Comments for Paul Begley Blog

Comment on I’m very excited to read this … by James McBride

James McBride — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 07:25:38 +0000

God bless you Paul. Keep up the good work. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Whaaaaat Are You Serious lol you rock brotha. God Bless

Comment on Things I’m reading to improve my writing by jeanne andersen

jeanne andersen — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 14:54:10 +0000

Hi Paul,
I’m so happy that there are a few people left in the world who care about writing. Now, if I could only get my students to feel that way.
I’m all for reading great books as well to learn to be a better writer. If you find ones you enjoy, the beautiful writing can rub off on you.

Comment on Abolish the TSA, and use its m… by Ernest Fayan

Ernest Fayan — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:28:50 +0000

Petition signed. As an airline worker, I have to start every day at a TSA checkpoint. Incredibly wasteful on many levels, and (I believe) only marginally effective.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Carl Turner

Carl Turner — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:10:18 +0000

A “Brian Burns” of RCI Financial indicated that he had a buyer for my timeshare in Orlando Florida and that the buyer had agreed to the sell price of $25000.00. The buyers were Robert Hart and Jazmyn Hart of Sedona, AZ. I was instructed to send a cashiers check in February 2011, in the amount of $2,500.00 via USPS Express Mail and RCI would then send out the documents for me to sign to complete the sale. I called to confirm if they’d received the check. “Brian” told me it was received and the documents would be sent out the next day. When the documents failed to arrive, I began calling them numerous times and have not received a return call from anyone at RCI. They eventually disconnect their tel. #
Anyone knows the where abouts of these criminals, please post it. I’d like to “pay” them a visit.

Carl

Comment on Why I hate Prometric for Microsoft Certification Exams by JW

JW — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 04:10:02 +0000

** Posted this at technet link about also **

I am an MCT (Microsoft Trainer) and I hate prometric so much that I have often considered decertifying so I would no longer have to deal with Prometric. Seriously.

First, they only have 1 testing center in [My City] and that testing center has so many issues with Prometric that they only offer testing 1 or 2 days a week for a few hours. I have personally visited this site to enquire about the lack of openings and I was told in few words that they themselves find working with Prometric to be infuriating. Need I say more? So I have to drive to [Another City] to take tests which is 1.5 hours away. Also, my city is by no means a “town.” Pearson VUE has about 10 or so centers here!!!

Since I am an MCT I have to actually call into Prometric to schedule tests and get my discount on exams and let me be 100% honest with you… if you hate their website you have in no way experienced the hell that is their phone support. Rude, challenging, inept and rarely helpful is how I would classify it. Funny thing is you can talk to most MCT’s and you will find a near universal distain towards Prometric. They do really universally suck.

Today I was about to schedule my next batch of tests (I take 2-4 a day since I have to drive to another city to take them) and I noticed that they are implementing a rescheduling fee. It is as if they are attempting to be the world’s most hated company. Obviously some won’t find this to be an issue but often I have to reschedule tests because of work or training and this infuriates me.

Years ago when I found out Pearson VUE was being discontinued as a provider I bought as many vouchers as I could through them to avoid Prometric for as long as possible. Not long enough.

Comment on Android Software List by Donna Scott Thomas

Donna Scott Thomas — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 02:42:26 +0000

This is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

Comment on Buffalo Technology AirStation N300 Wireless Router and AP Model WZR-HP-G300NH by Ryan

Ryan — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 08:35:42 +0000

Wow. That Buffalo made a big improvement.

Comment on Why I hate Prometric for Microsoft Certification Exams by Reddy

Reddy — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:45:20 +0000

The reason I am writing this review is to let everyone know how horrible it is to connect to customer service. I have multi pack exam and has given two tests. However my second exam status still shows in “pending” status even though I have passed it 5 days ago. I can not register for my 3rd exam. When I try to call the customer service, it make me wait for more than 2 hours but still can not get to them. All I hear is ” your call is important to us. Please wait on the line” for more than 2 hours and I just gave up trying multiple times wasting so many hours of my time.

Prometric sucks. Don’t understand why Microsoft don’t allow any other providers like “Pearson”, etc.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by LM

LM — Thu, 19 May 2011 15:40:32 +0000

Looks like they are now operating under the name of Itt Professionals LLC. If you look up the company at Sunbiz.com, guess who the agent is? Good ol LISA GRANSKIE

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Ron

Ron — Sat, 14 May 2011 21:00:38 +0000

I guess I’m not as smart as I thought. If it’s too good to be true, it usually is. We were also contacted by a Sarah Welch (302) 449-9326 and the story is the same. When she called us she had all the information about our timeshare at Summer Bay Resort in Florida (and seemed to know more about it than we did!). Sadly, we used electronic checking so we are now in the process of changing our account numbers, etc. We are interested in pursuing any avenue for retribution. These are the people that have changed the course of humanity and should be punished. Is there anything we can do at this point?

Comment on RT @adfskitteh I love how Lync… by Jeff Brady

Jeff Brady — Tue, 03 May 2011 18:10:43 +0000

Hey Paul – long time. I’ve got Lync running here now also for IM and presence – opinons range from the greatest thing ever invented or yet another way for people to be annoying time sinks. I know which camp I’m in So far not hard to manage though – as long as nobdy reads any shiny articles abuot what it is really capable of ‘ll be ok.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Sam

Sam — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:33:44 +0000

We were contacted by Sara Welch who claimed she is with Vacation Ownership International (302 449 9326). She said that she had buyers for our time share. She took our price demand and returned to tell us that she had prequalified buyers who would pay our price and that they were serious (they would put 20% down). After some repeated attempts to secure documentation for the transaction, we were told that we would have to advance the closing costs. This seemed very odd to me so I pushed to find out more. We were eventually told that the company doing the work is RCI Title, 4630 S. Kirkman Road, Suite 103, Orlando Florida, 32811, 321-721-3559.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Jim Mizgalski

Jim Mizgalski — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 22:58:54 +0000

RCI Financial indicated that had a buyer for my timeshare in Mexico and that the buyer had agreed to the sell price of $24,850.00. The buyer was NIVEA Corporation.I was instructed to send a cashiers check on March 14, 2011, in the amount of $2,450.00 via USPS Express Mail and RCI would then send out the documents for me to sign to complete the sale. I received a call that the check was received on March 16, 2011 and the documents would be sent out in three days. When I completed the documents and returned them, I was assured that I would receive a check in the amount of $27,300. When the documents failed to arrive, I began calling them to let them know. I have called RCI Financial Title numerous times and have not received a return call from anyone at RCI.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Vera B. Merritt

Vera B. Merritt — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:18:09 +0000

I gave RCI Financial Title $1,850.oo to sell my Timeshare on 2/14/11 and now I cannot get in touch with them. They gave me a Contract saying they had sold my timeshare and would give me the closing date between March 20th and March 30th. Is there any recouse I can take?

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by paul

paul — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:32:32 +0000

We are making progress. E-Mail below from the FL Attorney General’s office:

Sent: Wed, March 23, 2011 6:01:10 PM
Subject: From Attorney General Pam Bondi

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi received your email regarding the sale
of your mother’s timeshare by RCIJB Worldwide Enterprise, doing business
as RCI Title & Marketing. Attorney General Bondi asked that I respond.

The Attorney General’s Office has made timeshare resales one of our top
consumer priorities, and we are actively investigating multiple businesses
pursuant to Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, Chapter
501, Part II, Florida Statutes. We use complaints such as yours to
identify patterns of questionable business activity which may indicate the
need for formal investigation or action by our office to protect the broad
public interest. I am retaining your correspondence in our consumer files
for future reference.

I invite you to visit the Attorney General’s comprehensive website about
the timeshare resales industry in Florida. This website provides
information on the Attorney General’s investigations of particular
businesses, along with the consumer tips about resolving timeshare resale
issues:

http://www.myfloridalegal.com/timeshares

The Attorney General and Federal Trade Commission have also issued
important consumer alerts about so-called “recovery rooms,” and
“reloading,” scams which target consumers who previously fell prey to
telemarketing and other schemes:

http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/main/c6bb5f8d20910af785256cc9005e72d3!OpenDocument

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel09.shtm (posted
March 2011)
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/telemarketing/tel10.shtm

Our office does not generally mediate individual complaints. If you are
seeking mediation of your individual complaint, please contact the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Consumer
Services (DACS). The DACS serves as the state clearinghouse for consumer
complaints and has a voluntary mediation program to assist individual
consumers. The contact information is:

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
Division of Consumer Services
2005 Apalachee Parkway
Tallahassee, Florida 32399
Telephone: (850) 488-2221
Toll-free within Florida: (800) 435-7352
Website: http://www.800helpfla.com/

In addition to the Better Business Bureau, you may wish to contact the
following consumer agency for further assistance:

Orange County Consumer Fraud Unit
Post Office Box 1673
Orlando, Florida 32802
Telephone: (407) 836-2490
Email: fraudhelp@sao9.org
Websites: http://www.orangecountyfl.net/
http://www.orangecountyfl.net/YourLocalGovernment/CountyDepartments/CountyAdministration/OfficeofPublicEngagementandCitizenAdvocacy/ConsumerFraudUnit/tabid/370/Default.aspx

Printable complaint form:
http://www.orangecountyfl.net/Portals/0/Resources/Internet/DEPARTMENTS/Consumer%20Fraud/docs/ComplaintForm.pdf

Finally, Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act provides
individuals with a private remedy to bring an action for damages,
attorney’s fees and court costs. Please consult a private attorney if you
need legal advice. An attorney can provide the legal guidance which we
are not at liberty to provide to individual timeshare owners. The Florida
Bar offers a Lawyer Referral Service toll-free at (800) 342-8060.

Thank you for contacting Attorney General Bondi’s Office. I hope this
proves helpful.

Sincerely,

Carmen James
Office of Citizen Services

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Daniel Hight

Daniel Hight — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 21:28:14 +0000

Well, I fell for it! When we got the call from a “Robert Bishop” [either (407) 244-6254 or (407) 418-8609], the offer was reasonable & the website was actually up – although just as minimal as you observed. (Wish I’d had the presence-of-mind to get a screen-shot of the home page!) Now, of course, the url for the site goes to a “Your domain is pointing to Yola! Now you just need to publish your site and you’re done!” screen. Anyway, we executed a contract ( e-mailed from “Alex Whitman”, rcititleco@yahoo.com) & overnighted it with a cashiers check for nearly $ 2,000.00 that I know I’ll have to write-off. Although the phone numbers no longer work, we do have a USPS Certified Mail receipt & I have a saved voice mail on my cel phone from “Robert Bishp” stating that he received the mailing. I’m going to contact a private investigator here in Pasadena, TX, as well as a recommended firm in Orlando. I’ll also be looking online to see who (Federal, State, etc.) will accept a report of this fraud. Thank you for your posts. If only I’d found anything negative about them when first I Googled them!

Comment on UPDATE: Google “advanced sign-in security” by Michael Koval

Michael Koval — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 04:41:09 +0000

This is something that I have been looking forward to for quite some time. This would be even better if more websites supported third-party login via OpenID. Not only does it mean I have to remember (i.e. reuse) passwords less, but it also affords all those smaller websites two-factor authentication with none of the hassle.

After using it for a few weeks, I am still not sure how Google decides to revoke a “saved” authenticator key. It seems fairly persistent with changing IP addresses, but I have also been (seemingly) randomly asked to re-authenticate.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Paul Begley

Paul Begley — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:04:11 +0000

I assume the comment above was posted by someone from RCI Financial Title.

The name and e-mail address are fake – I tried to send a reply to “angie lopez” at Yahoo! and it bounced.

Also, the IP address they used to post the comment is from Melbourne, FL. This is about 10 miles from Orlando where (wait for it…) – RCI Financial Title is located.

Well, “angie” aside from the fact that you ignore punctuation and grammar rules, you’re an obvious fraud.

If anyone has anything good or bad to say about RCI Financial Title, document your experience and send it to me at nospam (at) paulbegley (dot) com and I will post it.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by angie lopez

angie lopez — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:18:08 +0000

Well they did sell my timeshare and i was every please. so they are a good company.

Comment on RCI Financial Title–Timeshare ripoff details by Pro Blogger News

Pro Blogger News — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:17:01 +0000

Rci Financial Titletimeshare Ripoff Details…

[...]Leave a Reply. Name: (required): Email: (required): Website: Coment: Note: XHTML is alowed. Your email adres wil never be[...]…

Comment on UPDATE: Google “advanced sign-in security” by Tweets that mention Google “advanced sign-in security” | Paul Begley Blog -- Topsy.com

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:49:10 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Posts Google and Paul Begley, Paul Begley. Paul Begley said: New blog post: Google “advanced sign-in security” http://paulbegley.com/2011/02/google-advanced-sign-in-security/ [...]

Comment on Why I hate Prometric for Microsoft Certification Exams by John Dearing

John Dearing — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:22:33 +0000

During the month of December 2010, Prometric and Vue were both SWARMED by folks looking to complete either the CompTIA A+, Net+ or Security+ exams. As of Dec 31st, 2010 those three exams were no longer “lifetime” certifications, but now have Continuing education requirements and expire after 3 years. That’s what probably led to the very small number of available test seats at the Prometric sites in the area. I took and passed the Security+ exam on Dec 14th and the test center was nearly full.

This wasn’t totally Prometric’s fault. There was unprecedented demand for available seats.

Comment on Why I hate Prometric for Microsoft Certification Exams by jonathan

jonathan — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 02:40:13 +0000

Go to this thread & post your opinion. Hopefully if enough people can comment on it MS will take a look:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/CertGeneral/thread/e2b2288e-d26b-439b-9fff-6ef9bab23783

Comment on Download details: Remote Desktop Connection Manager by kristofer olafsson

kristofer olafsson — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:41:48 +0000

cool, this is like a freeware tool that used to exist a while ago but I think is no longer maintained and I haven’t been able to find it latelty.

Comment on User registration by Paul Begley

Paul Begley — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:51:40 +0000

Micheal – I’ll look for a Captcha plug-in for WordPress and give it a go. It’s amazing how this has swamped my personal site.