Consumerist
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customer service
TechGearNow Calls You "Very Rude" For Declining Overpriced HDMI Cables
After ordering a TV from TechGearNow, Reid noticed two notes on his account asking him to call to confirm his order. It turns out they wanted to sell him an HDMI cable and warranty for $60, which he declined. The next time he checked his account, he saw the above note.
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The Chicago Tribune is reporting that yesterday's post-Christmas sales were lackluster for retailers. We don't know about the rest of you, but we were way too full of eggnog and cookies to actually get up and go shopping.
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tax free shopping
Retailers Beg Government To Create Tax-Free Shopping Holidays To Save Them
The National Retail Federation has asked President-elect Obama to declare three tax-free shopping holidays next year. More » -
circuit city
Man Finally Gets His $130 Back From Circuit City
In an update and conclusion, reader Sean let us know he finally got satisfaction regarding his story that we posted, "Circuit City Credits Wrong Card For $130 Return, Sends You Away With Nothing." More » -
circuit city
Circuit City Credits Wrong Card For $130 Return, Sends You Away With Nothing
UPDATE: Man Finally Gets His $130 Back From Circuit City
Sean writes:
I returned a product [yesterday] to the Appleton, WI Circuit City with a gift receipt. The clerk accepted the returned product, but mistakenly credited the original purchaser's credit card (I am not the original purchaser) for the return. After informing me of this, I told her that I did not purchase this product, it was given to me (thus, the gift receipt) and that I intended to return it for store credit so I could purchase a different product. I was told that since the return had been processed and credited to the original purchaser's credit card, nothing could be done. I was advised to contact the original purchaser and try to collect the money myself.
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citibank
Forever 21 Aftershocks? Citibank Cancels Cards Due To Retailer Security Breach
We've received queries from readers telling us that their Citibank cards have been replaced, and asking whether we've heard about any new security breach. Other than Forever 21 we haven't, so we're wondering whether they're responsible for the stories below. More » -
credit blocking
Don't Let Credit Blocks Eat Up Your Available Balance
Hotels and rental agencies like to carve out the full cost of their services on your credit or debit card before you pay in full. This credit blocking can catch anyone who sticks near their minimum or maximum balance off guard when they try to use their card. Inside, learn how to keep retailers from unexpectedly clogging your credit and debit cards with unwanted blocks. More » -
circuit city
Circuit City Says Rogue Firedog Was Wrong, Refunds $40 'Repair' Fee
Last week we wrote about a Circuit City customer who was charged $40 without warning for "repairs" to a brand new computer. We received several explanations from Circuit City insiders, both in the comments and through email, that the repair was mandatory—Acer and Circuit City had agreed that instead of pulling the PCs, the retailer's Firedog techs would flash the BIOS in-store upon purchase. What was unclear was how or why this would fall under the Firedog "Quickstart" service, which is optional and includes things like removing shortcuts from your desktop and setting up your background. (Seriously, check it out here.) Yesterday we received the following interesting email from Circuit City HQ. More » -
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firedog
Circuit City Firedog Charges $40 To 'Fix' Computer You Just Bought
Update: Circuit City says the repair should have been free. Here's their response. Travis writes that a friend of his just bought a new computer from Circuit City, and after turning down all of the Firedog's "it won't work unless you also buy this" offers, he noticed a $40 fee on his receipt. Turns out the associate claims he had to flash the computer's BIOS or Vista wouldn't work. Travis writes, "Regardless of the fact that Vista booted up just fine with out the update, he was more disturbed with the fact that Circuit City would sell him a computer that they knew didn't work, or so they say." So does Circuit City sell computers that don't work without a preliminary repair, or do they lie in order to generate extra fees? More » -
macys
Macy's Confirms It Never Did Business With Queens Sweatshop
Last week, news broke that a sweatshop in Queens, NYC was producing clothing for several large U.S. retailers, while overworking its mainly Chinese immigrant employees and cheating them out of wages. At the time, Macy's announced it was cooperating with New York's Department of Labor and investigating the matter internally. Now the company has confirmed that it never did business with the sweatshop—in fact, it investigated it twice in 2007 while evaluating potential suppliers and rejected it for shoddy record keeping. Use your crazy Macy's coupons all you want, readers. More » -
phone numbers
Updated: Fry's Electronics Home Office Company Directory
Inside, the Fry's Electronics Home Office corporate directory. Some of these extensions are duplicates, but the list seems to work in general. If you're having trouble getting traction on a customer service issue with the notoriously difficult to reach company, this could be your lodestar. Update: An insider went through the giant phone list and broke out the upper-level people by their job area. More »
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Steve & Barry's, the super cheap clothing store that's like H&M with all the Euro-DNA removed, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Analysts say it has to do with declining credit markets throwing it into a liquidity crisis, higher commodities and fuel prices, and oh yeah, razor-thin margins on those $9 sneakers. [Marketwatch]
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bannings
Newegg.com Holds Woman's Account Hostage Until She Gets Her Brother To Reverse Chargeback
Newegg seemed to think Jenn was responsible for her brother's chargeback with them. When she tried to place an order using her own name and credit card number, but with the same shipping address as her brother, her account was suspended. Jenn figured she could resolve the problem with a conversation or two with Newegg's customer service department, but as you'll see from the transcript below, Newegg's CSR blatantly says Jenn's account won't be approved until her brother reverses his chargeback. More » -
readers
Geek Squad Laptop Comedy of Errors
Reader George is having serious trouble with Geek Squad. It started when he bought a laptop from Best Buy a few years ago. He sent it in to get a loose AC jack replaced. They replace it. Two months later, it's loose again. It's replaced again, but this time, when his picks it up, the door to the DVD/CD drive is warped and won't open. George's in a hurry, so he asked the Geek to make a note about the damage, and he'll bring it back for repair. From here on out, nothing goes right. First they can't find his account, then they can't find the note, then they can't find his computer, then they can't work their own computers. His full story, inside. More » -
tips
10 Things To Remember When Shopping At Best Buy
An employee of Best Buy apparently thinks too many days have gone without us posting something about the store, so he sent in his list of 10 things he thinks every customer should know when shopping there. Items 10 through 7 are all about warranties and service plans, so the usual caveats apply (make sure you know what's really covered, and that it's worth the extra cost to you). #4, however, is good to know: "Its pretty much pointless to call Corporate/Customer Service Hotline—they can not override a store's decision. Best bet is to call or email a District Manager or higher." More » -
badvertising
Would You Take Your (Really Hot) Kid To The Abercrombie & Fitch Emergency Department And Trauma Center?
The once-popular—surely it isn't still?—teenaged sexpot clothing store Abercrombie & Fitch is shelling out $10 million to build a new emergency room and trauma center at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Now a group is speaking out against the idea of prominently naming the kids' ER after the store, which the hospital has been hinting at in announcements. The reason the hospital is called "Nationwide Children's Hospital" is because Nationwide Insurance gave it $50 million. Up next: the Budweiser End Zone Birthing Center, and then the American Apparel Teenaged Pregnancy Wing. More » -
rankings
Latest ACSI Survey Is Out: You Really Like Dollar General
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its latest scores of retail businesses, so we thought we'd take a look at the department store rankings by constructing a handy graph. When it comes to customer satisfaction, apparently Dollar General is doing something right—and Wal-Mart, as usual, is doing lots of things wrong. More » -
retailers
Recession Fears Bring "Mass Luxury Movement" To An End
The aspirational upper-middle-class customer who helped companies like Coach and Saks post double-digit growth in the past few years has disappeared due to the current rotten economy, writes BusinessWeek. The result: luxury goods companies that expanded their product lines to appeal to the not-quite-rich now have $150 purses and nobody to buy them. Coach went so far as to offer coupons recently "to drum up sales." More »
retailers
New York, 2:25 AM
Fri Jan 9
28 posts in the last 24 hours
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