It Snowed, I Got Conned, and God Provided

It's been one heck of an end to a week. It snowed this week. I got conned and scammed last night to the tune of $863. God provided a free microwave, saving me £40. What a day!

God Provided
A few weeks back I burned a bag of popcorn in the microwave. It was so bad that the kitchen was filled with smoke and, after a week of scrubbing the microwave and using every internet how-to suggestion I could find, it still smells bad.

My mistake, I didn't feel right about asking JBU to replace it - although several people argued that they were going to need a new one anyway. It was my mistake and, therefore, my responsibility to shoulder the cost for the fix to the problem I created.

I meant to order the new microwave at the beginning of this last week. Typical of my procrastination, I kept putting it off. I planned to go into town this morning to pick one up.

Where God's provision come in was through Jim, my second housemate. He and his son had a house they were going to rent, but they've changed their minds and now are going to sell it. Inside that house, is a microwave they recently bought for it. Jim's going to pick the microwave up and donate it to Lakeside...and won't let me pay him for it.

I Got Conned
You know the old saying, 'If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is'? Well, if it sounds good (but not too good), you're probably talking to a con that's pretty good at their job. Which is what I spent an hour last night doing, but didn't know till after I'd hung up.

Long-story short, I bought a holiday package for Florida, having been told by Holly, Victoria, and Karen (sadly enough, I think Victoria was one of the few who knew they were involved in a scam) - that it could be returned within 30 days. Two mistakes: spending money I didn't really have and good intentions. The good intentions were that I had hoped it would enable friends and I to have an affordable vacation. The money I didn't have was...well, money I didn't have.

Having spent the hour asking the questions I thought I needed to to make sure the package was genuine, I Googled the company, after hanging up, looking forward to finding out about the good experiences people had had. Instead, the second thru tenth hit that came up - under the company's website, which was first - were all scam alerts. So, I immediately called my credit card company and called the scam/travel company back. I'm in the process of getting the money refunded....unfortunately, the company doesn't have a great reputation for refunding.

Thankfully, the Florida State Government has two laws that protect me: statute 559.933 and statute 501 - entitled 'Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices'. I'm not too worried. Between Bank of America's muscle and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the refund should come back - hopefully sooner rather than later.

It's one of those days where I've become really thankful for government laws and regulations, such as these, to protect citizens. It's also got a fire burning in me to make sure people that run scams like this don't get away with it. Makes me want to go into government law. Argh!

It Snowed
Lastly, it finally snowed this week, which has been a lot of fun. It snowed late Wed. night and has stuck around since - although it's now a frozen sheet of ice. There's more storms coming in tomorrow, so maybe it'll stick around for a while. We'll see! :-)