Discounts

Target Discontinues Coupon Due To Rampant Fraud

If you downloaded a web coupon that offered $5 off any $25 purchase at Target, you should know that you've been had. Someone altered a real coupon—removing the image and the word "toy," in order to make it seem like it applied to any purchase. The original undoctored coupon, which was e-mailed to 85,000 Target customers, was for $5 off any $25 toy purchase, and Target is now pulling the coupon due to the rampant fraud. More »

5:13 PM on Mon Jul 7 2008
By Meg Marco
4,113 views, 32 comments

bait and switch

Dell Reduces Instant Discount By $200 Somewhere Between Shopping Cart And Order Confirmation

Before we get to the typical bad-company shenanigans—in this case, Dell's $599 discount mysteriously shrank to $400 between when he placed it in his shopping cart and when he reached the confirmation screen—we want to share this bit of ridiculousness. Dell's CSR Vanessa gives us the scoop on Dell's sophisticated order fulfillment system:

Jack: Can you look at sales history today and verify whether you sold this system at $599 off today? This was to be my third dell purchase, now I will not purchase again!
ATG Vanessa: There isn't a cart history unfortunately.
Jack: Sales history! Actual people who purchased this system today!
ATG Vanessa: We don't keep record of that.
Jack: You're telling me dell does not know what it has sold today?
ATG Vanessa: Remember this is done online and there's some confidential information we usually erase to protect customers.
Jack: Like what computers you have to build?
ATG Vanessa: So no, there isn't a record where you can see how much have been sold.
Jack: How do you know what you have to ship?
ATG Vanessa: It depends on what we have available at the moment.

More »

1:27 PM on Fri May 30 2008
By Chris Walters
8,842 views, 53 comments

bad deals

This Toys "R" Us Discount Is Of Dubious Value

Dylan writes:

I saw this today at the Toy"R"Us store in Elizabeth, New Jersey and though you folks would be interested. This Lego kit (the Exo Force Sentai Fortress Battle Set) has a sign that indicates its original price was $19.99 and that it is on sale for $69.98. The sign helpfully indicates that this is a savings of negative $49.

We've seen fifty-cent adjustments in the wrong direction, but fifty dollars? That's pushing it.

4:25 PM on Thu Apr 10 2008
By Carey
7,299 views, 33 comments

Latest by n/a: I wouldn't rush to buy these yet -- if you wait a few weeks, you'll probably be able to save as much as negative $20. more »

leaks

Exclusive: AOL's Collections Guide Encourages Agents To Lie And Deceive

An anonymous tipster sent us AOL's 153 page internal collections guidebook for prying money out of delinquent account holders. The guide shows that AOL is following some of the debt industry's most egregious collection tactics by encouraging agents to deceive and lie to customers. After the jump we present AOL's scare tactics, tricks to negotiating a substantial discount, and the full collections guide. More »

6:00 PM on Sat Apr 5 2008
By Carey
12,500 views, 63 comments

Latest by WraithSama: @KD17: The writing's on the wall for AOL and NetZero. Neither have the ability to provide broadband access, only dial-up. Broadband usage is at an all-time high, and soon everyone will be on board. The market for these archaic companies more »

food

Restaurant Gives 25% Discount To Birthday Diners, Writes "Bug On Food" For Reason On Check

A restaurant in Dubai gave a 25% discount to a party of birthday diners after they found four bugs in their food. Says a restaurant official, "The guys thought being friendly and having a joke about the environment would relax the diners because it was a birthday, but unfortunately it didn't." We sort of think after the second or third bug, you should probably just comp the meal—and then shut down the restaurant for fumigation. More »

2:24 PM on Tue Mar 25 2008
By Chris Walters
4,535 views, 27 comments

Latest by n/a: Actually 'comping' is not done worldwide, it's probably a cultural thing. I know in my country (Netherlands) I've never been comped, they just give you a newly fixed plate or drink if there's something wrong with it, until you are more »

retail

Haggle With Chain Stores

The Times is reporting that recession-fearing chain stores like Best Buy, Home Depot, and Circuit City are increasingly more desperate to clinch sales by negotiating prices. Hit the jump to see how ordinary shoppers are wielding research and charisma to knock added savings out of retailers. More »

10:20 AM on Sun Mar 23 2008
By Carey
21,973 views, 66 comments

reverse discounts

Want To Use Amazon Prime? You'll Pay $50 More For This TomTom Unit

Steve was going to split the cost of a TomTom GPS Navigator unit with a friend so they could give it to his sister as a gift. They were having trouble figuring out how to split it, though, because Steve—who is a paying Amazon Prime member—was being offered the unit for $300, while his random stranger friend was seeing it for $50 less.
More »

8:32 PM on Mon Mar 3 2008
By Chris Walters
10,973 views, 103 comments

misleading

Is It Legal To Use Out Of Date List Prices For Comparison On Sales?

Last week we pointed out how Apple artificially inflates the discount of its refurbished units by using the original introductory list price as a comparison, even if the price has since dropped and the true list price is now lower. Now a reader writes in to say he caught Toys R Us doing the same thing on sale prices of Playstation 3 bundles and 30 gig Zunes. Our question: is this legal? New York City's consumer protection law seems to imply that—at least for retailers doing business in NYC—it's not, unless you clearly indicate the trail of price reductions, something neither company is doing. More »

3:23 PM on Wed Feb 27 2008
By Chris Walters
4,313 views, 52 comments

Latest by Beerad: @Curiosity: Oh, I hear ya, don't get me wrong. However, the states that tend to rank worst in education are places like Alabama, Mississippi, West Virginia and Arkansas -- they don't correlate to the list of best job market/highest quality-of-life more »

misleading

You Can't Discount The Past, Apple

A reader noticed that Apple is selling refurbished 8gb iPhones for $349, and they're listing the original price as $599. "Save 42% off the original price," says the Apple Store. Gosh, that's a huge savings! Wait... well sure, the original original price was $599, but we all know that Apple knocked that down fairly quickly, and now a brand new 8 gb model sells for $399—which means actually you're only saving 12.5% off the Real World Price Right Now of a brand new iPhone, if you went and bought it today. More »

12:01 AM on Sat Feb 23 2008
By Chris Walters
4,957 views, 41 comments

Latest by scottboone: Even worse with regards to this practice (which, as noted several times, Apple has been doing for far too long), is that Apple's retail prices are fixed by MAP or Minimum Advertised Pricing. That's the price that "authorized" retailers agree more »

haggling

Pick Up Some Haggling Tips At HowToHaggle.com

HowToHaggle.com is a short, easy-to-skim website devoted exclusively to the concept of haggling. It's not the world's most extensive resource, but the tips page lists 15 very good things to keep in mind the next time you want to score a better deal on a product. More »

9:15 AM on Mon Feb 4 2008
By Chris Walters
5,884 views, 13 comments

survey says

U.S. News: It's Your Own Damn Fault You Can't Redeem Rebates

U.S. News & World Report hates our inability to redeem rebates. If we only tried harder, they say, we might be able to conquer our "tendency to procrastinate and inability to follow multistep directions." Yes, that must be the problem. More »

6:39 PM on Sun Jan 27 2008
By Carey
6,689 views, 79 comments

theft

Thieves Steal 42" Plasma TV From Mall During Shopping Hours

Those post-holiday TV sales just aren't enough for some people, because somehow, a 42" plasma set used for display in a retail store in Albany, Georgia, was stolen from the counter during business hours. The employee who was working at the time had possibly the least helpful eyewitness testimony ever:
More »

4:42 PM on Mon Dec 31 2007
By Chris Walters
11,594 views, 51 comments

retail

Stores Beg Shoppers To Come Visit This Weekend

Spooked by the (apparently mythological) low numbers of shoppers this season, several retail chains are pulling out the stops in an attempt to lure consumers in over the next 72 hours, reports Reuters. Seven New York-area Macy's stores are now open non-stop until 6pm Monday. Kmart is holding a "64-hour sale" that begins tomorrow morning and lasts until 10pm Monday (we're not sure if the stores are staying open around the clock, however). JC Penney is advertising special sales tonight and tomorrow morning. More »

10:18 PM on Fri Dec 21 2007
By Chris Walters
4,054 views, 50 comments

Latest by LadyCarolineLamb: What a nightmare, Shades. I was actually SHOCKED this month to find that with our AT&T (formerly Cingular) we didn't have to go ANYWHERE to upgrade! For hubby's birthday, I got him a $50 Razor (FREE after rebate) off their more »

clothing

Sales Of Women's Clothing Drops, May Mean Steep Discounts Over The Next Week

Mastercard reported on Sunday that, after a slight bump around Black Friday, sales of women's clothing has dropped again, down 6% even while sales of men's clothing has gone up 4.5%. They think it has to do with an overall weak year for women's fashion, and the fact that mothers tend to cut back on new clothes for themselves first when faced with a tighter budget. The silver lining: there may be considerable discounts at women's clothing retailers in the immediate future as they try to bump up sales at the last minute. More »

9:10 AM on Tue Dec 18 2007
By Chris Walters
1,865 views, 12 comments

Latest by eeebee: I'm 46 and I like to dress in a conservative, yet fashionable manner. I'm also a long-time shopper at Talbot's and something is definitely wrong there. They changed their look in the past couple years and I think their sales more »

discounts

3 Sites To Help You Save Money Online

PriceSpider works much like WishRadar that we mentioned last week, except PriceSpider focuses exclusively on electronics, and searches more sites. You choose the product and set a target price, and when it sees that price somewhere online, it sends you an alert. More »

6:59 PM on Fri Dec 14 2007
By Chris Walters
4,174 views, 15 comments

how to

Save $10 On T-Mobile Total Internet

A reader writes in to say he saved $10 on his T-Mobile bill when he called up to ask why there were two different "Total Internet" options on his add-ons list. Were they the same thing? Yes. So he could switch to the cheaper one without penalty and get exactly the same add-on? Sure.
More »

10:47 PM on Tue Dec 11 2007
By Chris Walters
3,219 views, 18 comments

Consumerist

UPDATE: Ruby Tuesday Says Man Ordered Fatal Crab Dish

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