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• Posted GM Says Facebook Ads Don't Work to The Consumerist
  GM spends about $40 million dollars on its Facebook presence, but only $10 million of that goes to Facebook itself, in the form of ads. Unfortunately for Facebook, it turns out that their cut will soon be zero. GM has confirmed a report by the Wall Street Journal, claiming that the auto maker's executives determined paid ads on Facebook had little impact on consumers' car purchases. From Reuters: "We regularly review our overall media spend and make adjustments as needed...it's not unusual for us to move our spending around various media outlets - especially with the growth of multiple social...
• Posted Special K Chocolatey Delight Has More Calories Than Cocoa Puffs to The Consumerist
  Eating Special K to lose weight? Splurging on the chocolate version? You might want to read the label. Our sisters at ShopSmart (also published by Consumer Reports) took a look at a variety of "junk" health foods for the June issue and discovered that "Special K Chocolatey Delight" isn't that different from Cocoa Puffs. From ShopSmart: If you reach for the Special K with those little chocolatey chunks thinking it's more healthful than a kid's cereal, you may as well fill your bowl with Cocoa Puffs. The nutritional contents of both cereals are pretty similar. Cocoa Puffs are actually slightly...
• Posted Culinary Bill Shock: Beware The Secret $275 Truffle Pasta Special! to The Consumerist
  There's a small, innocuous-looking cafe on Madison Ave that you may find yourself considering on your next meander through New York City. Watch out, says BoingBoing, whose Rob Beschizza wandered into the place on a lark, you're about to get socked with hidden charges. How bad could it be? Behold: "We ordered a couple of dishes we thought were $30 or so: expensive enough! But a salad turned out to be another $49. Coffee was $12 per tiny little cup. Refill, sir? No, thank you, I'll just have water. Water was $15." The cafe turned out to be so notorious...
• Posted Let The Gouging Begin? Gas Prices May Have Finally Peaked to The Consumerist
  When people think of price gouging, they tend to think of people raising prices opportunistically. In fact, the most common type of gouging happens when gas prices stay artificially high after a spike. Still, we suppose the beginning of gouging season is better than nothing. But is it really here? New numbers released overnight by AAA Fuel Gauge Report indicate that the nationwide average retail gas price declined $0.02 to $3.927. Some analysts are responding with guarded optimism. "Gasoline prices in the hardest-hit areas have finally shown signs of relief with prices falling now in Chicago as they have for...
• Posted How To Save On Laundry Without Having To Steal Tide Detergent to The Consumerist
  Tide has become a hot commodity lately. Law enforcement officials from around the nation say there has been an outbreak of thefts of the pricey-but-well-regarded detergent. One guy allegedly stole $25,000 worth of Tide before Minnesota police nabbed him. Why? Tide can be pricey (up to $20 a bottle), and, well, it's in high demand. But how can you save on detergent without resorting to buying black-market-Tide? 1) Buy Tide 2X Ultra for Cold Water. This tip will only work if you do your laundry at home, of course, but if you do, you can save $60 per year on...
• Posted Goldman Sachs Executive Resigns Via Column In New York Times to The Consumerist
  Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive, has resigned in a rather unique way, he's written a very frank op-ed column in the New York Times, thereby fulfilling a fantasy held by every single person who has ever felt like quitting a job in a spectacular fashion. Mr. Smith, was head of Goldman's United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He also managed the summer intern program in sales and trading. "I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a...
• Commented on It's Time To Get Your HFCS-Free Kosher-For-Passover Coke & Pepsi!
  To be fair, the English was also upside down, it's just the way the bottle was sitting in the picture. But we flipped it for you, because we don't want you to think we don't care. :)...
• Posted Pinkberry Co-Founder Accused Of Beating A Homeless Guy With A Tire Iron to The Consumerist
  Pinkberry, the chain of California-based yogurt shops that inspires cultish behavior in its followers, was co-founded by one Young Lee, a stylish 47-year-old entrepreneur with expensive taste (he apparently owns a bunch of fancy cars including a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a Ferrari) who is currently a defendant in a criminal proceeding in which he is alleged to have hit a homeless man with a tire iron. The Daily Beast has the definitive article: According to the Los Angeles Police Department, on June 15, 2011, Lee was driving a rented Range Rover along Vermont Avenue in east Hollywood, California, with an...
• Commented on Court Halts Intimidating Debt Collector Calls From People Posing As Cops
  Why, thank you. :) I'm going to assume that you're not being sarcastic, of course. I'm an optimist....
• Posted Court Halts Intimidating Debt Collector Calls From People Posing As Cops to The Consumerist
  The Federal Trade Commission announced today that a U.S. district court has stopped an operation that allegedly collected millions of dollars in payday loan debts that consumers did not actually owe. The FTC alleges that personal information about consumers who turned to payday loans during hard times found its way into the hands of the defendants, who then used it to threaten to arrest and jail consumers if they did not agree to make payments on a supposedly delinquent loan. From the FTC: Claiming to be law enforcement, such as a local police department, the "Federal Department of Crime and...
• Posted Why Wikipedia Decided To Join The Blackout And Potentially Threaten Your Homework to The Consumerist
  Wikipedia prides itself on being neutral... so why is it taking itself down to protest something political? According to their official explanation of the protest decision, the members of the Wikimedia Foundation feel that "although Wikipedia's articles are neutral, its existence is not." You can read the entire explanation here, but this is the part we like best: Readers trust Wikipedia because they know that despite its faults, Wikipedia's heart is in the right place. It's not aiming to monetize their eyeballs or make them believe some particular thing, or sell them a product. Wikipedia has no hidden agenda: it...
• Posted Yuengling Is Now America's Largest Brewer to The Consumerist
  Did Yuengling suddenly get bigger than Miller or Bud? Nope. Both are now foreign-owned. According to AdAge, Yuengling has recently surpassed Sam Adams' Boston Beer Company as the largest U.S.-owned brewer that manufactures all its beer in the U.S. "It just floors me that so much of our beer industry is owned by foreign concerns," fifth-generation owner Dick Yuengling told his local newspaper, The Morning Call, of Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley. "We were not in any race to be the largest domestically owned brewer, but it's a tremendous honor for us." The company's growth is especially noteworthy considering that beer is...
• Posted Have A Private Student Loan Horror Story? Today Is The Last Day To Tell The CFPB to The Consumerist
  We see enough horror stories about private student loans that we know there must be quite a few of them out there. If you'd like to contribute to the public good by sharing your experience, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau would like to hear what you have to say. And if you actually had a good experience the CFPB would like to hear about that, too. Here's what they'd like to know: What kind of non-federal financing do families rely on to pay for education? When families choose private loans before exhausting their federal loans, what prompts this choice? What...
• Posted Penis Tattoo Gives Man A Permanent Erection to The Consumerist
  Thinking of getting a penis tattoo? Apparently, they come with the risk of a permanent erection. Let's see if we can get through this one without a Jason Stackhouse joke... Nope! According to MSNBC, a 21-year-old Iranian man went to a traditional tattoo artist who, (and this detail is apparently important,) used handheld needles to inscribe upon his member (in Persian script) a phrase which translates to "good luck on your journeys." The result is a permanent semi-erection. Take it away, MSNBC: As erectile dysfunction pill commercials constantly remind us, non-sex-related erections lasting longer than four hours are dangerous for...
• Posted Lose Weight By Eating In Restaurants? to The Consumerist
  Ah yes. The dream. To lose weight while eating in restaurants and thus maintaining needed contact with other humans. Can it be done? According to one study, yes, it can. Let's pass it over to our scientific sisters at Consumer Reports for the details: An article published today in the January Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior has given me a glimmer of hope. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin looked at 35 women aged 40 to 59 years old who reported eating out an average of 5.6 times a week. Participants were screened for eating disorders or health...
• Posted TripAdvisor Gives Up On "Dirtiest Hotels In America" List to The Consumerist
  Well, this is depressing. Travel review site TripAdvisor has chosen to abandon the genius idea of releasing a "Dirtiest Hotels in America" list. Why? They want to "focus on the positive." What the hell? Who wants to read about a bunch of clean hotels full of happy people? Bah humbug! "We want to stay more on the positive side, so we'll continue to feature the best destinations, the top hotels," said Stephen Kaufer, the chief executive. "We're slicing and dicing the 'best of' in different ways this year, more than focusing on the negative." You know, there's something to be...
• Posted Samsung Delighted To Announce Ads On Your Smart TV's Home Screen to The Consumerist
  Samsung was delighted to announce this morning at CES that they intend to place ads to the home screens of your fancy new Smart TVs. Does this annoy you? Says Samsung: "Samsung AdHub envisions creating a win-win situation for both publishers and advertisers with sophisticated targeting solutions. By matching the right ad with the right content, advertisers will be able to reach their marketing goals. This increases advertisers' willingness to pay a high premium for ads being delivered, which brings a stable revenue stream for publishers. Samsung AdHub, not only strives to satisfy the needs of advertisers and publishers, but...
• Posted "Smart" LG Fridge Suggests What To Cook Based On What's Inside It to The Consumerist
  With each passing press conference, our inexorable path toward robot domination becomes ever more clear. LG has announced a series of smart appliances that will be "controlled" by your Smart Phone and can do things like monitor both their electrical consumption and your food consumption. They can even suggest recipes based on what is in the fridge. This will, of course, lead them to conclude that they are the more efficient lifeforms. So caveat emptor. But, wait, there's more: The new LG smart washers can let your TV know when they are done washing your soiled clothing, alerting you that...
• Posted Yes, Consumerist Is Going To CES to The Consumerist
  Yes, it's that time of year again. Consumerist will be tagging along with Consumer Reports to the Consumer Electronics Show. How shall you follow our adventure? On Twitter, naturally. Follow @Consumerist. This account will be staffed by the inimitable Chris Morran, who will be continuing the fine tradition of making Best Buy uneasy with his presence. Be sure to say hello if you spot us on the floor....
• Posted Consumer Reports: New Burger King Fries Are Better, But Still Not As Good As Wendy's to The Consumerist
  Last Friday, Burger King launched some new fries - offering free samples while supplies lasted. Our scientific sisters at Consumer Reports jumped in the car and headed to two Burger King locations near our shared Yonkers, NY, headquarters to see if they could detect any changes. The verdict? It seems that BK's fries have improved, and are now closer in quality to McDonald's, but more extensive testing is needed to determine a clear winner between those two fries. The infamous BK "coating" that many people seem to hate is still there, but CR says it's less prominent. Here's the CR's...
• Commented on This $10 Tip Is Not The Best Way To Show Your Gratitude To Your Server
  I have to say that this made me laugh a whole lot....
• Posted Salvation Army Bell Ringers Will Accept Credit Card Payments With Their Smart Phones to The Consumerist
  The Salvation Army has announced that they are testing Square, a service that allows a smart phone to accept credit card payments. The test will take place at 40 locations in Dallas, San Francisco, Chicago and New York. Previous attempts at accepting credit cards weren't successful, but the Army is feeling optimistic that consumers will adopt this new way of paying. From the NYT: "The credit card terminals really haven't been a blockbuster, I'll be candid," Major Hood said. "The winter elements have been a negative, people have to go through a process of entering data, and it's just generally...
• Posted Do You Know People Who Throw Away Change Instead Of Saving It? to The Consumerist
  A (presumably) sarcastic comment on Vanguard's Facebook page about throwing away change instead of saving it has started something of a debate over on reddit. The question? Are there, in fact, people who really throw away their change rather than save it in a jar? Could this be true? Or is everyone being sarcastic and messing with us? Clearly, people drop change on the ground rather than deal with it. A few years ago Marketplace did a story about a family that had found over $1,000 in change on the ground in just a year of looking. But do some...
• Commented on Um, Do I Actually Need To Buy Winter Tires?
  :)...
• Posted Um, Do I Actually Need To Buy Winter Tires? to The Consumerist
  Ah yes, winter tires. That's what you need right now. You want to buy an expensive set of tires just for one season. Is it even necessary? Can't you just get all season tires and be done with it? Maybe! But the answer really depends on where you live and what type of surface you'll be driving on. The tragic truth is that most tires are a compromise. Consumer Reports' latest test on passenger car tires for SUVs and pickups shows that winter tires deliver outstanding snow traction and braking on ice compared to all-season models. Even if your vehicle...
• Posted Chase Drops Plan For $3 Debit Card Fee to The Consumerist
  Chase joins U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup, PNC, KeyCorp and other large banks that have recently moved away from the plan to charge consumers a monthly fee when they use their debit cards to make purchases, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank recently tested the fee in both Washington and Georgia. The rationale for the fee comes from a provision in last year's financial-overhaul law that reduced the amount that banks are permitted to charge merchants for debit-card transactions. Small businesses and other merchants complained that the fees were too high, especially for small purchases. The new debit card fee has...
• Posted Consumerist Talks To Jeep's CEO About Being The Most Reliable U.S. Auto Brand -- But Still Middle Of The Pack to The Consumerist
  Yesterday, our gearhead cousins at Consumer Reports released the results of their Annual Auto Reliability Survey, which had Jeep jumping up seven spots from the previous year to become the top-ranked domestic brand, though it was still #13 overall. Soon after this news came out, we got the chance to speak to Jeep CEO Michael Manley about this mixed blessing CONSUMERIST: Jeep is now the most reliable domestic auto brand. What happened? MANLEY: Well (laughs) it... (long pause) the only reason for my delay is that I'm smiling when you say that because obviously, it's huge news for us and...
• Commented on Commence Squeals Of Glee: Apple To Finally Reveal iPhone 5 Oct. 4
  We are working on that. We are a non-profit and have a very small staff and a modest budget....
• Posted Guy From Green Day Kicked Off Southwest Because Of Saggy Pants to The Consumerist
  Add "saggy pants" to list of reasons you, or your favorite celebrity, can get kicked off Southwest Airlines. Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong objected to being told to pull up his pants by a flight attendant, and, according to an eyewitness who happens to be a producer for ABC 7 in San Francisco, the dispute resulted in both Mr. Armstrong and his companion being asked to leave the aircraft. Shortly after, Mr. Armstrong tweeted: Just got kicked off a southwest flight because my pants sagged too low! What the fuck? No joke! From KGO: "Basically, all the passengers were...
• Posted Scofflaw Lemon Tree Escapes Florida, Causes Interstate Incident to The Consumerist
  Florida is apparently under quarantine because of diseases that affect the quality of citrus fruit. This isn't information your average person from Wisconsin is in possession of, so when the United States Department of Agriculture wrote to one Waukesha woman to let her know that she'd have to give up her Meyer lemon tree, she was a little confused. "Unfortunately," the letter from the Department of Agriculture said, "Meyer Lemon Tree shipped your tree in violation of multiple quarantine laws enacted to prevent the spread of harmful plant diseases and pests," including citrus greening and citrus canker disease, reports the...

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