NEW YORK, 5:51 PM, SAT JUL 5 | 4 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@consumerist.com | RSS
Posts Tagged “

Readers

Le Petit Fromage

Not Even Mini Babybel Cheese Can Escape The Grocery Shrink Ray

Violating every conceivable standard of decency, the Grocery Shrink Ray has unleashed a heartless attack on baby cheese. Mini Babybels, those adorably pudgy wax-encrusted cheese cylinders, were once allowed to grow until they reached 132 grams. Now, the Babybel's are a stunted 120 grams. More »

curves

Curves Leaves Working Computer Full Of Personal Information In An Office Dumpster

Reader Adam writes in to let us know his relative found a working Dell computer in the dumpster at his office complex. It appeared to be in functional condition, so he took it home. Sure enough, it took only a bit of tweaking before it was back to working order—as a Curves Fitness employee and customer information smorgasbord. More »

flickr

Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds

Here are five special photos that readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, chosen because they're both neat and could possibly be used in a Consumerist post. Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers go and upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click "Join Group?" up on the top right, and start hitting "send to group" on your individual photos you want to add to the pool.

Title: "Space Fashion //3"

By: Mareen Fischinger

More »

comcastic

Comcast Won't Stop Sending You Junk Mail Because "You Might Move"

UPDATE: Comcast has now removed Brad from its mailing lists for really reals.

Reader Brad is fed up with junk mail from Comcast. He asked the company if it would be possible to be taken off the junk mail list to which Comcast replied, "We are unable to remove a non-active account from the mailing list. The reason being is, if or when you move out of this address, we would not be sending offers and possibly prevent the new owner from receiving a special offer," and that would be a crime against humanity, we suppose. Is there a way to get Comcast to stop sending junk mail? Brad's letter and our response, inside..

More »

American Airlines could be laying off 900 flight attendants. [Dallas News]

nudist colonies

UPDATE: Tenant's Surprise Nudist Colony Will Now Be Limited To Pool, Tenant Still Can't Break Lease

Last week, we wrote about Sam's surprising discovery that his apartment complex was to be converted into a "European style" nudieland. The apartment complex apparently hadn't notified its tenants, and Sam learned about it from a newspaper. Last weekend, Sam wrote in with an update. More »

cablevision

Cablevision Strings Cables Like Blind Might A Christmas Tree

Peter writes:

Some construction work was ongoing in the neighborhood, and it disrupted the underground cable services. Verizon and the electric provider fixed their wires within a day. Cablevision couldn't figure out how to fix their underground wiring, so they proceeded to run a coaxial cable out of the pedestal on my front property, up a tree in my front yard, where it was tied on with some copper wire, thrown across the street, tied to a lamppost head again with copper wire, dropped back down the lamppost, into another pedestal. It sat like this for well over a month and Cablevision insisted there was nothing they could do about it...

More »

sex

Spirit Airlines' Customer Service Number Leads To Phone Sex Line

When you fly an ultra low budget airliner, you expect ultra low service, but even under that business model, it seems reasonable to assume that calling customer service won't take you to a phone sex line. Reader Barbara would agree. She writes: More »

walmart

Wal-Mart Fails To Change Your Oil And Lies About It

Tipster Toland pointed us toward the Stonecipher Report which contains an entry about a weary traveler who, against his better judgment, decided to get his oil changed at Wal-Mart. After his car was returned, he noticed that his oil monitoring system was still indicating 10% oil life. He asked the Wal-Mart employee if the oil had actually been changed to which she replied, "Yep, I know it was, cause I did it myself." He then went to go check the dipstick and discovered the oil hadn't been changed after all. His post, inside... More »

payphone ripoff

NCIC Airport Payphones Are A Ripoff

Reader Victor wrote to alert us to NCIC payphones which are charging outrageous rates and fees in various airports across the country. At first, Victor used some spare change in an NCIC payphone and received a reasonable long distance rate of about $1 for 4 minutes. But Victor ran out of change and used his credit card to make 3 more quick calls. When Victor received his bill he discovered that he'd been charged $11 per call. He directed us over to ripoffreports.com and as far as we can tell, he got off easy. We read numerous reports of customers being charged exorbitant rates for local and long distance calls. The amounts that their customers are being charged vary so wildly that we're not even sure what NCIC's rates are supposed to be. Victor's letter, inside... More »

customer service

Why Won't Krystal Respond To Their Customers?

Hey! Krystal! Are you there?! Reader Josh sent two letter complaining about his local burger franchise and hasn't heard a peep in response. Not even "we're taking it seriously" or "your opinion is important to us." Nothing! More »

complaints

Sprint Responds To Your Request To Block All Internet Services By Signing You Up For A Data Package

Chelsea noticed several mistaken charges on her Sprint bill for internet access, along with a late fee even though she was enrolled in automatic bill pay. Sprint quickly reversed the erroneous fees and suggested that she block access to the internet. Chelsea replied that this would be perfectly acceptable, so long as it was a free service. In response, Sprint signed her up for a $15 per month data plan. More »

grocery shrink ray

Cheer Color Guard's Newer Scoop Wastes More Detergent, Money

Adapting to the threat of informed consumers, the insidious Grocery Shrink Ray has mutated to enlarge select items. The Grocery Shrink Ray is seen here needlessly inflating the size of the scoop bundled with Cheer Color Guard detergent. Is Cheer encouraging consumers to burn through their product faster, or is the new Cheer simply less effective? Reader Mark investigates, inside... More »

Loyalty

Sears Cancels Your Account Of 44 Years Because Your Husband Died Ten Years Ago. What?

Meet Judy, Sears' ideal customer. When Judy's husband died ten years ago, Sears, like her other creditors, assured her that she could continue using her account. Since then, Judy has used her Sears card to buy a washer, dryer, and refrigerator. Yet when Judy recently tried to buy a $142 saw, Sears insisted on immediately closing her account because it was in her late-husband's name. More »

Wedding Registry

This Target Coupon Is Made Of Lies

Target confiscated Nick's coupon for 10% off items left on his wedding registry after randomly deciding that the coupon was too generous. More »

maggots

VIDEO: Maggots Found Squirming In Box Of Goobers

Chomp, chomp, chomp, smoosh! Blogger Savannah Red's wife was enjoying a freshly opened box of Goobers when she bit into something not sweet or chocolatey, but squishy: a maggot. More »

flickr

Friday Consumerist Flickr Pool Finds

Here are five special photos that readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, chosen because they're both neat and could possibly be used in a Consumerist post. Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers go and upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click "Join Group?" up on the top right, and start hitting "send to group" on your individual photos you want to add to the pool.

Title: DSC00416a
By: jetsetpress

More »

arbys

UPDATE: Arby's Responds To Roast Beef Confetti Query

A few days ago, we told you about Mark's Arby's Roast Beef sandwich which was made with beef-confetti rather than the slices of beef which are normally served. Mark fired off a letter to Arby's and actually received a reply. In case you were losing sleep thinking about how such an enigmatic sandwich came to be, Arby's supplies an explanation. Original not-safe-for-lunch photo and Arby's response, inside... More »