Ed Stoffel

We've searched the net for Stoffels of interest around the world...

For five generations, the Stoffel family has cultivated the vine on family land in Eguisheim, one of the oldest wine villages of the Alsace region of France. Today, Antoine Stoffel holds the reins of the family business, offering a line of wines which include Black Pinot, White Pinot, Tokay - Pinot Gray, Sylvaner, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Muscatel. Trés bien, Antoine!

ANTOINE STOFFEL, 21 rue de Colmar, 68420 Eguisheim, France

I received mail from my credit card bank today, the envelope saying "Important Amendments to your Account Enclosed". Inside, there are 4 pages, 8.5 X 16" in size, printed both sides in type less than 3mm tall. I usually file these notices away and they probably know this. But today, I took a yellow highlighter and scanned the document to see what changes they're making to my account. Turns out, they're raising a number of fees including late fees, overlimit fees, transaction fees to use those checks they're always sending me, and transfer fees for any balance transfers from other accounts. ATM fees: 3% with a minimum of $10; Balance transfers: 3% ranging from $10 to $75 each; cash advances: 3%, minimum $10; and no grace period for these types of transactions. Because of that, it's getting increasingly difficult to payoff credit cards these days. When you make a payment for the full balance, they've still calculated finance charges since the statement date. When you pay those, they will still have more. You literally have to call to get today's balance and pay it today before some magic time of day... 2PM Eastern for this bank. I highlighted one last thing they said - "These are just some of the ways we say 'thank you' for being our customer." Sounds like a good time to payoff and close this account.

I called United Airlines a few weeks ago to book three seats on a one-way flight to Boston, and got them for $69 each. What a deal -- except "some restrictions apply." Days before departure, my teenaged daughter decided to join us, so I called to get a fourth seat -- now they wanted four times as much. I got a seat on another flight for just double-price. I wanted to take that seat for myself, and put my minor daughter on the plane with the rest of the family, but they said they weren't allowed to do that, national security, war-on-terror, etc... unless I was willing to pay $289 more.

At the airport, we headed for our separate gates in separate terminals, going to the same city. Once in the midfield terminal, an information screen there provided completely different gate information. So I ran down to her gate to bring her to the new one... only once there, I discovered the original information was correct. By this point, lots of people were headed to the wrong gates since the midfield terminal information screens were displaying the previous day's information. Gate agents wondered whether they really had stand-by space since passengers were all arriving late.

We finally boarded our separate planes and planned to meet in Boston, just one gate apart there. But weather conditions in Boston got worse. Due to low fog, the pilot of my daughter's plane was excused and another pilot was called in. Once he arrived, he got cold feet too, and the flight was cancelled. Now, United seemed perfectly able to change her ticket to put her on a later flight. When we landed in Boston, the fog was so low and thick that we were unable to see the ground until we were about 30-feet above it. You've gotta love GPS navigation and skilled pilots.

Franklin McMahon has posted a fantastic flash tutorial series on how to podcast... from recording the audio, to writing the RSS file, posting, and promoting your final product. Since it's flash, Frank is able to show you on-screen, click by click, how to use the software, and where to go online to find a variety of tools. This 3-part series makes it all look quite easy, especially for those who've resisted jumping into the RSS code. While there are a bunch of RSS tools available, Frank also just shows you how to code it yourself. It's really not that hard if you've ever tinkered with HTML. He even gives you a sample RSS file you can customize. The best part is that Frank shows how to do it all for FREE!

 The Free Tutorial: Learn to Podcast, Franklin McMahon, Creative Cow

Since 1963, Daniel Stoffel has distinguished himself as a leading manufacturer of chocolates in France. Daniel Stoffel Maitre Chocolatier uses artisanal methods and recipes, and the highest control quality measures at each stage of the manufacturing process. His "ready-to-crunch" products are well-known by connaisseurs everywhere in Europe, in the USA, in Canada, in Australia and in Japan. He respects traditional recipes and uses natural ingredients selected for their freshness and "gustatory" quality.

  

DANIEL STOFFEL, 50 route de Bitche, B.P. 212, 67506 HAGUENAU, Cedex, France