A judge in Washington, D.C., has thrown a wrench into the Justice Department’s effort to collect information on people who communicated through a website site critical of President Trump, ruling that the DOJ “does not have the right to rummage through the information” on the site to “discover the identity of, or access communications by, individuals not participating in alleged criminal activity.” [More]
Hyundai Promises Accurate Online Pricing; 3-Day Return Window; Test Drives At Your Home
By 10.10.17
Hyundai may be one of the world’s largest car companies, selling some 5 million vehicles a year worldwide, and the company’s constant TV advertising has at least drilled into viewers’ head that it’s pronounced “Hyundai like Sunday.” But the Korean automaker is still a bit player in the U.S., responsible for only 1-in-25 cars on American streets. In an effort to stake a bigger claim stateside, Hyundai has introduced a new program intended to provide more transparent pricing and more consumer-friendly practices. [More]
Dish Network Temporarily Halts Service In Puerto Rico, Unless Customers Say They Want It
By 10.10.17 — Updated: 10.11.17
We’ve written too many stories over the years about pay-TV and telecom companies still insisting that customers keep paying for service in the wake of natural disasters that destroyed their properties. So it’s nice to hear that the nation’s two major satellite TV companies are being proactive about the millions of Americans in Puerto Rico who are trying to rebuild in the wake of Hurricane Maria. However, Dish and DirecTV have decided to take two very different approaches toward not piling on on Puerto Rico. [More]
Burger King Resurrects Spirit Of Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Nuggets
By 10.10.17
It’s like The Mindy Project being cut by Fox only to find a second life on Hulu, or that annoying Verizon guy being dusted off by Sprint to irritate a new generation of TV viewers: Burger King has resurrected the spicy chicken nuggets that were killed off by Wendy’s earlier this year. [More]
Dove Apologizes For Thinking Ad Where Black Woman Turns White Was A Good Idea
By 10.9.17
For several years, Dove — the Unilever-owned toiletries brand — has tried to market itself as focusing on a more realistic notion of beauty, at least when compared to the often unattainable standards set by many of its competitors. So why on Earth did the brand think it would, in any way — in any world — be a smart idea to run an ad wherein a darker-skinned woman transforms into a very pale woman? [More]
Safelite “Not Cool” With SNL’s Spoof Ad About Stalker Safelite Tech
By 10.9.17
This weekend’s Saturday Night Live featured a parody ad for Safelite AutoGlass — the company that heavily markets its ability to fix your broken windshield wherever your car is parked. And the folks at Safelite say they weren’t too amused at SNL’s portrayal of one of their techs as a creepy stalker. [More]
California Sues To Stop Trump Administration Rollback Of Insurance Birth Control Requirement
By 10.6.17
Within hours of the Trump Administration announcing two new rules that would allow businesses to opt out of offering their employees insurance that covers birth control, the attorney general for the state of California has filed a lawsuit to block the regulations from going into effect. [More]
Equifax Security Failings Were Flagged By Wall Street Firm More Than A Year Ago
By 10.6.17
A company that supplies stock market indexes reportedly warned investors in August 2016 that Equifax, one of the nation’s three major credit bureaus, appeared to be ill-equipped to fight off a sophisticated cyber attack. Apparently Equifax didn’t get that warning; otherwise, hackers may have been prevented from accessing the sensitive financial information for more than 140 million Americans. [More]
Trump Administration Undoes Birth Control Requirement For Employer-Sponsored Insurance
By 10.6.17
Under current law, most employer-sponsored health insurance plans have to include birth control coverage, but that will soon change, with the Trump administration announcing today that it is rescinding this requirement, allowing employers to decide whether they want to include this coverage in the policies they offer. [More]
Sprint, T-Mobile Reportedly Making Final Plans For Halloween Honeymoon
By 10.6.17
The worst kept secret in merger romances is apparently getting achingly close to becoming a reality, with a new report claiming that the parents of T-Mobile and Sprint are putting the final details together on an arranged marriage that would see these two kids wed before Halloween. [More]
Sears Borrows Yet Another $100M (And Possibly $200M) From Its Own CEO
By 10.6.17
It hasn’t even been a year since Sears, the mall anchor store where there’s always plenty of parking, borrowed half a billion dollars from its own Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert. Now the once-great retailer that’s living in a converted storage space above its parents’ garage while it sorts things out is borrowing another $100 million from Lampert, with a second $100 million loan possibly coming in just a matter of weeks. [More]
Dannon Drops Cam Newton For “Sexist And Disparaging” Comment To Female Reporter
By 10.5.17
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton may be a star on the football field, but he’s infamously prickly with the press. Now, a day after implying that it was “funny” that a female sports reporter might actually understand basic football terminology, Newton will no longer be in ads for the official yogurt of the NFL. [More]
Financial Protection Bureau Finalizes New Rules To Curb Predatory Lending, But Will Congress Let It Happen?
By 10.5.17
In an effort to rein in short-term, high-cost loans that often take advantage of Americans who need the most help with their finances, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has finalized its new rule intended to make these heavily criticized financing operations to be more responsible about the loans they offer. But will bank-backed lawmakers in Congress use their authority to once again try to shut down a pro-consumer regulation? [More]
Which Tax Deduction Would You Rather Lose: Your Mortgage Interest Or Your State/Local Taxes?
By 10.4.17
The Trump administration is moving forward with its plan to slash taxes on businesses, which means the government will have to get at least some of that money from elsewhere. Now comes news that taxpayers may have to choose between two common tax deductions that millions of Americans have long benefited from. [More]
Verizon Now Says That All Yahoo Accounts Were Probably Compromised By Massive Hack
By 10.3.17
Last year, Yahoo revealed that some 1.5 billion accounts — representing about 1 billion users — had been compromised by a data breach going back years. Now that Yahoo’s new parent company Verizon has had a chance to investigate it turns out that the number of accounts compromised by the hack was… well, every single one of them. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO: We Can Block Customers From Filing Lawsuits Because We Promise To Not Screw Up Again
By 10.3.17
Imagine a teenager who has been repeatedly caught sneaking out with their friends to get drunk and pilfer garden gnomes from the neighborhood. The teen’s parents ask “Why should we trust you anymore?” and the best answer the adolescent nincompoop can provide is, “Because I started cleaning my room and I’m gonna pass that Geometry quiz, I think.” Now, replace that teen with Wells Fargo, and you’ll basically have the scene from this morning’s Senate Banking Committee hearing. [More]
Supreme Court Allows For Rare Win In Customers’ Lawsuit Against Samsung
By 10.3.17
The Supreme Court has a long history of ruling against consumers when it involves a company’s attempt to strip its customers of their right to a day in court, but this week the nation’s highest court decided to not hear an appeal in a lawsuit involving Samsung, marking a rare instance in which SCOTUS came down on the consumers’ side in this issue. [More]
Wells Fargo CEO “Deeply Sorry” About That Time His Employees Opened Millions Of Fake Accounts In Customers’ Names
By 10.2.17 — Updated: 10.3.17
Tuesday morning, Wells Fargo CEO Tim “Apology Machine” Sloan will appear before the Senate Banking Committee to take some public tongue lashings for his bank’s fake account fiasco, which saw Wells employee opening up millions of bogus accounts in customers’ names in order to game the bank’s sales quota system. Sloan’s prepared remarks for this televised tomato-throwing include all manner of statements about how badly the bank behaved and how it’s darn-tootin’ not gonna let that happen again, but also don’t discuss one issue that will certainly be a hot-button topic among some senators in the room. [More]
