Consumerist
-
weights and measures
Is Kohl's Systemically Overcharging Customers?
Don't walk out of Kohl's without first double-checking your receipt. The store apparently has a penchant for overcharging customers, according to the Sacramento County Department of Weights and Measures, which fined the chain $2,000 for repeatedly failing surprise inspections. CBS sent an enterprising reporter to see how long it would take for them to uncover a pricing discrepancy of their own. Almost immediately, they found a woman who was charged $64.99 for a pair of shoes marked $59.99. More » -
hot fuel
Costco Might Fix Hot Fuel Ripoff
Vermonters get a better deal on gas than Texans. Fuel expands in the heat and shrinks in the cold, so 5 gallons of "hot fuel" won't get your car as far as 5 gallons of regular. Oilmen know this, and that's why at various points in the supply chain volume gets adjusted for the industry standard temperature of 60° F. The retail pump isn't one of them. That might start to change if a proposed class-action lawsuit settlement with Costco as a defendant goes through. Under the terms, Costco would fix its pumps in the bottom half of the country so that they dispense fuel at 60° F. If it goes through, it would be a precedent-setting consumer victory. After all, you want a Tiger in your tank, not a Heat Miser, don't you?
Costco offer would fix hot fuel [Kansas City Star] (Photo: whatatravisty)
-
busted
Target Will Pay $1.7 Million After Inaccurate Scanners Overcharged Californians
Target has agreed to pay a $1.7 million penalty after weights and measures inspectors found "numerous occasions where the price charged at the cash register was not the lowest posted price," according to a statement from the Sonoma County district attorney's office. More » -
walmart
Walmart Register Scales Off By As Much As 5 lbs
Maybe there's a localized outbreak of inaccurate grocery store scales happening in Kansas City, MO — or maybe grocery store scales in general are just not very accurate? A local KC news team decided to randomly test some grocery store check out scales to see if you were being charged the correct amount for your green beans and whatnot. 5 out of 30 of the scales tested were inaccurate. The news team also went through 2,000 state inspections and found the most egregious examples of malfunctioning scales. More » -
arizona ice tea
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Arizona Ice Tea?
It looks like the fell Grocery Shrink Ray may have hit cans of Arizona Ice Tea, reducing the size of their 12 oz cans to 11.5 oz cans. We couldn't find any definite pictures of 12oz Arizona Ice Tea cans, but we did find them being sold on this website in 12 oz cans. What happens to a product when the shrink ray hits it? I imagine it goes eek! eek! eek! and the last eek is an octave higher than the first.
(Thanks to Cynicor!)
-
free parking
The Vast Majority Of Philadelphia Parking Tickets May Be Invalid
A CBS investigation has revealed that parking tickets stemming from 85% of the parking meters in Philadelphia are invalid. Pennsylvania law requires inspectors to certify each parking meter for accuracy once every three years, but the single inspector working for Philly's Licenses and Inspections Department, the city agency in change of certification, has visited less than 15% of all parking meters—but he has found the time to certify some meters 8 times while others go completely unchecked. As a result, thousands of parking tickets are invalid under state law. More » -
pricing
Home Depot Lets You Keep $199 Power Tool That Rang Up For $0.01
Johnny was pleasantly surprised when the $199 power tool he grabbed off the clearance rack rang up at the self-checkout for just $0.01. Home Depot, of course, stopped him before he could leave and asked for the item back, but Johnny wasn't fast to part with his new toy.I told the manager well that's to bad because I ALREADY PAID FOR IT!!! and if you don't return MY PRODUCT!!! that I PAID FOR!!! that I would call the cops because you are now stealing from me. I will call Weights and Measures. OH YEAH and my attorney.
Read the full story after the jump. More » -
-
"Excessive price-scanning errors" earned the Kmart in Madison, North Carolina a $5,000 fine from the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. [Eden Daily News]
-
success stories
Letter To Wisconsin Department Of Weights And Measures Results In Victory
Reader Gabe writes in to tell us that he reported a gas station to the Wisconsin Department of Weights and Measures because he noticed that the pump started charging him before he ever pulled the trigger. More » -
weights and measures
Royal Farms Gas Pump Charges You Even After The Gas Stops Flowing
Royal Farms refuses to fix a broken gas pump that charges customers even after the gas stops flowing. The pump in Abingdon, Maryland has overcharged Tom on five separate occasions, and Royal Farms refuses to issue a promised refund. More » -
best buy
Open Box Gaming Mice Cost $12 Extra At Best Buy
Daniel wanted to pick up a Lachesis Gaming Mouse on sale at Best Buy for $59.99, but the San Francisco store he visited had only two open-box models left and both cost $71.99. More » -
weights and measures
Don't Get Burned When Buying Firewood
Need some firewood? The Oneida County Bureau of Weights and Measures wants to remind New Yorkers that friendly axe-wielding locals are required to provide firewood buyers with a detailed receipt that includes a declaration of responsibility, identity, and quantity.
Because many firewood dealers sell wood on an informal basis, they may not be aware of their responsibilities. Likewise, homeowners may not be aware that the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Law regulates firewood sales. I urge both buyers and sellers to be aware of the regulations to avoid problems after the sale."
Picente urges homeowners to be smart when buying firewood [Oneida Dispatch]
(Photo: Ordinary Guy) -
weights and measures
Walmart Fined $89,705 For Overcharging Wisconsin Customers
Walmart received an $89,705 fine after the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection found 280 weights and measures violations at nine Walmart stores. The gargantuan retailer failed to subtract the weight of packaging materials, or "tare weight," when pricing bulk items like coffee, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.Judy Cardin, section chief for weights and measures with the state, said that in the case of bulk coffee, the weight of the packaging materials was included when the price of the product was determined. The state had tested one-pound bags of Cameron brand coffee beans, which were found to be 3/100ths of a pound over the actual bagged content.
More » -
weights and measures
Best Buy Charges $10 More For Opened Hard Drive
It's always important to check the price tags in the store to make sure you're not getting ripped off. Alan writes:I was in Best Buy yesterday, purchasing an external hard drive at Best Buy, and caught this little pricing glitch. Nothing like paying an extra $10 and not even getting the original packaging or the "new out of the box" feeling.
Hey maybe that's the fee for insuring that there's actually a hard drive inside instead of ceramic bath tiles. -
health
Coke Expands Nutrition Label To Actually Make Sense
I hate it when I'm eating a bunch of crackers and I look on the box and the serving size is like "3 crackers" and all the calories and nutrition info are based on this absurdly small number. So I was glad to turn over my bottle of Coke and see that they were including both a "Standard Serving" and a "This Package" label. On the left it shows how many calories and such are in a regular can. On the right it shows how much is in the bottle. It's nice that there's a comparison. It's also nice that they're not giving the nutrition info as if someone was going to drink from the bottle at two and a half different meals. Let's see this spirit of packaging transparency leveraged across the entire food industry. -
weights and measures
1/3 Of South Florida Gas Pumps Failed State Accuracy Tests
More than a third South Florida's gas station pumps have failed the state's accuracy test in the past three years. An analysis of state inspections reveals that slightly more than half of the broken pumps err in favor of the consumer. The state inspects all pumps every 12-18 months.The Sun-Sentinel analyzed state inspection reports from 2004 to 2006. The analysis found 580 of more than 2,500 stations in South Florida had at least one pump dispensing more gas than customers paid to purchase, while 477 provided less fuel than they should.
More »
weights and measures
New York, 10:40 PM
Mon Nov 9
23 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
