Shoppers Beware

Date: December 26, 2019

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Facebook, are you listening?

If you advertise on Facebook, you might want to consider reading this too.

At first glance, Facebook is an advertiser’s dream. The data Facebook has on its users gives them an unprecedented edge in delivering ads to the most ripe buyers—often people who have recently searched for similar items.

As a buyer, those ads never bothered me—or the fact I knew I was being targeted by the data I had fed Facebook over the years. I figured it simply helped me find items I was already looking for.

I erroneously assumed I had a level of protection—because of all those comments from satisfied cusomers, right? If buyers said the product sucked, I could pass. Right?

Okay, here is my story.

I found an item on Facebook I thought would be terrific for our motor home. It was a magnetized shelf that went on the refrigerator. According to all the comments (and there were lots of them), it worked great.

Actually, that part was correct. When I finally received the shelf—almost a month later—it did have amazing magnetic power. However, it was MUCH smaller than the product description of the item I had purchased.

According to the ad, the shelf I was purchasing was five-inches deep. The one I received, was only two-inches deep. The item I purchased was advertised to hold a roll of paper towels—the rack I received was far too narrow to hold a roll of paper towels. In fact, it was not just smaller than the item I ordered, it was a completely different shelf.

When I complained through their Facebook store, I was told they would send me my refund—after I paid to have the item shipped back to CHINA. I then requested they send me a paid shipping label for the return. After all, other companies do that. Plus, why should I pay to return an item I never ordered? The item they sent me was clearly NOT what I had ordered. It would be like ordering cowboy boots, but they send slippers. Sure, they both go on your feet, but they are two different items.

They never responded to my request for a postage paid shipping label. I filed a complaint on PayPal, and the best they could do was a token refund.

However, what irritated me most, when I returned to the Facebook page I had purchased the item https://www.facebook.com/LazyShack-Shopping-360012698045641/ all those positive comments I had read when I had first seen the item—gone. All of them.

And now, there were posted reviews—negative reviews that had come in AFTER I had made my purchased. They all reported the same thing. Basically, a bait and switch. The company behind the Lazy Shack Facebook page, according to my PayPal receipt, is Zola Technology Limited.

I also found a SECOND Facebook shop for this company:

www.facebook.com/Lazy-Shack-Shop-2067820650180784/

I reported what I consider consumer fraud to Facebook, but the stores remain on Facebook. Not sure if Facebook is still accepting their ads. Since I reported Lazy Shack, I suspect they will stop targeting me for the ads. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find ANY contact information for consumer complains regarding Facebook ads, aside from a form to fill out and submit.

So what have I learned? If I find something really neat through a Facebook ad, I will go to Amazon and see if I can find the product. That shelf I wanted, it is on Amazon Prime, so they would have paid my shipping. And I know with Amazon, they stand behind their products. At least, that has been my experience.

I am sad to discover Facebook is obviously an unsafe place to buy from vendors. I am still curious as to what happened to all those positive comments I had initially read. They had misled me…and they were the reason I made my purchase.

I will never again buy directly from a Facebook link. And if I was a relatively unknown vendor, wanting to find buyers, I would advertise my Amazon page. I would not take a potential customer to my company page, for fear of losing a skeptical buyer, like me.

***UPDATE I am thrilled to report PayPal sided in my favor and refunded my money. YAY PayPal!

Holidays and Family

Date: December 18, 2019

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Categories: Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

Comments: 4 Replies

I can’t believe Christmas is just a week away. No one is coming for Christmas this year, but my sister did come for a holiday visit. She flew into Vegas, and my husband was a real sport, and picked her up—and then ten days later (this morning), he took her back to Vegas to fly home. Unfortunately, she missed her connecting flight, and is stuck in the airport for a couple of hours. But she is using that time to read my new book, The Ghost and the Christmas Spirit, so it should keep her occupied.

My sister Lynn is my only sibling, and we’re pretty close. So it was great having her here for a holiday visit—especially for our mother. We did sister stuff, like baked a favorite cookie recipe of our paternal grandmother’s, went out to lunch, did some Christmas shopping, sipped brandy and eggnog, and talked…and talked. She also helped me at the Shopping Extravaganza, where I had a book table set up. And she knows a few people in Havasu–an old high school friend from Covina, and some relatives of her husband, so we did a little visiting.

I wish we could have taken Lynn out in the boat, but unfortunately we’ve been experiencing a cold Havasu December. Some years we can dine outside by the pool during December—other years we need warm jackets and a toasty fire when outside.

The photo is of my sister and me—I am the one on the left. It was taken 54 years ago—yikes! That was before our family moved to Havasu. Back in those days we lived in Covina, California. Back then, our parents always had this enormous flocked tree in the living room—which Mom carefully decorated in turquoise and gold glass ornaments. My sister and I preferred old fashioned trees, so we usually shared a little tree, which we decorated. Sometimes it was in my bedroom, sometimes in Lynn’s. That year it was in Lynn’s room.

This year we just have a little tree with lights on our stereo cabinet—away from the pups. But next year, next year we will have a full-sized Christmas tree again.

My youngest Haunting Danielle Fan

Date: December 15, 2019

Author: Bobbi Holmes

Categories: Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

Comments: Leave a reply

I have a new fan. And you have no idea how thrilled I am. It’s my nine-year-old granddaughter, Addison.

Addison is a voracious reader. Her favorite books include The Land of Stories, Harry Potter, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

She lives in Alaska with her parents and brother, as my son-in-law is in the Coast Guard, and my daughter is a professional graphic artist and cover designer. My daughter is the artist who has designed all my book covers.

Since they live so far away, I don’t get to see them often—although we keep in touch with Facetime. But when they do visit, a tradition we have established when they stay with us is for me to tell Addison and Evan a story every night before bed. (Yes, I named the Evan in Haunting Danielle for my grandson, while I made Evan in my story the age of Addison at the time I wrote the first book he appeared in.)

A Grandma Bobbi story is an impromptu story I make up on the fly, which normally includes mermaids, dragons, flying and sometimes time travel.

Addison has always been a bit fascinated by the fact her grandma writes books—at least since she started reading books. Recently, she told her mother she wanted to read Grandma Bobbi’s Haunting Danielle books. I wasn’t sure the books would keep her interest, but according to her mom she loved The Ghost of Marlow House and wanted to read the next one. Although, the book did prompt her to ask her mother questions on words or events she did not completely understand.

I was a little concerned about her reading book two—the subject matter was a tad more adult, yet nothing graphic and not really anything more risqué than a child might see on regular television.

Well, Addison is half-way through the second book, and my daughter tells me she is enjoying it. I never considered Haunting Danielle as book a child might enjoy—but then I remember I was only a few years older than Addison when I read Valley of the Dolls. Thankfully, Haunting Danielle is nothing like Valley of the Dolls.

I love the fact that one of the most important people in my life—my granddaughter—is enjoying my Haunting Danielle series.