If you think you have to be driving a car, truck, SUV, motorcycle or even a Vespa to qualify for a DWI, the police in Houma, Louisiana, would disagree. On Sunday night, they arrested a man for operating a Walmart motorized scooter while having a blood alcohol content of .179. [More]
Retail Services
Online Sales Tax For (Almost) All Inches Closer To Reality
By 7.18.12
The halcyon days of not paying sales tax (even though you’re obliged to) on your Amazon purchases may be coming to an end once and for all, as members of Congress are doing more than just talking about the issue. Next Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the merits of creating a law allowing states to compel online retailers to collect sales taxes. [More]
The Corn Belt’s Sweeping Drought Could Result In Steeper Grocery Store Prices
By 7.18.12
Due to what many experts are calling one of the worst droughts this country has seen in decades, consumers could start seeing the effects of the Midwest’s damaged grain crops reflected in their grocery store receipts. But don’t stockpile corn flakes — it’s more likely prices will go up for meat and dairy products. [More]
Target Thinks You Want To Be Hassled By A “Beauty Concierge” While You Shop
By 7.18.12
Taking a cue from department store beauty counters, where employees ply customers with samples and tell them they look fabulous, Target has begun testing the deployment of so-called “beauty concierges” at its stores in the Chicago area. [More]
Would You Pass Up A Discount On An Item Just To Pay With A Credit Card?
By 7.18.12
Now that Visa and MasterCard have settled a major lawsuit with retailers, opening the door to let stores tack on surcharges for customers using credit cards, some big businesses are considering offering a discount to those paying with cash. [More]
The Opposite Of Saving Money: More Fuzzy Math At Target
By 7.18.12
I really enjoy shopping at Target. I like its low prices, its quality store-brand items, its red prescription bottles with the drug name on the top, and the fact that you can buy bananas priced individually instead of by the pound. But above all, I love their absurdist pricing schemes that demonstrate a lack of math skills on the part of Target employees, Target customers, or both. [More]
Hundreds Of Teenagers Crash Walmart For Late-Night Food Fight
By 7.17.12
Imagine you’re browsing the aisles at your local Walmart on a quiet Saturday night, when suddenly the store is overrun by about 300 teenagers who decide it’s time to stage an impromptu food fight in the produce section. Luckily, you don’t have to imagine it because it’s all been caught on camera. [More]
Upselling, Overcharging & Unwanted Warranties Remind Customer Why He’d Stopped Shopping At Best Buy
By 7.17.12
We’ve talked before about those “never again” moments, when a retailer treats you so badly — or when years of minor mistreatment finally tips the scales — that you walk out of the store with the intention of never coming back. But every once in a while, people give stores a second — or third, fourth… five-hundredth — chance. Sometimes they learn that things have changed for the better and the healing can begin. Then there are the times when that visit just confirms all the reasons you had for splitting up in the first place. [More]
Masco Cabinetry Takes Over Support For Closed Company, Replaces Their Crappy Cabinet Doors For Free
By 7.17.12
The cabinets that Debbie bought from Home Depot a decade ago haven’t aged very well. She saw on the original paperwork that the ones she has came with a “lifetime guarantee”…. but that’s nonsense, right? She looked them up anyway, just in case. It turned out that the company that made her cabinets, Mills Pride, closed a few years ago. That’s too bad. But a different company starting with M, Masco Cabinetry, took over customer support for Mills Pride’s old customers. Debbie called them up and, to her astonishment, learned that Masco would replace the worn-out doors that they didn’t even manufacture in the first place. [More]
Couple Sues JPMorgan Chase For Ignoring Instructions, Enriching Itself On Fees
By 7.16.12
In 2005, an Indiana couple sold their baking business for a nice sum of $6.5 million and turned to JPMorgan Chase to place that money in “safe and liquid investments.” But the investors say Chase deliberately ignored their wishes and put the millions into high-risk investments that also padded the bank’s coffers with “fees upon top of fees upon top of fees.” [More]
While Mom & Dad Still Help, Students Are Taking On More Of The Costs Of A College Education
By 7.16.12
The image of students riding high on the hog, flush with cash from mom and dad while partying through college might not be so true to life these days, as a new study shows that students are taking more financial responsibility for paying college costs, whether from their own pockets or through borrowing. [More]
Whistleblower Involved In Outing Big Banks Says Keeping It Secret For 3 Years Wasn’t Easy
By 7.16.12
Not being able to tell your family why you were out of work and broke for three years would be something most of us couldn’t even imagine. One of the whistleblowers involved in the investigation that led to this year’s $25 billion mortgage settlement with some of the nation’s biggest banks says he had a pretty rough time waiting things out, while not being able to utter a word to his loved ones. [More]
Sears Wants Me To Pay For Non-Installation Of Non-Working Dishwasher
By 7.16.12
Like many Americans, William thought that Sears was a solid, reputable retailer. After all, they’ve been in business for a century and it seems like everyone had Kenmore appliances in the vaguely defined past. Then a customer like William, who has vaguely positive feelings toward the brand, goes and actually makes a purchase from Sears. That’s when everything all goes to hell. In William’s case, Sears wants him to eat the installation fee on a dishwasher they delivered to him that never worked. [More]
Amazon’s Same-Day Delivery Could Make Bricks-And-Mortar Retailers Even More Irrelevant
By 7.13.12
One of the few knocks against online retailers is the difficulty in getting your purchase immediately, meaning people continue to go to bricks-and-mortar stores when they need to get their hands on an item right away. But it looks like Amazon could take away that advantage from its competitors by expanding the number of warehouses it has around the country. [More]
If A Stranger Wants To Suck Your Toe At Walmart, He Probably Isn’t Really A TV Producer
By 7.13.12
Just a bit of advice to the shoppers of the world: If a man approaches you at Walmart — or really any retailer — and says he works for America’s Funniest Home Videos and that the show will pay for your stuff if you let him kiss your foot, he’s almost certainly lying. And yet, a teenager in Georgia says she was a sucker for a toe-sucker in disguise. [More]
Man’s Family Determined To Carry Out A Last Request: Order A Pizza & Tip The Server $500
By 7.13.12 — Updated: 7.8.13
When Aaron passed away at the age of 30, he left his family with a will with all the usual instructions, including that any debt he owed his parents be repaid if he had money in the bank when he died. But he also had another request, one that his family has succeeded in thanks to the generosity of strangers: Order a meal and leave the server a really awesome tip. [More]
Topshop Hops In Bed With Nordstrom To Bring Its Fashions To The Masses
By 7.12.12
Over in ye olde Europe, shoppers with an eye for trendy clothing are very familiar with Topshop, which is one step up from say, H&M, but not as expensive as a traditional luxury department store. But Americans have been going without the popular chain in most parts of the country, which is why it’s teaming up with Nordstrom to bring its fashion offerings to the masses. [More]
Citibank Locks Man Out Of Bank Account Until He Repays The $84K Worth Of Gas He Didn’t Buy
By 7.12.12
There is no car gas tank that would fit $84,522.54 worth of gas. But who cares about simple physical limitations when it comes to charging such a large purchase to someone’s bank account? Citibank somehow took a man’s $30 fill-up and multiplied it by about 2,800 his statement, and now won’t let him back into his bank account until it gets that money back. [More]
