Three years ago this week, the acquisition-hungry CEO of Bank Of America looked at the menu of failing financial institutions and came upon a bargain bit of junk food called Countrywide that he could gobble up for only a couple billion dollars in BofA stock. Surely this little trifle couldn’t do any damage to his bank’s ironclad insides, right? But since that first bite of Countrywide, the nation’s largest bank has been praying at the porcelain god, barfing up billions in losses. [More]
Retail Services
Geek Squad Thinks Self-Immolating Laptop Just Needs New Parts
By 6.30.11
Daniel has a Black Tie service plan for his laptop, so he dropped it off at Best Buy for what he thought was a simple camera repair. Back at home, he realized something must be wrong when smoke billowed out of the computer. This seems unsafe to Daniel, and he thinks that Geek Squad needs to replace the entire computer instead of just swapping out some parts. Geek Squad disagrees. [More]
Walmart To Offer Lower Gas Prices In 18 States For Next Three Months (There's A Catch)
By 6.29.11
Gas ain’t cheap these days, and it probably isn’t going to be cheap again until someone invents the Mr. Fusion machine. But for the next three months, if you have a Walmart credit card, the nation’s largest retailer is offering discounted fuel at stores in 18 states. [More]
If You Don't Want An 'Optimized' Laptop, Best Buy Won't Sell You Any Laptops
By 6.29.11
Was it really almost a year and a half ago that The Consumerist published our investigation of Best Buy’s sneaky pre-optimization of all computers in stock? It seems like it was only last week. Mainly because that’s when reader D. visited a Best Buy store in New England and failed to purchase a Toshiba laptop for the sticker price. The store sales staff would rather lose a sale than let a computer go at the actual sticker price to a customer who didn’t want the optimization. Forcing customers to pay for services that they might not even need must be a lucrative business. [More]
Ensenda Not Entirely Sure Where The Mailroom Might Be
By 6.29.11
Rob is an Amazon Prime customer who lives near Chicago. He likes Prime, but isn’t thrilled with his last three shipments that came through a lesser-known delivery company, Ensenda. The comments on a previous post about Ensenda’s inability to actually deliver things indicate that he’s not alone. But his packages are: abandoned and alone, lost somewhere in the system. Or dumped on the first flat service the delivery person could find. This is not the quality of service that anyone should expect from a company paid to provide overnight shipping. [More]
Are Batteries Going The Way Of The VHS Tape?
By 6.28.11
When portable radios, cassette and CD players exploded onto the market, users began chewing through batteries like they were going out of style. But now, even though the use of personal electronic devices is at an all-time high, fewer devices use traditional batteries and companies like Duracell and Energizer are feeling the pinch. [More]
Retiree Loses Everything After Bank Mistakes His House For Foreclosure
By 6.27.11
An eighty-two year old Tampa Bay man has lost everything he owns, including pictures of his dead wife, after a clean-out crew hired by Bank of America mistook his house for the foreclosure next door. [More]
Gas Prices Have Tumbled Nearly A Penny A Day The Past 2 Weeks
By 6.27.11
Welcome to the era in which $3.63 gas is welcomed as a relief. After a rapid, budget-breaking price surge at the pumps, drivers have finally caught a break with the average gallon of gas Friday dropping 11 cents over the previous two weeks. The price is still nearly a dollar more than gas cost a year ago. [More]
Around $2.7 Million Stolen From Citi Accounts After Hack
By 6.27.11
The fallout continues from the May 10 breach of Citi’s credit card account files by hackers. The bank now says that a total of around $2.7 million was stolen from a relatively small percentage of the 360,000 breached accounts. [More]
Target Customer Uses Baseball Bat To Demonstrate Her Displeasure With Store's Return Policy
By 6.24.11
There are so many ways to express one’s outrage with a retail store’s policies. You can complain to the company, start a grassroots campaign, write to Consumerist, or just take your business elsewhere. But for one displeased Target shopper in Pennsylvania, the answer was clear: baseball bat. [More]
Judge: Apple's "App Store" Suit Against Amazon Will Probably Fail
By 6.24.11
It looks like Steve Jobs may have found his Waterloo in his war to defend Apple’s application to trademark the phrase “App Store.” A federal judge has advised the company that it will likely lose its lawsuit against Amazon.com over the e-tailer’s Appstore. [More]
Predatory Car Sales Tricks To Watch Out For
By 6.24.11
Effective car salesmen have a sizable bag of tricks from which to draw when moving in for the kill. To avoid falling prey to the ruses, you need to know how to spot them. [More]
Why I Won't Ever Go Back To Kmart
By 6.24.11
Everyone has those moments as a consumer where we say, “Screw you guys, I’m not coming back.” For M., that moment came for her at Kmart when she came back to pick up a refill and learned that in order to take part in Kmart’s $10 for a 90-day supply generic drug program, she would need to enroll in the discounter’s new Kmart Pharmacy Prescription Savings Club for only $10 per household per year. M. chose instead to transfer her prescriptions to one of the many pharmacies offering the same price for her generic drugs, without having to sign up for any memberships. [More]
Walmart Releases Video Of Vigilante Jumping On Robbers' Hood
By 6.23.11
Walmart has released CCTV footage of the shopper who jumped onto the hood of a car full of would-be beer shoplifters in an attempt to kick in their windshield and stop them from speeding away with their pilfered lager. [More]
Best Buy Looking To Sublease Space In Retail Stores
By 6.23.11
Here’s good news for those of us that use Best Buy primarily as a place to do research for stuff we eventually buy online. The electronics retailer is looking to sublease a good chunk of its floor space to outside vendors, which means you’ll have an even wider variety of items to peruse before you end up purchasing somewhere else. [More]
Couponer Banned From Walmart Following Argument
By 6.23.11
A self-proclaimed extreme couponer says Walmart banned her from all stores for life following a heated argument with a manager over coupon policy. [More]
I Signed On To Sell Clothes, Not Force Magazine Subscriptions On People
By 6.23.11
L. works at a popular retailer of plus-sized women’s clothing, Avenue. Selling clothes is the job that she signed on for, and she doesn’t have a problem with that. It’s the credit cards and magazine add-ons her company wants employees to push on customers that make her uncomfortable. She vented in an e-mail to Consumerist about why this bothers her so much. [More]
Indie Bookstores Starting To Charge Admission To Author Events
By 6.23.11
Literature lovers who are used to hitting up book readings and signings as free entertainment may be in for a wallet shock. Some independent bookstores, which are trying to scrounge up revenue in the tough economy, have taken to charging for the events. [More]
