Sage Blogger » Fr Vlad Zablotskyy

My experience with magicJack

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:33:48 +0000

UPDATE March 6, 2012:
Today I have received a phone call from magicJack. While there is no good explanation about what had happened yesterday, I nevertheless appreciate the phone call. The disputed charges (see bellow) are in the process of being refunded to my credit card. As far as their service goes, I did end up buying the magicJack Plus today from a local Best Buy and will follow up with another post in a day or two.
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I have heard many good things about Magic Jack. Ron Schenone (via Chris Perillo) has a raving review of the product on his blog. There are also plenty of wonderful reviews of the product on YouTube.

Today however I’ve had my own experience with magicJack! If magicJack is not completely a fraud, they sure walk a thin line with their marketing campaigns. Case in point. Currently on their website there is an offer for a 30 day free trail. They assure you that your credit card will not be charged until the 31st day:

However it’s a big fat lie. Not only did they charge me today (March 5, 2012)- they charged my credit card twice!

magicJack charged my credit card twice - click on the image to see larger size

Calling their customer number is useless because an automated message tells you to go to their website where you can chat with a “customer care rep” 24/7 (another big fat lie).

Do I think magicJack is a complete fraud and scam? I am not sure what to think about magicJack. But judging by my today’s initial experience, magicJack just may fall into that category.

It has been a while since I publicly complained about something, but there is much more to this story and magicJack has very slim chance of coming through in a positive light in my book. Time will show I guess.

Stay tuned for updates….

P.S. magicJack damage control person? Call me at 716 220 8724, look forward chatting with you….
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Dear Consumer, BBB Has Failed You.

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 17:37:52 +0000

Not so long ago, I would not hesitate to recommend to my friends and/or clients to consider joining BBB.org and become what is known an “accredited” member. In the past I used the website of Better Business Bureau to check out more than one business. But watching last night ABC’s 20/20 report about BBB’s shady practices, I am completely disappointed by the company. Especially disappointing was BBB’s Steve Cox answers to questions of ABC’s Brian Ross.

I doubt Mr. Cox would ever read my blog, but if he does here is the script he might consider using next time he speaks to a reporter: “BBB screwed up and we are ashamed about all the allegations. We will investigate every case and will make every effort that every business gets a fair treatment by BBB.” Or something to that effect.

I have to say that as an affiliate marketer looked to BBB to see how my potential partner is handling complaints by consumers.

Gary Vaynerchuck’s Wine Library gets C from BBB?

BBB gives C to Wine Library

The original title for this post was supposed to be “Dear Gary, BBB has failed you”. Gary Vaynerchuk is the founder of Wine Library and the host of internet’s most passionate wine show Wine Library TV. He is a best selling author and a host of a radio show Wine & Web. Gary ofter speaks to entrepreneurs, CEOs and business owners across many industries and is highly respected by many people. Yet BBB.org as of this writing rated Wine Library with a C. And the irony is that right on the same page it states the following: “BBB processed a total of 0 complaints about this company in the last 36 months, our standard reporting period.” How can that be Mr. Cox? Zero complaints in last 36 months yet still a C? Is that yet another mistake or BBB just trying to get some money out of Gary Vaynerchuk? If any of my companies will every get a bad rating from BBB, it will only make me proud to be in the company of people like Gary Vaynerchuck or Wolfgang Puck, who is till rated “F” by BBB even after airing of the ABC’s 20/20 investigative piece.

Why you should not trust BBB?
We do not leave in a perfect world. People screw up. Companies screw up. Just the fact you have screwed up does not mean you are a bad individual or a sleaze company. Mr. Cox, in my opinion, missed a golden opportunity with ABC’s Brian Ross to apologize for the BBB’s screw up. Mr. Cox failed miserably choosing the sweet “denial”. By doing so, Mr. Cox made BBB to fail every consumer in US and Canada. There is no reason anyone should trust BBB or their rating system. BBB just got an “F-”! And one thing is most certain, BBB will never get a penny out of me and if I can help it neither out of my friends and/or business partners.

More coverage about BBB scandal:
Better Business Bureau Leadership To Meet In Aftermath Of Devastating ABC ExposeSimilar Posts:

I Am Developing Taste For Drupal

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:51:00 +0000

When Aaron Wall, a well known SEO expert, predicted Drupal to be the wave of the future, I was just about getting very comfortable with WordPress. At the time I felt like taking the position on the subject but restrained myself because I did not much about Drupal even through I already fell in love with WordPress. Aarron raffled some feathers for sure when he wrote:

Drupal is more powerful than what the average blogger needs to run their site, but it has so many features and options that it can allow you to bolt many things onto your blog that you would not be able to do very easily with something like WordPress or MovableType.

Back in those days, and even today to some degree, a Drupal user was/is perceived to be more sophisticated, since better knowledge of PHP and some coding skills are needed to allow Durpal to perform the miracles for you.

Whether or not I have become more sophisticated in terms of coding skills or programing is very questionable. I am however developing taste for Drupal. Today I have no choice but to wholeheartedly agree with Aaron – Drupal is the way of the future. So much so, that I am planing to convert some of my well established websites to Drupal as soon as Drupal 7 is officially released.

Why Drupal And Why Now?
It’ very simple. Durpal allowed me to do things other platforms could not. More about it in my follow up posts.

One of the most detracting factors – user interface appears to be the thing of the past for Drupal with it’s version 7 release. See the slideshow bellow to judge for yourself:

Drupal 7 – What's new from an end-user perspective ?

View more presentations from davyvdb.

In the Affiliate Marketing community, WordPress is probably the most popular platform. I think however that Drupal deserves a more prominent place among affiliates, both as blogging platform as well as website developing tool. At minimum, Drupal 7 has a great chance to be a popular alternative to other platforms.Similar Posts:

Post Affiliate Summit East 2010 Notes

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:08:47 +0000

Attending Affiliate Summit East 2010 in New York City was probably one the best things I have done this year so far. It turns out that this recent Affiliate Summit East had the largest number of attendees to date. Affiliate Summit was attended by only 200 people when it was first launched back in 2003. Today it is the most important event in affiliate marketing industry.

How Did I Get There?
For the past two years I have been trying to attend the Affiliate Summit, however I had to cancel my attendance twice even though both times I was a lucky recipient of a Press Pass. Each year Affiliate Summit offers press passes to bloggers and journalists. All you need to do is to show up and cover Affiliate Summit in your publication. Press Pass offers you the same access to the show as Platinum Pass would, with some limitations (I am not quiet sure what are the limitations, but my badge said so – pictured to the right).

How Can You Get There?
The dates for the next Affiliate Summit are January 9-11, 2011 and the show will take place in Las Vegas. The registration for Affiliate Summit West 2011 is now opened and you can find more information by visiting Affiliate Summit official website. Interested in Press Pass? Submit your information here.

Interested To Become My Sponsor?
While I am thankful to Affiliate Summit for offering me the Press Pass, I think there are much better bloggers out there who can benefit from the Press Pass. I am still interested in attending all future Affiliate Summits, but as of today I cannot do it unless I find a sponsor. If you are interested to be my sponsor for the upcoming Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas please contact me to learn how you can benefit from sponsoring me.

About Post Affiliate Summit Notes On My Blog.
Going to Affiliate Summit I had every intention to cover the summit on by blog while attending it myself. I quickly realized however, that I was giving my blogging skills too much credit. So instead I decided to start on my blog something I will call from now on “Post Affiliate Summit Notes“. In these “notes” I will share about my experience, the things I’ve learned and wonderful people I have met. If you think you can benefit from these notes, please subscribe to my weekly newsletter (the form located on the top of the sidebar).Similar Posts:

First Day At Affiliate Summit East 2010

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:26:17 +0000

My first ever time at the Affiliate Summit is turning out to a great experience. As a newcomer to Affiliate Summit, my game plan is not extremely ambitious. I plan to finally meet bunch of people whom I’ve had pleasure to know on Internet. Meeting new people. Hopefully discover a new opportunity or two. That’s pretty much my game plan.

Literally minutes after arriving to Affilliate Summit I ran across Jeremy Palmer from Quit Your Day Job. Jeremy and his “High Performance Affiliate Marketing” e-book were quit instrumental to get me started in affiliate marketing back in 2006. To meet him right in the beginning of the summit Was definitely a treat.

I plan to attend few sessions, but I think there is nothing better than chilling at the bloggers room! Special thanks to Heather Smith of Beautiful British Columbia for being a great BlogMistress! Stay tuned for more from Affiliate Summit!Similar Posts:

Tip For Datafeedr Users: Removing Rel Canonical – Why And How?

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:24:11 +0000

Since the arrival of WordPress 2.9, the “canonical” element is automatically generated in your website’s header. While it is an excellent way to tell some search engines not to index certain pages (lets presume for a second that search engines really listen ), there some instances you my not necessarily want the “canonical” element generated on your website. Instead of helping your SEO efforts, the canonical element may actually hurt your website.

If you use Datafeedr Plugin with current (or 2.9+) version of WordPress, you might need to consider doing some tweaking to your WordPress installation. Why? Because every “product page” on your website has canonical link element in the header pointing to your “store page”. What does it mean? Well, it is like asking search engines not to index your “product pages”.

So how do you tell your WordPress not to generate canonical link element in the header?
One way you can do it is by modifying your theme’s functions.php file – this method however did not work on my WordPress 3.0 installations.

Another way you can disable canonical element is by modifying your “wp-includes/default-filters.php” file. All you need to do is to find the line 197 that says:

add_action( 'wp_head', 'rel_canonical' );

and change it to:

//add_action( 'wp_head', 'rel_canonical' );

You can delete that line entirely if you wish. But you need to do this every time you are upgrading/reinstlling your WordPress.
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What is Datafeedr??? Datafeedr is a nifty WordPress plugn that allows you to create an affiliate website featuring thousands of product in minutes. Click Here To Learn More About Datafeedr!Similar Posts:

OpenCart: Easy Way To “Supercharge” Your Online Store.

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Sun, 23 May 2010 23:47:00 +0000

If you are looking for an easy to use yet loaded with features web application to power your online store, you should definitely put OpenCart on the top of the list of software to investigate. OpenCart is a open source application that allows you to create your own online store, and it is suitable to sell goods (including digital products) for any business around the world.

Before I was introduced to OpenCart, I tried to find a suitable plugin for WordPress. Since I have been using WordPress for more than 6 years, it only made sense to try to find a plugin that would allow me to turn a WordPress installation into an online store. There are some outstanding shopping cart plugins for WordPress, by the way. However, as much as I love WordPress, I was a somewhat disappointed, mostly by it’s clumsiness when it comes to implementing SSL certificates for WordPress.

When looking for e-commerce solution, certain criteria were extremely important to me, therefore I will base my recommendations on these criteria – OpenCart satisfied all of them:

Easy to Install And Use…

If you have ever managed to manually install WordPres, OpenCart installation is as simple and easy. OpenCart official website also provides detailed documentation including installation instructions. Before installing OpenCart however, I would suggest you to take a free tour of both front end and the admin area of OpenCart- while this demo does not give you full privileges in the admin area, it will give you a good general idea how the software works.

Once you decide to install it on your server, it should not take more than 5 to finish the installation (minus the time needed to upload the files to your server and to set up the database).

No need to install every single version update….

The most annoying part of e-commerce plugins for WordPress that I have tried was that not every developer stayed on top of the most recent versions of WordPress. In some cases it took months before plugins were upgraded, often just in time for the latest version of WordPress to be released.

OpenCart does not rely any other application to function properly. Since I began to use it, each version of OpenCart comes with improved functionality. However your old version is likely to work just fine. You are not forced to upgrade to the most recent version if you do not want to.

Responsive Community…

Since not every web hosting provider is made equal, there might be times when you need to troubleshoot issues with OpenCart. If you are planing to use it, you might as well become a member of OpenCart Community Forums. Many times my questions were answered in the matter of minutes by the members of the forum. Often the developers themselves would answer my questions or direct me to a correct answer.

Availability of Modules and Addons…

Functionality and performance of WordPress can be improved by different plugins. This also true about OpenCart. While I personally think OpenCart presents itself quite nicely “out of the box”, there might be times you need it to do something it can’t in the out of the box state. You can find number of addons and extentions for OpenCart on their website. There are also developers (The Qphoric Domain being my favorite) from whom you can purchase other modules that can enhance your OpenCart store.

Does it work…

And by work I meant does is it really capable of selling products. Before installing OpenCart for a friend of mine to power her online store, we tried eShop plugin for WordPress for about a year. OpenCart however was able to produce the same amount of sales just in one month! To me it was one of the most reassuring factors.

Does OpenCart have any drawbacks?

The only drawback that I can think of is that OpenCart does not currently offer a way to manage an affiliate program without a third party software. I do believe that affiliate management extension or addon will help OpenCart to “explode” in popularity. There is a sing that OpenCart will have affiliate feature in the future- the latest version 1.4.7 already includes an extension called “Affiliate” (which appears to be “work in progress”), however it is not configurable at this time, so we have to wait an see. If you need to integrate affiliate management software into your OpenCart website right away, Post Affiliate Pro seems to offer a solution.

If you have a store powered by OpenCart, please share your experiences, success stories or disappointments (if any) in the comments bellow.Similar Posts:

Going To Affiliate Summit: Will I See You There?

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 07 May 2010 21:26:07 +0000

This post is so long overdue! To begin, I would like to thank Shawn Collins, and the entire team of Affiliate Summit. In the past I have hoped to attend this great conference however things were getting on the way- from health issues to a law suit, something seamed to always stand on the way. This year was no different, I had no plans to attend the Summit because I could not budget for it. After canceling my attendance in the past- it id not feel right to ask for a “press pass” again. I am however easy to persuade, if you don’t believe me – ask Shawn. So thank you guys!

Going there as an affiliate, coming back as an affiliate manager…

I wish to be able to to last through half of all the sessions at Affiliate Summit TrishaLyn is planing to attend, still I can hardly wait for August to be here!

Last two years I have been helping a dear friend of mine, and the owner of The Chocolate Belles, in Brick, NJ. Not only have we launched a successful online store, we are also just few months (I hope) away before launching an affiliate program.

The Chocolate Belles is a candy making and cake decorating supply store. In addition to selling hundreds of candy making and cake decorating tools they also make custom cakes and offer class decorating classes. They teach anything from making chocolate cowered strawberries to decorating elegant fondant cakes:

On one hand it is very easy to work with well established and very successful business. However, an affiliate program will be the next HUGE step for both, myself and The Chocolate Belles. If you plan to attend the Affiliate Summit, and have experience in managing affiliate programs, I would absolutely love to hear from you and to meet with you at the Summit. Feel free to drop me a line or two so we can plan.Similar Posts:

Are You Affected By Internet Tax Sales Laws Yet? Chances Are You Might Be Soon!

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:32:46 +0000

I am fortunate enough to live in a state (New Jersey) where the lawmakers have not attempted to explore the ways to hurt affiliates. But I am not holding my breath. In fact I am a little surprised New Jersey did not follow our neighbors to the East, the New York State.

I admit that I know very little about the issue and still am trying to educate myself more should the time come for NJ affiliates to take a stand. If you are in the same shoes as I am, I highly recommend Geno Prussakov’s interview with Jen Goode of JGoode Designs about Colorado Internet Sales Tax.

Here is what Jenn says affiliates can do to have a better chance fighting the “Internet Sales Tax Laws” in the future:

Educate your merchants. Let them know that the Colorado [Instead of Colorado insert the state you live in] internet tax does not apply to affiliates nor nexus.
Get to know your legislators so you can educate them on the way this industry works, most really have no comprehension of the enormity of this industry let alone how it all works.
Build relationships within the industry so that when issues like this arise, you’re not alone trying to figure out what to do next.

It is amazing what Colorado affiliates managed to accomplish and we should follow their example in the fight in our won respected states.Similar Posts:

Have You Tried CJ Pay Per Call Yet?

Fr Vlad Zablotskyy — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:59:35 +0000

It has been some time now since Commission Junction introduced a platform called “CJ Pay Per Call” – you probably see it every time you login into your publisher account.

I have signed up for the pay per call deals but have done much with it until last night. One of my big disappointments is how few merchants are participating or take advantage of this new product.

So how does pay per call works? In a few words, a merchant offers you creative to use with an 800 number assigned to them (just like the one you see for eFax to the right). When a potential client calls that specific 800 number you are credited ones required time elapsed. This creative can be clicked on and the clicks are tracked (as far as I know) via your regular CJ publisher account.

As I mentioned above the limited number of participating merchants is not encouraging so I don’t plan to sepnd much time or money promoting these offers. What about you? Have you been successful with CJ’s pay per call?Similar Posts: