Dogged Blog

How bigstockphoto.com and Shutterstock are screwing their customers

Last month, without any warning, the stock photo service I've used for at least 10 years made a small, nearly-unnoticeable change that very efficiently sucks money out of their customers' accounts.

They offer stock images in a variety of file sizes. Because I purchase them almost exclusively for use on the web, I have always bought the smallest and least expensive file size. For as long as I can recall, that was the size that was set as the default when I'd go to purchase an image.

Sometime in September, that changed. I noticed that an image I was using on a blog post for a client was taking a really long time to upload. No wonder -- it was huge. I went and looked at my download history at bigstockphoto.com, and saw that every image I'd purchased for the previous two weeks was much larger - and four times more expensive - than the images I'd always purchased before, and intended to purchase each time.

Every time I go to purchase an image, the default is set on this four-times-costlier option. It's a hard habit to break to move that default setting, and twice I forgot and ended up with a huge, expensive image I didn't want.

Sure, you can say that's my problem now that I'm aware of what they're doing. But you and I both know it's deceptive and unethical to make this change knowing that many customers won't notice at first, new and occasional customers might never question the default setting at all, and plenty of customers like me who noticed will nonetheless forget to move that check mark at least now and then.

In short, they implemented a change that will make them money by ripping off their customers.

Unable to find anywhere to control the default  setting, I emailed support to ask if it was possible, and complain about the change. I heard back the next day; my complaint was ignored, and my query about setting my own default was all he addressed:

At this time there is not a way to set the default download size of images on our site as it is up to our customers to always ensure when downloading images that they make sure they are selecting the size they require.

I will make sure that you feedback is received by management as we always want to hear from our customers on how we can improve our site to better fit the needs of our customers.

Please let us know if there is anything else we can do for you.

Best regards,

Joseph T.
Customer Care Advocate
Bigstock
350 Fifth Avenue, 21st Floor
New York, NY 10118a

So if you use Bigstock (which, by the way, is owned by Shutterstock), check the download history and see if you got caught by this. If not, be sure you don't. And consider switching to a different stock photo service. It's not like their aren't plenty of them out there.

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It's not you, it's me: Why I broke up with my foundation, and why I'm getting back together with it now.

Once upon a time, I had a skincare and foundation regimen that worked perfectly for me. Then one of the products I most relied on was discontinued, and then my skin changed, because I was getting older. I was left with rosacea (mostly flushing rather than breakouts, once benefit of getting older!), sensitive skin that reacted to all kinds of ingredients, and a new struggle with dryness and flaking. Yuck.

My product pool isn't just limited by my rosacea; I also won't buy anything tested on animals.

I finally found a group of skincare products that work for me (which I list below), but foundation was a different story. Liquid foundations separated on my skin and coagulated in my pores, or made my rosacea flare. Every powder foundation I tried was just too drying, and cream foundations floated messily above my skin and made me look like I had a disease.

One day, I picked up a few products at Whole Foods, by a company called Mineral Fusion. I had applied the pressed powder foundation tester to one side of my face, and the liquid to the other, while I shopped, and I was stunned at how nice my face felt on the powder side. For some reason, this product neither dries me out, nor separates on my skin. It was perfect.

And yet, I kept thinking there was something better. Don't ask me why. I might just be too big a snob to think a health food store product is "good enough." I might have been influenced by beauty vloggers on YouTube. So I kept trying other products -- IT Cosmetics Celebration pressed mineral foundation, Bare Minerals loose powder, Jane Iredale pressed powder, and a handful of others I've forgotten now. They all looked like crap on my skin, even when used with the primers and brushes recommended by the brands themselves.

So I went back to Mineral Fusion, and I'm kind of embarrassed at my long chase of something shinier.

My current products are these (these are not affiliate or sponor links, just plain old links):

• Aveda Outer Peace cleanser
• Solumn and Herbe Apricot Facial Scrub once a week
• Solumn and Herbe Rose and Silk moisturizing cream
• Evan Healey "Blue" rosehip serum and hydrosol
• Mineral Fusion color correcting primer
• Mineral Fusion pressed powder foundation in Neutral 2
• Lorac Touch-Up To Go Concealer Pen in Fair

The next product I'm going to try is an eye cream, because did I mention I'm getting older? I'm going to start with this one: Aveda Green Science Firming Eye Cream. I'll let you know what I think!

Why does Comcast even bother having customer support?

I didn't enter my problem ten thousand times, by the way -- that happened automagically.

• chat id: 6fb823fe-86b1-4904-a760-f6695dc1f3cc
• Problem: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?

  ---

• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• Avinash > Hello CHRISTIE_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Avinash. Please give me one moment to review your information.
• Avinash > Hello! I hope your day is going well. Do read about the Comcast Customer Guarantee at http://www.comcast.com/corporate/Customers/CustomerGuarantee.html
• Avinash > It's a privilege to have you here on chat and I am looking forward to provide you excellent service! I hope you are having a great day!
• Avinash > I would like to inform that you can switch back to your old Modem.
• CHRISTIE_ > Great, how can I do that?
• Avinash > Do you have your old Modem or want to order it?
• CHRISTIE_ > The technician took it with him when he installed the new one.
• CHRISTIE_ > I tried to buy a new modem, but it didn't have telephone capability.
• Avinash > Let me connect you with the concern department.
• CHRISTIE_ > ok
• Avinash > Please stay connected while I transfer the chat to the correct department for further support.
• Avinash > Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• Anna > Hello CHRISTIE, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Anna. Please give me one moment to review your information.
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > My Issue: I don't like the new Xfinity "Gateway" combined modem/router and want to go back to using my own router. Do you still provide a modem ONLY, or how do I do this?
• CHRISTIE_ > Hi, Anna.
• Mohd > It is my pleasure to have you on chat, and I will be assisting you with your concern for today. Please give me 2-3 minutes to review your conversation with the previous representative. This will give me a better understanding of the issue at hand so that we can resolve it in the most efficient way possible. Will that be okay?
• CHRISTIE_ > Okay
• Mohd > Thank you.
• Anna > Please wait, while the problem is escalated to another analyst
• Jennifer > Hello CHRISTIE_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Jennifer. Please give me one moment to review your information.
• CHRISTIE_ > No, wait, I have three different analysts on here
• Jennifer > I hope you are doing well. I would be more than happy to assist you with your concern today Christie
• CHRISTIE_ > Who is helping me and what's going on?

And then the analyst left the chat and "closed your issue."

Saying goodbye to 'recreational' shopping for good

I used to be a recreational shopper.

I've never cared about the latest electronic toys and I drive a 1998 car, but I love to buy new clothes and shoes and bags, new dog beds and collars and jackets, every spring and fall. Mostly fall, because I love colder weather and also -- you can wear more clothes.

But I read Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline a few months ago, and went cold turkey on recreational shopping. That doesn't mean I didn't buy anything at all; it means I didn't read catalogs and look for things to buy. A few times I realized I had a need for something, researched it a bit, then made a rational purchase. No impulse buying.

Before I read this book, I would have claimed that I didn't buy "cheap plastic crap from China," but of course, I did -- well, cheap crappy clothes and accessories from China, anyway. So in addition to becoming a "need only" shopper, I stopped buying cheap, disposable "fast fashion" clothes and accessories. (Ask my friend Dawn about the pain it's given me to give up my Charming Charlie cheap purse addicition.)

Now I'm taking it even further. I'm going to increase the amount of property I have fenced so my dogs and I can enjoy off-leash walks in the woods. I gave up almost all other discretionary spending to afford the materials and labor for that project.

So all my catalogs go straight into the recycling bin, unread. I am very carefully cleaning and mending my existing clothing, so it will last longer. I never flip around online shopping sites without a clear and specific -- and necessary -- purchase in mind.

And what I'm learning is that recreational shopping is a pretty lousy way to entertain yourself. I have absolutely no intention of returning to that activity even after I've paid for the fence.

Because "shopping" is not a hobby and it's not recreation. Our insatiable desire for new things is being fueled by the way the retail industry has blurred the former spring and fall seasons and turned them into a  year-round cycle of introducing new fashions, followed by a few email reminders, then putting those things on sale, then on clearance, followed by the next round of "new" fashions, all within a few weeks.

They either hook you with the shiny new, or suck you in with the big savings. And nowhere in that dizzying kaleidoscopic retail experience are the questions of quality and need ever raised.

None of us needs new shoes every year, let alone ten times a year. My dogs couldn't care less if they're wearing last year's collars and sleeping in last year's beds. If a sweater looked good on me in 2009 it will look good on me in 2013, regardless of whether or not it's in a color that the fashion industry has declared "out."

Currently I'm buying nothing that isn't essential, but when the fence is paid off, I fully intend to leave some room in my budget for buying things that aren't strict necessities. I'm lucky enough to be able to afford to do that, and I'd like to do what I can for the economy, too. But when I do, I'll be looking to purchase a few quality items that I expect to last years, not endless pieces of trash I'll be getting rid of within a single season.

I like the way this feels.

 

Stuff I love: Good Deal Designs dog-themed hoodies and t-shirts

Looking for some really thick, snuggly, sturdy, well-made, dog-themed t-shirts and hoodies? Check out Good Deal Designs.

I'm not big on reviewing. Before I moved to Michigan, I was the pet columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com for many years, as well as being a pet blogger here and for a number of other sites. As a consequence, I'm on the mailing lists of bazillions of pet product publicists, and inundated by requests for product reviews, or even just stuff showing up on my doorstep unannounced.

I almost never accept anything for review, and when I do, I have some very clear guidelines, which are posted on my blog in the upper left-hand corner (you can check them out here). One of those is that I don't keep review products, unless they're something that is destroyed during testing, like a chew toy. I offer to return them at the company's cost, or donate them to a rescue group; most companies opt for the second option.

I also don't do giveaways or promotions on the blog.

So if you see me review something here, it's either something I purchased for my own dogs' use, or something I was interested enough to request for review purposes. In other words, I want my reviews to be meaningful, and only of items I genuinely found of value to pet-owners.

Which brings us to my favorite t-shirt/hoodie purveyor, Good Deal Designs.

I spotted a t-shirt photo on my Facebook feed. The slogan on the shirt was, "I don't trust people who don't like dogs," which amused me so much I looked up the company that manufactured it. What I found was a small company producing what looked like high-quality t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, and a few other items with a number of pet-centered (mostly dog, but one horse and some multi-species) sayings or images. The owners of the company compete in sports with their dogs, so agility, rally, and obedience themes play big, too.

The shirts and hoodies come in a wide variety of colors, including some that are both unusual and beautiful, like a lovely chocolate brown and a bright fuschia. The size range is huge, from small, "ladies' cut" t-shirts to 5XL classic cut ts and sweats.

I ordered one hoodie and three t-shirts. I've been wearing them for months, mostly for walking dogs and sleeping, and I love them. They're comfortable and really well-constructed. I don't put mine in the dryer, but they've held up to machine washing very well.

Love 'em! Get 'em here.

Is 'polite and powerless' the Comcast customer service slogan?

I may have to start a whole new category on this blog for all the ways I hate Comcast, my Internet, cable, and landline service provider.

I just discovered that people have been leaving messages on my landline voice mail., for months now. I had no idea. I don't use my landline, I just want to have it for emergencies.

So I went to find out how to turn off my landline voicemail through Comcast's website, and I couldn't figure out how to do it.

Turns out, you can't. The chat rep told me you can cancel the feature, or it takes messages for you. Those are your two "choices," if you can call it a choice when you have none.

She couldn't tell me why this was, of course. I know Comcast never empowers its representatives to actually explain things to their customers. The second you go off script, they're helpless (although unfailingly polite).

In fact, I've learned that the politeness of a Comcast rep is in direct proportion to how much they can't help you with your problem.

All I want is to have the Comcast voice mail as a backup if my power goes out, at which point I'd log in via my cell phone and enable it. I don't want people leaving messages for me there because I don't want yet another freaking thing I have to check. I find it hard to believe I'm the only person on earth who feels this way.

Why yes, I'm whining. I get that way whenever I have to engage with Comcast.

Why all your special modern pet-hair targeting vacuum cleaners suck

Look, a vacuum cleaner just shouldn't be this complicated.

A few months ago, I purchased a Panasonic JetSpin Cyclone based on a review I read on the old Pet Connection. I knew the Dyson Animal was supposed to be the pinnacle machine for pet owners, but $500 for a vacuum cleaner? Just no. But the Cyclone had good reviews on Amazon as well as the one on Pet Connection and was a fraction of the price, so I bought it.

The reviews may be accurate, but I have to assume the people who wrote them grew up in a different era than I did. Every vacuum I've ever used has worked just fine in picking up dog hair, cat hair, and whatever else was on my rugs. I haven't experienced all these clogs and suction-failures the TV ads wax dire over, and all I ever had to do was change the bag every few uses and, once or twice in the lifetime of the vacuum (which would run into decades) change a belt.

My new vacuum was so freaking complicated that I had to get out the instruction manual just to emtpy it. It has multiple filters and I can't even figure out how to get half the attachments off the machine or onto the wand. Hell, I don't even understand how the wand works at all. I hate it so much I'm giving it away, and I went to Amazon and ordered an old-fashioned bagged upright Hoover with hundreds of rave reviews that cost even less than the Cyclone (around $125).

Keep your stupid high tech vacuums and their bagless, filtered, super-magical special pet hair sucking technology. I'm going back to the kind of vacuums that had a one-page instruction manual. And if you want the Cyclone, it's yours.

Comcast's horrible customer service rides again

I sometimes wonder why Comcast is still in business.

After my last go-around with them, when they randomly gave my phone number away to someone else for no reason and professed to be unable to fix it for several days, you'd think nothing would surprise me.

But after Rawley, my dog, took my remote control out into the woods in a snowstorm, I contacted them about getting a replacement, a ten buck purchase. They informed me I'd need to provide them the following to buy -- not be given, but purchase -- a replacement remote:

1. Name on the account,
2. Address,
3. Telephone number associated with the account,
4. One of the following:
4.1. Last four digits of the Social Security Number of the account
holder,
4.2. Security Code,
4.3. Account Number,
4.4. Amount and date of most recent payment on the account, or
4.5. Services that are listed on the account.

Really, Comcast? Are you out of your mind?

It's not that I don't have all that information; I do. It's that it's the most ridiculous piece of overkill I've ever seen.

And it's worth noting that the people at Comcast are all very pleasant and nice. It's not rudeness that's the problem. It's the actual systems at Comcast that are broken, and the fact that their employees are not empowered to help customers. Being polite is not a substitute for having genuine customer-friendly policies and procedures.

Dear Typepad, can I haz spam controls now plz?

What with all the angst at Pet Connection closing down, the last thing I want in my life is any more CHANGE, but I'm thisclose to moving this blog.

I can't freaking believe the amount of spam I get in my comments, sometimes 20 spam comments a day. I've had to put the blog on moderation, which I HATE both because it slows down the conversations or even stops them, and because in general I loathe a heavy hand.

I filed a support ticket over this a few weeks ago, and the person was very apologetic and said they were working on better spam controls, but this is the thing: I get email notifications of new comments on this blog. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the notifications for spam comments are being caught by Gmail's filters. ZERO percent of my actual comments are.

  I can tell at a glance that these things are spam; they all have similar syntax in the username. They all have the same phrases in them. Obviously Gmail has no problem identifying them as spam.

Typepad, seriously: What's the problem? If I had the energy, I'd already be gone. And in every other way, I love this service. I'd happily pay twice what I'm paying now to make this crap go away and be able to turn my moderation off.

Yours in extreme annoyance,

Christie

Bank of America: Finding new and better ways to screw their customers

How bad does a bank have to get before you move your money? I'm ashamed to admit that it took a customer "service" policy that affected me personally to get me to do what I should have done a long time ago.

I mailed a check that was never received, nor was it cashed. So this morning I called Bank of America to cancel payment.

I was told that if the check was converted to an electronic debit, they'd pay it even though I stopped payment. And they also said that the check would be paid anytime in the future as long as my account was open and funds were available, FOREVER, and that if I wanted my "stop payment" to last beyond six months I'd have to call and renew it every six months, FOREVER.

So clearly all any thief holding a stolen check has to do now is wait 6 months and present the check. Or wait a couple of years. Odds are, it will be paid.

Let's not even mention that when you search "stop payment" or "lost check" on the Bank of America website you get NO returns, no information on how to do that, let alone the ability to do it.

I wended my way through their horrible phone system until I got the agent who shared with me these impossible to understand policies.

I'd started moving my money to my credit union a while ago because BofA took bailout money, has a horrible record on making loan modifications, and doesn't pay any corporate taxes, but never finished it because the inconvenience of changing the bazillion auto-payments I have set up just overwhelmed me. And it still does. But if that's the only way to prevent a thief from sucking a lot of money out of my account while BofA not only looks the other way but actively facilitates it, fine. They've now made a necessity out of virtue.

I'm amazed it took this much, but yeah. You've been my bank since I was 17 years old, BofA, but you and me? We're through.