WARNING! Best Buy Zero Interest Scam - IT'S A TRAP! Shocking Truth Revealed!

BEST BUY “ZERO INTEREST” TURNED “BALLOON PAYMENT” EXPOSED

Picture this: You walk into Best Buy, eyes wide with excitement, ready to snag that shiny new gadget you’ve been eyeing. And there it is—the alluring sign promising “Zero Interest Financing for 12 to 24 Months!” You think you’ve hit the jackpot, right? Wrong!

Brace yourself, because what follows is a financial trap so insidious, it’ll make your jaw drop. Best Buy’s zero-interest deal isn’t the gift you think it is; it’s a ticking time bomb set to explode your bank account.

When that seemingly sweet grace period ends, prepare for a shock wave of balloon interest charges that could dwarf your original purchase price. It’s time to expose the truth and protect unsuspecting consumers from this predatory scheme. Hold onto your wallets—this is about to get ugly.

If you have any doubts, just remember: Best Buy’s “zero” interest isn’t zero at all—it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and it’s hungry for your hard-earned cash. Let’s dive deeper into this financial horror story and unveil the dark secrets they don’t want you to know.

Share this post far and wide; your friends, family, and fellow shoppers deserve to be warned. It’s time to fight back against Best Buy Credit and expose it for what it truly is: PREDATORY LENDING!

Two years ago, I purchased a new Microsoft Surface tablet for my son, who was about to enter the Mizzou College of Engineering. As an incoming freshman, he needed a powerful laptop as a tool for the challenging Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering program. I scrambled to find a way to afford getting him this $2,000 laptop, and I wasn’t coming up with any quick solutions.

That’s when I was drawn in to the Best Buy Credit scam.

As I searched online for the best deal, I was captured by an amazing offer from Best Buy, where they promised me ZERO PERCENT INTEREST for 24 months if I purchased the Surface tablet through their credit department. Excited and relieved, I applied for a Best Buy Credit account and made the purchase.

A year later, I was lured in again with a zero percent interest deal on computer components. I needed to spend an additional $800 to upgrade my work computer in my home office. I was glad to do business with them again, happy to save so much money. I even went on to buy a $300 stereo head unit for my car, which was in dire need of an upgrade.

The total amount that I had spent on all of my “zero interest” purchases was roughly $3,200. In my mind, I had a grace period of twelve months with no interest being charged, figuring that the regular high interest rate of 30.9% would pick up on the remaining balance at the end of the grace period. My monthly payments were only about $80, so this seemed to be a great deal. I figured that I would accelerate the payments after the grace period was over, to minimize my interest charges.

That’s where I made a huge mistake. I didn’t read the “fine print”.

What actually happens when you arrive at the end of the grace period will knock you off of your feet and put you into a state of shock. Rather than charging the monthly adjusted interest, they do something entirely different, which is downright evil.

The minute you go past that 12 or 24 month grace period, you’ll get hit with a balloon payment based on the original amount of your purchases, at the full percentage rate, regardless of the amount you paid off by that time.

The month after my grace period ended, my phone started ringing off the hook. I was told that my balance was $1,300 over my credit limit, because they added a $1,600 interest charge to my balance!

I feverishly tried to do the math to figure out how they arrived at this amount, but to no avail. The amount of interest was working out to be nearly 50%, not 30.9%, and that was based on the ORIGINAL total of all my purchases, NOT the remaining balance.

Digging deeper into this, I noticed that Best Buy had been charging me a $40 late fee every month for the first 9 months after opening up my account. But I had never missed a payment. To add insult to injury, the $340 in late fees was also generating interest charges at the full rate!

I was furious.

Best Buy Customer Support called me within 15 minutes after my failed attempt to make sense of the charges, as if they were reading my mind. The agent spoke very poor English, and was repeatedly asking me to pay the $1,600 interest fee to get my account back in good standing. Furthermore, the agent repeatedly asked for my bank account number to make the payment at that moment.

I had to inform the agent that I was hanging up the phone on her, so I could get on the website and continue trying to make sense of this disaster.

After fully realizing that I’d been had, I called back. Once again, the customer service agent spoke poor English, and was obviously speaking to me from a call center outside of the country. Best Buy apparently doesn’t even have the decency to hire agents within this country, much less within my locality.

Calling the local store where I made my purchases wasn’t isn’t even an option. They won’t deal with you. Once the local store gets your money, they are out of the picture. You’re then left to the mercy of foreign agents that can’t communicate clearly in English.

Completely disgusted with the situation, I offered a settlement amount to zero out the account. I told them that I wanted ALL of the late charges removed, and the balloon interest payment taken off. They refused to remove the late charges, but offered to eliminate the balloon interest AFTER I would agree to making a $1,600 payment, which would still leave me with a balance of $1,000.

It has yet to be resolved.

After doing further research, I found SCORES of people in the same situation. One couple bought a washer and dryer and a few more items for $5,000 after being lured in by the 12 to 24 months “free financing”. They paid down the balance all the way to $2,000, but missed the end of the grace period. After the balloon interest and several other fees, their balance exploded, and was back over $6,000.

Another unsuspecting customer was approved for a $3,000 limit on the “zero interest” deal. They missed the grace period, and ended up with a balance of $8,956 after the balloon interest charge, and several late fees!

One thing is for sure: Best Buy is BETTING on you forgetting about the end of your “zero interest” grace fee period. They’re also betting on the fact that you won’t read the fine print, where they tell you that the interest charged won’t be calculated based on your balance, but your ORIGINAL AMOUNT.

Sure, we can only blame ourselves for not paying attention. But this is predatory lending at its finest. Best Buy Credit hauls in massive profits because of this. If they were truly looking out for their customers, they’d just charge a straight interest rate without a grace period. But they wouldn’t make NEAR the amount of money.

Their goal is to get you to trust them by offering an outrageously good deal, knowing that the majority of people will let their guard down, and forget the agreement by the time that grace period ends. It’s evil, and they should be called out for it!

So what is my recommendation?

STOP SHOPPING AT BEST BUY. They are financial predators. They don’t have the decency to hire American citizens for customer support, but chose to pay slave wages to people in other countries to circumvent minimum wage laws in our country.

That being the case, you might as well start buying all of your technology and appliances on Amazon. They deliver, they have excellent customer service, and they don’t have any predatory lending practices.

I’ve got an Amazon credit account, and I rack up rewards that pay me back DOUBLE of what the yearly fee is for being an Amazon Prime member. And I have yet to call their customer support and get a person from a foreign call center who can’t speak understandable English.

When I need to return items, all I have to do is drop off the box at a UPS shipping store, and I’m given a credit with no questions asked. To date, I’ve never had one single negative experience with them.

So help spread the word, and share this post. And then start shopping on Amazon. I’ll even give you my referral link so you can start shopping there TODAY. For all I care, Best Buy can die on the vine and go by the way of K-Mart and Circuit City. It’s what they deserve.

Carlton Flowers
Disgusted Best Buy Shopper Turned Amazon Enthusiast

DITCH BEST BUY AND GO SHOPPING ON AMAZON NOW!

CZ Tech Talk Preview - An Unplugged Geek Fest

CZ TECH TALK FRIDAY EDITION INTRODUCES NEW RANDOM FORMAT

Hi folks. The CZ Blog Man is in a rare mood. I'm gonna try something new, so don't expect normal. If you are reading this, you agree to the terms and conditions of this post, which are as follows:

• This post shall ramble on, possibly without end
• Reader is aware that I may not ever make a point or have a purpose
• Writer reserves the right to change the topic of discussion every 3rd sentence without warning
• Post could end abruptly without warning
• Reader agrees to the terms of payment for the post (this is explained at the end)

Now that you have read and agreed to the terms and conditions of this post, I will be able to continue with what it is that I did not plan to do. And that is ramble on about whatever comes to my mind, kind of like a brainstorming session. So here we go! It's the Unplugged Friday Edition of CZ Tech Talk!

IPHONE 5 DESIGN

It's bunk. Crap. All these blogs out here posting about this bogus new design that makes the screen only 1/2" taller but the same width are really disappointing me. Come on, geek writers, do you really thing they are going to change the aspect ratio of the iPhone 5?

I talked to my partner, CEO Jake Seeman, of our company CoMo Coding LLC last night. We have an app development company, of which I am the Vice President handling all marketing. I asked CEO Jake if Chief Programmer Stephen Lindhauer had an opinion about these rumors, and if it was causing him any worry. He said yes.

Here's the thing... people like our Chief Programmer Stephen will have a complete psychotic fit if Apple changes the aspect ratio of the next iPhone, because that means all of the current apps would have to be re-written to run on the new weirdly shaped screen.

If they increase the width from 2" to 2.29", that would fit the aspect ratio of the new vertical dimension of 4". That is, IF the new display even ends up with the extra half inch on top. Wait a minute... strike those figures. The current dimension is 3.5" diagonally measured. So adding a 1/2" extra amount to the top would make a greater diagonal distance.

Whatever the case, you get the point. If you make it taller, and not wider, you screw up the aspect ratio. That's why I think all you big boy blog sites are sitting with your heads jammed in a warm moist place for believing this stuff.

Next topic...

IPHONES IN KOREA

I don't know who it is that started this rumor, but as the story is told, they claim that the people of South Korea love the iPhone and are found carrying it much more often than their native Samsung products.

These people also claim that the South Koreans see the iPhone as a status symbol, and they don't give the same respect or value to their own brand.

Well I am glad to report to you that this story is 100% garbage, and I know this for fact. My previously-mentioned partner, CEO Jake Seeman, was actually in South Korea for an entire 2 weeks. He said that EVERYONE in South Korea is walking around carrying phablets. They are all over the place.

He told me that this idea that the countrymen (and women) are carrying iPhones is a complete fabrication. He never saw a single iPhone 3GS while there, and only 2 iPhone 4S's (one of which was his own). So I hand the Turd Trophy to all of you who seem to find it necessary to promote this craptastic rumor.

PHABLET PHRENZY

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is coming! We have just a few days until the announcement. Soon after, we should hear about the HTC Phablet that is coming. I am gonna bet that the Samsung version will be better. I love HTC smartphones, but they are too heavy and bulky. I need light and unbreakable.

I cannot wait to get my hands on a phablet. Unless something life-changing and monumental comes out in between today and October when I can upgrade, it's gonna be Phablet Time for me

---------------------------------

That's all I have for the moment. that doesn't mean that I won't post another one of these unplugged ramblings in the next 5 minutes though. It just depends on the current state of my ADD/HD. But from now on, when you see the new "CZ Tech Talk" logo, you'll know this is an unplugged post.

But before you go, we have to talk about payment. Yes, that's right, this isn't free. You agreed to the terms and conditions of this post when you started. If you made it this far, it's time to pay up. I don't allow stealing.

To avoid possible prosecution and punitive damages, you must pay for reading this post by dropping a comment in the fantastic Disqus commenting section below. Tell me what you think of the rambling topics, share a new topic, or tell me what your favorite flavor of ice cream is.

Whatever the case, make your payment now or you will receive a citation and fine in your email inbox for violating my terms.

Thanks a bagillion.

Carlton Flowers
CZ Unplugged

The Search For "Blog Mojo" - Shocking Confessions

THE TRUTH BEHIND THE UPS AND DOWNS OF GEEK BLOGGING

Three weeks, four days, 17 hours, 34 minutes, and 15 seconds... is exactly not the amount of time that has passed since my last blog post.

In fact, I don't have any idea how long it has been. So while I am searching for my blog mojo, I'm gonna fill you in on the secrets of my rising and falling site traffic.

When I first started blogging a few years ago, I could not decide what in the wide world to focus on and write about. I had three major topics of interest, and tried to balance them all. I sure thought it worked, but my website traffic said the complete opposite.

I struggled to write every week, with hopes to reach the ever elusive level of 100 visitors per day. I thought it would be an impossible task that would take years to achieve. But I actually hit the goal in May of 2011. That was just the beginning of the excitement...

You see, I got lucky. Right about the time that rumors were flying about the yet-to-be-named Samsung Galaxy S2 from AT&T, I happened to write a story about the "Attain".

That was the rumored name at the time. As luck would have it, I was one of very few writers who wrote articles about the Attain, and I eneded up on page 1 of the Google SERPs for that search term.

I continued to write about the Attain, and I sraped every single bit of information from the web on the details surrounding the specs and the release of the smartphone. My blog traffic started to spike.

By July, I was well into the range of 300 visitors per day and growing. I didn't just write about the rumors surrounding the Attain, I also gave my own opinion and predictions about the release. I hit a bullseye.

During the month of August, leading up to the official release of the naming for the Samsung Galaxy S2, I surpassed 1,000 visitors per day and peaked at 1,350 in one day. This was something that went far and beyond my wildest dreams.

But after the release of the flagship smartphone, while the dust started to settle, so did my site traffic. But I still had a base level of 300 to 500 visitors per day thanks to a handful of informative posts I wrote on various technical topics.

I continued to cover smartphone and gadget news, and caught the eyes of several corporations. I have been given devices from some companies to write about, and I also was blessed to have been contacted by AT&T of St. Louis to review smartphones and tablets. This kept my traffic at a respectable level.

But lo and behold, I had an event that all but killed my website traffic. I had to switch blog site hosting providers from Quansite (of California) to Squarespace. After making the switch, I discovered that my blog site was so big, it was impossible to import all of my old posts.

That meant I was left to start from square one with Squarespace. My traffic took a nose dive as my most popular posts now pulled up "404" errors. But I love the new format of Squarespace and I am not regretting making the switch.

Right now I am suffering from a case of lost "blog mojo", and I am having the hardest time finding my "voice". When I first started blogging, my style was professional and "newsy" sounding. Over time, I started to write with more humor and sarcasm, which is a natural fit for me.

But I still have not found my perfect "voice". Once I do, I think I will successfully rebuild my blog site to its former glory. But in the meantime, I am going to commit to writing about anything on my mind that is related to the tech sector. I might even throw in a few articles that deal with technology and marketing.

So while I continue the search for my mojo, please, I beg you, if you are reading this, encourage me in the comments section and let me know if you like my new "natural" style and tell me what you'd like me to write about.

I hope you enjoyed this shocking confession. And I look forward to your comments!

(Cue the crickets)

Carlton Flowers
Gadget Geek Supreme

Reinventing The Carlton Zone Blog?

CARLTONZONE CONTEMPLATES BIG MOVE & NEW DIRECTION

Ladies and gents, I've been contemplating making some big changes on the blog site, both in content and where it is being hosted. It's gonna be a rocky road for the next couple of weeks, but I think I will prevail.

Look out for a new homepage coming your way, and a "new look" blog site. The company I am currently hosting my website with is not able to deliver some of the things that I would like to do with my blog, namely Amazon product integration.

Something that people don't consider much is the cost of running a blog site. You have to pay for a domain, someone to host your site, and also someone to host the actual blog "engine" if you don't want to do it all on your own. We won't even consider the cost in hours of research and writing to keep the site going.

I started partnering with Amazon.com last year around this time, and I have really delved deep into promoting different products and services in various ways in order to produce a revenue stream that would cover the costs associated with keeping the blog site running.

I've had some great months, and I've had some seriously slow months where I have only made pocket change. But I have to focus on the most efficient ways of monetizing my site in order to justify the time in keeping it fresh and building my page rank.

This post is being written using my potential new host and provider, SquareSpace.com. They offer a lot of service for the money, and at about a third of the cost of what I am paying with my current blog engine provider. Plus, they have a lot more creative ways that I can integrate Amazon products into the site.

I'm very proud to promote Amazon on my site, because it allows me to pass on great deals to my friends and family members. When they save money, they are happy, and I've gotten a lot of positive feedback for passing on good deals from Amazon, so I'm going to go forward with using them as my main monetization partner.

Right now, I am hitting a brick wall on how to convert everything from my current host to my new provider. It's looking like I will not be able to automatically export my blog's content and place it on the new server site. Therefore, it presents an awesome opportunity to just clean up my site and start from scratch.

I haven't been tremendously focused on one particular topic, and I still haven't decided what that overall focus should be. I'm an avid writer, keynote speaker, seminar trainer, business marketing consultant, business owner, and complete gadget geek. Somehow, I need to whittle this down to a more focused list for the site.

One thing that I have been given a lot of feedback from is the fact that most people have no clue regarding all of the details and specifications on smartphones, tablets, computers, laptops, and other gadgets. They come to me for the most basic of information and advice, and would like me to focus on writing blog posts to the "everyday person" that is not so technically inclined.

Honestly, there are plenty of specification-quoting techno-babbling writers out there. But there aren't many who can boil it down to something that the average person can understand. And what most people want is just enough information that they can make an informed buying decision. No more, no less.

In the coming days, I'll be thinking about where I will take the blog site, and what my focus will be. Hopefully it won't be as disorganized and running all over creation like this blog post has been. Got a suggestion for me? Let me know!

Do you think I should focus on writing about gadgets? Making money? Marketing for a current business? Or how about audio podcasts? Perhaps more video content? You make the call... I'm all ears.

Carlton Flowers
ADD/HD Blogger Supreme