Category: "Public Service Articles"
United Healthcare Deceives With Outdated Dental Provider Search & Representatives Who Lie
By Paul Rudoff on Mar. 12, 2025 at 10:00 PM in Personal, Public Service Articles
I've already written about all of the dental woes I've had because dentists will usually stop accepting my insurance (Medicaid) after a few years, and then I'd have to find a new dentist. The latest variation on that was last year, when the insurance… more »
Stop & Shop's New Savings Station Kiosk Disables Internet On Some Customer's Cell Phones
By Paul Rudoff on Mar. 11, 2025 at 8:00 PM in Public Service Articles
Sometime in February 2025, the Stop & Shop supermarket chain here in the northeast United States installed "Savings Station" kiosks in their stores. Unfortunately, these kiosks have caused some customers to lose internet access on their cell phones,… more »
GameStop Employee Refused To Process Return/Exchange *With* Receipt Without A GS Account
By Paul Rudoff on Mar. 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM in Public Service Articles
Well, I guess it's now 100% confirmed that GameStop hires the worst people to staff its stores, and provides the worst customer service. After the incident in October 2022 with ex-store manager Brendan Guerrin, and GameStop corporate never providing me… more »
eBay Seller (grimreaper430) Makes Unauthorized Use of USPS Priority Mail Packaging
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 30, 2025 at 9:30 PM in Public Service Articles
This is another in a series of articles about eBay, who covers up the deceitful business practices of its sellers, while turning its feedback system into an utter joke. I will do my best to inform the public about eBay's scummy practices and the bad… more »
eBay Lets Sellers (Pop.Market) Disable Messaging So Buyers Can't Contact Them
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM in Public Service Articles
This is another in a series of articles about eBay, who covers up the deceitful business practices of its sellers, while turning its feedback system into an utter joke. I will do my best to inform the public about eBay's scummy practices and the bad… more »
United Healthcare Healthy Benefits Plus OTC & Healthy Food Extra Benefits Card - 2025 Information
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 19, 2025 at 8:00 PM in Public Service Articles
In 2023 and 2024, I wrote about the extra benefits plan that was provided to me by NationsBenefits through my Aetna health insurance plan. Thanks to Aetna fucking me over with my dental plan, I had to switch insurance companies to United Healthcare.… more »
eBay Removes Feedback That Exposes Seller's (Azsa-9617) Deceitful Business Practices
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 2, 2025 at 9:10 PM in Public Service Articles
This is another in a series of articles about eBay, who covers up the deceitful business practices of its sellers, while turning its feedback system into an utter joke. I will do my best to inform the public about eBay's scummy practices and the bad… more »
Aetna Changes Members Dental Plan, Forcing Them To Change Dentists
By Paul Rudoff on Dec. 4, 2024 at 8:50 PM in Public Service Articles
One of the problems with having a low income (read: poor) is that you are not afforded the luxury of having the best medical care, especially when it comes to dental. It's a problem that I have had to deal with for the past 30 to 35 years, and it just… more »
Disney Movie Insiders Gift Cards & Attempted Thievery
By Paul Rudoff on Oct. 31, 2024 at 9:44 PM in Public Service Articles
The Disney Movie Insiders program (originally Disney Movie Rewards) was launched in 2006. It allowed fans and customers to earn credits via a point system by submitting ticket stubs from theatrical films and "magic codes" from physical media (DVD,… more »
McDonald's App Birthday 2024 Offer
By Paul Rudoff on Jun. 27, 2024 at 8:30 PM in Public Service Articles
When I wrote about the McDonald's official Android app in the past, it was due to the poor programming of it. None of that has been fixed, sadly. I'm writing about the app again to help let everyone know of another issue, this one being something that… more »
New York Nassau County SNAP/Food Stamps Benefits Stolen THREE TIMES In One Year!
By Paul Rudoff on Jun. 17, 2024 at 6:20 PM in Personal, Public Service Articles
Just a few months ago, I wrote about how my Nassau County (Long Island, New York) SNAP (aka Food Stamps) benefits were stolen TWICE in one year, even though I had never lost possession of my physical benefit card either time. It saddens me to report… more »
eBay Lets Seller Who Threatened Buyer Easily Remove Negative Feedback
By Paul Rudoff on Feb. 13, 2024 at 4:20 PM in Public Service Articles
This is another in a series of articles about eBay, who lets sellers that it likes get away with scamming and harassing other users. I will do my best to inform the public about the bad sellers that cross my path, so other buyers can avoid them, as I… more »
Aetna NationsBenefits OTC & Healthy Food Extra Benefits Card - 2024 Information
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 12, 2024 at 12:00 PM in Public Service Articles
An extra benefit of my Aetna plan is that it comes with an allowance for Over-the-Counter (OTC) and Healthy Food items. Since January 1, 2023, this benefit is provided by NationsBenefits, LLC. I've already detailed every thing I learned about the use of… more »
New York Nassau County SNAP/Food Stamps Benefits Stolen TWICE In One Year!
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 11, 2024 at 6:20 PM in Personal, Public Service Articles
Today's public service article is a rather personal one, but I feel that more people need to be made aware of the issue. I have now had my Nassau County (Long Island, New York) SNAP (aka Food Stamps) benefits stolen TWICE in one year - and I've never… more »
New DVD & Blu-ray Video Discs Become Defective Over Time
By Paul Rudoff on Dec. 15, 2023 at 11:55 PM in Home Video, Public Service Articles
I have been a collector of optical discs for over 30 years now. I started off with audio CDs in the early 1990s, then acquired Laserdiscs in the mid-1990s, before moving on to DVDs in 1997. I remember going into Blockbuster Video at that time and asking… more »
Amazon.com Re-Charges For Returned Item It Knows It Received, Customer Service Reps Useless
By Paul Rudoff on Nov. 4, 2023 at 9:50 PM in Public Service Articles
Amazon.com promises "hassle-free returns". In my experience, 95% of the time, that is the case. However, that other 5% is a HUGE problem that Amazon knows about, but is doing nothing to correct. Within the past year, I have had two instances - one… more »
McDonald's Android App Review
By Paul Rudoff on Oct. 27, 2023 at 9:30 PM in Other, Public Service Articles
Ever since McDonald's restaurants ended their $1 Any Size Soft Drink promotion in late March/early April 2023, I have been using the official McDonald's Android app (by McDonalds USA, LLC). As for my experience with the app, let's just say that I'm not… more »
Paul's Pet Peeves - Letterboxing & Pillarboxing DVDs (Bonus: Robin Williams DVD Edits)
By Paul Rudoff on May. 1, 2023 at 6:50 PM in Home Video, Public Service Articles
Paul's Pet Peeves series of articles in which I express my feelings about some little thing that bothers me. Today's article is about the use of 4:3 Letterboxing & 16:9 Pillarboxing on DVDs. As a bonus, I will also list all of the edits on the Robin… more »
Aetna NationsBenefits OTC & Healthy Food Extra Benefits Card - 2023 Information
By Paul Rudoff on Jan. 23, 2023 at 11:50 PM in Public Service Articles
I have been an Aetna health insurance member since October 2022. A benefit of my plan is that it comes with an allowance for Over-the-Counter (OTC) and Healthy Food items. As of January 1, 2023, this benefit is being provided by NationsBenefits, LLC. In… more »
Aetna Rewards Program Sends Out Gift Cards That Look Like Spam
By Paul Rudoff on Dec. 20, 2022 at 5:30 PM in Public Service Articles
Back in September, I enrolled in an Aetna health plan because I was hoping that it would help me find a dentist in my area that offered the Nitrous Oxide gas. I won't get into the issues that Aetna is causing with that. Instead, I want to focus on… more »
How To Remove Anti-Theft Hard Security Tags From Items You've Purchased
By Paul Rudoff on Dec. 4, 2022 at 5:00 PM in Public Service Articles
Retail stores use hard security tags on clothes, purses, and some other supposedly "expensive" items to prevent the items from being stolen. That is all well and good - except for the ones Walmart and Target put around DVD box sets that cut indentations… more »
Subway Employees Make Up Their Own Rules About Coupons
By Paul Rudoff on Dec. 1, 2022 at 9:30 PM in Public Service Articles
I am not a big fan of Subway restaurants. While they offer many wonderful sandwich options, the customer service I've experienced over the years has usually been anything but wonderful. After giving them second, third, and fourth chances, I am no longer… more »
Burger King Gripes
By Paul Rudoff on Nov. 30, 2022 at 5:00 PM in Public Service Articles
When you are a low-income family, you tend to eat at fast food restaurants because your budget doesn't allow you to regularly dine at healthier eating establishments. (Burger King and McDonald's use to offer salads, but both took them off their menus… more »
GameStop Store Manager Bullies Customers Into Doing What *HE* Wants
By Paul Rudoff on Oct. 14, 2022 at 11:30 PM in Personal, Public Service Articles
I've been a regular customer to GameStop stores for the past few decades, ever since they purchased all of the Funcoland and EB Games stores that were in the area. Although I don't go there for games anymore, I still go to check out what kind of pop… more »
eBay Killed My Business Because I Refused To Join Their Managed Payments Scheme
By Paul Rudoff on Sep. 29, 2021 at 8:32 PM in Public Service Articles
Time of Death: September 28, 2021 at 10:42 PM Eastern. Cause of Death: eBay's self-centered pettiness. Age: 14 years. Thus reads the coroner's report of my eBay business, which I opened sometime shortly after the closure of Yahoo Auctions (which… more »
ShippingEasy.com/Stamps.com and/or UPS Tried To Steal Money From Me
By Paul Rudoff on Jul. 27, 2021 at 11:00 PM in Public Service Articles
It is my duty as a consumer advocate to report on any business who tries to steal from their customers. This morning, ShippingEasy.com (also known as Stamps.com) tried to steal money from me. Read on to find out the details... more »
Unprofessional Dentists in Valley Stream, New York
By Paul Rudoff on Jun. 22, 2021 at 11:00 PM in Public Service Articles
When you're poor or low-income, and have to rely on government-provided medical insurance ("Medicaid" and/or "Medicare"), you don't have the greatest choices for medical care. You will, usually, NOT have access to the best doctors and treatments in any… more »
Closing Up Shop Due To eBay Trying To Force Me Into Their Managed Payments Scheme
By Paul Rudoff on Jun. 10, 2021 at 10:52 PM in Public Service Articles
I have been an eBay member since January 4, 2003, and selling on the site for over 10 years now. My sales suck because eBay does everything in their power to hinder me. I have already written a series of articles about eBay, who clearly has some sort of… more »
eBay Claims That Hollywood Movie Studios Sell Counterfeit Digital Copy Vouchers To Their Retail Customers
By Paul Rudoff on Feb. 12, 2021 at 6:54 PM in Public Service Articles
I have been an eBay member since January 4, 2003, and selling on the site for over 10 years now. My sales suck because eBay does everything in their power to hinder me. I have to find ways to work around the obstacles eBay puts in my way to sabotage any… more »
eBay Takes Down Physically-Shipped Item Listing Claiming Electronically Delivered Items Policy Violation
By Paul Rudoff on Nov. 10, 2020 at 12:00 PM in Public Service Articles
I have been an eBay member since January 4, 2003, and selling on the site for over 10 years now. My sales suck because eBay does everything in their power to hinder me. I have to find ways to work around the obstacles eBay puts in my way to sabotage any… more »