If you use McAfee’s anti-virus program and have Windows XP with SP 3, you may have noticed last week that your PC was shutting down every 60 seconds. That was because McAfee pushed out an update that it now admits wasn’t properly tested. To apologize, the company says it will reimburse you for repairs (although it hasn’t provided details on this yet), and it’s offering everyone who was affected a free 2-year extension of the service. Should you take the offer and call it even? Seth Rosenblatt at Cnet says you shouldn’t bother. [More]
The Most Reasonable Letter We've Ever Received From A Guy Whose Bank Misplaced $14,000
By April 4, 2010
Meet Matt. He’s is the writer of the most reasonable, calm, thoughtful letter we’ve ever gotten from someone whose bank misplaced a check for $14,000. That bank is Bank of America, and they’ve lost a customer. Was it because their ATM ate the check? Not really. It was because they couldn’t even bother to act concerned about it. Matt is ready for a bank that thinks $14,000 is important. [More]
USPS Cares About Your Mail When It Doesn’t Really Count
By April 1, 2010
Lana is a little frustrated with the U.S. Postal Service right now. She writes that she received an odd envelope in the mail from USPS–the tear-off advertising sheet from the front of a Netflix envelope addressed to her. An overly conscientious postal employee took the flyer, carefully placed it in a damaged item envelope, and mailed it back to Lana. [More]
UPS Charges You $11 To Fix Zip Code Mistake
By March 31, 2010
Richard has a warning for the Consumerist community: he writes that if you mess up a zip code on an overnight UPS package, they will charge you an $11 “address adjustment” fee to fix it. Excessive? Richard thought so, and UPS was nice enough to waive it when he asked. [More]
Art Institute Of Pittsburgh Decides You Need To Buy One More Class To Graduate… After Graduation
By March 22, 2010
Update: The school saw our post and has been in touch with Daniel. Here’s what happened. [More]
Walmart Debuts Truly Unbeatable Sale
By March 2, 2010
Yes, we suppose the only way to beat this sale is to have a store give you money for taking the thing off their hands. [More]
Hoover Can't Decide What Information It Wants From Customers
By February 10, 2010
Billy sent us this excerpt from the registration card for his new Hoover vacuum cleaner. Pick a side, Hoover. [More]
Dear Luggage.com: Thanks For The Jelly Roll Pan, But I Ordered A Bag
By January 13, 2010
Here’s something weird. T ordered a bag from luggage.com and got a jelly roll pan. Luggage.com doesn’t sell jelly roll pans. There is nothing they can do about this, however, except for refund the money. No bag. Enjoy the jelly roll pan. [More]
TWC Accidentally Cancels Service, Leaves You Bored And Lonely During Holidays
By December 18, 2009
Marisa is alone during the holidays, but it would have been nice to have TV, phone and internet to keep her company. Unfortunately, she says TWC randomly canceled her service for no reason. [More]
Should Rob Complain About His Bad Kroger Pharmacy Experience?
By December 11, 2009
Rob’s local Kroger pharmacy screwed up the prescription on his kid’s TamiFlu. Rob caught the error before any harm was done, and he’s not the confrontational type. In fact, he’s wondering whether he should just drop the whole matter. Here’s your chance to convince him otherwise. [More]
Dan Brown Haunts DirecTV DVRs With Unwanted Movie Rentals
By December 6, 2009
If you own a DirecTV DVR, did you receive a mysterious, unwanted rental of “Angels and Demons” this weekend? Readers Jeff and Catastrophegirl did, and they have a warning: Don’t watch it! It’s a trap! [More]
Lowe's Travels To The Future To Discount Your Appliances
By December 6, 2009
Mary was purchasing a washer and dryer set for her home at Lowe’s. Just as she was finalizing the purchase, a sales circular with a lower price on the very appliance she was buying dropped through the time/space continuum, and visited the store from the future. Or maybe an employee put it out early. Either way, the store’s manager very generously let Mary buy her washer and dryer for the much lower future price because of an employee’s mistake. [More]
Toys R Us Double Charges Black Friday Shoppers
By November 30, 2009
Reader Ken emails to let us know that Toys R Us is experiencing a double billing issue stemming from some sort of glitch on Black Friday. He says a friend just told him she was double charged, and that when she contacted Toys R Us, they told her it was a national problem. [More]
Whoops! Sears Isn't Offering Too-Good-To-Be-True TV Deal
By November 26, 2009
Sears stuck its drumstick in its mouth by apparently sending out an email advertising a ludicrously amazing Black Friday deal: a 54-inch 1080p HDTV for $399.99. Chris forwarded us this message from Sears in which the company backs away from the deal and offers a boring one in its place. [More]
You Accidentally Forget You Don't Live In Baltimore, And AirTran Fixes It
By October 26, 2009
Here’s a heartwarming email from reader Joy. She accidentally booked tickets from Baltimore instead of Philly and AirTran not only fixed this mistake — they didn’t charge her extra.
SIGG Gives Customer $50,000 Gift Card For Two Water Bottles
By October 22, 2009
After SIGG USA announced that their metal water bottles contained plastic additive BPA, they offered to exchange consumers’ offending bottles for new ones. Karen sent her BPA-riddled water bottles in for replacement, and received her gift certificate to buy two new ones for a total of $46.98. But something went horribly wrong, and now she has a store credit for just under $50,000.
TiVO: Save $100 By Saving $50!
By October 16, 2009
Reader Tim is canceling TiVO and going with the Comcast DVR and was presented with a retention deal that he was able to resist. Why? Because $299.99 – $100 doesn’t equal $249.99.
Man Sues Coors Over Invalid Contest Codes
By October 9, 2009
An Illinois man has filed a class-action lawsuit against MillerCoors because the “Silver Ticket Sweepstakes” code on the case of beer he recently bought turned out to be invalid. The man says he tried entering the code online and over the phone, but it was rejected each time—not because it wasn’t a winning code, but because it wasn’t a legitimate sweepstakes entry code to begin with.
