Consumerist
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ethics
If Best Buy Gave You A Free Xbox 360 By Accident, Would You Give It Back?
Ian wants your permission to keep the Xbox 360 Best Buy gave him by accident. More » -
how to
Build Your Own Extended Warranties
On his personal finance blog Consumerism Commentary, Flexo wisely advocates never falling for the extended warranty trap, instead setting aside the money you might have spent on the warranty and putting it into high-yield savings. The tactic lets you subsidize the cost of a replacement with interest, creating your own extended warranty. More » -
repair
The Tale Of Lowe's And The Refrigerator From Hell
Reader Buddy has a lemon of a fridge that he purchased from Lowe's with an Extended Warranty. The store keeps sending people out to fix the appliance, but nothing seems to work. More » -
api
Auto Service Plan Promises Refunds, Then Goes Bankrupt
If you asked us, we would recommend that you not buy a third-party extended warranty for your car. If the main selling point for said warranty were that you would receive a full refund if you never filed a claim...we'd suspect that something might go wrong with this plan. More » -
above and beyond
AppleCare Is An Extended Warranty Worth Buying
I asked Apple this morning to replace my broken laptop now that they've reintroduced the anti-glare option on their 15" MacBook Pros. Apple agreed, and soon a new laptop will leave China destined for my apartment. This isn't the first laptop Apple sent me this month. It's the second. Here's why... More » -
avoid
USFidelis: Sorry, You Can't Read The Contract Until You Agree To It
We were poking around the July issue of Consumer Reports (which, like Consumerist, is published by Consumers Union), when we noticed this little nugget of information. CR was investigating USfidelis, the auto repair coverage company. They called and asked about the coverage available for a 2002 Toyota Camry with 104,000 miles. When they asked if they could read the contract before signing up for the coverage — the answer was, "No." More » -
empty promises
Watch Out For Best Buy's Extended Warranties
HD Guru took a deeper look at the extended warranties and service plans Best Buy pushes on customers who buy expensive electronics like hi-def TVs. You probably won't be surprised to find out that the fine print negates a lot of what the person or pamphlet on the sales floor will try to promise you—but you might be surprised at just how useless these plans can be when you get right down to it.
More »
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advice
Don't Threaten To Kill Telemarketers
We know how you feel; telemarketers suck. But no matter how much they're in the wrong, please don't threaten to burn down their place of business and then kill them and their families—even if they call you a jackass—because they may report you to the police. Then, if your police are anything like the ones in St. Louis, Missouri, you'll likely be arrested and charged for making terrorist threats, like poor Charles Papenfus. More » -
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insiders
RadioShack Will Say Anything To Upsell Extended Warranties
An anonymous RadioShack employee sent us what he considers unethical talking points distributed by the corporate office to help employees upsell the RadioShack Replacement Service Plan. According to our tipster, "each example encourages lying." Read the deceptive talking points, inside... More » -
warranties
Macbook Pro Owner Caught In Warranty Catch-22 Thanks To Apple's Mistake
Because of an Apple technician's mistake, Gennadiy had two options for repairing his 2009 Macbook Pro: either pay $1240+tax to replace the logic board because Apple said water damage voided the warranty, or push the unseated cable back into place and prove that there was no water damage—which would void the warranty. Gennadiy took the second option and saved himself over $1300, but now has no warranty should something actually happen to the logic board that should be covered. More » -
warranties
Why Do You Buy Extended Warranties?
We all know that most extended warranties are wastes of money that generally go unused, so why do people buy them? According to a study in the Journal of Consumer Research, guilt-racked and nervous consumers are willing to shell out the extra cash to buy a little peace of mind... More » -
odd
Sports Authority Is Selling An Extended Warranty For Shoes
Sports Authority is pushing a new "Extended Coverage Plan" for footwear that runs for one year after Sports Authority's 30-day warranty expires. The extended warranty, which costs between $4.99 and $15.99, supposedly even covers normal wear and tear. So how is this profitable? More » -
extended warranties
Texas Electronics Retailer Sued For Deceptive Sales Practices
The Texas Attorney General filed suit against aptly named electronics retailer Conn's, accusing the store of aggressively marketing extended warranties to customers, then doing everything in its power to avoid honoring those warranties. More » -
saving
Seven Things That Aren't Worth Your Money
Want an extra $1,000? The Wall Street Journal has a list of seven things that you can easily stop buying without making drastic changes to your lifestyle. More » -
dirty tricks
Office Depot Employee Claims He Photoshops Price Tags
Who needs to lie about inventory when you can inflate the price directly? LAPTOP has uncovered more dirty secrets of Office Depot employees being dishonest to customers, this time by altering price tags on clearance items to incorporate the cost of an extended service plan. More » -
leaks
Office Depot To Employees: "Don't Lie About Inventory"
An anonymous Office Depot employee sent us this internal reminder from HQ that addresses this week's allegations that associates and managers lie about inventory depending on the customer. Now the next time you're told by an Office Depot associate that the laptop you want is out of stock, you can say, "Are you absolutely sure? Because I know you had a Sales Practices Reminder on March 12th about lying to customers." And if a manager tries to get all up in, uhm, your grill area, you can say, "Don't you have some tasks to go check off in your Task Manager?" More » -
dirty tricks
Office Depot Employees Claim They're Told To Lie About Stock If You're Not Buying Extras
According to LAPTOP mag, Office Depot has implemented such a stringent sales quota program that the company has essentially broken the in-store laptop buying experience. If you don't buy accessories and extended service plans, many associates will tell you the laptop is out of stock. Of course, this doesn't happen at every Office Depot, but LAPTOP writes that they were surprised by the number of similar reports they received of it happening at multiple locations. More » -
extended warranties
Sorry, Your XBOX 360 Isn't The Right Kind Of Broken
By now, most people know about the dreaded Red Ring of Death issue on the XBOX 360 — and the accompanying 3 year warranty. What many do not know is that that 3 year warranty only covers the "3 red lights" issue. If you get any other error code, you're out of luck. More »
extended warranties
New York, 6:44 AM
Mon Nov 9
6 posts in the last 24 hours
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