A new study attempts to determine the businesses that American consumers visit most often. Not surprisingly, the list is dominated by places that sell food; and that McDonald’s was by far the most-visited business in the U.S. [More]
Retail Services
Customers Revolt, Make U.K. Pharmacy Chain Stop Sorting Toys By Gender
By 5.2.13
Early on, kids don’t care very much about what they’re supposed to enjoy playing with. Sometimes boys play with trucks, and girls play with sparkly magic wands. It bothers some people when toys are sorted into “Boys” and “Girls” sections, even if they aren’t explicitly labeled as such. But customers of UK pharmacy chain Boots got very upset when they noticed that toy sections had clear pink and blue labels, and a line of scientific exploration toys were only in the “boys” section. The message, detractors said: science isn’t for girls. Perhaps that caring for babies ins’t for boys, either. [More]
We Don’t Want To Hear About Your Disappointing Flowers This Mother’s Day
By 5.1.13
There’s only a week and a half until Mother’s Day, and we have a goal. We do not want to publish any disappointing wire service flower photos on Monday, May 13. None. Because everyone reading this right now who plans to order flowers will proceed to the friendliest, best-reviewed local florist they can find and order directly. [More]
Someone Is Probably Working On A Coffee Table Book Of Hilarious Amazon Reviews, Right?
By 5.1.13
We’ve read our fair share of hilarious reviews for products that practically beg to become comedic fodder — remember the Bic Cristal for Her pen? It’s often those same reviews that make once irrelevant products relevant again, or at least bring to light the very many things for sale out there that make us wonder why anyone bothered selling them in the first place. [More]
Sears Sales Associate Vents About All The Problems He Has With Store
By 4.29.13
As regular readers of Consumerist know, we get a lot of complaints about Sears, covering everything from delivery and installation issues, to service and maintenance, to its rewards programs. Today, we hear from a Sears sales associate who details all the many ways in which he thinks the once-great retailer is going wrong. [More]
What Are America’s Most Damaged Brands Right Now?
By 4.26.13
How mighty brands fall. Bad leadership, bad planning, a run of bad products: any of these can damage a brand in a short amount of time, and it can take years to recover: if, indeed, the brand recovers at all. What brands are the most battered in the United States right now? 24/7 Wall Street rounded them up, based on which publicly-traded major companies are currently dealing with aggressive competition, reputation disasters, and a lack of direction. [More]
Home Depot Sells Consumer Reports A Used Chainsaw, Refuses To Take It Back Because It’s Used
By 4.26.13 — Updated: 6.26.14
If you’ve ever questioned why our lab coat-loving cousins at Consumer Reports use secret shoppers to buy the things they test for the magazine, here’s a perfect example. [More]
Amazon’s Stupid Shipping Gang Thinks Two Pieces Of Paper Will Protect My Speaker
By 4.25.13
Consumerist reader Howard must’ve breathed a hugesigh of relief upon opening a box from Amazon containing his new center speaker. Some thoughtful, kind person had tossed in not one, but two thin sheets of paper, as protection against all the calamities that can befall packages. [More]
Target Recalls 150,000 Giada De Laurentiis Lasagna Pans Because Lasagna Should Not Result In Lacerations
By 4.25.13
From knives to food processors, there are plenty of things in the kitchen that could cut you, but lasagna pans have historically been low on the laceration scale. But Target has now recalled nearly 150,000 of ceramic pans branded with the name of visage of celeb chef Giada De Laurentiis out of concern that they could break and cut the user. [More]
Walmart Worker Allegedly Prostituted Himself In Store Bathroom During Breaks
By 4.24.13 — Updated: 4.26.13
A Walmart employee in upstate New York allegedly made very productive use of his time during overnight shifts in the store. Unfortunately, he did so by advertising his services online as a prostitute, then meeting clients in a store bathroom during his breaks. Great efficient use of time, but also kind of illegal. [More]
How My Love Of Diet Pepsi Vanilla Almost Got Me Ejected From Walmart
By 4.23.13
If our readership understands anything, its fanatical devotion to one product and an almost equally fanatical need to make stores follow their own policies. That is how Tom got in serious trouble with the employees of his local Walmart. Or did the local Walmart’s employees get in trouble with Tom? Walmart promises to price-match local competitors, including the prices with loyalty cards. Except, apparently, when it comes to Pepsi. For Tom.
Target Still Struggles With Reality, Thinks ‘More Than’ Is A Meaningless Marketing Phrase
By 4.23.13
It’s kind of confusing when phrases like “more than” and “over” have become nothing more than meaningless marketing buzzwords. Three and a half years ago, we brought you a set of light-blocking curtains that block more than 100% of light. It sounds nice, but is physically impossible. Reader Liz found a similar marketing oddity at Target, where a sign brags about a discount of “more than” $20 when the discount is, in fact, exactly $20. [More]
Sam’s Club Manager Makes Up Own Return Policy, Won’t Take Back Cracked TV
By 4.22.13 — Updated: 4.23.13
What kind of difference can a local store’s management make? A bigger one than you might think. Shanna ordered a new television online from Sam’s Club that arrived broken. For the sake of convenience, she went to exchange it at the local store after figuring out that it fit in her car after all. The problem was that that store’s management made up its own return policy that has no basis in the actual policies of Sam’s Club. [More]
Amazon Channels Target, Charges More To Buy More Games
By 4.22.13
The idea behind buying items in a bundle is that in exchange for buying a larger quantity of a single item or a variety of items, the merchant gives you a discount. You give them more business, they give you a better price. That’s how it’s supposed to work, but sometimes this whole system falls apart and prices go up as you buy more. [More]
14 Months After Delivery, Sears Still Won’t Actually Install Dishwasher
By 4.18.13 — Updated: 4.29.13
Lots of people happily hand-wash their dishes because they don’t want a dishwasher. That’s not the case for one California man, who has washed his dishes by hand for more than a year even though he wants and can totally afford a dishwasher. In fact, he, um, had a dishwasher the whole time. It’s just that when he bought it from Sears, they sort of half-installed it and wandered off, and he couldn’t get anyone at Sears to help him. [More]
Legislators Maybe Kinda Sorta Thinking About Finally Voting On Online Sales Tax
By 4.18.13
Will they or won’t they? That’s the question now as legislators over yonder in Washington, D.C. are considering perhaps finally voting on whether or not to allow businesses to collect online sales tax. As it stands now, retailers can only impose the tax on a customer if they have a physical location in that state. Amazon is all for the bill, but eBay, not so much. The Senate could vote next week, so now it’s all about waiting and then, seeing. [via Reuters] [More]
I May Or May Not Have Preordered Samsung Galaxy S4 From Best Buy
By 4.18.13
Trevor might be getting a Samsung Galaxy S4. He might not. His order went through fine the first time, but it turned out that he made an error, and had asked for the wrong phone number to be upgraded. Oops. He called to cancel the order, but didn’t have a credit card handy to place a new one. That is how his saga began. A saga of trying to place a preorder that Best Buy apparently doesn’t want to accept. [More]
Mystery Solved: Why Walmart Thinks A Bottle Of Sprite Is A ‘Meal’
By 4.18.13
On Monday, we shared a reader-submitted photo of a shelf of two-liter soda bottles with some baffling signs. Coke, Sprite, and their diet varieties were declared “Wholesome, Healthy, and Delicious” and “Easy convenient meals.” Delicious and convenient, maybe, but they certainly aren’t wholesome, healthy, or meals. But reader Mindy snapped this picture at Walmart yesterday that might explain where the “meals” shelf tag came from. [More]
