Most of us know the anxiety of tracking a highly anticipated package (especially a pricey, highly anticipated package). You follow it online from warehouse to distribution center to shipping hub to receiving center and then it goes on “on truck for delivery,” meaning that you’ll probably get it at some vague, undetermined point before the end of the day. But rather than hope you are around to receive the item — lest the delivery driver just hurls it over your fence — wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly when it’s coming? [More]
Retail Services
Learn The Costco Price Tag Code To Save More Cash
By 7.18.13 — Updated: 12.6.16
Lots of Costco customers either assume they’re getting a good price just because of the store’s reputation or because they are overwhelmed by the vats of ketchup and the slabs of steak they can purchase. But there are ways to identify items that have been marked down even more than usual, or which might be closeout sales, if you just know where to look. [More]
Sears Re-Announces Recall Of Dehumidifiers Because No One Prefers Fires Over Humidity
By 7.17.13
Would you rather have a humid living environment, or one that’s on fire? Ding ding — we’re pretty sure the owners of 800,000 dehumidifiers sold by Sears would agree with you. The retailer is again reminding consumers of a recall for a product line that had issues last summer, again, over fires linked to using the Kenmore dehumidifiers. Now might be a good time to check on your dehumidifier. [More]
I Tried Online Car Shopping With TrueCar, Got Same Old Hardball Crap From Dealership
By 7.16.13
The new site TrueCar is a great concept: you can figure out a price for your car and trade-in online, without any of the frustrating negotiations, or even changing out of your pajamas. Reader Alex used the site to get a price for a new Jeep, and his eight hours of trouble began when he and the dealership valued his trade-in differently. [More]
Bank Of America Attempts To Discredit Statements Of Former Employees
By 7.12.13
Last month, it was revealed that six former Bank of America employees and one ex-contractor for the bank, had given sworn statements in a lawsuit filed against BofA, and that these statements painted a picture of a system that deliberately lost mortgage modification paperwork and rewarded staffers for pushing employees into foreclosure. Now BofA has issued a detailed rebuttal of those allegations and why it believes that these statements misrepresent the truth. [More]
Homeowners Accuse Bank Of America Of Racketeering In Lawsuit Over Mortgage Modifications
By 7.12.13
Following the recent revelations from former Bank of America employees that the nation’s most-hated financial institution allegedly engaged in deliberate schemes to delay and deny mortgage modifications, a group of three homeowners have sued BofA, alleging violations of federal anti-racketeering laws. [More]
10 Things We Learned This Week About Why Sears Is So Terrible
By 7.12.13 — Updated: 5.19.14
In our posts about Sears, we often observe that the company seems like an anti-capitalist prank, a retail giant that thrashes around aimlessly until the real estate market picks up. It turns out that we were kind of half right. Manifesto-writing Sears Holdings chairman Eddie Lampert has organized the company into battling units that compete with each other for a dwindling pile of money. [More]
Ontrac Either Never Came To My House Or Can’t Read
By 7.12.13
We’ve never been in charge of hiring drivers for a delivery service, but we’re pretty sure that one of the requirements is that candidates be able to read. If not, maybe it should be. Recently, Drew was supposed to get a package from Amazon, delivered by OnTrac, but he missed the delivery. Here’s the thing, though: if the driver really stopped by, and can read, the door buzzer would have dialed Drew’s cell phone. He got no calls. [More]
Okay, Great, So Black Friday Is July 12 Now
By 7.11.13
Last November, we humbly proposed moving the all-American orgy of consumerism known as Black Friday back a week so retail employees and dedicated shoppers might get to enjoy their Thanksgiving and spend some of the holiday with their families. Target has taken our idea a little too far, and seems to think that Black Friday is tomorrow, July 12. [More]
D.C. Lawmakers Pass Minimum Wage Mandate Despite Walmart’s Threats To Pull Stores
By 7.11.13
Walmart’s efforts Tuesday to deter Washington D.C’s city council from passing a bill that would require certain large retailers to pay their employees at least $12.50 — a significant bump above the city’s minimum wage of $8.25 — didn’t work. Despite the big box company telling lawmakers it’d scrap plans for three stores in the area and take a close look at the three already underway, council members passed the bill by a vote of 8 to 5 yesterday. [More]
Where Is The Item I Sent Back To Sears? Don’t Ask Sears Or UPS, They Don’t Know
By 7.11.13
What ring? Victoria ordered a ring from Sears, but wasn’t happy with it and sent it back. That’s the whole point of the return process, right? Only the point isn’t supposed to be that the item disappears into the ether and the retailer shrugs. At least we’d like to think so. [More]
Ex Walmart Worker Says She Was Fired For Telling Police About Dog Stuck In Hot Truck
By 7.11.13
A woman in Ontario, Canada, says she was fired from her job at Walmart earlier this week because she called the police on a customer who had left his dog in a hot car with the windows rolled up — and after she told her boss she’d do it again. [More]
My Target Advertises Great iPhone Deal, Doesn’t Stock iPhones
By 7.10.13
Rob heard about a great deal at Target: the retailer was running a sale and an iPhone trade-in deal for one weekend only. He made a trip over only to find that the deal was on, but there were no AT&T phones to be had. [More]
Walmart Tells D.C. Lawmakers It’ll Pull 3 Stores If City Passes Minimum Wage Bill
By 7.10.13
Walmart officials warned Washington, D.C. lawmakers yesterday that if the city council passes a new super-minimum-wage proposal, it’ll pull at least three stores planned for the area. Executives and lobbyists delivered the news in person to council members yesterday, less than 24 hours before a vote was scheduled on the legislation. [More]
Our Long National Nightmare Is Over: Apple, Amazon Halt War Over “App Store” Name
By 7.10.13
More than two years ago, Apple launched a lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the online retailer was violating Apple’s trademark by selling smartphone and tablet apps under via its Appstore, which sounds an awful lot like Apple’s App Store. Now, after years of bloodshed and families torn asunder by this nasty dispute, both sides have agreed to lay down their arms and agree to peace terms. [More]
“Not Everyone Eats Tacos”: Former Workers Sue Target, Claiming Discrimination & Harassment
By 7.10.13
Three former Target employees are suing the retailer, claiming they suffered crude harassment, discrimination and retaliation. The workers say in their complaint that an alleged “multi-cultural tips” document for managers laid out items regarding Hispanic employees like “not everyone eats tacos and burritos.” [More]
Don’t Try To Saw Through Ceiling Of Walmart Cash Room While Employee Is Present
By 7.9.13
We in no way condone robbery, but if you’re going to go through the effort of crawling through a Walmart ceiling to steal from the store’s cash room, you should at least make sure that room is empty when you saw through the ceiling. [More]
Wells Fargo Not Winning Many Fans By Refusing To Honor $10K Owed To Kidney Patient
By 7.9.13
Back in 1982, a man purchased $11,800 in cashier’s checks from Central Fidelity Bank in Virginia and put them into a safe deposit box. The idea was that this would be his rainy-day/emergency fund. Apparently, he didn’t need this money for three decades, as he only recently attempted to deposit the checks into his account. Problem is, Wells Fargo — which now owns Wachovia, which had previously acquired Central Fidelity — claimed it had no record of these checks and refused to honor them, even after a court ordered it to. [More]
