BJ received the coupon at left, offering $9.99 off at Heartland America on September 9 (9/9/09, get it?) Which would be great if they had mailed it to him before 10 AM on September 10th. “Looks like if I want to use the coupon I will need to build a time machine,” he wrote.
Amazonfraudcheck.com Is Amazon Fraud
By July 27, 2009
No, Amazon is not contacting its members and performing regular fraud checks. Jason received this e-mail, which is associated with a rather convincing Amazon phishing site.
By July 13, 2009
Is AOL ripping off your mom? …or stepdad, or aunt, or neighbor? Mainstreet.com gets to the bottom of why AOL continues to charge many, many not-terribly-Internet-savvy customers for their AOL e-mail accounts. You know, the same AOL accounts that are actually offered for free and have been since 2006. [MainStreet]
Bacon Love Story: A Man, A Dream, A Salted Meat
By June 26, 2009
Brooke’s husband, like many sensible people, loves bacon. As a gift, she bought him a subscription to the Bacon of the Month Club. For a few months, they received fantastic bacon and whimsical bacon-related merchandise through the mail, just as promised. Then, suddenly, things went awry in mail-order bacon paradise.
No, You Can't Opt Out Of Capital One's E-Mails, Ever
By June 9, 2009
What’s an account-related message from your company, and what’s marketing? Kevin, the subject of this week’s Red Tape Chronicles column, wants to know, because he’d like Capital One to stop sending him advertisements for their products. Capital One claims that he can’t opt out, since the marketing pitches are “account management communications.” Right.
Tagged.com Will Spam Your Friends And Family
By June 9, 2009
Tagged.com has been around for a few years now, but it’s spread across the Internet with a vengeance in the last few weeks. The service promotes itself by getting inside the address book or e-mail contacts of people who sign up and e-mailing everyone they know. It’s disingenuous, since the e-mail looks like an invitation from your friend or family member…but they didn’t initiate it at all.
Is Pottery Barn Stalking Me Through Facebook?
By June 8, 2009
Jacob got engaged last weekend. Yay! Mysteriously, before the wedding plans could even begin, his fiancÈe received an e-mail from Pottery Barn inviting her to start a wedding registry. Except she never signed up with them, or told any other retailer that she was engaged. What she did do was…change her Facebook status.
PayPal Is Very Sorry About (briefly repeat member's situation)
By May 22, 2009
Sure, far be it from me as Consumerist tipline czarina to criticize people for having canned responses to e-mails, and especially for mixing up said canned responses, but this was still too amusing not to share.
Please, TGI Friday's, Stop Sending Me Welcome E-Mails
By May 4, 2009
Dasha, the “savings” blogger at my former newspaper, signed up for the TGI Friday’s mailing list, hoping to receive deal notifications and coupons. She didn’t expect the volume of mail that showed up in her inbox before 6 AM.
Microsoft E-mails You as a Reminder That You Opted Out of Receiving E-mails
By April 22, 2009
Taking a page from the grossly overpriced playbook of Barnes & Noble college bookstores, earlier this week MIcrosoft sent an e-mail to users of the myriad Windows Live and MSN services reminding them that they…had opted not to receive e-mail from Microsoft. Um, thanks?
