Consumerist
-
shipping
See Which Retailers Offer Free Shipping
The website istobe offers a daily free shipping report for over 500 online retailers, where you can quickly see whether there's a minimum purchase requirement or if the retailer offers free shipping at all. It's a good resource to use as you compare prices, and istobe says they update it daily.
Daily Free Shipping Report [Istobe]
(Photo: Jami Dwyer) -
american airlines
American Airlines Fires Web Designer For Helping Customer
Dustin Curtis complained to American Airlines about its poor website user interface. A designer within the company reached out to him to apologize, say how it was hard sometime to design well at a large company, but that better designs were coming down the pike. American Airlines then fired the designer. Authenticity can be a hazard to your job health. More » -
delays
Customer Says OnTrac Is Ruining His Amazon Prime Membership
Brian paid for an Amazon Prime membership in order to expedite shipments. Unfortunately, the company contracted to deliver the goods to him doesn't seem up to the job. More » -
don't buy a macpadd
MacPadd Inventor Drinks With Wife, Brags About Education, Curses, But Does Not Provide Tracking Number
Some people should never go the entrepreneur route. Meet David Free, the man behind QMS, a company that sells and sometimes even ships an aluminum mousepad called the MacPadd. When the guys at TomsHardware.com started asking why theirs hadn't arrived, they discovered that Free does business his own way. Or sometimes not at all:
More »Free then exclaimed, "Get out of my f***ing life!" And hung up on us. By now it was becoming clear to us that we weren't going to receive the product we paid for.
-
ebooks
Sony's Ebook Store Prices Too High? Try Shortcovers
Michael bought a Sony Pocket Reader last month, but with the exception of $10 bestsellers, he's finding that other books he wants are priced higher than he's willing to pay. For example, Tad Friend's memoir Cheerful Money is $10 on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, but $17.49 from Sony. Michael wants to know if we have any advice on how to get Sony to lower their prices. More » -
online shopping
Here Are Your Shipping Deadlines For Christmas 2009
If you're planning on spending the next 6-8 weeks pouring cash into Mammon's gaping maw—and really, who isn't? it's how we love each other—then here are the shipping deadlines for over 100 online retailers, courtesy of CouponSherpa. In today's UPS/FedEx world you can frequently wait right up until Christmas week, but you might want to double-check the list if there's a retailer you absolutely have to shop from.
"Holiday Shipping Deadlines for Christmas 2009" [CouponSherpa] (Thanks to Jeff!)
(Photo: dierken) -
we all live in a yellow boat
Company Sued For Selling Beatles MP3s Says They're Original Works, So It's Okay
Since the Beatles are notorious for refusing to release their music online, the mere fact that BlueBeat.com was selling them was kind of strange, which probably explains why EMI just sued them for copyright infringement. But BlueBeat has come up with a perfectly reasonable explanation. The songs aren't really Beatles songs, you see, but "psycho-acoustic simulations" and therefore original works. More » -
personal finance
Quicken Online To Be Shut Down Next Year, Accounts Merged With Mint
When news broke back in September that Intuit, the company behind Quicken, was buying personal finance website Mint, everyone wondered how the two services would co-exist. The worst case scenario was that Mint would be absorbed somehow into Intuit's in-house competitor, Quicken Online. Thankfully, it looks like the opposite will happen. More » -
-
false advertising
Hilton Complimentary Internet Access In Lobby Costs $10 A Day
At Hilton Washington Dulles Airport hotel, everything is complimentary! That's because to them "complimentary" actually means "for a price." Last week, a linguistics professor tried to take advantage of their "Complimentary High-speed Internet access on the lobby level," which is how they describe the service on their website. He quickly discovered that he'd have to agree to a $9.99 charge in order to get the free service. More » -
vacations
Rent Someone's Home On Your Next Vacation
The next time you travel to another city, it might be cheaper, or at least more interesting, to rent directly from a local homeowner. Cool Tools says Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO.com) is a great way to find rental opportunities when you travel. More » -
online banking
Citibank Doesn't Want Your Business, Linux Users
For some reason, Citibank won't let customers using Linux computers log in to their online accounts. Adam argues that in 2009 this doesn't make sense, especially when no other major corporate website blocks him like this. More » -
activism
How To Protect Yourself From Takedown Notices
Earlier this week Boing Boing posted a link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's new Takedown Hall of Shame, which is exactly what it sounds like: a place to highlight some of the most egregious attempts by companies to use the law to bully critics into silence. Included on the site is a handy guide that explains steps you can take to help prevent the sudden shutdown of your site due to an angry business. More » -
music
Google's New Music Search Launches, But Your Buying Options Remain The Same
The new music search capabilities that Google introduced today will make it easier to quickly find a song you can't remember the name of, or sample some tracks from an artist you're interested in. But it's not so much a new service as a more efficient combination of a bunch of services already scattered around the web. More » -
fail
State Job Website Has Great Opportunities For Self-Starting Identity Thieves
CBS 5 exposed a "gaping hole" in the code of California's state-run employment website that allows anyone who views the site to access and modify other users' resumes and personal info simply by changing some numbers in the URL. More » -
internet
Here's What The New FCC Net Neutrality Rules Mean
Yesterday the FCC announced new, expanded rules enforcing net neutrality, and they've set aside the next 60 days for public debate. Get ready to hear all sorts of creative end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it arguments from opponents like AT&T. We've checked out the official document (pdf) and below we summarize the changes that are open to public discussion for the next two months. More » -
rumors
Google To Launch Music Search Service Next Week
You've probably seen Google Finance, where each company has its own page made up of content scraped from all over the web. Google is about to launch a similar service for musicians, says the Hollywood Reporter: "The music pages will package images of musicians and bands, album artwork, links to news, lyrics and song previews, along with a way to buy songs." More » -
spam
Now Report Spammers On Twitter With A Single Click
It used to be that when you were followed by a spammer on Twitter, you had to go report them by sending a direct message to Twitter's official spam account. Now they've updated their reporting system, so all it takes is a single click. Have fun turning in the bots! More » -
credit reports
FTC Wants Your Input On How To Improve AnnualCreditReport.com
The problem with annualcreditreport.com—other than its name—is that getting your reports from the site is a little like dealing with GoDaddy: you have to deal with upsells and side-sells at every step. You can indeed get your free credit reports from the site, but you'll also have to keep turning down other offers from the three participating bureaus. Hell, there are even ads (sorry, "sponsor" links) on the home page, the one place where you'd hope for the least consumer confusion. More »
websites
New York, 4:31 AM
Mon Nov 23
7 posts in the last 24 hours
Tip Your Editors:
tips@consumerist.com
tipline: 347-42C-ON95
Co-Managing Editor:
Ben Popken
Email | AIM | Twitter
Co-Managing Editor:
Meghann Marco
Email | Twitter
Senior Editor:
Chris Walters
Email | Twitter
Weekend Editor:
Laura Northrup
Email | AIM | Twitter
Associate Editor:
Alex Chasick | Email
Associate Editor:
Phil Villarreal
Email
