I guess I'll take a bribe...

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Arks

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I'm starting to buy furnishings for a 6th guest room I'm planning to open next year, and I just bought an ice maker from Amazon, one of the coffeemaker-sized machines that makes little ice cubes a few minutes after you pour in some water.

Yesterday I received a snail-mail postcard from the manufacturer of the ice maker saying:

Secret Gift?
Love your new ice maker?
Write a positive review, and you'll get
a FREE Portable Mini Fridge!!!! A nice
gift for summer!
Send us your Amz review link & order
ID to get it!
Move now!


So of course I wrote a 5 star review (with that many exclamation marks on the postcard, how could I not) and sent the link and my order number. The review is truthful. I just wouldn't have bothered to write it without the bribe. We'll see if anything comes of it.
 
I'm starting to buy furnishings for a 6th guest room I'm planning to open next year, and I just bought an ice maker from Amazon, one of the coffeemaker-sized machines that makes little ice cubes a few minutes after you pour in some water.

Yesterday I received a snail-mail postcard from the manufacturer of the ice maker saying:

Secret Gift?
Love your new ice maker?
Write a positive review, and you'll get
a FREE Portable Mini Fridge!!!! A nice
gift for summer!
Send us your Amz review link & order
ID to get it!
Move now!


So of course I wrote a 5 star review (with that many exclamation marks on the postcard, how could I not) and sent the link and my order number. The review is truthful. I just wouldn't have bothered to write it without the bribe. We'll see if anything comes of it.
If you get nothing turn them in. And don’t plant any seeds they send!
 
oh, how naughty!
by the way ... have you ever bought something based on great reviews and the product was awful? and i'd say HOW can this be? i'm pretty skeptical about reviews now.
 
have you ever bought something based on great reviews and the product was awful?

I'd say product reviews are a lot like face masks. Not 100% effective, but a whole lot better than nothing!
 
Here's the latest on this continuing story. I did email them a few days ago, giving the URL of my Amazon review, and my Amazon invoice number. I got this email from them today:

Thanks for your information and your kindness to leave us a review. It means a lot to us.
Could you tell us your phone number? We need it to fill in the delivery sheet.
Please no worries, we will not divulge your personal information.
The free gift will be sent to you once we get your response.

Waiting for your reply and stay safe!!

Of course, the wording and casual tone does not sound like a typical US company. India or Bangladesh, maybe. But they DID know I bought the ice maker from Amazon, and they sent a glossy snailmail postcard telling me about the free gift in return for a review. So I still don't know. Fishy, but not positive it's a scam.

So I found a free website that gives you a free phone number that you can check from time to time for messages. I sent them that free phone number "to fill in the delivery sheet", and we'll see. I'm not holding my breath.

I looked the company up online, and all I found were places to buy their ice makers. Amazon, eBay, overstock.com, even Walmart.com. So it's a real company, but they don't have a company website, and the emails I'm getting from them are "@hotmail.com". The emails mention their web presence on Facebook and Instagram, but no real website.
 
For those following this little saga, after sending a phone number Friday, I received this email from them today. Stay tuned...

Hi,
We will send out the gift to you tomorrow, it will take about 15 days to deliver due to the coronavirus, please wait patiently!
Narah
 
Well, my mini-fridge arrived today! It will hold a six pack of soda cans, or whatever else will fit in that space. It runs off of 120V wall plug, or a USB cord plugged into a USB outlet, or off of a car cigarette lighter 12V plug. AND, it has booth cool and warm mode, so I guess you can either keep your stuff cold or you can keep your sandwiches warm.

I may never use it, but now that I have it I might find lots of uses! I'm shocked that the bribe was for real!

Cooluli.jpg
 
oh, how naughty!
by the way ... have you ever bought something based on great reviews and the product was awful? and i'd say HOW can this be? i'm pretty skeptical about reviews now.
YES, Boll and Branch Sheets!
 
Well, my mini-fridge arrived today! It will hold a six pack of soda cans, or whatever else will fit in that space. It runs off of 120V wall plug, or a USB cord plugged into a USB outlet, or off of a car cigarette lighter 12V plug. AND, it has booth cool and warm mode, so I guess you can either keep your stuff cold or you can keep your sandwiches warm.....
Makes me wonder why no one has built a unit specifically for the "frunk" that works like a cooler, that you can plug in and keep cold food.
 
Makes me wonder why no one has built a unit specifically for the "frunk" that works like a cooler, that you can plug in and keep cold food.
A great shortcoming, so far, of the Tesla is that it doesn't have convenient electrical outlets in the trunk and the frunk. All you've got are the standard cigarette lighter plugs, and those are on a fairly low voltage fuse. It would be wonderful to be able to tap all that battery power more easily if needed, like to run a real refrigerator!
 
A great shortcoming, so far, of the Tesla is that it doesn't have convenient electrical outlets in the trunk and the frunk. All you've got are the standard cigarette lighter plugs, and those are on a fairly low voltage fuse. It would be wonderful to be able to tap all that battery power more easily if needed, like to run a real refrigerator!
We bought new trunk and frunk struts for our car, a USB hub that hides and a plastic spoiler thing that stops the water from dripping into the trunk. But a plug in the frunk and a cooler would be fantastic.
 
But a plug in the frunk and a cooler would be fantastic.

Since a Tesla has enough energy stored in the batteries to run the average house for 3 days, more and more people are looking for ways to tap that storage. As I mentioned, the cigarette lighter outlets aren't designed to handle a heavy load, but there are high energy terminals in the car that do-it-yourselfers have managed to access that lets the car replace the utility grid.

It's just not easy, and a bit dangerous. Ideally, Tesla would make the car where you could easily access that power when you need it. Some have even considered using their car to charge up at night, when power is cheaper, and run the house from the batteries in the daytime, when utility power is more expensive.

The car batteries aren't really designed to charge fully and discharge heavily, day in and day out, the way the Tesla Powerwalls are able to do. But it WOULD be nice to EASILY access those car batteries for times when the utility power goes off for a few hours or a few days.

Like the people in California who are having their utility power cut off part of each day lately, due to demand exceeding supply. If those people could store up energy in the car when the power is on, they wouldn't be in the dark when the power is off!
 
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