While Walmart increasingly turns its focus online to bring in customers, Target is doing the opposite, doubling down on efforts to get customers inside its physical stores. To that end, the company will open dozens of new stores and remodel another 1,000 in coming years. [More]
GM, States Reach $120M Settlement Over Claims It Kept Ignition Switch Defect Under Wraps
By 10.19.17
Three years after General Motors recalled millions of cars that contained a ignition switch defect that was ultimately linked to more than 120 deaths, the carmaker is finally closing another chapter of the saga. The company will pay $120 million to resolve allegations that it failed to disclose the safety defect in a timely manner. [More]
MasterCard Ending Signature Requirements
By 10.19.17
For as long as we can remember, paying with a credit card required you to sign your name on the dotted line. While this system has changed over the years — mandating your John Hancock only for purchases over a certain amount — MasterCard is perhaps planning the biggest change of them all: The payment company will eliminate signature payments altogether. [More]
Cable Providers Hiking Cost Of Broadband In Face Of Cord-Cutting
By 10.19.17
With more and more consumers cutting the cord and ditching their cable providers, these companies have to make up the lost revenue somehow. That apparently means increasing costs elsewhere, like your broadband. [More]
Would You Buy Luxury Clothes From Walmart?
By 10.19.17
On the surface, Walmart and luxury department store Lord & Taylor don’t have a lot in common outside of selling clothing. But that could soon be changing. [More]
Toyota Recalls 310,000 Minivans Over Rollaway Risk
By 10.19.17
When you park your car, you expect for it to stay parked. Yet, that might not happen in nearly 310,000 Toyota minivans that may contain an extra greasy shift lever. [More]
Romano’s Macaroni Grill Files For Bankruptcy
By 10.18.17
The long list of restaurant chains filing for bankruptcy amid slower sales added another name today: Romano’s Macaroni Grill. [More]
Recalled IKEA Dresser Linked To Another Child’s Death
By 10.18.17 — Updated: 10.19.17
More than a year after IKEA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall of about 29 million topple-prone Malm and other style dressers, another child’s death has been linked to the dangerous furniture. [More]
Home Depot Replaces Family’s Stolen Halloween Decorations
By 10.18.17
For the past several weeks, families across the country have been decorating their homes in preparation for the upcoming Halloween holiday. One New Mexico family found all that hard work destroyed recently when ne’er-do-wells stole their trimmings. But to their surprise an unlikely hero emerged to save the day… er, holiday. [More]
Waitress Accused Of Stealing Almost $500K From Regular Customer
By 10.18.17
Being a regular at a dining establishment can come with some perks; the servers knows what you like and you might even receive a free dessert here or there. But for one New York woman it also came with a rather big drawback: The waitress she befriended allegedly bilked her out of $500,000. [More]
Ford Recalls 1.1M Trucks Over Doors That Don’t Stay Shut
By 10.18.17
One of the last things you want to happen when driving down the road is to have your vehicle’s door unexpectedly open. For that reason, Ford has issued the recall of 1.1 million trucks. [More]
Twitter Cracks Down On Nudity, Harassment & Violence… Again
By 10.18.17
For years now, Twitter has been rolling out tool after tool designed to combat harassment and abuse. While the company says these initiatives are working — despite a lack of data — it’s also doubling down on its efforts: Twitter will soon roll out another set of changes to protect users. [More]
States Accuse Betsy DeVos Of Failing To Protect Students From Sketchy For-Profit Schools
By 10.17.17
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has made no effort to hide her support for the for-profit education industry, going so far as to hit “reset” on rules intended to protect students from schools that provide minimal education at a maximum cost. Now, a coalition of 18 state attorneys general are suing DeVos and the Dept. of Education, alleging they failed to hold these schools accountable. [More]
Company That Sold Fake Payday Loan Debts To Collectors Must Pay $4.1M
By 10.17.17
We’ve heard it before: A debt collection company engaged in a “phantom” debt scheme in which they try to entice unsuspecting individuals into paying debts they don’t actually owe. While federal regulators have cracked down on these unscrupulous organizations in the past, they are now turning their attention to the companies providing information on these supposed debts. To that end, the Federal Trade Commission today ordered one such data company to pay $4.1 million. [More]
Mercedes-Benz Recalls Nearly 500K Vehicles Over Inadvertent Airbag Deployment
By 10.17.17
Airbags can save lives, but they can also hurt people if they deploy at the wrong time. To that end, Mercedes Benz has recalled nearly 500,000 vehicles in the U.S. that contain airbags that could deploy without warning. [More]
McDonald’s Suggests Putting Your Phone In A Locker Rather Than Talking Through Meal
By 10.17.17
Walk into just about any restaurant — it doesn’t matter the price or quality of food — and you’ll see many diners constantly fidgeting with their phones, if not ignoring their table mates altogether while they tap away on their screens. McDonald’s may be the last place on Earth you’d expect to care about this decrease in human interaction, but some Golden Arches franchises are trying to get customers talking to each other again. [More]
Small Cable Companies Blame Comcast For Their High Prices
By 10.17.17
Smaller cable companies say they want to save you money, but they can’t. Why not? Comcast won’t let them. [More]
Bank-Backed Congressman Praises Betsy DeVos For Cutting Ties With Consumer Protection Agency
By 10.16.17
Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, whose campaign has received more than $8 million from the financial sector since 2010, has long endeavored to undercut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency that regulates many of the businesses that keep Hensarling’s election campaigns flush with contributions. So it’s of little surprise that the lawmaker is thrilled at Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ recent decision to stop working with the CFPB on student loans — even though the Bureau has returned hundreds of millions of dollars to screwed-over student borrowers. [More]
