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]
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Whoops! Sears Isn't Offering Too-Good-To-Be-True TV Deal
By 11.26.09
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 10.26.09
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 10.22.09
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 10.16.09
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 10.9.09
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.
Direct Marketing Association's Opt Out Website Is A Joke
By 9.24.09
Jonathan wanted to opt out everyone in his family from direct marketing campaigns, something the DMA promises is possible via their website. Surprise! It turns out the DMA doesn’t really care so much about whether or not you want to be taken off any mailing lists, and they have a rotten website and poor security protocols to prove it.
Sprint Yanks $100 Credit Offer On Palm Pre, Says Oops
By 9.9.09
Earlier today, Sprint made news by effectively cutting the price of a Palm Pre to $99 for new Sprint customers, after a $100 credit. Now Sprint is saying it was a publishing error and not a valid offer.
DirecTV Double Bills 75-Year-Old Widow, Won't Fix It, Then Debits Huge Cancellation Fee
By 8.31.09
Here’s a lovely story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A unnamed 75-year-old widow says AT&T called her to offer their new U-Verse service with bundled TV, Internet and phone. She signed up, only to receive a phone call letting her know that the TV service wasn’t available in her area yet, but would she like to sign up with DirecTV instead? She agreed, but DirecTV started doublebilling her as soon as her service started. After a few months of the runaround from DirecTV she called to cancel.
Is Verizon Randomly Charging You $1.99 Per Line For "Data Usage"?
By 8.27.09
On August 14, the Cleveland Plain Dealer printed a column by a business writer who described her 6-month-long ordeal with Verizon concerning a mysterious $1.99 charge for “data usage.” The paper says that over 400 Plain Dealer readers responded with complaints similar to the one in the column. Now the paper says they have a promise from Verizon to refund these mysterious and erroneous charges.
Reader Wants To Convert Retailer's Billing Mistake Into Charitable Act
By 8.19.09
Here’s a good rule of thumb for determining whether something is a charitable act: if you have to steal money to do it, and you’re not Robin Hood, it’s probably not gonna count as a good deed.
American Airlines Misplaces Your Grandmother, Twice
By 8.13.09
Every once in awhile we post a sad story about someone’s 85-year-old grandmother being left at the gate because nobody came to push the wheelchair. This is one of those stories. The difference, however, is that in this case American Airlines left the woman at the gate, apologized, got her a hotel, brought her back, and left her with a Skycap. She missed the second flight too.
Domino's Uses Pizza Tracker To Track You, Deliver Forgotten Soda
By 8.13.09
Do you ever wonder whether post-transaction customer satisfaction or feedback surveys get lost somewhere in the ether, and have no impact on the local branch of the company you’re dealing with? Thomas didn’t think that his feedback mattered all that much, but his local Domino’s surprised him with a nearly instant response to their Web feedback.
Quick, Grab This $10 HDTV Before It's— Oh Never Mind
By 8.12.09
It looks like Best Buy‘s servers decided to call in sick this morning—Casey writes, “This was on their site this morning for about 45 minutes before they corrected the ad.” We have a feeling Best Buy isn’t going to pull a neat “just keep it, our bad” maneuver like ThinkGeek, however.
Target Charges You More For Free Bonus
By 8.11.09
Reader Michael sent us this picture of a 16-ounce bottle of Crest whitening rinse and a 32-ounce bottle that says “BONUS 100% MORE FREE.” Turns out by “FREE” they mean “$1.15 more.”
Company Apologizes, Hilariously, For Mail Merge Screwup
By 7.29.09
Everyone knows that the “personal touch” of using your name in an email, printed letter, or CSR call is powered by a database and a computer, and not really personal at all. Still, when a company gets it wrong it can be annoying. When a company gets it wrong, then apologizes by sending a follow-up message that makes you smile, all can be forgiven.
Get A Palm Pre For Only $99 At Best Buy…No, Wait, Never Mind
By 7.28.09
For a brief, shining moment, in-store ads at Best Buy stores advertised a Palm Pre for $99 with a new two-year Sprint contract. Potential Pre customers were stoked. Recent Pre purchasers were incensed. And today, Best Buy was scrambling to fix the situation, since the price drop was really due to an error in the system. Oops.
Craftsman Doesn't Have The Ability To Cancel A Duplicate Order
By 7.23.09
Reader C.W. is wondering why Craftsman (which is part of Sears) doesn’t have the ability to cancel a duplicate order. Especially since there appears to be a “cancel” button on the website.
