It’s been three weeks since a California woman took her car into Walmart for an oil change, only to have a service tech accidentally put all the new oil in her transmission instead of her engine. And in spite of early indications that Walmart would move quickly to repair the customer’s vehicle, she tells Consumerist that the retailer is doing nothing while her car sits idle in a garage. [More]
Retail Services
I Bought My TV In 2006, Costco's 2006 Electronics Return Policy Should Apply
By 8.17.12
A few years ago, Costco changed its famously generous return policy when it comes to electronics. Customers have only ninety days to bring back gadgets that break or don’t make them happy, unlike the previous seemingly infinite return policy. Nick, however, bought his Vizio TV from Costco before the return policy changed. Back when he had as long as he wanted to bring it back. Now the six-year-old set won’t turn on, and he thinks that Costco should take the set back for a refund, which was the policy at the time he purchased it. [More]
"Who's Your Daddy?" DNA Testing Truck Aims To Answer One Of Life's Trickiest Question
By 8.16.12
Ah, fatherhood. It can be fulfilling, entertaining or overtaken by that nagging question: “Is this kid really mine?” For all your DNA needs, there’s now a “Who’s Your Daddy?” RV cruising the streets of NYC looking to pick up doubting dads and give them peace of mind. [More]
Optometrist Knows I Want To Buy Contacts Online, Won't Give Me My Prescription
By 8.16.12
In all of the chatter over our post about prescriptions at the vet’s office, many people commented that this kind of conflict is exactly why human doctors don’t sell us the medications we need from right behind the counter. The thing is, there is a kind of human doctor who does just that. I speak, of course, of the optometrist: dispenser of contact lenses and crusher of dreams. [More]
Help! Neither Best Buy Nor Asus Will Give Me A Laptop That Works
By 8.16.12
For the month of August, consumer advocate Christopher Elliott will occasionally be sharing some of the questions and problems he receives from readers. In this week’s case, Giovanna bought an Asus laptop at Best Buy that startedly began shutting down at random times. Since then, she’s been caught in a cycle of unsuccessful warranty replacements — but now that warranty is about to end. Will either party step up to just provide her with a working computer? [More]
Would You Agree To Put Your Phone Away At A Restaurant For A Discount?
By 8.16.12
Yes, yes, we know: You just need to check the score of the game really quickly or maybe your sister-in-law finally put up some new pictures of the baby. And oh, let’s just take a second to Instagram this artfully designed plate! But come on, do you really need to have your phone out at the restaurant? Perhaps a little incentive would convince you to put it away, like the 5% discount an L.A. eatery is offering to diners for not using digital devices at the table. [More]
Best Buy Founder Writes Lovelorn Letter To Board In Buyout Quest: "I Am Not Going Away"
By 8.16.12
Remember how Best Buy’s founder Richard Schulze was all about buying the company back? Well, it kinda seems like Best Buy is playing a bit hard to get, as Schulze had to write a letter to the board basically begging it to accept his proposal or at least to hand over the financial info he needs to put together an offer. And he sort of ends up sounding like a stalker who won’t let you break up with him. [More]
Washington Costco Customers Want Canadians To Shop On Their Own Side Of The Border
By 8.15.12
We don’t like to be alarmist, but we sense the next huge international skirmish brewing on the border between Washington state and the Canadian province of British Columbia, where discount-hungry Canucks (is that an insult? We’ve heard it is, but then there’s the hockey team, so…) are apparently making the border crossing to shop at Costco — and where some locals are all “Hey, stop buying all the dang Huggies!” [More]
Chase CEO Wants You All To Know "We Live In A Free. Fucking. Country."
By 8.15.12
Jamie Dimon is many things. CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Crusader for the rights of banks. Self-proclaimed “defender of the truth.” A living, breathing, F-bomb-dropping reminder that we don’t live in the Soviet Union. [More]
Johnson & Johnson Promises To Kick All Harsh Chemicals To The Curb By End Of 2015
By 8.15.12
Johnson & Johnson is going forward with plans to take out any of the nasty chemicals consumers have taken issue with recently, by pledging not only to remove “chemicals of concern” from baby products by 2013, but also to reformulate adult products with safer ingredients by the end of 2015. [More]
Lawsuits Accuse Bank Of America Of Helping Developer Trick People Into Buying Worthless Land
By 8.15.12
Fifteen separate lawsuits recently filed in U.S. District Court accuse Bank of America of defrauding homebuyers by allowing an insolvent developer to take their money for properties in a subdivision that were not only never built, but also had no roads, sewers, or other utilities. [More]
Walmart, Target, 7-Eleven & Other Retailers Form New Mobile Payment System Alliance
By 8.15.12
These days, if you can’t use your phone to do something, it’s almost like, why do it at all? You should at least be able to buy a microwaveable burrito, if not a flat screen TV, with a magic wave of your smartphone. Big retailers like 7-Eleven, Walmart and Target are teaming up to create a new mobile payment network so you can buy almost anything your heart desires. [More]
Best Buy Accepts Pre-Orders For Jaws, Sells All Copies To Other People
By 8.15.12
The movie “Jaws” is out on Blu-Ray. Please try to contain your excitement. Reader Mark was pretty excited at the news, actually: he wanted Best Buy’s own exclusive version, and placed a pre-order for in-store pickup. He went to the store, waited around for an hour or so, and then finally learned: oh, yeah, all of the pre-ordered copies had been sold off the shelves accidentally. And an employee told Mark that this wasn’t the only store where that had happened. [More]
GameStop Goes Above And Beyond — Wait, What?
By 8.14.12
If you’ve ever wondered why we don’t post more pleasant stories about GameStop, it’s because we don’t get many positive stories about the video game retailer. So when one reader wrote in to share the tale of a GameStop that went the extra mile to solve a $500 issue, our ears perked up. [More]
Are Phone Companies Becoming The Dinosaurs Of The Broadband World?
By 8.14.12
Back in the dark days when we were all wandering lost and disconsolate on the the Earth, you know, right before the dawn of the Internet, it made perfect sense to link up computers through the phone lines, and hence, pay the phone companies for service (followed by what felt like hours listening to the phone dialing up a connection). But times have changed, as they always do, and it seems phone companies as high-speed Internet providers are on the way out. [More]
Handy Video Explains Exactly How To Opt Out Of Olive Garden's Invasive Unlimited Breadsticks Program
By 8.13.12
As consumers, we value our personal space and carefully guard the right to make our own choices. So perhaps Olive Garden’s tactic of offering unlimited breadsticks to whoever happens to walk through its doors could be seen as invasive to some diners. In a handy video from The Onion discussing exactly how to opt out of the breadsticks program, we learn how to say no to the Olive Garden and its blatantly pro-bread agenda. [More]
Sears Begins The Great Spin-Off Of Its Hometown & Outlet Stores Into Separate Company
By 8.13.12
Spin-offs can work out well in some cases (right, Frasier fans?) and not so well in others (yep, we mean you, Joey) and in dealing with its Hometown, Outlet and some hardware stores, Sears is hoping everything goes swimmingly with the formation of a completely separate and publicly traded company. [More]
What's To Come Of All The Space Left Over By Shrinking Big Box Stores?
By 8.10.12
In recent years, a number of big box retailers and department store chains have begun the process of closing stores and cutting the size of some existing outlets. But since there isn’t exactly a huge rush by other retailers to snap up those spaces, are we going to inundated with empty ghost stores that stand as a reminder of the big box boom? [More]
