Some children these days aren’t always peddling lemonade just to give their allowances a boost — in fact one Detroit kid sold his wares last week in order to give whatever boost he could to his entire city and pulled in quite a pretty penny for such a young entrepreneur. He managed to sell almost $3,400 from his stand as of last Friday to help Detroit through its financial struggles. [More]
Retail Services
9-Year-Old Boy Manages Makes $3,400 With Lemonade Stand To Help Out His Hometown Of Detroit
By 8.6.12
Sears Recalls Dehumidifiers Because Fire Is Not A Safe Dehumidification Method
By 8.6.12
Yes, it’s a story about a Sears appliance, but not about its misdelivery or problems with getting it repaired. Well, sort of. If you bought a Kenmore-branded dehumidifier from Sears or from Kmart between 2003 or 2009, unplug it right away and get in touch with the company. More than a hundred overheating units have been reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission, and some have caught fire or melted. [More]
How Can Amazon Not Understand The Actual Purpose Of A Gift Receipt?
By 8.6.12
Justin really likes Amazon. He does. He’s a big fan and frequent customer. When his employer gave out Kindle Fires (Kindles Fire?) as a gift to employees, though, his boss told Justin that it would be okay to return his for store credit, since he already owned one. Cool. Armed with a gift receipt, Justin set out to do that. He was met with impenetrable corporate logic: he couldn’t use the gift receipt to return just one kindle. Since his boss had bought them all in one purchase, he had to return all of them. [More]
Best Buy Founder Decides Heck, Maybe I'll Just Buy The Whole Company Back
By 8.6.12
When Best Buy founder Richard Schulze stepped down as chairman in June earlier than everyone had expected after allegations he’d handled CEO Brian Dunn’s alleged involvement with an employee poorly, he said he would consider options for his 20.1% stake in the company, including the logical step of selling it off. Which is why he’s causing yet another mini-stir by reportedly very seriously considering buying back the company and taking it private. [More]
Amazon's 1-Day Kindle Shipping Takes At Least A Week
By 8.3.12
Reese had this strange idea in her head. She thought that because she paid Amazon $20 for one-day shipping on her Kindle, it would take one day for the Kindle to be delivered to her. Maybe two, if she placed the order really late that day. Not so fast! Amazon’s site helpfully told her that it would take anywhere from six to eleven days for her order to show up, because the Kindle was evidently on backorder. Wait, that’s not what she paid extra for! [More]
Walmart And Monsanto Team Up To Sell Genetically Modified Sweet Corn
By 8.3.12
Retail behemoth Walmart says it will soon be selling a new variety of genetically modified sweet corn developed by seed megacorp/frequent litigator Monsanto. This is the same corn that other big names like Whole Foods and General Mills have already said thanks but no thanks to. [More]
Christmas Creep In July Emerges At Warehouse Clubs
By 8.3.12
Sure, it’s not glittery Christmas trees or holly-laden wreaths, but two readers shopping in warehouse clubs were still surprised to see the earliest signs of Christmas creep. At Sam’s Club and a Costco in greater Washington, D.C., the festive holiday ribbons have started to appear. [More]
Family Reunited With Muscle Car Stolen During Foreclosure Wants Bank Of America To Pay For Damages
By 8.2.12
Remember Aaron and his missing purple muscle car that disappeared after Bank of America sent in a winterizing crew? He’d been storing the car in his late mother’s garage when the crew contracted by BofA showed up to secure the foreclosed house against the elements, and poof — his car was gone. It’s been returned to him now due to the hard work of investigators, and two men have been arrested, but he says Bank of America still isn’t being very helpful. [More]
This Hot Topic Brain Necklace Looks Awfully Familiar
By 8.2.12
On her Etsy profile, Sarah writes that she makes sculpted jewelry in her Toronto apartment. Her pieces are cute, like cookie-shaped rings, and creepy-cute, like cufflinks shaped like anatomical hearts. But one of her signature pieces is a set of heart-shaped “best friends” necklaces with the texture of green brains. It’s creepily adorable, and a best-seller. Apparently national chain Hot Topic agrees, since they happen to be selling a very similar design. [More]
Help! My Target Gift Card Has Gone Missing
By 8.2.12
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 case, Robert is trying without much luck to track down the Target gift card he ordered for his grandson — and finding out that Target isn’t obligated to deliver that card in a timely fashion. Can anyone help him find it? [More]
Sears Delivers Damaged Fridge In Wrong Color, Won't Return Your Calls
By 8.2.12
J. found our tipline and wrote in, but clearly has not been a regular reader of Consumerist. We make this assumption because he bought a refrigerator from Sears, and assumed for some reason that things would go well. They did not. After the delivery team took off without calling because they were irrationally afraid of his driveway, they returned and dropped off the wrong color refrigerator with a massive crack in the door. Now they won’t answer his pleas for an exchange. [More]
Best Buy's System Insists I Don't Know My Own Address, Ships TV To Wrong House
By 8.1.12
As someone who has previously lived on a street with a name that looks like an error, I understand some of the pain felt by Consumerist reader Drew, who had to correct the address on his Best Buy delivery several times — and still ended up having his new TV shipped to the wrong address. [More]
Your Fellow Walmart Shoppers Would Appreciate It If You Took The Lube Home Before Using It
By 8.1.12
Most shoplifters we’ve read about just can’t wait to get away from the scene of the crime — often leaving valuables like children behind in their haste — but this couple accused of thieving from a Walmart were so excited about boosting some sexual lubricant, they decided to try it out right in the store. [More]
Amazon Launches Video Streaming App For iPad
By 8.1.12
While Amazon’s Kindle Fire was initially touted as a low-price iPad competitor for customers who primarily wanted a tablet for reading books and watching video. But today it became obvious that Amazon is not being selfish about its video content, releasing an app that allows iPad users to watch, purchase, stream and download titles from its Instant Video collection. [More]
Here's How To Get A Refund If You Don't Want A Book With Fake Bob Dylan Quotes
By 8.1.12
As we mentioned yesterday, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the publishers of Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine, have pulled the book from physical shelves as well as online retailers and in e-book form, after he admitted to making up Bob Dylan quotes. And in case you don’t want to hang on to your copy just for giggles, there’s good news — you’ll get your money back. [More]
Introducing The First Ever Warranty Shrink Ray
By 8.1.12 — Updated: 9.29.14
We’ve seen many different variations on the Grocery Shrink Ray over the years, but somehow never anticipated this: a Warranty Shrink Ray. A sneaky tipster who works at Best Buy noticed that the same product, a Seagate hard drive for notebook computers, had a lovely redesigned box. And a few years lopped off the warranty. Much like how other products change the size of an item just a tiny bit rather than raising the price, Seagate cut back on the warranty. [More]
Pianos Doomed To Junkyards As Cost To Repair Them Is Too High For Many Music Lovers
By 7.31.12
As lovely and elegant as pianos can be, and as many memories one might have of plunking away at “Heart and Soul,” if you’ve got one that doesn’t work and aren’t willing to spend the money to fix it, it just turns into a huge piece of furniture taking up room in your home. Since the value of used pianos, uprights in particular, has gone down in recent years, owners are starting to dump pianos instead of trying to fix them or giving them away. [More]
