Maggie just needed to pick up a little item at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and thought her errand would be a simple one. Go in, get it, pay and get out. But as we’ve learned in our time at Consumerist and also through countless formulaic heist movies, it’s never that easy. Even when she hit the first obstacle — the item wasn’t on the shelf — she didn’t think things could get too crazy. Oh, Maggie. [More]
Retail Services
Walmart Shoplifter Dies After Being Shot By Off-Duty Deputy
By 12.7.12
An off-duty sheriff’s deputy, working in uniform as a security officer for a Texas Walmart, reportedly shot an alleged shoplifter after being dragged by her car in the store’s parking lot. [More]
Sam’s Club Reinstates Oversold Black Friday Orders, Makes Up To Sad Customers
By 12.6.12
Remember the Black Friday deal at Sam’s Club where too many orders came in for the best deals, and there wasn’t enough merchandise to fill them all? Well, Sam’s Club is doing the right thing for those customers, reinstating the canceled orders and even sending free memberships and gift cards to customers who went and found the same items elsewhere. [More]
Hitting Up The Same Walmart Three Times To Shoplift Goes Poorly For Woman
By 12.6.12
Let’s be clear: The old adages “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” or “Third time’s the charm!” should not be applicable in shoplifting situations, or any kind of crime for that matter. But police in Texas say one woman’s failure to make it out of a local Walmart with purloined goods twice before didn’t prevent her from trying a third time. [More]
Hey, Best Buy Also Sent Me Five iPads When I Only Ordered One!
By 12.6.12
As our post from last night about Best Buy’s five-for-one iPad deal burned up the Internet, some people wondered whether this had happened to anyone else out there. No, that couldn’t be: this is an expensive mistake. It can’t happen all the time. Then we heard from Nick, who has four spare iPads stashed in his closet, waiting for Best Buy to come back for them. [More]
Zynga Files For Nevada Gambling License So Players Can Gamble Away The Virtual Farm
By 12.6.12
Thinking of all my hardworking ancestors toiling away on family farms, trying to provide enough food for their sprawling German- and Irish-Catholic families makes me wonder: What would they think of an immensely popular game about farming where players can risk virtual cows for cash? Zynga, the makers of popular online game FarmVille, is taking the next step in gaming by applying for a license to gamble in Nevada. [More]
Restaurant Celebrates Bad Yelp Reviews By Broadcasting Them In The Restrooms
By 12.6.12
While there are all the horror stories of businesses turning on negative Yelp reviews, there’s at least one restaurant that seems to be taking the bad and turning it into something amusing. When it comes down to it, some of those reviews are downright dramatic, and the gastropub’s owner figured he might as well have with that: His restaurant pipes in audio of voices reading those reviews in the bathrooms. [More]
My Mom Ordered One iPad And Best Buy Sent Five
By 12.5.12 — Updated: 12.8.12
Alexa’s boyfriend got an iPad for Christmas from his mother. Well, that’s not quite true. His mother ordered one iPad, and had it shipped to him. What arrived on their doorstep was a very large and heavy box that was big enough to hold five iPads. Because it did. [More]
These Best Buy Customer Service E-Mails Would Be Hilarious If They Weren’t Real
By 12.5.12 — Updated: 12.6.12
On Thanksgiving, Consumerist reader Tom tried to buy a TV combo deal from Best Buy. This was just the beginning of a trip through a parallel universe where orders turn into ghosts that charge your credit card and customer service reps repeatedly use the phrase “Good day!” while reminding you of your duty to check BestBuy.com more frequently. [More]
Walmart Lists “Sending Someone Money” As A Reason You Shouldn’t Wire Money To Someone
By 12.5.12
A lot of international fraud scams involve having to wire money to the scammers, and they’ve become so commonplace that operators of wire services like Western Union train employees to keep an eye out for red flags indicating a possible scam might be occurring. But we think this warning sign from Walmart and MoneyGram might be a little too over-cautious. [More]
Thieves Get Grinchy By Following Delivery Trucks & Stealing Gifts From Doorsteps
By 12.5.12
While some of us are busy shopping online like Santa’s elves or buying gifts to celebrate Hanukkah, it’s also the time of the year when others get their Grinch on. But cops say three suspects in Massachusetts skipped going down chimneys to steal, and have instead been pulling a reverse St. Nick by swiping gifts from doorsteps moments after delivery trucks drop them off. [More]
Kmart Goes Above And Beyond To Help Mother Of Triplets
By 12.5.12
Having one young child can be a hassle (or so I read on Facebook every day), but having triplets makes everything that much more complicated. So it was a great relief for one Consumerist reader when her local Kmart went out of its way to help her in her search for three car seats. [More]
No One At Best Buy Actually Wants To Sell Me An Xbox
By 12.5.12
In the last year, Best Buy has been attempting to market itself not just as a place to go to purchase electronics, but as a store where you’ll find helpful and informed employees. That’s not exactly the impression one Consumerist reader got after his last visit to the store. [More]
Starbucks Introduces Limited Amount Of $450 Steel Gift Cards For The Caffeinated 1%
By 12.5.12
There are people who are willing to plunk down $7 for a cup of coffee every day at Starbucks, or those who carve out decent slice of their budgets to ensure they get a venti latte with all the syrupy extras on a constant basis, so the idea of spending $450 on a shiny new steel Starbucks gift card really isn’t that much of a leap. And it will come with the cachet of being one of only 5,000 in existence. We can just sense the caffeinated drool out there right now. [More]
My Son’s Power Rangers Took A Weeklong UPS Warehouse Vacation
By 12.5.12
Where were the robots? Jemande ordered Power Rangers robots for his son’s birthday, so he had a deadline. The merchant used UPS, and the package progressed smoothly to his local depot and onto a truck. UPS attempted to deliver and claims that no one was around. Jemande disputes this, but the really important part is what happened next. UPS took the package back to the depot, where it hung out from November 28th to December 4th (Wednesday to Tuesday) for no clear reason. [More]
Guilt Makes For A Delicious Addition To Forbidden Foods When You’re On A Diet
By 12.4.12
When all you want, all you need is just a bite of smooth, creamy, calorie-laden chocolate ice cream and you’re not supposed to have it for whatever reason (dieting, it doesn’t belong to you), giving in to that impulse feel so guilty. And it’s so tasty, partly because it is forbidden, says a new study. Guilt makes for quite a heady addition to your favorite foods. Hence, guilty pleasures. [More]
Eighth Grader To Hasbro: Your Purple Easy-Bake Oven Is Too Girly For My Little Brother
By 12.4.12 — Updated: 12.5.12
If people get ants in their pants over a LEGO set just for girls, why not go after the purple Easy-Bake Oven, which features girls prominently on its packaging, for promoting sexist attitudes? That is the cause an eighth grader has taken up against the makers of the toy oven, Hasbro, because she doesn’t want her little brother to think cooking is only for girls. [More]
Study: There Are Plenty Of People Who Would Take Out A Walmart Or PayPal Mortgage
By 12.4.12
What’s an average citizen to do when getting a mortgage from a big bank or other financial institution isn’t an option? Perhaps you might consider taking out mortgages from a retailer like Walmart, or even PayPal? A new financial services study says there are plenty of people out there who would be down with a situation like that. [More]
