In case you haven’t heard of Silkfair, they pitch themselves as a friendlier alternative to eBay and Etsy, though they do allow sellers to integrate their listings from both of those sites. “SILKFAIR makes buying and selling fun and easy.”

The Silkfair Twitter Party

In order to get the word out about their online marketplace, Silkfair hired Amy Lupold Bair – the inventor of the Twitter Party, aka ResourcefulMommy – to host a sitewarming party for them. Amy created a lot of buzz for them. She held an hour-long hashtag party, during which time partygoers were given the opportunity to win prizes. Silkfair was offering free custom stores to the prize winners. There were no qualifiers to this when I found myself a prize recipient. I was getting a free custom store on Silkfair!

My “FREE” Custom Store

It took forever for Silkfair to set up the free stores for all of us winners. And by the time it happened, our free custom stores turned into three free months of having a custom store. Custom stores generally cost $24.99 per month.

With my store set up, I decided I should list all of my old Tupperware from my Tupperware lady days… but life got in the way, and I only listed three things. One of them sold in December. I forgot about Silkfair. I thought my store would revert to a free membership once my prize ran out.

The Catch

Imagine my surprise when I was printing out all of my financial information to prepare for tax season, and I discovered that there were THREE separate charges – $24.99 each – to my credit card from Silkfair in December. When my prize period expired. I thought it might be a glitch. After all, I’d gotten an email from them stating that I owed them nothing for the month of December. It didn’t occur to me that the email also didn’t mention the 24 cent transaction fee for the Tupperware colander I’d sold.

So I checked it out this morning while looking for Silkfair’s contact form on their Web site. By the way, they don’t have a contact form, and their email addresses listed are not clickable. Not very user-friendly. It took me about 10 minutes to find where on the site my invoice for December was even located. And this is what I found:

So not only were they acknowledging by invoice that I was a winner from the Resourceful Mommy party, but they were indeed charging me for the three months that were supposed to be my free membership.

Much to my chagrin, I learned that my account also did not default to a free membership…I was charged another $24.99 – only a week after the other charges – for my continued membership.

I admit that I did not read the part on their site where it said it would bill me automatically each month… but it was NOT easy to find. I only found it after hunting for where  in the world I could cancel this subscription I didn’t want. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to screenshot the location when I found it, since it has now been replaced by a giant “UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT” graphic. Hint: It was NOT on the Fees/Billing page, where one would intuitively think to find how to cancel the recurring subscription fees.

I have canceled my subscription as of this morning, and I’ve sent them a sternly but politely worded email requesting that the charges be reversed. If the nearly $75 in charges from December are not reversed, my next step is to contact the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General. In no communication was I ever told that I would be retroactively billed for my FREE 3-MONTH MEMBERSHIP. I have also requested that the charges from January be reversed as a gesture of good faith, since I was also not made expressly aware that I would be charged automatically if I did not cancel. (Who knew I should have hunted and clicked on every tab and sub-tab on the navigation menu to find this out?)

I will happily post an update about this Silkfair FAIL if and when they contact me to resolve this matter.This was a massive fail of communication, ease to find information on the Web site, use of social media to get good buzz, and just business practices in general.

How  Silkfair Could Have Avoided This Mess

• Emailing all prize winners to let them know expressly that this was not a free membership, but that we would be charged for the full amount if we  did not cancel our memberships prior to the end of the three-month period.
• Emailing all prize winners to let them know that they would be charged automatically on a recurring basis for the membership, and that it did not default to a free membership after the trial period had ended.
• Itemizing all charges – not just amount outstanding – on email invoice notifications to account holders. An actual detailed receipt of charges made to our credit cards. Account holders should be able to trust that email notifications concerning money are complete and accurate.
• Following good business practices and not trying to pull a bait and switch on active social media users who can – and will – easily expose shady business dealings when they could have been cheerleaders of the business instead.

Updated January 27: The  Silkfair Twitter account has told me that “We personally want to apologize to you for incorrect billing, & refunds were applied to your acct.” As of 5:17 pm, nearly 27 hours after that tweet, my Silkfair account reflects no refund, and my bank account has not received any refunded money. Also, despite the fact that I canceled my custom store subscription, the Fees/Billing page still tells me that I am going to be auto billed for $24.99 on February 5.

The Silkfair Social Media FAIL is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

I’m happy to say that I’m doing fairly well here for myself. Santa was good to my son this year. But we had a major disappointment hit the family when my brother couldn’t get my sister-in-law and niece here for Christmas as they’d planned. It would have been the first year they’d made it up for Thanksgiving or Christmas since our grandpa died in 2006. The economy wasn’t really to blame for their inability to make it here… the snowstorm that hit the East Coast was responsible. They only made it six hours into the drive from Georgia to New York before the snow hit and they were stranded in Virginia on I-81. They slept in the car that night and ended up turning around to go back home.

But the real downer was that – not only did they lose their house – but they can’t even rent a new place. I’ll try to make a long story short. My brother was in real estate. He got his realtor’s license and was working in the booming Georgia housing business. Then the economy tanked and no one could get financed. My brother was working but didn’t get paid for about a year. My sister-in-law got laid off from her job. They had an infant daughter to raise and no income. They fell behind on their mortgage payments while my brother looked for more work.

He got a new job. A great job as a financial planner. But he was supposed to get his first paycheck on June 1, and he was still waiting for it on July 1. We helped him out with a loan to pay his mortgage while he waited to get paid. Then the bank (understandably) told him they wanted the money. My brother sent them a check to cover a little more than half the amount. They sent it back to him; they wanted the whole amount or nothing at all.

They started working with a bankruptcy lawyer to sort things out so they could work out a payment plan and not lose their house. On a Friday, they were told that everything was going smoothly. On Monday, they were told that their house was being foreclosed on and it would be up for sale the next day. It sold in an hour. They lost their house despite all of this money the government gave the banks to stop this sort of thing from happening. Banks suck.

So then they started looking for a place to rent. My brother had $5,000 in his hand to pay five months rent up front… and no one will rent to him because of his credit. So let’s get this straight. He sent the bank a check for several thousand dollars, but they sent it back because it wasn’t enough. He has a good job now, but they didn’t care. They told him they’d work out a payment  plan, but they lied and foreclosed on him anyways. So he needs a new place to live, but no one will rent him a house because the foreclosure ruined his credit.

If you forcelose on someone’s house and no one will rent to them… where are they supposed to live? On the street? Bah humbug. Give me a freaking break!

Thankfully, they’ll be able to move in with his in-laws until someone decides they’ll rent a house or an apartment to him… but it’s going to be a tight squeeze for everyone. The in-laws have two adults, three kids, and now they’ll also have two more adults, a baby, and a dog.

If they didn’t have her parents down there, where would they go? He has a good job that pays well, so it’s not like he can just uproot everyone and move… there’s no guarantee that he could find another job in a location where someone would be willing to rent to them. Not to mention that moving is expensive, and he’s still paying things off from the year where he didn’t get paid.

What is wrong with this country when the bank kicks someone out of their house when they have money and they are trying to pay, and then no one will let them rent a place because their credit sucks from the foreclosure? The system is broken. Why did we bother bailing out the banks if they’re not using the money to keep homeowners in their homes? Wasn’t that the point?

This is a rant. I’m angry at the situation. I’m angry at the bank. I’m angry at the landlords who won’t accept $5,000 up front from a man who is working to support his family. Nothing like kicking a man when he’s down. Then again, that’s what it seems we do best here. “Merry Christmas,” indeed.

How the Economy Stole Christmas is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

I’d like to thank The New York Times for my chuckle of the morning. Apparently, tech blogger Damon Darlin and his editor needed a little more coffee before publishing this post today about banning the words “nerd” and “geek.”

And by the way, Professor David Anderegg… I’ve embraced my inner geek. I think geek has become acceptable now. Nerd, however, still has rather negative connotations. Unless you’re talking about the Willy Wonka candy Nerds, because YUM!

New York Times Needs Remedial Link Help is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

In case you haven’t heard, Amy Mengel managed to convince me to get up in front of people and talk about blogging at the fourth installment of Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley, which is being held at the headquarters of the American Red Cross of Northeastern New York in Albany. Thankfully, it’s not just me up there in front of a sold out audience of 150 people… I’m part of a panel that includes Lara Kulpa of Gingko Consulting and Problogger.com, Amanda Magee of Trampoline Design Studio, and our moderator Greg Dahlmann of Uptown/Downtown Media and All Over Albany.

Here’s what other people have been saying about the upcoming blogging panel at SMBTV4:

• The #smbtv4 Eventbrite listing, with guest list
• Social Media Breakfast – Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley #4
• Bounce – Talkin’ Turkey
• Metroland Online – Social Studies
• Tech Valley Computing Culture – ReBlogging: Talkin’ Turkey

Can’t be there? The event will be live-streamed on USTREAM from 8:00-10:00 am on Friday morning, December 4. If you watch, though, remember that there’s a reason I’m a writer instead of a speaker. I hope I don’t stutter, ramble, or turn so red that I actually emit radiant heat.

Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley #4 is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

If you don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, you’re obviously not a writer. NaNoWriMo is the shorthand term for National Novel Writing Month, an annual event where aspiring novelists gear up to write an entire 50,000+ word novel in the month of November. It’s something I’d tried doing before, but always ended up dropping out before I’d really gotten started.

This year? I did it. And I feel like a masochist, especially since I started over on November 14. My first attempt had hit a dead end. I reached 50,086 words at 11:39 pm last night with 21 minutes to spare. So what have I learned?

1. Fiction is hard.
2. Characters don’t always do what you want them to do.
3. Knowing how the story ends doesn’t really help you get through the middle any easier.
4. The built-in thesaurus feature is awesome.
5. It’s insanely difficult not to edit as you’re writing.
6. It takes longer to write 1,000 words of fiction than 1,000 words of non-fiction.
7. Family members need to disappear when it’s writing time.
8. Asking me “How’s it coming?” when I’m in the middle of typing will make me lose my train of thought – and then get very angry at you.
9. Writing 5,000 words in a sitting turns your brain to mush.
10. It feels good to be done!

How about you? If you participated in NaNoWriMo, what did you learn – about writing and about yourself?

10 Lessons I Learned From NaNoWriMo is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

I can’t help it. Every time I see the cover of Sarah Palin’s new book, Going Rogue, I’m reminded of Steve Carrell’s movie poster for The 40 Year Old Virgin.

I had to flip Steve Carrell’s photo around to get him facing in the same direction, but I’m sure you can see it now, right?

If you want to pass this around, use the short URL: http://kl.am/SarahPalin

Sarah Palin, the 40 Year Old Virgin? is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

Last night, I attended a networking mixer for the Southern Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, of which I am a member. (I got my plaque last night, too, although I have no storefront in which to display it!) I brought a job-seeking friend with me for company and to hopefully help her get some leads for work. I am so glad that she came along, because it would have been completely insufferable otherwise.

I write because I’m not good talking to people, especially people I don’t know very well. And strangers? Forget it. I can’t walk up to someone I don’t know and strike up a conversation. I’ll talk to someone who approaches me, but I’m like a seventh grade girl at a middle school dance, standing at the punch bowl waiting for a boy to talk to me. I’m going to make a generalization and say that many of us who are writers – and many of us who are into social media – are much better off socializing through text than we are through speech. I know there are exceptions. I’ve met some of the exceptions. But going to the Type-A Mom Conference taught me that many bloggers are a lot like me… although a little bit of alcohol, an adult toy giveaway, and some Guitar Hero karaoke can loosen us up.

But at that Type-A Mom Conference, at Social Media Breakfast Tech Valley, and at the local mom networking nights I’ve been to (one of those is being held again tonight) – it’s been easier to talk to people because I have “met” at least a handful of the other attendees online. We’ve chatted. We’re not complete strangers. Saying, “Hi, I’m Christina Gayle on Twitter” or “I blog at Cutest Kid Ever” is quite the ice breaker. The usual response is, “Oh! I’m [insert Twitter or blog name here]! Nice to meet you in person!”

The Chamber of Commerce event last night had no such ice breaker. I didn’t know anyone other than my friend and one or two staff members from the Chamber. The event was held in a banquet room of a restaurant that was too small for the crowd. There weren’t enough chairs for everyone, so once people sat down, they didn’t move so as not to lose their seats. People conversed in packs, and it seemed as if they already knew each other anyways. There were so many people standing that you had to say “excuse me” at every step, even when up at the hors d’oeuvres tables. It was not conducive to meeting new people and, well, networking. At the networking mixer.

My friend and I ended up talking to the other people who had managed to grab seats at the same table as us, though none of us had skills that really benefited each other. I did talk to a guy near the bar who runs a local business journal and may suggest that people who send him press releases hire me to write them. There are a lot of bad press releases out there. (Don’t we all know it?) I talked with someone else who may want to send me some of his excess blogging  work. My friend didn’t find anyone there who was hiring, but the former Chamber president gave her a lead and told her to use his name, so that was pretty awesome for her.

But mostly? It was a very painful experience. Much like that middle school dance, I was hanging out with my best friend, waiting for someone to notice me. She’s far more outgoing  than me, so she did strike up a few conversations on her own, which was great. But me? It’s really not my thing. I wish they were all on Twitter so we’d know at least something about each other going in.

I’ve committed to doing the next Chamber mixer, though, since they forgot to call me up to give my “30 second pitch” when giving me my plaque. She found me at my table and gave me my plaque there. Everyone else had been called up to the podium. It’s probably just as well she didn’t, though, because it was  too loud in there, and the microphone did not amplify throughout the whole room. Next time, everyone should be able to hear me, since I’m hoping it will be a more suitable location.

Tonight, I’m going to an event where I get to bring my son along for a pizza party and play time at Tumbling Tykes while the moms chat in the other room. I’ve met a few of these ladies previously, and several of us are Twitter friends. This will be a fun mixer.

Networking Events with People who aren’t Online is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

To all the veterans who have served our country and helped to keep us safe so that we don’t have to live in fear – THANK YOU. Happy Veteran’s Day.

I wish I had thought to ask my grandpa about his time in the service when he was still alive. Now that he’s gone, I only have a few details from the documents my grandma kept. Leaving his name out, I’d like to share them with you. I’ve tried to find out more information about what his unit did, but there has been precious little I could find online. (All information I’ve found pertaining to the 40th Tank Battalion is from WWII.) What I do know is that he was deployed to Germany shortly after the end of the Korean War.

Letter of Commendation

Headquarters
Headquarters and Service Company
40th Tank Battalion
APO 39, US Army

SUBJECT: Commendation

TO: CPL [Grandpa]
Hq Hq & Svc Company
40th Tank Battalion
APO 39, US Army

Upon your  leaving this organization, I feel that it is most appropriate to Commend you for your outstanding performance of your duties as a Truck Driver in the Supply Platoon of Headquarters Headquarters and Service Company, 40th Tank Battalion, for the period of July 1953 until June 1954.

Your Loyalty, Sincerity, and Devotion to Duty has been a major factor in the smooth operation of the Platoon. Corporal [Grandpa], your ability to grasp each situation and to conduct yourself accordingly to perform your duties, which are most a major factor in the performance of this Battalion is exceeded by none.

The example you have set in efficiency, punctuality and appearance have gained for you the respect of all Officers and Enlisted Men of this Company.

In leaving this Company, I would like to extend to you the best wishes of the Officers and Enlisted Men for success in your occupation at home.

JAMES D COKER
1st Lt, Armor
Executive Officer

Letter of Discharge

Honorable Discharge
from the Armed Forces of the United States of America

This is to certify that
Cpl [Grandpa]
[redacted] ARMOR-USAR
was Honorably Discharged from the Army of the United States
on the 1st day of July 1960
This certificate is awarded as a testimonial of Honest and Faithful Service

RICHARD A HILL
2d Lt, ARMOR

Happy Veteran’s Day

Thank you again to all of our brave veterans. If you have parents or grandparents who have served in the Armed Forces, take some time to ask them about their service while they are alive, as long as they are willing to talk about it. I wish I’d taken the opportunity to learn more about Grandpa’s service and how it helped make him the man he was. My grandma said he used to either serve as the flag-bearer or drive the tank in the military parades at home. I wish I could have seen that!

This One Goes Out to the Veterans is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

It’s bad enough when you get spam email trying to pitch dubious SEO services to you. It’s worse when the spammers visit the contact form on your Web site to make the pitch. I thought this was a legitimate request for my services via Phenomenal Content. Instead, this spam came from a Gmail address with no company name attached, although “Melodie” listed her URL as google.com:

We would like to get your website on first page of Google.All of our processes use the most ethical “white hat” Search Engine Optimization techniques that will not get your website banned or penalized.Please reply and I would be happy to send you a proposal.In order for us to respond to your request for information, please include your company’s website address (mandatory) and or phone number.

Let’s pick this apart a piece at a time.

• The spammer listed her company URL as google.com, trying to falsely lead me to believe she works for Google.
• I run a quality copywriting company and you don’t put a space in between your sentences? Fail.
• My Web site is already on the first page of Google for my company name. I bet that’s how they planned to “get” me on the first page of Google. I also happen to be on the first page for “content creation services.” Maybe that’s why they targeted me – if I didn’t know that, they could claim they did it for me.
• I love how “white hat” is in quotation marks.
• Won’t get me banned or penalized? After sending me spam, I hardly believe that.
• Wait, they used the contact form on my Web site, and they need me to remind them of my URL?

File this one under spam. Sadly, even a Captcha field can’t guard against humans who opt for manual spamming techniques.

SEO Cold Calling Spam via Contact Form is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

I scored a pair of new sunglasses from Solar Eyes via a review campaign found on Viral Conversations. I was pretty thrilled with the change to get some free shades. I mean, my sunglasses sort of became my signature accessory a while back. (All links contained herein include the requisite nofollow attribute.)

The Ballad of Christina Gleason’s Signature Sunglasses

Aside from the fact that sunglasses helped me obscure my identity when I didn’t want to be easily identified, I have very sensitive eyes. I had LASIK laser vision correction surgery back in June 2004, and my eyes haven’t been the same since. Happily, I got rid of the glasses I had to wear to see even my alarm clock in the morning. An unfortunate side effect, however, was that my eyes are now hypersensitive to light. I have to wear sunglasses much later into the evening and even when it’s overcast and rainy. I’m not trying to pretend I’m a celebrity, but I get weird looks as if I’m overstepping my own importance sometimes. Or maybe people think I’m trying to hide a drug problem or something. Seriously? It’s just the LASIK.

My New Solar Eyes Shades

So let’s talk about my new Solar Eyes shades. You probably want to know which ones I got. (Since I’m such a trendsetter, LOL!) I chose the S1158P polarized sunglasses with shiny black frame and smoke lenses. I like black sunglasses because, well, I am a bit fashion-impaired, and I know that they’ll go with everything. I wasn’t disappointed when I got them – they look fabulous. Much better than my last pair, which I believe were men’s sunglasses I picked up for $10 at Target. I’ve never been one to spend a fortune on things, and I have been a bargain sunglasses shopper until now. But now that I’ve tried these? I think $49.95 is a worthy investment in eye protection.

What’s so great about these sunglasses? They’re very lightweight. My last pair tended to hurt after I’d had them on for a while, so much that sometimes it was worth the eye pain to squint at the sunlight while giving my sore ears and head a rest. These haven’t bothered me at all. The Solar Eyes shades are also close-fitting, so I don’t have sunlight leaking in from above and below, no matter what the angle of the sun is. With sensitive eyes like mine, that’s been a concern with pretty much every other pair of shades I’ve  worn – except for the plastic blind-woman glasses they gave me immediately following my surgery. (Those things were huge and ugly!)

Other cool stuff? These sunglasses are very flexible, which adds to the comfort level. They also come with a sweet carrying bag that doubles as a micro fiber cleaning cloth. Hands down, this bag beats wiping my lenses off with the hem of my shirt any day!

As for the buying process, Solar Eyes offers free shipping on all of their sunglasses. They also offer a warranty against loss and accidental breakage. (Do your sunglasses offer that?)

The Ballad of My New Solar Eyes Sunglasses (Review) is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC