Consumerist
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psas
Consumerist Comments Revamped
We're rolling out a majorly revamped comments system today (it's not live yet, but will be soon) that should make communicating on the site much easier. The biggest change is the introduction of "threaded comments" to replace the straight chronologically ordered system. The idea is to organize replies more logically and make discussing the post at hand—and other users' reactions to it—easier to do and digest. Hit up any post with comments to start tinkering with the new system yourself, or read on to get the full rundown of what's changed and why. More » -
customer service
Consumerist's 4 Most Frequently Given Ways To Kick Ass
There's four things we say over and over to readers writing in with problems who have gotten their legitimate claims spurned by regular customer service. They just keep working! They're EECB, Executive Customer Service, Chargeback and Small Claims Court. Inside, what these tools mean and how to get started using one.
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consumer learned helplessness
Do You Suffer From CLH? (Consumer Learned Helplessness)
Did you know that you can learn to be helpless? These days, a lot of people are showing signs of a new disease called CLH, or Consumer Learned Helplessness. Here's how it works.
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11:06 AM on Fri Jun 27 2008
By Ben Popken
0 views, 34 commentsLatest by Chols: My best advice is when you call ANY customer service line, hit zero a couple times when they says "For more »
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psas
Subscribe To Our Top Stories
We know it's hard to read every Consumerist post, so a good way to catch up is to subscribe to our Top 5 Stories mailing list. Every Friday you will get an email showing you the five most popular Consumerist stories of the week. We will also use this (sparingly) when a particularly awesome post breaks. Just enter your email address in the box on the left hand side of the page where it says "Subscribe To." As always, we will never sell your email address to advertisers. So if you want to stay on top of the hottest Consumerist stories, give subscribing to our top stories digest a whirl. -
complaint letters
Professional Complaint Letter Writer Shares His Secrets
"Praise with faint damn" is the underlying secret to how professional complaint letter writer Bruce Silverman is able to be so successful in getting companies to give him free stuff. First class upgrades, Room upgrades with views of frolicking whales, Checks for hundreds of dollars... all these and more are the fruits of Bruce's calculated typewriter clacking. Now Bruce has come out with a small book with a big promise: to teach you How To Complaint For Fun And Profit. Here's a chapter from it, exclusively on The Consumerist, detailing how he was able to turn a disappointing experience at the Ritz-Carlton in Hawaii into a long-term stream of room upgrades, comped meals, and decidedly above and beyond customer service... More » -
how to
Search The Consumerist Directory Of Company Email Addresses And Phone Numbers
Are you trying to escalate a complaint within a company and want to see if we've posted any inside email addresses or phone numbers? Try replacing "companynamegoeshere" in the following URLs with the company you're looking for. If the company name has multiple words, remember to separate them with hyphens, i.e. washington-mutual
consumerist.com/tag/email-addresses/companynamegoeshere
consumerist.com/tag/executive-customer-service/companynamegoeshere
consumerist.com/tag/phone-numbers/companynamegoeshereIf you can't find what you want, we may not have any contact info for the company, but that's ok! Here's a few way to find a company executive's phone number, and how to figure out someone's email address.
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psas
309-417-2821 Is The Consumerist Fax Line
If you've got a hot tip or confession and want to fax it in, 309-417-2821 is our fax number. Several company insiders have expressed interest in sending us stuff via fax number since yesterday's Verizon leak, undoubtedly attracted by the degree of anonymity a fax machine provides.
(Photo: Getty)
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op-ed
You're Being Scammed Right Now
You're probably being ripped off at this very moment and you don't even know it. Do you have frequent flyer miles? Have you checked lately to see what they're worth? Probably a lot less than when you signed up. Everywhere we turn, companies are pulling back from the value they offered when you signed the contract and handed over your payment, and leaving fees and restrictions in their wake. Gift cards whose value dwindles over time. Credit card payment due dates getting shorter and shorter. Credit card interest rates shooting up for no reason. Impossible to fulfill warranty repairs. Overdraft fees completely disproportionate to their cost. Health insurance coverage denied for the flimsiest of reasons. The list goes on. More » -
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op-ed
Shopping Without Asterisks
America lies in slumber as a new swath of rights are violated, our consumer rights. The right to a fair deal. Companies have a right to try to make a profit. We have the right to receive the goods and services we purchase at the price and quality level advertised, and the right to seek redress if these expectations are not met. You earned that money with your sweat, and now you're just going to let someone take it from you? More » -
faq
FAQ
1. How can I become a commenter?
Read the comments FAQ.
2. What's a "blog," exactly?
A blog is a frequently updated website with posts listed in reverse chronological order. To publish material, all we have to do is type it in, press a button and shazam! It's on the Internet. This lack of filtering provides a freshness and immediacy. Every blog story or "post" has its own unique URL, making it easy for people, especially other bloggers, to link to a specific story.
3. Why are you doing a blog about consumerism? Aren't blogs about Hillary Clinton being a lesbian and Tara Reid drunkenly shoving firecrackers up her nose?
Because it's not being done anywhere else, at least certainly not with a good sense of humor. Because in this age of a renewed crisis of the commons where companies use intimidation tactics to silence criticism, it's important for an independent voice to provide that critique. Because we can get stories out fast. Other entities can worry about getting the news out perfect, we can get it out first. When it comes to the money you've earned, slaving away in your workaday, work-a-dollar, you might not want to wait around for someone to decide if you're ready for the news.
4. What kind of biases should we expect from you?
We're biased towards the consumer. We favor bad company stories over happy customer tales. We're not anti-capitalist; we're anti-stupid-capitalist. Our premise is that good customer service isn't a goal in and of itself, it actually makes and saves more money in the long run. Ben is biased against Cingular, having never liked them since he first saw their unironic Superbowl ad with the painting quadriplegic (Cingular was said to help him be more expressive).
5. Who are you, anyway?
Ben Popken is your editor. Meghann Marco is your associate editor. In previous incarnations, Ben wrote radio plays, promoted rollerdisco parties and delivered bulk email. The Consumerist is his hair shirt. He also wrote an advertising blog, "The Spunker." Meghann Marco is the author of Field Guide to the Apocalypse, and has written for The Arizona Daily Star and OK!. She drinks a lot of tea.
6. Do you take reader suggestions?
Yes. We live and die by our reader tips. Send them to tips@consumerist.com. Complain about a shoddy product or subpar customer service. Fink on your employers, past or present. All the anonymity or prominence you desire is yours for the asking.
7. Who is responsible for this?
The Consumerist is published by Gawker Media, the folks also responsible for Gizmodo, Fleshbot, Defamer, Idolator, Jalopnik, Gridskipper, Wonkette, Kotaku, Screenhead, Lifehacker, Valleywag and Gawker.
8. How can I advertise on The Consumerist?
Check out our media kit.
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announcements
How Do You Decide Which Stories To Run?
Like your high school guidance counselor, our door is always open. Drop your gripes, story tips, musings, rantings, or fabulous ideas in the box at tips@consumerist.com. Unlike your counselor, we will help you get into college. The college of good consumerism. More » -
how to
The Ultimate Consumerist Guide To Fighting Back (Revised Edition)
We've posted recently about how to fight back when a business screws you over, and we've posted a lot of executive contact info over the years. Now we're packaging the two together into one big mega-post of usefulness: a one-stop-stop for figuring out what you need to do to start a customer complaint, or how to escalate a stalled one so that it can be resolved. More »
11:00 PM on Mon Oct 29 2007
By Chris Walters
0 views, 5 commentsLatest by DonaldMagumpus: I LOVE YOUR SITE. Thank you so much for it. After searching for the name of DirectTV's CEO, more »
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Consumerist Credits
Senior Editor
Meghann Marco
Email | AIMAssociate Editor
Chris Walters | AIMWeekend Editor
Carey Greenberg-BergerEmail Interns
Alex Jarvis
Rachel Mercer -
howto
How To Write A Complaint Letter
A letter of complaint is an opportunity to arm someone who may be unfamiliar with your problem with the fact necessary to investigate. Make sure you are clear, concise, and compelling. State the facts and how you would like the situation resolved. Lastly, provide a timeline for their expected response before you forward the matter onto a higher authority. More »
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