Financial institutions have a somewhat checkered past when it comes to accommodating consumers with hearing disabilities. There was Citibank’s demand that a hearing-impaired customer call them to clear up a suspicious transaction only to be hung up on repeatedly or there was the Chase rep that didn’t think deaf people could have credit cards. Now this week, Bank of America agreed to settle allegations it denied a loan modification after ignoring a customer’s request that the bank email her rather than force her to talk on the phone. [More]
Retail Services
Bank Of America To Pay $155K To Settle Claim It Discriminated Against Hearing-Impaired Customer
By 3.3.15
Report: Costco Has Plans To Sell A “Kirkland Signature” Chevy Truck
By 3.3.15
Soon it won’t just be Costco brand toilet paper, vitamins, peanuts and other everyday items for members of the wholesale club, but Kirkland Signature trucks. According to a new report, Costco and Chevrolet have plans to sell a co-branded Silverado “sometime” in spring or summer — an offer that’s for members only, of course. [More]
Suspected Walmart Masturbator Says He Has “A Problem With Sticking His Hands In His Pants”
By 3.2.15
While no stuffed animals were involved this time, yet another Walmart patron has been arrested and accused of pleasuring himself in front of his fellow shoppers. [More]
Costco Announces New Credit Card Partnership With Citi, Visa
By 3.2.15
It seems Costco is not one to sit around pining for old flames very long, as the shopping club announced today that it’s rebounding from the end of its relationship with American Express with a new partnership with Citigroup and Visa. [More]
Detroit-Area Shopping Center Goes From Nation’s Oldest Mall To Nation’s Newest Dead Mall
By 2.27.15
If you spend much time on Consumerist, then you’re probably aware of the current sad state of the world’s malls; from the former largest mall in the world being demolished to those full of fish or snow covered, it isn’t exactly a pretty picture. Today, we learn that another historic shopping center will soon trade in its purported title as the nation’s first regional shopping mall for that of the latest “dead mall.” [More]
Amazon Imagines A Future Where Delivery Trucks Print 3D Products At The Curb
By 2.27.15
There can be a lot of worry over getting a package from Amazon delivered successfully — but what if your item never had to travel farther than the distance between the curb and your door? Amazon has filed a few patent applications in an effort to perhaps make curbside 3D printing a reality for the future. [More]
Sears Holdings Lost $1.7 Billion In 2014, Considers This An Improvement
By 2.26.15
Sears Holdings has many assets: mostly, stores in malls that are slumping toward irrelevance, and strong brand recognition and loyalty among Americans over age 50 or so. The company is fighting to stay in business, and current efforts like offering Sears Canada stock to investors and selling stores to a real estate investment trust and leasing them back are part of that effort. Is all of this working? Well, Sears leadership sounds optimistic. [More]
Morgan Stanley To Pay $2.6B To Settle Charges Of Selling Troubled Mortgages Leading Up To The Financial Crisis
By 2.26.15
The Department of Justice has struck a multi-billion dollar deal with Morgan Stanley in what is expected to be one of the last major steps in resolving investigations related to banks’ roles in the subprime mortgage crisis. [More]
The Best & Worst Store-Brand Deals At Lowe’s, Home Depot & Sears
By 2.26.15
Need to buy a snowblower, light bulbs, and some paint? You might figure, “Oh, I’ll just head to Home Depot (or Lowe’s, or Sears) and get it all done in the same trip.” But just because these stores all offer one-stop shopping for most home goods, price and quality of store-brand and private label products can vary greatly depending on the retailer. [More]
Story Of The Returned $10,000 Walmart Debit Card May Be Hoax
By 2.25.15
Earlier today, we told you about the odd story of a man in Alabama who claimed to have found a Walmart prepaid debit card containing more than $10,000 on it, and who says he did the right thing by trying to return it to the store. However, the more we learn about this story the more questions come up. [More]
Track How Customers Move Around Real-Life Malls With The ‘Physical Cookie’
By 2.25.15
Cookies are small files that websites store on your computer so they can identify and remember you. They can do useful things, like keep you signed in to a site, or annoying things, like make what seems like every ad bar across the entire Internet show you ankle boots after just one Zappos search. What if that technology could follow you into real life? [More]
T.J. Maxx, Marshalls & HomeGoods To Increase Minimum Wage To $9/Hour
By 2.25.15
In another sign that retail companies are re-evaluating the way they pay employees, TJX Cos. – the parent company of stores like T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods – announced it intends to increase hourly wages for worker starting this year. [More]
Amazon’s In-House Kindle Scout Publishing Platform Set To Release First 10 Books Next Month
By 2.24.15
Four months after Amazon launched a crowdsourced publishing platform that allows Kindle readers to kind-of, sort-of have a say in what unpublished books and hopeful authors reach their devices, the company is set to release the first 10 Kindle Scout titles next month. [More]
Target Reduces Free Shipping Requirement To $25, Now Cheaper Than Walmart & Amazon
By 2.23.15
Consumers no longer have to drop $50 to qualify for free shipping on Target.com. In an attempt to stay competitive with other online retailers, the big box store reduced the minimum requirements for free shipping to $25. [More]
Target Will Double Organic, Sustainable Offerings In 2015
By 2.20.15
Coming off a failed investment with Target Canada, the nation’s second largest retailer is poised to double its stake in the organic and sustainable market when it comes to its grocery business. [More]
Frederick’s Of Hollywood Will Close One-Third Of Stores
By 2.19.15
While Frederick’s of Hollywood is a much smaller chain than other recent retail collapses like Delia’s dELiA*s, Wet Seal, and the impending loss of thousands of Radio Shacks, we’re still sad to share the news that about one-third of stores in the lingerie chain will close. While we don’t have the list yet, we do know one store on it: the chain’s flagship store in Hollywood. [More]
Credit-Swap Traders Think Sears Will Fail In The Next Year
By 2.19.15
Credit default swaps are a confusing concept, since some forms resemble gambling on the failure of a company without even owning any stock in it. As a consumer, especially if you’re someone who likes to shop at Sears, you should know that now that Radio Shack has declared bankruptcy, the hot retailer that credit swap traders are betting will fail is Sears. [More]
