Jan 12 2009
Beware Of Vivo-It’s a Ripoff!
At Christmas do the people in your family tell you what they want for holiday presents? The people in mine had very exact lists. They even showed me ads. I like a few surprises, but not having money at this time, makes giving or receiving useless gifts that much worse.
My kids wanted alot of practical things. They are older and know my situation. They have been really good about asking for things I couldn’t get. Elise got alot of clothes as she is 12 and she can’t have enough. She got music and a digital camera also. Rob got a printer, and other electronic toys along with some puzzles and clothes. I was surprised by my son, who is 17 and only earns his spending money being a soccer referee. He got me a popcorn maker, and my bf a controller for xbox. He is such a great kid, he has very little money, yet he bought something for me. That was awesome.
Every holiday, we go to my bf’s sister’s house. On Christmas Eve we go to his parents. There’s no tradition- we eat off paper plates with plastic silverware, unless I bring mine. No grace, no games, no Christmas carols. I was told ahead of time that my kids need to take off their shoes and to make sure they say thank you to his parents. Good thing I was warned, I was going to let them in there with mud up to their knees and a bad attitude . Gee, why would they feel uneasy? I think his family is bummed about his choice of gf. I guess I wasn’t what they had in mind for him.
The other thing that sent me over the edge was that Mike got me a present that I didn’t want or ask for, and he spent more on it than any of my other gifts. The stuff I wanted and needed I will have to go out and buy for myself. He went to the mall to buy me a chain. At one of those booths in the center of the mall, he bought 200 dollars worth of lotions and scrubs. I told him last year when he did this that he got ripped off badly, and don’t do that again. That was 40 bucks, this was over 200! It comes from Israel. It is called Vivo and it is a bunch of junk. It’s no better than something from Walmart. She even told him that they would be leaving the country immediately upon closing and after the sale, stamped the sales slip with a no refund stamp. You would think bells would go off, telling him this was a rip-off. Not a chance- the girl said it was really good, and she rubbed cream on his hand and it made it soft. Of course it did, he just came from work and his hands were all rough, peanut oil would have done the same thing. I told him to buy me Burt’s Bees products. I don’t want the extra chemicals and they are made in the USA. He knows how I feel about buying outside our own country- we need the jobs, not Israel! He also knows I am against the war over there, so what does he do? He buys a product made in the middle east, of unknown ingredients for my big present. When I got mad and said I wanted to return them, he got really mad, told me I was ungrateful and I could call him when I wanted to apologize. Ha, that would not be happeneing-EVER! He left after packing up his presents and went to his parent’s house . He called a couple of times but I was too pissed to talk to him, so he came back over. His sister and this rip-off company has ruined any memory of this Christmas for me. I took down every decoration in and out of the house the next day- I don’t want to remember any of it. Unfortunately I will be paying off my portion for months.
I am going to make it my next pet project to harrass, and stalk this company until they send back the money. The parent company is American so I’m going to report them to the BBB and anyone else who will listen. My bf is appalled and told me he threw out the receipt- doesn’t matter. They are not going to like it when they get bad publicity on every website I can think of. I went on their website to try to remedy this, but they set it up so you can’t see the whole telephone number and the email won’t work. Not a problem- I’ve got all day.
I don’t want to sound ungrateful, I am pleased with all the other stuff. It really bothered me that this was my most expensive, big gift and it was a total rip-off. It is hard to feel grateful for something so useless and unwanted. I spent every dime I had to get them everything they wanted. I got one thing on my list, and it was a game for his game system, so when he left yesterday, and took the system, I had nothing for all that money and effort.
Money is really tight right now. I don’t have a car that is running. I could have used that money to fix my car. I don’t want alot, I just want my crappy old car to run. That money would have paid for the brakes and a new battery. Instead some B#@ch is walking around with the money and I’m walking to the supermarket.
Next year will be different. I’m telling Mike to bring someone else with him, so he doesn’t buy stupid stuff. I’m buying presents for myself and I’m cooking at home. I don’t care if it’s just me-at least the company will be good.
