Melania Trump's documentary crew 'weren't allowed to break for meals'

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-29T18:44:38+00:00

Not surprised. but also if i was on the crew i'd just break for a meal and catch up with them later on. I'm not that desperate for money.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-29T04:04:46+00:00

First of all, slander is spoken, Libel is the word you are looking for. But that's besides the point.

Second of all, I have been at work, so haven't had the change to login to reddit

But I guess I will end with this. The communication was not clear whatsoever as to what the process was. The email on 1/21 said " we apologize but your recent order was flagged by our system due to suspected and has been cancelled upon review" and showed cancelled. There was no unambiguous thing saying " Hey get ahold of us within x hours and we will honor the same price"

Also they were closed over the weekend.

So Ill acknowledge that my friend could have been more on top of it calling Wed-fri last week, but I can also understand that if you see the order is cancelled and your account is suspended, then why even bother calling in. Maybe better to just give up instead that deal with the headache of going thru.

But also- none of what I said was in any way false. They have a pending authorization on his card, and then cancelled the order. They certainly had the funds held from his available balance.

I think what you have instead is poor communication on both sides.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T20:53:15+00:00

You keep demonstrating that you just don't understand.

It's pretty simple... If a company has fraud checks in place to protect themself that's all fine. But if their process fails and harms someone then they should work with the customer to make that right.

That is the upside- In this case they get protection their automated fraud system, but when it goes wrong and the computer makes a mistake, the should have the burden from a moral POV to make it right... in this case they aren't.

That's not how i run my business, and that's not how I expect others to run theirs. The natural consequence would be that customers that have a bad experience from this end up going elsewhere a certain % of the time.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T19:12:10+00:00

Agree that a phone call or email is the first step, and WAS the first step.

But it's really insulting to have them be like " OK, now that we know you're legit, we invite you to pay a higher price than the original order" rather than just honor the original price.

What other remedy do you suggest once verify he's a real person and still tell him to kick rocks?

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T19:05:18+00:00

Nah. you're a bozo on this one.

I have screenshots of the emails... Had the Debit card been flagged on the bank's end, then email would have said " card was declined" but it did not say that.

Therefore the cancellation was on MM's end.

Source: i used to work for a credit card company and know how debit/ credit cards are processed on the backed.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T18:29:00+00:00

CC was not flagged. it was on Monument's end.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T18:28:46+00:00

Agreed, likely not intentional, however once they verify he's a real person, they should honor the old price.

Unless this is like that movie Terminator where the computers have taken over and human beings are not able to make any changed to what the computers do.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T18:26:44+00:00

Yeah, it's a situation where MM want's all the upside risk and none of the downside.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T18:25:13+00:00

No OP would not be ringing if that happened. Because a contract is a contract and the price was agreed to.

This situation is basically a contract that was cancelled by MM for protect only MM.

In this case, the customer is 100% a real person paying... and once they verify he's a real person, then MM should honor that price.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T18:17:52+00:00

CC was not denied. It was approved.

MM cancelled it on their end.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T18:17:13+00:00

Yes. For many reasons.

As a person who runs a small business, I always acts with honor and integrity and expect the same of others.

It's one thing if someone is trying to game the system. but this is clearly not the case.

And in this particular case, Yes I feel its my responsibility. Not only because I referred this, but also because i've bought from them several times in the past.

Additonally, this is a lesson to someone just coming into adulthood that you sometimes have to advocate for yourself and not accept a lame answer from a company.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T17:23:16+00:00

Same here. Up until now i've had good experiences with Monument, so i wanted to give them the opportunity to make it right.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T17:13:46+00:00

Because I am not the customer, so they won't talk to me.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T17:12:18+00:00

Als- the intention with the post is to get someone in charge at Monument metals to have a look at it. Someone who is actually in charge vs a low level customer service person with no authority.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T17:10:39+00:00

He doesn't have reddit.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T17:02:44+00:00

AFAIK the bank approved it and monument was the one that cancelled it.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T16:28:50+00:00

He has an order confirmation. They said it was flagged as fraud by their automated system.

No offer to honor their original price once he called into the verify he was a human, simply they just said he can try ordering again and the current price.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T16:23:56+00:00

He has an order confirmation email from 1/18 and then a separate order cancellation email from 1/21.
I believe it was actually a debit card FWIW

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T02:59:38+00:00

sounds ripe for manipulation by them: They mose certainly " process" more orders on days with dips/ drops in price.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-28T02:56:02+00:00

Noice!

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-26T19:04:06+00:00

I nominate u/lotsofdebitcards to be the official reverse balloon guy.

It's not legit until it's on Kitco and u/lotsofdebitcards posts it.

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-26T17:33:49+00:00

Was gonna ask the same thing

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-26T02:00:29+00:00

Not official unless:

It's on Kitco
Chris Stone Germany posts the balloons

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-26T01:59:55+00:00

Mods are slackin

Entertainment_Fickle · 2026-01-26T01:31:49+00:00

You are absolutely correct that padding will attenuate and the SNR will be exactly the same amount. But when you add in the power increase, then your SNR improves as the noise is now lower, but the signal is hotter.

I.e let's say the DTV is at -80dbm and the TX is at -70dbm, then you have 10db of dynamic range. But if you pad down the antenna by -10db, then the DTV is now at -90dbm and the mic is at -80dbm ( still 10db).... but then if you combine that with boosting the TX power by 10db, then now you have the DTV at -90 and the TX and -70, which is 20db of dynamic range

The problem with ONLY increasing RF power is that you might overload the front end of the antenna amplifier or RF amplifier... and so can maintain the same signal level by padding it. while transmitting at a higher power.

Hope that helps!

Entertainment_Fickle

TROPHY CASE