Comments for kate raynes-goldie // k4t3.org

Comment on The Dark Side of Online Group Coupons by hilda

hilda — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:46:05 +0000

http://www.thebutchersorganic.com/faqs.html well seeing they are supposed to be open in mid September and I don’ t think they are.. they certainly must think the public is stupid.

Comment on The Dark Side of Online Group Coupons by hilda

hilda — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:39:21 +0000

wow.. i’m surprised no one from the Ministry or even our candidates for election in Ontario is taking a stab at this… truly the public is being robbed.

Comment on The Dark Side of Online Group Coupons by Voucher Holder

Voucher Holder — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:43:19 +0000

The Butchers website says they plan to re-open mid-September. Their FAQ says:
“Q3. Given you couldn’t keep up with demand from this campaign, why did you keep doing it.
A. We were contractually bound. We were naive – we hadn’t realized the conditions when we agreed the contract with a number of the coupon companies that meant even though we’d sold more coupons that we’d expected, we were contractually bound to run a second campaign. This really compounded the problem.”

Can any deal site folks confirm whether this sort of agreement exists or is typical for the on-line deal/coupon industry? I am curious as to whether or not what they are saying is true.

Comment on Why data roaming will cost you way too much (even when you don’t use it) by global citizen

global citizen — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 05:00:56 +0000

AVOID FIDO! I HAVE NEVER HAD DATA SERVICES WITH FIDO, I only ever and always use WiFi, and my recent bill shows approx. $1,400 worth of US data roaming charges between June and July 2011 my solution is to just leave Fido altogether. I’ve also been a Fido customer since 2004 and since Rogers took over it’s been worse and worse. So get this – I don’t have a data plan with Fido! I’ve never paid to connect to data or never asked them to provide me with data. I use WiFi only. So apparently (and maybe something changed with the system) but for a few days in June and then for 1 transaction in July when I was in transit in the US when I thought I was connected to my hotel or apartment WiFi apparently AT&T roaming 3G kicked in again. REMEMBER – I have never had a data plan with Fido, nor have I even paid for one of the day or week passes in Canada. One transaction alone (on June 30/July 1) for 32 megs was billed at over $900! One transaction at a time when I was in bed in a hotel connected I thought to WiFi. REMEMBER – I HAVE NEVER HAD A DATA PLAN WITH FIDO EVER! I HAVE NEVER PAID FOR DATA SERVICES. I HAVE NEVER ASKED FOR DATA SERVICES. I was traveling on another continent for the month of July and didn’t see the charges on my bill until August. I called in specifically about the single $900 charge because it is what stood out as OUTRAGEOUS on the bill. They told me it was my fault and the charges were legitimate because I had used the services. Lots and lot of really annoying boiler plate customer “non-service” until after one hour on the phone I got a sympathetic ear. After one hour on the phone they finally gave me the privilege of paying $62 for a data pack and they gave me a “credit” of $833 back on the account (after the sticker shock of fighting against a $900 charge that you never ever requested you are relieved to have any concession). BUT THERE IS MORE, and this is important. In there own language and belief, I am still at fault. Therefore they did not reverse, cancel or remove the original charge which actually means they think they did not admit any fault or responsibility and actually did me a big huge favour for which I should be grateful. By “accepting” their offer, again in their own special language, I was accepting that the deal was closed and they would never, ever do anything special for me ever again. THEN THE KICKER, at the end of the call the sympathetic CSR mentioned that she also saw approximately $450 worth of additional type charges on my account from in June. (REMEMBER according to FIDO that because I “accepted” their resolution for the single $900 I was no longer entitled to even a discussion regarding the additional charges that resulted from the same root problem.) So today, after my account was suspended for non-payment and still at a balance of about $1,000 because I am contesting almost half of that account and therefore won’t pay the amount I don’t believe is owing I spent 3 hours (YES THREE HOURS) on the phone again being told that my logic was flawed, I am wrong, they can’t and won’t discuss the other charges with me and it’s all my fault. I asked three reps to shut down my account and at 2 hours on the phone was told they couldn’t do that because the department to close accounts was closed. I then got a fifth reconciliatory CSR who offered the $100 deduction (which I took) and hopes I’ll stay with FIDO (she only did this because I told her I want to get as far away from FIDO as possible and am switching carriers tomorrow). NOT A CHANCE WILL I STAY WITH FIDO. They refused to offer me the same resolution for the earlier transaction that have the same root cause as the single transaction they did “credit” back to me because it’s my fault and because they say they don’t ever have to do anything for me ever again. I DON’T KNOW HOW ROGERS THINKS THEY CAN STAY IN BUSINESS WHEN THEY CONTINUE TO TREAT CUSTOMERS THIS WAY. I HAVE NEVER HAD A DATA PLAN WITH FIDO. 3G KICKED IN WHEN I WAS IN THE U.S. ON ROAMING WITHOUT MY CONSENT AND FIDO CHARGED ME $30/mb. Long story short – avoid FIDO and ROGERs totally! I’m switching to Wind or Mobilicity as soon as I can get to an outlet.

Comment on The Dark Side of Online Group Coupons by danno

danno — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:34:27 +0000

Interesting read after falling victim to The Butchers. Went there on the weekend and it was closed! After a little searching stumbled across your site. I have emailed deal find and will say what they come back with. Interesting to note too, my girlfriend has been trying to get into Ostara Spa here in Toronto with a coupon bought through deal find as well, when she tried to book appointment she was told they would take her info and call her if there was a cancellation. She has just informed me that after checking their website that they have gone out of business! Another example retailer losing money through this game? And in the end we are the victims, we have been able to use 2 vouchers out of 5 purchased…..

Comment on Just say no to e-health records, because your doctor might think you’re a bitch. by Pavino

Pavino — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 12:15:17 +0000

@Kate

You can e-mail and tweet paper easily. You take a picture or scan it as a pdf! :)

Paper is easier to protect, but it has the disadvantage of being more difficult to transfer. In my country, there are cars driving around 24/7 with medical documents. It’s more safe, but it is also much less useful. Patients literally have to wait for the car to arrive with their documents.

If you only focus on the disadvantages of digital records, then of course paper records will win. But if you look at the advantages AND disadvantages, then I think digital records will win. Especially if you take into account that you can design the system in such a way that the disadvantages are minimized.

Digital health records are inevitable in my opinion.

Comment on Just say no to e-health records, because your doctor might think you’re a bitch. by kate raynes-goldie

kate raynes-goldie — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:11:20 +0000

@Pavino thanks for your comment!

my point, as i mentioned in my reply to wabasso, was not that privacy is 100% protected in paper documents, but rather that it is easier to protect. you can’t hack, email, or tweet paper.

Comment on Just say no to e-health records, because your doctor might think you’re a bitch. by kate raynes-goldie

kate raynes-goldie — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:00:49 +0000

@wabasso – it was printed text.

i totally agree with you that it is unacceptable to write such a label, no matter how it is stored. my point was more to say that is it even more dangerous for it to be on a computer rather than just written in with a pen since it can go much further and be seen by more people.

digital technology violates privacy through obscurity. its like when facebook created newsfeeds: http://www.mendeley.com/research/facebooks-privacy-trainwreck-exposure-invasion-and-social-convergence/

Comment on Just say no to e-health records, because your doctor might think you’re a bitch. by wabasso

wabasso — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:52:46 +0000

I am not sure I follow how this is a case for the security of paper records. Had paper not been used you wouldn’t have seen the list. And the labeling of that individual is unacceptable regardless of the medium on which it was stored.

To clarify, was “bitch” written by pen or was it printed text?

I find it disheartening when it’s argued that a technology should be avoided because it can be used for evil (or ignorantly) and not just for good. The issues of privacy here are not limitations of the technology but the people using it. These bad practices, as your story illustrates, cause privacy issues regardless of the technology being used.

Comment on Just say no to e-health records, because your doctor might think you’re a bitch. by Pavino Ciambellone

Pavino Ciambellone — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 09:22:22 +0000

You could label somebody as ‘bitch’ on paper just as easily. So why is this a specific argument against e-health records?

I do agree that they shouldn’t carelessly leave this information on a screen for others to read. But this is not a general argument against e-health, but against the measures that hospital takes to protect the privacy of it’s patients. It could just as well happen with paper documents.I can easily scan or take a picture of paper documents and put them online.