Any number of stores have policies against accepting cash in denominations higher than $20 or $50 bills, but what about loose change? A woman in Portland (the one on the left side of the country) says her local grocery stores refused to let her use quarters to pay for $32 in groceries. [More]
Retail Services
Customer Finds Live Tree Frog In Salad Bought At Costco
By 11.2.11 — Updated: 4.29.13
Everyone knows you’re supposed to rinse out your salad to get rid of any dirt before you chow down, but the food safety folks rarely mention the presence of frogs. So you can imagine the surprise that one California woman had on Monday when she spotted a living croaker in the salad she’d just bought from Costco. [More]
Activists Say Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo Is Dangerous
By 11.2.11
Concerned about chemicals in Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, consumer activists are calling for a boycott of the product. The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, which claims to encompass 3.5 million people in 25 groups around the world, says the formaldehyde-releasing preservative quaternium and suspected carcinogen dioxane, which are found in the shampoo, could pose a danger to children. The group says some versions of the product in other countries don’t contain quaternium, and that there’s no reason those in the United States need to have the chemical. [More]
Best Buy Sells You Appliances, Then Sells Them To Someone Else
By 11.2.11
John got a great deal on a floor-model washer and dryer unit at Best Buy. But he wasn’t the only one. After he completed the purchase, Best Buy sold the units out to another customer, delivering them to the other purchaser before reaching John. That’s a simple enough error that could have been easily fixed by, say, offering a significant discount on another set of the same model. But that’s not possible at this Best Buy. [More]
Who's More To Blame For My Horrible Walmart Experience: Store Staff Or The Extreme Couponer?
By 11.1.11
Consumerist reader Lucinda recently went to her local Walmart in Texas, where in addition to dealing with almost no open checkout lines and poor service from the cashiers, she also got stuck behind an extreme couponer who spoiled everyone’s day. [More]
With Debit Card Fees Disappearing, What Will Banks Try Next?
By 11.1.11
While today’s announcement that Bank of America is dropping its plan charge a monthly debit card fee, and that other big banks have similarly scrapped their fees, could be dubbed a victory for consumers, it’s only a small triumph, and one that has people wondering what the banks will do next. [More]
Bank Of America Tries To Foreclose On Home Destroyed By 2008 Hurricane
By 11.1.11
Imagine that you’re working overseas when your home is destroyed by a hurricane. Sucks, right? But you keep paying the mortgage on the property because you hope to eventually rebuild. So why is Bank of America foreclosing? [More]
Chase Sends Letter To Non-Customers To Tell Them They Have To Opt Out Of Receiving More Unwanted Mail
By 11.1.11
It’s one thing to receive unwanted mail from a bank you don’t patronize. It’s another to receive a letter from that bank telling you that if you don’t reply to the letter, you’re opening the floodgates to even more unsolicited shredder-fodder. [More]
5 Bad Deals In Extended Warranties For Holiday Shoppers
By 11.1.11
Extended warranty plans are generally known as being bad deals for consumers. But how specifically are they bad? An insider who works, begrudgingly, for an extended service plan company lays out some of the worst extended warranty deals to watch out for when shopping this holiday season. [More]
BofA Ending $5 Debit Card Fee
By 11.1.11
Bank of America is calling off its plan to charge debit-card users $5 a month, the WSJ reports. [More]
Banks To Offer Foreclosure Reviews To More Than 4 Million People
By 11.1.11
Millions of Americans have lost their homes in the last few years and — as any reader of Consumerist knows — the banks who foreclosed on those properties have also made more than their fair share of errors. Thus, starting today, 14 of the country’s largest mortgage servicers are contacting millions of foreclosed-upon former homeowners to offer them the opportunity to have their cases independently reviewed. [More]
Peanut Butter Turns Into Budget Buster
By 11.1.11
If you’re about to run out of peanut butter, be prepared for some sticker shock next time you go grocery shopping. Due to the rising cost of peanuts, caused by one of the lowest harvests in decades, peanut butter manufacturers across the board are raising prices of jelly’s best friend. [More]
SunTrust Drops Monthly Debit Card Fee
By 10.31.11
With banks taking more and more heat from the banking public — and oodles of people reportedly switching accounts to more consumer-friendly credit unions — SunTrust announced today that it is eliminating the monthly debit card fee for Everyday Checking and will be refunding that fee to customers who have already paid. [More]
Americans Spend About $6.8 Billion Total On Halloween
By 10.31.11
Even when the economy is shuffling along like a zombie, American aren’t scared to spend big bucks on Halloween. A recent survey says the average person will spend $72.32 on Halloween — or about $6.8 billion nationwide. [More]
Fish Fraud: 10 Of 10 Samples Of "Lemon Sole" Were Actually Something Else
By 10.28.11
Consumer Reports investigators bought 190 pieces of seafood from retailers and restaurants in the tri-state New York area and sent them out for DNA analysis. The results confirmed what other recent studies have shown: More than 20 percent of the fish bought were different species, incompletely labeled or mislabeled. For example: [More]
Senator Is Victim Of Credit Card Fraud, Thieves Rack Up $12,000 At Walmart
By 10.28.11
It’s a measure of the brazenness and ubiquity of identity theft that a U.S. Senator has become the latest victim of credit card fraud. Thieves stole the credit card numbers belonging to Senator Daniel Inouye (D) of Hawaii, embedded them on the magnetic strip of a fake credit card, and went on a $12,000 Walmart shopping spree. [More]
How To Decide Whether Or Not To Pay Someone To Do Your Taxes
By 10.28.11
Tax accountants strive to prove their worth in this age of tax software by claiming that their personal touch and intimate knowledge of the tax code can get you better returns. While some people can benefit from professional help, others can easily do their taxes on their own. [More]
Chase Drops Plan For $3 Debit Card Fee
By 10.28.11
Chase joins U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup, PNC, KeyCorp and other large banks that have recently moved away from the plan to charge consumers a monthly fee when they use their debit cards to make purchases, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank recently tested the fee in both Washington and Georgia. [More]
