In one of its biggest recalls yet, Toyota is recalling 7.43 million vehicles from around the United States, Japan and Europe — all because of a faulty power-window switch in about a dozen models that didn’t get greased up enough when the cars were built. That could cause friction in the switch and at times, even smoke. [More]
Government Policy
Web Site Operator Fined $1M For Using Kids’ Love Of Justin Bieber To Illegally Collect Their Info
By 10.4.12
The teeming, screaming masses of fans in love with Justin Bieber, Rihanna or Demi Lovato are young and Internet savvy, and a tempting demographic for businesses. The thing is, you can try to market to those kids but you can’t collect their personal information without parental permission, which is why the operator of fan Web sites for those three musicians has to pay $1 million for running afoul of Federal Trade Commission rules. [More]
Tainted Smoked Salmon Blamed For Salmonella Outbreak In U.S. & The Netherlands
By 10.2.12
I remember asking my mom when I was little after being warned not to eat raw eggs, “But how can I get salmonella if I’m not even eating salmon?” The answer back then didn’t make sense, but now my 7-year-old self would nod at the inevitability of salmon actually being linked to salmonella. In this case, it’s smoked salmon that’s reportedly sickening hundreds in the Netherlands and the U.S. [More]
Honda & GM Both Recalling Vehicles As No One Wants To Have Their Car Catch Fire
By 10.1.12
It’s one of those days where car recalls are abounding and it seems that fuel leaks are to blame in both cases: General Motors has issued a recall of almost 41,000 vehicles from the 2007 to 2009 model years after discovering a possible problem with cars sold in warm weather states. And then Honda blows that recall out of the water by issuing an alert for 573,000 Accords from model years between 2003 and 2007. [More]
American Express To Pay Out $85 Million To Customers For Variety Of Consumer Violations
By 10.1.12
American Express is feeling the sting of an $112.5 million spanking from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, following an investigation that found that three subsidiaries of the credit card company had violated several consumer rights, from misleading ads to age discrimination to unlawful late fees. [More]
JFK Security Employees Say Post-Flight Inspections Aren’t Always Thorough To Avoid Delays
By 9.27.12
You know how when you’re standing around your gate waiting to board, and the previous flight’s passengers come streaming out, and everyone is chomping at the bit and restlessly stirring, waiting for their turn to get on the plane? During that time, security employees are supposed to be inspecting the flight for anything left behind like say, weapons or explosives. But according to John F. Kennedy International Airport security workers, those checks aren’t as thorough as they’re supposed to be. [More]
5 Major Rental Car Companies Agree To Stop Renting & Leasing Recalled Vehicles
By 9.27.12
You know what’s a scary thought? Renting a vehicle from a car rental company and then finding out that it’s part of a recall, but was never brought in for the necessary repairs. Then there you are, driving a potentially dangerous vehicle. We’re kind of surprised it took this long, but now Enterprise, Hertz, Avis, Dollar Thrifty and National have agreed to stop leasing vehicles under safety recalls. [More]
Great Peanut Butter Recall Of 2012 Began With Trader Joe’s, Now Includes 17 Brands
By 9.26.12
The Great Peanut Butter Recall of 2012 started relatively small, with Valencia peanut butter sold at Trader Joe’s. Thirty individuals in nineteen different states became ill from salmonellosis, and the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified that product as the likely source of the infections. Sunland, the company that actually manufactures peanut butter sold under the Trader Joe’s label, took the precaution of recalling other products manufactured on the same product line during the same period. That includes products sold under Sunland’s own label, as well as 15 other store and niche brands. [More]
Rent-To-Own Companies Busted Using Tracking Software To Spy On Customers
By 9.26.12
For years, we’ve been warning consumers about rent-to-own electronics businesses because they usually end up costing customers a heck of a lot more money in the long term. Now there is another reason to avoid them: The Federal Trade Commission has caught seven rent-to-own companies installing tracking software on computers to do everything from tracking their locations to capturing screenshots of confidential info to secretly snapping photos of customers. [More]
One-In-Five Consumers Seeing Significantly Different Credit Scores Than Creditors
By 9.26.12
Much is made about how much impact your credit scores has on your ability to get a loan, live a happy life and be a good human being. But a new report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims that one-in-five consumers are seeing scores that are significantly different from what lenders see. [More]
Please Don't Say 'I Pay Your Salary!' – Tips For Dealing With Local Government
By 9.19.12
Local governments: we depend on them for everything from trash pickup (sometimes) to parking enforcement and providing water and sewer services, but their workings are sort of invisible. We forget that they’re there until we need them. A few weeks ago, we put out a call for readers to share things that they wish the public knew about their jobs. K., an anonymous bureaucrat from somewhere in America, stepped forward with some tips for dealing with your local government. To start: don’t demand services the government doesn’t provide while also complaining that your taxes are too high. [More]
Feds Shut Down Debt Relief Companies That Only Relieved Customers Of Their Cash
By 9.18.12
We occasionally have the TV turned on in the background here at the Consumerist Batcave, so we know that anyone in the market for a sketchy debt-relief firm has many, many options to avoid calling. But now there are a few fewer questionable companies littering the daytime airwaves because the Federal Trade Commission has halted the operations of four services that allegedly made false claims about being lawyers, debited money from people who did not actually order the services — oh, and failed to get any significant debt relief for the customers that actually signed up. [More]
Advocates File Net Neutrality Complaint Over AT&T's FaceTime Policy
By 9.18.12
Last month, AT&T confirmed that iPhone customers who want to use the iPhone’s FaceTime video chat app over a cellular connection would need to belong to one of the company’s new shared data plans. At the time, several advocates raised concerns about whether or not this requirement violated the FCC’s Open Internet rules, and now these same groups have moved to file an actual complaint with regulators. [More]
September Recall Roundup: The Care Bears Will Choke Your Baby
By 9.18.12
In this month’s Recall Roundup, light fixtures plummet from the sky, bikes fall apart while you ride them, coffee makers explode from steam pressure, and the Care Bears try to comfort your baby, but could end up choking it instead. [More]
Debt Collectors And DAs Team Up To Scare Customers Who Bounce Checks
By 9.17.12
It used to be that retailers and district attorneys’ offices faced the same problem, but from different angles. People write an awful lot of bad checks. They might be trying to commit fraud, or they might have just forgotten to carry the one the last time they balanced their checkbook. Stores send the bad checks on to district attorneys’ offices if they think there might be fraud, and the DAs can end up overwhelmed with bad-check cases. They also hire collection agencies to recoup the money owed from their customers, but the rate of return on that isn’t so great. The not-so-obvious solution, which 300 district attorneys take part in: lend their names and letterhead to collection agencies, who in turn threaten check-bouncers with prosecution and prison. [More]
Cat's Plan To Rid The World Of Mickey Mouse Leads Him To Stow Away In Suitcase For 10 Hours
By 9.14.12
If the rest of my family was taking off for a vacation to Disney World and I wasn’t allowed to go, I’d be terribly put out. But I am not a cat, and so unlike one Bob-bob of Ohio, I can’t climb inside my owner’s suitcase and show up in Florida anyway. Bob-bob’s recent journey took 10 hours, at the end of which his owner was a bit surprised to see him pop out of the luggage. [More]
Man Spends $20,000 To Clean Up Vacant Lot, City Says He's A Trespasser
By 9.14.12
During the past few years, a Philadelphia developer and business owner says he’s been fined for un-shoveled snow, trash and other violations for a vacant lot (pictured, left) adjoining one of his properties — a vacant lot he doesn’t even own. But after he decided to spend his own money and time having 40 tons of debris removed from that same lot, the city claims he’s a trespasser. [More]
Whole Foods Recalls Riccotta Sold In 21 States Because People Shouldn't Be Paying A Premium For Listeria
By 9.13.12
While Whole Foods might have prices that prevent some people from buying their groceries there, it’s not immune to the wee pathogens that wreak havoc on the digestive tract’s of both the rich and the poor. Thus, Whole Foods has had to issue a recall on Ricotta Salata Frescolina brand cheese sold in 21 states and Washington, D.C., because it may be contaminated with Listeria. [More]
