Walmart greeters are usually nice, elderly people just making some extra dough in their golden years. But even in such a pleasant group of folks, there is always going to be one rotten apple. [More]
Retail Services
I Took The Day Off, Sears Cancels Service Appointment Without Telling Me
By 3.5.11
Reader Anthony L. isn’t too happy with Sears, and has one less vacation day to boot. He wrote in with a story of woe, after Sears canceled their appointment to service his washing machine but failed to inform him they wouldn’t be showing up. [More]
Amazon Sued Over Alleged Privacy Policy Violations
By 3.4.11
Online shopping giant Amazon.com is the subject of a new class-action lawsuit alleging that the e-tailer uses an Internet Explorer work-around to trick the browser into thinking the site is “more privacy-protective than it actually is” and then collecting users’ personal info without permission. [More]
No One Has The Power To Refund My Barnes & Noble/GameStop Order
By 3.4.11
When you buy a video game from Barnes & Noble online, the order is actually fulfilled by GameStop. A nice little bit of corporate synergy and specialization, right? The problem is that when you make a mistake or something goes wrong with your order, you enter a strange state of e-commerce purgatory, with each retailer claiming that the other is the only one empowered to change or cancel your order. That’s what happened to Patrick, whose order has now lurked in corporate synergy purgatory for an entire month. [More]
Grow Your Own Everlasting Salad
By 3.3.11
It doesn’t take magical powers to make veggies sprout from your backyard – just some effort, knowledge and responsibility. Growing your own garden can save you money, ensure the food you eat is free of pesticides and harmful chemicals and provide a satisfying hobby. [More]
Best Buy Pulls Free Corset From 'Burlesque' Blu-Ray Deal
By 3.2.11
Best Buy had a neat package deal for customers who want a Blu-Ray copy of the movie “Burlesque.” For $20, shoppers would get both the movie and a free corset of questionable quality. The corset was exclusive to Best Buy: but not for very long, because stores were ordered to pull the corsets before the item went on sale. [More]
I Am Not Letting Go Of This Product Until Its Usefulness Is Completely Exhausted
By 3.2.11
It’s a good sign that consumer spending is up lately, but an even more telling trend shows that no one is forgetting how tough the times can get. In ongoing efforts to save money, it seems consumers are holding products close and never, ever letting go. Or at least waiting a long time to replace them. [More]
GameStop's New Preorder Bonus: Dead Roaches
By 3.1.11
Here’s a horrible Gamestop shopping experience that we never would have expected: a customer bought a few inexpensive used games, got them home, and discovered that they were terribly buggy. And by “buggy,” we mean “the cases were filled with dead roaches and roach eggs.” [More]
Are You Having Trouble With Bank Of America Today?
By 3.1.11
Have you been unable to log in to your Bank of America online account? You’re certainly not alone. The bank told Crain’s that “some customers may experience slowness” and many customers aren’t able to access the bank’s Web site at all. [More]
Bank CD Opened In 1974, Mysteriously Eaten By Bank Of America
By 3.1.11
Laura (no, not me) is trying to track down a 37-year-old certificate of deposit that belonged to her grandparents. This is more difficult than it sounds, since their original bank was gobbled up by progressively larger and larger banks until it became part of…Bank of America. Laura’s grandmother passed away recently, and it bothers her that this situation isn’t resolved. She’s determined to find this lost CD: even though Bank of America alternately claims that there are no records of it, or that her grandfather cashed it in after he died. [More]
Bank Of America Admits It Shouldn't Have Put Customer In Default After She Paid Mortgage Off
By 3.1.11
Here’s a happy update to the story of the Illinois woman who got trapped in the Bank of America labyrinth after deciding to pay off her mortgage more than two decades early. [More]
Rolls Royce Unveils $1.6 Million Electric Car
By 3.1.11
At the Geneva Auto Show in Switzerland, Rolls Royce unveiled its foray into the electric car market: The 102EX, which has zero emissions, go 0-60mph in under eight seconds and will get you 125 miles on a single charge… all for the projected price of around $1.6 million. [More]
HSBC Joins List Of Banks Warning It Will Probably Get Fined For Improper Foreclosure Practices
By 2.28.11 — Updated: 11.7.12
HSBC is the latest in a string of banks who warned investors via their SEC filing that they expect to get fined after getting a letter from regulators chastising their improper foreclosure practices. On Friday, Wells Fargo, Ally Financial (formerly GMAC) and SunTrust banks made similar announcements. [More]
Best Buy ID-Checking Policy Did Nothing To Stop Employee From Making Fraudulent Returns
By 2.28.11
You may remember how Best Buy recently went to great lengths to explain its new policy of requiring a photo ID for all in-store returns, claiming it helped to prevent fraudulent returns. Except it didn’t do a thing to stop a Best Buy staffer in New Jersey from making thousands of dollars off bogus returns. [More]
Walmart Bans Potentially Harmful Flame Retardant
By 2.28.11
Following the lead of a handful of states, Walmart has decided to ban the use of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a flame retardant found in hundreds of products ranging from furniture to textiles to electronics. [More]
Gas Prices Rose 17 Cents A Gallon Last Week
By 2.28.11
Tighten those purse strings and skip those drives to the country — gas prices rose 17 cents per gallon this week and are likely to keep going up. [More]
When Couponers Don't Know Math, Hilarity Ensues
By 2.25.11
You would think we might be enemies with a site called “The Customer Is Not Always Right” but we are not. Especially when we find among their collection of reader-submitted anecdotes from the frontlines of retail a little gem like the rude customer who insists on bad math and losing money. [More]
Brooklyn Smoker Grows Own Tobacco To Avoid Cigarette Taxes
By 2.25.11
Frustrated by the tax-fueled rising costs of cigarettes, a Brooklyn woman has developed a private tobacco garden to feed her addiction frugally. She buys her seeds for $2 online and plants her tobacco along with roses and geraniums in her back yard. She expects to yield a total of 45 cartons of cigarettes from crops planted in 2009 and last year, saving her $5,000 from what she’d pay at retail. [More]
