Consumerist
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Halloween
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween! Have fun and safe trick-or-treating out there. Don't eat any Pirate's Gold foil-wrapped coins, they've been recalled for melamine!
(Photo: krodinjw)
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Lenovo
Opposite Of EECB Gets Delayed Lenovo Laptop Order Expedited, Plus $5000 Loaner
When the Lenovo laptop Rick ordered for his college-bound daughter was super-duper delayed in arriving and he hadn't heard anything from the company, he did the opposite of an EECB (executive email carpet bomb). Instead of blasting his complaint to every single executive he could find, he wrote a well-crafted letter laser-targeted at a single individual, the SVP of operations. The result? An email from the Chief of Staff in the CEO's office. His order was expedited, and, in the meantime, they got a $5000 "Reserve Edition" leather-wrapped laptop as a loaner. Here's his letter that got him the fix: More » -
Geek Squad
Geek Squad's Unionizing Efforts Met By Best Buy's Concerned Bulk Email
Emails are shooting around to Geek Squad employees, encouraging them to join the Communications Workers of America union, so Best Buy retorts with emails of its own to voice its concerns. In an email sent by corporate management, Best Buy spoke of its concerns about unions, that unions would hinder its ability to speak with and negotiate with each Geek Squad employee individually. For, there's nothing like the closeness created when one employee negotiates with a hydra. That's just one fun piece of FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) in the email, posted inside... More » -
unacceptable food
Man Finds Mouse Baked Into His Hot Dog Buns
A North Carolina man bought some hot dog buns that came with a little surprise inside. No, it wasn't a prize. "I see the little ears. Clearly that's a tail. I don't know what that is, part of his leg or something," the man told NBC. More » -
Roundups
Top Posts Of The Week
25 Most Expensive Colleges For 2008-2009
Dress Your Daughter As Pirate Wench For Halloween
Recession Watch: McDonald's Cracks Down On Sauce Scofflaws
How Outsourced Call Centers Are Costing Millions In Identity Theft
Is It OK To Use Credit Cards For Everything, If You Pay Them Off Every Month?Get this emailed to your inbox weekly by signing up here.
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Health
Consumer Reports: Why Are Companies Lying About Putting Nanoparticles In Your Sunscreen?
Little is known about how nanoparticles — ultra-small particles that are so teeny that they can have different physical properties than "macro" sized particles. For example, says Consumer Reports, carbon becomes 100 times stronger than steel, aluminum turns highly explosive, and gold melts at room temperature. What do titanium dioxide or zinc oxide do? Well, whatever it is — it may be in your sunscreen without your knowledge. More » -
Recalls
Batteries From Dell, Toshiba, and HP Laptops Recalled
35,000 laptop batteries from laptops sold from 2004-2006 have been recalled for fire and burn hazards. There have been 17 fires and 2 burns associated with these batteries, so if you've got one, make sure you take care of this issue. More » -
No more free water
McDonald's: Want Water? You Will Pay For It.
Free cups of water at McDonald's are the next victim of the recession it seems. Reader Michael sent us this photo of a sign at McDonald's that proclaims the end to the free cup of water era. He says the cashier told him it was a "business decision." More » -
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Nikon
Circuit City Sells Counterfeit Camera For $1134.99, Customer Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Circuit City sold Ronald a fake camera for $1134.99, and now they're holding the fake and his money hostage. The camera was no Kodak disposable, but a Nikon D90 Digital SLR. When he opened the box at home, inside was a D50 covered with crappy D90 stickers and affixed with a fake serial plate. Circuit City should give him his money back or a new D90. Why should Ronald be punished for Circuit City's inability to maintain control over their supply chain? He shouldn't. He should file a chargeback with his credit card company. Ronald's letter of complaint to Circuit City's consumer affairs group (consumer_affairs@circuitcity.com), inside... More » -
Money meltdown
Economy: "Consumers Have Thrown In The Towel"
Consumer spending is down and credit card defaults are up! More » -
Recessions
This Is Going To Be A Bad Recession
GDP fell .3% in the 3rd quarter of 2008, compared to 2.8% gain in the second quarter. While a recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, everyone can see the party is cashed. Marketwatch wrote, "Economists expect the economy to contract in the final three months of this year and the first three months of 2009, with the nation's unemployment rate pegged to rise near the 8% mark." Housing bust + oil shock + financial crisis + rising unemployment + high levels of personal debt and low saving rates = sad America. This can mean only one thing. Now is the time to enact my plan for WPA-style moon-farming programs.
GDP falls 0.3% in third quarter on dive in spending [MarketWatch]
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Shipping battle
Overnight Shipping Battle! FedEx Vs. USPS Vs. UPS
In the battle of the overnight shipping, which service reigns supreme? Is it FedEx? Or UPS and its long-haired whiteboard dude? Or the folks in blue at the Postal Service? More » -
Flickr
Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds
Here are five wonderful photos that readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, chosen because they're both neat and could possibly be used in a Consumerist post. Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers go and upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click "Join Group?" up on the top right, and start hitting "send to group" on your individual photos you want to add to the pool.
Caption: "my 27th secret is a secret because i'm ashamed of it, but here it goes. i've got $13k in credit card debt, mostly racked up years ago from a combination of foolishness and being broke. thankfully i at least have decent APRs."
Photo: me and the sysop More » -
Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time Ends November 2nd
We just wanted to remind you, in case your electronics didn't get the message, that Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday, November 2nd at 2:00 a.m. local daylight time. More » -
Show Us Your Verizon Face
"It's Been 35 Days, Can Someone PLEASE Properly Install FiOS?"
Reader David has been trying to get his Verizon FiOS installed and running for 35 days now. He's escalated his complaint to the highest level and it seems that Verizon is simply powerless to fix the problem. We'd ordinarily suggest he cancel and use another company — but he's locked into Verizon by his homeowner's association. Even if he doesn't use it (and currently, since it's not working, he's not using it) he has to pay for it. More » -
Midwest Airlines
How Midwest Airlines Is Like Schlitz
How is Midwest Airlines like Schlitz beer? A traveler angry over how Midwest's wider business seats now cost an extra $50 explains. [Upgrade: Travel Better] -
Badvertising
A World Where A 340 FICO Is "Excellent"
At first glance, this ad for CreditReportAmerica seems to have the credit score system reversed, with 350-619 listed as "excellent" and 750-840 listed as "poor"...but then you realize it's actually a graphical depiction of the system shady mortgage brokers used to get when whoring up the sub-prime mortgage orgy. Travel blogger Mark Ashley says he spotted the ad on the frontpage of Yahoo Finance. At the bottom, the ad says the service does not include credit scores. Remember folks, the place to get a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com. -
Gamefly
Reach Gamefly Executive Customer Service
Here's the info to escalate your complaint up to the top of the Gamefly corproate heap. Says the reader who sent this in, "I left a message and sent an email and 20 minutes later a manager called and fixed my problem in 5 minutes. It was like magic, delicious fairy sparkly consumery magic." More »
New York, 12:34 AM
Fri Nov 13
26 posts in the last 24 hours
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