Seth’s cashier at Target was unprofessional and immature, but that’s not what bothered him about the encounter. The real problem was with his, as Seth puts it, “homophobic insult[s].” Describing a thing that you don’t like by saying “that’s so gay” might be acceptable among your friends, if your friends are teenage boys in 1997, but it’s not how you should talk at work. Especially when your job involves working with the general public, which consists of a fascinating variety of different kinds of people. Including gay people. Like Seth. [More]
Retail Services
Target, Where Assassin’s Creed III Is Discounted Online But Not Available To Buy Online
By 12.3.12
Consumerist reader Ethan wants to buy the new video game Assassin’s Creed III but, like any good shopper, doesn’t want to pay full price if he doesn’t have to. So he was thrilled to see that Target.com is selling AC3 for 17% off the sticker price — oh wait, no it isn’t. [More]
Item Is Right On The Walmart Shelf, But Site-To-Store Will Take A Few Days
By 12.3.12 — Updated: 9.18.14
Retailers generally don’t price-match their own websites. Walmart, Sears, Best Buy, Gap, Home Depot… they’re separate operations. Lee didn’t know that, though, and tried to get Walmart to match its online price for the router he wanted. They refused. That’s not worthy of publication on Consumerist, but what happened next is. He whipped out a smartphone and ordered the router sitting on the shelf in front of him for in-store pickup. Hurray! He beat the system! Until an e-mail from Walmart arrived telling him that he could expect to pick up his new router sometime next week. [More]
Target Really, Really Wants You To Know They Didn’t Shrink Ray Their Cheese
By 12.3.12
“Dear Target: Whaddaya want, a medal?” tipster David typed when he sent this photo in using the Consumerist Tipster App. No medals, but it’s kind of sad that a company has to point out that they didn’t use a redesign to decrease the amount of product in a package. [More]
Study Begs The Question: If You Love Your Phone So Much, Why Don’t Ya Marry It?
By 11.30.12
We already know there’s a name for that intense anxiety you might feel at being separated from your cellphone (where are my fellow nomophobics at?) but how many of actually admit we love our phones with true, shameless burning affection? A new study from Pew says if you adore your phone but feel a little weird about that, you’re not alone. [More]
Kmart Pretends I Gave Them Wrong PayPal Address, Is Now Out Of Wiis
By 11.30.12
Did you preorder a Wii U from Kmart? Chris did. Well, he tried to. He paid using PayPal, and Kmart now tells him that he typed in an incorrect PayPal address, and they’re sold out of them. The funny thing is that they must have had his correct address at one point: when he first placed the order, they debited his account or put a hold on it initially. So that’s weird. [More]
Going On A Family Shoplifting Spree Shouldn’t Count As Spending Quality Time Together
By 11.30.12
Spending quality time with the family is one of the basic tenets of the holidays, although we’re pretty sure it’s not in the spirit of the season to take that family act on a shoplifting spree. Cops say a mom recruited her two kids in a scheme to swipe $4,500 in merchandise from Best Buy, Kohl’s and Target recently. That’s one way to make sure you get everything on your wish list, albeit a very illegal one. [More]
New Survey Shows Why Amazon Has Bricks-And-Mortar Retailers Worried
By 11.30.12
Many bricks-and-mortar retailers claim Amazon has an unfair advantage because it is not — in most states — yet required to collect sales tax on purchases, or that Amazon can offer huge discounts because it doesn’t have the overhead associated with running a retail store. But a new survey shows that people might just like Amazon more than other retailers. [More]
Mmm, Food Court Fish Eggs: California Mall Introduces Caviar Vending Machine
By 11.30.12
Perhaps you just can’t find the right course to follow that trio of Cinnabons paired with a food court coffee and have an extra $500 just burning a hole in your pocket. If you like fish eggs and happen to be at a mall in Southern California, you’ll be in luck: A company there has just introduced a caviar vending machine, where customers can buy a tin of the stuff for anywhere from $12 to $500. [More]
Amazon Trade-In Program Signs For My iPad, Then It Disappears
By 11.30.12
Damion loves to trade in his tech for newer, better tech when a new item comes out. He also loves to save the manual and accessories so his old gear is extremely sellable when something new comes out. He decided to give Amazon’s Trade-in Service a try instead of his usual venues, Craigslist and eBay. Things went smoothly when he traded in an iPhone 4S, then… not so smoothly when he decided to trade in his iPad for an iPad Mini. [More]
The Heaviest Item On Amazon To Qualify For Free Shipping: A 1,509-Pound Gun Safe
By 11.29.12
When shipping is always free after an annual fee, who’s to say where Amazon Prime members will stop shopping? Sure, the company is betting that most members will be shipping smaller, everyday items — but what if you wanted to ship something super heavy, say, a 1,509-pound gun safe? Well, that would be free, too, even though it’d probably cost Amazon a tidy sum to ship. [More]
If You’re Unhappy & You Know It, Keep An Eye On How You Spend Your Money
By 11.29.12
Pick your head up out of that pint of Ben & Jerry’s and step away from the online sales you’ve been clicking through to fill that hole in your heart. A new study claims that when you’re down in the dumps, sad or otherwise singing the blues, you’re more prone to make silly decisions about your money. And come on, you don’t really need another pair of black boots. [More]
Kmart Changes My Layaway Item Prices, Adds Fees
By 11.28.12
Betty is trying really hard to make Kmart honor what she thought were the terms of the layaway agreement. She was supposed to pay the original price and not have any layaway fees. That’s how it’s supposed to work, right? Not for Betty, and she’s incredibly frustrated. [More]
Best Buy Employee: We’re Not Always Trying To Upsell You Credit Cards And Warranties
By 11.28.12
Over the summer, a handful of Best Buy employees wrote in with tales of mismanagement that didn’t paint the rosiest picture of what it’s like to work at the store. But one woman who works at Best Buy says you can’t judge all the stores based on a few stories about bad ones. [More]
Boost Mobile Doesn’t Seem To Understand That “Amazon” Is Not Someone’s Last Name
By 11.27.12 — Updated: 11.30.12
Okay, so there are probably more than a few people out there with the last name of “Amazon,” but when you tell someone at a major prepaid wireless provider that you bought your phone “on Amazon,” they should understand that you are referencing the mammoth online retailer and not a particular human being. [More]
A ‘List Price’ Isn’t Real Just Because Some Company Says It Is
By 11.27.12
Yes, it’s pretty much consumer common sense that the “list” prices that companies use to convince us how great their bargains are can be more or less nonsense. Anyone can make their own list, then put prices on it. Just in case you need a refresher, though, here are two great reader-submitted examples of discount prices that aren’t all that discounted. [More]
Do Different Walmarts Charge The Same Price For The Same Item?
By 11.27.12
Have you ever wondered whether different Walmart stores in the same area charge the same price for the same items? Perhaps you did, but never got around to doing the legwork to find out whether that’s actually the case. Fortunately, Rob Cockerham is here, and has a lot of free time. Evidently. He did the experiment that I’ve always wanted to do, driving around to three different Walmarts around Sacramento on the same day to compare the prices of identical items. The results? Don’t waste your time driving around to different Walmarts for groceries. Unless you live in Rancho Cordova and need to buy an awful lot of chicken breasts.
[More]
What A Black Friday Logistics Disaster Looks Like From The Other Side Of The Register
By 11.27.12
We mere consumers sit here waving our credit cards, whining about how we missed this or that great holiday deal, or our orders were canceled. But what’s the winter shipping frenzy like on the other size of the counter? One employee of men’s clothing store Joseph A. Bank reached out to us to explain the chain’s Black Friday logistics mess from the other side of the register. In addition to regular in-person shopping frenzy traffic, employees had to fill online orders if they happened to have the inventory. This worked pretty well until orders started to come through in multiples. [More]
