Taken for a Ride

Last night I had an experience. Not a good, not a bad, just an experience. A couple weeks ago I was "contacted" and took a phone survey. I didn't put much effort into it and it only lasted 15 seconds so no big deal. They called again last week and asked if someone could stop by to show me a "air purification" machine and have me take a survey. I could get a $500 certificate to a department store. I asked how long it would take....20 minutes. Well, the guy showed up last night at 6:30 and we started in on the purification machine which was a nice fancy word for VACUUM! Two hours later he was still trying to sell us this great machine. Hey, I would take it if I had a couple grand sitting around. Fun little demonstration and at least one square foot of my carpet is clean now. So I got my $500 certificate and got excited to shop. All I have to pay for is shipping. I asked him where the gift certificate was for..."an online store like Target or Kohls." This online store is the WORST! I browsed through EVERY SINGLE item in less than 10 minutes! Please! The entire "apparel" department consisted of 4-1980 style vests. You know, the down quilted ones. The colors were almost worth buying! On top of it if you did find something, let say for $300 the postage was $95. Yup, great waste of time. I guess there was a good side to the whole thing. He did tell me that all vacuums work the same. So I can be happy with my $50 vacuum that we bought 5 years ago. I realize, and did before he came, that it doesn't do a great job but now I know that a $500 machine does as much as mine but looks cooler. So, I guess it wasn't a total loss