S1dd - My Other Blog..

I recently ordered a ring for Parchayi from Brilliance.com. I looked around and didn’t find many reviews of the site and most reviews were positive but there were some negative reviews. However, after our diamond search we found that Brilliance prices were unbeatable so we decide to buy from them anyway.

We placed our order online only to learn next day that the diamond we selected was out of stock!! This was exactly what some of the reviews said. Anyway after some furious phone calls to Brilliance and talking to Jonathan (ext. 105), he promised to find us a better diamond for a similar price. And they did. They found a bigger diamond which was only $100 more than the one we selected. I was hoping they would match the price with the one we selected but after a lot of bargaining, they met me midway and gave me 50$ off. This was in addition to the coupon discount.

The order arrived one day earlier than expected and the packaging was excellent, so was the diamond. All in all the shopping experience with them was excellent except for the initial out of stock diamond. And their prices cannot be beat and they have a very large selection. Seriously. Compare them with any other online diamond store. I did. They also provide a free appraisal (most sites do but some charge extra for this) and sent a copy of the appraisal to our insurance company so the ring was insured as soon as we got it.

Here are some coupons you can use:

• $150 off $4000 - Promo code: BC150C
• $100 off $2000 - Promo code: BC100C
• $50 off - Promo code: BC50C
• $200 off $6000 - Promo code: BC200C

Today Intel announced that it became the largest consumer of green energy. I had heard that PepsiCo used 100% green energy and was actually surprised that Intel uses more energy than Pepsi. Looking at the EPA website, it turns out that only 46% of Intel’s power comes from green sources! Comparing then in number of employees, Intel has around 86000 and PepsiCo, around 168000. So Intel basically just runs a power hungry business. Take the case of Pepsi, not only is the parent company a 100% green energy user, but it all its individual bottling companies are also 100% green.

Here is EPA’s list of companies that use 100% or more green energy. How you ask, can a company use more than 100% green energy?? The answer lies in buying more green energy credits than power you consume. So you basically pay the difference in cost of non-green and green energy for somebody else who you don’t know.

You can go green too. Just call your power company for details

Jan 18: I rented a car from Fox at Oaklad airport and returned the car on time but they charged me for an extra day due to an error on their part. Calling their national customer service just got me forwarded on to the local Oakland office.

A Vanessa at the Oakland office promised to look into the issue and call back the same day. Ha!! No such luck. So I called back a few days later and this time I was promised a refund to my credit card within a few minutes. No such luck again.

If you ever rented from Fox, I would recommend you check your credit card statement and see if you have been billed correctly. I am going to dispute this charge with my credit card now because it is pointless calling Fox. Supposedly only a manager can give you refunds or investigate matters and a manager is never available nor do they call you back after taking your information.

Update on Jan 28: HSBC (my credit card company) has filed a sales receipt request from Fox and I have provided them with all the information I had. Unfortunately I did not save my copy of the rental agreement. I have also called Oakland again but was placed on endless hold waiting for a manager. I have emailed Fox customer service and left a message for them one more time. If this dispute is not resolved a complaint to the BBB is due.

Upon searching for Fox Rent a Car online, I found lots of people who were cheated far more than I was. Here are links to some complaints:
BBB
RateItAll
RipOff Report