Consumerist
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subscriptions
Seattle Coffee Direct Decides You Need $40 Worth Of Coffee Per Day
If you've been tempted by Facebook ads promising cheap "introductory" offers from Seattle Coffee Direct or World Bean Cafe, located in the world coffee capital of Evanston, Illinois, readers Adam and Ivan say, "don't do it!" The ads promise t-shirts or a free coffee grinder as an incentive to sign up, or tempting introductory offers. But you're really signing up for a coffee delivery service for close to $80 per month. Or more, as reader Ivan learned. He says that the company accidentally billed him for, and sent, two bags of coffee per day. More » -
absurd
Brooke Shields Has Hypotrichosis
Oh no! Brooke Shields used to have stringy, stick-figure eyelashes! I figured this out after watching Consumer Reports' video dissection of a new commercial for Latisse, the glaucoma medication that has been rebranded as an expensive, temporary eyelash enhancer with side effects. More » -
ebooks
B&N Ebook Reader Lets You Loan A Book Just Once
One of the big selling points about the Nook, the new ebook reader introduced this week by Barnes & Noble, is that unlike Amazon they'll let you virtually "loan" your ebook to a friend for up to 14 days (if the publisher allows it). What they don't tell you—some smart readers over at MobileRead sussed it out—is that you can only do this one time per book. You'd better lend wisely—and your friend had better finish that book within 14 days. More » -
etfs
Frontier Communications Has To Pay Back Early Termination Fees
If you signed up for Frontier Communications' Price Protection Plan—a combo phone and broadband package—between January 2007 and September 2008, and you canceled the agreement and were charged an early termination fee (ETF), you may be getting some cash back. More » -
fine print
GM's Money Back Guarantee Comes With Lots Of Fine Print
GM's new 60-day money back guarantee (good through November 30th, 2009) on new car purchases sounds pretty straightforward—if you don't want the car for any reason (it doesn't have to be a good reason), you can bring it back. But it has a few rules that you should be aware of before your purchase, notes the Associated Press. More » -
opt-outs
How To Stop Verizon From Sharing Your Info
Digging through Verizonwireless.com legal notices, Steve found that the company has gone ahead and given itself permission to share your personal information: More » -
misleading
$10 XSport Fitness Upgrade Really Costs $20
Cache asked about the $10 "Super Power Pass" add-on at his local XSport Fitness club today—the sign in the window says "work out where you want, when you want with a Super Power Pass for just $10 more*," and lists "Chicago - New York - Washington" across the top. We don't know what's linked via that asterisk, because the fine print on the ad is so small that it's unreadable in the photo Cache took, but as you might expect there's no such thing as a $10 add-on that lets you use any XSport Fitness. More » -
mixed messages
It Depends On What The Meaning Of "All" Is
This looks like a great place to find good deals—except when it's not. Derek, who snapped the photo in his mall over the weekend, notes that "At least they made sure the disclaimer was large enough for all to see." -
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misuse of words
Ryder's "Guaranteed Availability" Does Not Guarantee Availability
If you saw this image on the Ryder website, you might think that it means two things: that they guarantee some sort of vehicle availability to customers, and that they will make sure you are satisfied with your experience. You would be wrong. Update: Ryder has responded to Jesse's complaint. More » -
scams
Warning: Read The Fine Print Before Cashing An Unexpected Rebate Check
Jessica Doyle reports that a scammy company is tricking Snuggie owners, among others, into signing up for its service by sending out fake rebate checks for $8.25:
More »At first, it looks like a rebate check, but read the fine print. It says if you endorse and cash the check, you are signing up for a marketing service called "Great Fun." Then, your credit card will be charged $149.99. That subscription will renew annually unless you cancel it with Great Fun.
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terms
Best Buy Shrinks Reward Zone Program
Reader IfThenElvis forwarded us the following email he received alerting him to changes in the Reward Zone program from Best Buy. He adds, "I can't tell if this is good new or not. I suspect not." It's not the end of the world or anything, but it definitely marks a slight constriction in the program. More » -
drm
Amazon Tries To Clarify Download Limits For Kindle Books, Doesn't Quite Succeed
Dan, the Kindle owner who last week found that some of the books he'd purchased were no longer available to download due to unspecified limitations set by the publisher, spoke to more Amazon reps on Sunday. They clarified the DRM policy. Well, sort of. More »
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drm
Amazon Kindle Books Can Only Be Downloaded A Limited Number Of Times, And No You Cannot Find Out That Limit Before You Hit It
An Amazon Kindle customer discovered last week that every time he bought a book through the Amazon Kindle store, he was agreeing to a special, invisible restriction that's supposedly buried in the fine print that he agreed to when he first registered his account:
[The CSR said] that there is always a limit to the number of times you can download a given book. Sometimes, he said, it's five or six times but at other times it may only be once or twice. And, here's the kicker folks, once you reach the cap you need to repurchase the book if you want to download it again.
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tos
TOSBack Keeps Track Of Changes To Terms Of Service Policies Around The Web
It's difficult enough to parse a lengthy TOS for one web-based service, let alone for dozens, or to keep track of when and how they update them. It would be nice if some public-service website out there would keep track of this stuff for all of us, wouldn't it? Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) did just that with the launch of TOSBAck.org, "the terms-of-service tracker." It tracks TOS agreements for 44 different services, including Facebook, YouTube, Amazon, Twitter, and eBay. More » -
circuit city resurrection watch
Tell Eerily Resurrected Circuit City To Step Off In One Easy Step
Just like the ending of a horror movie, Circuit City has gone and plunged its soil-covered claw from its grave. Its site may have new owners, but that doesn't mean it's lost all of your tasty personal info. More » -
Zombie Retailer
CircuitCity.com Reborn As... Circuit City!
CircuitCity.com is back, and it looks eerily familiar. The zombie website is now controlled by Systemax, the same folks who own Tiger Direct. Though the new site may look similar to the old, no doubt part of Systemax's goal to keep alive a "proud brand that America has grown to count on," it isn't nearly as consumer-friendly as we would like...
More »
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evasive
IKEA's Memorial Day Deals Sound Nice If You Can Find Them
One thing we've always hated about shopping at IKEA is how their inventory varies so much from website to store to store, making it hard to track down something you wanted to purchase. Their big Memorial Day sale is no better. Tracy was checking out the website and flyers for the sale and noticed some fine print at the bottom. More » -
gift cards
CARD Act Will Also Prevent Gift Cards From Expiring For Five Years
One unexpected benefit of the CARD Act, if it passes the Senate vote, is that Senator Charles Schumer of New York has included a provision that prevents abusive gift card practices. More »
fine print
New York, 5:00 AM
Sun Nov 8
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