Consumerist
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liability
G.M. Agrees To Remain Responsible For Shoddy Cars After Bankruptcy
General Motors has reached an agreement with the government to let consumers file what are known as product-liability claims after the company escapes from bankruptcy protection. The big win for consumers means that if a manufacturing defect in an old G.M. causes injuries in the future, consumers will still be able to sue G.M. in state court. More » -
insurance
What Happens When Your Life Insurer Kicks The Bucket?
Life insurance polices are backed by state guarantee associations, but the coverage offered varies drastically from state to state. Some products, like variable annuities, can be recovered in full because of the way they're structured, but if you have term life insurance or a universal policy, you should know the limitations of your state's coverage... More » -
cellphones
Are Cellphone Exclusivity Deals Bad For Consumers?
Yesterday, four U.S. Senators sent a letter to FCC acting chairman Michael Copps requesting an investigation into whether exclusivity deals between handset makers and national carriers are ultimately good for consumers, and they plan to hold a hearing on the issue on Wednesday, June 16th. They join a growing number of people and organizations, including the Rural Cellular Association (RCA), who say exclusivity deals benefit no one but the carriers and manufacturers. More » -
recession
Consumer Confidence Is Up. Wait, Compared To What?
Do you feel more confident? According to the Conference Board, consumer confidence is up to its highest level in eight months, and made its biggest increase in six years. More » -
arbitration
Forced Arbitration: You Lose, Now Pay For Our Lunch
Mandatory binding arbitration, which corporations use to dodge accountability for their discrimination, negligence, or harassment, is a caricature of justice that offers no protection to consumers or employees. It's also terrible for small business owners, as one couple found out. More » -
mandatory binding arbitration
Forced Arbitration: As Fair As A Sucker Punch
We at Consumerist really hate mandatory binding arbitration, the faux-legal sucker punch that companies deliver when they screw up and you try to sue, and so should you. We've talked about its evils a lot, but no one can describe this legal abomination as well as the victims themselves, so this week we'll let them speak. More » -
consumers
Time's Portrait Of The American Shopper
Time interviewed Paco Underhill, a retail consultant and the author of Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, to find out how the average American consumer shops and thinks these days. Turns out, according to Underhill, there are three types of "average consumer" out there now, and—you may have noticed this already—the era of the big box retailer is in decline. More » -
poll
Walmart CEO Thinks Consumers Have Finally Learned That Debt Is Bad
Retailers are hoping that the credit crunch ends and consumers will start spending like crazy again — but Walmart's CEO Lee Scott doesn't think that's going to happen. More » -
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consumer product safety improvement act
Hooray! CPSC Agrees To Exempt Some Natural Items From Product Safety Act
Step back from the ledge, makers of lovingly hand-carved wooden dolls: the Consumer Product Safety Commission has lurched into action and tentatively agreed to exempt some materials and items from the lead-testing requirements in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. More » -
recession watch
Welcome To The Island Of Misfit Luxury Imports...
If you're looking for a photograph to illustrate how our economy has changed over the past few months, take a look at this. No, that's not a parking lot in a town where everyone has the same taste. It's the Port of Long Beach, where "thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused," unwanted by the dealers who used to sell them. They're imports — Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan orphans. More » -
shaws
Shaw's Wants You To Shop More With Their Wheeled Baskets
Shaw's has wised up to the trick of using a basket instead of a shopping cart to physically limit your grocery purchases, and they've come up with a creative workaround: convertible baskets that you can drag behind you on wheels when they become too heavy to carry. More » -
marketing
Study: Baby Boomers Are "Savvy Shoppers" Who Brand-Jump More Than Younger Generations
It's time once again to play Categorize The Shopping Public, this time using a survey commissioned by TV Land to convince advertisers that its Boomer-centric programming is relevant. If you or someone you know is between the ages of 40-59, you won't want to miss this very important message—but to summarize it for the ADD crowd, it seems younger folks are (slightly) more likely to choose a brand based on fashion and hype, whereas Boomers are (slightly) less brand-loyal and seek greater value. This runs counter to the conventional wisdom that younger consumers are savvier shoppers, and gives Boomers something to gloat over—before they forget what it is they're gloating about. Ha ha! Old people are so old! More » -
cheer
Cheer Color Guard's Newer Scoop Wastes More Detergent, Money
Adapting to the threat of informed consumers, the insidious Grocery Shrink Ray has mutated to enlarge select items. The Grocery Shrink Ray is seen here needlessly inflating the size of the scoop bundled with Cheer Color Guard detergent. Is Cheer encouraging consumers to burn through their product faster, or is the new Cheer simply less effective? Reader Mark investigates, inside...
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utilities
Energy Companies Win Permission To Steal $3 Billion From Customers
Westerners are stuck paying $3 billion to energy companies that colluded to gang-rape the free market. California, Washington, and Nevada were planning to return the money to customers, but the Supreme Court recently ruled that the industry manipulated the market, fair and square. More » -
consumer confidence
Hey, We've Got The Lowest Consumer Confidence Since The First Bush Administration!
Consumers are hurting these days and they haven't hurt this bad since Papa Bush was in office way back in 1992. More » -
early adopters
It's Official: Early Adopters Are Jackasses
A new study by Mindset Media and Nielsen Online has created a better profile of gadget lovers who tend to buy new technology early and often—and it's no longer believed that they're just "wealthy young males." Instead, the early adopter type tends to score high in leadership and assertiveness, but low in modesty.
More »Avid tech consumers were also likely to be low in modesty and may be perceived as conceited or arrogant by others.
Low levels of modesty also correlate with what Welch calls "badge-buying", or a tendency to buy luxury brands. "So there's an element of pride in being able to have the latest and greatest, not just in the realm of technology, but in all other areas."
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competition
Cable: The Worst Deal Of The Decade
The price of everything in the telecom world has fallen over the past decade, except for cable. Cable is now 77% more expensive than it was ten years ago, an increase that dwarfs the rate of inflation and makes telecom executives salivate. The Times looks with pity on all of us who splay our wallets wide for the industry, and asks if there's any salvation other than à la carte pricing. More » -
justice
Consumers Finally Allowed To Speak Out Against Abusive Credit Card Practices
Consumers were finally allowed this week to testify in favor of a proposed Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights without being forced to sign waivers allowing their creditors to release private financial records to the public. The three cardholders who testified lambasted their credit card companies for penalizing them even though they abided by their cardholder agreements. More »
consumers
New York, 3:23 PM
Sun Jul 5
6 posts in the last 24 hours
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