Why People Stop Using Credit Cards
In yesterday's Money section, USA Today talked to some consumers who refuse to carry credit cards, and looked at the hidden costs. One 24-year-old says they make her uncomfortable; a guy working at a gas station to pay for college says he doesn't want to get accosted by endless junk mailings once his name enters the pool of potential customers. Then there's the bankruptcy lawyer who canceled his cards on principle 8 years ago, after seeing how lenders behaved when their customers suffered financial setbacks: More »
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Mass Effect 2 Shopkeeper Makes Fun Of People Who Buy Expensive Cables
Mass Effect 2 is an awesome game that you should buy immediately. In addition, it also offers solid electronics buying advice in the form of an alien shopkeeper. More »
FBI Wants To Follow You Around The Internet
FBI chief Robert Mueller wants to ISPs to track everything their customers do on the Internet, and keep those records for two years. The government plan would give the FBI access to "origin and destination information" for all users. Hey, at least they're not doing it in secret and lying about it. More »
American Airlines To Charge $8 For Blanket And Pillow, If You're Lucky
Starting in May, American Airlines will sell blanket-and-inflatable-pillow packs for $8 each on domestic flights longer than 2 hours. If your flight is under 2 hours and you tend to get cold on a plane, relax: you can't shiver to death in under 2 hours, and by then you'll be at your destination. Or, okay, still on the runway at your departure spot, raiding your carry-on for snacks. You might want to bring a light jacket. More »
How I Maneuvered Through The Walmart Receipt Check Gauntlet
(oamg823)
Jeff says he did what many dream about but few accomplish -- he kept his receipt hidden from Walmart snoops at the expense despite stiff resistance. More »
Consumerists, How Do I Deal With Credit Card Companies Now That I've Lost My Job?
Newly unemployed, credit card debt-carrying Lilgaladriel wants some advice on how to deal with the credit card companies. He writes: More »
TurboTax Charged Me $30 For An Upgrade I Didn't Realize I'd Ordered
Cindy says TurboTax sped her through a filing session that ended with her paying about $30 to upgrade to the deluxe version, even though she didn't realize she'd made such a purchase. These are the sorts of issues that make Tax Cat purr in quizzical contemplation. More »
Jack In The Box's Free Wi-Fi Experiment Ended. Did Anyone Notice?
Knowzy.com, the website that's been tracking which Jack in the Box stores were offering free Wi-Fi, reports that the restaurant chain has pulled the plug. The Wi-Fi offer came with the installation of HDTVs that displayed ads in the dining area, but those are gone too: "In mid-2009, the TVs and the Wi-Fi began disappearing. By the time McDonald's made their free Wi-Fi announcement in December, Jack had completely dismantled his Wi-Fi network." More »
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IKEA Wouldn't Sell Me An In-Stock Item, But It Did Ship It To Me For Free
Responding to last week's post about a guy who couldn't get IKEA to sell him a desk it had in plain view because the store does its restocking overnight, Ross writes in with a story of how he found himself in a similar situation. Only Ross came out a winner by guilting the staff into shipping the item to him for free. More »
How Do You Get A Neighbor To Stop Parking In Front Of Your House?
(ret0dd)
Amy's neighbors won't stop parking in front of her house. They say that parking in front of their own house "spoils their view." Problem is, they live on the corner and there's shrubs so the cars also spoil Amy and her husband's view of oncoming traffic when they pull out. They've tried various tactics ranging from the passive aggressive to accidentally knocking the neighbor's bumper off, but they still plop their cars park in front of Amy's abode. Dear readers, what can she do to get them to stop? More »
Dell Texted Me A Deal That Was Too Good To Be True
Anna says Dell sent a special offer on a laptop via text, and even though she acted on the sale immediately she hasn't been able to bag the deal, and instead was offered a similar product for $150 more. More »
The Apple Store Guy Could Tell I'd Had A Bad Day, So He Pretended My Laptop Was Still Under Warranty
Michael says his virtual life was shattered when his out-of-warranty MacBook crapped out, but he lucked into a free replacement at a San Diego Apple Store, where he took his computer and knelt at the altar, hoping for a miracle. More »
Banker Caught Looking At Nudie Pics On Live TV
An investment banker apparently forgot or didn't know his colleague was doing a live interview and was caught looking at nudie pics in the background on live TV. The SFW fun starts at about 1:03. Hey, pushing around money is very stressful, a guy needs some kind of release. Two things make this video even better: 1. The guy keeps checking out pictures as he talks to another coworker and 2. At the very end he turns around and faces the camera, his face showing that he's just realized that his appreciation for the female form has been caught on camera. More »
Toyota Recalls More Than 400,000 Cars For Faulty Brakes
Hey! The rumors were true! Toyota is recalling more cars! This time they are hauling you back to the dealer for a braking problem that is affecting several of their hybrid models -- including the 2010 Prius, the Sai, which is not sold in the U.S., the plug-in version of the Prius, and the Lexus HS250h. They are also recalling 7,300 Camrys for a completely different problem. More »
State Investigators Find All Sorts Of Dirty Tricks At Mercury Insurance
This summer Californians will be able to vote on Proposition 17, which if passed will allow insurers to bypass some legal restrictions on how much they can charge for auto insurance. Mercury Insurance Group is a big proponent of the proposition, but maybe that's because it's been possibly sidestepping the law in recent years anyway. Hey, making it legal will just prevent another state report like the one Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle obtained, which contains findings that Mercury "has engaged in practices that may be illegal, including deceptive pricing and discrimination against consumers such as active members of the military and drivers of emergency vehicles." More »
Septuagenarian Couple Scammed Inns And Hotels For Four Years
The next time you stay at a bed and breakfast and you see a kindly old couple lingering in the common room after breakfast, be suspicious! The Wolffs have been scamming inns, hotels, rented homes, and bed & breakfasts since 2005, reports the Boston Globe. They offer to pay via check, and until recently--when they stayed in one place so long that they were still around when the check bounced--nobody ever thought they might be pulling a fast one. They're due in court this month for defrauding several inns over the past summer. More »
Just The Violence From The Super Bowl Commercials
A very smart person has cut out everything except the violence from the Super Bowl commercials. This way you can see Tim Tebow tackle his mom without worrying about boring controversy. More »
