Video Professor

A bit of the classic infomercial

In the late 1990's one of the late-night infomercials was Video Professor. They produce training CDs on how to use the computer. In the half-hour-long Infomercial, they were promoting the ability to try out their videos in any subject that people want. All you had to do is pay for shipping and handling.

What Video Professor didn't talk much about is the "fine print." Customers would be signed up for a subscription service where future videos would be charged to the credit card on file. They wouldn't get charged if they canceled their subscription. Some of the videos would cost between $50 to $399.

Due to various lawsuits and lagging sales, the company folded in 2002.

Here is a clip of the commercial that I recorded on April 24, 1999 - nearly 22 years ago.

Phone Call gone Wrong

Did I waste too much time with them?

Just about everyone has gotten the extended car warranty phone calls. My favorite is when they call me about a car that I have never owned.

The following phone conversation happened about a year ago. They called me about a car that I have never owned.

This call ends a strange way. I think the lady didn't understand what I said and pretty much wrote off the call.

Job Commercials

Some classic Job Commercials

This week's Media Monday is a look at some classic Internet Job Commercials and a segment on the Dot Com Guy.

Features:

• Hot Jobs Commercial - "ipo//ipo"
• Monster.com - "Where will Ted Go?"
• Dot Com Guy - KTVU segment about Mitch Maddox being the DOT COM Guy.

There were some other clips that I had, but I couldn't find them. These will have to do this week.

Driving in San Francisco

San Francisco has one of the worst traffic in the country. It wasn't all that great in 2000.

Here's a mix of the Traffic Report from TV and the Radio.

I am not sure about the date of the radio piece. I believe it was sometime in the 2000s.

Classic New England Commercials

Some Classic Commercials that I have in my collection

This week, I decided to feature some classic New England Commercials.

These I had digitalized in 1998 on my Macintosh Centris 660AV computer. I may still have the orginal DVDs and could create a better quality version in the future.

In this week's video:

• Bank Of Boston - Great Tune!
• Ames - Classic Department store. (I remember the one in Acton, Massachusetts.)
• Breakfast Mate - Not Really New England, but on a VHS tape that was New England.
• Eastern Airlines - This one is pretty old. Not exactly sure of the date. Care to guess?

Capital One and Student Loan

Fly By Night companies looking to scam people

Here are a couple of scam voice messages that I got in the past few months. These don't actually seem to be real people but just computer-generated messages. I guess they want to see if I am gullible and will respond to the voice messages to get more information.

Enjoy!

Capital One

Missed Call from 800-258-6019. This isn't a Capital One phone number and I don't even have a Capital one Credit Card.

Student Loan Processing Department

Missed Call from (617) 380-3109. Note the caller never mentions the actual name of the company, just as "student loan processing department."

Suspicious Package in San Jose

KRON TV Coverage on April 2000

Back in 2000, there was a bomb scare by the "Gold Building" in Downtown San Jose. Many streets were closed off because they didn't know how dangerous the package was.

Watch the 6 pm coverage by KRON TV. The video features Pete Wilson at the anchor desk, Sgt. Steve Dixon, and Jim Goldman reporting from the field.

Fun Fact

I was there!

The interesting thing about this story is that I was actually n the building when this was all going on. I had arrived at work really early that morning. There wasn't an announcement to the people in the building to leave.

I remember calling co-workers letting them know what was happening.

Classic KRON clips

A couple of moments on a San Francisco TV News

Back in the late 1990s I lived in San Jose, California. One of the shows that I loved to watch was the 11 pm KRON news.

I had a VCR recorder, and every once in a while, I would record the news.

The following are a couple of clips from the year 2000. The first clip features the "Internet Phone" - a phone in the desert. The second clip is a classic "From the File" funny that Pete Wilson would do.

I hope you enjoyed these classic KRON TV moments.

COVID-19 Credit Debit

There is no law to avoid paying your debt.

There seems to be a lot of scammers trying to take advantage of people during the pandemic. Back in September, I got this strange voice mail:

Apple Transcript

This is the transcript done by Apple:

Fun Facts

As of today, there has been no law about loans or credit card debt not being collectible or enforceable.

The phone number: 619-900-2845 is the same number on the caller id. It registers to no person or organization - at least nothing found online.

Notice that the voice message never indicates the company/financial company that they represent.

Credit Card Voice Mail Scam

Couple of Robot calls that seemed very similar

I get a lot of Credit Card scams on my cell and landline. This past spring I got a couple of voice messages that seemed very similar. These were left on my cellphone about 24-hours apart.

I am thinking these are going to the same call center in some foreign country.

Call From: (302) 501-7927 - NEW CASTLE DE

Apple Voicemail transcript:

Call From: (302) 306-2083 - HARTLY DE

Apple Voicemail transcript:

Avoid These Scams

Any company that "cold calls" you with an interest rate reduction offer is likely a scam. Especially if they need to "verify" your credit card number so they can look it up.

Have fun with these calls, never give any legitimate information.