For decades, “S. Larson” has been the named that signed the bottom of Citibank’s letters to customers. But does this person actually exist or are they a construct? [More]
mysteries
Stone Brewing Co. Discovers Its Beer Mustard Is Missing The Beer
By 6.28.10
In addition to pale ales, Stone Brewing Co. sells mustards and sauces made with beer. Last week, in a blog post titled “MustardGate 2010,” the company announced that it recently discovered its mustards were beerless. (Or as they describe it, those mustards are “instant beer mustards–just add beer!”) The real mystery is what happened to the beer; the brewer says the kegs sent out to the mustard company were sent back empty. [More]
Verizon Buries Bags Of Rocks In Woman's Yard
By 5.19.10
A woman in Albany, NY was gardening in her front yard and uncovered a white plastic bag filled with rocks. Then she found more, over a dozen in all, which turned out to have been placed there by Verizon workers who had removed an old utility pole last month and had run out of sand. [More]
Target Ignores Its Own Ban, Lets Petitioners Annoy Shoppers
By 3.23.10
Target has a ban on any sort of petitioning or fund-raising activities in front of its stores, even in California, but G says that yesterday he went to the Target in Vallejo, CA and ran into a group of petitioners at the entrance (see photos). [More]
Weird Auto-Dialer Scam Curses At You If No Operators Are Available
By 3.22.10
There’s a strange auto-dialer message going around right now that asks you to call back for important info. When you call back, you might end up being offered lower interest rates on your credit card… or you might get a voicemail inbox where a man yells at you, “You stupid f***ing b*tch!” [More]
Walmart Wants To Know Who Made The Racist Announcement Over Their PA System
By 3.17.10
This past Sunday, a male voice came over the public-address system at a Walmart in New Jersey and said, “Attention Walmart customers: All black people leave the store now.” Understandably, customers and employees were pretty offended. One of the shoppers made sure that store management and local media outlets were made aware of what happened, and Walmart apologized–over the PA system, fittingly–on Sunday evening. Store officials say they’re now reviewing security footage to find out who made the announcement. [More]
CDC And Celebrity Cruises Can't Figure Out Why Passengers Keep Getting Sick
By 3.16.10
Remember the diarrhea nightmare vessel that sickened 450 passengers a few weeks back? Once it got back home, Celebrity Cruises delayed the next trip by a day so that it could perform a “full cleaning.” It didn’t help much, though: CNN says that about 10% of passengers on the next sailing got sick, and about 19% of passengers on the current sailing are now sick. [More]
Man's Water Bill Jumps From 4,000 To 23,000 Gallons Per Month
By 2.24.10
Reader Jim just got a water bill that says his usage has jumped up to 19,000 23,000 gallons per month from his usual 4,000. This is a guy who lives in a one-bath, one-toilet, one-sink house. “Must be that swimming pool I filled in the middle of winter in Western PA,” he says. So far, the utility has dismissed all his requests for explanation, or logic, and demanded he pay up immediately. [More]
Woman's Water Bill Jumps From $80 To $1,600
By 2.22.10
Erica Kocur in Minneapolis received her water bill from the city, and it’s for $1,600, about 20 times what she normally pays. The city says it’s accurate, but KSTP-TV says that she would have had to use almost 200,000 gallons of water in one month to generate that figure. [More]
Public School Spycams Either A Glitch Or A Security Feature
By 2.19.10
The Pennsylvania school district accused of using school-issued laptops to spy on their students insists that their ability to activate the computers’ webcams from anywhere is a security feature. Oh, but school employees told students earlier that the lights next to their webcams were coming on now and then due to a “glitch.” [More]
Microsoft Investigating Why Songs Are Disappearing From Zune Pass
By 2.8.10
If record labels decided to pull some of their songs from the Zune Pass service in the past couple of weeks, they did a poor job telling Microsoft about it. The company seems to be as in the dark as Zune Pass subscribers about why songs, albums, or entire discographies have gone missing. Ars technica reports that a Microsoft employee wrote on a Zune forum, “We are investigating your reported missing albums indicated in this post—and will come back to you as soon as we understand why they’re missing.” [More]
How Did This Used Redbox Disc Get Sold As A New DVD?
By 1.27.10
David noticed something strange about the purportedly new, sealed DVD that he bought at closeout chain Marshalls. He writes that when he unsealed and opened the case, the DVD inside formerly belonged to…Redbox?! [More]
Watch Out For FedEx SmartPost
By 12.23.09
Cristiana says beware the trap of sending things via FedEx SmartPost: the USPS handles the local part of delivery, and “since you now have two shipping companies involved, nobody wants to take responsibility for the package” when it never arrives. [More]
Alleged Walmart Shoplifter Dies After Being Tackled
By 12.21.09
Walmart’s loss prevention tactics took a morbid turn over the weekend at an Atlanta location, when a suspected shoplifter was tackled by two security personnel and a customer, and then died for mysterious reasons. [More]
Dell Mini 9 Mysteriously Ablaze! (Pics)
By 12.21.09
There’s a big scorch mark on Hannah’s floor. It appeared last week after her Dell Mini 9 began suddenly sizzling and smoking and melting. We have pictures, and questions. [More]
Best Buy, Why Have You Sent Me A Random $50 Gift Card?
By 12.19.09
Brian has an enviable but confusing problem. He has received a $50 Best Buy gift card from a mysterious benefactor. Has he done something pleasing to the overpriced electronics gods? Has he received a gift from someone he knows who wishes to remain anonymous? He doesn’t know. But, as a Consumerist reader, he’s suspicious. [More]
Kmart Workers Find $10k Tin Can
By 12.8.09
Did you leave your tin can filled with over $10,000 on the customer service counter of a Des Moines Kmart? Because if you did, call them, they found it.
Update: Several of our readers have pointed out that the owner has reclaimed the can and the money. She says her husband left it there by accident, possibly while having a reaction to some medication, and that she’s going to deposit the cash in a bank.
Customer Finds Dead Mouse In Toyota
By 11.23.09
Greg was replacing the speakers in his 2003 Camry and uncovered a stinky little tomb in the rear of the car. He thinks it must have happened at the plant, but I can’t tell. Who wants to weigh in on whether the mouse tried to build a nest, or whether Toyota used mouse-enhanced stuffing on the assembly line? Oh, there are pics after the jump, but I made one of them less disturbing by adding a little sweater.
