Newsletter Archives

• Patch Lady – second day of Christmas

  Posted on December 15, 2018 at 19:00 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  On the second day of Christmas we bought a lot of gift cards.  And many of us end up not using those gift cards as billions end up not being used.  And worse yet (as what happened to me and my gift to my Dad) they can end up being ripped off and used and by the time you go to use the card, the value is gone.

  So here are some tips as you buy gift cards this season:

  1.  Check the expiration dates.  In the State of California where I live, one can set a redemption date on the gift card, so don’t assume that they are good indefinitely.
  2. Make sure the packaging looks okay, the PIN number isn’t scratched off and in general the card looks “okay”.
  3. See if you can find a place that sells gift cards behind the counter so they aren’t tampered with out in the open.
  4. Buy a gift card  online if you can, it’s less likely to be scammed.
  5. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.  Don’t go for discount cards, as it’s more than likely to be a scam.
  6. and …. don’t wait a year to use the Ruth Chris’ steakhouse gift card that your daughter gave you and someone already ripped off and used when you went to go pay for your steak dinner.  If the card has been around for a while, check the balance before you go and attempt to use it.
  7. Oh and… in the case of the daughter…. don’t throw away your purchase receipt.  Not saying that I could have gotten or done anything a year after I bought it, but given that I have no evidence whatsoever that I bought it, I’m out $200 for your gift, and you were out $200 buying that steak dinner for you and your friends.  (Ouch)

  Bottom line, while gift cards can be a great gift, they can also be easily scammed.  Scammers are now guessing the card number sequences and making their own usable gift cards from the numbers they determine are valid and have dollars attached to them.  So check that balance if you don’t plan to use them right away.

  Right, Dad?

  Other 12 gifts of Christmas, Patch Lady Posts

• Patch Lady – twelve days of Christmas

  Posted on December 13, 2018 at 15:07 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Please note:  I’m starting a series of twelve “gifts” that I think are worthy of paranoia and protection.  I will say up front that many of these gifts involve protecting children and while I am personally not a Mother, I know a lot of friends and family members with children.

  On the first day of Christmas I would recommend the following gift:

  A router, firewall or Internet service that allows you to turn off the internet for certain times of the day. 

  My Xfinity wifi does this, also the Disney Circle device (which is now embedded into several routers also do this).

  Bottom line in this day and age of always on Internet, we need to take a break and get OFF the Internet, especially in the Holiday season.

  How many times have you walked into restaurants, and even homes and found every face down in a phone looking at the screen and not talking to each other.  Recently I watched the host of NPR’s “Wait Wait don’t tell me” talk about how we need to “escape our “digital dystopia” of electronic screens and constant notifications by running outside”.  Now I’m not going to suggest that we all take up running immediately (for one it’s too cold and snowy for some of you to attempt to go running), but we definitely need to get off of our devices and stop rewiring our brains attention spans.

  So on this first blog post of Christmas gifts… my recommendation if you have children and grandchildren… and even yourself… make sure you build in time OFF of technology and review your options to have the ability to set such times in your firewall or routers.

  Other 12 gifts of Christmas, Patch Lady Posts