Vinny went to a Walmart somewhere in New England to pick up some baby formula. After the purchase, he noticed that the cans he had were expired. No big deal: he brought them back to the store for the easiest exchange he’s ever experienced at a Walmart. Not an exchange, though. That’s what he would have preferred, but he tells Consumerist that every container of formula on the shelf was expired. [More]
Retail Services
Print & E-Book Copies Of Bestseller Pulled After Author Admits To Making Up Bob Dylan Quotes
By 7.31.12
Making up quotes from say, one of the most admired, researched and beloved American music icons might’ve seemed like a good idea to New Yorker magazine staff writer Jonah Lehrer when he was writing his book Imagine: How Creativity Works, but those fabricated words are going to cost his publishers a pretty penny. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt said it’ll pull the book entirely from the market after Lehrer admitted to putting words in Bob Dylan’s mouth that he never said. [More]
Annual Consumer Complaints Survey Says Car Problems Really Grind Our Gears
By 7.31.12
There are plenty of things out there to complain about — after all, fighting back against the companies and industries that let down consumers is why we’re here in the first place. And according to a new survey from the Consumer Federation of America, the area we’re most cranky about is (drumroll, please)… car shopping! Of course, there are plenty of other consumer woes as well. [More]
No, Sears, That’s Okay, We Didn’t Really Need A Working Refrigerator
By 7.31.12
Kristina’s Sears misadventure began with an icemaker. She lives with her aunt, and the icemaker/water spout on the refrigerator started leaking. The aunt decided to replace the appliance, so they headed to Sears. There they found a lovely Samsung fridge marked down on clearance. Why was it on clearance? Oh, you see, another customer had ordered it, then changed their mind. But it was still a new appliance purchase from Sears’ point of view, and would be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. It was when the fridge was DOA that everything began to go horribly wrong. [More]
Some Companies Apparently Pay Attention To Your Online Complaints
By 7.30.12
When you go to Twitter, Facebook, an online forum or any other form of social media to voice a complaint about a product or service you’ve purchased, one can understandably be left with the feeling that no matter how loud they shout, no one is listening. However, some businesses say they are monitoring all those negative posts and reviews and a few claim to be making systemic changes in response. [More]
Citibank Doesn’t Understand The Word ‘Minimum,’ Cancels Deployed Soldier’s Student Loan Forbearance
By 7.30.12
Benjamin is in the military, and currently serving in Afghanistan. We’d thank him for his service, but Citibank says not to. They think that he’s not there anymore, and have ended the active-duty forbearance on his student loans. Calling up Citi and sending them documentation is tricky when you’re you know, in Afghanistan, but he’s doing his best. Nothing he sends is good enough for Citibank to actually believe him. [More]
Report: Sears Is Failing Because It Spends Next-To-Nothing To Maintain Stores
By 7.30.12
There is a common trap that big businesses — especially retailers — fall into when it comes time to cut costs. Sales decline and fewer people come into the store, so the company starts chipping away at expenses that were high when the store was in favor. In the case of once-great retailer Sears, its decision to neglect the upkeep of its retail locations may be what’s keeping it from catching up to the younger big box stores. [More]
Consumer Reports Pits Pretty Food Packaging Picture Against Paltry Reality
By 7.30.12
We’ve all fallen for it before: Cruising down the grocery aisle, deciding what to pick when suddenly, there it is — a box bearing a beautifully shot photo of a tantalizing snack, delicious gourmet dish or some other form of tempting cuisine. That fantasy can come crashing down, as plenty of customers have complained to our hardworking siblings at Consumer Reports that the packaging on many products just doesn’t live up to the reality. [More]
This Walmart Offers Really, Really Fresh Meat
By 7.30.12
When a Florida woman shopping at her local Super Walmart saw a large rat in the meat case, stampering across the shrink-wrapped packages, she knew that no one was going to believe her. She insisted on snapping a photo with her mobile phone. “[I] told my mom I wasn’t leaving without one,” she told a local news station. [More]
Waffle Joint Blame Blamed Groupon For Closing But Didn’t Have Permits To Sell Food Anyway
By 7.27.12
Last week we heard about a waffle joint in D.C. that blamed its closure on a Groupon deal and the company’s “shocking business practices.” But a new report checked in on the restaurant and found that while that definitely could’ve been the case, the waffle spot never had the permits allowing to legally sell food in the first place. [More]
ACLU To Chicago: Just Because You Don’t Agree With Chick Fil-A Doesn’t Mean You Can Discriminate Against It
By 7.26.12
Emotions are running high in the ongoing story of Chick fil-A vs. the world, but just because say, Boston or Chicago don’t agree with the company CEO Dan Cathy’s anti-gay marriage stance doesn’t mean those cities can actively bar the chain from opening stores there. That would be discrimination, says the American Civil Liberties Union, in response to the recent comments of a Chicago alderman who vowed to block a second location, as well as Mayor Rahm Emanuel decrying Cathy’s statements. [More]
A Mobile Phone Warranty Isn’t The Same Thing As Insurance
By 7.26.12
S. went to buy an iPhone from Best Buy, and let the salesperson talk her into Best Buy’s warranty rather than AppleCare. That more expensive warranty covers accidental damage, but it’s not an insurance plan, which would cover lost or stolen phones. The salesman didn’t make this clear to S. And that’s really too bad, because as she left the store with her new phone, she was robbed. The warranty, of course, didn’t cover the theft. [More]
At This Walmart, Three And A Half Pretty Much Equals Five
By 7.26.12
I thought the idea behind having all of these computers around was that they were supposed to do the math for us. Correctly. A Reddit user snapped this picture of some fuzzy math at the self-checkout. Either the computer thinks that someone buying a pile of Lunchables and gum isn’t very quick on the uptake, or something is very wrong here. [More]
Amazon Marketplace Dispute Leaves Me With No Money, No Navigation System
By 7.26.12
The Amazon Marketplace is a really useful consumer-to-consumer selling arena. Unfortunately, when there’s a dispute, the site tends to side with the customer. Even, as reader and first-time Amazon seller Jeff learned, when the dispute has already been decided in the seller’s favor. Worse: the buyer, or the shipping service the buyer used to send the item back, destroyed the item enough that it can’t be resold. [More]
Walmart Sued Over Some Payment Machines Being Too High For Disabled Customers
By 7.26.12
Walmart is being sued by disability rights advocates who say the mega-chain has placed its payment machines too high in some stores, making them inaccessible to customers using wheelchairs and scooters. Some customers say they then have to tell cashiers their PINs to complete transactions. [More]
This HDMI Cable Represents The Edge Of Human Stupidity
By 7.26.12
We’d like to believe that the packaging for this HDMI cable is the victim of poor translation or some kind of misunderstanding. We sincerely hope that no one working in the consumer electronics industry believes that digital video is susceptible to viruses, those viruses cause noises, and that you can fend them off with a nice coating of Mylar. But we’ve had to deal with the public, and know better. [More]
Man Who Helped Citigroup Become A Megabank Says Megabanks Should Be Broken Up
By 7.25.12
Call it an about-face, a switcheroo or an epiphany, but whatever you call it, ex Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill is surprising plenty of people in the industry by saying megabanks should be broken up. This, from the man who helped steer Citigroup to its current ginormous conglomerate status. [More]
This Is Why Graphic Designers Should Pay More Attention To Kerning
By 7.25.12
When a packaging designer is putting together a layout on their computer screen, one important thing they need to keep in mind is kerning, the space between individual characters in a word. They should also be thinking about how the printing process is imperfect. If not, they can end up with some very confusing, potentially rude results. [More]
