Police said the couple used the business to prey on the misfortune of people who came to get cards read.

"Tracy Tan would convince the customers that they had a curse on them, and that she was the only one who could fix their problems," police said in a news release.

"During this 'counseling,' she would charge her victims thousands of dollars for her services and products, which provided them with a false sense of hope."

"2 Naperville-area tarot card readers accused of 'curse' fraud" [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks to Tim, who wrote, "Yeah, the ultimate blame the customer story. Enjoy.")
(Photo: xurble)

1) "The Service Plan covers everything" In fact, it doesn't cover most things. Don't believe any salesman who says it covers physical damage, spills, cosmetic damage, etc. Also, after you have you machine replaced (after 3 repairs), the Service Plan stops working. The salesman will act like the replacement is a benefit, really it's so FS can wash their hands of your buggy hardware.

2) "I'm going to give you a discount"
More often than not my co-workers would lie about high priced items, claiming to take off hundreds of dollars on cables or warranties to trick uninformed shoppers. Always shop around and find out how much things are worth, and watch what the items scan in at instead of taking his word.

3) "This model is a Future Shop exclusive"
Danger Will Robinson. "Exclusives" are always a repackaged retail product, usually with a slight cosmetic change, but bumped up several hundred dollars. As my manager put it: "They move the speakers from the bottom to the sides, repaint it and we mark it up". Salesmen make about triple commission on these models, so there's strong incentive to push them.

4) "Setup will avoid hours of work"
This only applies to computers, but it's good to know. Most salesmen try to push this on technophobes, saying that it's a complicated procedure involving special tools. Really, they click through the Vista install, run regedit to stop some software and burn a backup disk. Oh, and it's automated. Unless your time is worth about 30 dollars an hour do it yourself.

5) "You're saving on x"
With some products there are legitimate discounts available for bundling, and managers have the authority to offer real discounts on unbundled product. However, avoid bundles like "Pay 350 dollars for setup and get free Office and Antivirus". You end up saving about 20 dollars on Office and Antivirus, but you're paying 80 dollars for useless setup still. If you're going for a discount refuse to tack on anything you don't want, and try to push the salesman. It'll hurt his numbers to help you, but he won't want to lose a big sale.

6) "You need Monster Cables/Setup/x to make this work well"
Anyone who reads Consumerist knows Monster Cables are a scam, so avoid them like the plague. They make the salesman about 25 dollars per cable, and leave you with very expensive copper. Similarly, some salesmen say computers won't work well without setup, which less technically-inclined customers tend to believe.

7) "You have to buy x"
Legally, the store is obligated to sell you any available (nondisplay) product at the advertised price. Many stores "pre-setup" their laptops to avoid making customers wait for setup. Salesmen see this as an excuse to force the setup on you. Legally (at least in my store), if the customer didn't want setup we had to give them the laptop at the sticker price, with setup. If the salesman is too pushy ask for a manager, who will know the rules a lot better.

RELATED
"Monster Cables, Monster Ripoff: 80% Markups"
(Photo: Getty)

Future Shop, a division of Best Buy Canada and wholly owned subsidiary of the Best Buy we United Statesians know and love, has shipped reader Eric a box of wood cleverly disguised as a router-like-object for the XBOX.

Eric writes:

Hi There,

I thought you might be interested in hearing about my experience with Future Shop (Canadian technology store— it's owned by Best Buy). I recently ordered a Linksys Wireless-G Game Adapter for my Xbox. When it arrived at my house however I got nothing but two blocks of wood inside the box.

Since then it's been a nightmare trying to get this problem solved. I've called their customer support line no less then 3 times and been told twice that my complaint has been submitted and I will receive an e-mail to print out and attach to the box so that it can be shipped back and replaced. This has not happened yet and the only response I get is that it's been submitted, and the e-mail should arrive within 24 hours. The first time I was told this was last Thursday (the 27th of December) and after calling again yesterday was told that it would be sent within another 24 hours, which has not happened yet, unsurprisingly.

I've taken the box to two separate Future Shop stores, at both of them the manager was great, they offered to exchange it for the same product but it turned out they did not have it, it has been discontinued (probably the reason for the sale in the first place). I still want this product rather then a refund and so held on to it. The situation is not going anywhere and I write to the Consumerist out of frustration— I don't know what else to do to resolve this problem.

Thanks,

Eric

Your credit card company should be happy to reverse the charges. Good luck!

(Photo:Eric Roberts)

While speculators may find it easy enough to pack up and move on, they are leaving behind an empire of vacant houses that will not be easily sold. More than 19,000 single-family homes and condos are now listed on the market in Lee County. Fewer than 500 sold in November, meaning that at the current rate it would take three years for the market to absorb all the houses.

"Confusion abounds because nobody knows where the bottom is," says Gerard Marino, a commercial Realtor at the Re/Max Realty Group in Fort Myers.

Commercial builders are unloading properties at sharply reduced prices, sometimes even below construction costs, which further adds to the glut.

"It's our goal to clear out the inventory," James P. Dietz, the chief financial officer of WCI Communities, a Florida-based home builder, said in an interview two weeks ago. "We have to generate cash to make payroll." Last week, Mr. Dietz announced he would leave WCI at the end of this year to pursue a career in the vacation resort business.

AT Pelican Preserve, a gated community set around a 27-hole golf course in Fort Myers, WCI has halted building, leaving some residents staring at mounds of earth where they expected to see manicured lawns. Half-built condos sit isolated in a patch of dirt, cut off from the road.

"It bugs the hell out of my wife," says Paul Bliss, 61, whose three-bedroom town house is next to a half-built home site. "She looks out and sees that concrete slab."

But the builder makes no apologies. "There was such a falloff in demand that it made no sense to build new units," says Mr. Dietz, adding that the pause in construction "doesn't in any way detract from the property."

The imploding housing market is currently hurting unprepared borrowers, but will soon impact everyone by blowing holes in municipal budgets, which derive a third of their revenue from property taxes.

...local officials counter that they are already being forced to contemplate significant changes that could affect everyday life. The county's public safety division, which operates ambulance services, says it could be obliged to cut staff. The county's Natural Resources Department recently delayed a $2.1 million project to filter polluted runoff spilling into the Lakes Regional Park — a former quarry turned into a waterway dotted by islands and frequented by native waterfowl.

People who were priced out of the earlier boom here could wind up the winners. "We had an affordable-housing crisis," says Tammy Hall, a Lee County commissioner. "The people who were here for a fast buck are gone. You're going to see normal people go back into that housing."

This Is the Sound of a Bubble Bursting [NYT]

On display were aisle upon aisle of foods made to do more than provide basic nutrition. There was one kind of yogurt to lower cholesterol and another to curb appetite. Cheese cubes supposedly increased energy and strengthened the immune system.

"The whole paradigm in our society has been based on prescription pharmaceuticals," [Paul Flowerman, president of food ingredient company P.L. Thomas] said. Now, he said, "food can also be available for enhancing health and wellness."

The convention of food scientists includes technical talks on topics like "determination of cucumber pickle firmness using contact-ultrasound technology" and "getting closer to gelatin," and a vast food expo that provides a glimpse of what may be available on grocery shelves in the near future.

No doctor, thanks - just pass me the a a [International Herald Tribune]
(Photo: oskay)

In this surreal musical, a lovely brunette is introduced to the joys the "Kitchen of Tomorrow" furnished with a machine that reads recipes off computer cards, a glass-walled refrigerator, and an hemispherical glass oven that seems to be able to make a cake complete with lighted birthday candles on top.

At Motorama, she gets quite excited by the looks of the Firebird II, calls the traffic dispatch center by radio, then, accompanied by her "prince charming", she rides onto the electronic highway of tomorrow and sings a duet linking their love to technological progress.

Man, I want to live in George Jetson's world already.

Populexe Retro-Futuristic Movies [We Make Money, Not Art]

Turns out the squiggly, seldom-used ASCII characters are the result of a Japanese character set being dumped into our puny American email. The Japanese are so industrious and hard-working, they're already on the year 2038! Oh yeah, and it was porn.

What really burned our electronic biscuit was a malformed header that caused Thunderbird to lock up harder than our jaw after we got bit by that rusty prostitute in Reno.

In the end, we had to access our email system through a web-based interface (Squirrel Mail), delete all the spam, and then we were able to hear your consumer screams once again. Ah, the music.

Previously: Secret Message!

Somehow they've managed to send a message back in time. Via The Consumerist tip line.

That's right folks, this is what spam looks like, IN THE FUTURE!

We've received several of these. This one is from our good friend " ."

So that leads to a natural question: What products, created by the movie industry at the behest of paying corporations, would you actually like to see produced? And does seeing a company's brand extrapolated to the future make it seem cooler or somehow cheapen it?

[via Mr Kamoji]