Consumerist

Posts Tagged “

surprise

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Surprise Fees

Cox: What, We Need Permission To Bill For Sports And Movie Tiers?

Cox apparently doesn't understand that they need permission before billing for extras like sports and movie tiers. The cable provider surprised reader Adrienne with a $130 bill for a triple-play package that was supposed to cost $100 per month, including all taxes and fees. When Adrienne called to complain, Cox straightened out the situation by tacking on yet another unrequested charge, this time for Starz. More »

4:40 PM on Sat Aug 9 2008
By Carey
10,376 views, 37 comments

Latest by caelanarcher: My roommate and I just moved to a Cox-only area (only other option is HUGELY EXPENSIVE Verizon FIOS), and we more »

surprise

Worst Company In America UPSET: #63 Hallmark/Westland Meatpacking Stuns #2 News Corp!

Grab your popcorn, ladies and gentlemen! We have some eye-opening Worst Company in America news for you. Round 1 is finally over and the results are in: #63 Hallmark/Westland Meatpacking Company has upset #2 News Corp.! More »

2:19 PM on Wed May 7 2008
By Meg Marco
10,651 views, 42 comments

unacceptable food

This Two-Inch Metal Spear Does Not Belong In A Dancing Deer All-Natural, Organic Blondie

Update: Dancing Deer apologized.

Helen writes: "I had some friends over for dinner last night, and didn't feel like making dessert from scratch so I bought a package of Dancing Deer brand blondies (they're advertised as organic, all-natural, etc. etc.) to serve instead. So after dinner I opened the package, took out the top three blondie bars, cut them in half to be a bit more normal-sized, and set them out on a plate. Everyone loved theirs, but when I bit into mine — it bit back. I pulled it out of my mouth to find a two-inch-long. quarter-inch cylinder of metal baked right into the damn thing."

More »

12:10 AM on Sat Feb 16 2008
By Carey
11,439 views, 74 comments

surprise activism

Shopdropped iPods Implore Buyers: "Reclaim Your Mind From The Media Shackles"

Joe Ellis arranged for Santa to deliver an iPod to his daughter for Christmas. Santa instead left an anti-capitalist rant. The iPod purchased from a Maryland Walmart contained a note written in ransom-letter caps reading:
RECLAIM YOUR MIND FROM THE MEDIA SHACKLES. READ A BOOK AND RESURRECT YOURSELF.
More »

10:45 AM on Sat Dec 29 2007
By Carey
8,613 views, 61 comments

Latest by Rectilinear Propagation: what would have actually been clever is if someone had left the ipod, and filled it with underground or independent more »

quality control

Christmas Cracker Contains Dead Mouse

See, this is why we don't pull apart "crackers" on Christmas in the U.S.—a New Zealand woman found a dead, partially decomposed mouse in hers earlier this week during her family's Christmas celebration. "I had said to my granddaughter 'what's the smell' and we couldn't work it out until we pulled the cracker." Then: Merry Christmas! There's a dead mouse in yer lap! "It ruined my appetite for the rest of the day," she told her local paper. More »

9:35 PM on Fri Dec 28 2007
By Chris Walters
1,819 views, 16 comments

Latest by mamacita: Yeah. OK, well, uh, we found, uh, this mouse in one of your crackers, eh. Like, we was at a more »

cutbacks

Lillian Vernon Fires Employees Four Days Before Christmas

Longtime catalog business Lillian Vernon, famous for its dinky personalized items—and under corporate ownership of one sort or another since 2003—decided to personalize the sensation of being terminated last Thursday, reports the Virginian-Pilot. Although seasonal workers have always been a big part of LV's holiday workforce, this time around the axe fell on longterm employees who showed up to their normal, year-round jobs that morning. "Lillian Vernon officials declined to comment on the layoffs. Philip Read, a company spokesman, answered his wireless phone Friday and said he was no longer employed by Lillian Vernon as of Thursday." More »

10:29 AM on Thu Dec 27 2007
By Chris Walters
3,408 views, 24 comments

Latest by mikelotus: hey, they needed to enjoy a good laugh during the holidays thinking about all the ruined christmases for these people. more »

irs

13,000 People Are Getting A Surprise Audit!

13,000 lucky Americans will soon receive letters from the IRS explaining that they've been selected for a random audit. The hapless participants are rounded up as part of the IRS' National Research Program, which seeks to explain why the Treasury receives $300 billion less than we Americans collectively owe. A random audit is nothing to fear unless you are a tax cheating yutz. More »

3:45 PM on Sun Oct 14 2007
By Carey
20,054 views, 48 comments

Latest by bombed_pop: @joeonsunset:$500 for an audit? More like $1-2K depending on the amount of time and work involved. A tax more »

A study found that making purchase decisions based on emotions leads to sub-optimal results. [Eurekalert via Lifehacker]

3 comments