So like, you know when you need to buy something? Where do you usually go? A store. And those electronic thingies, those applications, what are those commonly called? Yup, apps! Combine the two and you get — you guessed it! — an app store. Apple thought it had the corner on that name, but a judge just ruled that Amazon is allowed to use the term as well without it constituting false advertising. And likely anyone else selling apps. [More]
Retail Services
Judge Tells Apple It Isn’t False Advertising If Amazon Also Calls Its Online Shop An “App Store”
By 1.2.13
How To Get Good Service At A Chronically Understaffed Walmart
By 1.2.13
What should you know when you place an online order that you plan to pick up at your local Walmart store? An insider––an ordinary store employee in an ordinary Walmart––reached out to us to explain to customers what you should know before you click “Site-to-Store,” and other pitfalls. Walmart may employ millions of Americans, but it still tries to run stores with the smallest crew that it get by with.
Let’s hand the floor over to the employee, who we’ll call “Samantha”: [More]
Best Buy Makes Sure Gift Card Arrives Safely, Sends It Packed In Air Cushions
By 1.2.13
Kevin took advantage of a totally amazing Best Buy deal where he could buy a $100 iTunes gift card for only $80. The card came in the regular old mail instead of being virtual, though, and Kevin assumed that it would arrive in some sort of envelope. What with it being a small, flat object and all. But no! Instead, Best Buy sent it along in a cardboard box filled with air pillows. [More]
New Law Will Try (And Probably Fail) To Make Amazon Collect Sales Tax In Georgia
By 12.31.12 — Updated: 1.23.13
Starting tomorrow, Georgia will begin enforcing a new law intended to compel Amazon and other e-tailers to collect sales tax on purchase in that state. But it looks like Amazon may have a pretty easy work-around. [More]
Sam’s Club Recalls Smoked Salmon Sold In 42 States
By 12.28.12
With year-end parties still to come, there will probably be some of you munching on Smoked Salmon in the next few days. If that salmon was purchased at Sam’s Club, you might want to keep reading. [More]
Repair Company Can’t Fix TV Without Parts, Warranty Won’t Replace Repairable TV
By 12.28.12
How long could your household go without a television? It depends on how many people are there, what you watch, what time of year it is, how the weather is, and whether or not it’s Christmas break and your kids are home from school. That’s the case for Roman’s family, cord cutters who are cut off from television content. Last Black Friday, Roman got a Vizio 3D smart TV from Walmart. Just under a year later, the set doesn’t work. That’s okay, though: he bought the extended warranty. The repair service set up an appointment, then just didn’t show after Roman took a day off work and waited around for them. Why? They didn’t have the part he needed in stock. [More]
Walmart Sold Us A High Chair Covered With Food And Mold As New
By 12.28.12
Part of the delight of Christmas morning is opening up fresh, shiny, untouched gifts. Our new stuff gets wrapped in colorful paper outside of the boxes and layers of protective plastic by the Asian teenagers who made them for us. Jan’s great-grandson is still a baby, so he probably didn’t care one way or the other about the condition of his gifts, but the grown-up family members did. The high chair they bought him had been used. Used a lot. And it was covered with food and mold. It should be their baby who has the privilege of throwing spaghetti on his high chair, not someone else’s. [More]
Target, Where A Flash Drive Is A Good Substitute For A Flash Bulb
By 12.27.12
Shopping for a flash to go with your new Canon camera? That item is out of stock at Target, but how about another product with the word “flash” in its description? [More]
I Want To Buy A Sorbet Maker, Sears Keeps Hanging Up On Me
By 12.27.12
We have a hypothesis here at Consumerist. The Sears Holdings Corporation is no longer a retailer, but is only an anti-capitalist prank on a global scale. How else can you explain a company that has a global retail presence, yet seems determined not to sell anything? The latest chapter in this saga comes from Kelly, who wanted to buy a small kitchen appliance that turns frozen fruit into delicious sorbets. Sears, perhaps with a hangover and in desperate need of some personal space after spending the holidays with its more crass cousin Kmart, keeps hanging up on Kelly every time she calls to see whether the item is in stock. She’s taking the hint now. [More]
Court: Wells Fargo Misled Customers About Debit Card Transactions But Doesn’t Have To Pay Back $203 Million (Yet)
By 12.27.12
It was a good news/bad news day at the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday, as the court set aside a $203 million judgement against Wells Fargo for the way it processed debit card transactions, but kept the door open to hope that consumers might see some of that money. [More]
Amazon Retains Its Crown Among Online Retailers In This Year’s Holiday Consumer Satisfaction Survey
By 12.27.12
Online retailers are sitting pretty these days due to the convenience they offer during busy times like the holidays, but according to this year’s survey of consumer satisfaction, some businesses made out better than others. Amazon is the reigning champ of customer satisfaction, and it held onto that title again this year, beating out upstarts like Gilt.com and RueLaLa.com. [More]
Mutiple Best Buy Pricing Errors Are A Reminder To Always Keep An Eye On The Checkout Scanner
By 12.26.12
Given the number of items sold at big box stores and large retailers — and how frequently prices are changed during this time of year — the occasional pricing error is inevitable. But one Consumerist reader had a trio of bad barcodes at Best Buy. [More]
How Walmart’s Mistake Made Me Look Like A Crappy Uncle
By 12.26.12
Anthony no longer trusts Walmart. They guaranteed delivery of his gift for his nephew by December 24th. The problem with this guarantee is that if the store fails and breaks its promise, the solution is not that they travel back in time, make everything right, and make sure that you have a gift in hand for your nephew. They just give you a refund or something. [More]
Amazon Cloud Server Problem Spoils Christmas Eve For Some Netflix Users
By 12.24.12
If you’re reading this instead of using Netflix to stream all those episodes of Sons Of Anarchy you were going to catch up on during the holiday weekend, it’s probably because you’re one of the many Netflix customers who can’t access the service following problems with Amazon-owned cloud servers. [More]
Current & Former GameStop Employees Chime In On Pre-Order Upsells
By 12.21.12
We told you earlier about GameStop customer Robert, who was told he could buy a copy of a newly released video game — but only if he paid $5 toward a pre-order for a different game. Since then, several current and former GameStop employees have written in with their perspectives. [More]
Target Sends Out Poorly Worded Coupon, Raises False Hopes
By 12.21.12
Dani got what seemed like a great coupon in the mail with her Target credit card statement. “50% off Nook HD or Nook HD+ Accessory” it promised. Half off one of Barnes & Noble’s pricey e-readers? Clearly this must be too good to be true! And it was. The coupon was good for half off a variety of accessories for the e-reader, not the device itself. [More]
Couple Arrested Following Physical Confrontation With Best Buy Receipt-Checker
By 12.21.12
No one really likes to have their receipt checked when they leave a store — and some people will outright refuse to show the receipt if their local laws say they don’t have to. But there’s really no need for receipt-checking incidents to get physical. [More]
