If you’ve ever been expecting a package only to find that the delivery person reports leaving a notice (which may or may not have happened) or “attempted delivery” (again, sometimes without actually doing so), you’re not alone. We’ve heard from many readers over the years and experienced it ourselves. So why can’t Amazon Prime members choose their preferred delivery service? [More]
Retail Services
Class-Action Suit Over Shortchanged Walmart Returns Allowed To Move Forward
By 1.21.15
While Walmart customers enjoy the ability to return items to any of the retailer’s locations, a number of these shoppers have claimed over the years that they were getting less for their returns than they should have because of sales tax differences between the purchase and return locations. Last week, a federal judge allowed a pending class action regarding shortchanged Walmart customers to continue. [More]
Amazon Yanks Its New Upscale Diaper Brand To Make “Design Improvements”
By 1.21.15
Let’s take a second to imagine what an improperly designed diaper would look like. Or hey, smell like. Now that we’ve been there, Amazon says it’s pulling the upscale brand of diapers for Prime members it introduced six weeks ago, telling customers that the diapers need some “design improvements.” [More]
Walmart Lets People Pick Up Tax Refunds In Cash In Stores
By 1.20.15
Happy first day of tax season! Today is the first day that you can file your federal income tax return. Most Americans have to file a tax return, but a substantial number of people still don’t have bank accounts and conduct life in cash. Walmart wants to keep people in that situation away from check-cashing stores…and keep them in Walmart with a great big wad of cash in their wallets. [More]
Overstock.com Still Trying To Be Amazon, Launching VOD & Streaming Service
By 1.20.15
Back in 2013, online retailer Overstock.com engaged in a tit-for-tat book-discounting battle with Amazon. While the short-lived competition didn’t exactly prove to be a sales dream for O.co, the company is now reportedly preparing to take on its e-retail arch nemesis again by launching video-on-demand and streaming services. [More]
Sears Canada Offers Criticism Of Target Canada, Discount And Jobs To Workers
By 1.19.15
Last week, Target announced that it is fleeing Canada, giving up on its ill-fated expansion and closing all 133 of its poorly-stocked stores that nobody wants to shop in. An unlikely source has publicly offered support to Target employees who are about to lose their jobs: quasi-competitor Sears Canada. [More]
Amazon To Make Movies For Theatrical Release, Because Why The Heck Not?
By 1.19.15
Amazon, the online retailer where you can rent a movie, order groceries or buy a tank, has announced that it’s venturing into a territory that seems counterintuitive for a company that focuses on delivering its products to consumers’ homes — bringing its original video productions to actual movie theaters. [More]
January Recall Roundup: Watch Out For Melted Monkeys
By 1.19.15
In the Recall Roundup for January, defective candles risk burning people and property, a coffeemaker sprays hot water somewhere other than the coffee grounds, and flammable and drawstring-laden children’s clothes made it to stores despite bans on both. Oh, and a toy monkey melts its own battery compartment. [More]
Yes, Those Are Real Cars Poking Out Of This Dumpster
By 1.16.15
Car dealerships are always looking for the next great way to get potential customers to look in their direction and think about maybe buying a shiny new car. They employ balloons, air dancers, signs: anything that might catch the eye of someone driving by. One way to get some attention is to toss some cars in a dumpster. That’s what Pacific Nissan in San Diego did, and the promotion is working out for them. [More]
Virgin Mobile Introduces Shared Prepaid Data Plans At Walmart
By 1.16.15
We learned yesterday that T-Mobile is introducing new prepaid plans that offer unlimited data as long as you’re content with unlimited access to the carrier’s slower 2G network. Their competitor in the prepaid market, Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand, also has a new prepaid product that might work for some families who want to share a pool of data, but prefer a prepaid plan. [More]
Amazon Exec Hopes Agreement With Hachette Ushers In An Era Of Peace With Book Publishers
By 1.15.15
It wasn’t so long ago that all of the world was transfixed by the drama unfolding between Amazon and book publisher Hachette. Now that the petty fighting and shady scare tactics are in the rearview mirror, executives with Amazon have their fingers crossed for an era of peace. [More]
Target Preparing To Exit Canada, Will Close All 133 Stores In The Country
By 1.15.15
Some news for our friends shopping north of the border, or any Americans who wander into the country looking for a bit of home: Target is pulling up the stakes, closing all 133 stores in the country and rolling out of Canada, after the company said there was just no way to make Target Canada profitable anytime soon. [More]
Organic Ground Beef Sold At Wegmans Stores Recalled Due To Plastic Fragments
By 1.14.15
There are many things that are very delicious alongside ground beef when mashed into a hamburger patty or loafed into a meatloaf, but plastic shards are not one of those things. Customers of Northeastern grocery chain Wegmans have reported finding “small malleable plastic pieces” in their packages of organic ground beef. [More]
California Man Claims Costco Pharmacy Gave His Mother The Wrong Medication Twice In One Year
By 1.14.15
Receiving the wrong prescription can have devastating and irreversible effects on people, remember the man who sued CVS after he says a medication mix-up made him go blind in one eye or the teen who was given the wrong ADHD medication at Walgreens? While the latest case of medication mix-ups has a decidedly better outcome for the customer involved, the fact that the man says Costco provided the wrong pills not once, but twice makes it all the more troubling. [More]
Report: Amazon Uses Jedi Mind Trick To Convince Shoppers It’ll Always Have The Lowest Prices
By 1.14.15
If you ask someone why they decided to buy a product on Amazon, the answer will often be, “Well, they have the lowest prices.” But according to a new report, that’s just an Amazon mind trick at work to make people think that’s always going to be true. [More]
Citigroup Quietly Cuts Back On Its Consumer Banking Business
By 1.13.15
Citigroup is about to become a slightly smaller group. Here in the United States, for example, the global bank once sought retail banking customers in fourteen cities. In cities where there are fewer Citibank branches, the company has been quietly selling their branches and leaving town. [More]
Police: Woman Lived Inside Michigan Walmart For Two Days
By 1.13.15
Living inside a Walmart sounds more like something you might see in a movie (actually, it is, if you’ve ever seen Home Is Where The Heart Is) or a reality show, rather than something that occurs in real life. But over the years, it’s actually happened quite a few times – remember the teen that managed to hole-up inside a store for four days? The latest incident of living off the shelves of Walmart took place in Michigan last week and lasted a mere two days. [More]
Home Depot Employees Replace Stolen Xmas Gifts For Family Of Regular Customer
By 1.12.15
When employees at a South Carolina Home Depot heard that a regular customer of theirs had been the victim of a theft that left his family without Christmas gifts, they pitched in to do something they didn’t have to, replacing those stolen gifts and giving this family a belated but happy holiday. [More]
