We know that a lot of our readers are fans of Dyson vacuums, but we aren’t sure whether any of you are into their air multipliers, which are totally not mini-portals to a distant dimension. Someone out there is, because they’ve expanded the line to include portable heaters. Some of these units have been heating a little too much lately, and 380,000 of them have been recalled in North America. [More]
Government Policy
Fewer Americans Identify As Middle Class Following The Great Recession
By 4.2.14
Several years ago, during the Great Recession, Consumerist asked the question many of us were thinking: If everyone is broke, is there still a class system? The answer was, probably, yes. And today it remains the same, even though many Americans are realizing they no longer hold a spot in the middle class. [More]
As Fewer People Overdraft, Banks Are Raising Overdraft Fees
By 4.2.14
If you’re still opted-in to overdraft “protection” — which protects you by slapping huge fees on every purchase you make beyond the available funds in your account — you should probably opt out, as the costs associated with this lucrative system are on the rise. [More]
Dodge Durangos & Jeep Grand Cherokees Recalled Over Brake Concerns
By 4.2.14
Why should General Motors get all the recall headlines when another domestic carmaker has defective vehicles to fix? Chrysler has announced a recall of around 870,000 total vehicles — 644,000 in the U.S. — for concerns about corrosion in the braking system that could increase the risk of a crash. [More]
FCC Isn’t Considering Pay-For-Access Deals In New Net Neutrality Rules
By 4.2.14
Back in February, after a federal court gutted net neutrality but before Netflix agreed to pay a premium to Comcast to alleviate its data bottleneck, we predicted that any new neutrality rules would not do anything to prevent the slowdowns that users of Xfinity, FiOS and U-Verse had complained about. If you were more optimistic and holding out hope that the FCC would at least consider this issue, prepare to be disappointed. [More]
GM CEO & NHTSA Director Admit Maybe They Messed Up This Ignition Recall
By 4.1.14
This afternoon, two people who inherited the crud-storm that is GM’s ongoing, massive ignition-related recall sat before lawmakers in Congress and tried to both defend their respective organizations while admitting that mistakes were made, resulting in at least 13 deaths. [More]
Avon To Phase Out Triclosan From Products
By 4.1.14
Four years ago, the FDA admitted that triclosan — an antibacterial and antifungal chemical used in numerous soaps, cosmetics and other products — doesn’t provide any additional benefit to simple soap-and-hot-water hand-washing. And while the agency mulls over proposed rules that would require companies that use triclosan in soap to prove their products are safe and more effective, some companies are responding to customer demand and phasing out the use of the chemical on their own. [More]
Beware Of Scammers Using The Washington Mudslide To Profit Off Your Generosity
By 4.1.14
As the Washington mudslide death toll continues to rise and many people remain missing, you may feel the urge to donate to charities poised to help the victims. Donating to the cause is commendable, but unfortunately there are evil people in this world who take one person’s misfortune and use it for their personal gain. So the Federal Trade Commission is once again reminding consumers to be wary of charity scams. [More]
8 Things Companies Have Said That Sounded Like April Fool’s Jokes But Sadly Weren’t
By 4.1.14
For the calendar-challenged, we’ll point out that today is April 1, meaning the Internet is full of phony products, fake stories, doctored photos… so, you know, it’s like most days on the Internet. Rather than serve up a “United Charges Upgrade Fee For Merely Being Jealous Of First-Class Passengers” headline, or a post about Comcast CEO Brian Roberts giving up his job to play Gretl Von Trapp in a regional theater production of The Sound of Music, we’re looking back at some stories that would have been appropriate for April Fool’s. [More]
CFPB Receives Double The Consumer Complaints In 2013, But Sought Fewer Explanations
By 4.1.14
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau heard a lot from consumers in 2013. The agency received the most complaints in its history, including those from three new areas – payday loans, money transfers and debt collections. But it appears that fewer complaints were sent to offending companies for review and response. [More]
Multiple GM Recalls Announced For Steering, Transmission & Drive Shaft Issues
By 3.31.14
While General Motors execs prepare to go before Congress in the morning to explain why it took more than a decade and at least 13 deaths to issue a recall on more than two million vehicles, the carmaker announced three new, separate recalls — totaling nearly 2 million vehicles — for potential problems with the power steering, transmission, and drive shaft. [More]
NHTSA: New Vehicles Must Have Rearview Technology Starting May 2018
By 3.31.14
In four years, when you buy a new car or truck it’ll have a rearview camera as a standard feature. That’s because it’ll have to under a new rule just issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. [More]
Organization Promising Fraud Protection Scams $20 Million From Senior Citizens
By 3.31.14
Scamming people is wrong. Scamming senior citizens is immoral, disrespectful, and a number of other adjectives. Still, there are companies in the world that prey on the elderly. The Federal Trade Commission has put a stop to one such organizations that bilked more than $20 million from seniors. [More]
Will Netflix Speeds Improve For Verizon, AT&T Internet Customers Anytime Soon?
By 3.31.14
Starting in the second half of 2013, Netflix speeds on several major Internet service providers began to sink drastically as the ISPs allowed Netflix downstream traffic to bottleneck, resulting in slow, fitful delivery to consumers who had paid Netflix for the service and the ISPs for broadband access. Earlier this year, Comcast speeds turned up out of their nosedive when the company made a profitable deal with Netflix, but what about everyone else? [More]
Even Business Travelers Don’t Want Anyone Yakking Away On The Phone In Mid-Air
By 3.31.14
Who do you think of when you imagine the chatty kind of person who might want to make phone calls in the middle of a crowded airplane, mid-flight? While your mental picture might land on a businessperson in a suit yelling something about mergers and Hong Kong markets and getting that deal done before they close, a trade group representing business travelers has come out against the idea. [More]
Timeline Shows GM & NHTSA Failed On Multiple Occasions To Prevent Deaths Tied To Ignition Switch Recall
By 3.31.14
In advance of Tuesday’s hearing before the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations regarding the ongoing recall of more than 2 million GM vehicles for ignition-related problems tied to at least 13 deaths, the Committee on Energy and Commerce has released a detailed timeline of events, including all the times at which the carmaker or regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could have alerted the public to the defect. [More]
GM Adds 971,000 Vehicles To Ignition Recall, Confirms 13th Death Tied To Defect
By 3.28.14
Not a good way to end the week for General Motors, which not only added 971,000 vehicles to the ignition-related recall that had already been issued for 1.6 million cars, it also confirmed that the defect is indeed tied to 13 deaths. [More]
Court Shoots Down Big Meat’s Challenge To USDA’s Country-Of-Origin Labeling Rules
By 3.28.14
Last year, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture enacted new rules requiring meat producers to provide more specific details on the country or countries of origin for their products. Saying the new mandate placed too onerous a burden on them, suppliers sued to block the rule change, but that challenge has been shut down by a federal appeals court. [More]
