types of discounts is Jomashop.com. I ordered a Movado watch from the site a long time ago, and thought I’d tell about my experience here.

If you use Google Product Search (Froogle) or a similar tool to shop for a specific luxury item, chances are that Jomashop.com will show up near the top of the results. They seem to offer the lowest prices on just about everything from watches to handbags to accessories, and they have a pretty good selection. However, I found their customer service to be extremely lacking, and I’m very hesitant to buy from them again.

I was interested in buying a Movado Esperanza watch, and saw that Jomashop priced the watch almost $50 lower than anyone else. I checked the site, noted that the item was listed as “In Stock” and therefore, according to Jomashop policy, should have shipped that same day (since I was ordering before 1:30pm EST). I placed my order and sat back to wait for my watch.

I didn’t receive a shipping confirmation the next day, so I figured something must have happened and they’d get to it that day for sure. When I still didn’t hear anything from them by the end of business, I started to become a bit concerned. They had placed an authorization on my credit card for the amount of the watch and everything, so I was sure it wasn’t a problem on my end. I sent an email to customer service asking where my watch was.

Hey, I know it was only two days, but — stores shouldn’t promise same-day or next-day shipping if they can’t follow through.

No one responded to my email, so I had to call in and talk to someone. The rep then told me that the watch I wanted was on backorder and would ship out as soon as it came in. WTF??? I only bought the thing from Jomashop because the site said it was in stock! I would have ordered from someplace else if I knew I would have to wait!! So I told her to cancel my order, which she [said] she did.

I then ordered the watch from someone else and paid a bit more money, but it at least shipped out the next day. Unfortunately, my saga with Jomashop wasn’t over yet.

It turns out that the CSR didn’t cancel the order after all, so I ended up with a UPS package from Jomashop like two weeks later. I called in and asked what I was supposed to do with the box, and they said to mark it as “Refused” and send it back. Well, that meant I had to call UPS and arrange for the pickup, which was obviously just more time I had to spend correcting Jomashop’s mistakes. Then I had to wait until they received the package and put the item back into inventory before they would credit my account for the purchase price.

I’ve read on Bizrate.com that other people have had similar issues with Jomashop. It seems to me that they just say they have everything in stock in order to get your business, and then they give you the runaround until they actually get the item.

Anyway, that one experience was so bad that I’ve never ordered from them again — even though they still offer the lowest prices on luxury goods. If I were you, I’d pay a bit extra just to make sure that you get the item on time, especially if it’s a gift for someone else.

The bottom line: Deal with Jomashop.com at your own risk!!

I’m not much of a fitness buff, but I do try to get in some brisk walking or light jogging at least every other day. Recently, I was in need of new shoes for my daily walks, so I started checking out some products. I’ve never owned athletic shoes from a company other than Nike, and since I’ve generally had good results from them, I decided to stick with the brand this time as well.

I don’t know the first thing about running shoes, so this review isn’t going to be useful to any hard-core runners out there. The only things I were looking at were: price (first and foremost), comfort, and style. After a few hours of shopping, I ended up purchasing the Nike Verve II for the following reasons.

Price: As I said, this was the first component I wanted to look at. I was aiming to keep my purchase under $50 and refused to even consider anything more expensive than that. There’s no way I could justify a more expensive shoe. As far as price goes, Nike shoes were by far the cheapest at the store I visited. This particular store also carried Reebok, Asics, New Balance, Puma, and Adidas, but those brands were all much more expensive.

I ended up paying under $30 for my Nike Verve II shoes — a pretty good bargain.

Comfort: The Nike Verve II is an extremely comfortable shoe. I’ve used these shoes four times since I purchased them last week, and haven’t had a single problem in terms of aching feet, blisters, or anything of the sort. (I walk or jog on regular concrete sidewalks.) The shoes are very lightweight and the soles are springy, yet supportive. I’m happy with the way they fit and feel when I’m wearing them.

Style: The Nike Verve II might not be the best-looking shoes on the rack, but they’re not bad. I saw some running shoes that were just plain ugly, but I think these are decent. The swish logo is small and unobtrusive, and I like the predominantly white-and-silver color scheme.

The Verdict: The Nike Verve II is a great shoe for casual joggers. You won’t see anyone running a marathon in these things, but at less than $30 you can’t go wrong. I’m looking to get one year of service out of the shoes. If they hold up that long, I’ll buy another pair next year!

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