Consumerist
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video games
Rumor: Game Crazy To Close 200 Locations
Joystiq reported last night that Game Crazy "plans to close 200 of its approximately 680 locations at the end of October." There's no official list of which stores are closing yet, so feel free to ask your local Game Crazy employees and see if you can scare them. More » -
textbooks
Textbooks Publishers Using "Packets" To Fight Used Book Market
Students who prefer to shop for textbooks online are encountering a hitch in their efforts. University and College courses are increasingly using bundled versions of textbooks that come with their own ISBN number. School book stores sell the packets as a single item, because their contents don't come itemized. More » -
pointing fingers
Sleepy's Exec Says Bedbugs Come From People
Buried in the controversy surrounding the exit of consumer reporter George Gombossy from the Hartford Courant was his article that looks at complaints against mattress company Sleepy's. We though this bit of wisdom from Sleepy's COO was worth repeating:
More »Adam S. Blank, Sleepy's general counsel and chief operating officer, said last month Sleepy's was unaware of Blumenthal's investigation and said bedbugs do not originate in beds, but come from people.
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fun
Cheap-ish Collectible Cars For The Recession
Just because there's a recession on doesn't mean you can't have a hobby. Well, ok. It might mean that, but let's assume for a second that it doesn't. The NYT asked some collectible car experts to recommend some affordable old cars that, while they may not be considered "an investment," are still lots of fun. More » -
where's my money
RadioShack Electronics Trade-In Program Not The Fastest Way To Get Cash
A Dallas Morning News blogger decided to test out RadioShack's new trade-in program, where you mail them your unwanted cellphone, for example, and they mail you a gift card, which you can then turn around and use to buy 7,000 house brand AAA batteries. As you might expect, RadioShack didn't offer him as much money for his Blackberry Storm as he saw them going for on eBay, but the real problem came from the missed deadlines and delays in getting his gift card: what they said would take one week ended up taking 5 1/2 weeks, and might have taken longer had he not emailed them.
"DMN reporter tests RadioShack's gadget trade-in program; RadioShack tests reporter's patience" [Dallas Morning News] (Thanks to Trevor!)
(Photo: Robbert van der Steeg) -
ebay
"New" Phone Bought Off EBay Turns Out To Be Used, Porny
Lillian bought what she thought was a new phone from an eBay seller with a lot of great feedback. The longer she has it, though, the more evidence she finds that it's probably not new. Sometimes buying electronics off of eBay is like slowly peeling an onion. More » -
follow ups
Customer Apologizes For Guitar Center Screw-Up
Mitch wrote to us last week to complain that he was sent a used guitar instead of the new one he ordered. Musician's Friend and/or Guitar Center (they're related) followed up with Mitch and corrected the mistake, but it turns out that Mitch was in the wrong on this one. Here's his explanation for what happened. More » -
guitar center
Guitar Center Ships Broken Guitar From Another Store's Inventory, Says Too Bad, Now It's Yours
Did you know Guitar Center, Musician's Friend, and "a few other online music retailers" all share the same centralized distribution center? That's the explanation a Musician's Friend CSR gave Mitch when he tried to solve the mystery of the dented, twisted-neck, not-even-from-the-right-store Fender Telecaster. It looks like Guitar Center shipped him another company's returned item. That's bad enough, but now Guitar Center says they won't make good on his order because it's beyond the 30 day return period. Hey, Guitar Center: What return period? Mitch never got the product he ordered in the first place.
Update: Musician's Friend has responded with an apology. More » -
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iphone
This iPhone Comes With A Blackberry User's Email Address, And A Mystery
No, we didn't accidentally republish yesterday's post. This is another story of a "new" iPhone with someone else's email address, and this time there appears to be no simple explanation for it—the address on the phone belonged to a man who lived on the other side of the country and used a Blackberry. More » -
iphone
This 'New' iPhone Comes With Russian Email Address
It's bad enough that Victor and his friends were scammed by this AT&T store in Brooklyn, but AT&T has basically told him that they can't help fix the problem, even though he's now in another town. Update: Eugene Pikulin says this could have happened innocently when the phone was activated in-store. More » -
gm
Your Car Is Used. Should GM Still Be Responsible For A Mistake It Made In The Factory?
At what point is an auto manufacturer freed from all responsibility for the car it makes and sells? Griffin says it's almost certain that the incorrect body control module (BCM) was inserted at the factory, and that GM's mistake cost him $459 to fix. GM says the former owner (Griffin's friend) must have swapped out BCMs and therefore it's "out of our control," but Griffin argues that's pretty much impossible. More » -
habitat for humanity
Save Money On Your Next Refurb Project, Shop At A Habitat ReStore
Did you know Habitat for Humanity operates retail outlets where they sell used and surplus building materials? Habitat ReStores are located in 47 U.S. states and 9 Canadian provinces. More » -
money
Personal Finance Roundup
Using Your Health Savings Account as a "Super Roth" Investment Vehicle [Free Money Finance] "If you can afford to delay using your HSA funds and instead leave them invested, your payoff in retirement will be substantial."
Winning the Battle Against Low Quality Generics While Still Saving Money [The Simple Dollar] "The next time you go to the grocery store, actively replace all of your regular purchases with the low-end generics."
7 Nasty Airline Fees and How to Avoid Them [Smart Money] "Here are seven instances when fees are assessed and how to avoid them."
10 ways to spot 401(k) abuse [Bankrate] "Warning signs to help employees discover if their 401(k) contributions are being misused."
9 Things You Should Not Buy New [Crosswalk] "Here are the top 9 things you
will be better off buying used."— free/ MONEY FINANCE
(Photo: Kevin Dean ) -
rude
K2 Auto Group In Minneapolis Uses The "I Hate You, Get Out" Sales Method
Jesse sent us a copy of the letter he recently sent to CarSoup.com about the treatment his mother received at the K2 Auto Group car lot in Bloomington, Minneapolis.The salesmen who "greeted" them employed a novel sales technique whereby you treat the customer like she's not rich or smart enough to even own a car, much less one of your beauties. Oddly, it didn't work, and they left without buying anything. Read on for the salesman's amazing technique in action. More » -
shopping
Shopping Strategy Of Millionaires: Buy Used Or High Quality
Ordinarily I find "money tricks of millionaires" lists to be sort of annoying and unhelpful, but this one, found on the Dumb Little Man productivity blog, and based on a book called 'The Millionaire Mind' by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley, is an exception. It offers one bit of practical advice that I think everyone should at least consider. More » -
consumer electronics
New Service Lets You Resell Your Old Gadgets At A Fixed Price—For A Fee
TechForward, a new company in Los Angeles, provides fixed buyback prices on used electronics like cell phones and iPods. The catch is you pay up front—it's an added fee when you first buy the device—for the right to resell your gadget to them a year or two down the line, and the amounts they're offering are usually dramatically lower than what you can get if you sell it yourself on Ebay. More » -
anti-bargains
GameStop's Golden Price Tags Mean Higher Value, Not "Used"
The great thing about a used game is someone else has already worked out all the bugs and made it better—at least, that's what we assume this GameStop wants us to believe, since they've got the used version priced $5 more than the brand new one. That's why the sticker is golden, see, to show that it's more valuable. More »
used
Target is testing sales of used electronics on its website to move returned items that are in "perfect working order"—mostly iPods and HDTVs right now. [
New York, 1:44 AM
Fri Nov 13
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