Dale's Blog

I have used PayPal for years and always recommend to my clients.  What I just learned is that PayPal does not like it when you buy or pay for something using their service and do not get what you paid for.  This, of course, would include buying something and never receiving – but it even includes a service or membership on-line.  I am sooo impressed… I just had to tell my story.

I will, however, change the name of the company/web site involved – lets just call the web membership site ‘got-cha’ .  Here is what happened.

I attended a ‘got-cha’ meeting here in Toronto and was told that I needed to join on-line to continue attending.  Amount totaled $97.00 for a one year membership.  After some heavy thinking, I made the decision to join and paid for my membership using my PayPal account.  Three weeks later at the ‘got-cha’ meeting here in Toronto, I was told that the membership for ‘got-cha’ was now ‘free’.  Because I create web sites, I do know that to change a web site with on-line memberships, etc., takes planning and not done over night.  In other words, when they took my money, they knew a membership was about to become ‘free’.

At no time was I contacted by ‘got’cha’ with an explanation or an offer to refund all or part of the $97.  In fact, when the head ‘got-cha’ person here in Toronto inquired on my behalf, they responded stating that they could do whatever they wanted as to charging or free, they would not refund any money because part of the money had been distributed and I had received what I had paid for…. really!!!

I had heard about PayPal and their handling such disputes and decided to check it out.  Lets face it, I know that I would be horrified if someone reported me to PayPal for not providing a service or product that I promised.  This is the internet…… not a good place to do unethical business.  So I put in a complaint to PayPal  copying ‘verbatim’ the response from ‘got-cha’.  Please note – you have a specific number of days to put in a complaint.  Then after a couple of weeks, PayPal enquired as to whether or not the matter had been resolved and if not,whether I wished to escalate to PayPal.  Once escalated, PayPal would make ‘final decision’ in the matter.   I decided to hand over to PayPal.

To be honest, I really didn’t think anything would come of it – after all – I’m an ‘individual’ and ‘got-cha’ is bigger and well known.  HOWEVER – WOULD YOU BELIEVE…. I received an e-mail last night from PayPal AND here is what they wrote :  ”We have concluded our investigation into your case and have decided in your favor.”  I still can’t believe it – My money is being returned to my account.  How cool is that????

So… who do you think I will highly recommend as a service to sell/buy on-line from now on?   Yup… only PayPal.

More and more I hear bout ‘joint venturing’ – and this is nothing new. The best part of this is the pooling of skills, expertise and sometimes sharing the cost – and of course, income.  If you are a small business owner and would like to ‘get the word’ out about your business, product or service, you might want to consider the concept.  Will be adding more on this  as I get more involved.

My fiend/client Cheryl Scoffield is holding one of her ‘Set the Stage for Follow-up’ workshops in Toronto on August 11th. These workshops are well worth it. Networking and collecting cards seems to be a thing we do a lot of these days…. and then what.  I get home and cringe – what next.  Well…. Cheryl  gives follow-up tips that are practical and you can use right away. I highly recommend – a very enjoyable learning experience. She will also be holding workshops in Oakville, but IF you want to attend the workshop in Toronto, you had better book right away – believe there is still room for 3 or 4 more: http://www.executivesalessupport.com/follow-up-services/entrepreneurs-training/

It seems at least once a week I hear something about computer security and more recently, about web sites with security leaks.  Well…. today was my day.  My web site got ‘hacked’ – yup…. all that was left of my site was some garbled words and some very strange text and e-mail addresses.  Lucky my hosting is with InMotion Hosting and they just restored and fixed everything…. gotta luv that

So a word of warning.  Many programs that we use regularly send us ‘new version’ announcements and often (and I know you do too…) we ignore.  Let’s face it, if we feel all is well, why take the time just to update something that is working just fine.  It appears that these ‘new and improved’ hackers, might have gained access to my site through a program that I did not update.  Naturally, the updated version has a new security patch which most likely would have stopped these particular hackers.  Do I know this for sure?  Not exactly.  But….I think from now on I will update to new version when I receive notification – can’t hurt….

And – another suggestion might be to completely strip/clean your old computer before selling or giving it away.  IF you have a password stored in that computer and the new owner/user visits a ‘sick’ site, your stored information might be ‘grabbed’ and that might allow hackers access to your web site(s) – been known to happen.

So there are my two little tips for the day.

The other day I was in a social setting and meeting new people when one gentleman asked what I did.  I replied and it seemed he worked for an advertising/marketing firm of some size and stature that also created web sites.  He then asked me a question using terminology that I had never heard before.  I asked for an explanation and his response was that I obviously did not know what I was doing in web design because I did not know what he meant.  In essence what he asked was do I specialize in web sites for a specific industry.

I am presently starting  a new web site development business (Enet Web Design) with a very talented programmer (Shawn) and was wondering what would make us different from all the rest of the many designers currently marketing their design skills.  And now I know.  I do not ‘geek speak’ to my clients.  Everything connected with my client’s web site is discussed with them in plain English and in terms they can easily understand.   Imagine that!  :)

Because I use this blog for business, I seldom add anything political or too controversial.  But every now and then, something is presented that I feel cannot be ignored.  So… this piece is not about the internet or software or anything related to computers.  But…. if one is in the workplace today, a little history can be a good thing….

First – I had no idea!!  How come this is not taught in school??  Why is that??….  You might want to tell your daughters/grand daughters – It wasn’t that long ago… it was less than 100 years.   In fact, there are many females living today in Canada who were born but not considered a ‘person’ under law, but as chattel ……  interesting  … and sad…. even in the 50/60′s when women wanted equal pay for equal work, they were ridiculed, etc……. not that long ago …. And in 1978 I mentioned something about a raise in pay to my boss, and his reply was (and I kid you not) – “What do you need money for?”  I couldn’t make that up if I tried….

So here is the history lesson – without the horrific photos that were originally received – I think the truth is strong enough and all we need.  Because this is about women in the U.S., please don’t point fingers – remember that this story was never told to me in school and I wonder about the Canadian women and what happened to them and what was not put in our history books.  Canada passed the bill to allow women to vote  in 1918 (sooner than the U.S.,) but only Federally and in some provinces, a woman could vote only if she owned land – full rights came a few years later … yup – all kinds of things left out of my school history book…

This is the story of women who were ground-breakers. These brave women from the early 1900′s made all the difference in the lives women live today.  And one just needs to look at different countries in the world today to see how fragile our rights are and how fast they can disappear – for both men and women.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women in those days, were quite innocent and  mostly defenseless, but when, in North America, women picketed in front of the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote, they were jailed.

And by the end of the first night in jail, those women were barely alive. Forty  prison guards wielding clubs and their warden’s blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of ‘obstructing sidewalk  traffic.’

(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.

(Dora  Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed  her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the  women.

Thus unfolded the ‘Night of Terror’ on Nov. 15,  1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the right to vote.

For weeks, the women’s only water came from an open pail. Their food–all of it colorless slop–was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

All women who have every voted, have ever owned property, have ever enjoyed equal rights need to remember that women’s rights had to be fought for in Canada as well.  Do our daughters and our sisters know the price that was paid to earn rights for women here, in North America?

2009 was the 80th Anniversary of the Persons Case in Canada, which finally declared women in Canada to be Persons!

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this information  on to all the women you know, so that we remember to celebrate the rights we enjoy.

“Knowledge is Freedom: hide it, and it withers; share it, and it blooms” (P. Hill)

As more and more jobs start to get listed, it becomes more noticeable the discrepancies between ‘title’ and actual job requirements.  And, of course, the growing desire of most companies to have one person do two jobs for the price of one.  The confusion between description and actual needs may be the problem a lot of companies have when hiring staff.  I have noticed the same job being advertised over and over.  Each time the job description had one things changed, but is basically the same job that was advertised 6 months or a year before.

Or -  trying to save money by hiring the less experienced applicant.

Last week I had to do some personal business with a company who now does most of their work through their intranet – find forms, print forms, research client info, etc.  Now… this, in principle, is a wonderful idea and ‘should’ be very cost effective.  I was watching the rep print out forms for signatures, etc…. I was impressed UNTIL I noticed that the screen he was working on was black with white text.  I also noticed that within the 35 minutes that I was there, he made at least 3 mistakes using the system and had to correct.  Now…anyone who is experienced in web design knows that it is a proven fact a great many people have a problem reading white text on a black background and why you usually see black text on white or light backgrounds.  But then again — perhaps that company insisted on ‘corporate experience only” when they hired …. ya think???

A client was good enough to let me know about this e-mail marketing service: Email Contact .  Many of the services available are directed at medium and large business only.  This one is also for the ‘little guy’… and you must check out their pricing for non-profits ….. good to know.

As most of my friends and clients know, I have been looking for ‘permanent, full-time’ employment for quite some time. One of the the things I have noticed regarding ‘qualifications’ for a Web Manager is that large corporations want their new web designer/producer to only have experience in the ‘corporate’ world.   In other words, it does not seem to be important that the Web Manager have knowledge of ‘who’ will be visiting the web site, just that he/she have corporate experience.   Now…. if your web site is ONLY for corporate personnel, I can definitely see the benefit of having a Web Designer who has specialized in the corporate office, BUT if you have site visitors and clients from many walks of life, it might be beneficial to have a Web Manager who could relate to them – not just corporate. However, for some reason, I was told by an employment agency that IF you are not ‘in’ the corporate world, your skills as a Web Manager with a varied background and knowledge, superb client relations, and intuitive marketing skills are of no value…… I kid you not …..

A couple of days ago a client contacted me concerned about whether or not the e-commerce part of his web site was working properly.  So we decided that I would buy one of his products (www.burkesgunoil.com) to make sure his shopping cart was working correctly. Seeing as I often shop on-line, looking at the cart as a ‘shopper’ is easy or me.   For 10 years I have been using Mal’s E-commerce free shopping cart which can be modified to suit the vendor and hooked up to PayPal, etc.  Naturally, I test all shopping carts that I install, but rarely take it to the final purchase at PayPal.  This time I did.  It was as smooth as silk.  I believe ‘flawless’ is the word I’m looking for.  I was so impressed.  Shipping costs were added, tax was added, notification e-mails sent – everything was perfection.

So I wanted to say thank you to Mal’s E-commerce – you make me look good!!

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