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Orbitz
Orbitz: Pay For Ticket We Never Sold You Or Else
Imagine a mugger holding a gun to you and saying, "I need you to pay for that gold watch I gave you last week." Confused, you say, "Uh, you never gave me a gold watch." The mugger says, "Hey buddy, pay me for that watch or else..." He cocks the hammer. Ok, that's a little melodramatic, but essentially that's what Orbitz is doing to Josh; they want him to pay for a ticket they never sold him, or else they'll send him to collections. More »
chinese poison train
Mattel's Toy Blood Pressure Cuff Was About 5% Lead
Just how much lead was in that toy blood pressure cuff Mattel were so reluctant to recall back in February? The one they said "me federal regulations and international consumer product safety standards?" Well, a reader's scientist friend working in lab tested it on the equipment there. According to his results, the amount of lead in the paint was 4-5% lead by weight. "For reference," he writes, "U.S. EPA HUD guidelines set the action limit for paint at 0.5% lead by weight. Any level over 0.5% is considered to be contaminated...Lead paint used on houses 50 years ago had lead content of 2-15%."
Morton van lines
Movers Turns Musicians' New Zealand Adventure Into Fiasco
Ah, New Zealand, the land of kiwis and hobbits. Daniel and his girlfriend went there to set up a studio and get paid to do recording sessions. They're musicians. They hired Morton Van Lines to ship their equipment from LA to NZ, but after over seven months of struggle, they got it, or their money back.Turns out the equipment was shipped to the wrong country and then returned to the USA. Maybe if Morton Van Lines ever returned a phone call or an email it could have been straightened out. But nay. Here's Daniel's story... More »
Most Popular Stories
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- Front Loading Washers Have A Love Affair With Mold (64 comments, 5,078 views)
Telemarketers
Angry Telemarketer Calls Back, Chews You Out For Hanging Up
This telemarketer has had it up to here with all of you people at home hanging up on her every time she needs to sell you something! Randall Whited in Austin, Texas, received an earful recently, when he answered the phone shortly after hanging up on the unnamed telemarketer. More »
dollar stores
This Dollar Store Taunts You With The Past
Can there be any sadder indication of our toilet-water economy than a dollar store that references its own happier, cheaper past? This New York City dollar store has pulled down its old sign, "Everything 99¢ Or Less," and rebranded.
More »
Download cap
Comcast: 250 GB Cap Coming October 1st?
Broadband Reports is saying that they've confirmed through several sources that Comcast is going to be instituting a 250GB cap on their high speed internet.More »
Appliances
Front Loading Washers Have A Love Affair With Mold
Consumer Reports says that despite the fact that front-loading washers are more efficient than traditional top-loading washers, they do have one major drawback. Mold. And the problem is severe enough that there have been several class action lawsuits filed against LG, Whirlpool, and Sears, whose Kenmore front-loaders are made by Whirlpool. More »
Slate has an article about how unbelievably amazing it feels to get cheap glasses online. I can vouch for this. I often get compliments on a pair of glasses that cost me about $40. Hooray, Internet. [Slate] (Thanks, James !)
enzyte
Who's Smiling Now? Enzyte Scammer Gets 25 Years In Prison
Steve Warshak, founder of the company responsible for "Enzyte," has been sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $93,000, says the AP. U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel also ordered the company, along with other defendants, to forfeit more than $500 million that it bilked from consumers. More »
Money
Personal Finance Roundup
Using Your Health Savings Account as a "Super Roth" Investment Vehicle [Free Money Finance] "If you can afford to delay using your HSA funds and instead leave them invested, your payoff in retirement will be substantial."
Winning the Battle Against Low Quality Generics While Still Saving Money [The Simple Dollar] "The next time you go to the grocery store, actively replace all of your regular purchases with the low-end generics."
7 Nasty Airline Fees and How to Avoid Them [Smart Money] "Here are seven instances when fees are assessed and how to avoid them."
10 ways to spot 401(k) abuse [Bankrate] "Warning signs to help employees discover if their 401(k) contributions are being misused."
9 Things You Should Not Buy New [Crosswalk] "Here are the top 9 things you will be better off buying used."
— FREE MONEY FINANCE
(Photo: Kevin Dean)
Cars
Expensive Cars Are Cheap Right Now
Consumer Reports analyzed late-summer car deals and the results are none too surprising. The biggest incentives are on gas-gourgers and big vehicles, the cars no one wants right now. More »
Króna
The central bank of Iceland has increased overnight borrowing rates to 15.5%, meaning you can get some damn high yields investing in their currency. Those numbers piqued my interest.
More »
Earn 15.55% Return On Snow Wolves
The central bank of Iceland has increased overnight borrowing rates to 15.5%, meaning you can get some damn high yields investing in their currency. Those numbers piqued my interest.
More »
Checked bag fee
Northwest Airlines Begins Charging $15 For First Checked Bag Today
Reader Colin says he just got charged for his first checked bag on Northwest Airlines: 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 »
eepc
Update: EEEPC Return A Recursive Hellhole
Mike writes in with an update on what he's doing to get his Asus EEPC fixed. We think his number one way to solve the problem is to activate the extended warranty protection on his credit card. His reply to that is, "My credit card has an extended warranty but since it is still in warranty with Asus, that can't help." Not that we want to embarrass Mike, but since this can help other people, I need to point out that this isn't true. More »
Credit card reform
Once upon a time, Peter Finch won an Oscar for telling us to go to our window, open it, and yell, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore!" Now thousands and thousands of consumers are doing just that, but instead of yelling out their windows, they're yelling at the Federal Reserve in the form of a record breaking number of public comments about some proposed credit card reforms. Not as sexy as yelling like a madman, but far, far more effective.
More »
Consumers: We're Mad As Hell And We're Not Going To Charge It Anymore!
Once upon a time, Peter Finch won an Oscar for telling us to go to our window, open it, and yell, "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore!" Now thousands and thousands of consumers are doing just that, but instead of yelling out their windows, they're yelling at the Federal Reserve in the form of a record breaking number of public comments about some proposed credit card reforms. Not as sexy as yelling like a madman, but far, far more effective.
More »
