Credit cards are so much worse than you thought, according to the 2008 Consumer Action credit card survey. Creditors have carte blanche to do pretty much whatever they want, including randomly changing terms, conditions, and rates, even to cardholders with perfect payment histories and pristine credit scores.
surveys
By 7.1.08
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A Consumer Reports study finds that 79% of consumers surveyed say they plan on buying a car with better fuel economy. [Consumer Reports]
The 10 Most Reputable Companies In The U.S.
By 6.18.08
The Research Institute has compiled a list of the most reputable companies in the U.S., “calculated by averaging perceptions of trust, esteem, admiration, and good feeling obtained from a representative sample of 100 local respondents who were familiar with the company.” (Then they do some statistical stuff to it.) Coming in at #1 is Google, which we think is remarkable considering how much data the company has managed to collect over the past several years, and continues to collect with new record-keeping initiatives like Google Health.
AOL Tops MSN Money's Customer Service Hall Of Shame
By 5.30.08
Earlier this week, MSN Money published the results of a national Zogby poll they commissioned on who delivers the worst customer service. The winner was AOL, ranked “poor” by 47% of respondents, while Comcast came in second with 42% suckage. Sprint ranked third at 39%.
Home Depot Won't Let You Buy Stuff Without Knowing What You Plan To Do With It
By 5.5.08
Reader Helen went to Home Depot to buy some various and sundry items, but left empty-handed after the self-checkout refused to let her complete her purchase without disclosing what she planned to do with her items. Helen says:
Fill Out Our Survey, Enter Drawing For $300 AMEX Card
By 4.16.08
Our publisher’s advertising monkeys are giving you the chance to win a $300 AMEX card if you tell us a little bit about yourself in this 5-10 minute survey. Giving an email address is optional to complete the survey, but necessary if you want to be eligible for the drawing, otherwise we won’t have any way to contact you.
ConsumerSay Wants All Your Data, Will Give You $20 For It
By 4.2.08
Pssst, wanna make an easy $20? Just give all your bank account and personal data over to ConsumerSay, a consumer opinion and behavior tracking firm owned by Lightspeed Research. Jen, who sometimes fills out surveys for freebies and cash, got an email from them offering her $20 for only 5 to 10 minutes of her time. Oh, and all of her financial transaction data.
Top 10 Complaints Keeping Shoppers From Returning (It's The Sales Staff)
By 3.17.08
Smartypants at the Wharton School of Business surveyed shoppers to find out what pissed them off most about the in-store experience, and it turns out it’s mainly the sales staff. Here’s the top 10 problems that shoppers said bothered them to the point that they wouldn’t go back to the store.
33% Of Homeowners Say Their Homes Depreciated In Value In February
By 2.23.08
A new survey from Reuters and the University of Michigan found that a third of homeowners felt their homes lost value in February, compared to 16% a year ago.
Latest ACSI Survey Is Out: You Really Like Dollar General
By 2.21.08
The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its latest scores of retail businesses, so we thought we’d take a look at the department store rankings by constructing a handy graph. When it comes to customer satisfaction, apparently Dollar General is doing something right—and Wal-Mart, as usual, is doing lots of things wrong.
By 12.18.07
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24% of consumers say they won’t finish shopping until December 23rd. [Consumer Reports]
Meat Industry Discovers Consumers' Trust Has Eroded
By 12.18.07
The meat and poultry industries have learned that if you poison your customers enough times, they’ll eventually start losing trust in you—although, oddly, they won’t change their purchasing habits. That’s the takeaway from a study carried out by Meatingplace.com (snicker) and “its sister publication POULTRY” (ha ha WHERE’S CHRIS HANSON). However, no description of the study is provided other than that Zoomerang.com was used, so we’re not sure if the results are at all meaningful. We’re just glad the meat industry is starting to notice something’s wrong.
Consumer Reports Survey Discovers People Hate Cell Phone Companies
By 12.7.07
The next issue of Consumer Reports will contain the results of a nationwide customer satisfaction survey for the mobile phone industry. In a surprise to no one who actually has a mobile phone, the cellular industry is “among the lowest-rated services” for consumers, particularly because of termination fees, high prices, and confusing contracts.
By 12.3.07
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19% of 64,000 shoppers surveyed said they set up wishlists with retailers at some point, up from 11% in 2005. [source: NPD Group]
Only 22% Of American Importers Of Chinese Goods Have Reviewed Their Supply Chain
By 11.30.07
A survey of global manufacturers found that only 22% have reviewed their supply chain in light of the Mattel lead toy recall situation. Of that number, 1/3 said they would change how they go about evaluating suppliers. 30% said they were sending quality inspectors to overseas plants. Most of the executives said their greatest fear in doing business with China wasn’t defective products, but that the Chinese would make knockoffs of their wares.
Do You Shop At Work?
By 11.28.07
Surveys! Is there nothing they can’t measure? Apparently yes: the number of Americans who shop online while they’re at work. According to Spherion, 30% of workers use their computers at work to shop online during the holidays. Accountemps says the number is 21%, the Memphis Business Journal says 38%, and Shop.org says it’s 54.5%.
Survey Says 73% Of Shoppers Don't Care For Their Grocery Stores
By 11.20.07
Earlier this month, IBM released some interesting findings about grocery shoppers from its new study “Why Advocacy Matters to Grocers,” including:
- 73% of shoppers “feel either antagonistic towards or have no loyalty to their local supermarket”
Consumers Plan To Purchase Fewer, Cheaper Presents
By 11.4.07
Prepare for disappointment this holiday season because a survey from Deloitte & Touche says the average consumer is planning to spend less on fewer presents. The average New England holiday shopping budget is down 19% to $517, and the average shopper is prepared to buy only 24 gifts – which to us, still seems like a lot.
