Rodney’s son asked him to pick up some nicotine patches, so he did. Rodney, an ex-smoker himself, knows the agony of nicotine withdrawal, and was happy to help him out. Up to a point. He wasn’t happy enough to let Target scan his driver’s license and hold on to the information that he had bought nicotine patches when he hasn’t smoked in years. The thing is, his caution is entirely justified. He could very well land on a data broker’s list of recent smokers. [More]
Retail Services
Why Does Target Need To Scan My Driver’s License To Sell Me Nicotine Patches?
By 3.18.13 — Updated: 3.19.13
EA Disabling User Accounts Because It Thinks Any Contact With Amazon Must Be A Refund Request
By 3.18.13
UPDATE: Electronic Arts has announced that CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down. His last day on the job will be March 30. Interesting timing, eh? [More]
Target Sign Wording Leaves San Jose Residents Scratching Their Heads
By 3.18.13
No one at Target would return a call last week from the San Jose Mercury News, so the paper wasn’t able to solve the mystery of what Target is trying to communicate with this sign in their cart corrals. They were left only with speculation, and if newspaper and online readers love anything, it’s speculating about typos. [More]
Kmart Admits It’s Pretty Bummed Out About The Shark That Died During Its Ad Shoot, Too
By 3.15.13
We were so sad yesterday about the white-tipped shark that died after being shipped across the country to star in a Kmart commercial shoot that we weren’t even able to make any jokes about the company jumping the shark. And when we skip obvious puns, the sadness is real. Plenty of our readers expressed sadness on Twitter recently, and it seems that somber feeling goes for Kmart, as well. [More]
Target, Where You’ll Pay Just A Little More For A Repackaged Xbox Accessory
March 15, 2013
Consumerist reader Christopher was strolling through the video game section of his local Target in Connecticut when he noticed something strange about the price tag for an Xbox accessory that was labeled as “Repackaged” with a big red sticker. Usually, that means the price would be lower, but as we all know when it comes to Target and price tags, logic goes right out the window. [More]
Shark Dies After Being Put In A Backyard Pool For Kmart Commercial Shoot
By 3.14.13 — Updated: 3.15.13
Let’s Resolve The Twist-Ties Vs. Plastic Clips Battle Before Anyone Gets Hurt
By 3.13.13
There’s been a major battle brewing among those of us who like to close plastic bags. Are you gonna go with a twist-tie, which can be repurposed into a cat toy, or a plastic clip of the kind often seen to close bread bags, which can be bedazzled and sold online? Your answer matters to those in the $10 billion a year business of making bag closing devices. [More]
JPMorgan Chase Site Hit By Cyber Attack That Kept Some Users From Accessing Accounts
By 3.13.13
Banks are no strangers to cyber assaults on the sites customers use to access accounts, and it appears JPMorgan Chase was the most recent victim of such an attack yesterday. The bank said last night it was working to restore normal service after an unspecified amount of down time during the day. [More]
Don’t Worry, The Caterpillar You Found In Your Dinner Is Totally Safe To Eat
By 3.13.13
Unless that’s what they set out to eat in the first place, people aren’t thrilled to find insects in their food. Reader V. and his family are vegetarians, and were even less thrilled than most people to find a worm in their package of frozen edamame from Trader Joe’s. When he wrote to complain, the company was pretty transparent about what the critter was and how it ended up in their dinner. The company gave a refund. But V. found the company’s assurance that the critter was safe to eat insensitive. [More]
From The Museum Of Failed Informercial Products: Fushies
By 3.12.13
For every Snuggie and Slap Chop, products that transcend direct-response ads to become cultural touchstones, there are many, many more flops. Once they were new and exciting products that filled a need you never thought you had, but they never caught on. Their web sites sit empty and even the trademarks have been abandoned. But thanks to YouTube, the ridiculous ads will live forever. [More]
I Ordered Directly From A Local Florist, And It Was Awesome
By 3.12.13 — Updated: 2.14.17
Why are we still yammering about Valentine’s Day flowers? The holiday itself is long gone, but as birthdays, funerals, hospitalizations, and other occasions come and go, the problems with using national Big Flower websites remain. As another major flower-sending holiday, Mother’s Day, approaches, we’re sharing this story from reader Josh about how wonderfully his order from a local florist turned out. [More]
One Complaint To CFPB Fixes Mortgage Snafu That 9 Months Of Dealing With The Bank Couldn’t
By 3.12.13
As Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director Richard Cordray pointed out in his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee this morning, more than 130,000 American consumers have used the agency’s numerous complaint portals to help resolve their problems with financial institutions. Consumerist reader Charles is just one of those people who still has a house because the CFPB was able to accomplish in a few days what no one else could in almost a year. [More]
Hey, You Left Your Counterfeit Money Inside This Possibly Stolen Printer You’re Trying To Return!
By 3.12.13
It’s already pretty difficult to return an item without a receipt at many retailers, but when a guy left behind a sheet of counterfeit money in the printer he was trying to bring back to Walmart, police got wise that something was shady. [More]
Sears Takes Issue With Best Buy’s Same-Day In-Store Pickup Claim
By 3.11.13
When we recently spoke with a Best Buy executive about what could set it apart from its competitors, he talked about the ability to order online and pick up in-store the same day, saying “You can’t do that from anybody else.” The folks at Sears would like to disagree. [More]
March Recall Roundup: This Garlic Slicer Prefers Human Fingers
By 3.11.13
In this month’s Recall Roundup for consumer goods, crossbows fire at will, snorkeling masks buckle under pressure, and garlic slicers are out to slice your fingers instead. [More]
Apple, Amazon Looking To Sell Used Digital Content
By 3.8.13
When you purchase a digital download, do you actually own it? Some say yes, others say you’re just licensing its use from the copyright holder. This argument is only going to get more heated with news that both Apple and Amazon are looking into how to go about re-selling “used” digital content. [More]
Stuff No One Needs: Comic Sans Stencils
By 3.8.13
You know what’s even worse than using the font Comic Sans for every message you create on a computer, printed and online alike? Bringing the horror to the real world by using these two-inch-tall Comic Sans stencils. Don’t do it. Not even you, Banksy. [More]
Best Buy VP Tells Consumerist Why He Thinks The Company Can Still Compete
By 3.8.13
It’s been nearly a year since brash Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn stepped down amid a cloud of scandal. In the months that followed, the company’s stock price sunk, its founder and chairman Richard Schulze exited, then attempted unsuccessfully to buy the company back, and a French guy from the hospitality industry is now in charge of righting the ship. Can it be done? [More]
