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• Commented on TechCrunch Intern Fired For Trading Reviews For Gadgets
  Nope. I've been fired from an unpaid internship. They take away the honor of being able to come in to work, that's all....
• Posted HP EECB Leads To Complete Refund For Defective 2-Year-Old Laptop to The Consumerist
  When Rick's 2-year-old laptop failed for the second time due, he did not roll over and buy a new laptop or pay $400 for the repairs. This particular model of laptop had been recalled due to this very flaw, and that was not acceptable to Rick. He fought back, and shares his tale of triumph. I love my HP computers. Over the past 9 years, I’ve bought ten of them and all of them have worked wonderfully. With one exception. I bought a heavily-customized dv6000 laptop from HP in 2007 for $1000. Fifteen months later, the motherboard failed. It was...
• Posted Group Pledges To Buy No Clothing For A Year, Somehow Survive to The Consumerist
  The Great American Apparel Diet is not, as it seems at first glance, what you have to follow in order to look good in a bizarre adult romper. No, it's a pledge that a group of women have taken to not buy any new clothing for one year. What have they learned? That people tend to buy a lot more stuff than they really need. As one participant noted, re-evaluating and fixing up what's already in your wardrobe is something that few people bother with when the option to buy something shiny and new is there instead. Stacya Silverman: What...
• Commented on Cox Accidentally Offers Everyone In Arizona A Free PlayStation 3
  I agree with you 100%. This is pretty straightforward: no flyer, no PS3. Up until the part where the sales staff started making exceptions for people who didn't have the code, but still called in and wanted the deal. Do...
• Posted Cox Accidentally Offers Everyone In Arizona A Free PlayStation 3 to The Consumerist
  Christopher writes about a promotion from Cox that sounded pretty great. The cable company and ISP offered a free Playstation 3 slim to customers who either signed up for a new account or upgraded to faster broadband. The problem with such a great offer? People tend to tell their friends. And those friends tend to call Cox to see if they can get in on the deal, too. Cox in Arizona has had an offer out since January for a FREE Playstation 3 slim in exchange for either a) signup for a new broadband account or b) upgrade to the...
• Commented on Best Buy Sells Shattered TV In Time For Super Bowl Party
  That's a very good question. I'd love to know the answer....
• Posted Best Buy Sells Shattered TV In Time For Super Bowl Party to The Consumerist
  On this, the holiest of all American TV-watching days, we'd like to share with you the horrific story of a Florida family whose Super Bowl viewing party will be a lot less intense than they had planned. The new, expensive HDTV they purchased from Best Buy was somehow shattered inside its box, and the retailer claims that it's the family's fault. A Best Buy employee loaded the box in their vehicle, and they brought the TV home only to discover that its beautiful 50-inch screen was destroyed. The family says that Best Buy blames them for the damage, and they...
• Posted Bottle Of Sprite Includes Free Inch-Long Cockroach to The Consumerist
  Coca-Cola in China has been fined 2.05 yuan (30 cents) after a customer found a cockroach just over an inch long inside a bottle of Sprite. At least it wasn't Coke or another cola, because then the customer wouldn't have noticed until the bug was in his mouth. A man surnamed Gao, who bought a box of soft drinks containing 24 bottles of Sprite on June 23, 2007 from a supermarket in Beijing, found a three cm long cockroach-like insect inside one bottle of the popular drink. Gao took the company to Daxing court in 2008, asking for 5.1 yuan...
• Posted 12 Insane (But Awesome) Things You Can Actually Buy Online to The Consumerist
  There are lots of weird and amazing things that you can buy on the Internet. Cracked rounded twelve of the craziest things that you can order online. Most of them seem like things that someone might order if they are an aspiring supervillain. Or have so much money they don't know what to do with it all. Or both. We'd have to say that #8, the Water Walking Ball (pictured), provides the worst value for your money, costing $500 and providing you with only the ability to run around on the surface of water like some sort of deranged hamster...
• Posted Oregon Woman Sues McDonalds Over Too-Hot Coffee to The Consumerist
  A woman in Oregon has sued her local McDonald's franchisee after spilling hot coffee from the drive-thru window on herself. She claims that the coffee was too hot and the lid too loose, and seeks $7,500 in damages. According to the suit, "as it was being handed to her by an employee of the defendant, the plaintiff took the cup of coffee and the plastic top fell off and spilled very hot coffee on plaintiff's upper right leg..." She went into "nervous shock," endured pain and has scarring. She seeks $7,182 for her pain and suffering, plus another $318 for...
• Posted FDA May Update Serving Sizes To Reflect How Much People Actually Eat to The Consumerist
  As anyone who has tried to carefully count calories knows, the serving sizes on food packages don't have much to do with reality. The FDA has finally realized that putting accurate serving sizes on labels might have an effect on the amount of food Americans cram into our mouths in one sitting. “If you put on a meaningful portion size, it would scare a lot of people,” said Barry Popkin, a nutrition professor at the University of North Carolina. “They would see, ‘I’m going to get 300 calories from that, or 500 calories.’ ” The problem is important because the...
• Commented on Our Top 13 Grossest Food Stories Of All Time
  I thought about that, and I figured that someone, somewhere, thought that was a good enough idea to market it. Most of these are accidental things that everyone finds gross regardless of culture....
• Posted Long Queue Waits Sort Of Defeat The Point Of Netflix to The Consumerist
  Jeff is patiently waiting for the recently released movies in his Netflix queue, but his taste in films is evidently working against him. He says that the top ten discs in his queue all have long waits, and he is frustrated. Is he being throttled, a victim of having popular tastes, or both? He writes: It's been a while since I've seen any of the dreaded "Netflix throttling" reports here, so I thought I'd write in and share my current experience with the DVD service. I have been a faithful Netflix subscriber for about three years now, and for the...
• Posted Dell, I Do Not Appreciate Your 5 AM Wakeup Robocalls to The Consumerist
  A few years ago, Kate made a horrible mistake. As the IT contact for her employer, she gave Dell her cell phone number. She tells Consumerist that apparently this gave the company license to give her status updates on the company's Dell orders between 5 and 6 A.M. Pacific time. Even after she no longer worked in that position. Even after repeated phone calls and e-mails begging Dell to stop calling her. The worst part? Kate isn't the only one. Years ago, I was the contact for IT for the company I worked for. We ordered a bunch of computers...
• Posted Impending Snow Makes Washington, D.C. Residents Lose Their Damn Minds to The Consumerist
  Gawker shared photos of pillaged Safeway and Wegmans stores in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Maybe it's my roots in upstate New York's snow belt, but I have to ask: D.C., you do remember that snow melts, right?

  See, this is the effect of mass weather-induced panic and, apparently, an area almost wholly dependent on takeout food.

• Posted Our Top 13 Grossest Food Stories Of All Time to The Consumerist

  Tales of unacceptable food don't just appeal to our more prurient interests. They do hit the "eww, can't look away!" center of the brain quite squarely, but these stories do more than that. They give us an uncomfortable insight into the complexity of the Western food supply, how industrialized and automated food processing really is, and how underpaid restaurant staff can be really obnoxious sometimes. Fast-food employees in particular.

  In that spirit of public education and outreach, here are 13 of the grossest food-related stories from the last four years and change of The Consumerist. Enjoy. Learn. Try not to vomit.

  This post does contain pictures, but they're tiny and it's difficult to determine what's in them. Well, mostly.

• Commented on FTC To Retailers: Bamboo And Rayon Are Not The Same Thing
  Yeah, I was looking at some yarn that said the same thing right before writing this post. Much better. Much less misleading....
• Posted FTC To Retailers: Bamboo And Rayon Are Not The Same Thing to The Consumerist
  The FTC has sent warning letters to 78 companies about clothing and household products marketed as being made from bamboo. Many of the products were were allegedly made out of rayon that may or may not have originally been derived from bamboo. The offenders include huge names like Walmart, Land's End, Kohl's, The Gap, and Target. "But wait," you might say, "isn't rayon a synthetic fabric made out of oil or something?" Not quite. Rayon is derived from plants originally, but is so processed that it's not as environmentally friendly as plain old bamboo. Here's how the FTC's press release...
• Commented on Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread
  FIRST...
• Posted Top Posts Of The Week And Open Thread to The Consumerist
  Best Buy Sends Customer To Jail For Paying With AMEX Gift Card
  Bank Sues Victim To Avoid Replacing $200k In Stolen Funds
  South Butt Rebuts North Face
  10 Of The Strangest Unclaimed Airline Baggage Items Ever Found
  This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog
  
• Commented on Our Long National Nightmare Is Over: Heinz Redesigns Ketchup Packet
  Honestly, this method never occurred to me. I don't eat a lot of fast food, though, so that may be why....
• Posted Pepsi With H1N1 Flavoring Now Available At Walgreens to The Consumerist
  First, there was Pepsi Vanilla. Then there was Pepsi Lime. Now, exclusively at Walgreens, you can get the latest special flavor of Pepsi: Pepsi H1N1. It is also available in frozen pizza, Buffalo wing, and ice cream form. Fortunately, if you're not yet infected, Coke bottles offer the vaccine. Yes, as if their outdoor billboards advertising "H1N1 NOW AVAILABLE" weren't confusing enough, they've now apparently printed up stickers and started slapping them on every surface in the store with no sense whatsoever of how this could be just a bit incongruous. Nah. Thanks to Dan for the photos....
• Posted Our Long National Nightmare Is Over: Heinz Redesigns Ketchup Packet to The Consumerist
  Your suffering may finally be over, fast food fiends. No more awkwardly torn ketchup packets and tomato-soaked fingers. No more dipping your fries into a dollop of ketchup on a napkin or burger wrapper. NO. Heinz has introduced the ketchup packet 2.0, and the future looks...well, remarkably like the containers of McNugget dipping sauces McDonald's has been using since the '80s. But it's still an improvement. This bold technological breakthrough took a lot of research. Heinz struggled for years to develop a container that lets diners dip or squeeze, and to produce it at a cost acceptable to its restaurant...
• Commented on Experian Sued Over Deceptive FreeCreditReport.com Ads
  This is my cue to post THE GREATEST PERSONAL INJURY LAWYER AD OF ALL TIME. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFZigCwRhI8...
• Posted HTC Says They're Shipping My New Nexus One: I Don't Believe Them Anymore to The Consumerist
  The launch and early customer support of the Google's Nexus One phone, manufactured by HTC, has been a bit problematic. But let's try some optimism! Maybe now that the early hype has died down and HTC has had some time to get used to the situation, warranty replacements will take place in a timely fashion! Or...well, as reader Michael writes, evidently not. Update: Thanks to this post, Michael's new phone is on its way. I got a Nexus One at launch, and my experience was great for the first couple of weeks. Google is great, and Android is fantastic, but...
• Posted Do Not Drive Your Truck Into A Gas Station Instead Of Prepaying to The Consumerist
  A man in Alabama has been charged with attempted murder and resisting arrest after allegedly driving his truck into a gas station. According to Jefferson County police, the suspect was angry that the only pump available was pre-pay only. [Jefferson County Chief Deputy Randy] Christian said the service station had a pre-pay only system and Mayes's pump had not been turned on because he hadn't paid yet. "You are going to die and go to hell," the chief deputy quoted Mayes as telling the store clerk. I didn't think that prepay pumps were that hard to use. Suspect angered by...
• Posted Report: Apple Offering 15% Buyout For Yellow-Screened iMacs to The Consumerist
  Gizmodo is reporting today that Apple is offering a 15% "refund bonus" to some customers who return one of the numerous 27" iMacs with a nasty yellow tinge to their beautiful big screens. iMacs are not cheap, so that's at least $250 depending on your computer's configuration. Still think that the widespread iMac problems don't exist? After we reported Apple giving UK customers 15% refund bonuses with 27-inch iMac returns, we've heard from quite a few readers that Apple is doing the same thing in the US. 15%. Cash. So on a $2000 machine, we're talking about a $300 apology...
• Commented on Reach Acer Executive Customer Service
  If you really can fit a netbook in a Crown Royal bag, I may have to rethink my stance on the contraptions....
• Posted Light Bulb's Promises Are True Only Where Nighttime Lasts Three Hours to The Consumerist
  Rick bought a light bulb at Home Depot that turned into more of a geography test. The question it poses: is there anywhere in the world that has an average of three hours of darkness year-round? The answer: no. Which means that the claims on the front of this light bulb package contradict each other. He wrote: Hi, I purchased this Phillips CFL bulb at Home Depot. It says on the front, “Energy Saver Automatic Postlight” “Turns on at Dusk, off at Dawn” and “Last 7 Years (see back for details)”. On the back it says “based on 3 hours...
• Commented on When Should You Freak Out About Critters In Your Food?
  Mmm, chalk-flavored milk....

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