Category Archives: Consumer

Charlottetown new-homes in slump developers not in sync with market

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Building more single family homes and luxury condos in a Canada’s poorest province

Martell Builders Green Homes in Moncton, sell like hotcakes

CBC is reporting that new home construction is down 9% for the Cornwall, Charlottetown and Stratford region.

Summerside however is booming with 32% increase in new home construction.

The problem lies squarely on the shoulders of the municipal governments and greedy developers who are not in sync with the market.  Summerside is experiencing growth because they are addressing the growth segment of the market.  Continue reading →

Simple fan delay switch can avoid bathroom mold

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Too much moisture will cause mold – $40 switch helps to keep it away and save energy

EFI Fan/Light Time Delay Switch 501

A simple $40 switch got rid of excess moisture in a bathroom without having to train a teenager.

Hour long showers listening to music create more moisture in a bathroom than a fan can easily remove.

Last month I discovered the paint peeling in the downstairs bathroom for that very reason.
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Finally a hearing aid that works for musicians

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A banjo player finds success with Bernafon’s Live Music Plus

(photo Jens Kruger)

By Bruce Bowen, Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss Updated

I am a 5-string banjo player and I posted in the past about some of my experiences trialing Siemens and Oticon aids.

I finally ran across the article by Hockley, Bahlmann and Marshall Chasin entitled ‘Programming hearing instruments to make live music more enjoyable’ at the Hearing Journal vol 63 issue 9 pp 30 to 38.

This article discusses the test of Bernafon’s Live Music Plus using real musicians. Now this is good science.  Continue reading →

Audiologists are they salesmen or professionals?

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Sales hype from the big audiologists is not what many need

Connect Hearing - the deal is not there

The second audiologist I saw claims to be the largest one in Canada, Connect Hearing.

Connect Hearing promised $1,000 discounts, free trials and even a Veterans discount. In the end they delivered nothing.

When I tried to connect the dots on their audiology delivery, it didn’t make sense. They could not meet their advertised statements. Continue reading →

Tax system benefits 1% Wealthy

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For those with jobs, life is a drudgery – for those with capital, life is a comedy

The 99% protest at Occupy Toronto (photo CBC)

The Canadian and US tax systems reinforce the concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1%.

It will take a major shift in how the government structures the tax system to see any transfer in wealth from the 1% to the 99%.  Continue reading →

Is Online Customer Service a FAIL

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Do you have any horror stories about Christmas shopping online or was it all peaches and cream?

Amazon.com, eBay, Newegg, TigerDirect, Indigo, Musicians Friend – those are only a few of the most popular places to buy online.

We all know how to Google and get the best price but what is your experience after that?

Help us by sending a quick comment or email to njnfeedback (at) gmail.com.
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Is iPhone Android or Windows Phone 7 the best for you

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Whatever choice in phones the financial consequences are more dependent on the carrier

Future Shop smart phone display in the front entrance now (iPhone picture - Stephen Pate)

The push is on to sell everyone a smartphone with email, internet, picture and video access. Some people will use them for phone calls.

For young and old smartphones are a status symbol.  The social pressure in school is enormous as sharing photos and videos is replacing texting as the top activity.

It’s a big business that pays dividends for the phone carriers and retailers like Future Shop and Best Buy. The carriers are kicking back millions of dollars to push these fun but expensive phones.

The cost of the phone is irrelevant. They are being discounted to $99 or nothing. Verizon has built a business on giving you the second phone free.  Continue reading →

Parking lot shuffle is kiss of death in internet world

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Warranty repairs are often shoddy and don’t fix the problem

Island Chevrolet, going out of business one customer at a time

Businesses who don’t respond fairly to their customers find themselves out of business in an age when customer complaints travel at the speed of light.

The customers walk away with their wallets to competitors and the rest is history.

Take car dealers for an example. Car dealers used to take warranty complaints with a grain of salt.

You’d leave the car and go to work.

When you pick the car up at night, it would be parked on the other side of the parking lot. A work order would be signed and keys returned.

On the way home, a sinking feeling would creep in that the problem hadn’t been fixed.

You got the parking lot shuffle.  Continue reading →

Baby Boomers to drive the market one more time

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77 million Americans are about to retire, many of them with disabilities, and they want to spend and get their way

Boomer rock stars (illustatration Next 50 magazine)

Unlike no other generation of retirees in history, Baby Boomers are 4 months away from retirement and about to drive the market one more time.

77 million Americans are in the group that were born after World War II and 1964. They created the 60s decade of protest and change, the stock market booms of the 80s, 90s and 00s.

Baby Boomers defined every major market except the current fascination with the youth market by Madison Avenue.

However unlike Gen X and Gen Y, Baby Boomers have accumulated the greatest wealth of any period in history. And they are about to change their priorities and the priorities of Madison Avenue.

And we aren’t willing to sit back and take anything. I retired at 50 years old ready to take on my next challenge. Since then I’ve started a rock band, built a home studio and began a budding career as a singer songwriter while publishing this blog.

We’re not taking it any more.

USA Today reports “The baby boomers’ spending is growing by leaps and bounds, outpacing the younger generations. For example, spending by U.S. consumers age 50 and older jumped 45 percent over the past decade, while spending of those younger than 50 rose just 6 percent during the same time.”  Continue reading →

Gov’t Has Spent Small Fraction of $50 Billion Pledged for Loan Mods

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Despite a $50 billion budget for loan modifications, TARP has only spent $600 by the end of October 2010

photo - chattahbox.com

by Paul Kiel ProPublica

When the Obama administration launched its flagship foreclosure prevention program in early 2009, it pledged to spend up to $50 billion helping struggling homeowners. But the government has so far only spent a tiny fraction of that.

A recent Treasury Department report summarizing TARP spending put the total at $600 million through October.

Although the Treasury Department posts the maximum amount that could go to each mortgage servicer on its website , it doesn’t report the details of the spending. So we filed a Freedom of Information request for the data, and can now show for the first time exactly how much money has gone to each servicer. (A Treasury Department spokeswoman said they’re considering regularly releasing the information going forward.)

The program, which uses TARP money, tries to prevent foreclosures by paying mortgages servicers incentives to make loan modifications. The largest payout, $79 million, has gone to JPMorgan Chase. Next on the list is Bank of America with $45.1 million. That’s a drop in the bucket for BofA, which reported net servicing income of $780 million in the third quarter. (You can use our bailout tracker to see how much money has gone to each mortgage servicer. The figures, which come from our FOIA request, only go through August.)   Continue reading →