death

Shortly after surviving the death of her husband and a life-threatening medical crisis, Ann Howe of Seattle decided to refinance her home mortgage. Everything went smoothly until the bank informed her that the refinance couldn't be completed because the credit bureau Experian was convinced that she was dead.  More »

If you've logged in to Facebook lately, you may have noticed the site's suggestions on the right-hand side telling you to write on the wall of someone you haven't communicated with in a while. This is merely annoying for most of us, but sort of a punch in the gut when the person you're being told to get back in touch with is dead.  More »

Walmart now provides for their customers from cradle to grave. Quite literally—since you can not only purchase cribs there, you can now order caskets and funerary urns from the mega-retailer's Web site.  More »

"Consumers Urged to Stop Use of Flammable Wearing Apparel," says the warning on the Consumer Product Safety Commission Web site. You would think so, wouldn't you? But Blair, the catalog where your grandmother probably gets all of her clothes, has expanded their recall of chenille sleepwear after nine deaths and another reported chenille fire.  More »

Chinese state media says that a woman accused of shoplifting was allegedly beaten to death by 2 employees of a Walmart in eastern China. A police report says that the employees stopped the woman on the street near her home (which is also near the Walmart) and demanded to see her receipt. One report says she refused because she was unsure of the employee's identities, another says she handed it over, then took it back.  More »

The Hillsborough County, Florida medical examiner's office reported this afternoon that toxicology results show boisterous master pitchman Billy Mays had used cocaine sometime in the days before his death. This may have contributed to his fatal heart attack.  More »

It's garage sale season, so our esteemed sister publication, Consumer Reports, has put together a list of 10 recalled children's products to avoid buying secondhand. This one, in particular, has a defect that should become obvious upon glancing at the accompanying photo.  More »

The BBC reports that there is now conclusive evidence that tanning beds can cause cancer—and not just Tacky Cancer, which makes you look orange, but real live go-see-a-doctor cancer. However, sun exposure and tanning bed radiation both pale in comparison to your mole count, according to an earlier report.  More »

Gidget, the tiny Chihuahua star of Taco Bell's "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" ad series in the '90s, in addition to other ad and film work, died yesterday of an apparent stroke. She (yes, she) was fifteen years old.  More »

Let's face it, Michael Jackson had a spotty record when it came to managing his money. Sure, he earned a gazillion dollars making music and was savvy enough to buy rights to Beatles' tunes, but in his latter days he also spent lavishly, millions more than his annual income, and he racked up a sizeable debt. In other words, you wouldn't want him as your financial advisor.  More »

Next week, direct-response marketing juggernaut Telebrands will roll out a new ad campaign for Jupiter Jack, a tiny gadget intended to turn your car radio into a giant cell phone speakerphone. The star of the spot is recently deceased pitchman Billy Mays.   More »

Ticket holders for the late Michael Jackson's planned 50-concert series in London will receive either full refunds or "souvenir tickets." We're not sure what the latter means. Maybe they're bronzed? Laminated? Holograms? [New York Times]  More »

HI CONSUMERISTS, LAURA NORTHRUP HERE FOR THE BILLY MAYS TRIBUTE POST! Billy is no longer with us, but his oeuvre remains. Let's take a look back at the ads, products, and gentle self-mockery that made Billy a master among pitchmen.  More »

Life is full of surprises and challenges. Luckily, there's a tax form for just about all of them. Via Kiplinger's, here's 14 major life events that allow for smart tax-saving moves, and how to make those moves.  More »

A non-profit group recently surveyed the prices at 49 different mortuaries and crematoriums in San Diego, and found that "prices vary widely, with some mortuaries charging nearly twice as much as others for similar combinations of services." Although the study focuses on one city, it's a good reminder that you should check around and not assume that pricing is consistent throughout the industry.  More »

Here's a morbid bit of creative accounting, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal: if you work for Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, or Wells Fargo, your employer may have taken out a life insurance policy on you.  More »

How do you verify the identity of your cat after he's been cremated? Matthew has no idea if the box he received really contains Spike's cremains or the cremains of someone else's pet. His vet offered to print out a new certificate with the correct name on it, but that seems less like a "solution" than a "waste of printer ink" designed to placate without providing answers.  More »

Someone wrote to us this week that a person in his family is terminally ill, and that he was told "that the cost of the casket, funeral, viewing, and burial would possibly exceed 12,000 dollars." He thinks that's an "exorbitant amount of money," and so do we. There is no reason to pay that much money for a kick-ass funeral that people will be talking about for years to come. You don't need to be a cheapskate to manage this, either—you just need to be aware of your rights and know what traps to watch out for. Here's our list of what to do the next time you have to plan a funeral.  More »

Stephanie Bemister says that after our post went up Facebook contacted her and agreed to take down the facebook page of her dead brother, an award-winning investigative journalist and Nazi hunter. "Thank you again, Ben," she wrote. "My family has no words that truly express how we feel." Previously Facebook told her they wouldn't remove the page because...  More »

UPDATE: Facebook Agrees To Take Down Dead Relative's Page. Facebook thinks it knows better than the sister of the deceased journalist Bill Bemister about what to do with his Facebook page. Stephanie Bemister sent them a copy of his death certificate and asked it get taken down for privacy and respect purposes. Unlike every other single social networking site she dealt with, Facebook said no. They have a better idea. Stephanie's letter inside...  More »