mark-ashley
—>For those who don't obsessively read the bylines at the bottom right of every post, to see who offered up the pro-consumer post of the moment, you may not have noticed an additional name — Mark Ashley — in the roster of Consumerists today. (It's been a few months since I've posted here.) My normal blog home is Upgrade: Travel Better, where the subject is travel, the outlook is always pro-consumer, and the motto is "Living the First Class Life... at Coach Prices." Consider this your personal invitation. More »
—>(Disclaimer: The author owns JetBlue stock.)
With JetBlue back in the air, we wanted to commend their ability to make the best of a horrible situation. Before we do, Mark Ashley pointed out several weaknesses in JetBlue's Bill of Rights that we must first address. More »
—>Why are "free" frequent flyer miles taxed, asks Katie. More »
—>The Firefox vs. Internet Explorer debates are much like the Mac vs. PC wars. Everyone seems to choose sides, and the Firefox crew proselytizes much like Mac owners do. More »
—>A comforting thought for anyone whose fear of flying has them questioning the safety of the airplane: If the pilot says it's safe, you can take some comfort in getting onboard. After all, the pilot's life is on the line, too, if anything would go wrong. More »
—>A generation from now, the phrase "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs" may have no meaning. "Magically delicious" may go the way of the Corvair. More »
—>Maybe it's because of the nice sunny weather we're having after days and days of dreary, grey weather, but we're in a good mood today. And our good mood means we're less inclined to take the all-companies-suck-all-the-time perspective that some readers seem to think we need to be employing. Sometimes, believe it or not, companies screw up and then actually fix the problem. More »
—>The do-not-call list added hurdles to telemarketers trying to cold call to sell you vinyl siding. Then Tivo slowed down television advertising. Spam-filters, as much as they still kinda suck, are constantly being tweaked to limit the influx of marketing to your inbox. That leaves texting, the last great frontier in intrusive advertising. More »
You might think that going after car dealers for shady dealings is just too obvious and easy for the Consumerist. So it's not just any car dealer story that rises to the top of our hallowed frontpage. More »
—>Reader Alexa (or is it "Alex a" ?? Either there's a spacebar issue, or someone is capitalization-challenged...) is the proud holder of an AOL Visa credit card, which provides the ultimate in credit card rewards: Free AOL service! More »
—>Let's say you're a bank. Why don't we say you're Bank of America. Sure, Bank of America. More »
—>After George Bush announced the United States' intentions to build a base on the moon, as a launching pad for exploration to Mars, he got a lot of mail from Germans looking to make a killing in real estate. More »
Reader Kristin gets the double whammy of poor service from online travel agency Orbitz.com. More »
—>Looking out the window of a British Airways 747, passengers might have been shocked to see flames shooting out the engine, like the afterburners on a military jet at an air show. But this was no air show, and the soundtrack did not include the Scorpions' "Rock You Like a Hurricane." More »
—>Every once in a while, there's a business model that's so brilliantly evil, you just have to respect it, even while you bemoan its lack of ethics and its blatant disregard for the human spirit. More »
—>We're not sure what's more horrifying: The fact that half of British schoolchildren eat a pack of potato chips (or crisps, if you prefer) every single day, or the fact that such a rate of chip consumption means you're ingesting more than a gallon of vegetable oil every year. More »
—>Reader Bill is moving, and called local atom mill Ameren to get his electric service hooked up. All well and good, until they transferred him over to another outfit for his "confirmation." More »
For Jewish Consumerists, the high holy days are nigh, and the expense may be greater than ever. More »
The price of your Juan Valdez-approved stimulant fix is going up October 3, when Starbucks is raising the price of its coffee drinks by five cents across the board, in all its North American stores. More »
