Warmer weather this winter across the country and the hope for an early spring is sending consumers out to buy clothing in anticipation of rising temperatures, something retailers are happy to see as their cash registers ring merrily. It might not last, but for now, stores are happy. [More]
Retail Services
Even Business People Don't Like Bank Of America, Comcast
By 3.1.12
Fortune magazine just released its annual list of “Most Admired” companies in the world, which isn’t a measure of public opinion on big businesses, but a survey of top executives’ feelings on other titans of industry. So it’s no surprise that perennial Worst Company In America contenders like eBay, Walmart, and Microsoft made the list’s Top 50, it is refreshing to see that some WCIA faves are not so beloved. [More]
Bank Of America Didn't Learn Its Lesson, Might Be Instituting Checking Fee
By 3.1.12
Oh, Bank of America, your memory must be shoddy, or perhaps you just didn’t realize that ginormous consumer backlash the last time you tried to institute a silly fee was something that could happen again. A new report says the bank is eyeing a new fee for checking account customers. [More]
Amazon: Your Order Hasn't Shipped Yet But Will Miraculously Arrive Today
By 2.29.12
Byron is an Amazon Prime member, so he knows he can get things shipped to him fast. How fast? Well, if Amazon is to be believed, it can get to him in less than a day, across multiple states, even if it hasn’t shipped yet. Magic! [More]
Got $29 Million To Spare? Then Michael Jordan Has The Mansion For You!
By 2.29.12
Apparently no one told basketball legend and ardent wearer of Hanes Michael Jordan that home prices have dropped to a level not seen since 2006, because he’s trying unload his super-fancy suburban Chicago living quarters for a hefty $29 million. Good luck with that one! [More]
Rumor: Best Buy Is Extending Return & Price Match Policies To 30 Days
By 2.29.12
When it comes to murmurs of Best Buy doing anything that could benefit its customers, we keep our skeptical hats firmly on until they actually prove they’re not totally terrible. In this case, there have been rumblings that they’ll extend their return policy to 30 days, from 14. [More]
Chase Plans On Caring Even Less About Customers With Less Than $100K In The Bank
By 2.28.12
Are you a JPMorgan Chase customer with less than $100,000 dollars deposited? Then you are not making the bank enough money and it probably wants nothing to do with you going forward. [More]
Annual Consumer Reports Auto Issue Top Picks: Toyota Cleans Up
By 2.28.12
Our brilliant benefactors at Consumer Reports have released their annual auto issue, and if Toyota was allowed to brag about it, they’d be tooting their horns over the fact that they took five of the top spots out of 10 categories. The April issue is jam-packed with car ratings for the discerning consumer, but companies aren’t allowed to use those scores for commercial use. Sorry! [More]
Kmart Manager Shot By Robber, Still Manages To Stop Robbery
By 2.28.12
If you’re shot while trying to prevent a robbery, not many people would hold it against you if you just let the bad guy finish up the heist and leave. But don’t tell that to the manager of the Seattle-area Kmart who not only survived his gunshot wound but also held the robber until police arrived. [More]
Waterproof Smartphones Make Accidental Toilet Dunkings A Lot Less Scary
By 2.28.12
For anyone who’s ever leaned over a toilet or a glass of water and heard the unmistakeable “kerplunk!” of your hard-earned money disappearing into a watery grave, you should be relieved to hear that new waterproof smartphones are on the way.
USA Today reports from the 2012 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, where the Panasonic Eluga and Eluga Power were on display. Running on Android, the Elugas look to be nice and thin, not some plunky piece of deep-diving plastic. [More]
Curb Your Shopping Impulse When You're On The Go
By 2.28.12
If you can’t restrain yourself from making unnecessary purchases, it doesn’t matter how much money you make because you’ll find a way to bury yourself in debt. By identifying your tendencies and curbing them before they victimize you, you can get your shopoholicism under control. [More]
HUD Accuses Bank Of America Of Discriminating Against Disabled Homebuyers
By 2.27.12
Just when you thought people had run out of reasons to hate Bank of America, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pops in to give you a new one. Earlier today, HUD charged BofA of discriminating against homebuyers with disabilities. [More]
Sunoco To Roll Out More Beer-Filling Stations
By 2.27.12
Drive-through liquor stores have been around in various parts of the country for some time, but it’s not every day that you pull into a gas station to actually fill up some empty bottles with beer. But that may change as Sunoco looks to roll out its Craft Beer Exchange stations. [More]
Best Buy, Where "In Stock" Means "We Will Have It In Stock Eventually"
By 2.27.12
One would think that Best Buy might have learned from the public relations disaster of this past holiday season, when a number of BestBuy.com customers didn’t get their orders in time for Christmas because the company didn’t want to tell them the items were back-ordered. But this is Best Buy, where learning from mistakes is apparently against company policy. [More]
3 Things Not To Buy Online
By 2.27.12
In many cases it’s prudent not to buy things at retail, because you can usually find them cheaper online. But due to quirks inherent with online shopping, there are some things you’re still better off heading out to a physical store to buy yourself. [More]
Survey Says: Customers Dumping Big Banks Was All The Rage Last Year
By 2.27.12
Did you dump your big bank last year? You weren’t alone — a new survey says plenty of your fellow consumers were unhappy with new fees and shoddy customer service, leading them to break up with large financial institutions in favor of smaller banks and credit unions. [More]
Gas Prices Have Gone Up 18 Cents In The Past 2 Weeks
By 2.27.12
If you’re running a little low on gas but don’t need to fill up until a few days from now, you might consider gassing up anyway. The way things are going, pump prices will be much higher by the time your tank is almost empty. Prices have shot up 18 cents in the past two weeks. [More]
Peapod Offer Spirals Through Three Levels Of Asterisked Deal Explanations
By 2.24.12
The phrase, “But wait, there’s more!” is never good when it’s regarding another level of explanations that takes a deal down from something seemingly awesome, to something that is fine, but not as awesome as what you initially thought you were getting. Confused? So was Jed when he read a recent Peapod.com email. [More]
