After 2 months of waiting, I finally received my HD Bonus from Panasonic the other day. Excited. I haven’t opened it yet, just haven’t had the time to see how the things work. My bonus gift was the Blu Ray Home TheatreSystem. I was one of the lucky ones who scrapped through for the gifts and got it reserved on back order.
I am pretty impressed with Panasonic so far. They said it will take 8 weeks, and spot on they were right. Their website is also very useful, and had up to date information. I know some others may differ with their views, but in my experience it has been a pleasant one.
Panasonic initially had the Wii promotion, and then brought out this promotion. Pretty tough to beat! I believe both promotions have now ended.
I would be interested to hear how everyone else’s HD bonus gift is working and what they got, and what their experiences have been. Comment below.
Thanks to the flip flop by the Victorian Government some years ago on tolls for Eastlink, I was forced to get a Breeze account which operates East Link in Melbourne. It is definitely cheaper than City Link, but once I signed up I have been posted a package full of information which I already knew from the sign up process. Which begs the question, why the hell does East Link waste so much money giving me (and thousands of other Victorians) the same information in hard copy form which is already available on their very informative website.
Upon sign up, I was emailed a confirmation and then my credit card as promptly deducted the base charge of $40 in tolls. One of the best things about East Link is, you do not need to wait for your tag before using the roads and if you have a tag account you will not pay the image processing fee. I thought this was quite good.
But on day 4 of customer hood, I got a package with the tag, and on day 5 I got another package with my account information along with colourful booklets about East Link. These were titled:
* EastLink Guide with toll prices (gigantic map of highways in Melbourne) – like Google maps didn’t have this info!
* Breeze Account Guide (18 pages)
* Customer service ageement (17 pages)
My question is why? All of this information (that too in colour), and more is available from EastLink and Breeze websites. Yeah sure today’s business is all about customer service and keeping the customer informed but this is just an utter waste of money. Make it paperless, save tress, and pass on the savings to customers!
On a random visit to Kmart, I noticed lights, camera, action at their Cranbourne store. Not sure exactly what was happening, but there were twice as many customer service staff with yellow pads roaming around the store. The TV crew interview a few staff members, and some customers as well. Not sure what it was about, perhaps a Kmart commercial or some public relation affairs.
I don’t usually shop at Kmart, but they do have some good deals occasionally. For cheap stuff I usually go to Big W. Target seems to be the most expensive out of the middle class mart stores.
I wonder if similar sights were witnessed at other Victorian Kmart stores? Leave your comments.
According to The Age reports, real estate agents could be fined up to $1m dollars for fake bids, under quoting, air brushing of photos and deceptive conduct.
This sounds like a good move, and will like put small real estate agents who do not conform to laws out of business. However, the article doesn’t go into the process of finding them guilty. The real estate market is extremely difficult to prove wrong, as I experienced with First National (a particular person – I am not saying the whole real estate company is a fraud). I found it very difficult to prove my case, and when I consulted REIV website, it basically states I needed to confront the estate agent first up and “sort out issues”.
Today’s Age Newspaper has a very good article on some of the tricks used by real estate agents. I also am aware of these tricks, and have experienced them first hand.
The Age Article: The Favourite Tricks of Real Estate Agents. Marika mentions a few additional things that I have not come across particularly from the vendor’s aspect. It’s good reading.
If you missed my earlier posts about real estate agents, you can read them here: Part 1, and Part 2.
If you haven’t already heard, Woolworths and Qantas have teamed up for the first time through the Everyday Rewards program. If you into rewards programs, you will love this offer.
From June 22nd, every dollar you spend above $30 at any Woolworths store (Tasmania excluded) you will earn 1 point on your Qantas frequent flyer program.
To maximise this offer, you should pay using your credit card, so you will obtain rewards through that program also. Therefore you can double dip!
This has started from June 22nd.
I have just linked by Everyday Rewards program card to Qantas FF program (took me less than a minute!). I joined Qantas when they were offered free memberships way back, and then forgot about it. Finally it comes in handy.
If you do not have an existing Qantas FF membership, don’t worry as you can now join for free. But hurry, this offer won’t last long!
My first home….
Over the past few weeks I have managed to secure a property in Melbourne. To buy a home was always the plan this year, however I never imagined it to be as difficult as it was. Having never been exposed to the property market, I found it a steep learning curve, however there are some tips I can instill to you if you are thinking about making the biggest purchase of your life.
The open inspection
You really need to plan your open inspections and contact the real estate agent prior to the inspection to ask some basic questions. Due to the government grants, there are plenty of people out there looking to buy their first home so competition is tough. However don’t let that get to your head, as it did for me at times.
Pay little attention to the property description, except for the plain facts. The descriptions posted on estate agent’s websites are fanciful, however they have factual information which you is your evidence for what to expect in the property. False advertising is a problem, so pay close attention to the facts but discard the fanciful statements.
For example: during our inspection of a property we noted that it was advertised as having a dishwasher, but it did not have one. We pointed it out to the estate agent, who made it look like it was a simple error. Watch out!
Money Manager is a good website which has inspection tips for home buyers, including a guide about what to look for in each property (for example: proximity to schools, public transport, shopping centres etc). Ensure you inspect the property during different times of the day: morning, afternoon and night time. For example: we inspected a house on a Saturday. The house’s proximity to the freeway was a selling point, however we noted one morning that the entrance to the freeway has heavy traffic on a weekday morning, completely blocking the driveway to the house, making entrance and exit to the property extremely difficult.
The Section 32
Every property must have a section 32 available. The latest trend is to have the property available for inspection while the Section 32 is still pending. This is really annoying, because often you may waste your time inspecting a property and then find something in the Section 32 which is totally not what you were expecting. A classic example is when I inspected a property in Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The property was brilliant, absolutely stunning and about 1 week later I received the Section 32 by email. After close inspection, I noted that the property was built on a subdivision of a larger land and that there was a SHARED water meter. The water bills will be split in half no matter what each household spent. The buyer had to spend money (pending approval from the other home owner) to install a new water meter and connect it to its own water supply. To me that spelt out possible major problems, so I promptly withdrew my interest for that property.
You must ask the estate agent some basic questions
The estate agent is representing the vendor, make no doubt about it. They will say whatever they want, whenever they want, and choose to deal with whichever buyer they want. Note also the price range the property is advertised for. The trend these days is to quote a price range, or “use the + sign” (foe example: 400K+). Add 10% to the property price, because this is the realistic value. I found it really frustrating to inspect properties advertised at a price which I could afford, but then find out it was underquoted to attract the audience.
The estate agent will take down your names and number, and then present it to the vendor to explain the “massive interest we have received in the property”.
The basic questions you must ask are: 1) Have you got any offers on board, and is it in writing, 2) What are the overheads: council rates, water rates, owner’s corporation rates (if the agent does not know this, then pay close attention to what they say), 3) Can you show me the offers (they cannot do so officially, but some agents break the rules) 4) What is the settlement terms, and deposit terms (make sure you set the terms).
Never ever make an offer straight away for the property, and sound very interested in the property. This can be achieved via the phone. You will find that other home buyers will make statements like: “I want to make an offer”, “I am really interested”. Now you don’t know if they are genuine buyers or just the next door neighbour who is playing a helping hand. Pay close attention to other home buyers who are apparently inspecting as sometimes you might catch them walk along the street into their homes, therefore playing a helping hand to the vendors to make up the numbers.
I think I have said enough for today, in my next post I will talk about my personal experience with estate agents by providing examples.
I have made it possible for reviewers to also announce themselves on the forums section under: I can review your business.
It’s a great opportunity to promote yourself, and also tell businesses what type of reviews interests you. You can set your rates. This will be very useful for traveling reviewers.
For example: suppose you are traveling interstate, and want a special deal (free extra nights stay, free breakfast), then you can mention that and the interested businesses in that area will be able to get in touch with you. Ideal for back packers.
I hope you enjoy writing reviews, and making some money while at it.
As you all know, I am slowly formalising the forums section of Mr Feedback. It’s an area where the “conversation” can be continued.
I have installed a forum for businesses to request reviews, and the specifics of those requests. Check it out here?
This gives an opportunity for reviewers to earn some cash by blogging. It’s quite a simple process:
* Businesses post their requests
* Find what you like
* Contact the business and negotiate the deal
* Write your review
* Collect payment
Collection of payment is up to the reviewer, and the accepted forms of payment can be negotiated.
Just a few points:
* Rigged reviews will not be tolerated. What is a rigged review?
* Any complaints received from businesses will be taken seriously.
* Flagrant comments in the forums section will not be tolerated.
Ok, it’s not really a scam but an opportunity to get something you like from Optus. This is regarding the AlwaysWin promotion that they have been running for a while for prepaid mobiles.
Recently they have been awarding bonus prizes. So you will get 2 texts which have unique codes. The first unique code is the “real prize”. You will notice the second unique code is a bit of a waste of time. Often you may end up with the prize of a free ring tone.
If you don’t like it, then when it asks you for your mobile type -> select: “Unsure”, and then “I have never used Optus Zoo”. It will automatically disregard the ring tone, and give you a more useful prize (like talk or text credit).
This is something I stumbled upon when I didn’t know my parent’s mobile model.
Thanks to the flip flop by the Victorian Government some years ago on tolls for Eastlink, I was forced to get a 
sure today’s business is all about customer service and keeping the customer informed but this is just an utter waste of money. Make it paperless, save tress, and pass on the savings to customers!
