Back in May, 2009, we talked about the Breville Espresso Machine, the 800ESXL model that is a die-cast steel espresso maker machine. We liked that it had very few movable parts and that it was made of steel. We hoped that it would last longer than the Krups plastic model that had lasted about 2 years. Here we are about 1/2 year later and it still functions well and produces marvelous cups of espresso. It is noisy though so if you don’t want to wake the others try brewing your golden goodness in the cellar or with the room doors closed.
This brings us to wallets. We like things that make life easier and better. The WalletBe men’s and women’s wallet product line is a smarter and smaller design (and unique – we’ve found that there are many that try to copy them but none that produce the quality and durability) that really does make life easier. WalletBe wallets – despite its logo insinuation is located in Sacramento, California – are manufactured with genuine leather (you can smell it when you open the gift box), are ridiculously priced (where else can you get genuine leather, designer-type wallets for less than $30?), and the story behind the founding of the company is a true American success story that proves anyone with a good idea and persistence can make it.
A little less than 10 years ago, Jim Dimataris stumbled upon an ad that was promoting QVC’s annual product “try-out” where anyone from the United States or from around the world could come to Minneapolis to demonstrate their products. If QVC liked them, they would sell them on their cable TV show. Jim had just designed and manufactured a unique men’s wallet that was slimmer and more compact than the average men’s billfold wallet. In fact, it was not a billfold at all. It didn’t open! It was a smarter design in that essential items could be located without having to flip open and thumb through the non-essentials. The idea was to minimize the amount of actions needed to retrieve a credit card, license or receipt.
The front pocket wallet was still capable of holding a good amount of credit cards and pictures. The inner (or outer) identification window prominently displayed the license which meant that there was no fussing, not even a flip over, needed to display or access the license. As important, the front pocket wallet design did not create those unattractive impressions in shirt pocekts or in the back pockets of jeans or slacks. And for the money we spend on jeans today, saving on the wear and tear of jeans meant men could wear them longer and save more money.
Jim’s front pocket wallet was selected (with 7 other products) from a pool of hundreds of product contestants by QVC for retailing over their cable TV programs. The story gets better, and riskier. He had to basically mortgage his home to gain the financing to produce the amount of wallets that QVC wanted. There was no guarantee that they would sell and QVC was not in the business of buying wallets. If they didn’t sell, Jim lost his home. If they did, he lived for another day.
Thankfully, Jim’s risk and vision paid off. The wallets sold on QVC, by the thousands.
Today, 1 in 300 Americans now own a WalletBe wallet. He has a great online wallet store at WalletBe.com where he annually sells hundreds of thousands of his wallets to men and women of all ages across North America, Europe, Asia and beyond. Given his vision, Jim has expanded his product lines carefully yet aggressively. Today, he offers about 20 different categories of wallets, all made of genuine leather – some from the Tuscany mountains of Italy, in addition to laptop sleeves, folding reading glasses, business card holders, and travel money belts.
WalletBe’s mission is to help people solve the daily inconveniences of life by designing and manufacturing fashion accessories that are smaller and smarter. We’ve owned many of his wallets for men and women over the years. None have disappointed; none are in disrepair; all are attractive and all have made our lives easier – well, at least anything that has to do with the things that we put into our wallets or travel money belts.
I recently replied to a Craigslist apartment rental ad (you’ll notice that the posting has since been flagged for removal):
apartment includes a two car garage
Date: 2009-08-30, 6:37AM
Dreamy, charming one bedroom, one bathroom cutie in Santa monica. New everything…from paint, central air/heat, stucco, copper plumbing, sod, sprinklers and more. Hardwood floors and all appliances included (gas range, refrigerator, washer and dryer). Charmer includes a two car garage (off alley) plus a parking pad for three additional or RV vehicles. Offers a large,covered brick patio, exterior lighting, security screen doors and is conveniently close to shopping, freeway, school and park. Priced well … compare and see!
The Email I Received from the Apartment Rental Scammers
I received an email back from someone named Laurie Mae Adlington:
Hello,
Thanks for your interest. First of all, I must thank the Lord that I found an intending tenant for my apartment ,My name is Pastor Laurie Mae Adlington, I own the apartment you are interested in and I lived there with my Husband and my only daughter before we relocated to West Africa. My Job here in Nigeria involves going to interior villages to give food and clothes to the less privileged ones in the Niger delta region and I also use this opportunity to preach the word of God bringing them to the knowledge of the gospel of Christ,We work with the a charity organization. You can learn more from:http://www.orphanage.org/africa/nigeria/childrenofmary/index.html.
I came here with my family and It was due to my transfer thats we left the apartment and also want to give it out for rent. We are looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of it as we are not after the money for the rent but want it to be clean at the time, and the person that will rent it to take it as if it were its own.My Husband is also a pastor with christ embassy church here in Nigeria as well.
This 1 bedroom apartment at 1540 6th Street Santa Monica, CA 90401 which goes for $600 monthly.It has the following features: Air conditioning, Walk-in closet, Hardwood floor, Tile floor, Living room,Breakfast nook, Refrigerator, Stove/Oven,garage, Balcony, Deck, or Patio, Cable-ready, High-speed internet ,Garage parking.
This apartment is not furnished and We want to give it for rent and looking for a responsible person that can take very good care of the apt. for us.So for now,We are here in Lagos,and our house and the keys/documents of the house are with us here,we tried to look for an agent that we can give this document before we left but could not see and we are as well as don’t want our house to be used any how in our absence that is why we took it along with us here.
I hope you will promise us to take very good care of the house. If you are comfortable with the price and really need this apartment, Contact me immediately with the following details.
APPLICANT’S PROFILE
1)Your Full Name
2)Your Full Address
Phone Number?
3)How old are you?
4)Are you married?
5)How many people will be living in the Apartment?
6)Do you have a pet?
7)Do you have a car?
8)Occupation?
9)What is your religion?
10)How long are you renting for?
Looking forward to hear from you with all this details so that i can have it in my file in case of issuing the receipt for you and contacting you.Await your urgent reply so that we can discuss on how to get the document and the key to you,please we are giving you all this base on trust and again i will want you to stick to your words,you know that,we do not see yet and only putting everything into Gods hand,so please do not let us down in this our property and God bless you more as you do this.
You can also call my Husband asap:+234 803 646 4993 or 011234 803 646 4993 for more details
The pictures are attached and you can also go see the building, though you cant view the inside because we have the keys here.
Thanks and you are welcome
Regards
Mrs Laurie Mae Adlington
Quick Details of the Craigslist Apartment Rental Scam I Encountered
After I read the pleasant email (which contained small images of the apartment also), I called James Adlington, the husband of Laurie Mae Adlington, in Nigeria to make sure all was legitimate because he was asking $600 per month for an apartment located only 6 blocks from the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. It was obviously worth considerably more on the open market. We spoke for a good while. He seemed rather nice, said all that he wanted was for someone to take care of his apartment while he and his wife completed their missionary tour which would end in 2012. He mentioned that he would come to the US next May and visit me in the apartment just to make sure I was maintaining it well. I told him the apartment looked great from the images but that I would like to see it in person. He said he couldn’t show it to me because they had the keys with them in Nigeria. He gave a reason but I’ve forgotten it. I told him I would go down to Santa Monica to look around and get back to him. So, I arrivesd at 1540 6th Street in Santa Monica, a beautiful building caled the Livorno. I asked a leasing agent for a tour of one of their empty apartments so I could get a feel for the construction, amenities, etc. I didn’t mention anything about the Adlingtons or their apartment because I told James that I was only going down to look at the building. The leasing agent was quite pleasant and informative. The one bedroom she showed me was renting for $2,200 per month. I wonderied how the Adlington’s could be asking $600 per month if they could obviously get alot more? James also mentioned onthe phone that his apartment had 2 bedrooms.
I drove back from Santa Monica and called James again in Nigeria. He unwavingly answered the questions I had and asked me if I could send the money immediately – the same day – because he had many people lining up to rent this apartment, wanted to take it off the market and wanted the peace of mind of not having to entertain so many emails for the remainder of the month. He would, in return, mail me the keys, leasing agreement and parking garage remote in the mail via FedEx the next day. I asked him if he had the legal right to sub-lease the apartment. He said yes. Still, I was skeptical. I asked if he would email me a copy of his lease. He said he couldn’t since he didn’t have a scanner or copy machine. I mentioned to him that I could use online banking to get the money to him. He preferred Western Union.
After I ended the phone conversation with him, I Googled James Adlington and Laurie Mae Adlington. I didn’t find anything. I then called back to the Livorno to find out if they were on record as tenants. I recounted the story to a fine and helpful gentleman who first informed me that tenants are not allowed to sub-lease their apartments and that if I did sub-lease the apartment I would not be able to have it maintained. He went on to say that there are many apartment rental scams on Craigslist originating in Nigeria. I hadn’t mentioned to him that I found tis apartment rental on Craigslist. The agent said that once the scammers receive the $600 they DO send keys via FedEx. However, the keys are fake. They do not unlock anything. Since I sounded like a legitimate person, he went further and asked for their names. After a quick search, he found no tenants named Adlington, James or Laurie Mae.
Meanwhile, I gave James my cellphone number and he continues to call. I also received an email from him, not Laurie Mae (not a surprise!), asking when I wold be sending the $600.
Espresso machines in general are a 50/50 bet to work and function well. The more you spend, the better the chances will be that your espresso machine 1) works out of the box, or 2) works for more than a few months. The advice we can give to people in the market to replace an existing espresso machine or to buy their first one is to read the brand/model reviews and then to follow your gut. For instance, if you read nothing but rave reviews for an espresso machine that costs less than $100, be careful. The reviews could be written by company employees or friends. When you get to the models that cost between $100-$250, you still must be careful. Make sure there are plenty of reviews and read the ones that do not give high praise because those comments are the worst that can probably go wrong. Espresso machines that cost upwards of $250 are probably a safer bet but ensure that the frame of the structure is die-cast steel and not made of plastic. Futher, make sure all moving parts are steel and not plastic. Believe us, at some point, some plastic part will fail, break or fall off between year 1 and 2. You may justify paying for a cheaper model by calculating the savings in $3 coffee Starbucks that you will no longer have to pay for. That’s fair. If you want more convenience, less headaches and money savings, though, pay more for a better model. You will make your money back and then some.
Krups XP1500 Espresso Machine
Krups Espresso Machines
Our orginal espresso machine was a Krups model combination espresso and coffee machine, less than $200 and made of plastic. Even the moving parts, more specifically, the rotating knob that triggered the heat pot on the espresso side, was made of plastic. All worked well for about 1 1/2 years then the steamer broke despite careful daily attention to cleaning the spout and airhole. Every month, we would also run clean water through the machine just to cleanse it of potential harmful impurities (we used filtered water to brew our espressos). A few months later, the plastic rotating knob broke off and each day thereafter became a challenge in finding that right position for the knob to trigger the heat pot. Finally, it got too unwieldy and precious minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, would tick off before we could get it to work properly. However, for 2 years, we had the Krups espresso/coffee machine. We saved about $1,500 over those two years including the cost of coffee we would have purchased from Starbucks in the meanwhile and the cost of espresso beans needed for our espressos.
Breville Espresso Machines
This time around we paid $399 (on sale from $499) for a Breville 800ESXL die-cast steel espresso maker machine. All parts are steel. The only moving parts are the switch from espresso maker to steamer on the front face and the steamer. The plastic cover on the Krups espresso machine steamer broke off eventually. The Breville espresso maker’s brew head is elevated so larger coffee cups can fit underneath. The filter holder that fits into the brew head comes with 1 cup and 2 cup filters and a tamping spoon. Breville also provides a small steel handled pot in which milk can be steamed. Another nice convenience is that with one push of the button, the steamer becomes a hot water dispenser for hot chocolate, tea or any beverage that requries hot water. In addition, a large removable 2.3 quart (2.2 liter) water tank allows for almost continuous espresso making.
Breville 800ESXL Espresso Machine
We’ve only had the Breville espresso maker for a day but we read review after review. The espresso was delicious. We’ll see how the machine holds up over time. Based on the reviews, we should get more than 2 years out of it. We bought it from Macy’s but could have purchased it online. Macy’s covers replacements and maintenance for the first 6 months while Breville provides a one year warranty. In case of problems, we’d much prefer to return it to the store rather than experience the nuisance and inconvenience of shipping a product back to people we don’t know and will never see. Although it’s been a day, the point is that you get what you pay for. It seems that no matter what brand or price point we were comfortable meeting, we would save money because Starbucks lattes are so expensive. But, we really wanted to save more money and not deal with the inconvenience of breakable plastic parts. We’ll see how the Breville espresso maker does in these next few months.
