Andrew had a contractor literally sitting in his driveway, ready to fix the damage from a fire in his home. The contract was drawn up, everything was ready. Everything except Bank of America, his mortgage holder, which needed to endorse the check. That was fine. The problem was that they refused to let him pay the contractor per his contract, insisting that they had to disburse the funds themselves (okay) with an 8-day delay. Wait, crap! [More]
Retail Services
Dissident Walmart Workers Threaten Strikes And In-Store Protests On Black Friday
By 10.11.12
Unhappy Walmart employees, backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, are continuing to agitate for reform at the mega-retailer. In a conference call with media outlets yesterday, members of the group OUR Walmart outlined their plans for Black Friday, which include another strike, protests, public awareness campaigns, and flash mobs. Presumably these actions will be for the benefit of customers waiting in line overnight for rock-bottom prices on TVs and blenders. [More]
Check To Make Sure Your iPad Box Isn’t Full Of Notebooks Before You Leave The Store
By 10.11.12
Once again, a consumer plunks down hard-earned cash for a pricey electronic device, only to find out later that the box is full of something completely useless. And since she had the gall to wait until she got home, the folks at her local Walmart all but accused her of trying to pull a scam. [More]
So I Guess UPS Has Just Stopped Delivering To My House?
By 10.10.12
Since signing up with UPS My Choice a couple months ago, Consumerist reader Stephanie has seen her UPS service slow down, first delivering 2-day packages on the third day, and for the last few weeks, simply not delivering at all. [More]
U.S. Sues Wells Fargo, Accuses It Of Being A Loan Factory Pumping Out Deficient Mortgages
By 10.10.12
United States prosecutors leveled charges against Wells Fargo yesterday, claiming the bank lied about the quality of mortgages it was working with under a federal housing program. Prosecutors say Wells Fargo defrauded the government for more than a decade, issued mortgages willy nilly and then lied about their condition to the Federal Housing Administration. [More]
Sears Employees Demonstrate Shocking Levels Of Competence
By 10.10.12
We frequently mock Sears as incompetent and secretly a vast anti-capitalist prank, but we mock because we love. Kinda. We hate seeing such a venerable brand that a significant portion of the population still relies on and trusts. Well, that a significant portion of the population used to rely on and trust. That’s why Michael’s story stands out: it’s a tale of a Sears employee demonstrating competence and compassion. This customer service representative has probably already been fired. [More]
Walmart Testing Same-Day Delivery In Smattering Of U.S Locations
By 10.9.12
Another day, another bid by a retailer competing with Amazon to strike a blow by offering a new, attractive service to customers: This time it’s Walmart, and the tempting idea is same-day delivery for online orders. The company started testing the waters last week in the Washington suburbs and is rolling out the service in few other U.S. locales soon as well. [More]
Amazon Downgrades Your Electronics Trade-In Value? Complain
By 10.9.12
Ian decided to use Amazon’s trade-in service to get cash for his iPad. The third-party company that runs the trade-in service decided that his device had invisible scratches, and downgraded its condition. They offered him $30 less than if it had been in “like new” shape. He was annoyed, and contacted Amazon about it. Amazon stepped in and promised him that if he sends the iPad again, he’ll get the full balance of the “like new” price. [More]
Target To Hire Fewer Seasonal Workers This Year
By 10.8.12
Target is in the middle of ramping up for the all-important holiday shopping season by hiring a slew of folks to slip on a red shirt for a few weeks, but the retailer says it expects to hire 2,000-12,000 fewer seasonal employees this year than it did in 2011. Target also says this shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing. [More]
Geek Squad Expands To Target And eBay
By 10.8.12
Have you recently gone to make an electronics purchase somewhere other than Best Buy, but found yourself wishing you could engage the services of the Geek Squad onsite, or buy one of their special Black Tie warranty plans? If you’re one of the regular readers of this site, probably not. But plenty of other people do, and the Nerd Herd is expanding outside of the walls of Best Buy. [More]
When You Can’t Find The Toy Your Kid Wants For Christmas, Blame Layaway
By 10.5.12
This holiday season, when your child looks up at you with tears welling in their eyes because they didn’t get that one toy they had really been hoping for, you can do two things: Tell him/her to grow the heck up and realize that you don’t always get everything you ask for, or blame all the parents who put toys on layaway in September and October. [More]
Sears Annoys The Crap Out Of Customer For Weeks, Still Doesn’t Deliver Treadmill
By 10.4.12
Michael Froomkin is a law professor, a prolific blogger, and an aspiring treadmill owner. Unfortunately for him, he’s not also a regular Consumerist reader, so he thought that ordering a treadmill from Sears to be delivered to his house was a great idea. Sears seemed like the best choice out of the options available to him. He didn’t know that his future held a smashed treadmill, lots of early-morning robocalls, and a cascade of incompetence. [More]
Target Sells Lots Of Reservation Cards For ‘The Avengers’ Blu-Ray, Forgets To Order Discs
By 10.4.12
Target stores offered customers the opportunity to reserve their copy of the super-awesome Blu-Ray box set of “The Avengers” by purchasing reservation cards in advance. What the stores forgot to do, though, was actually stock the discs. It’s fine if they want to only get a few copies of a hot new movie in and sell them to employees’ nephews or people banging on the door at opening time or whatever. It’s not cool to sell reservation cards that you don’t intend to honor. [More]
Best Buy Comes Up With Genius Idea To Compete With Amazon: Lower Online Prices
By 10.3.12
Hey, consumers. Best Buy knows what you’re up to. Yup, it knows you’re out there on the sneaky ol’ Internet, comparing prices and trying to find the best deal. And now that the company is hip to your tactics, it’s come up with a potential plan to make sure you buy online with Best Buy and not say, Amazon. How’s it gonna do that? By reducing prices. Consider your mind blown. [More]
Explosion At Japanese Chemical Plant Results In Run On Diapers In North Texas
By 10.2.12
Over the weekend, there was an explosion inside a chemical plant in Japan. So it only makes sense that the parents of youngsters in North Texas are buying oodles of diapers. [More]
Leaked Target Training Script Shows That The Company May Not Know What The Word “Amazing” Means
By 10.2.12
For millions of people, Target is seen as many things — convenient, low-priced, reasonably tasteful — but we have a hunch that most Target shoppers would use the word “amazing” to describe the Target shopping experience. And they certainly wouldn’t use it over and over and over again the way a leaked Target employee training script does. [More]
Sears & Olive Garden To Give Workers Money To Go Choose Their Own Health Insurance
By 10.1.12
The powers that be at two large U.S. companies — Sears and Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse, and others) — are looking to transition away from their traditional employer-sponsored health insurance and toward a model that gives employees a fixed amount of money with which to buy coverage. [More]
Netflix CEO Calls Amazon Prime Videos A “Confusing Mess”
By 9.27.12
In the time since Amazon launched its streaming video service — which includes a library of free movies and TV shows for members of Amazon Prime — it has grown to become a competitor for Netflix, especially after that company angered many customers by doubling the subscription rate for customers who wanted to keep receiving DVDs by mail. But Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says he’s not worried about Amazon, and in fact, he’s not quite sure what they’re offering consumers. [More]
