Dx.com Deal Extreme Scam Cheats

So if it smells to good to be true it probably is.

I have now found out the catch with our Cheapo Chinese online store.

So all items I have bought, (adaptors, phone chargers, cables) are very shoddy dollarama level goods and all have stopped working after a while.

If something is Dead on Arrival  they reimburse 60% of value of item and replace item.  Great so what's the catch?

Well what if they replaced it with another defective item?  What they do then is say well it's more than bla bla days since you received the FIRST item so therefore only 35% rebate for you.

Lets look at that in detail:

Item arrives after 2 weeks, go to post office, cost Time 20 mins Item $25.40
2 days later: item breaks, request a return voucher, post it back, Time 1 hr. Postage $17.50 postage -(0.65*$25.40)=$2.50, they also diddle you on $0.25 currency exchange from USD to CAD
2 weeks later new item arrives. Go to post office, Time 20 mins
Same day, they sent you a dud. spend 20 mins twice a week for 5 weeks arguing online via login reply service  that you are entitled to full refund and 60% postage.  They are in China so answer next day or day after. Time 3h 20 mins
Are offered either 35% refund on postage and replacement  Cost: 8.60 (postage - 35% rebate)-which I refused
Or $16 store credit, Cost $25.40-16=9.50

So far then it has cost me $37.40 and 4 hours and all I have to show for it is a chunk of plastic paperweight useless item.

So for DX.com just imagine it as an online Dollar store who will try to cheat you if the item is defective.  I guess streetmarket trader mentality on a huge scale.  This is really a shame because no one cares if the item costs $25 or $28 and they could offer decent after sales instead of resorting to offloading all the defective stuff to people where postage is expensive for them.  I had hoped they would be an acceptable face of chinese trading but no...they rather lose customer and grab a dirty dollar today than do it properly.

I guess had I cared to look I would have seen the warning signs

http://club.dx.com/forums/forums.dx/threadid.899688
http://www.mpoweruk.com/china_batteries.pdf
http://www.ebay.com/gds/BE-CAREFUL-When-Buying-A-Cell-Phone-Battery/10000000007645536/g.html
http://neptronix.org/posts/dont_buy_unknown_chinese_batteries.html

How to kill fruit flies

Are you being plagued by those tiny buggers that settle on everything and seem to swarm around the kitchen and want just to wipe them all out?
Look no further.  Here are 2 satisfying ways to wipe them out.
First make sure they can't come in to your house anymore.  Make sure your bin has a lid and all the usual stuff.

1) Microwave

Leave some fruit bits on a plate in the microwave with the door open.  When it is speckled with flies slam the door shut and give them a good 3-4 minutes on high power.  It's not the most efficient but is somehow satisfying.

2) Drowning.

Flies like cider or apple juice.  So get a shallow bowl and put some in with a few drops of washing up liquid. then top up to the brim with water.  And just wait.  Because of the washing up liquid they can't get out of the water and drown.

See here the decimation caused in 2 hours.....Mwa ha ha haa....
all the black dots at the bottom are dead flies

Leave a few of these traps near your bin, fruit bowl etc...

Calling StenaLine rail ferry train UK from abroad 0844 number book tickets

If you need to speak to stena and book a ticket or whatever and you call from abroad you may find them on til 10pm UK time.
Call this number: they are in N Ireland and can book anywhere in Europe.

+ 44-28 9074 7747

Cheap stuff online

Cheap stuff

2 online electronic shops
1) www.factorydirect.ca
occasionally has good reconditioned stuff.  The problem is it is a pain if you have to return stuff.  I had to do this for one cable in a box of stuff and they want the whole lot back.  They told me shipping was normally at my expense  but that they would make an exception.  This really turned me off.  The reason you shop online is not to bugger about going to shops/post offices.  The last stuff I got was scratched and a bit shabby reconditioned.

2) deal extreme  http://dx.com
In a nutshell cheap crap from China, but why not?  Same as Canadian?  Tire but MUCH cheaper.  The free shipping to Canada intrigued me, but I was in a big hurry for something so paid $25 for expedited delivery.
I realized after purchase that this is shipping from Shenzen (China) via Vancouver to Montreal.
I ordered it on the 28th and it just arrived on the 9th.  OK there was Easter but  the Chinese aren't into Easter.  On a plus the live support is good and I could track the snail paced movement of the parcel across the globe.

Because I needed it super fast I ordered same thing from http://stores.ebay.com/cenyglobal on the 30th. Shipping by regular post $10, it came from NY.

Reason I paid $25 shipping was because ebay expedited was something like $60 and I needed it super fast.

Both arrived today so 12 and 10 days each.


verdict: deal extreme OK if you take advantage of free shipping and buy a few things and are not in a hurry.

factory direct OK if you want it very quick but beware if you need to return stuff. They have good weekly fliers to take the clickwork out of finding bargains.  No import duty since canadian

ebay probably the best middle ground once you find a shop you like and trust.

I have never had to pay import duty for anything but then again I only buy little things like adaptors and cables that aren't worth much, I've never bought anything more than $20 or so from US.  I heard if it comes by post there is no or very little duty and brokerage is included but I've not run into this problem.

CommunAuto

I tried this scheme last year as a second car alternative.

I cannot recommend it. Why?  because there are no one-way journeys allowed so 99% of intended journeys are useless for this scheme.

If you don't have a car and need it to pick stuff up then great or do little day trips, knock yourself out.  Otherwise it is a waste of time.  Great idea but it needs more work.  Until then take a taxi.  It is NOT the car equivalent of a bixi which is what they misled me  to believe (OK misled is strong, but they are not overly explicit that the car has to return to start point).

I have other gripes but that is the main one.  other similar schemes in other countries can manage to redistribute the car fleet throughout the day I don't know why these lot can't.

Easy Netflix

With an Unblock US, aka usvideo.ca account you can now watch UK, US, Canadia, Scandanavian, Irish and mexican netflix with a click of a button. No foreign credit cards and messing about.

This not only gets you a wider range of content but also gives you the option to watch films in portuguese, spanish or french (via Canadian site) if you prefer this. So not only can you lazily babysit the kids but educate them too.  Plus you get UK TV...

N. American TV is so bad why would you want to watch it?  And even if the show is OK they'll only ruin it with vulgar, crass  and just embarrassing adverts so do yourself a favour and switch to something you can control the content of

It's $5 a month....

free calls & Google voice in canada

Probably worth pointing out that the technology has moved on. No need for messing about. Just get a working google voice number, see below or google how, then use acrobits softphone app (android or Apple) and set it up in there. There are quite a few others that'll do it too, talkatone, talkonaut, these two have the advantage you can text to Canada and the states for free. You can get incoming calls and dial out but be warned, quality is crap. It's good for shouting a quick message but not for long calls unless you're on very good wifi connection or 3G.

Find lost ipod

Problem with ipods you can't call them right? However if you lose them at home, and you have wireless and you lost it up to a week or so ago you maybe in luck.

Get onto your wireless router config page and find the list of devices. On Tomato there is a device list that has a quality indicator that shows how strong signal is. If you can't identify which device MAC Addres is the ipod (look for a OUI tab), and turning stuff off doesn't help, search the first 6 digits of MAC adress here (capitals, no colons or spaces.
Lynksys might be here, you need to hunt it down
1.Go to the Setup tab.
2.Scroll down to 'DHCP Server' enable it.
3.Click on the "Status" tab and then on "Local Network".
4.Click "DHCP Clients Table".

Then you need to move the wireless router switched on but not plugged to internet around your house and look at signal strength of the router configuration page. point the antennae towards where you are looking. Compare what you get with laptop or cellphone to give you a guide as to what 'hot' is. If you are getting say 8 and everywhere in the room is the same then no good, move on. Once you are up to 30 then you're warm:hot. If you can't seem to get a hotspot but you have a consistently high value in one room it is likely inside something in that room. Sudden wierd hotspots like in the middle of the room in the air means it is obscured but not completely, in between things, e.g. books and you are crossing a 'line of sight'. Good luck.

Free UK number that diverts wherever

Do you want a number that is free for people in uk to call and can get you wherever?
Do you have VoIP, sip, Internet phone? If yes read on
If you need VoIP try www.VoIP.ms
Sign up for your free 0330 number at
http://www.numbergroup.com/products-services/telephone-numbers/uk-wide-03-numbers
free to set up no fees, just divert to sip

0800 number UK

Ever need to call your bank in UK? Can't get through on 0800 or 0845 or 0870 numbers?
Here is solution
Dial this number +442002220700
then dial your 0800 number

Sure it's not free but at least you can get through.

watch UK TV and US Netflix

Not free but damned reasonable

check out usvideo.ca
$5 a month. Cheaper than a dvd hire.

iplayer works fine, <>


couldnt download shows to watch later but could watch fine.

US netflix just great. 1 month free trial. You need prepaid credit card from super C or Metro supermarkets, details on how to register that at a US address are at USvideo but basically you call them up and tell them you live in the states and give a us address, any old address.

Hulu plus? Meh. I dont like US TV much so there's not much point, and expensive.

To connect your computer to the TV try one of these if your computer has s-video out.


And you are good to go, enjoy, just makesure you have the bandwidth to watch film after film after film.

World cup on iPhone $4.99, candada, watch world cup, fifa, listen world cup

I looked everywhere for radiostreams so I could listen in the car/at work. Ca n'existe pas.

But the tvuplyer app is $4.99 and you can watch matches from there on the iPhone. I heard Rogers have some deal too but I think it's more expensive. Quality is OK, bit blurry at times, better than nothing
Here's tvu player http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/tvuplayer/id323640984?mt=8

Also best world cup info app is from the Telegraph. You get scores and start times by push notification
Telegraph http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/telegraph-world-cup-app/id375226158?mt=8

right! Ingerland!

you can check out how it looks down here:

iphone to phone free N America

OK so you will need the following
1) Google voice number (see here for how to set up from Canada)
2) an Ipkall number from here
3) a Sipsorcery account here
4) a softphone installed on your iphone, like whistle phone, fring
Total cost = $zero

Then,
1)Register google voice at your ipkall number. You'll need a voip account to do that. There are loads to choose from, you just need a sip account name, password and proxy for a day. Probably you can get a free one say voipcheap that gives you a couple of minutes free trial. You need to forward your ipkall number to your voip account so you can answer it. Google calls you and you have to dial the two numbers they show you on the screen. After that you don't need voip account and google will think ipkall is your home number.
2)Forward ipkall to your sipsorcery account, username, proxy is sip1.sipsorcery.com
3)Register your softphone to sipsorcery account
4)put this dial plan in sipsorcery, numver 10, simple plan. Change the bits they tell you to change.
5) Now you can call from your softphone to the whole of north america for free, civilization at last...

Free Calls to States & Canada

So soon I'll get this phone call thing out of my system.

My latest find is google voice..

Unavailable in Canada..no but yeah but, if you accept the invite when you are logged into this then all is good.

Google voice is a callback service and you need a US number to set it up on. Solution is to buy one in Canada, say here for a couple of dollars. Then register for a free US number with IPKALL and register the Canada number to IPKALL number.

So it goes...google to IPKALL to Canada number.

Then you can call the states AND CANADA! for free* as well. You get some nice features, text transcribes of voicemails, SMS and recording.
*Well you pay incoming on the canada number, not figured out that leg for free...yet but it is 1c/min.

New sipbroker numbers

Sipbroker just added a ton of new numbers that work from Italy, UK, S America, Netherlands

Check them out http://www.sipbroker.com/sipbroker/action/pstnNumbers

you can use these for 25c a month
buy virtual did from voip.ms
set that up to be registered at Montreal
and forward it to say your home number
use *9783 access code
dial your weird virtual number et voilà

google wave invite

Anyone want one? send email ether by comment (not published) or to the name of this blog @gmail.com




don't know yet what it does exactly so can't comment on usefulness The geeks assure us it is REALLY useful...lets see I can barely be bothered .......Something about those grinning smug 30 somethings make me want to smack 'em..maybe I jealous....maybe not

Cheap cellphone international calls voip sip voip.ms callback ipkall sip uri

I am trying to get cheap calls from my cell. Experimenting with callback feature in voiP.ms This allows you to set up a call back feature. So you call a number and get a busy tone. You hang up and you get a call back and when you answer there is a dial tone. From there you can call at voip.ms rates. If you have unlimited incoming local calls then on the cell it costs nothing. If you want a real phone number it'll cost you 1.50 a month but I just discovered virtual numbers that voip.ms offer for 25cents a month. The problem then is how are you supposed to dial it from a cell? The answer is you get a free number in the US from IPKALL.COM and set that up to forward to your virtual number. Set callback to your cell and away you go. Should be no charge to call US since number is busy so no connection.

Free telephone number Montreal. Free Canada DID. Get a free phone number. Free fone

Possibly my final discovery for you in 2009 is http://www.freephoneline.ca. Here you can get a free Montreal number. The cool thing is you can set it up in followme mode and have it forwarded to the Canadian number of your choice. The second cool thing is you can call all of Canada for FREE. Or you can call globally unlimited for $14 a month. Check it out!

2010 ComunAuto

CommunAuto is a late find.
Basically it is like Bixi (boooo) for cars.
I have some friends who rate it highly

I will try it in 2010 and report back.
They reckon it costs $500 returnable membership, $500 anual fee and a further $500 in mileage costs...
So $1000 a year..sounds a lot? Well it includes gas and insurance. Insurance is $1000 a year at least anyway and gas maybe $1000 a year or more so it is not a lot is it? Checked on a saturday afternoon and there were 9 cars available within a 3 minute walk.
Unlike stupid bixi, (where is it now?), this is sensible and practical and a great scheme if you need a car occaisionally (shoping, going out etc)...

I'm a bit unsure on the parking thing and where you pick it up...but let's see.

For now here are the rates...seems similar to car rental prices but has advantage of local drop off and pick up and can be booked by the hour..Access to AB&C require the $500 deposit.

Free Phone Calls to Canada (or wherever)

This enables people to call you for the price of a local call from wherever they are (and often local calls are free)

What you will need.

1) a Voip account with a DID number, that means a telephone number that people can call you on, (see http://www.voip.ms/ voipbuzzer, voxalot, callcentric etc). Currently if you are in Montreal I can recommend http://www.voip.ms/ After some time you'll figure out why....


If you don't have one it will cost you $1.49 , yes that is one dollar forty nine cents per month...
(Top Voip.ms tip...pay by paypal and there is no tax on top)

Assuming you have all that sorted, (see previous post)

Step 1. Find the access code for your voip company..here


So for example if you type voip.ms in the provider name box then you get the following results


















which if you can't read it says *9783 for sip.us4.voip.ms

this is the New York server.

Step 2. Register your DID to the new york server sip.us4.voip.ms (if you are in Montreal with voip.ms)

Step 3. Find the local phone number for your friends and
family..Here

So if your sister lives in London she calls
020-71006747

then she dials *9783 (in this example...from Step 1)
then your phone number 1-514-123-4567 , (example number is montreal 514-1234567)
then #

et voila...they will be connected, you will not be charged...all is good....isn't it nice?