consumer experience

TITLE NINE Gives The Customer an Awesome Consumer Experience

by on January 16, 2012

in consumer

Consumer Bits on Brusimm 200w logo, [Consumer News, advice and reviews]Title Nine, per their website, is a “Sporting Goods Store, Women’s Clothing Store, Sportswear Store.”   But don’t be fooled, they have cool trinkets too that might catch the guy’s eye too.

But what’s most important, is this is a husband’s point of view after having accompanied my wife to Title Nine in downtown Palo Alto, CA, and I have to say, this store, or company as a whole, gives you a fantastic consumer experience.

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When my wife arrived at the store, she was looking for something specific, and walking into the store, you can pretty much see all that they have to offer the consumer.  The layout is clean and easy to define where the products you are l00king for is located.  And if you don’t see it right away, asking the staff that’s on hand seems to always be a win-win for everyone.

The staff is incredibly friendly, patient and knowledgeable, no matter what questions we laid out there for them.

The prices are about on par with what you’ll find in other venues.  They may not underbid other competitors, but they do have a subtle edge that I’ll explain in a moment.

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SONY Blu-ray Disc Player: Initial Consumer Product Review Observations

by on December 24, 2011

in consumer, product review

This is an initial set of observations and a consumer product review of the SONY Blu-ray Disc Player, model BDP-S480.

Sony BDPS480 3D Blu-ray playerThis is not a technical review.  This is a regular Joe kind of review.  So keep that in mind as you read this product review.

The Sony BDP-S480 is a 3D Blu-ray Disc Player.  I did not get it for the 3D feature.  I am not a fan of most 3D movies so I’m not sure what I’d get out of it on a tinier screen, but the player fell within my price-range.  And since 3D seems to be getting shoved down the consumer’s throat, well, I’m sure sooner or later I might be tinkering with the tech.

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As anyone who knows me can attest to, I do my research.  I hate buying blind. Plus I’m finally considering a BD player because studios are adding more features to the Blu-ray format products than the DVD version of their products.

With that said, I was on the hunt for my first Blu-ray player.

Initially I queried some peers who have BD players and the one thing I took away from my conversations is to visit the stores and check out the remotes.  Apparently remotes can be bulky, non-intuitive or are just annoying.

Then I checked out some consumer review websites and got a feel for brand/models I was looking for and had narrowed the field down.  One of the first things I noticed was that the store I hit up did not have remotes out with the shelf models.  After looking at what was for sale, there were a couple of recommendations left for my choosing.

Blu-ray Disc Players on Amazon

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Consumer Product Review: Sony Bravia LED TV

by on December 17, 2011

in consumer, product review

Sony Bravia LED TV model KDL32EX523 Consumer Product Review from Brusimm.com

A word upfront:  This Consumer Product Review about my Sony Bravia LED TV is not a technical, behind-the-scenes, what’s in the guts, kind of review. I won’t be telling you how many millions of colors my new TV put out (Besides, we can only see thousands of colors), or tiny nuances like that.

No, I’m the average Joe like you, who just dropped some bucks on something, hoping it won’t screw me over.  I’m a regular consumer like you.  When I buy things, I do my research, try to buy smart then tell you what happened after I bought it!

I also want to preface this consumer review article by saying, if you’re loyal to a brand, I understand.  I’m not pushing Sony on you.  It’s the brand I’m learning to be loyal with, unless something else comes along that impresses me.  With that said…

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Sony Bravia LED TV model KDL32EX523 side view

In the beginning of September, 2011, I had put out a piece about shopping for a new flat screen TV.  At the time, I had gone through the various factors to think about before buying a flat screen TV because I was going through the process myself and it felt a bit harrowing. [How to buy a flat screen TV]

In the end, I had chosen to purchase a Sony Bravia LED flat screen TV, a KDL-32EX523.  I also wanted an internet-ready TV… that cost a wee bit more, but it was worth it, at least for me.

[Point/Reminder: LED TV's are better for the environment because they use LED back-lighting instead of the LCD fluorescent back lighting, which contain mercury]

Flat Screen TV’s on Amazon

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The Tale of Two Mechanics and Why I Love ‘Precision Automotive’ in Palo Alto

by on July 13, 2011

in consumer

Consumer Bits - Consumer news, information and opinion

This is a consumer service review of Precision Automotive… again.  But with new stories and a comparative look at another highly rated mechanics garage.  But first, Here is a conversation I had with one Volkswagen mechanic a few months back:

“You need a LF tire… but you should get all four because you need it.”

Are you saying they all look as bad as the LF tire does?

“They all need to be replaced.”

So they’re all showing metal through the rubber like the LF is?

“No, the RF has 30% life left, the RR has 50% life left and the LR has 70% life left.“

If you don’t know what you’re doing, you can be so susceptible to well meaning mechanics.  They’re only doing their jobs and trying to drum up business, but if you go into any automotive shop without a clue, without having done your research on your issue or had comparative visits, you WILL get financially depleted wrongfully, as far as I’m concerned.

Let me tell you of another tale of an almost huge financial whoa for myself.

About 16 months ago I had a problem with my truck engine.  I went to a very highly rated mechanic, via the Bay Area Consumer Checkbook website.  The mechanic is located on El Camino Real in Menlo Park.  Keep in mind, Checkbook is updated by folks like you and me.  Not professional consumer advocates, so reviews can be biased and/or a bit ignorant in some regards.  And I don’t mean any of that in a bad way because I do depend on review sites, but I read them with a grain of salt.

The first time I went to this highly rated mechanic, they were incredibly professional, called out my problem quickly and though, through circumstances not totally their fault, I had to wait almost a week to get my truck back.  But I did.  It cost around $1000, which I thought was odd for the job, as in, oddly over-priced, but they did fairly good work.

I want to point out that this highly recommended mechanic operates in a zone between Menlo Park and Atherton.  Atherton is the most expensive zip code in the United States.  The homes are so huge, they make movie mansions look, well, normal.  So when something costs $1,000 for someone who might spend $150k a month on a mortgage, well, obviously to them, that $1k is cheap.

I think that above distinction is a very important one to make here and you’ll understand in a moment.

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My Consumer “Experience” with PG&E On The Peninsula

by on April 22, 2011

in consumer

Check out this consumer experience with my electrical company, PG&E.

I’ve had quite the day here under Brusimm! Normally you’ll see a post here in the morning then mid-day a few scheduled articles start coming to life every hour or two. But on Thursday, (Apr 21) the site was live but updates were dark. There was a reason for that… PG&E zapped my cable modem! Let me explain.  (Yes, the same PG&E that maintained the gas pipe that exploded, taking out an entire Bay Area neighborhood some months back.)

For the last few weeks we’ve been getting notices from our electricity provider, PG&E, that our electricity service will be cut off on Thursday night (4/21) from 10 pm to 6 am.  Ug.  We’ve been preparing for this event for a few weeks so when Thursday night came, we’d be ready.

We were going over some things on Wednesday night, checking on batteries, radio stations on the battery operated earthquake radios and such. We figure we’d get everything together Thursday night before the power goes out.

Huh.

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My Updated Samsung Omnia Smartphone Consumer Experience

by on October 26, 2010

in consumer

It’s been more than a year since I’ve had and reviewed my Samsung Omnia and though it does the job for what I wanted, I say that begrudgingly.  The things that annoy me are the things I can’t change or ponder what the bloody heck this is for…  Prior to Samsung, I was a Motorola only kind of consumer…. in a nutshell, I guess I’m going back after I can legitimately dump my Omnia smartphone.  If they don’t take the Omnia back, it’s becoming a very pricey skipping stone that will have a momentary experience in ‘The Bay.’  I’ve been known to get about 10-15 skips out of a stone on a good day.  It should be cool!  Heck, I may video it with its replacement!

Samsung Omnia

Keep in mind that I’m an average-Joe user with no super-special needs.  I wanted email access, Twitter usage and it turns out, I like taking the occasional picture with my phone.  So this review isn’t saying it completely sucks.  It does fine making calls, it receives calls and does most basic functions.  I’ve been having a heck of a time setting some options that should be able to be set as defaults, but they can’t.  On the bright side, it’s on the Verizon Wireless network and I really enjoyed loaning it out to iPhone users at conventions when the AT&T networks bogged down.  Hehe.  Here’s my more annoying nits with the Samsung Omnia:

When you’re in true “smartphone” mode, it automatically turns on the broadband mode.  I’m talking even if you don’t engage any broadband features. This is a battery suck I don’t like and I prefer my products to do what I want them to do, not when they want themselves to do.

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Unable To Skip Trailers On DVD Rentals?

by on January 26, 2010

in Entertainment

My wife and I rented two movies from Blockbuster this past weekend.

Whoever is in charge of producing the DVD’s has now decided that we cannot skip the trailers or  commercials by hitting the DVD menu or the skip button on the DVD player remote.

They have crammed each trailer with just about every important scene from the movie. If I haven’t watched the movie yet I would prefer a teaser not a spoiler. If I have seen the movie, I’d like to skip the trailer. Also, If you rent more than one of this weeks releases you are going to see the same trailers again.

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Micro-Light II Review Update [Consumer]

by on December 30, 2009

in consumer

I previously extholed the virtues of my Micro-Light II after purchasing one at REI.  I still love the light.  It’s super bright.

In fact, it’s just as bright in a side-by-side test with those mini-flashlights with 9 LED’s.  (You’ve probably seen them next to the cash register in Walgreen’s and such.)

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My Gorillapod Is The Best Tripod I've Ever Owned

by on December 25, 2009

in consumer

A few years ago my wife bought me a portable tripod.  It was called the Gorillapod.

Prior to the Gorillapod, I’ve always lugged the rigid full-sized or close to full sized tripods.  Once I had a Gorillapod, things changed for me.  In a good way.

I can take this bad boy anywhere I go.  It’s super light and it holds my Sony DSC-P150 rather nicely and does hold my Olympus.  (I have the medium sized Gorillapod.)

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Sansa Clip Looks Dead But It Is Fully Charged? [Consumer]

by on November 21, 2009

in consumer

This product review recounts our mini-tale of whoa with our SanDisk 2GB Sansa Clip:

Both of our SanDisk 2GB Sansa Clips were inexpensive, incredibly easy to use digital players, does not limit us to specific sources of music and we’ve had them for a few years now.   We love our clips and buying them back then ended our MP3 search.

The other day, my wife was getting ready to head out the door on one of those mongo runs she does (Anything over 2 miles is mongo to me) to stay in condition for her 26.2 events.  She was switching her red 2 GB Sansa Clip over from radio mode to MP3 music mode when it went black on the screen and stopped responding.

My wife cannot be running without her MP3 player.

I started looking up fixes for this condition our Sansa Clip was experiencing and in the meantime, I gave her mine even though it’s got my selection of music on it and I’ve never set any presets for the radio function.  (Boy, was she thrilled with that idea!)

I discovered that whatever condition her Sansa Clip had slipped into, a reset worked for us.

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