Want a house for free? Bank of America is giving away 150 of them in Chicago. It’s a great plan. The bank gets some worthless properties off its books without the cost of trying to hold on and sell them, the city gets some cheap affordable housing, and BofA gets a PR bump. It’s win-win-win, with two of those wins being Bank of America’s. That’s the Chicago way. [More]
Retail Services
Barnes & Noble Unveils Its New Nook Simple Touch Reader
By 5.25.11
Fans of the Nook e-reader who don’t want to shell out $250 for the color version will be happy to hear that Barnes & Nobles has finally introduced its newest, cheaper e-Reader today, turning up the heat for Amazon’s Kindle. [More]
Best Buy Employee: Pressure To Cram Credit Cards Down Customers’ Throats Now Intensifying
By 5.25.11 — Updated: 1.2.13
The next time you’re shopping at Best Buy, try not to get too angry when employees attempt to cram store credit cards down your throat. They’re not personally out to scam you, or hawking cards to line their pockets. They’re just trying not to get written up, reprimanded, or fired. A very insightful tipster who works at a Best Buy somewhere in the United States shared with us the impossible credit application quotas now in place. Update: The tipster reports that Best Buy management has backed down on this particular threat. Hurray! [More]
Tips On Haggling From The Particular People At The Brooklyn Flea Market
By 5.24.11
The Brooklyn Flea Market at Fort Greene is full of curios and hidden treasures curated by a heterogeneous band of impassioned vendors. You can, and should, get money off the asking price but you’ll have to muster up the courage and convince the person working the table you’re worthy of a bargain. Ying Ying Li made a beautiful video interviewing both the sellers and buyers in this bazaar to glean some tips: [More]
Target Redefines "Price Cut" To Mean "Add 37 Cents To That Price"
By 5.24.11
Math is hard, right? Plus, minus, add, subtract… argh! So maybe we’ll have to forgive Target for their confusing advertising when it comes to a “price cut” on deoderant. [More]
Analyst: Box Office Shows Customers Are Tired Of 3D, High Ticket Prices
By 5.24.11
An analyst says the lower-than-expected box office performance by Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is a sign that the 3D gimmick and its accompanying higher ticket prices may be coaxing customers to stay home rather than cough up more dough. [More]
Elderly Walmart Greeter Killed In Shoplifting Chase
By 5.23.11
A 71-year-old North Carolina Walmart greeter was killed when she found herself in the wrong place during a stampede involving the chase of an alleged shoplifter. [More]
Experts: Don't Buy A Car This Year
By 5.23.11
In recent years, auto manufacturers have stumbled over themselves attempting to give customers reasons not to wait to buy cars. But due to a seller-favoring market, low or zero-interest financing, rebates and discounts may be fading away in the short-term, making it wise to wait if you’re considering a car purchase. [More]
You Can Now Feel Classy When Hocking Valuables At New Pawnshops
By 5.23.11
Gone are the days of heading to that dingy pawnshop on the bad side of town to hock your grandmother’s china for a quick buck! These days you can sell your valuables online or in new, classier pawnshop digs. [More]
Are Publishers, Not Technology, To Blame For The Decline Of Books?
By 5.23.11
Ah, books, those paper-paged dinosaurs! Lovers of the non-electronic form of literature are already bemoaning the end of an era, as Kindles and other e-readers seem poised to replace physical books forever. But should we be blaming technology or publishers for the possibly imminent extinction of books? [More]
Zappos Saves Best Man From Going Barefoot At Wedding
By 5.19.11
Though he initially only chose them for being the cheapest, Zappos has won a customer for life out of reader Jay because they saved his butt, or rather, feet. He’s the best man in a wedding this Saturday and thanks to UPS routing his package to the wrong place, he wasn’t going to have the shoes he ordered in time for the big day. Then a call to Zappos got his problem solved in a way that far surpassed his expectations. [More]
Is That "Organic" Egg A Good Egg?
By 5.19.11
Not all organic eggs are created equal. While different cartons of eggs might all have the same “Organic! Yay!” label slapped on them, standards for what that means can vary from farm to farm. One might meet minimum USDA or Federal standards while another has no real outdoor access for the chickens to speak of. To help you navigate the bedeviling array of options, The Cornucopia Institute has created an Organic Egg Scorecard to rate farms on a 5-egg system. Small farms with lots of pasture for the chickens to frolic in rate highly, while eggs put out by Trader Joe’s, Kirkland, and Price Chopper only get a one egg rating. [More]
Amazon's 'Frustration-Free' Packaging Means Selling Item Without AC Adapter
By 5.19.11
From the Consumerist phone tipline: Reader Jonathan ordered a Jawbone headset from Amazon packaged in the company’s exciting “frustration-free” packaging. Unfortunately, in this case, “frustration-free” means “AC adapter-free,” and the best Amazon can do is to take the item back for a refund. [More]
High Gas Prices Aren't Giving The Blues To Motown Car Makers
By 5.18.11
When gas hit $4 a gallon in 2008, Detroit’s Big Three auto makers took it on the chin as American demand for big, fuel-thirsty SUVs and trucks suddenly disappeared. But even with gas prices again hovering north of $4, American car companies are whistling a much happier tune–all the way to the bank. [More]
Consumerist Exclusive Interview: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
By 5.17.11
Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos recently paid a visit to Consumerist headquarters, and in a freewheeling discussion with Executive Editor Meg Marco, he answered questions about everything from the benefits of being an Amazon Prime member to customer service. According to Bezos, Amazon’s new Prime Instant Video service is just the start of a series of enticements to keep Prime members happy — and not an effort to take on streaming giant Netflix. [More]
NY Attorney General Investigating Pre-Bust Hijinks At Bank Of America, Goldman Sachs & Morgan Stanley
By 5.17.11
Just when you think the beleaguered bankers of the world can finally stop dealing with pesky investigations into their roles in the recent financial ugliness (some would call it a global economic meltdown), some Columbo-like snoop has to say, “Just one more thing” and open up all new cans of worms. The latest can-opener is New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has reportedly begun a broad investigation of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley. [More]
Worst Company In America Trophies In The Mail To BP & Bank Of America!
By 5.13.11
It was our biggest — and closest — Worst Company In America final ever, but in the end it was BP edging out Bank of America by less than 1%. After waiting a couple weeks to see if either company would pick up their award at Consumerist HQ, we packed the poos up and shipped them out. [More]
Walmart Caught Shortchanging Customers With Gift Receipts
By 5.13.11
Next time you return an item to Walmart using a gift receipt, make sure to check your change. You could be getting less than you deserve and not even know it, reports CBS Sacramento. The problem is if the item goes on sale after it was bought. Poorly trained cashiers will refund the sale price instead of the original price. And because gift receipts are generally set up so that they don’t list the price the item was bought for, the person making the return isn’t even aware that they should be getting more back. [More]
