A plumber is pissed after finding a camera hidden inside a Starbucks men’s room. First it was the camera, then it was the employees’ blase attitude, then it was the police seizing his laptop. And he didn’t get a thank you from Starbucks for his deed, not even a free coffee. [More]
Food & Personal Care
Domino's Brings Back Noid In Shoot-Em-Up Facebook Game
By 8.10.11
Domino’s has brought back it’s iconic 80’s character “The Noid” for a one-week appearance in an 8-bit promotional shoot-em-up Facebook game. Sadly, you lose points when you shoot the Noid. [More]
Five Guys Opened Four Times As Many New Restaurants As McDonald's In 2010
By 8.9.11
With surveys like Zagat’s and Consumer Reports’ putting Five Guys among the best-tasting burgers available, it’s perhaps not surprising that the chain is the fastest-growing hamburger shack in the country. In fact, a new report says that new Five Guys eateries outnumbered new McDonald’s by greater than 4:1 in 2010. [More]
Want A Starbucks? Use Jonathan's Card
By 8.9.11
Jonathan is letting anyone who wants to use his Starbucks card. He’s posted a scanned copy of the mobile-app code on his Starbucks card and invited anyone who wants to to have a cup on him. The crazy thing is that it’s working like “leave a penny, take a penny,” with some people adding onto the card’s balance after they grab a brew. [More]
Walgreens To Start Selling Health Insurance
By 8.9.11
Come this fall, when you go to your local Walgreens to pick up your prescription, you may also be able to shop for a health insurance plan, as CNN reports that the country’s largest drugstore chain is about to get into the insuring business. [More]
You Can't Return This Phone To Walgreens, So Take It To Another Walgreens
By 8.4.11
Robert bought a prepaid AT&T Wireless cell phone at Walgreens in order to try out the company’s service. He never ended up using the phone, so had the crazy idea that he might try returning the unopened phone to a different Walgreens for store credit. The store wouldn’t hear of any such madness. [More]
Company Recalls 36 Million Pounds Of Possibly Salmonella-Tainted Ground Turkey
By 8.4.11
Salmonella-tainted turkey has killed one person and sickened dozens of others, leading Arkansas-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation to recall 36 million pounds of possibly dangerous ground turkey. [More]
CDC: One Dead, 76 Sick, From Salmonella-fied Ground Turkey
By 8.2.11
There is some tainted turkey making the rounds, as more than 75 people in at least 26 states have gotten salmonella poisoning from chowing down on the ground-up gobbler. And according to the Centers for Disease Control, which has yet to ID the source of the foul fowl, at least one person has died. [More]
What If Food Labels Looked Like This?
By 8.1.11
Maybe the real reason Americans are so fat is because our food labels are so ugly. If they were easier on the eye to read, maybe more people would read them and make better eating choices. That was the idea in mind behind a recent design contest at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism aiming to give the standard government-mandated food label a much-needed makeover. The winning entry uses colored boxes for each ingredient that are sized in proportion to how much of each is inside the package. [More]
Starbucks Goes Extra Mile To Make Up For Employee's Ignorance
By 7.28.11
We’ve all had experiences with store employees who have a unique interpretation of company policy. And while it’s nice when the customer is proven to be in the right, it’s even nicer when the company goes above and beyond to apologize for an employee’s behavior. [More]
CVS Refuses To Put ExtraCare Rewards On Your Card Because Super-Long Receipts Are "Exciting" To Customers
By 7.28.11
The CVS ExtraCare program lets customers get Extra Bucks rewards, but instead of putting those rewards on your ExtraCare card, they are printed at the bottom of CVS’ infamously long checkout receipts. A year ago, the company’s chief marketing officer told L.A. Times reporter David Lazarus that this would soon change and Extra Bucks would be placed directly on your card. But now CVS is saying just the opposite — that it deliberately wants those Bucks on the receipt because it’s a real thrill to the consumer. [More]
Study: One In Five Menu Calorie Counts Are Off By At Least 100 Calories
By 7.28.11
As restaurant chains begin rolling out menus with calorie counts, one has to wonder just how accurate that information is. A new study claims that nearly one out of every five menu items underestimates by at least 100 calories, with some major chains like Boston Market and Chipotle missing the mark on some items by more than 200 calories. [More]
Pizza Hut Cares, Offers Gift Card When You Misunderstand Survey
By 7.22.11
This is a story of a small thing going wrong during a pizza order, and a relatively small gesture from the company to make things better. No, it’s not a large, earth-shattering problem. Jay took a survey on the Pizza Hut web site, and wasn’t entered in the drawing that enticed him to take the survey in the first place. Why was that, he wondered? So he used some Consumerist resources and got on the phone. [More]
Walgreens Wants To Be The Spot Where You Charge Up Your Electric Car While Filling Your Prescription
By 7.21.11
As electric vehicles continue to hit the market, some retailers are seeing an opportunity to offer a new service by adding EV charging stations to existing stores. [More]
Woman Attempts To Sell Her Child For $500 At Taco Bell
By 7.18.11
It’s low-down and despicable enough to try to sell your child, but one woman has taken baby-selling to a new low, after she allegedly tried to unload her newborn for a paltry $500 at a Taco Bell. Of all places! [More]
This Is How You Should Quit Your Job At Taco Bell
By 7.15.11
The sign, a glorious product of put-upon employee rage, began tearing up the Internet this morning. Apparently, a Taco Bell employee near Buffalo, NY went out in style, changing the sign out front to say, “I QUIT – ADAM / F*** YOU :)” A local television station reports that the now-former employee reached his limit after working twenty-two days straight and being denied a day off for Independence Day. (Yes, NSFW language inside.) [More]
Meat From Radioactive Cows Sold In Japan
By 7.12.11
Four months following the massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan and caused a disaster at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, the Japanese government has confirmed that a bit of cesium-contaminated beef from that region has made its way to groceries and likely to the dinner plates of consumers. [More]
Science Confirms In-N-Out Burger Is The Best And McDonald's The Worst
By 6.30.11
Almost a year ago, our survey-loving siblings at Consumer Reports asked several thousand readers to rate burgers from 18 burger chains and to no one’s surprise, McDonald’s came in dead last. Not satisfied with merely finding the best and worst beef-on-a-bun, CR decided to go for the super-sized option, rating 53 restaurants in five categories to find which ones provide the best food, service and value to customers. [More]
