Consumerist
infomercials
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stupid
Evil Washington Redskins Owner Bans Fan's Signs
I was remarking to a friend of mine as we were watching the Iggles peck the eyes out of the Redskins Monday that despite the fact that I write a blog about consumer news (not sports) — I keep finding myself writing about the Washington Redskins and Daniel Snyder, their evil and apparently totally incompetent owner. The newest permutation of said evil is that the 'Skins have banned signs from FedEx Field. Yes, signs are apparently dangerous. More » -
i has a flavor
Vaginal Mints Are A Very, Very Bad Idea
Jen Philips over at Mother Jones received a sample of an exciting new candy from a PR rep. Called Linger, it bills itself as "the intimate mint." Or "feminine flavoring system." Because you're supposed to put it in your vagina. More » -
ctrl-alt-delete
Microsoft Wants You To Host Your Own Windows 7 Launch Party, Really
Everyone likes hosting launch parties, right?! What? No one likes them? They're not real parties—just promotional events dreamed up to move units? But Microsoft told me that it's okay to host my own launch party! It'll be cool! Just look at these two married couples hanging out and gabbing like a box of birds about how much they love Windows 7. More » -
bad ideas
Honegar And 29 Other Dumb Inventions From The Mid-1900s
LIFE magazine has published a list of 30 dumb inventions from the middle of the 20th century. There are some profoundly stupid ideas on display here (baby cage, anyone?). More » -
amish heater
Reminder: Amish Heater Is Still No Miracle
The supposedly classy New York Times Magazine had a 2-page ad for the Amish Heater this weekend, so with that and the cold times a-coming, now is a good time to remind everyone that the Amish Heater is just a standard space heater plus overpriced particleboard faux-wood mantle on wheels. More » -
product warnings
Caution: Product Warning May Cause Laughter
The combination of human stupidity and modern litigiousness has resulted in some fantastically funny product warning labels. MainStreet rounded up a few in their Ridiculously Funny Product Warning slide show. A few highlights: More » -
i've seen better buys, actually
Geek Squad Will Plug In Your PS3 For Only $130
A Kotaku tipster notified the video game blog that Best Buy's Geek Squad is offering what can only be described as the deal of the century. Something even better than that awe-inspiring CD ripping service. More » -
i've seen better buys, actually
Geek Squad Now Offering CD-Ripping "Service"
Sticking to its proud tradition of charging for services that take a couple button clicks to accomplish, i.e. HDTV and video game console "optimization," Best Buy is now offering to rip music off your CDs and transfer it to an MP3 player or DVD. More » -
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i am a robot human
Wachovia Teller Refuses To Deposit Check Written In Two Ink Colors
"The best advice I can offer to those who wish to commit check fraud against Wachovia Bank," writes Jim, "is to purchase a typewriter." Although he's been a customer of the bank for years and had a hefty balance that more than covered the deposit amount of his handwritten check, because the dollar amount was in black ink and the signature was in blue ink the teller said it might be fraudulent and refused to take it. More » -
gift ideas
Never Curb Your Dog Again, But Embarrass Him Forever
Your dog thinks he's so fancy, walking around and ejecting poop wherever he wants like a furry softserve machine. You know what would put him in his place? A harness that lets you attach a poop bag to his butt. For the curious, there's a video below that includes action shots. More » -
christmas creep
Christmas Has Arrived In August At Costco
Yes, it's the second half of the year — which can only mean one thing: as the sweltering waves of sticky heat give way to hurricanes and the little tykes sharpen their pencils for the first day of school — Santa is on his way. Get out your @#$%#$ mistletoe and holly and all that. More » -
creative writing with crooks
Scammers Get Over-Ambitious With Fake FBI Letter
We guess if you're gonna create a failure pile, make it a big one. This email that pretends to be from FBI director Robert S. Mueller has the typical scammy touches: strange grammatical issues, unexpected shifts between formal and casual voices, a complete lack of understanding of how US government offices actually work, and an "official" gmail address. We were ready to send our information to them until we got to the end, where the letter threatens you with arrest if you don't play along. Now they're just getting silly. More » -
play them off keyboard cat
Studio Turns High School Graduation Into Marketing Stunt, Nobody Cares
The Wall Street Journal looks at how an unfortunately named marketing agency called the Intelligence Group tried to promote recent bomb "I Love You, Beth Cooper" with a viral video on YouTube. (Can we just once and for all ban anyone who works in advertising from accessing YouTube?) They paid the valedictorian of a Los Angeles high school $1,800 to "spontaneously" blurt out a secret crush during her speech, and they hired someone to film the speech in a faux-homemade style to post online. More » -
stupid
Craftsman Doesn't Have The Ability To Cancel A Duplicate Order
Reader C.W. is wondering why Craftsman (which is part of Sears) doesn't have the ability to cancel a duplicate order. Especially since there appears to be a "cancel" button on the website. More » -
dumb
Citgo Employees Smoke Cigarettes At Gas Station, Are Apparently Fireproof
Maybe these guys know something about the risks of combining fire and gasoline that we don't, but we're pretty sure that you're not supposed to smoke at a gas station. Reader Chris didn't think so either, and he sent us these pics of employees taking a smoke break at his local Citgo. More » -
advice
Don't Threaten To Kill Telemarketers
We know how you feel; telemarketers suck. But no matter how much they're in the wrong, please don't threaten to burn down their place of business and then kill them and their families—even if they call you a jackass—because they may report you to the police. Then, if your police are anything like the ones in St. Louis, Missouri, you'll likely be arrested and charged for making terrorist threats, like poor Charles Papenfus. More » -
DSL disasters
AT&T Reserves Its Best Neglect For Elite DSL
A Consumerist reader has pretty much reached the limit of poor AT&T customer and technical service over his shoddy Elite DSL account, which for two years now drops to speeds of around 10k every four months. Check out this letter and included chat log for some stunning examples of all the ways AT&T fails at providing a service it charges lots of money for. More » -
