The Danger of Plastics
It is with regret that some companies or stores still use plastics to sell or promote their products and services. Manufacturers use plastic in packaging since manufacture of plastics is cheaper than making paper and ceramics, thus increase their profit. This is clear detrimental to the safety and health of their customers. And this is purely trading safety for convenience.
This Christmas Season, let me share something that is truly helpful and healthful to you and your love ones especially your children:
- Avoid microwaving in plastic containers. When heating your food this Christmas, use ceramic or glass. When plastic is used, heat release chemicals into food.
- Store you food in ceramic containers. Metal canisters made for cold and hot food, brown paper bags and waxed paper may be used as alternatives too.
- Avoid cling-wraps. Use paper instead. Most cling-wraps used by grocery stores contain high level of PVC or polyvinyl chloride.
- If you can’t avoid plastics, limit your exposure to it. If you buy food in plastic, transfer it into a friendly container once you get home.
- Look for PVC-free brands of plastics. Plastic containers come with label, those triangles with numbers inside and found at the bottom. Avoid numbers 3, 6 and 7. The safest are 1, 2 and 5. These are the type of plastics used in soda and water bottles.
This Christmas season, enjoy the holidays by not adding to the sky high profits of these companies that don’t care about the welfare and safety their valued customers.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
Property Agents: True Bugs
Do you have problem with property agents? There are reports of countless complaints from helpless property buyers. And believe me it is on the rise. Because of fierce competition, overly aggressive property agents promise the earth and the moon just to capture or close the deal with prospective buyers. Pertinent information are deliberately withheld or not explained properly during the selling process. Do we have enough laws as a shield for these grieving buyers?
Do these property agents have completely abandoned the concept of value for money? Many Americans tend to buy almost they were blindfolded. This is what we call buying without researching. There are several reasons for this, and one of these is some buyers are too busy to bother about the details. Another thing is that others were intimidated by the legal gobbledygook in the sales contract. More and more Americans are more than willing to stretch their finances to the limit to have a home of their dreams.
Should you buy properties or just rent for the rest of your life? The property should be valued by at least three separate estate agencies. If you have suspicion that the valuation seems too low or too high, steer well clear. Believe me it is notoriously difficult time-consuming and difficult to prove that property agents have deliberately undervalued a property for the agent’s own gain or interest. To those who are interested to join a sealed bid, be sure that you are present or your representative is present at the moment the sealed bids are opened.
If you are interested in buying properties from subdivisions, you should first see and carefully read the Public Offering Statement filed with the Division of Land Sales that are required by law. Public Offering Statement discloses the physical characteristics of the subdivided lands and its material features or circumstances. This includes the location, size of the land and any other information with regard to zoning, restrictions affecting the value and use of the land.
Online options to check the different aspects of the property you want to invest for:
- Websites of government agencies can be checked by buyers for the plans or the projects that may affect the value of property
- Use Google Earth. Check the location of the property. Buyers can check the actual distance and accessibility. Maps provided by property agents are some times not accurate
- The buyer can approach a bank for possible valuation or assessment of property within the locality. You can get information online on the appraisal and how to get a loan with lower interest rate as well
- The buyer must check a list of registered companies, real estate brokers and property agents. This can be done online too
- Websites of other real estate firms can be checked to verify the prices of nearby properties. There are helpful online information that the buyer can get especially if the you are planning to rent out or to sell out your property in the future
There is lying to would-be buyers and dodgy deals with prospective customers. Buyers and sellers of flats, apartments, real estate and condominiums should be aware of the secret world of property agents’ dirty tricks.
How to avoid Telemarketing Fraud
Are you a victim of crime of persuasions, schemes, scams and frauds — Telemarketing fraud?
What is Telemarketing Fraud? Telemarketing fraud is defined simply by the principle medium of contact used to perpetrate the fraud. Legitimate businesses use the same “tools” to sell their products, so consumers need to know the warning signs associated with telemarketing fraud. They should not be, but are often confused with legitimate telemarketing operations. At present, The Federal Trade Commission estimates that there are more than of 14,000 fraudulent telemarketing businesses operate in North America alone.
Operations may consist of a single individual in a makeshift and portable office facility set up with a bank of phones. There are two kinds of calls namely:
- Outbound calls. When calls have not been preceded with promotional materials but are made from lists of leads or at random.
- Inbound calls. If consumers are encouraged or induced to call a number on their own.
A number of these operations take extraordinary measures to increase the difficulty of successful investigation and prosecution. These measures include
- Using cell phones. It is sometimes in conjunction with prepaid “calling cards”, which can be discarded after several weeks of intensive use.
- Using stolen identity cards. These stolen cards are being used to open mail drops for receipt of payments that victims mail to them
- Using multiple mail drops. Shuttle victim-related mail through multiple destinations
- Impersonation of FBI and Customs agents or RCMP officers. To make victims believe that law enforcement is already aware of their losses
- Contracting with other telemarketing “boiler rooms”. Are small sales offices that can spring up and close down overnight. The only desk furniture is a telephone
- Laundering. Laundering of fraud proceeds through foreign bank accounts.
Targets tend to be poor, often elderly people and those with a lot of debt and little chance of obtaining credit. Their names may appear on “sucker” lists. These are people with bad credit and heavy debts — lured by the promise of a new card. Companies buy and sell these names.
Detailed below are how to avoid becoming a victim of telemarketing fraud:
- Ask for written information. Salespeople may not explain the complete details of the product and the cost. Legitimate companies will send you the details upfront and never insist that you act immediately.
- Don’t give your credit card or bank account information. There is no reason why the company would need that information for any other purpose.
- Watch out for imposters. Crooks may pretend to be calling on behalf of well-known company or government agency and request payment for product or services rendered, when they have absolutely no connection with them at all and will simply pocket your money.
- Add your phone number to the National Do Not Call Registry. This will reduce the chance that you will be contacted again as your name is sold to other scam artists.
Unwanted telemarketing calls are often triggered by responding to unwanted paper junk mail. Reduce unwanted junk mail that lead to a number of unwanted telemarketing calls. If you will pay your credit card, do not pay for that item on your credit card bill until you’ve received, examined and are satisfied with your product or price.
Remember that unsolicited telemarketing sales are not final until you have received written confirmation of the sale and you have three days after you receive your written confirmation to cancel an unsolicited telemarketing sale. The good news is, you may be able to undo the damage. Beware!
