Top 10

Golden Poo Award For Worst Company In America Unveiled

The box we teased you about contained a glistening golden poo statue. That's right, the award for Worst Company In America is here. That can mean only one thing... On Monday we host our final deathmatch between Comcast and Countrywide Home Loans. It's going to be a brutal bloodbath full of chills and spills. Only one will walk away champion, and then we will mail them their justly deserved prize. Stay tuned to Consumerist.com for all the hot crappy-company-on-crappy-company action. More »

3:40 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Ben Popken
9,408 views, 85 comments

Latest by n/a: @harumph: Interesting that you place so little confidence in your arguments that you have to make your snipes and run away without defending them with something like, I don't know, proof? more »

starbucks

A Complete List Of Starbucks Locations That Will Be Closing

Starbucks has released the complete list of stores that will be closing. You can browse the full list, organized alphabetically by state, inside. More »

2:30 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Meg Marco
11,349 views, 100 comments

identity theft

Brooklyn Ice Cream Shop Owner Stole $25,000 From Customers

Police arrested Daniel Kaufman yesterday and charged him with identity theft and forgery for running customers' credit cards through twice and pocketing the extra money—as much as $25,000 since February, and "cops say that Kaufman also attempted to steal $70,000 more," reports the local Brooklyn Paper. Kaufman managed the Blue Pig ice cream shop as well as three other restaurants, and he took credit card slips from one business and ran them through at another. More »

2:01 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Chris Walters
4,090 views, 28 comments

aquadots

Aquadots, The Infamous "GHB-Laced Toys," Are Back With A New Name, "Pixos"!

Reader Maya noticed that those GHB-laced toys (distributed in North America by Spin Master) that were recalled last year are back, and they've got a brand new name. Pixos! More »

12:53 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Meg Marco
5,823 views, 26 comments

scams

Scammed By Curb-Side Check In At JFK

Reader Andy decided to check his bag curb-side at JFK, that wretched hive of scum and villainy, and the curb-side check-in attendant scammed him out of $15 by promising to sneak his "overweight" bag onto the flight for a "big tip." Naturally, after the deal was done, Andy realized that his bag probably wasn't overweight and he'd just been scammed. Now he's writing in to tell his story so that other consumers can avoid a similar fate. More »

11:26 AM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Meg Marco
6,522 views, 59 comments

Latest by ecwis: @humphrmi: He bribed an airline official? First off, curb-side check-in guys are contracted out (usually by the airport) and therefore not airline employees. Secondly, the guy was definitely not an official... But yeah this guy definitely deserved to get scammed. more »

banks

10 Banks That Could Be Next To Go Under

IndyMac bank going under probably has you wondering, is my bank next? Various analysts are predicting that hundreds of small and regional banks could collapse in the next year. Here's the top 10 list of the nation's most troubled banks... More »

2:04 PM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Ben Popken
76,632 views, 95 comments

Movearoo

Moving With Movearoo's Help? Hope You Like AT&T, Verizon, And Qwest

Movearoo.com is a new website that appears to offer free assistance with your move, helping you set up things like phone service, gas, and electricity at your new address. The site calls itself "Your Total Moving Resource." It's a helpful site, sure, but you should be aware that it's funded by AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest, and exists primarily to promote their services. In other words, you won't find a comprehensive list of competing phone service providers through Movearoo, only those offered by the three sponsor companies. A consumer advocate points out the drawback of making Movearoo your sole relocation resource:

"If you go online and you only have one choice of a subsidiary of one of these companies, it's not one-stop shopping," [Ev Liebman of New Jersey Citizen Action] said. "It's simply misleading. Consumers need to be aware that there are other companies providing similar services and possibly at lower prices."

More »

11:46 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Chris Walters
1,851 views, 6 comments

Latest by Derv: Also nothing new, USPS does something similar...ever filled out a change-of-address form in person at a post office before? They are choc-full of ads from Home Depot, the phone company, and anyone else who ponies up the dough. See [www.dmnews.com] more »

funny

L.L. Bean Backpacks Are For Trusting Souls

Reader j. sent us the above scan of a page from an L.L. Bean catalog. j. says: More »

10:04 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Meg Marco
21,985 views, 65 comments

identity theft

5 Steps To Take If Your Identity Is Stolen

The website DebtConsolidationCare receives letters like this all the time, "O Heavens! I found that my master card has been stolen from my purse when I had gone to a party. Someone took out $500 from it. I found it out when I saw the billing statement. What shall I do now? What shall I do to get out of this whole thing? I am planning to close the account. What else should I do?" According to their statistics, every minute, 20 people are affected by identity theft which adds up to about 10 million a year. To help people like these, DebtConsolidationCare has put together a list of 5 steps you should take if your identity is stolen. Check out the list, inside... More »

9:36 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Jay Slatkin
4,906 views, 13 comments

Latest by gr8chief: The guy that stole my idenity had the same name as me. I knew he was in financial trouble and was going to knock on his door and ask to look around since I would probably be owning it. He more »

run on the bank

What Does A Bank Run Look Like In 2008? A Lot Like 1912.

The FDIC was created in 1933 by the Glass-Steagall Act, and provides $100,000 of deposit insurance to checking and savings deposits. "Bank panics" used to be fairly common, and the FDIC was intended to instill confidence in the banking system after the Great Depression. The most recent big failure, that of California bank IndyMac, will cost the FDIC between $4 and $8 billion, and they estimate that about $1 billion of IndyMac's deposits are "potentially uninsured," meaning that the depositors had more than $100,000 on deposit. So what does a bank run look like these days? More »

8:38 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Meg Marco
12,244 views, 102 comments

Latest by SOhp101: And just as an addenum, I think my previous comment shows more than enough reason why I don't consider him to have much credit in this area of 'debate.' more »

sci

Funeral Home Switches Grandma's Body For Different One

The Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Stickney, Illinois, mixed up the tags on a couple of bodies, so that when mourners showed up to view 91-year-old Lillian Grogan on Monday, they instead saw a different lady wearing Grogan's clothes and jewelry. When a granddaughter tried to find out what the funeral home had done with the real Grogan, she discovered the woman had already been buried. She was exhumed and reburied yesterday. Hey, at least cremation wasn't involved. More »

7:48 AM on Thu Jul 17 2008
By Chris Walters
3,912 views, 19 comments

Latest by n/a: I blame the OP's relative for dying. more »

insiders

10 Secrets To Getting Better Tech Support From Asus

An Asus technician has stepped forward out the shadows to give us the 10 insider tips for getting through and getting better and faster tech support from the computer and computer parts maker. Some things just can't be fixed though, but it's at least to know the soul-crushing math they're using to destroy the customer experience. Considering how bad their tech support is, you're definitely going to need these tips... More »

6:41 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Ben Popken
17,224 views, 40 comments

IndyMac

IndyMac Failure Demonstrates That The FDIC's Customer Service Skills Could Use Some Work

We're always told not to worry about our bank failing because our deposits are insured up to $100,000 by the FDIC. Well, in case you were wondering what happens when a bank actually does fail, look no further than the great state of California, where IndyMac has been taken over by federal regulators and its customers are getting a taste of all the FDIC has to offer. More »

6:37 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Meg Marco
9,297 views, 54 comments

tax evaders

Did UBS Help Rich Americans Hide Billions Of Dollars In Liechtenstein?

Following up on yesterday's story about a disgruntled computer technician who turned over the bank records from the LGT Bank of Liechtenstein, ABC News says that UBS Bank may have helped set up the secret accounts and been responsible for hiding as much as $20 billion dollars of U.S. money. More »

6:19 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Meg Marco
5,024 views, 40 comments

travelodge

Those Aren't Bedbugs, Says Ohio Travelodge. They're Dirt!

People, we're never going to attract Canadian tourists if we keep scaring the hell out of them with fireworks and bedbugs. Esmond and his girlfriend were staying at a Travelodge in Sandusky, Ohio on July 5th, and couldn't sleep because of fellow Travelodge guests shooting off fireworks in the parking lot. Around 1:30 a.m. there was a loud boom:

I went to the window, to have a look. Turns out there were kids letting off more fireworks outside, the parents had let them roam freely. My girlfriend stood behind me to ask what was going on. I told her it was just some kids. We then turned on the lights and to my horror, there were BED BUGS on the bed!

Now he can't get a refund from Hotels.ca because Travelodge says their hotel is bedbug-free, and that Esmond just saw "some dirt kicked up on the bed."

More »

5:22 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Chris Walters
6,747 views, 37 comments

ask the consumerists

Now Can You Guess What's In The Box?

If you're a close Consumerist reader, you should now know what's in this box. Leave your wild guesses in the comments.

5:16 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Ben Popken
9,356 views, 80 comments

transportation

Are Unlimited Ride MetroCards A Good Deal? Not For A Lot Of People Who Use Them

The New York Times had an article today about the 10 year anniversary of the unlimited MetroCard and how it has transformed way people use the subway. They even included a graph that showed how many times people are using their cards in a month. What they didn't mention is that a lot of people are buying the card and not hitting the "break even" point of 46 rides per month. Hmm. More »

1:10 PM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Meg Marco
10,007 views, 77 comments

deceptive

Häagen-Dazs Drink Special Costs Twice As Much With "No Ice" Thanks To Handwritten Mouseprint

Reader Joanne is wondering if the tiny handwritten mouseprint on the Haagen-Dazs drink special sign is purposefully misleading. She saw the special and ordered the drink, but when she asked for "no ice" she was told that it would cost twice as much, and that this information was on the sign. Her boyfriend examined the sign (after she got her ice-packed drink) and sure enough, in tiny handwriting at the bottom of the sign was a note that said the drink cost twice as much with "no ice." More »

10:59 AM on Wed Jul 16 2008
By Meg Marco
14,055 views, 87 comments

Latest by n/a: You do get twice as much soda w/o the ice. Ignoring the real cost of the soda, think about these prices as seen recently: $1.59 @ 7.95¢ / oz - 20oz Coke bottle $1.69 @ 2.5¢ / oz - 67.76oz (2 more »

Golden Poo Award For Worst Company In America Unveiled

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