We’ve been getting a few emails about a new kind of rental scam where they try to lure you into giving over your credit card and personal information to a “free credit score” site. One was from Reader Benjamin, who was looking for a house to rent when he and his wife stumbled across a too good to be true deal, a fully-furnished 3-bedroom house in Maryland for only $1200. Seeing as they had nothing to lose, they emailed the lister, just to see what would happen. [More]
What Do I Need To Pay When I Break My Lease Four Months Early?
By November 4, 2010
Shannon in Alabama recently got engaged, and she’ll be moving into the house her fiancé owns after the wedding in December. The problem is her current place, which she just leased in April. She wrote to Consumerist for help figuring out what to do, since her landlord doesn’t seem too clear on the procedures, either. [More]
Priceline Promised No "Young Renter Fee," But Avis Says Pay Up
By September 29, 2010
When Lauren reserved a car rental through Priceline last week, she checked out the fine print to see if she’d have to pay any age-related extra fees, and according to Priceline what she bid would be the total price. Now Avis is telling her Priceline is wrong and she’ll have to come up with more money at the rental counter. [More]
Book Car Rentals Early, But Then Keep Checking For Pricedrops
By September 7, 2010
Here’s a strategy for saving money on your next car rental. [More]
U-Haul Makes You Drop Off At Other Location, Then Charges You For It
By August 31, 2010
Christina went to return her Uhaul rental, but when she arrived at her scheduled time, she found the lot was already closed. Customer service told her to return the truck to the nearest nearby Uhaul place, a chore in and of itself. Then she got charged for returning it to the “wrong” location, and all-told her $19.99 rental has blossomed into $220 that navigating the twists and turns and delays of customer service hasn’t gotten her refunded. Here’s the letter she wrote to Joe, the CEO of Uhaul. [More]
NYC Slumlords Outed By Public Advocate's Worst Landlord List
By August 30, 2010
Not many renters in New York City are in love with their landlords, but only a handful of the city’s landlords deserved to be called out in public for repeated violations and ignored complaints from tenants. Starting this morning, the city’s Public Advocate has decided it’s time that the worst offenders be forced into the spotlight with a public, searchable database. [More]
Netflix Now Streams To iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch
By August 27, 2010
Adding a feature Apple junkies have been clamoring for, Netflix upgraded its App Store application to allow it to stream movies and TV shows for subscribers. [More]
Blockbuster Charges Me For Membership I Didn't Want, Won't Refund My Money
By August 24, 2010
Chris tried Blockbuster’s rent-by-mail trial period and says he was mistakenly charged for the final three DVDs, which he had returned. He didn’t notice the screw-up for months, then once he finally got Blockbuster to reverse the charges he was billed $43 for months of a membership he never used. [More]
Blockbuster Chases GameFly, Offers Game Rentals By Mail
By August 10, 2010
Yesterday we noted that Blockbuster was launching a new DVD-by-mail rental service (which Netflix promptly one-upped by announcing a new streaming agreement), and today we’re getting tips from people that the beleaguered brick and mortar movie rental company is throwing games into the offer as well. FastCompany notes that GameFly offers around 7,000 game titles compared to Blockbuster’s library of 3,000 titles. On the other hand, Blockbuster’s rental plans start at $9/mo compared to GameFly’s $16/mo (both for one disc at a time). [More]
Redbox Rolls Out Blu-ray Rentals Nationwide For $1.50 A Night
By July 30, 2010
After wavering between charging $1.50 and $2 a night for Blu-ray rentals during its test program, Redbox has decided to go with the cheaper price as it makes the high-definition discs available nationwide at 13,300 kiosks, with plans to nearly double that number by the fall. [More]
Your Redbox Reservation Is A Sacred, Unbreakable Covenant
By July 14, 2010
We touched on this topic last week in a post about a broken Redbox machine, but reader Nick wants Consumerist readers to know something important about Redbox. Whether your local kiosk has been smashed in or you just plain change your mind, there is no power on earth that can cancel your reservation and give you a refund. None. [More]
4 Things You Should Rent Rather Than Buy
By July 9, 2010
Budgets Are Sexy argues that people throw their money away on many items they’d normally buy without a thought. Here are four “buys” that you should should highly consider switching to “rents.” [More]
Rent Enterprise Car At Twice The Rate, Get Free Dentures (Check Under Floormat)
By June 21, 2010
Timothy rented a car from Enterprise last month when he flew into Newark Airport in New Jersey, and he was forced to pay almost twice the amount quoted in his reservation because of problems with a coupon code and an uncooperative manager. But there’s good news: the rental came with a special, stinky surprise that he and his wife didn’t find until the second day of the rental. (Warning: there’s a big close-up photo below.) [More]
Paramount And Redbox Buddy Up Against Rental-Delaying Studios
By June 16, 2010
Paramount and Redbox hopped in bed together to assure renters that the studio’s home video offerings will be in the rental kiosks the same day they go on sale. The move pits the studio squarely against Warner Bros., Universal and 20th Century Fox, all who have 28-day embargoes on companies renting out their stuff. [More]
Netflix Apologizes For Roku Disruption With Bill Credit
By June 9, 2010
Savvily taking the proactive route rather than suffering customer backlash, Netflix is sending out emails with account-specific links that users can click on to save 5 percent off their next bill. [More]
Blu-Rays Coming To Redbox With Price Hike
By June 8, 2010
Redbox is finally latching on to the Blu-ray bandwagon, announcing it’s months away from adding the pricier HD movies to its kiosks, but will be charging $1.50 a night rather than the standard buck it costs for DVDs. [More]
Are Pay-Per-View Hotel Movies Pointless In 2010?
By May 12, 2010
LodgeNet provides pay-per-view movie services to hotels, and the company’s latest financial filing shows nearly a 10% drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the same period a year ago. (And that’s after a 19% drop in revenue from 2008 to 2009.) Travelers seem to be wising up to the high prices of hotel pay-per-view and are resorting to other ways to stay entertained. Now if only our laptops and smartphones could contain a mini-bar compartment. [More]
Postal Service's Saturday Cuts Will Hurt Netflix
By March 31, 2010
Ethan Epstein of Slate’s The Big Money draws the natural conclusion that the USPS’s plans to stop Saturday service won’t work out so well for rent-by-mail companies such as Netflix. [More]
