Blueberry Twig Update-Update

It would seem that my last email to the Blueberry Giant Twig company did some good, I received 3 more twigs, these were in much better shape than the previous twigs. Each twig had it's own separate clump of semi moist dirt attached, there were several leaves per twig and the leaves looked about double in size compared to the original twigs. Well, I suppose I'm happy enough with the situation, I will definitely be buying real blueberry plants next year, no more ordering from infomercials, not unless I can see it and touch it before I buy.
(UPDATE- only one out of the three plants are still alive, all of them looked just fine, but a day after I replanted them in containers, 2 of them, the leaves dried up and the plants are dead)

I have not always had bad luck with infomercial products, I had 3 different kitchen gadgets that worked out pretty well. The first is called a Turbo Cooker, it's a large, deep frying pan with a large domed lid. My mother gave it to me many years ago, I took it thinking, "Oh boy, this will take up a lot of space and I'll probably not use it..." I took it with a smile on my face, thanking my mother for the nice gift.

When I started using it, I was surprised at how well it actually worked. I did a search online for more recipes and found a busy Yahoo group, I joined and found that the inventor, Chef Randall and the infomercial queen who demonstrated it, Cathy Mitchell were both active members of this group. The group was about a year old then, the owner of the group wanted to step down and offered the group to whoever wanted it, I raised my hand, that has been over 9 years ago now, next year the group will hit the big 10.

Eventually I was asked by Cathy Mitchell to start up a new Yahoo group promoting one of her products, the Xpress 101, this was an electric grill, similar to the George Forman grill, but with a few notable differences. Since that time there has been a second generation unit called the RediSetGo. The improvements were created in part by the input from the Yahoo group. Cathy Mitchell is a very nice and generous lady, she sent me an Xpress 101 as a gift, and when the RediSetGo came out, she sent one of those to me as well.

Let's see, the next As Seen On TV item I purchased was the Pump-n-Seal, this is a non-electric gadget that pumps the air out of jars, it works pretty good. I own a PedEgg for my feet, it's OK. I almost forgot about the Slap & Chop, it's pretty good, but noisy if you do it with gusto like I do... LOL. Can't think of anything else, though I'm sure I probably have a few other items. Now that many stores have an As Seen On TV section, it's much easier to buy (or reject) these gadgets, and much easier to return them if they don't work.

A couple of As Seen On TV items I am interested in buying is Fix It Tape, it's a silicon tape with no sticky layer, it sticks to itself, it's supposed to be able to fix leaky hoses, use in place of electrical tape, it says it works on wet, oily or dirty surfaces, I look for it every time I go into a store that carries As Seen On TV items, so far I haven't seen it, but I'll buy it as soon as I find it.

The other thing I'm interested in is the Big City Slider Station, it cooks mini hamburgers, 5 at a time in just 2 minutes, the local store I go to does carry this, I just haven't been able to convince myself to spend the $$$s yet.

What As Seen On TV items have you purchased? Were you happy with it?


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Thanks for visiting!

Blueberry Twig Update

As of yesterday, I hadn't received an answer to the email I sent to the Blueberry Giant (twig) company, so I sent this message last night:

Hello, I wrote you a week ago and have received no answer, I received 3 twigs in the mail in a dry baggie of dirt, 2 of the 3 plants are alive, one is dead. I would like either a refund or a replacement twig.

If I don't hear something soon, I'll be going through my credit card company to get a refund for the whole thing. It's your choice how you want to proceed. 

That got their attention, they replied with this today:

As requested we will replace the order for you please allow at least 10-14 business days for delivery 

Maybe I'll get a full delivery of 3 twigs, I'll let you know what I receive. Two of them are still alive and seem to be doing just fine, for twigs, the third one is dead, I placed it in a cup of water to see if I could get some roots to grow, and so far it's a no-go.


All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

BlueBerry Giant Infomercial

How many of you have seen the infomercial for BlueBerryGiant blueberries? They show large, lush blueberry bushes with dozens of fat blueberries on each one. They tell you that you can have your very own blueberry bushes for one small payment of $10.00 plus S&H, but wait, there's more, you can get one more blueberry plant for free, just pay separate S&H. You get 3 plants in total. My order came to $21.90. I anxiously awaited the arrival of my order.

A few weeks later, with no notice, I received a small box in my mail. The box was very small, something you would expect to carry a hamster home from a pet store. It said there were live blueberry plants inside, I picked up this box and it weighed mere ounces. I wondered if they only sent one plant and the others were on their way. When I opened the box, I saw an open baggie of dry dirt and three twigs. Yes, I said twigs, these twigs are 3 inches long and maybe a quarter inch in diameter. Two of the three twigs had a couple of leaves and some roots, the third twig had no leaves (they had fallen off into the baggie of dirt) and no roots.

Understand that I am not so stupid as to expect to receive full grown blueberry bushes for that price, but I certainly expected something more than twigs. On their website, there is a FAQ, one of the questions on there is How long until the blueberry plants bear fruit? Their answer:
They will likely bear a light crop this season, a lot more next season and an even heavier crop during the third season and beyond.

Yeah, it will likely bear a light crop this season, and I'm likely to go to the moon this season too.

I planted the twigs in small pots, there is no way these are going outside this year. I tried to revive the dead twig with no luck. I emailed the company, they do have a guarantee on their twigs. Here is what I wrote:

Hello,

You should really let your customers know that they are getting three 3 inch twigs, and that it will be at least 2-3 years before they can expect to get any blueberries from them.

With that said, 2 out of the three twigs seem to be alive, the 3rd is not, it arrived with no roots or leaves, all were in a baggie of dry soil, I'm surprised that any of them were alive. I tried to revive the dead twig, but it is quite dead with no activity coming from it at all, no new roots have grown and no new leaves have grown.

I don't know how you normally work these things, if I get a refund or if you send out more twigs. if you send another twig, I think I should get a couple of them in case one of them is DOA.

I'm pretty shocked that you can charge $11.90 for S&H on these, even with the "free" twig, it takes up no more space in that little baggie of dry dirt, it certainly can't add any more weight, you can probably stick a dozen more twigs in that little baggie of dry dirt and not incur any more shipping costs.  I suppose you have to pay for all those infomercials somehow, and for all the lush, blueberry bushes that you show on the infomercials.

To the customer service person who is handling this email, I am not angry with you personally, I feel quite sorry for you, I'm sure you have to read and deal with angry emails and customers quite a bit, I wish you all the best in your life, you should probably get a better and less stressful job, hope they are paying you well for this.

As far as the company, BlueBerryGiant is concerned, this is a pretty sad way to do business, I can just imagine the excited customers going to their mailboxes after ordering from your company, I can see the puzzled look on their face when they see the size of the box and wonder, "Did they only send one plant? Did they really put 3 plants in this little box?", and I can see the disappointment on their face when they open the box, and see those 3 sad twigs, hopefully with leaves and roots but more than likely not, in that little baggie of dry dirt.

I don't know what else to say, so I'll stop typing now, please reply and let me know what you are going to do.

I wonder what they will do. I'll post their response as soon as I get one I had the opportunity to purchase real bare root blueberry plants from Home Depot when I was in town (3 hours away), but I thought I would try getting them from the local nursery, and if the local nursery didn't have any, I could always order them from BlueBerryGiant. The nursery didn't carry any, so I ordered from BlueBerryGiant on line. I suppose next year I'll get some from Home Depot or order them from a reputable nursery. I don't think I'll find any the next time I go into town, of course if I do, I'll buy some and hopefully have a small crop of blueberries by next year. Oh well, live and learn.
Click for larger images.

All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader),  

Thanks for visiting!

Another Pump & Seal on eBay

GONE
Another Pump-n-Seal on eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150360506763

starting @ 99 cents, no bids as of this moment, that will probably change quickly. Shipping $9.95
Ends Jul 27, 2009

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Another one here

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250469610597

Used once, in great condition, starting @ $4.99 with $3.65 shipping, ends Jul 28, 2009
Ends Aug 02, 2009

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Another one here, my these are usually rare to find on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300333461598

Used, looks complete, starting at $9.99 with $8.60 shipping

Good luck!


Wretha

Thanks for visiting!
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Pump-N-Seal Super Sale

All gone now.

EDIT

OK, there are 2 left, they are on eBay and they have bids, here are the links

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290331438616

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290331438472


Wonderful news! I just received an email from a reader who has 5, new in the box, Pump-n-Seal units for sale, she is going to be putting them on eBay for $20.00 (+ shipping) each, but for my readers she is willing to let some of them go for $15.00 (+ shipping) each, just send her an email and she will take care of you.

For details email Hazel @
babygrl_109@yahoo.com

You will need to pay with PayPal. I wouldn't wait around for this, she is listing them on eBay and if they sell there first, you will lose out.

This is a great deal, these go for nearly $40.00 if you buy direct (well worth every penny)! If you have been wanting one of these and you have been putting it off, now is the time to act, for all of you off gridders and those who would like to be, a Pump-n-Seal can't be beat for food storage, I absolutely love mine and use it frequently. Read my previous reviews and messages about the Pump-n-Seal.

I'll edit this message when they are all gone.

Thanks Hazel!

Wretha

Thanks for visiting!




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Yet Another Pump-n-Seal on eBay

Here's another Pump-n-Seal on eBay, this one is an auction, but it only has about a day and a half left as of this posting, it has some bids, but as of now, it's still a bargain-

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=250455809195

Check it out, grab it up. Can you tell I love these?

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Wretha

Thanks for visiting!
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More “As Seen On TV”

The other day I was talking to a friend and we touched on the subject of the Pump-n-Seal gadget, I have had mine for a while, but I must admit that I haven’t been using it as much as I should. So I pulled it out and waited for an opportunity to use it. I didn’t have to wait long. Yesterday, I was cutting up an apple and only ate half of it, I needed a way to store the other half. You know what happens to apples, without chemical intervention (an acid, lemon juice, vitamin C…), apples quickly begin to turn brown, they oxidize.


Read the rest of the story here:
http://www.off-grid.net/2009/06/09/more-as-seen-on-tv/

To read all of my messages on Off-Grid.net, click here:
http://www.off-grid.net/section/wretha/


Wretha

Thanks for visiting, Please leave all comments on the Off-Grid site or the EarthPower site instead of here, thanks!
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