Archives: Past 7 Days

Chick Fil-A Is Totally Cool With You Stealing Its Topiary Cow
This is the time of year when high school seniors around the country celebrate the end to a dozen years of education by pulling pranks. Usually, at least in the 1960s sitcom world in which I live, this results in a lot of grumbled "kids today"s and a spike in the general level of fist-shaking from local business owners. But a Chick Fil-A in Virginia seems intent on breaking that cycle, by embracing the theft of its topiary bovine by local teens. More »

Arkansas Court Tells Ticketmaster It Is Bound By Anti-Scalping Laws
The Arkansas Supreme Court has issued a legal kick to the gut of the fee-happy folks at Ticketmaster and Live Nation, confirming that the ticket seller is bound by the same state laws that prevent scalpers from piling on fees and charging exorbitant prices. More »

Burning Down Home Depot Will Not Help Save Your Friend's Hardware Store
We do enjoy hearing stories about friends who go the extra mile to help each other out. There is also something to be said for helping out a local business in favor of a national retail chain. However, it's probably not in anyone's best interest to try to burn the bigger store to the ground. More »

PayPal's Real-World Dominion Expanding To 15 Additional Major Retailers
For so long, PayPal has been a convenient way to make payments online (so long as you don't care about things like customer service or getting your payment disputes settled or even responded to). But the company has been edging its way into real-world retailing, especially through its Home Depot partnership. And today PayPal announced its plan to go whole-hog in this sphere with 15 new major retail partners. More »

If Wells Fargo Accidentally Credits $69K To Your Account, You Probably Shouldn't Spend It
The other day we asked you how you'd respond to stumbling upon $1,800 in cash left behind at an ATM by another bank customer. But what if that money — or, say, 38 times that amount of money — suddenly popped up in your bank account through no fault of your own? More »

Our Nation's Brightest Minds Tackling The Problem Of Uncooperative Ketchup Bottles
Thank goodness there are super smart people out there at our nation's finest universities. Otherwise we'd be stuck with these darn ketchup bottles that refuse to give up the last bits of ketchup, and that would just be unacceptable. Hurray for genius engineers! More »

Michigan Man Wins $65,000 In Lawsuit Over Robocalls
As we've pointed out before, it's illegal for companies to make auto-dialed, pre-recorded calls to your wireless device unless you have given them your consent. But that hasn't stopped some offenders from continuing, even after they have been told to stop. More »

Listen, AT&T: I Am Sick And Tired Of Hearing From The Nonexistent "Kelly"
Consumerist reader Mike uses AT&T internet and home phone, but hasn't bought into the U-verse TV situation. He says he's got an antenna and Hulu Plus to make his TV viewing times a pleasurable experience. But that hasn't stopped a seemingly made-up AT&T customer service rep named "Kelly" from sending him letter after letter, beseeching him to sign up to bundle in TV as well. More »

T-Mobile: Sorry You Lost Your Job And Had To Move, Here's Your $500 ETF Bill
Walter's wife was laid off from her position in Chicago, needed a job. She found one in a different Midwestern city: Omaha. She doesn't seem to have any complaints about Omaha, except for the thing where she has next to no cell phone service. This still isn't enough to get her out of her contract with T-Mobile, and she's on the hook for her entire early termination fee, plus her whole non-prorated last month of service. More »

Don't Be Attacked By Criminals Posing As Comcast Techs
What's worse than having a bad cable company tech wrecking your house? How about three men posing as cable techs who want to break into your house to rob and assault you? More »

9-Year-Old Shames School Into Healthier Food With Blog About Its Lacking Lunches
Here at Consumerist, we know a little something about publicly shaming big, bad companies into doing right by customers. But apparently, it works on other levels as well — say, a 9-year-old girl blogging about her terrible lunches at her school in Scotland. More »

At Carl's Jr., A Cheeseburger Made Of Ice Cream
Not to be outdone by the Choco Taco, the fast food geniuses at Carl's Jr. are testing a new product that busts right through the line between dinner and dessert: the Ice Cream Brrrger. It is exactly what it sounds like. A chocolate ice cream "patty" inside a sugar cookie bun, with red, yellow, and green icing meant to simulate cheese, ketchup, and lettuce. More »

Which Are The Best & Worst U.S. Hotel Chains?
School is almost done and the weather is getting warmer (or at least it's supposed to be), which can only mean... well, it can actually mean an awful lot of things. But today we're going to discuss which hotel chains people will look forward to staying in — and which ones they will be dreading — this summer. More »

Navigating Your Way Through The Fees To Cheaper "Free" Miles
Hurray, you've got some free airline miles to use! The bummer part? Carriers are adding more and bigger surcharges on those frequent flyer miles. There are ways to get the most from your miles, however, without offering up too much of your cash in fees. More »

Bought A Groupon, An iPhone 4, Or Coconut Water? These Class Actions Are For You
Have you bought coconut water, pinot noir, a Samsung TV, or an iPhone 4? If you purchased any of these products, plus a whole bunch more, you may be eligible to file a claim in one of these recently settled class action lawsuits. Proof of purchase isn't always required, but lying is bad consumer karma. More »

Time Warner Cable CEO: "There Are Too Many Networks"
If you scan through your cable/satellite guide and see diminishing returns from the growing number of channels being made available to viewers, you're not alone. In fact, the head of a company that makes an awful lot of money by selling customers on all those channel choices says he's on your side. More »

Disney Cruise Line Places Alleged iPhone Thief On Administrative Leave
Well, "Nelson"... If you really did take a passenger's iPhone while working on a Disney cruise ship, it was silly of you to take photos of your stolen phone shenanigans, because now you've been caught. More »

5 Ways To Save Money By Spending Money
It seems counter-intuitive, but frugality doesn't always necessarily mean clutching your wallet with a vise grip and refusing to spend on non-essentials. Sometimes spending a little more doesn't just make your life easier: it can save you money in the long run. More »

Law Dropout Debilitated By Asperger Syndrome Gets $339,361 In Student Loans Forgiven
College debt is one of the few debts that can't be discharged in bankruptcy, unless you have a really, really good reason. You pretty much have to be dead or have a debilitating disability that keeps you from working. So it caught the attention of the National Law Journal when a Maryland woman in her 60s had $339,361 in college debt discharged in bankruptcy court earlier this month. More »

Investment Firms Warned Off Facebook IPO In Advance While Small-Timers Lose Big Money
In the days leading up to last Friday's initial public offering for Facebook stock, the company raised the IPO price by several dollars a share, leading many small-level and amateur investors to wonder if maybe there was something more to the company than a place to post photos of you and your friends waiting in line to see Men In Black III. But at the same time, large investment firms were reportedly bailing on sinking their money into the social media site. More »

Papa John's Really, Really Cares That They Gave Me Wrong Pizza Crust
The complaint behind this story was not, at its core, a serious consumer problem. Chris ordered a pizza that was missing a few toppings and on the wrong type of crust. What's notable is that the regional management of Papa John's treated it like it was. Well, eventually. After the local store manager insisted that the error was Chris's fault, he fired off a quick complaint on the website. And that's when corporate solicitousness and free pizzas rained down upon him. Not literally. That would be kind of scary. More »

L.A. Bans Plastic Supermarket Shopping Bags
The movement against plastic shopping bags gained a lot of momentum today after the Los Angeles City Council voted 13-1 to phase out the use of plastic shopping bags at supermarkets. More »

Safeway Reinstates Employee Who Stopped Man From Beating Up Pregnant Girlfriend
Last week we told you about the California Safeway employee who had been suspended after intervening in a fight between a man and his pregnant girlfriend. Now there's some good news to report, as the grocery store chain has given the employee his job back, along with pay for the weeks during which he was suspended. More »

HP To Give The Axe To 27,000 Employees
Earlier today, HP announced its latest quarterly earnings and the results were not good — like "We are going to have to lay off 27,000 employees" not good. More »

Verizon Insists I Had Data Cap Put On My Plan Because "Customers Do Weird Things"
With Verizon Wireless set to slaughter grandfathered unlimited data plans — at least for those who don't want to pay full price for their phones — some VZW customers are already being driven against their will into capped data plans by Big Red. More »

CAPTCHA Later, Time Waster! Let's Play Games To Prove We're Human
If you've ever been faced with a CAPTCHA sullenly asking you to type the words in a box below a mishmash of crossed out and jumbled letters, you know how frustrating it can be when you're inevitably told to try again with another set of just as flurbled letters. A new company says it has an easier way to prove you're not a robot, just a regular old flustered human. More »

What Peeves You Most When You Eat At A Restaurant?
Most of the time when you go out to a restaurant, you're not only paying for food, but also for service and ambiance. So even if the meal was perfectly prepared, there are still plenty of things about which diners feel justified to complain. More »

Truck Spills 55,000 Pounds Of Bottled Beer On The Ground, None Is Passed Around
Quick, get out your straws and empty your pitchers! A big rig traveling in Florida near Daytona Beach was carrying 55,000 pounds of bottled beer when it overturned, spilling all that foamy, alcoholic liquid onto the road. More »

Which Is Worse: Using Your Daughter To Shoplift, Or Abandoning Her At The Police Station?
It's bad enough to involve your 11-year-old daughter in a shoplifting scheme, but to then refuse to pick her up from the police station after you get away? That's more than bad parenting. That's just mean. More »

City Tells Man He Can Build Tomato Garden, Then Decides It's Against The Law
A Massachusetts man says that when he decided to build a large tomato-growing structure in his front yard, he checked with the city who said it was going to be fine. Then as soon as the hanging garden went up, the city said it had to come down. More »

Facebook Settles Lawsuit That Claimed "Sponsored Stories" Turned Users Into Marketers
Tapping into the power of social networks to market to their users has always been an appealing goal for advertisers, but figuring out exactly how to do that has been tricky. Facebook recently settled a class action lawsuit from users of its network who said "Sponsored Stories" turned them into marketing machines, without the fun part of being compensated. More »

Should An Airline Be Allowed To Say Your Shirt Is Too Offensive?
When does an airline passenger's attire cross a line and become so offensive they should not be allowed to board? And who determines where that line is drawn? Those are the questions surrounding an incident involving a woman who says she missed her connecting flight because a pilot said her shirt was inappropriate. More »

Bet That iPhone Thief Didn't Think His Disney Cruise Adventures Would End Up On Owner's Facebook
Technology combined with social networks can create a kind of vicious oversharing cycle. Yes — we've all seen pictures of food, and yes it's great to know what you made for dinner. But in the case of a woman whose iPhone was stolen, cloud technology paired with Facebook has made for an interesting twist, as she's chronicling her property's photographic adventures with the thief in an attempt to get it back. More »

FDA Still Not Sure Why Chinese Jerky Made 1,000 Dogs Sick
Pet owners think that we're doing our pets a favor by purchasing treats for them that are just pure dried meat: no flour, no soy, no additives, just meat. But these treats may not be as healthy as they seem. Many dog owners claim that these treats have made their pets ill with problems ranging from diarrhea to kidney failure, and many animals have died. The Food and Drug Administration continues to investigate, even sending inspectors to the production facilities in China, but can't determine what causes the illnesses. More »

Pizza Chain Offers Free Pies If You Order In Spanish
In a move that is both savvy publicity stunt and topical button-pushing, Dallas-based pizza chain Pizza Patrón says it will be handing out free large pies to customers who place their order in Spanish. More »

Target Claims Tech Exec Created His Own Bar Codes To Buy LEGOs On The Cheap
You're never too old for LEGOs! But it is possible to take those beloved brightly colored building blocks to a bad place where you're resorting to crime in the pursuit of said toy. Millionaire tech executive Thomas Langenbach has been arrested for allegedly creating bar codes and using them to buy LEGOs at Target for his own special discounted price, and then selling them. More »

These Men Died For Your 3G Signal (And A Paycheck)
In the last few years of the aughts, while many of us privileged jerks were whining about how our iPhones kept dropping calls, and the national mobile network couldn't handle the call volume generated by our data-slorping smartphones, a hidden army of workers were there for us, risking their lives so that we could download podcasts on the bus. These dudes (they're all dudes) scale towers to fix and upgrade equipment, working for subcontractors and receiving relatively low pay of $10-$11 per hour. And some of them fall and die. More »

NY Lawmakers Want To Do Away With Anonymous Online Comments
Anonymous hate-mongering,name-calling and venom-spitting has been around the Internet since before many of the people reading this post even had an e-mail address. While most of us have just come to accept that this is part of the cost of having an online community, state lawmakers in New York have drafted legislation that intends to do away with anonymous commenting. More »

Consumers Union Urges CFPB To Regulate Prepaid Credit Cards More Closely
Using a prepaid credit card and reloading at your convenience sounds like a great idea in theory, but there are many hidden fees and dangers involved. That's why the Consumers Union, the policy and advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, is urging the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau today to adopt new rules to protect consumers who rely on prepaid cards. More »

The Case Of The Newegg Investigation, The Missing Refund, And The Vanishing Unlocked Phone
Brian was really excited to open up and play with his new toy, an unlocked phone that he ordered on sale from Newegg. But the box arrived on his doorstep and.... no phone. The bluetooth headset that he had ordered was there, but not the phone. He grew impatient with Newegg's investigation when the missing phone wasn't his fault, and managed to get their customer service to do the right thing and get the phone into his hand, at the sale price. Only neither of their promised refunds—of the original purchase price, and of the difference between the original price and what Brian paid for the replacement phone—have come through. More »

Chipotle Facing The Investigative Heat Over Its Compliance With Immigration Laws
Mexican fast food chain Chipotle announced yesterday that it's the subject of an investigation by federal prosecutors into the possibility that it violated criminal securities laws with its hiring practices. More »

Target Feels Need To Brag About Selling Gift Cards At Face Value
Hey, who doesn't love gift cards? Target sells a few as impulse items at the checkout, and Reader Cheryl noticed something curious. The gift cards had the same "as advertised" tag that sale flyer items at Target get, but they weren't on sale. They were being sold at face value. As gift cards generally are. More »

DirecTV: You Can't Cancel $198 NFL Package Until Next Month
It was pretty thoughtful of DirecTV to automatically renew Pete's $198 NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. You know, in case he forgot. He didn't forget, actually, and he was planning to discontinue his subscription to the package. He can't. The auto-renew stands, and he won't be allowed to cancel the package until a month after the auto-renewal notice. You know, just in case he forgets. More »

My Dad's Neighbor Ate His Delicious Birthday Steaks, Omaha Steaks Fixes My Error
Kara is a totally great daughter, which is why she sent her dad a box of Omaha Steaks for his last birthday. She isn't as great at typing in his address, though, and the box had been delivered to a neighbor's house. This neighbor quietly signed for and ate $70 worth of gift meats. While the good news is that Omaha Steaks went above and beyond, correcting Kara's error and sending replacements, this still means that her dad has to live next to some jerk who ate his birthday present. Maybe this neighbor will invite him over for an incredibly awkward barbecue. More »

T-Mobile Admits It Made A $250 Error, Still Manages To Blame Me
Welcome to the T-Mobile Customer Service Labyrinth, where every turn brings you back to the center, where headset wearing minotaurs tell you that the exit is right in front of you but it's not the exit, and where the company can admit in writing to making an error that costs you $250 but says it's your fault. More »

Aer Lingus Really Doesn't Want Ryanair To Be All Up In Its Business Anymore
Aer Lingus scored a hit against fellow Irish airline Ryanair in court today, which will allow British authorities to continue investigating the cheapo carriers over its ownership of a 30% stake in Aer Lingus. More »

Broadcasters Would Rather Not Have To Post Political Ad Rates Online
Last month, the FCC approved a new rule that requires broadcasters who air political ads to post on their websites the rates they charge — and other related information — for these commercials. This isn't sitting well with the broadcasters, who filed suit to stop the rule change. More »

The Threat Of Unplanned Parenthood Is One Way To Sell Condoms
No need to resort to flashy gimmicks or big marketing campaigns — if you want to sell condoms, just present an easy juxtaposition with a meaning that can't be missed. A gas station is doing just that with a handmade sign showcasing two of its products. More »

Interim Best Buy CEO Admits Company Isn't The Greatest At Shilling Electronics Anymore
Best Buy hasn't been enjoying much success lately: Its CEO departed amidst allegations he had an inappropriate relationship with a female employee, prompting the exit of Chairman Richard Schulze for not handling that situation well. And oh yeah, it's not selling as much stuff as it used to. Interim Chief Executive Mike Mikan isn't parsing any words on that front. More »

U.S. Airways Passenger Arrested After Saying She Has "Surgically Implanted Device" Inside Her
A U.S. Airways flight en route from Paris to North Carolina had to be rerouted to Bangor, Maine, where an allegedly unruly passenger was arrested because she reportedly told a member of the cabin crew she had a "surgically implanted device" inside of her body. More »

Spending 40 Hours A Year Stuck In Traffic Doesn't Sound Like Much Fun
There are a lot of things you can fill 40 hours of your life with. Gazing at waterfalls, eating a few wheels of cheese, taking some nice long walks with your dog or flying to Fiji — the possibilities are endless. All of those things are better than spending more than an average of 40 hours sitting idle in traffic a year, which is what one study says is true for Americans in 10 cities. More »

Survey: Fuel Economy The Leading Consideration In Picking A Car
While I have an affection for cars with after-market, clumsily welded spoilers, it appears I am in the minority, as a new survey by our test-driving in-laws at Consumer Reports says that fuel economy — and not undercarriage lighting — is the leading consideration for folks looking to buy a vehicle. More »

NYC Airports Installing Avatars That Get Chatty Upon Being Approached
They aren't tall, blue and skilled with flying beasts, but avatars installed at certain airports could provide useful information for travelers soon. If you can't find an actual warm body to assist you, you'll be able to just walk up to one of these flat-screen helpers and have it start talking. More »

No, Microsoft Techs Are Not Proactively Calling You About Your Error Messages
Software crashes. And sometimes when it does, you get the option of sending an error report to the developer. You'll never hear back, because that's not the purpose of the report. But that hasn't stopped scammers from pretending they are Microsoft techs responding to your crash reports. More »

Zynga-Branded AmEx Prepaid Card Lets You Earn FarmVille Cash In The Real World
This site does not, in general, approve of Zynga's freemium addiction-based gaming model or fee-laden prepaid debit cards. So we are amused and slightly dismayed to bring you the news that AmEx and Zynga have teamed up to bring a Farmville points rewards card into the world. Fill up your card, spend the money, earn points to buy in-game stuff. How could this product possibly go wrong? More »

Slapping A Loudmouth 10-Year-Old Is Not The Best Way To Get Him To Shut Up In A Movie Theater
What happens when two bad consumers come in conflict with each other in dimly lit movie theater? One ends up with a bloody nose and lost tooth, while the other faces assault charges. More »

Would You Return $1,800 In Cash You Found At An ATM?
Just imagine — no need to insert your card or tap in your PIN, there's money sitting right there, sticking out of an ATM deposit slot, waiting for you to pocket it. Would you do it, or would you go the honest route like a Florida woman who turned in the $1,800 in cash she found? More »

Changing My Last Name At Marriage Means I Can't Fly
Drawing conclusions from our mailbox here at Consumerist's virtual HQ, no one in the United States ever changes their last name when they get married. Or dies. Both events result in such confusion at some companies that it's clear they have never encountered them before. That's clear from Claire's experience booking a flight after her name change. She was already a Delta customer, so they used the name that was in their system and said they could change it later. This was not, strictly speaking, possible. More »

Ohio Man Selling $1000/Cup Kool-Aid To Raise Money For Doctor Bills
When life hands you three bouts of pancreatitis, gall stones, a cholecystectomy, and possibly kidney stones, you make incredibly expensive lemonade in the hopes that some generous folks will pay — and that the local news will pick up your story. More »

Popeyes Apologizes To Customer With Service Dog
Yesterday we brought you the story of a Georgia man who said he was wrongly kicked out of a Popeyes restaurant because of his service dog. And while the restaurant chain is sticking by its side of the story, it has released an official apology to the customer. More »

Plastic Surgeon Sues Patient For Defamation After Negative Online Reviews
Online rating sites are a great tool for consumers researching services their peers have already experienced. So in the case of getting cosmetic surgery, a bad review is akin to a huge spitball thrown at a business, which is why an Orlando plastic surgeon is suing one of his former patients for defaming him online. More »

Even A Happy Ending To An Appliance Saga Doesn't Leave Customer Happy
Last year, George purchased an Electrolux refrigerator from HH Gregg. Just barely a year after the first anniversary of his purchase, the fridge broke down. After he contacted four separate repair shops trying to find someone to fix it, the search came up empty. No repair tech, no working fridge. But wait! Electrolux contacted him, offering to buy back the fridge for the same price he paid for it. Hooray! But he's still not satisfied, since the refund doesn't cover the full cost of getting a new appliance. More »

No More Gucci Knockoffs From Guess: Luxury Designer Wins $4.6 Million in Lawsuit
No more knockoffs for you, Guess-wearing Gucci aficionados: The battle of the designer G's has come to an end that will mean some fans of the cheaper Guess goods won't be able to buy certain products anymore. That's because a judge ruled that Guess was infringing on some of Gucci's trademark designs, and awarded Gucci just $4.6 million in the process as well. More »

Olive Oil 'For Kids' Is Apparently A Thing
Marketing material for Zoe brand organic extra virgin olive oil targeted at kids brags that it is "at the forefront of the burgeoning children's health food market." While the news that there is food targeted at children that doesn't contain alarming shades of food dye, high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, or even "cheez," it's still Olive Oil For Kids, and we're still going to snicker at it. More »

Disneyland Hikes Ticket Prices As Much As 30%
Prepare to pay even more to stand in line waiting to enjoy rides. For the second time in less than a year, Disney is hiking prices at its California theme parks. The cost of tickets will increase 9% (from $80 to $87) for the humble one-day pass for guests over 10, and 30% (from $499 to $649) for annual passes that include the cost of parking. More »

Sears Finds New And Exciting Ways To Not Deliver Me A Working Dishwasher
Years ago, in a time so foreign and distant that many of us can barely remember it, Sears was the place to go if you wanted to buy a quality appliance. That's not the case anymore. Evidently now it's the place to go if you want to buy a non-operational appliance and take a bunch of unnecessary days off work. Tomorrow morning, Jesse will be waiting for a technician to come by and (most likely) not get his new dishwasher to work. The second, replacement dishwasher that Sears brought after the first one didn't work either. More »

Personal Finance Roundup

7 smart ways to pay for college [MSN Money] "Try these 7 savvy strategies to help them get an education without going broke."

Generics: Six I Buy, Six I Avoid [The Simple Dollar] "Use these lists as encouragement to try a few lower cost store brand products, as well as a useful reminder to not buy something that will end disastrously."

25 Ways to Have Cheap Summer Fun [Wise Bread] "Check out the following ideas for frugal summer fun."

7 Things Employers Want from New Grads [US News] "For 2012 grads intent on landing their dream job, here are seven key things that employers want."

Fixes For These 10 Money Mistakes [SavvySugar] "Solutions for some common money mistakes people make."

—FREE MONEY FINANCE  More »

Judge Upholds FTC Complaint That POM Shouldn't Claim To Cure What Ails You
If you've been chugging your way through vats of POM pomegranate juice or downing POMx supplements in the hopes that it would cure or prevent heart disease, prostate cancer or erectile dysfunction, the Federal Trade Commission has got some words for you. More »

Couple Faces $700 Tab For Listing Copy Of Rosetta Stone They Didn't Know Was Pirated
A Washington state couple thought that when they found a copy of the pricey Rosetta Stone language-instruction software in their late nephew's belongings, they could sell it on eBay to help pay for his headstone. Instead, they are now being told they owe hundreds of dollars to the software company because the copy they listed is allegedly pirated. More »

Popeyes Customer With Service Dog & Popeyes Manager Tell Two Completely Different Tales
UPDATE: Popeyes has issued an apology to the customer, though it appears to be standing by its original claims. More »

Extra Fees For Aisle & Window Seats Means Families Who Fly Together Won't Always Sit Together
Flying with kids or in a large group can be tough, which is why it'd be ideal for families to be able to sit together. But now that some airlines are reserving window and aisle seats for customers willing to pay extra for them, or frequent fliers, it could mean some families having to split up on the plane. More »

Is $15/Month To Best Buy Worth A New Replacement Phone?
Phone insurance plans are often not worth the money you spend on them; especially since many credit cards already include extended warranty protection at no extra cost. But a Best Buy customer in California feels burned by Best Buy's Mobile Phone Plan after she paid more than $250 in insurance payments and had her broken iPhone replaced with a refurbished device that cost less than what she'd paid out. More »

Shareholders To Weigh In On Whether Kraft's Mondelez Is Too Silly Of A Name
The collective "who now what's that huh?" uttered when Kraft announced it was naming its spin-off snack business "Mondelez" — a combination of Latin words for "world" and "delicious" — and resulting jokes will no doubt factor in to a shareholder meeting that will decide whether the name is officially approved or not. More »

School Fined $15,000 Because Bookstore Sold Soda During Lunch
A high school in Utah says it won't be able to pay for some of its arts programs this year because it's been hit with a $15,000 federal fine after the school's bookstore was caught allegedly selling soda during lunch time. More »

Owning An Electric Vehicle Could Get You A Sweet Deal On Car Insurance
Drivers of electric vehicles might have to hand over a bigger wad of dough to buy their cars, but it could be worth it, if they get a good deal on insurance due to their status as EV owners. It could partly be due to the fact that often, EV drivers are more careful and tend to get in less accidents. More »

Geek Squad Wants You To Write Down Your Password On This Sheet Because That's A Horrible Idea
We haven't bought a new PC at Best Buy, well... probably since we investigated that whole optimized laptop thing a couple years back. So we haven't seen the above sheet that not only allows you to choose from a variety of useless Geek Squad services, but also asks for your e-mail address and password. More »

No Need To Go In: App Tells You This Is Not The Bar You're Looking For
How many times have you walked into a bar only to walk straight back out? Whether it's because it was overcrowded with grinding youths, silent as a coffin or just not your scene, it'd be nice to know before you waste your time going inside if it'll be worth a visit. So of course, if there's a need, there's an app for that. More »

Woman Returns Lost iPhone, Is Rewarded With Beating
The 53-year-old woman in Fredericksburg, Va. was trying to perform a good deed. She found an iPhone near a convenience store, and contacted the owner to give it back. They agreed to meet up outside of a restaurant, and the phone's owner promised a reward. Then things went horribly wrong: according to police, the phone's owner took the phone back, handed over the reward, then attacked her from behind while she was walking away. More »

Comcast Refuses To Believe I Didn't Open An Account When I Was 16 At A House I Didn't Live In
We know that some unscrupulous people out there will try to pull one over on a cable/phone/utility company by simply claiming that the person who owes them a big bill is a previous, unrelated tenant. But if you have several documents proving that you are indeed the new tenant, that should be sufficient. Right? Oh wait... this is Comcast we're talking about. More »

Amazon Figures Out How To Funnel California Sales Tax Back Into Its Own Pockets
Amazon has been battling against having to pay state sales tax for awhile, and now it seems to have dreamed up the perfect scheme: It'll pay sales taxes in California starting next fall, but by setting up shop in two cities, it'll manage to funnel that money right back into its own pockets. More »

5 Cable Companies Agree To Share Hotspots, But Will People Use Them?
For years, a number of the larger cable-based Internet providers have placed WiFi hotspots around the country for their customers to use when not in the comfort of their own home, but you had to find a hotspot operated by your ISP. Today, five of those companies — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, and Cox Communications — have announced that their customers will all soon be able to all use the same hotspots. But will people use them — and will this actually make some of the problems worse? More »

FTD.com Vs. Reality: Enjoy Your Mother's Day Chargeback
It's not a major flower-giving holiday here at The Consumerist without an installment of the Garden of Discontent. Laura (not me, a different one) sent along this disappointing diptych of the lush bouquet that she ordered for her mom from FTD.com and the meager handful of plant matter that was actually delivered, a day late. More »

Who Has Enough Cash Floating Around To Pay $1 Million For A Parking Spot?
Circling the block repeatedly hunting for a free parking spot is for peons, apparently. If you really want to be burning cash, what you need is a parking spot that comes with a hefty price tag. Say, $1 million for an indoor spot in New York City? That sounds about right, if you've already got a bank vault full of gold to swim in. More »

If The Bank Hands You A Counterfeit Bill, You're Probably Stuck With It
While financial institutions often go through various security checks to make sure that the $50 and $100 bills you hand to them are genuine, most consumers will accept these same bills from banks without giving a thought to whether or not they are bogus. Problem is, if you end up with counterfeit cash, you are most likely screwed. More »

Pizza Hut Thinks We Should Eat Pasta With Our Fingers
Jeff and his wife were traveling, and had a hankering for one of Pizza Hut's pasta dishes. They ordered up some starch-laden caloriffic goodness from The Hut's website, then followed up with a phone call to say, "hey, we're staying in a motel, can you send along some plastic forks?" This was evidently too much for the local Pizza Hut to handle. Which is kind of odd, considering that they deliver food and all. More »

The "Alcohol-Free" Part Of A Daiquiri Order For 4-Year-Olds Is The Key Phrase
We've seen it too many times by now — ordering kids a beverage that in no way should include alcohol and then, woopsies, there's booze in a 4-year-old's cup. In this case, two boys, both 4, reportedly got alcoholic strawberry daiquiris, sending one of the kids to the hospital. More »

Fraudulent eBay Buyer Leaves You Minus $1000 And A MacBook Pro
Earlier this month, Jacob sold a MacBook Pro on eBay. His buyer appeared to be in Australia, but contacted him after payment and asked to have the computer shipped to Indonesia. Since he's both a Consumerist reader and a person with a functioning brain, Jacob was wary of this change, suspecting some kind of fraud. He called up eBay to see what he should do. The customer service representative told him that he needed to mail the laptop, or it would negatively affect his seller account. So he sent it along, then heard from eBay less than 24 hours later that the buyer's account had been compromised. You don't say! Now Jacob is out both a laptop and the $1,023.74 payment. More »

Want To Look At A Car? Dodge Dealership Needs All Of Your Info
Allen wanted to look at a new Dodge Charger. Not test-drive it. Just look at it, and maybe check out the interior or sit inside. But the dealership he visited wouldn't let him even look at the car without taking down his name, address, driver's license information, and phone number. Annoyed, he left the dealership and did a Google Images search or something instead. More »

Pay No Attention To The Flickering Excited Pixel On Your Plasma TV
Joshua has only had his Panasonic 3-D plasma TV for six months, so it's still well within the initial one-year warranty. It's developed a strange problem where one particular area of the screen glows bright green, flickers, and is hot to the touch. Once Panasonic was able to find someone on staff capable of viewing the YouTube video he sent in as evidence, they ultimately concluded that a hot flickering pixel is not covered by the warranty. Really? Somehow, he expected more after dropping $1,500 on a TV. More »

Got A Good 'Drip Pricing' Story? The FTC Wants To Hear From You
You may not be familiar with the term "drip pricing," but you're probably all too familiar with the concept. It's when a company advertises only one part of a product's price and doesn't reveal other associated charges until later in the the buying process. More »

GM Says It'll Pass On Advertising On TV During The Super Bowl
First General Motors was all like, "Facebook advertising? That's for nerds, it doesn't work!" and now the automaker has announced it's not going to go for Super Bowl ads in 2013, either. More »

Facebook IPO Makes Billions For Company But Stock Price Doesn't Go Up
Skeptics that thought Facebook's IPO price of $38/share was perhaps too high a jumping-off point were proven partially correct today, as stock in the world's social network finished its first day of trading only about $.23 above the offering price. More »

Bank Of America Apparently Doesn't Want Credit Card Customers Who Pay Their Cards Off
Contrary to any ads touting financial responsibility, banks don't really make much money on people who pay attention to their money, and they may just kick you to the curb when they realize you won't be a huge source of fees and interest for them. More »

Dorito-Loving Raccoons Loitering Behind Neighborhood Store
If you think it'd be cute to see a raccoon munching on a bag of Doritos, try to envision about 62 of them wandering around chomping snacks in your neighborhood. One community has been swarmed with a big group of raccoons that have been congregating in the woods behind a Stop and Save. More »

Report: Judges Collect More Than $1 Million In Traffic Fines By Calling Them 'Court Costs'
Imagine you're caught speeding — or driving recklessly, or driving without a license — and you appear in traffic court all set to pay the fine. But then the judge tells you that he's not only knocking your offense down to a warning, but also discounting your penalty and collecting the lesser amount as "court costs." You'd probably be very happy. Only problem is, it's probably illegal and it keeps bad drivers on the road. More »

Now You Can Get Pricey Blood Thinning Drug Plavix In Cheaper Generic Form
The Food and Drug Administration has given the go ahead to seven companies to begin producing Plavix in generic form. As someone who has to shell out over $100 for about 10 pills to quarter and force an unwilling, yet sick cat, to take, I am pretty darn excited about this whole situation. More »

Petco Loses Dogs Too
It's not just airlines that fail at keeping a handle on customers' pets. Just ask the Texas man who took his retriever in to his local Petco for some grooming and is now looking for help trying to find the lost pooch. More »

Smartphone Message Service Read Receipts -- Stress Incarnate Or Peace Of Mind?
As messaging applications on smartphones continue to sidle into the territory previously occupied strictly by traditional SMS texting, users are being confronted with a sometimes uncomfortable proposition. Namely, that whoever is on the other end can see when you've read their message, and you can see if they're ignoring you or not as well. More »

Why Are West Coast Gas Prices Rising While Dropping Everywhere Else?
While the national average for a gallon of gas has dropped nearly 20 cents since peaking in early April, prices on the West Coast of the U.S. recently began rising again, even as prices in every other region of the country trend downwards. More »

Airlines Aren't Pulling In As Much Dough Off Checked Bags Fees As They Used To
You might already have suspected that the reason why you engage in a fierce, almost Hunger Gamesesque competition to stow your carry-on is because no one wants to pay to check bags. That free-for-all has resulted in U.S. airlines making less money off baggage fees for the first time since they started assessing them. More »

Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread

• 9 Examples Why You May Want To Avoid Homeowners Associations Like The Plague
• Can A Restaurant Meal Be So Bad You Shouldn't Pay The Bill?
• Apparently This Woman Doesn't Find Clothing Necessary For Running Errands
• There's A Used Condom In My Room. Does The Hotel Owe Me Anything?

More »

Postal Worker Accused Of Stealing Meds From War Vets, Selling To Others On Her Route
We've heard numerous stories about carriers for the U.S. Postal Service pilfering mail intended for others. But it seems like a lot of those stolen items just end up piling up in the carriers' homes. Here's a story of a mail carrier in California who robbed drugs intended for Peter to get paid by Paul. More »

Do-Gooder Buys Out A Closing Kmart To Donate $200K Worth Of Items To Charity
A Kentucky man was scoping out a Kmart set to close for good, trying to snag himself some good deals on the discounted items for his own business. But while he was at the register, a thought struck him — where does all the rest of this stuff go after the store is shut down? So he signed up to buy out the store and give items to the less fortunate. More »

Verizon: If You Want Your Unlimited Data Plan, You'll Have To Pay Full Price For Your Next Phone
After a bit of hemming and hawing on the topic, Verizon Wireless has finally released some concrete info on its plan to kill off grandfathered unlimited data plans as it moves customers from 3G to 4G LTE service. More »

New Shoes Hurt, New Balance Replaces Them
Sean's new shoes hurt his feet. When he realized that this wasn't because he was out of shape or had bought the wrong size, he figured it had been too long since buying the shoes, and he wouldn't be able to return them. Not so when the shoes were from New Balance, purveyors of sneaker awesomeness. More »

United/Continental Pilots Get Authority To Call Strike Vote
Even though United Airlines and Continental have merged just about everything else, the pilots remain represented by two different groups at the Air Line Pilots Association. Even so, all pilots for the merged carriers received union approval to ask members to vote on a strike if negotiations with management break down. More »

Community Not About To Let Walmart Sneak Into Spot Zoned For Residential Use
In the case of an Arkansas town situated near the Bentonville headquarters of Walmart, proximity has not made many hearts grow fonder. Citizens packed a recent meeting in Bella Vista to make themselves heard on the issue of rezoning a spot so a Walmart Neighborhood Market could ostensibly move in. More »

This HSBC Customer Is Left Out Of The Changeover
Last year, HSBC unloaded it credit card division on Capital One, and most of its retail bank branches in the Northeast to upstate New York's First Niagara Bank. They've also been selling off their retail banking operations in other countries. Regular people just aren't as profitable as we used to be. The thing is, while those branches and all of their customers have been sold, not all of their customers are making the change. George, who lives near a branch but had opened his HSBC accounts online for the sake of convenience, didn't know this. He's not associated with a branch, so his account stays with HSBC. He just won't have a branch to go to. More »

Comcast: Arson Ain't A Good Excuse For Lost Equipment, So Pay Up
It wasn't enough that a woman lost her apartment in a fire set by an arsonist— including most of her belongings, but then Comcast had to make it all worse by demanding she pay up for the two cable boxes and a router she failed to save in the fire. More »

Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds
Here are twelve of the best photos that readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or just plain neatness. More »

Why Did Toyota Sell Me A Van With An Obsolete Navigation System?
Ben bought a Toyota Sienna minivan last year, and one of the fancy options included was a built-in navigation system. That's neat. But what's strange is that his car has the wrong system. It has the one meant for the 2011 model, not the 2012 that he purchased. This doesn't seem like all that big a deal, but it hurts the resale value of his van and is just generally annoying. Wouldn't you want the technology that you paid for? More »

1800Flowers.com Doesn't Deliver Mom's Flowers, Conveniently Forgets To Tell You
Here's the thing with sending gifts, particularly gifts of flowers. You generally don't call up the recipient ahead of time and say, "hey, expect some flowers on Saturday." A big part of the gift is the delight and element of surprise. Aaron ordered some Mother's Day flowers for his mom from 1800Flowers.com, and only learned that his order hadn't showed up later in the week when he noticed she hadn't mentioned them. Okay, they hadn't delivered the flowers, but why didn't they notify him, and why did they keep the money? More »