Edgar (aka MrConsumer)

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Questioning Carbonite’s “Unlimited” Backup Service Claims

Over the years, cell, long distance, and cable companies have advertised “unlimited” services, but a close reading of the fine print almost always reveals that the services are not truly unlimited.

Last year, in the UK, ASA, the private organization that enforces a voluntary advertising code, came down hard on Carbonite — the online file backup service that sends a copy of the files from your home computer up to the “cloud” for safekeeping.

In both the US and UK, Carbonite advertised “unlimited” backup service for an annual service fee:

Buried in their UK website was an unexpected catch:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Bandwidth Throttling: Yes (35GB, 200GB)

Huh? Even buried deeper in the site in a blog post was an explanation:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Carbonite Home allocates more bandwidth to users doing a typical initial backup of less than 35GB, and less to users after their backup exceeds 200GB. Once your initial backup is complete, updates to your backup usually take only a few minutes each day.

This bandwidth policy has three tiers. Users performing a smaller backup will usually see faster upload speeds than users with larger backups. However, depending on your Internet connection, your computer’s configuration, other Internet-enabled software you may be running, and how often you use your computer, actual backup speeds may vary. The current maximum upload speeds are as follows:

— The first 35GB of data can achieve upload speeds of up to 2 mbps (megabits per second).
— Between 35GB and 200GB of data, upload speeds can reach up to 512 kbps (kilobits per second).
— At 200GB or more of data, upload speeds are limited to around 100 kbps (kilobits per second).

In plain English, just like some cell companies that slow down your connection when you use more than a certain allotment of data, so does Carbonite. They throttle your upload connection down to a crawl when you are uploading a lot of files. The result is that while you think you have backed up all your files, it may take weeks to actually do so, if you have a large hard drive.

The advertising watchdog in the UK felt this limitation was not made clear to consumers who signed up for unlimited service and therefore ruled against them ordering that they more clearly disclose the upload limitation.

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The Little Secret Inside that Big Pill Bottle

A couple of years ago, MrConsumer’s doctor recommended that he take 1000 iu of vitamin D a day. Recently he switched from tablets to softgels, and got quite a surprise when he opened the bottle.

Here is the CVS pill bottle with contains 300 softgels:

CVS D3

Upon opening the bottle, MrConsumer discovered that most of the bottle was just filled with air, with the softgels way at the bottom.

*MOUSE PRINT:

CVS fill line

In this roughly five-inch high bottle, the pills only occupy the bottom one-and-one-quarter inches.

Had MrConsumer had his trusty x-ray device with him at the store, he would have seen this:

*MOUSE PRINT x-ray:

CVS D3 x-ray

Presumably there really were 300 softgels in the bottle, so that is not the issue. This is, however, an example of over-packaging or “slack-fill” as it is known. Slack-fill is the difference between the actual capacity of a container and the volume of product contained therein. If the extra space is really non-functional and not required for filling machines to operate properly, the product can be deemed misbranded under federal law.

It certainly would be cheaper for CVS to use a smaller bottle, and better for the environment. One has to wonder, then, why they continue to sell pills in oversized bottles. So we asked them.

“The front label on our over the counter products clearly states the number of pills/capsules/tablets contained in the bottle, as evidenced by the sample photo you provided, to ensure that customers are aware of the quantity being purchased. We also need to ensure that the container is sufficient in size to accommodate the required drug fact information. Generally speaking, manufacturers choose the container size.” — Public Relations, CVS/pharmacy

Coincidentally, Consumer Reports in its August issue shows more examples of air-filled pill bottles and gets other explanations of why this is a common practice.

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“Does Not Contain High Fructose Corn Syrup”

High fructose corn syrup is a dirty word to many shoppers. They have heard that the body doesn’t digest and absorb the fructose in this cheap sugar substitute the way ordinary sugar is metabolized. The liver is forced to convert the fructose into fat, and we get the urge to eat more.

No wonder a number of products have reformulated their brands and tout the fact that they no longer contain high fructose corn syrup.

One such product is Log Cabin syrup, which boasts this on their front label:

Log Cabin

Great, thought Bryan A., a Mouse Print* reader. Then he read the ingredients statement on the back:

*MOUSE PRINT:

Log Cabin back

“If a banner across the front trumpets ‘NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP’ one doesn’t expect the first ingredient to be corn syrup,” explained Bryan. We agree.

There is, however, a difference between high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup.

“… corn starch is broken down into individual glucose molecules, the end product is corn syrup, which is essentially 100% glucose. To make high fructose corn syrup, enzymes are added to corn syrup in order to convert some of the glucose to another simple sugar called fructose. High fructose corn syrup is ‘high’ in fructose [thus making it sweeter] compared to the pure glucose that is in corn syrup.” — Food and Drug Administration.

We asked Pinnacle Foods, the maker of Log Cabin, twice to comment on this issue, and they did not respond.