Category: Rant

For those of you getting a tummy tuck, boob job, or nose job for Mother’s Day, I have great news. There’s a new book that just came out by a plastic surgeon that will help you talk to your kids about it!

AND…it makes me want to PUKE!

It’s called My Beautiful Mommy, and from what I gathered by reading the Newsweek article about it, it features a pretty midriff-baring mommy who just wants to be prettier. Thank God, a muscle-bound, super-hero looking plastic surgeon can take care of that for her! SHEW! Otherwise she might have to go through life looking just pretty. With the face that God gave her. And a body that – gasp! – bears the marks of childbirth! A fate worse than death, I say.

As you may have guessed from my sarcasm (were you picking that up I hope?), I think this book is ridiculous, and the fact that some actually see a “need” for it to be written (see Newsweek article) is just insane. The book is geared toward 4 to 7 year-olds. Here’s an idea: if you have a 4 to 7 year-old child and you are having cosmetic surgery just ’cause you wanna be prettier, don’t TELL THEM THAT. Your children will come up with self-esteem problems on their own. Your daughters don’t need the details of your inferiority complex to jump-start them on the Road to Bulimia.

I was discussing this book with my sisters-in-law and my mom, and I said, “It makes me want to keep Sophie from learning how to read.” My sister-in-law Sarah replied, “She doesn’t need to learn how to read. She just needs to be able to look out the window at a billboard.”

Ugh.

Time to invest in a baby blindfold.

I am just a smidge hot under the collar. You see, two days in a row I have found that unscrupulous internet companies are trying to STEAL FROM ME. And have suceeded apparently to some degree. So I am writing this rant, dear readers, as a warning to you! And to HURT the companies that did this to me.

So here goes. First on my shizzle list is Restaurant.com and Shopping Essentials. Yesterday I found a $14.95 charge on my bank account through my debit card that I knew I had not authorized. It was for Shopping Essentials. I called their number to find out what was going on, and they claim I signed up for their membership when I bought gift certificates from Restaurant.com. I DID buy GC’s, and after my purchase, a screen popped up offering me a $10 rebate on my purchase. I quickly saw that it was shady and just closed the window. I DID NOT sign up for Shopping Essentials and I certainly DID NOT give them my debit card number! Which leads me to the conclusion that those jerkwads at Restaurant.com GAVE THE JERKWADS AT SHOPPING ESSENTIALS my debit card number!?!?!?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS??????

I got the lovely customer service rep from Shopping Essentials to cancel my “membership” but I am having to go through the dispute process with my bank to get the charges removed. I BETTER WIN THIS and get my $$ back or Restaurant.com is going to be very sorry. I will trash them every chance I get. I might even make it a weekly feature on this here blog. I also already filed a report on ripoffreport.com in the name of both these companies. Oh, and also I cancelled my debit card and ordered a new one, just to be safe, WHICH IS VERY INCONVENIENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I have no debit card for 7-10 days. THANKS AGAIN RESTAURANT.COM & SHOPPING ESSENTIALS. AND BY “THANKS” I mean, “YOU SUCK”!!

So, then today I open my phone bill and there is a $16 NEW SERVICE charge from Enhanced Services Billing/Residential Email, LLC. I have NO IDEA what this is and my blood pressure begins to rise. So I call THEIR toll-free number and am told I signed up for this service (I still have no idea what this service is) over the internet. I “cancelled” the service and suposedly they ARE refunding my money. However the customer service rep said that there will be a charge on next month’s bill that has already been billed and that I am going to have to call them BACK to get that one credited AS WELL. So, my next call was to my phone company, AT&T, to give them hell for letting some 3rd party charge my account. The very nice (seriously nicest, most helpful CS rep EVER) explained that AT&T has to accept these because of monopoly laws, that they have no choice, but he told me how to block them in the future, AFTER I get my money credited back. He said that there has never been any problem with getting the credits returned but that it does take 1-2 billing cycles. I explained to him that AT&T could afford to lose the $16/month until the credit comes through more than I could and that I would not be paying that portion of my bill. He said he would make a note of that on my account. Anyways, he was cool. He also explained that there are 4 companies that run this kind of scam, and they do it in partnerships with websites that offer contest entry or surveys-for-money. They roll it into the fine print of their “terms and conditions” – you know that little box we check just so we can get through the process but never actually read – and basically screw us over. AND IT’S NOT ILLEGAL!! AAAHH!! So, a few weeks ago I told you I had been doing surveys through CashCrate. I have also been doing them through InboxDollars. I think it is one of their partners that did this to me, but I am a little confused as to how, since I never use my actual home phone number when I am required to enter a phone number. So, my advice to any of you who are on similar sites is, be very very careful. Read that fine print!! As for me, I am done with both sites, just to stay on the safe side. I am terrified I am going to see more charges in other areas of my life!! Next thing you know I am gonna get signed up for satellite dish service or something!!

Ok, so the moral of the story is: NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM RESTAURANT.COM and ANY CHARGES FROM SHOPPING ESSENTIALS or ENHANCED SERVICES BILLING/RESIDENTIAL EMAIL LLC on any of your bills are a MAJOR RED FLAG you need to get taken care of right away!!

GRR!! AND I’M ANGRY!! AND YOU DO NOT WANT TO MESS WITH ME! MY HUBBY WORKS HARD FOR OUR $$ SO DON’T TRY TO STEAL IT!!!