• success stories

    EECB Convinces Best Buy To Pay For Damage To Car

    Here's a good example of how to write an effective Executive Email Carpet Bomb, or EECB, to break through the "please hold" purgatory of the company's phone system. Alicia's car's bumper was scratched by a Best Buy employee, and calling consumer relations as directed proved fruitless. Now she's got a check in her hands from Best Buy to pay for the repairs.

    We have quite a few stories now about Best Buy responding favorably to EECBs, which goes to show that if you can find a way to reach the company's executives—and you write a good EECB—your odds of having your problem favorably resolved improves considerably. More »

    6:34 PM on Thu Nov 20 2008
    By Chris Walters
    10,590 views, 48 comments

    Most discussed Mless: ...46" TV in a Fit? wow... more »

  • bailout

    Alert: You Cannot Buy Consumerist With Doodle Money

    Our post last Friday gave people some great business ideas. We appreciate the offers, but we must insist that you do not try to purchase Consumerist with doodle currency that you have minted yourself, probably while drinking. You can, however, try to bail out the auto industry with it if you want. More »

    1:07 PM on Mon Nov 17 2008
    By Chris Walters
    13,717 views, 73 comments

    Most discussed avenger339: First order of business - 'shop the "DO NOT SPEND" out of the spider. UNLIMITED MONEY more »

  • late payments

    Alert: You Cannot Send A Drawing Of A Spider As Payment

    David didn't have the money to pay his account (for some mystery service—we don't know what), so he decided to see if they'd accept a drawing instead. Turns out they won't. The email exchange that follows is hilarious, and much more entertaining for both parties than the old put-the-wrong-check-in-the-envelope trick. More »

    1:12 PM on Fri Nov 14 2008
    By Chris Walters
    111,387 views, 77 comments

    Most discussed balilanai: Fake but creative. No evidence that this was not made up for entertainment. The company name is not mentioned and more »

  • employment

    The Best Cities To Live In During A Recession

    BusinessWeek asks, assuming that we keep sliding down into an official recession, where are the best places to live? They've pulled data from PolicyMap.com and the U.S. Census to make some educated guesses about local economies that will be least damaged by a large-scale downturn. They reason that no matter how the national economy fares, there will always be government jobs and a need for health care; higher education institutes provide a cushion for local economies, too. More »

    6:45 PM on Wed Oct 15 2008
    By Chris Walters
    32,308 views, 82 comments

    Most discussed Ausoleil: I thought that the entry on Durham and saying that people commute from there to jobs in Raleigh was amusing. more »

  • personal finance

    Test Your Personal Finance Skills With These Quizzes

    Kiplinger has two quizzes named "Financial Truth or Bunk?", and they go through some of the more popular tips you've heard about personal finance, including lines like:
    • You can't lose money investing in bonds.
    • Stay-at-home moms or dads need life insurance, too.
    • Don't buy a red car — it'll cost more to insure.
    • Dollar-cost averaging boosts investment returns.
    • The percentage of stock in your portfolio should equal 100 minus your age.
    More »

    11:14 AM on Thu Oct 9 2008
    By Chris Walters
    4,857 views, 38 comments

    Most discussed floraposte: I got an utterly bogus 83%, including scoring correctly on one question that I didn't understand any of. However, more »

  • banking

    Stop Payment Orders On Checks Only Last Six Months

    Jennifer says National City Bank has contacted her fiance to inform him that the stop payment order he placed on a check is about to expire, and he'll have to pay another $32 fee to renew it for six more months. She writes, "Have you heard of stop payment now only being 'suspend payment for six months'? This seems to me to be extortion." We're going to come down on the side of the banks in this case—but because of the recurring nature of the fee, it might just be cheaper to close the account. More »

    12:01 PM on Wed Oct 8 2008
    By Chris Walters
    9,129 views, 52 comments

    Most discussed TheWraithL98: most banks have a policy of not taking checks past 6 months. virtually every printed check has a disclaimer on more »

  • economy

    Jim Cramer Tells America To Get Out Of The Stock Market

    Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money" and dedicated yelling enthusiast is apparently no longer content to behave strangely on his own television program, so he's taking the crazy to the Today Show. More »

    2:59 PM on Mon Oct 6 2008
    By Meg Marco
    18,050 views, 102 comments

  • how to

    The Idiot-Proof Way To Securely Use Public Wi-Fi

    We talk a lot on this blog about personal data and privacy, but not so much about how to secure that data on your own computer. That's because a.) we're not Lifehacker and b.) the solutions frequently bloat into crazy, jargon-filled recipes that scare away the non-IT crowd. Not this time! For all you novices, here is a single idea you should consider that will help keep your personal data personal, and make your identity that much harder to steal. More »

    Feature

    1:30 PM on Mon Oct 6 2008
    By Chris Walters
    46,444 views, 76 comments

    Most discussed mariospants: Just a question for you uber geeks: after a little researching, I could find no real way (outside of the more »