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Tidbits:
The Apex Business Expo, May 17th - more info
The 2006 Morrisville Chamber Business Expo is
June 6, 2006! more info
DONATE YOUR OLD PCs and MONITORS:
Bring them to ITI (InfoSystem Technology Inc.), 2200
Gateway Center Blvd. Suite 207, Morrisville, NC,
Friday May 23th 5PM-9PM or Saturday, May 13th,
9AM-6PM. They will provide a donation form for tax
purposes for any equipment that meets their
standards.
Three Simple Rules: PCs must have CPUs 300 MHz or
faster; no Macs (for now); monitors must work well
and be 15" to 17". For Information, contact info@kramden.org or call 919-
638-6200 See their website at www.kramden.org
PC MedEvac
139 East Chatham
Downtown Cary
369.7800
service@pcmedevac.com
www.pcmedevac.
com
Matt Carter
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Don't Get Ripped Off By A Rebate! |
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Think you’re getting a great deal thanks to that
unbelievable rebate? Think again...
The offers are irresistible but misleading; retailers
advertise after-rebate prices on hardware and
software to grab your attention and get you to buy.
But are you really getting the bargain you expect?
They’re Counting On You To
Forget
According to the NPD Group, a global market research
firm, almost one-third of all computer products and
twenty percent of all consumer electronics are sold
with a rebate. Manufacturers use rebates as an easy
way to offer discounts without actually having to
take the full financial hit; that’s because thirty to
fifty percent of the buyers never attempt to redeem
them and therefore end up paying full price for the
merchandise.
Multiple Hoops, More
Hassle
But they’re not just counting on you to forget. To
further tip the scales in their favor of not having to
make good on their promise, some manufacturers and
retailers are imposing impossible restrictions,
complicating the process to request a rebate,
delaying payments, and creating other barriers that
make it difficult to get your money. All of these are
delaying tactics to get you to give up the good
fight.
Will These New Rules and
Regulations Protect You?
With consumer complaints to the FTC and Better
Business Bureau piling up, regulators have tightened
the rules around advertising rebates.
Last year, the FTC settled its first dispute with a
Dallas-based CompUSA store for knowingly
advertising rebates from computer peripherals
manufacturer Qps Inc., even though they knew this
manufacturer wasn’t fulfilling on the rebates
advertised.
After this settlement, CompUSA was not only required
to advertise the time frame for securing the rebates
advertised, but also had to take financial
responsibility for any rebates not paid during the
promised time frame.
Even though the government is on your side, getting
stuck in the middle of a rebate war is very frustrating
and a huge waste of time. If you are going to try and
cash-in on a rebate, here are some tips that will
help.
5 Ways To Get The Rebate
Check You Were Promised
- Follow the rebate instructions carefully. Many
manufacturers will reject a rebate over a tiny
technicality. That means reading the small print and
following the instructions to the letter.
- Make a copy of all the paperwork, receipts, and
documents before mailing them off. Some
manufacturers may request the original receipt; if you
mail in your only copy, you could be out of luck if it
gets "lost" in the mail. Which brings me to tip
#3...
- Mail your rebate via certified mail to have proof of
delivery.
- Schedule a reminder to yourself to call the
company if your rebate doesn't show up within the
time frame promised. Most companies will have a
website or toll-free number to call or track your
rebate.
- If the manufacturer rejects your rebate or is
holding your check, let them know you plan on
contacting the FTC or the Better Business Bureau.
As the people you speak to for their names and ask
to speak to their supervisor.
As a final word of advice, only purchase things you
can afford without the rebate. Many rebates take
months to process.
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Wit and Wisdom From A Pessimist |
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Never argue with an idiot. They drag
you down to their level then beat you with
experience.
On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on
the escape key.
Life isn't like a box of chocolates, it's more like a jar
of jalapenos.
Tell me what you need, and I'll tell you how to get
along without it.
Ring bell for maid service. If no answer, do it
yourself.
I don't have an attitude problem, you have a
perception problem.
My reality check bounced.
You can go anywhere and walk through many doors if
you walk with confidence and carry a clipboard.
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Voice Over IP: Should You Switch Your Home Phone? |
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There’s been a lot of talk lately
about people switching their home phone service to
Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VoIP service. If you
aren’t familiar with VoIP, it simply is a way to route
calls over the Internet instead of traditional
telephone lines.
For around $30-$40 per month, VoIP may seem
comparable in price to your traditional phone service.
However, VoIP providers usually include features such
as call waiting, caller ID, and voice mail for free. Most
will also include unlimited long-distance within the
U.S. and Canada. If you frequently call friends,
relatives, or clients long distance, this is a great
deal. However, if you don't make a lot of long-
distance calls, you probably won't see much in the
way of savings. So, let's look at the costs
To use VoIP, you must have a broadband Internet
connection such as cable or DSL. If you don't already
have a high speed connection in your home, that will
be an added cost you must consider. You will also
need a VoIP adapter to connect your phone to your
broadband modem. Most carriers will provide the
adapter for a small fee.
Once you cancel your traditional phone service for
VoIP service, the telephone jacks around your home
will no longer work. In order to have phones in
different rooms, you will need an expandable cordless
phone system where the base unit is plugged into the
adapter and all other cordless handsets receive a
signal from the base unit. Further, to receive calls
and surf the Internet simultaneously, you'll need a
router. If you have a home network, you probably
already have what you need. Otherwise, budget $50
for one.
Finally, keep in mind that your phone is now run by
the Internet. If your Internet service goes down,
your phone and 911 emergency services cannot find
you. For emergency purposes, make sure you have a
cell phone back up.
Have questions about VoIP? Call our office at 369-
7800 or e-mail me at service@pcmedevac.com
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Do You Make These Mistakes When Sending E-mail? A Quick Lesson In E-Mail Etiquette |
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In this day and
age, it is amazing how many businesses and
professionals still violate basic e-mail
etiquette rules. Almost everyone uses e-mail to
communicate with their clients and friends yet very
few give any thought to the importance of those
communications.
If you want to
make sure you are not offending
your clients and friends when sending e-mail, here
are 6 basic rules to live by:
Never send e-mails
to people who have not requested to receive them.
This is also known as spamming and federal laws are
getting much tougher in the rules and penalties for
sending unwanted e-mail messages. Many businesses
make the mistake of thinking that they are free and
clear to send e-mail promotions to their clients, even
if the client has not specifically requested to get
those promotions. When in doubt, it’s always smarter
to err on the side of caution and NOT include them in
your broadcast; doing so could cause you to lose
favor with your clients, or worse yet, lose their
business altogether.
Don’t attach files
unless you’ve gotten permission to
from the recipient. With the looming threat of viruses,
it’s considered bad net-etiquette to send file
attachments.
DO NOT USE ALL
CAPS. Using all caps in an e-mail is the online
equivalent of screaming at the top of your lungs.
Unless that is what you intended to do, make
sure you use lowercase letters.
When sending to a
large list of people, use the BCC
(blind carbon copy) feature. Otherwise, you are
exposing every recipient’s e-mail address to everyone
else on the list. Since most people like to keep their
personal e-mail addresses private, exposing your
entire list will cause you to lose quite a few brownie
points.
Here’s another
point to consider: I wish I had a nickel for every sales
person that sent out a broadcast e-
mail to all their clients and prospects and accidentally
copied everyone on the list. This is an EASY way for
your competition to get their hands on one of your
most precious assets.
Never send
information you wouldn’t want the entire
world to know about.
E-mails can quickly
spread around the Internet. Never send confidential
information, off-color jokes, political opinions,
pictures, or gossip that you wouldn’t want
made public. This goes double if you are using a
business e-mail address. And if you are a business
owner, you want to make sure your employees know
that it is against company policy to send this type of
information through your company e-mail. Even a well-
meaning joke can land you in a lot of hot water if
taken the wrong way. Always take a minute to think
before you hit the “send” button.
Avoid fancy
formatting, background graphics, and
other “cute” pictures and fonts. What looks great on
your monitor may be impossible to read on someone
else’s; it also may annoy the reader who has to weed
through the fluff to find the content.
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Looking for a good window washer, electrician, web designer or marketing guru? |
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We really believe in
the process of referrals, and so part of the service I
provide is to be sure to refer my clients and
associates to other qualified businesspeople in the
community.
Over the years we have accumulated contacts with
credible, ethical and outstanding professionals. If
you're looking for a professional in a specific area,
please feel free to contact me. I will be glad to
put you in touch with the people I know who provide
these services.
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And Speaking of Referrals! |
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Last month we received some great referrals from our
current customers. Dr.Mark Workman, Team
Chiropractic, referred a Family Medical Practice
who needed our technical assistance in setting up a
new office in Cary. Dean Brown, AllState Insurance
in Clayton, referred another AllState Insurance
Agency that was expanding and moving into a newly
constructed office in Cary.
Thanks to both of these customers for their
continued support of PC MedEvac. They will both
receive a 512 USB Thumb Dive and an AVG
CounterSpy bundle and also be included in our annual
drawing of all referrals to be held in December.
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The World's Largest Water Sports Company Chooses AVG Anti-Virus for Their Virus Protection |
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When Owen Stevens, Systems and Network Manager
for Overton's, Inc. needed to choose a new anti-virus
product, he had to make sure it would meet the
demands of his fast-growing company.
Before switching to Grisoft’s AVG Anti-Virus,
Overton’s was running a competing anti-virus
software on all 250 workstations in 4 separate
locations. However, there were a number of problems
with the existing virus product that not only made
Owen’s job more difficult, but that also left them
vulnerable to viruses.
A Simple Solution
“We were having a real problem with our users
disabling the anti-virus protection on their machines,”
said Owen. “Since we have multiple offices and could
not manage the existing anti-virus product from a
central location, the only way to make sure a
machine was protected was to physically go to that
machine. With 250 users and 4 locations, it was
impossible to make sure every machine was protected
all of the time.”
Owen was already familiar with the AVG product
because he was using it on his personal home
computer and decided to request a proposal for a
corporate license. The quote he received was
shocking.
“I was just amazed. The price for the Corporate AVG
product was 75% LESS than all of the other bids we
received and included features that were paid
upgrades on our previous anti-virus product,” says
Owen, “that was the main reason we switched.”
However, after installing the product, Owen
discovered a number of other advantages to the AVG
Anti-Virus product.
Astonishing Results
“When we installed the AVG product, it instantly
found and cleaned a number of viruses on our
network that our previous anti-virus product was
overlooking,” says Owen. “We had about 3-4 problem
machines that never seemed to work right no matter
what you did to fix them. After installing AVG Anti-
Virus, all of these mystery problems disappeared and
the machines started working like they should,” he
continued. “I’m sure it was a virus that was causing
the problems.”
AVG Anti-Virus also allows Owen to manage all of his
workstations from one location and does not allow his
users to disable the virus protection on their
machine.
Superior Quality & Service
Owen also discovered that the service he received
after the sale was much better than he expected.
About Grisoft
Founded in 1991 in the Czech Republic, Grisoft Inc.
has been focused on developing software solutions
that provide computers with detection of and
protection from viruses. By specializing in anti-virus
solutions, Grisoft's primary goal is to deliver to the
market the most comprehensive and proactive
protection available.
Distributed globally through resellers, distributors, and
through the Internet, the AVG Anti-Virus product line
has evolved substantially from single-function utilities
to support all major operating systems and platforms,
and is now used by more than 20 million users around
the world.
To learn more about AVG Anti-Virus and to download
a free 30-day trial, contact PC MedEvac at 369-7800
or service@pcmedevac.com
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