A Long Island man wanted only one thing for his 96th birthday celebration: a German apple ring cake from grocer King Kullen. Sounds festive and delicious. When the family cut into it during his party, though, they found something extra mixed in. Nope, not extra apple filling or a bonus cinnamon swirl. (Warning: there are photos after the jump.) [More]
Retail Services
Is Amazon Prime Price Hike In UK A Sign Of Things To Come?
By 2.21.14
Last month, Amazon revealed that after nearly a decade of charging $79/year for its Amazon Prime service, it was mulling over the possibility of adding anywhere from $20 to $40 to that amount. Now comes news out of Europe that the online giant is increasing Prime rates for customers in the U.K. and Germany. [More]
Target Clarifies Confusing Sign: Cleaning Products Are 50% Off, Not Free
By 2.20.14
We are thankful to Target, because they have alleviated our existential angst. Okay, it’s their weird signage that caused the existential angst in the first place, but we’re still very happy that they cleared things up for us, for our readers, and for Target shoppers everywhere. [More]
Millions Of Credit Cards Stolen From Target Being Sold At Closeout Prices
By 2.20.14
Like scalpers who drop their asking prices as game time approaches, black market sellers of credit card numbers stolen during last December’s massive data breach at Target are now offering this ill-gotten information at rock-bottom prices. [More]
FTD Delivers Valentine’s Day Flowers Dead Or Late, Shrugs
By 2.19.14 — Updated: 2.14.17
Daniel bought two FTD Groupons, using one to send flowers to his wife and the other to send a bouquet from himself and his sister to their mother. He was able to schedule the deliveries for Valentine’s Day, but actually getting Valentine’s Day delivery…that was another matter. [More]
Consumers Turning To One-Stop-Shop Stores Rather Than Traditional Grocery Stores
By 2.19.14
When I was growing up, my mom would do our family’s grocery shopping at several different stores. She’d purchase fresh produce at one, meat at another and non-perishable items like cleaning supplies at another. Today, she only goes to one store. She’s part of a growing trend of consumers frequenting big box stores rather than traditional grocers to mark off items on their grocery list. [More]
Walmart “Looking At” Support Of Minimum Wage Increase
By 2.19.14
With much talk in the news these days about whether or not to raise the minimum wage, the nation’s largest private employer said today that it is considering throwing its support behind a plan to increase pay nationwide to at least $10.10/hour. [More]
Long Island Mall Bans Elderly Mall-Walker For 6 Months
By 2.19.14
The menace of loitering senior citizens in the New York City metropolitan area continues. First, a McDonald’s in Queens kicked out a group of neighborhood seniors who used the restaurant as an all-day coffee house, and politicians brokered a peace. This time, a 73-year-old man who walked laps around a Long Island mall has been banned from the property for trespassing. [More]
ProFlowers Reaches Out Before I Complain About Missed Valentine’s Day Delivery
By 2.19.14 — Updated: 2.14.17
We’ve criticized ProFlowers a lot over the years, even dedicating an entire post to the company’s screwups last Valentine’s Day and inflicting the classic Margaret Saga on the world. It’s only fair that we give the company credit when they do well, though, and this year they captured at least one customer’s heart by apologizing before customers spent an hour on hold or tweeted the company. [More]
Is This Target Add-On Item 50% Off Or Free? Neither
By 2.18.14
Do you remember this shelf tag at Target? It showed us that even the most mundane cleaning-product sale can trigger an existential crisis. The sign promises a free cleaning product if you buy a broom, and also 50% off that same cleaning product. Is the Clorox product 50% off? Is it free? Where am I? Is this real life? [More]
1-800-Flowers Botches Valentine’s Day Delivery, Sends $20 Apology Vouchers
By 2.18.14 — Updated: 2.14.17
The sheer volume of orders of gifts delivered on Valentine’s Day means that someone will inevitably be unhappy with what they receive…or don’t receive. 1-800-Flowers customers were upset about the non-delivery, late delivery, or utter crappiness of their orders. [More]
Thieves With Hammers Pull Smash-And Grab On Costco Jewelry Cases During Store Hours
By 2.18.14
Sometimes the crimes that sound like they could never be pulled off — especially in broad daylight with witnesses all over the place — end up being ridiculously successful. A couple of allegedly no good, very bad consumers took the most obvious and literal route for a smash-and-grab at not one, but two Georgia Costco,s using hammers to smack open the jewelry case. And then they of course, grabbed stuff, because that’s how a S&G works. [More]
Connecticut Walmarts Charged Sales Tax On Tax-Exempt Gun Safes
By 2.17.14
Since 1999, shoppers in Connecticut have not had to pay the state’s 6.35% sales tax on gun safes and other firearms-safety items, but someone forgot to tell the Walmarts of Connecticut, which have been improperly charging the tax to customers. [More]
Police: Headphone Thieves Dressed Up As Target Workers, Choked Employee
By 2.12.14
If you saw someone at Target wearing a red shirt and khakis, would you pay attention to what they were carrying? Probably not, since they’d just appear to be hard-working employees. According to police, that’s how two men were able to infiltrate a Colorado Target store, steal pricey headphones, and escape through an emergency exit. [More]
Family Of Deceased Amazon Worker: No One Noticed Her Lying In Parking Lot For 7 Hours
By 2.12.14
The family of a Delaware woman who died after she was found lying outside in the parking lot of the Amazon distribution center where she worked has a lot of questions this week: Namely, how could no one have seen her lying there for at least seven hours, with her car running? [More]
Don’t Want To Be Depressed By Walking Into Sears? Retailer Now Trying Curbside Pick-Up
By 2.12.14
Over the last few years, a number of former Sears customers have said that one of the reasons they no longer shop at the once-great department store is that it’s just depressing to walk around inside the store and see empty shelves, run-down conditions, and disarray. How can Sears fix that? By keeping customers in their cars! [More]
Shoplet Rules The Stupid Shipping Gang Forever, Sends Me Coupon In Box Of Air Pillows
By 2.11.14
Ed ordered three big (by “big” we mean four feet by six feet) dry erase boards from Amazon.com. They came from a vendor called Shoplet. Everything seemed fine with the transaction until a mysterious box arrived on his doorstep alongside the boards. The box was tiny, unlike the boards. What was inside? Mounting hardware? Extra erasers? Free markers? No. He opened the box and was horrified at what he found inside. [More]
Man Sues Wells Fargo Over Robocalls Intended For Other Person
By 2.11.14
It’s bad enough to get endless collections call from your mortgage servicer over missed loan payments, but it’s next-level annoying when you’re not even a customer of the bank that won’t stop calling your phone day and night. [More]
