Melissa left a comment in my Free USB article talking about her bad experience with Future Shop. I feel very sorry for the way Future Shop handled your case Melissa :-( 

I thought I’d dedicate a post for this to let others share their opinions and experiences.

Melissa wrote:

I had the worst experience trying to get this item. I placed the order on Saturday during the sale. The website said I had the option of picking up the order in-store. I chose that option. Several hours later I got an email saying my order was cancelled because in-store pick up was not available. I thought I would get an email offering the shipping option.

I tried to place the order again online and have it shipped. The web price was showing $34.99 instead of $24.99 less rebate. I tried phoning, waited on the phone over half an hour two different times. No humans available. I tried all over again Sunday. No phone human. I emailed: no response. I just got through on the phone today–Monday after 45 minute wait. The service person tells me to place the order online and then phone back to get the price adjusted back to $24.99. NO WAY! I wasn’t going to spend another 45 minutes trying to get someone to answer the phone. I asked her to wait while I placed the order online. She then corrected the price but told me the rebate would be invalid because I didn’t place my order on the correct date!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I asked to speak with a supervisor. He kept me waiting another 15 minutes. Then he said if I read the fine print, rebates are not always honoured. And the weekend was very busy so it’s a shame I couldn’t get through on the phone.

I cancelled my order today. I couldn’t believe the supervisor didn’t have the dignity to make the situation right. Future Shop’s relationship with the rebate center is nothing to do with the customer. They sell the products based on the boasting rights of the rebate offered. I tried every way I could to place the order during the right time period. Future Shop should have offered to make this right with the rebate center on my behalf or just give me the blasted item with the rebate discounted.

The two people on the phone got snarky with me and neither one would acknowledge how ridiculously poor the service was in this instance.

Thumbs down for Future Shop.

Most of us have been in similar unfortunate situations where a few hours of our time are pointlessly wasted because of ignorant supervisors. Hopefully people will give advice on what to do in such situations.

For a limited time, the National Osteoporosis Foundation is offering a FREE “Stand Tall Against Osteoporosis” Wristband.

Wear this wristband as a visible sign of your commitment to strong bone health and the fight against osteoporosis.

Get your free wristband here.

Thanks suziecute for the info.

GAP is having an extra 25% discount on the lowest ticketed price. If you spend over $75 you can also use the $15 savings card (which they have in-store).

Combing GAP’s current clearance (markdowns) sale with the extra 25% off and the $15 off $75 and you can end up with sizzling hot bargains. You’ll leave GAP with a huge bag of quality clothes.

Happy Canada Day everyone 🙂

Just thought I’d let you know that the GST dropped by one percentage. GST has been reduced from 7% to 6%! Cheers to all Canadian shoppers out there 🙂

Harper promised to reduce GST to 5% so let’s see if he keeps his promise. We’re waiting for the second percentage drop Stephen. 😉

Future Shop is starting the Canada Day sale craze with a free 256MB USB. This USB drive usually costs $34.99 so I’m guessing that once the sale starts they’ll have some sort of instant discount as well as a mail in rebate which will bring down the price to $0!

Future Shop will also have online discounts on almost all of its products:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 8.0MP Digital Camera, 2GB 80X Memory card & Bag Package: $999.99 (save $435).
Sharp 37” Widescreen LCD HDTV: $1999.99 (save $500).

What?
Future Shop’s online Canada Day Sale

Where?
Web only (but you can probably order online and pickup from store)

When?
June 30th 8pm EST until July 2nd 11am EST.

Here is more info about Future Shop’s online Canada Day sale.

Buy 1 Xbox video game from the real Canadian Superstore and get the second for free. A pretty good deal, but would have been even better if they had included XBOX 360 games into the deal.

Print out and redeem this coupon at the Canadian Superstore to get this deal.

This deal expires on June 30th, 2006. Sorry for the late notice.

Taster’s Choice is offering a free sample of its coffee.

Get you free sample of Taster’s choice here.

This is H&M’s first warehouse sale. Save 70% off everything at H&M (Men’s, Women’s & Kids’ clothes).
All lingerie is reduced to $2
Prices of everything else will range from $2 to $24

Where?
35 Hedgedale Road
Brampton, Ontario, L6T 5B3

When?
Thursday, July 6th till Sunday, July 9th, 2006
Hours:
Thursday & Friday: Noon – 9:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday 10:00am – 5:00pm

Sign up to become a Costco member and receive a $10 Costco Cash Card.

Although many of my relatives are Costco members I’m by no means a Costcoholic. I find that Costco’s annual fees combined its Costco’s bulky products and boring shopping experience drive me away. I prefer grocery stores like Loblaws. For cheap grocery shopping I usually choose No Frills or Food Basics depending on the one with better flyer deals. However, Costco is not a bad choice for larger families. Hopefully some of you will find this Costco membership coupon useful.

More details about the $10 Costco membership cash card here.

You can also find Costco’s flyer (saving coupons) here.

Lesley (LKB) has posted loads (and I really mean loads) of freebies on SmartCanuck’s forum! I’m speechless! Thank you Lesley 🙂

I’m looking forward to receiving all of this free stuff! I just hope my mail box doesn’t get jammed 😉

Check out the forum freebies section here. Forum posters would really appreciate it if  you leave a message in the forum too giving your feedback and sharing.

Within the next few days I’ll work on blending the forum with the blog by changing the forum’s header so that it looks like the blog’s. Thanks Canadian Mark for suggesting this idea.

An anon poster posted an awesome story about NYFI just recently started to work at South St. Burgers. This is a fast food joint, and its owned by New York Fries. The burgers here are so delicious. Check out their website www.southstburger.com. The store sells New York Fries, and I actually learned a couple of their secrets on how to make good fries. By the way, there are only two of these stores in the World. They are starting to expand their chain (its owned by NY Fries).

One secret that makes New York Fries taste so good, is because the potatoes they use have sugar in them. When the potatoes are harvested, and when they are being processed, they are soaked in Sugar. So basically there is some sugar in New York Fries. Also another thing is that, NY fries, cooks its Fries in three different stages. First they cut the fries, and then they scoop a basketful, and place it in low temperature oil, until the skin starts to wrinkle. Then, after that step, they put it in another oil which is slightly higher in temperature and they take the fries out when the fries start to turn a little yellow. And then they hang it. So when people come to buy the fries, they fry it in a third oil, which has an even higher temperature than the previous two oils. And finally when the fries turns golden yellow its ready to serve.

Also please go to one of the two South St. Burgers that have opened so far. One is around Finch Station and the other is around Eglinton and Laird (these are in Toronto).

Also check this website if youre in Search of the Perfect French Fry.

Fragnance Solodia is claiming to be a Canada-based company about to break into the fragrance/perfume industry. I have no idea if this is a legitimate company who is really giving out free samples. Solodia’s website looks very clean and professional so I decided to give it a try and hopefully they’ll send out free samples.

Get your free samples from Fragnance Solodia here.

Canadian Mark posted this wonderful article on his blog as well as SmartCanucks’ forum. Thanks Mark!

You can visit Canadian Mark’s blog here for many interesting articles 🙂

Mark also earns 7 candies for posting a blog-worthy topic on SmartCanucks’ forum.

If you’ve been into (mostly) any major Canadian fast food establishment – or even greasy spoons for that matter, you’ll have discovered that a meal size plate of nearly anything goes for between $7 and $12 after tax.

Comparatively, a home-cooked meal worth the same amount will often provide 4 or 5 portions. What I’m suggesting here, is a good old fashioned recipe swap of frugal Canuckian cuisine – tried and true recipes from those college days, when Mr. Noodles was the main component of 90% of your recipe repertoire. You can mix up anything with those noodles, I swear.

I’m going for interestingly creative and fun here, but nonetheless practical – and certainly not limited to Mr. Noodles. Quick, cheap, inexpensive, obscure, yet gourmet recipes.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what this thread is all about. I hope.

I’ll even go first:

Andre’s End of the Month Spicy Fiesta

Ingredients:

2 packages of instant oriental beef noodles
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 White onion
1 – 3 of the hottest peppers your local grocer happens to sell. Ask if you’re unsure – I’ve never met a produce manager that didn’t love talking about food.
1 Package of fast-fry steak (thin cut)

You should be paying less than 5 dollars at the checkout for this 2 plate meal.

Preparation:

Prepare noodles as directed, meanwhile, slice the steak, onions, and peppers into strips. Saute the onion and peppers in a heavy skillet (or preferably a wok) over medium heat (using the vegetable oil, of course). Once the vegetables become translucent, add the fast fry steak.

At about this time, and depending on the peppers you chose, eye protection might be necessary, due to the possibility of mustard-gas-like fumes.

Toss this mess about for close to two minutes, then add the prepared noodles. Now is a good time to see if there’s any soy sauce packages laying about from the last time you got Chinese take-out. It’s not necessary, but it does add a little something extra. Toss constantly for about a minute, remove from heat, and serve immediately. Although the spicy-heat remains constant, this dish tends to lose its temperature-heat rather quickly.

Serve with bread or crackers – You’re going to need it – and much cold beverage of your choice, let’s not forget about that.

Free book offer within Canada only: Understanding Prostate Cancer by Dr. Michael McCormack and Dr. Fred Saad.

Understanding Prostate Cancer is a comprehensive and compassionate guide written by Dr. Michael McCormack and Dr. Fred Saad of Centre hospitalier universitaire de Montréal (CHUM). The book introduces and explains the many issues surrounding risk factors and prevention of prostate cancer and provides answers to questions for those who have a diagnosis of prostate cancer, their families and loved ones

Get your free Understanding Prostate Cancer book here.

Future Shop is having its best Mp3 Deal ever. And its ONLY 1 DAY! The sale ENDS TODAY. The Mp3 Player  has 1GB space. SanDisk 1GB MP3 Player (E100) – Web Only. Unfortunately you have to buy this online. The regular price of this is $159.99  but today only it’s $69.99

	Â
Mfr. Part Number:	SDMX2-1024-A18
AM/FM Tuner	Yes
Battery Life	Up to 17 Hours
Battery Type	1 x “AAA”
Computer Interface	USB
Connection Transfer Rate	Up To 480 Mb/Sec
Cradle	No
Digital Audio Format Upgradeable	No
External Memory	Up To 2GB
External Memory Format	SD
ID3 Tag Display	Yes
Impact-Resistant Case	Yes
Included Headphone Type	Earbuds
Included In Box	See The Features Section
Internal Memory	1GB
Internal Memory Format	Flash
Media Compatibility	SD
Operating System Compatibility	Windows 2000, XP
Product Dimensions	5.4(W) x 7.6(H) x 1.5(D) cm
Product Warranty	1 Year Limited Parts and Labour
Product Weight	110 g
Remote Control	No
SDMI-Compliant	No
Signal to Noise Ratio (S/N Ratio)	>90 db
Software Supplied	Real Rhapsody/Audible Manager/AudioFeast
Station Presets	Yes
System Requirements	Windows 2000, XP
Total Memory	Up to 3GB
Track Search	Yes
Voice Recorder	No
Water-Resistant Case	No

Sale Ends: 6/23/2006

Get this SanDisk 1GB mp3 player from FutureShop here