ask-the-consumerists

Adam and his wife have a question for the Consumerist hive mind. He says that the purchase of his house one year ago included a home warranty. Or, well, it was supposed to. When something went wrong, they tried to file a claim and learned that the agent who listed the house never mailed in the warranty paperwork.   More »

What do you do when you're unhappy with a transaction and the merchant wants to make things right, but you think their terms are unreasonable? That's what Raymond wants to know. He tells us that Aldo is willing to price match after sending him a marked down item that he paid full price for online, but thinks they want him to go too far to prove it.  More »

Learning about how money works is important for children. But today, when all of our transactions seem to take with the mysterious swipe of a card, or inside a computer. So how to teach children about money when nobody uses cash anymore?  More »

Consumerist needs to get on your mobile device so bad it hurts. But first, we need to know which platform you use. Take our poll and tell us!  More »

If you faced a shortage of trick-or-treaters Saturday night, or are overwhelmed by the stash your own offspring brought home, you may be asking yourself, what the heck am I going to do with all this crap? You could always teach the kids a valuable life lesson by letting them chow down on candy until they get sick, but there are some better — and easier to clean up — solutions.  More »

Richard says his wife's Hotmail account was hacked, and now she can't get into her email or fix the problem via Microsoft's customers service online or over the phone. He writes:  More »

UPDATE: The gift-giver's identity has been discovered! Perhaps this is a better question for Miss Manners than Consumerist, but Chris needs help. See, a beautiful red KitchenAid mixer, an item on his Target wedding registry, arrived via FedEx with no clues as to who sent it. Adding to the confusion, the item doesn't appear to have come off the registry. Which seems to us to be the entire point of registries.  More »

Consumerist is going to interview the White House once again. This time, Consumerist readers get a chance to get answers about the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency.  More »

You reach for an item at your local grocery store, and notice that on the shelf next to it is a coupon thoughtfully left behind by another shopper. But wait, is this a thoughtful way to keep clipped coupons from going to waste? Or just a way for shoppers to feel good about themselves, but create more litter for grocery store employees to clean up?  More »

TD Bank customers, particularily former Commerce Bank ones, are still complaining about their paychecks and other transactions not posting. Other customers said they were being limited to $250 withdrawals. The problems arose Monday after they tried to combine their bank system with Commerce Bank's, which TD recently bought.  More »

Jeff has a quandary. He spotted his neighborhood mail carrier delivering his package in a way he didn't like. Jeff wants to know whether he should report his friendly, package-tossing mailman to the post office, or whether he should expect retribution.  More »

Our recent Zipcar electrical failure trilogy reminded us of a request from Consumer Reports Cars last week. For the November issue, they're looking for your stories of car battery failure, epic and otherwise. Do you have one to share?  More »

We mentioned last week that some companies have pulled their ads off Fox News host Glenn Beck's show in response to comments Beck made and the controversy that followed. Now there are reports that even more companies are pulling their ads from the show. We're curious whether any of this actually affects consumer opinion of a company, so we made a poll. Take it!  More »

A recent Huffington Post article wondered if talking about personal finance was "the final taboo." Talking about money can feel as revealing as a strip-tease with none of the fun, but for something as complex and individual as your financial future, a one-way conversation with the internet or personal finance columnists isn't enough.  More »