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PSA: Opt-out of Apple Card’s Arbitration Provision

NEWS – If you snatched up a fancy new Apple Card in the past week or so, you might want to take a good look at the terms and conditions, particularly under the Arbitration Provision section near the end of the document.

Therein it states:

By accepting this Agreement or using your Account, unless you reject arbitration as provided below, you acknowledge that YOU ARE GIVING UP THE RIGHT TO LITIGATE CLAIMS (AS DEFINED BELOW) AND THE RIGHT TO INITIATE OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION.

That basically means if there happens to be any sort of class action lawsuit against Apple or Goldman Sachs, or if you have a personal issue with the card, you waive the right to have a jury trial or be heard in a standard court.

Fortunately, it’s extremely simple to opt out of this provision, in this case. All you have to do is send a message to Apple through the Wallet app within 90 days of applying.

Simply select your card from the Wallet app, tap on the three dot icon in the upper-right corner of the screen, and tap on the “Message” icon. This will open up a chat window, and all you have to do from there is type out something like “I would like to reject arbitration.” Below is a record of my conversation with the Goldman Sachs representative who is probably dealing with a lot of these requests.

Yep, it’s that easy.

The whole process took all of 5 minutes. I not, however, receive any email or Wallet app notification, so I took a screenshot of the conversation and saved it in a note, just in case.

But it’s nice to see a very quick way to reach support. All in all, I really like the Apple Card so far, especially its unique interface built right in to the Wallet app. If I find any more tips or tricks I’ll have to keep them in mind for a future post.

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PSA: Opt-out of Apple Card’s Arbitration Provision originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 28, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Tomorrow is Prime Day, so make sure you’re ready for all the Black Friday in July deals

NEWS – Other than Black Friday, which comes in November, the biggest shopping day of the year has been Amazon Prime Day which launched 5 years ago. Prime Day has been one day in July where Amazon heavily discounts products exclusively for Amazon Prime members.

This year, Amazon is giving Prime members 2 days of crazy deals and the event starts tomorrow on July 15th at 2:59am EDT and runs through July 16th. To take advantage of all the deals, you will need to be an Amazon Prime member. Here’s how you can easily signup today so you’ll be all set for tomorrow.

The easiest way is to sign up for a free 30 day trial of Prime is to go here. You can also get a free trial of Prime if you sign up for Amazon Family account or an Amazon Prime Student account.

Once you’re signed up as an Amazon Prime member, be sure and keep an eye on the deals posted on the Amazon Prime Day page.

You can also sign up to get a sneak peek at deals before they go live by using the Amazon app on your mobile device. For more info on how to do that, go here.

You should also be aware that many of the Prime Day deals will be featured as Lightning Deals which means you have to grab them fast because they are time-sensitive deals which will end before the end of the whole Amazon Prime Day event. The best thing to do if you see a product that you want to buy is to add it to your cart immediately. However, you’ll only have 15 minutes to make up your mind if you want to buy it.

If you happen to miss out on buying something you wanted, all hope isn’t lost because there is an opportunity to still get the deal. You can join the wait list for that product and if the same item expires in someone else’s cart, it will magically show up in yours and you will have another 15 minutes to complete the sale. Crisis averted!

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Tomorrow is Prime Day, so make sure you’re ready for all the Black Friday in July deals originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on July 14, 2019 at 2:40 pm.

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Let Alexa sell your unused Amazon purchases

NEWS – Do you ever buy something from Amazon and use it once or twice and stuff it in a drawer never to be used again? I think we all do that sometimes. That “sometimes” can add up and by add up, I mean in both money and unused stuff cluttering your home.

If you have a bunch of stuff that you purchased from Amazon that is no longer sparking joy, it’s time to get rid of it. But instead of taking it to Goodwill, having a garage sale, or eBaying it, there’s another option is coming soon. It’s called Amazon After and it’s an app that interfaces with Amazon and your purchase history to remind you if you haven’t used a product in a while so that you can sell it, donate it, rent it, lend it, and more. Check out the video to see how it works.

Amazon After is from Scott Amron, the same person that brought us the Keybrid Keyring Key. The app isn’t available just yet, but you can get more info and sign up to be a beta tester on his site.

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Let Alexa sell your unused Amazon purchases originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 9, 2019 at 11:34 am.

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Decathlon expands to USA with practical, prolific sportsgear options

NEWS – When we lived in the Netherlands, we had a go-to, big-box store for anything sports or camping related: Decathlon.

For my boys’ weekly swimming lessons, Decathlon’s mini-backpacks and microfiber towels were the perfect combination of light, efficient and effective, which was crucial since my family car was a Dutch grandma bike (omafiets). Decathlon’s thermoses joined every one of our train trips, and we brought them home over Christmas as gifts for the hunters in our family. And I especially love the superstore’s packable backpacks, which served as our day-bags while we adventured around Italy and Iceland, Morocco and Malta, and eventually Alaska and Aruba.

Bikes, scooters, sleeping bags. Check!

Zip-off, quick-dry pants for the whole family? You bet!

When a friend told me late last year that Decathlon had ventured into the States, I cheered out loud. Until I heard that their sole stateside edifice resides in the Bay Area… I live in Indiana.

However, once I did a little peaking on their Web site, I learned they have free shipping in the USA on purchases over $50 and free returns. Just beware that if you live on the opposite side of the country, it takes a bit of time to receive your order, so plan well ahead of holidays and birthdays if that special someone is eying new snorkel gear, dancewear or a camping hammock.

In fact, Decathlon’s  Web site boasts more than 10,000 items for 70 sports!

This isn’t just about tennis, basketball, and volleyball. They have gear for rock climbing, paddleboarding, and horseriding. Even pétanque, so you can practice your high school French over a lawn-ball game. (And that’s only seven of the 70 sports they reportedly outfit.)

The prices are reasonable, the gear is high quality, and it’s fun to discover products you didn’t know existed but just might need someday.

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Decathlon expands to USA with practical, prolific sportsgear options originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 9, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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Walmart pickup towers a huge improvement

ARTICLE – I wrote earlier about Walmart’s new grocery pickup. In the comments, someone complained about Walmart’s regular pickup, and I agreed that it was less than ideal. Several times I’ve ordered from Walmart online, and either because it wasn’t available to ship, I didn’t want to pay for shipping, or I wanted the item right away, I went to the store to pick it up.

Well, I did this again last weekend, and it was completely changed. And a ton better. Walmart has introduced pickup towers and lockers (sometimes called vending machines) at 700 of its stores. Picking up my order was actually fun!

But let me back up.

The previous system would have you order online, and you’d get an email confirmation when your item was ready. (That part hasn’t changed.) To receive your purchase, you had to trek to the back of the store. Then you’d have to wait for an actual person, which often involved pressing a button to summon them from who-knows-where. Then they would have to search for your order, which often meant digging around to figure out your order number and where your item was stored. Then you had to wait for them to actually find it.

More than once it left me grumbling under my breath that I should have scoured the store for it myself or perhaps sprung for shipping if it wasn’t in-stock merchandise.

This weekend our pool hose cracked, and I really wanted to vacuum the leaves from the bottom to start getting it in shape for my little guy’s birthday party next month.

The Walmart site showed only one hose in stock out of the two stores in our town. I could have gotten it delivered but didn’t want to wait. So I gave the online pickup another try. And gosh was I happy I did!

We lumbered to the back of the store out of habit, but a sign directed us to the front for pickup. Apparently, we’d rushed right past the giant orange pick-up tube on our way in.

As we approached the orange tower, glass dropped away from the computer, which asked us to enter our order number or scan our phone (both barcode and order number were on the confirmation email). A couple of seconds after scanning my phone, a bright orange locker popped open behind us! Lo and behold, our pool hose.

The screen reminded us to shut the locker when we were done. And that was it! What had taken upwards of 30 minutes in the past was condensed into mere seconds. Well played, Walmart.

Read more about Walmart pickup towers in Business Insider and on the Walmart Blog.

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Walmart pickup towers a huge improvement originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 11, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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