u/Han_Joelo_

I got a Google Pixel 10 Pro 35 days ago through Verizon. For over a decade I have been that nerd that goes HARD on screen protectors, like refusal to even open a new phone until I have a new screen protector ready to put on. For whatever weird reason when I got my Pixel 10 Pro I never put a protector on (only a case) and just kept saying "Oh I'll do that later, these screens are built really strong these days anyway".

Well I just noticed yesterday that my screen has damage to it. I have zero memory of dropping this phone in the last 35 days, but there is what appeared to be a scratch on the screen except my fingernail can catch it, so I think it's a crack. It's about 3/4th of an inch long. Genuinely no idea how it happened, but the screen protector sits on my desk unopened, which was so out of character for me.

I'm on a Verizon family plan with the $68/month Mobile Protect and I see that I can get screen repair done for $0 (had no idea that was even $0 these days). No devices are registered yet so no issue there. I wanted ask this community - would it be smart for me to file a claim now and just get the screen replaced even though the phone is only a month old? Or would it somehow be better for me to just put a screen protector on and only file a claim later if the crack gets worse? I feel like there's always some catch with insurance claims.. like how your vehicle/home insurance goes up in cost the moment you file a claim. Something also feels weird about replacing the screen on an almost brand-new phone.. like will it be replaced with an OEM part or an aftermarket part?

Just want to make sure there's no catches or any reason why I shouldn't just file a claim and get it taken care of immediately. None of the 6 phones on our plan have even used the protection plan in over a year so I guess this is what we pay for after all. I've just never damaged a phone this fast after getting one.

Hoping anyone in here with Michigan-specific tax experience can help me.

I just waited 4 months for the state of Michigan to process my 2025 tax return in which I was expecting back $2054 as refund, only for 95% of the refund to be disallowed (homestead property tax and home heating credits) because my "total household resources were lower than reported living expenses".

Now I understand them scrutinizing when someone's reported income is lower than expenses, but I looked through the entire 2025 Michigan Tax Handbook and it does NOT list this as a disqualification for these credits. It only lists maximums, not minimums. Nor do any of the tax softwares know of it as a disqualification. So I'm not sure how they are justified in doing this, but that's beside the point I guess.

Here's the part that really frustrates me. They say my household resources were lower than my expenses, but Michigan calculates your household resources from your Federal AGI (minus any business losses), which is your income offset by however many deductions you legally have. Well I have a capital loss carryover that offsets 3000 from my income every year. In addition, my largest income source for 2025 was Doordashing, and the mileage deduction alone adjusted off more than half of that income. So by the end my adjusted gross income was incredibly low, lower than my reported expenses.

But Michigan just looks at this and doesn't "understand" how someone paid their bills, so they completely outright disallow you from the entire credit as a "final determination". It's like the state defaults to assuming someone has no savings accounts, or stowed cash as a rainy day fund, or used credit cards to pay bills, etc. At one point in 2025 I used my rainy day fund to cover a large portion of my bills. That was savings, not income, so there was never any way for me to report or show that on a tax return. And anything else I couldn't handle in the moment went on credit cards that I was able to pay off this year.

I spoke to someone on the phone at the Michigan Treasury and they said I can reply with documentation, but that it would take 4 MORE months to process and would involve me sending them statements from all bank accounts and credit cards and bill recipients, and basically have to paint them a step by step detailed picture of how I paid my bills for all of 2025 - it felt like they were trying to convince me not to try to, and to be frank it also feels like a violation of my privacy - but if I have to do it then I'll have to do it.

Does anyone with Michigan tax experience or inside knowledge of the MI Treasury have any advice for me on moving forward with this appeal? Will showing them that I deposited X amount of cash into my bank account, and paid X amount of bills on credit cards, etc, satisfy them enough to reverse their decision? Thank you for any advice or help.

I'm not new to Verizon promos, I'm currently 24 months into a 36 month promo where I got my Pixel 8 for free with no trade in, no plan change.

However today Verizon sent me some upgrade offers via the messages app (in some weird format), and they say "additional terms apply", but there is NO link to read about said promo terms. The links in the messages take me directly to the product pages to buy said phones, where nothing on those pages mention a promo. I remember being really sketched out during my last promo, because I had to "buy" the phone and trust that the promo would apply later, and it did NOT apply after 2 months and I battled with Verizon on the phone for weeks before they applied the promo to my account. So I still have PTSD from that lol.

Anyway, I've looked all over the app and website and I cannot for the life of me find my promos where it actually details out the terms and conditions. Anyone have a suggestion? Plus when I go to the website it shows me different promos than what they just sent me in the messages app.

This promo sent to me is to upgrade to a Google Pixel 10 Pro for free, no trade-in, keep current plan, AND they pay off the existing phone. One of the best promos I've received to be honest, and would be amazing because my current phone is a Pixel 8 that's 24 months into a 36 month promo, so if they pay that off then I go from one promo to the next early for free.

Obviously the catch is the new phone would be on a 36-month term but that's not new to me, and doesn't seem to be an issue for the Pixel 8 that I currently have with a promo if they'll pay that off??? I think that part seems too good to be true to me. Like they'd be letting me out of the current promo early, at no charge, to swap from Pixel 8 to Pixel 10 Pro, same plan, no trade in. So I end up with a new phone with a better camera and keep the Pixel 8 for free?? I've seen it where the catch is that you have to leave a grandfathered plan and switch to one that's like $10 more a month but this even says keep current plan.

I'd looove a Pixel 10 Pro because I wanted the nicer camera so bad when I got my Pixel 8 but I HATE the size of the XL phones, so I had to settle with the standard camera. But this would upgrade me for free and the only catch I see is my 12 months remaining on my current promo would reset to 36 for the new promo, but since they keep giving me these deals then who cares anyway in 2 years they'll probably offer me something again.

I know this was mostly a rant about it seeming too good to be true but really I'm just trying to figure out where in the world to find the terms and conditions of my offers because I cannot find it for the life of me.. Thanks!

Anyone else notice that the Orbs, beyond their really cool new animation when breaking, deal some decent damage to stuff now? Instead of just being seemingly glass that shatters, they now pack a punch. If this was always the case call me crazy, but I've had the orbs actually cause me and my valuables damage all day today.

The worst was when I was on extraction #4 out of 5 and had a 100k bag going. Had the bag sitting next to the 4th extraction waiting to be thrown in, and a monster came into the room so I tossed em into the pit nearby. Tried my mightiest to catch the orb but just couldn't get my hands on that sucker, then to my surprise it CRASHES into my 100k bag, shatters into a brilliant display of smoke, immediately knocking off 35k from the bag, and then the bag hits the wall and loses another 5k, then rolls into the pit where I grab it and save it and somehow lost another 5k again. So in like 2 seconds my bag lost almost half it's value because I couldn't catch the dang orb!

I honestly laughed pretty hard it was kind of funny. Wish I had a recording to show. Add orbs to the list of dangerous things to be careful with. Better catch those suckers!

I've been doordashing for over a year, and doing redcard orders that whole time. My favorite orders are shopping orders. Up until 2 days ago every offer I'd receive for shopping orders would vary by the cents. Not sure if that makes sense, but like offers would be say.. 9.75, or 11.30, or 15.75, or $27.85, etc.

For the last 2 days, I kid you not, I have received almost two dozen $10.00 shopping orders exactly. And they have all been for different stores. Meijer, walgreens, CVS, Aldi, etc. It's been so consistently $10.00 to the penny that I thought Doordash changed something and these orders would be without tip and $10 was like a new minimum for redcard... but nope, the ones I accepted all included tips. So the breakdowns would be like $7 tip $3 DD pay, $6 tip $4 DD pay, etc. I've only taken a few of them because my primary focus are higher paying redcard orders, but I am getting way less of those and a LOT of these $10.00 orders. I can't tell if DD has set a new minimum for redcard orders and they are higher than they would have been before 2 days ago, or if they are less than they would have been. I'm just freaked out by seeing $10.00 over and over again!

Am I crazy? Someone else please say you're also seeing these $10.00 orders lol. It's been too many in too little of time to be a coincidence, and if it is a coincidence then I better go out and buy some lotto tickets.

Not sure if this is common knowledge, but you can't perform balance transfers between Citi or Citi-affiliated credit cards. Unfortunately I had zero clue about this and I'm sure it was in the fine print, but certainly not big enough for me to have noticed, and I always read the asterisk points.

Basically I have a Meijer credit card which is ran through Citi that has quite a high balance, and my promotional APR ran out, so I was looking to do a balance transfer. Of all the card offers that are sent to me in the mail I went with one for a Citi Diamond Preferred card which was offering 0% APR for 22 months and a 3% balance transfer fee. The entire point of me applying for this card was to balance transfer my Meijer card which is my current highest APR card I own. I finally sit down to do the transfer and get told I can't, because my Meijer card is a Citi card. This never even crossed my mind before.

So now I have a brand new Citi Diamond Preferred card that I only opened up to transfer the balance from my Meijer card... but I cannot do that. So I guess I took the hard inquiry and new account hit for nothing. Any suggestions? On the site when it told me I couldn't transfer balance, it said "consider transferring the funds directly to your deposit account." What does that mean exactly? Do I have some other option of getting my Meijer card balance over to this card?

I applied for the Citi Diamond Preferred card today, and within seconds of applying I got a credit karma email that an inquiry was made. Seconds after that the webpage on Citi turned to a "APPROVED!" page, showing a credit limit, and asking for the account details for any balance transfers I wanted to do. I left the room to go get my info for the balance transfer I wanted to have done.

When I came back 10 min later, the webpage had refreshed to a Citi login page. I logged in, as I already have a Citi account for a Costco card. To my surprise I had no new account listed under "Accounts", only my existing card.

I checked my emails and I have zero emails from Citi about applying or being approved. I found the citi application status page, and that says my application is in review and I should hear back in 7-10 days.

So like... why would it take me to a webpage that said I was approved and ask for balance transfer details, if I'm not actually approved and I'm still in review? I'm so confused. Does anyone have any insight? Was I literally just too slow and shouldn't have let that webpage timeout?