Why Did I Receive B Settlement Payment from Bumble?

 

Bumble B Settlement Payment

What is the B Settlement PayPal or Venmo Payment?

On March 4, 2021 many people received a mysterious B Settlement payment into their PayPal or Venmo account for $36.89 if you opted into the Bumble Boost settlement class-action lawsuit, which required you to give your contact information, including a method for electronic payment or to receive a paper check in the mail. If you received this payment, it is because you signed up for the class action settlement at some point, and it means that you used the Bumble app at some point in the past.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nathanael M. Cousins gave Bumble and subscriber plaintiffs preliminary approval for a proposed class action settlement worth $22.5 million. Judge Cousins determined that, upon preliminary examination of the settlement terms, the deal appears "fair, reasonable, and adequate," agreeing with the plaintiffs' assertion that the recovery is an "excellent" outcome. (Source: TopClassActions.com)

As a result, PayPal or Venmo would have notified you around March 4, 2021 that you received payment from "B Settlement."

Notification from Paypal for B Settlement

Why did Bumble have a Class-Action Lawsuit against them?

It all has to do with the Bumble Boost subscription.

The class-action lawsuit alleges that Bumble's Terms & Conditions failed to notify subscribers of the legal right to cancel their Bumble Boost subscription and obtain a refund within three (3) business days of purchase in violation of certain consumer protection laws, that may apply to all of Bumble's Boost users nationwide. The case also alleges that for certain users in California, Bumble's auto-renewal practices violate California law. Bumble vigorously denies these allegations and does not admit fault.

There are two Settlement Agreement groups of people that are included in this Bumble class-action lawsuit:

1) The (New York) Nationwide Class includes all persons in the United States who purchased Bumble Boost at any time between November 13, 2014 and July 15, 2020. This is referred to as the "DSL Settlement Class" in the Settlement Agreement. Note: Anybody that qualified and signed up for just this B settlement agreement would have received $36.89 payment to their PayPal or Venmo account around March 4, 2021.

2) The California Class includes all persons who purchased Bumble Boost, within California, at any time between November 13, 2014 and July 15, 2020, and had their credit card, debit card, and/or a third-party payment account charged as part of Bumble's automatic renewal program or continuous service program. This is referred to as the "ARL Settlement Class" in the B Settlement Agreement. California class members would each have received a payment amount between $43 and $85.

If you are in both the Nationwide Class as well as the California Class, you will receive payments from both classes if you have made a valid claim. 

The deadline to file a claim was November 23, 2020.

What does the Bumble Boost Class Action Settlement Agreement Provide?

The Bumble Boost Subscription class-action settlements established a $22.5 million USD fund, which will be used to pay Settlement Class Members (described above) after deductions for amounts that the Court may approve for notice and administration of the Settlement attorney's fees and expenses and service awards for the Class Representatives.

Below is a chart of your legal rights in the Bumble Boost Class-Action Lawsuit:

Your Legal Rights to Submit a Claim against Bumble

Review: Coup is a Fun Game App in the Google Play Store

Want to know a fun game app in the Google Play store?

Over the holidays, I discovered a game in the Google Play store: the game Coup.

Coup app icon

The app is available in the Google Play store is based on a board game of deception and manipulation. This app game is essentially a card game, and is all about bluffing, and learning how to bluff successfully.

The game is free to download. There are in-game purchases available, but not necessary to play.

The game consists of five character cards:

1. Duke card - the Duke draws a tax of 3 coins, and cannot be blocked or challenged.
2. Captain card - the Captain can steal 2 coins, and can be blocked by the the Captain or Ambassador card.
3. Contessa card - Contessa can block an Assassination
4. Assassin card - in exchange for 3 coins, the Assassin can attempt an assassination. The Assassin can be blocked by only Contessa character card.
5. Ambassador card - the Ambassador can exchange 1 or 2 cards from the player's hand, and allow the player to choose from the next 2 cards drawn

Coup Gameplay

Each player has a total of 15 cards in the deck. Each character appears 3 times in the deck The player is drawn 2 random cards to start with in their hand.

You then can bluff or truthfully choose how you want to play based on the character cards' abilities, or you can draw 1 coin if you choose. There is a motivation to get to 7 coins. Once you reach 7 coins, you can press the "Coup" button, and force the player to reveal 1 card. A Coup cannot be blocked.

If you have an Assassin, you must have 3 coins in order to use the Assassin card.

You have 1:30 to play your turn, unless you are in a challenge period.

If you choose to only tell the truth, then logic could reveal your cards to the other player.

After you successfully accomplish certain tasks, the game awards you with badges that you can display on your Coup profile picture.

Coup Tips

1. Plan on bluffing. The game requires you to bluff to be successful.
2. If you do not have the Duke, but want to collect tax, start bluffing in Round 1 (your first turn)
3. If you have a card, but want the other player to think your bluffing, play it at an odd time
4. If you are in a challenge period of 30 sec., you can hesitate to play, but it will look like you do not have the card if you do this. You can hesitate to make the other player think you don't have the card.
5. You can use chat features to communicate pre-selected phrases and taunts to the other player. Use these strategically while playing.

Screenshot of Coup app

Disclaimer: The author of this blog post was not paid in any way for this blog post, and wrote it out of pure interest.

How to Save Money with the Walmart Savings Catcher App

How to Save Money with Walmart Savings Catcher

The Walmart Savings Catcher app is the latest way to save money with your smartphone. Walmart  compares the price on your receipt to local competitors. If there is a lower advertised price, you are refunded the money to your account. Fortunately for you, this post shows you how to save money with the Walmart Savings Catcher app.

Here's how it works on an iPhone:

1. After you shop, scan your receipt into the Walmart Savings Catcher app. You do this by pressing the green logo labeled "Savings Catcher" with an arrow pointing to the right. (See picture to the right)

2. The Savings Catcher screen opens and there are green circular arrows that orbit around the dollar sign. Look below this, and in an orange-red color, it says, "Scan a Receipt." Press this button.

3. The app then switch over to photo mode. There is a rectangular area that gets larger and smaller in the lower middle of your screen. Point this rectangular box over the QR code at the bottom of your receipt, or scan the barcode above the QR code. If the receipt printed poorly, then you may have to enter it manually. It asks you to enter the series of numbers at the bottom of the receipt, then the receipt date, which is not much.

4. The app takes the receipt information and then compares it to the local circulars of stores in your area. If it finds a lower advertised price, the Savings Catcher app will credit your account for the difference in price.

Keep in mind that your receipt must be from the past seven days to qualify for potential savings.  How much money will you save?

Some Issues with the Walmart Savings Catcher App

I had one receipt that didn't print right, and I had to key in the serial numbers manually. My next two receipts did not want to scan right away, which may have more to do with the iPhone's processor, than with the app itself. They eventually did scan after holding the camera over the barcodes for about 30 seconds apiece.

The barcode and QC codes are not picking up immediately when the view screen guide rectangle is up on the screen.

Thoughts on How to Save Money with the Walmart Savings Catcher App

After thinking about this new app, I had a few revelations on what is really going on. While I do like the idea of savings via local advertisements, I think that Walmart is getting something far more valuable from customers, and that is information.

But, Walmart already has this information about what people buy in their database. What added-value could Walmart possibly get from this app?

I think Walmart is using this app to lure away customers that shop at multiple stores to get the best deal elsewhere, and this app is saying: "Why go over there, when you can still get the best deal here?"

See the idea of getting the best deal has always existed at Walmart. They have always said, if you find a lower price anywhere else, bring the ad and your receipt back to the store, and we'll refund you the difference. But that is such a hassle. This Walmart Savings Catcher app eliminates the need to come back to the store and wait in the long line at customer service to get some change back.

An example of inside the Walmart Savings Catcher app

In reality, you may actually save a few cents using this app, but it is more likely to happen if you buy more items at Walmart, than if you are a "get-a-few-things-from-Walmart" shopper. I can show you how to save, but that doesn't mean you will save money with this app.

Overall, the Walmart Saving Catcher app is very useful in theory, but I have yet to save a penny with it in my four trips so far.

This blog recommends that you get the app on your smartphone, and try it out for yourself.  Please share in the comments below how much money you have saved with the Walmart Savings Catcher app.

Why iPhone Apps Request Access to Use Microphone in iOS 7

Adobe AIR would like access to your iPhone microphone

In the new iOS 7, Apple added a permission request for apps that want to use the microphone.

Why do apps need to use the microphone?
Why do apps want to use the microphone?
Why do apps need to access my iPhone microphone?
Why do apps invade on my privacy by accessing the microphone?

Those are excellent questions.

Some Apple iPhone Apps That Request to Use the Microphone:

1. Adobe AIR
2. Google Maps
3. Waze
4. Blitz Brigade 
5. Shazam
6. Skype
7. Snapchat
8. YouTube
9. Discovery
10. Songpop
11. Square (credit card reader)

Is There a Logical Reason for Requesting Microphone Access?

Some Apple apps would seem more logical to need microphone access than others. If you need sound input in order to execute commands, it would seem logical. For other apps that have no sound input built into the functionality, granting access to the iPhone microphone seems rather invasive to one's privacy.

If the app does not deal with sound input for executing a command within the app, there is a possibility that it requests microphone access because the developer was leaving the microphone access open on purpose for future functionality. If that isn't the case, it could be asking because the developer did not turn off this feature in error, or lastly, because an app really wants to collect sound data from you.

One app developer, Color (in a 2011 article), stated that it used the microphone to find out when several poeple were in a room to gather "social" data. 

Are you okay with that?

Apple iOS 7 now asks your permission before granting apps access to your microphone. Thank you iOS 7, for respecting our privacy.

How to Manually Disable iPhone Apps From Using Your Microphone

Go to Settings -> Privacy -> Microphone. In this settings screen, you can go through each app and turn off the microphone access to any app that should not need to access your iPhone microphone.

Paranoid People Beware

If you are a paranoid person, then the only way to be sure that your iPhone (or smartphone) isn't spying on you is to turn it off completely when you are not using it. This may seem a little extreme, but it is really the only way you can be guaranteed that your privacy is respected.

Read more about the iPhone in the following blog post:

iPhone error message: This accessory may not be supported.

 

Learn Different Types of Bank Transactions

Anchor Bank sign

If you are like me, then you check your bank account balance online regularly. You can do this with an app on a smartphone, or with a computer, depending on if your bank offers an app and online banking.

There are many different banks (just to name a few):

• Capital One, N.A.
• Regions Bank
• Bank of America
• Wachovia Bank
• SunTrust Bank
• First National Bank
• National Bank
• USAA Bank
• Redstone Federal Credit Union
• BB&T
• Citibank
• Chase
• Citizen's Bank
• Fifth Third Bank
• KeyBank
• PNC Bank
• TD Bank
• U.S. Bank
• Wells Fargo

Beside transactions on your bank statement, you will see symbols. These define what type of transaction has taken place. Below you will see what each two-letter code stands for as a transaction.

You may ask yourself the following questions:

• What does PU transaction type mean?
• What does AW transaction type mean?
• What does CD transaction type mean?
• What does ND transaction type mean?

But do you know what all of the transaction types are in the pending section?

Banks have many transaction types (below are just a few):

"PU" stands for purchase.
"AW" stands for account withdrawal.
"CD" stands for cash deposit.
"ND" stands for night deposit.

Below you will see an example of what these transaction types look like on your account if you view from an online statement.

Pending transactions on online bank statement

I deposited checks totaling $100.00 into my checking account, however my bank statement showed it going in twice, with two different transaction types beside each deposit.

I called the bank customer service and they told me they will make a note to take a look at this, since it shouldn't credit my account twice.

You should now be able to identify the different transaction types when viewing your online bank statement.

Image Source: Flickr Creative Commons; by I-5 Design & Manufacture

iPhone App Review: Field Agent

Field Agent App icon

Field Agent App on iPhone

Field Agent is a great iPhone app to have, but it requires one major thing: TIME.

Once you download the app, you click on the orange app icon with a white tie. The Field Agent app will launch and then load jobs for your area.

I have noticed that many new jobs are populated and ready for Saturday.

Field Agent Experience:

After getting a list of jobs on the iPhone app, I decided to go down to Publix (grocery store) and attempt to complete some of the many assignments. When you select an assignment, it will give you an abbreviated title for the Product, and then will provide a suggested location for the product in the description area.

Field Agent App Job listings

I found that many jobs were being added on this Saturday morning. Many jobs would only last for a few minutes and then it would disappear, and new jobs would populate.

I didn’t accept the jobs unless I knew that I could complete the assignment. The app warns that it may be difficult to cancel the job once accepted, but it is quite easy to cancel a job assignment. The only downside may be that it hurts your agent completion score in the app.

Conclusion:

What I found using the Field Agent app for specific grocery stores is that the items you are searching for may not be found at your local store. I was searching for items like cheese and beef jerky, and the UPC codes before and after this particular UPC were there, but the 10-digit UPC code was not in stock. That was frustrating.

Then, when I actually found one that was in stock, the bottled water did not list the ingredients or allergy warnings, which were required photos.

So the one item that was in stock, I took two pictures: one of the UPC, and one of the fronts of the package. The assignment required 4 pictures, including the allergy warning, and ingredient listing.

I submitted this assignment, and gave this explanation, but later received an email from Field Agent saying that my submission was denied.

I searched for at least 10 products in the job section, successfully found one, and that one submission was denied. This turned out to be quite a frustrating attempt to complete jobs with Field Agent.

But note that I have successfully completed one Field Agent assignment, taking a photo of the soft drink section at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart tasks seem to be easier to accomplish.

The Field Agent iPhone App sounds cool in theory, but not all jobs are easy to find in grocery stores, and for an hour’s worth of time, you may only accomplish one task for $6.50.

Are you worth more than $6.50 an hour?

The reality is that Field Agent is not an easy way to make money. Don't expect to make a living off of it, and don't expect consistent job assignments. Cool app, but not an income reality.

Here is the bottom line on Field Agent. In theory, its a great app. It would be cool if a person could actually make a little money from it. The sad reality is that Field Agent often makes requirements for a completion that are impossible. You end up wasting your time. Too many pictures are rejected. They tell you to go to a location and take a picture of a display that is non-existent. Then you get the dreaded email from the support worker to your email saying they reject your submission because the picture isn't what they wanted. They need to let you take several pictures and they pick what they want.

Field Agent has wasted my time on several occasions when I though I would actually get a completion.

The Immortality App: Not Found in the iStore



Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, holding an iPad.

 Looking for the immortality app?  You might have trouble finding it in the iStore...because it isn't sold there.

Apple CEO, Steve Jobs (above), temporarily overcame pancreatic cancer in recent years, but since passed away on October 5th, 2011. He will be missed as the visionary for Apple.
Have you ever searched for something that was unachievable, but thought that if attained, it would be that one "thing" that your life is currently lacking?  Thinking that the newest gadget of technology surely is the must-have item to make my life better.  If you have the money, why not buy it, right?  It's very easy to shrug off purchases of gizmos because they are justified for something or other.  I'm quite sure I'm guilty of it.  And I know I've looked back and regretted wasting my money after blowing an incredible amount of time with my new object, rather than spending it with loved ones and developing relationships.  Even history tells a story of a man who sought out riches and immortality, but instead only found Florida.

History of the Search for the Fountain of Youth

According to history, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon discovered (present-day) Florida, while searching for the Fountain of Youth.  Juan Ponce de Leon heard the story of this fabled legend from the natives of Puerto Rico. The natives called this land "Bemini", meaning land to the north, which was geographically in the location of the Bahamas islands.  Hearing of this legend only confirmed what he had read by past medieval writers, and Alexander the Great had also searched for the life extending waters in east Asia.  The natives of Polynesia also told the story of youth inducing waters, in the general area of present-day Hawai'i.  The story of Bemini - told by the natives of Puerto Rico - also included gold and riches that accompanied this gift of immortality.  In this search for riches, Juan Ponce de Leon set foot on the east coast which had flowers, so he called it La Florida. 
(Source: Stimpson, George. A Book About American History)

Juan Ponce de Leon did not find the Fountain of Youth that he sought after so diligently, but he was credited for discovering Florida.  Do you think he was satisfied with this discovery?  Compared to riches and eternal life?  Probably not!

So why do you think that man (humanity in general) seeks out the Fountain of Youth?  Patrick Morley thinks it is because, "A man's ultimate desire is for immortality."  He refers to Ecclesiates 3:11 in the Bible, which says: "He [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men." (Source: Morley, Patrick. The Man in the Mirror)

Trump Tower, NYC

Some people attempt to become immortal by contributing large sums of money  to a local university, to have a building named after them.  The Trump Tower (seen above in NY), is an prime example of a man with wealth who has built himself an empire, and has several skyscrapers to prove it.




Patrick Swayze (2009)

Do you think you could find someone who has a lot of wealth, who would trade it all in for an extension on his/her life? I bet I can. Patrick Swayze (pictured above) passed on after a battle with pancreatic cancer in 2009. I bet he would've paid any amount of money to have an extension on his life.

A pawn broker ready to make a deal with you.

So would you pawn all of your most valuable possessions in for another month added onto your life?  For one more year with the one you love?  For one more minute to say "I love you" to your kids?

Jesus talking to the woman at the well

However, one woman who was not actively seeking out immortality, was told how she could find eternal life, by Jesus.  Story as follows:

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”  (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)
 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

(Source: NIV Bible - John 4:7-14)

 
The final question I have to ask you is this:  Have you sought out eternal life in the right place?  If you haven't, that might be why you haven't found it, because you won't be able to find it in the iStore.