Credit Card Follies!

Yes, I was nearly scammed by a look-alike site.  Scammers are getting better and better (or I am getting worse and worse!)  What an odd logo for an RV parts company - more like a motorsports logo.

I recently wrote about a scam site that offered RV parts for alarmingly low prices.  I should have known better.  I never hit "buy" but I did enter my credit card number before I had second thoughts! The best scams rely on the greed of the Mark (victim) who is lead to believe that they are the ones pulling the fast one, not the scammer!  I thought I was getting a $400 microwave for $80, when it was I who was getting scammed.  When every item for sale on a site is exactly 30% of retail price, one should be a little skeptical.

Unlike a lot of scam sites in the past, this one was well done, no doubt scraped from someone else's site.  No poorly worded British English full of typos - that's all in the past, now.  Who knows?  Before long they will even include AI bots to help you answer questions, just like on Amazon!

But I should have known!  No phone number, no mailing address, and in the "about us" section this generic fluff text that could be applied to any other scam sales site (and I am sure it is!):

Our journey began with a simple idea: make quality products accessible to everyone, no matter where they are. What started as a small passion project has grown into a trusted online destination for thousands of customers across the U.S. and beyond.

We’re not just another eCommerce site. We carefully curate our collections with your lifestyle in mind — blending thoughtful design, dependable craftsmanship, and fair prices. From our customer support team to our fulfillment partners, every step of your experience is built around care and integrity.

For once, Google AI comes in handy, noting the following sites have similar, if not identical, text:

The provided text is a generic "about us" mission statement that describes a philosophy rather than a specific company. Many eCommerce businesses share these values, and the statement is not unique enough to identify a single brand. 

However, several real and fictional companies in the search results use similar branding language:

• Home Fresh: A fictional Indian company whose mission, according to an ad transcript, began with the simple idea of "bring fresh flowers faster".
• Bajaj Capital: This financial company's journey also started with a "simple idea" of helping customers invest, and their brand is also built on trust.
• Curated Collections: An online shop that explicitly uses the words "Curated Collections" to describe its meticulously chosen goods, with a focus on quality and style.
• THE CURATED: Another site that sells "luxe staples at honest prices" and offers "curated" collections.
• Craft and Lore: This business describes its "Curated Goods" collection as "quality items that we use and recommend".

Who the hell "curates" RV parts?

Anyway, a few days later, I get a notice from BoA that an unauthorized charge of $42.00 was made at a Sonic drive-in across the country (gift card?).  To their credit, BoA (or its bots) detected something fishy and denied the charge and cancelled my card and mailed me a new one.  No big deal, but it is the first of  the month and all sorts of automatic payments are due - the water bill, for example  - and I had to scramble to move these "autopays" to my Capital One credit card.

Then, Capital One sends both of us e-mails telling us to "confirm our mailing address" as it has been a while since we last did so.  In the e-mail was a link labeled "click here to update your address!"  Way to go, Capital One!  Real smart security putting an in-email link after warning us time and time again not to click on such links!

Stupidly, I click on the link.

Fortunately, it was a "legitimate" link to the Capital One site.  But later, I realized the risk I was taking, so I changed my password just to be sure (after logging into the site, not from the link!).   Today, I try to log in and there is a "system error."  I mean, what could go wrong with sending an e-mail to millions of cardholders asking them to confirm their address?  I suspect that is what happened with this "address confirmation" e-mail and as a result, it crashed the site.

I tried calling their 1-800 number but it said it could not retrieve my information and it transferred me to an operator, noting that wait time would "exceed ten minutes."  This is not the first time I have seen this scenario play out.  Someone in the IT department decides to blast e-mail the entire customer base and the wonders why the servers all crash at once.  You know, sometimes it is best if IT geeks spend all day playing video games online and shirking their real work.  Sometimes things are best left alone.

It was a learning experience for me, though.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  Stop looking for screaming deals and search instead for fair bargains.  Be skeptical - even of sites that "look" legit.  I suspect templates or AI - or both - are being used to generate tons of scam online sales sites. Scrape some images, add some AI text, and, well, they've got a pretty convincing e-commerce site without all that pesky inventory, shipping, and customer service.  If nothing else, they've captured a few credit card numbers.  Sounds like easy money!

In the old days - like ten years ago - you could go on a Mom-and-Pop website and buy things.  I've ordered online from "Northern Michigan RV" and gotten hard-to-find parts at good prices.  Today, well, it is riskier not to use a major online retailer. Say, major online retailers probably like that!  Insert your own crazy conspiracy theory here.

The Internet was such a great concept, until humanity screwed it all up.   Maybe AI-bots will fix all that.  But I doubt it!

Nike vrs. Sketchers - who will win?

Cheap shoes that are a favorite of the AARP set, versus ghetto shoes that cost $200 a pair.  Who wins?

I recently read that NIKE, the preeminent sneaker company, has experienced a decline in sales after venturing into the "lifestyles" segment (whatever that is).   It is not the first time that storied company has made mis-steps. The history of NIKE, like the history of sneakers in general, is fascinating.

Legend has it that the original "waffle trainer" was literally made by melting sheets of polyurethane rubber in a waffle iron.  The founder of the company was selling them out of the trunk of his car at running events and business took off - boosted by the running/jogging craze of the 1970s.

Then disaster struck. They decided to sell fashion shoes - tiny wrestling-style sneakers clad in gold lamé, which left their traditional buyers scratching their heads. The company was headed for the brink, when a solo inventor (Rudy) approached them with his "AIR" sole invention, and the rest is history.

Well, that history includes signing Michael Jordan (a brand still sold today!) for one of the earliest sneaker endorsement contracts (a business worth millions if not billions, today) and the brand really took off.

There were, however, still mis-steps.  The sneakers were expensive and certain models created a beany-baby-like craze.  Inner-city kids started shooting each other over sneakers, and this created bad optics for the company.

But in the suburbs, sneakers in general became some sort of status symbol, like the unobtainable handbag or the fancy Swiss watch.  Fancy Italian loafers were out - expensive sneakers the color of tennis balls or highway cones, were in  - even for office wear!

People started buying sneakers not to wear, but collect!

But that changed recently due to a number of factors.  Spending $100-$200 (or more!) on a pair of shoes seemed foolhardy in a tightening economy - at least for some of us.  And the shoes were hard to put on, for an aging population, and didn't last more than a year or two before the expanded polyurethane foam soles compressed, or the rubber delaminated (Shoe Goo only works once!).

Enter Sketchers. Originally a "Sk8er Dude" brand, it morphed into a slip-on shoe popular with the elderly and obese (which describes half of America these days).  These started out as slipper-like shoes, and as I noted at the time, pretty poor for walking.  But while NIKE was sketching out their designs for yet more bizarre-looking footware, Sketchers came up with new designs that were more functional and comfortable - in particular, making the shoes fit tightly yet comfortably, so that you can wear a "slip-on" shoe for extended walking.

Priced at $35 and up (and not much more) they have been selling like hotcakes.  This makes me wonder whether NIKE's decline in sales could be linked to the rise of Sketchers.  Cheap, comfortable shoes, with largely conservative styling, which appeal to an aging demographic - sounds like a market winner.

Expensive, gaudy shoes, which require lacing and are more popular with the younger, urban set - is that a growing demographic in aging, fat America?

But, take heart, NIKE!  Sketchers was recently acquired by venture capital - and you know they can screw up a wet dream!

Fix or Replace?

Sometimes, it is just easier to install new parts.

I mentioned before how the seatbelt switch on the driver's seat on the Mercedes Sprinter van went bad - or more precisely, the wire connecting the switch to the SRS (Supplemental Restraint System) computer was severed when Mr. See rotated the seat around.

It was kind of appalling, actually, how it was put together.  Two tiny thin wires were snaked through a hole in the seat base and just hung there, unprotected, inches from the seat slide mechanism and a host of sharp metal edges. To be fair, this was exacerbated by the seat swivel that Winnebago installed - providing a guillotine for this tiny helpless wire.

People think Mercedes are fancy cars, but once you look underneath, well, you realize they are just cars.  And a commercial van? Acres of cheap plastic.  For example, the top of the seat base is covered with a thin layer of plastic foam of some sort, that just slides in place.  Granted, there are electrical components in each seat base (Mercedes relays and fuses under the driver's seat, Winnebago power relays and circuit breakers under the passenger seat).  But to me, that would be all the more reason to cover this with something more substantial than corrugated cardboard.

Anyway, I contemplated soldering the wires back together and was not looking forward to splicing tiny wires under the seat.  On a whim, I checked online for a new seatbelt buckle and found one, on eBay, for only $38 with free shipping.  For that much, why solder?

The part came in a few days and I removed the seat (which was held in place with those star-shaped bolt heads - fortunately, I had a set of matching sockets) and cleaned out 10 years of dust and dog hair from the seat base.  The new seatbelt buckle fit right in, and I tested it first by plugging it into the wiring harness and whoopee, the SRS light went out (but the error code did not reset!).  I cleaned everything really well and re-installed the foam plastic cover, this time aided by a plethora of self-drilling, self-taping screws.  Put the seat back (and the rotating base - heavy!) and all is good.

Or is it?

I splurged $110 on a new code reader - one that reads and resets codes for all the computers in the vehicle - and there are several, I learned.  Sure enough, there was an SRS error code for "driver's side seat switch" which I reset and it went away for good.  Error codes in auto computers are interesting.  Some OBDII codes (On Board [Engine] Diagnostics II) won't set off the "check engine" light until they persist for some time, or if a certain number of codes are present.  It all depends on the type of code and the manufacturer.  I guess the idea is to eliminate false alarms.

And false alarms are a problem.  I remember jump-starting one of my E36 BMWs (328iC) and it set off the check engine light.  I pulled out my trusty code reader and it showed a litany of errors (including, not surprisingly, low voltage) which, when reset, went away.  "Hard" errors usually come back right away, which is why resetting codes is a good first step (and maybe the last step) in diagnosing the problem.

For example, another E36 was throwing a "camshaft position sensor" code, which, when reset, would come back right away.  The camshaft position sensor was bad and needed to be replaced (not an expensive part, nor a difficult job, either).   On the other hand, our E53 (X5 3.0) would throw an "oxygen sensor adaptation limit reached" code, which, when reset, would go away (and the CE light go out) for months at a time - a classic "soft" error.   The problem in that case was a tiny pinhole leak in the intake elbow, allowing un-metered air into the system, confusing the hell out of the mass air flow sensor and the ECU. The rubber elbow was a $14 part, held in place with two band clamps - a five minute job, once the problem is diagnosed.  You'd be surprised how many dealer mechanics would replace the oxygen sensors (all four of 'em!) and charge the client $1500 or more, rather than replace this $14 elbow.

SRS codes are more strict.  Like I said before, on our E36's, people would kick under the seat, loosening these seat switch wires which would set off the SRS light.  An OBD II error (CE light) might reset itself if the physical error is cleared, after so many starts.  Not so the SRS!  So you need an SRS reset tool to clear the code in that case.

Speaking of false alarms, the "loose gas cap" code frustrated more than one car owner.   OBD II cars (1995 and up) have a system to detect air leaks in the fuel system.  If a gas cap is loose, the computer treats this as a leak in the system somewhere.  By the way, over-tightening the gas cap is not the answer!  As I learned the hard way, that only serves to compress the gasket too much, causing a leak.  If the instructions say "tighten to one click" (as it does on our KIA) then one click it is - not three!  Sometimes you just have to break down and buy a new gas cap, though.

Cars in the "good old days" had vented gas caps, and over time, gallons of gas would slowly evaporate from the tank.  But hey, gas is like 35 cents a gallon - who cares?  But "unburned hydrocarbons" are a big source of smog, and in 1960s Los Angeles, you could not see more than a few blocks on a bad smog day.  So as part of EPA emissions requirements, gas tanks were sealed.

Emissions aren't just from the tailpipe, but include things like tire dust and brake dust - and evaporating gas (which is why lawnmower gas cans have these annoying nozzles these days).  With regard to the former, look around a parking garage sometime and check out all that black dirt-like powder everywhere.  Yea,, tire dust.   And brakes? asbestos dust - back in the "good old days."  Tires last a lot longer today, thanks in part to better tire compounds.  And we no longer use asbestos in brake pads.  You can have the "good old days" - I prefer to live in the modern world.

But getting back to loose gas cap codes, manufacturers realized they were losing a lot of customer goodwill when a loose gas cap caused an expensive trip to the dealer.  So, many added stickers on the fuel door advising owners of the problem, or even a "loose gas cap reset" button on the dash.  But the problem still persists.

But getting back to the topic at hand, why spend $38 on a new seatbelt buckle rather than splice the wires?  Well, as I have learned over the years, both as a Technician and Engineer, every connector or splice in a wire is a potential failure point.  Wires generally do not fail if left alone.  They only fail if they are subject to repeated flexing or are not properly grommeted when passing through a sheetmetal hole, or some other form of mechanical malfeasance. But just sitting there they last forever.

Connectors, cuts, and splices, on the other hand, are failure-prone.  And I've see far-too-often, people try to save a few dollars splicing wires on a generic oxygen sensor and wondering why it doesn't work - when a plug-and-play factory OEM part is only a few dollars more (and a lot less hassle to install!).

Of course, to help prevent a replay of the original incident, I sheathed the seatbelt switch wires in corrugated plastic wire loom, which I carefully wire-tied on each end to hold it in place to the seat and seat base.  Then, I made sure that the shielded wire would not bind or get caught in the mechanism, regardless how the seat was moved or swiveled.  Problem solved - hopefully.

This was a pretty simple setup, too.  Some cars have several wires.  On the E36 passenger seat were wires for the seatbelt buckle (to check that you were buckled in) another set for the "seat sensor" (to detect the presence of a passenger) and a third set for the explosive device (!!) that cinched the seat belt tight in the event of a crash.  And that was back in 1997.

One final word on error codes.  I was surprised how many systems there were on the Mercedes Sprinter van - or how many there were potentially.  When I hit "scan all devices" the code reader tool went through a litany of devices (nearly a dozen as I recall), including some not on our vehicle, such as backup radar, radar cruise control, and the like.  Each system has its own microprocessor and each has its own set of error codes.

If all this sounds daunting, it isn't.   Like wires, most electronic components work just fine if left alone.  In addition to loose gas caps or disturbed wires, the biggest offender is often loose or corroded connectors.  A "wheel sensor" for the ABS (anti-lock brake system) is just a coil sending out a tiny signal generated by a notched part of the wheel hub to indicate rotation.  Coils like this rarely wear out, but the connector is located in the wheel well, where it is splashed with water, snow, salt, sand, and road debris.   Cleaning the contacts and applying dielectric grease often fixes the problem.  Code-monkey mechanics, on the other hand, blindly replace the part, believing (falsely) that just because a part is mentioned in an error code, then that part must be replaced.

Such is not always the case.