A number of readers have written to us expressing concern over Best Buy’s recently implemented policy to require a photo ID when returning all in-store purchases. The readers noted that the store wasn’t just glancing at their IDs to check against the receipt but that they were inputting data into their system. Curious what was going on, we decided to ask Best Buy about their new policy. [More]
Retail Services
I Don't Not Understand Sara Lee's Curiously Double Negative Slogan
By 2.24.11
The cameraphone of reader Thomas points us to a classic American slogan that has been bedeviling consumers for decades, “Everybody doesn’t like something, but nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” It is shortened on this truck to “Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee.” Huh? Isn’t that a double negative? Yes, and it was planned this way. [More]
Alleged Shoplifter Stabs Home Depot Employee With Scissors, Flees At 100 MPH
By 2.24.11
When an alleged shoplifter was caught at a New Hampshire Home Depot store, loss prevention staff brought him to the front office to speak with him, which is the normal procedure. As police put it, though, “the subject became agitated” and fled the store: stabbing an employee in the hand with a pair of scissors, and losing police in a high-speed chase that apparently reached 100 MPH. [More]
Will A Bank Employ Me If I Defaulted On My Mortgage?
By 2.23.11
S. finds himself in a situation that’s very common in this recession: he’s unemployed, and his house was foreclosed on. The twist to his story is that he’s considering applying for a job at the very bank that his mortgage was from. Does he have a chance? [More]
Incandescent Light Bulb Law Forces Change To Easy-Bake Oven
By 2.23.11
After nearly half a century of injuring children and occasionally baking things, things are about to change for the Easy-Bake Oven as its traditional heat source is set to go the way of the dodo. [More]
Bank Of America Puts Customer In Default After Paying Off Mortgage
By 2.23.11
Not being a Bank of America customer won’t protect you from the company’s formidable foreclosure machine, but if you are a customer, paying off your entire mortgage doesn’t help, either. After an Illinois woman sent a check for more than $60,000 to pay off her mortgage, she learned that the company hadn’t applied the money in her escrow account to the principal as they were supposed to, putting her in default. The company helpfully came after her to collect the money she supposedly owed and help her avoid foreclosure. [More]
Bank Of America Demands Mortgage Payments From Yet Another Non-BofA Customer
By 2.22.11
Bank Of America is really making a last-minute run to secure a high seed in the upcoming Worst Company In America tournament. As if there weren’t enough evidence in its favor, here’s the story of yet another customer who found herself trapped in the BofA maze, even though she has never had a mortgage — let alone a single account — with the bank. [More]
Home Depot Dispute Ends With Customer Being Punched In The Face
By 2.22.11
Police have arrested an employee at a Staten Island Home Depot after she allegedly popped a peeved customer in the face. [More]
Amazon To Battle Netflix, Offer Unlimited Streaming To Prime Members
By 2.22.11
Nearly six months after the initial reports that it was working on a subscription video streaming service, Amazon announced today that it was joining the group of companies trying to unseat Netflix as the king of video streaming services by offering a “new benefit” to Amazon Prime members — unlimited video streaming from a library of 5,000 titles. [More]
Sears Replaces Reader's Basement-Flooding Washer
By 2.22.11
Consumer victory! After being featured on this site last week, reader Sharon’s basement-flooding washing machine is going to be replaced. While the replacement itself is due to Sharon’s own diligent work trying to make Sears see logic, she’ll be getting more expensive replacement washer for her trouble after her Consumerist appearance. [More]
TechFoward Sues Best Buy Over Buy Back Program
By 2.22.11
Wow… that didn’t take long. Only a couple of weeks after announcing its Buy Back program, Best Buy is being sued over the plan — and not because it kinda stinks. [More]
Man Uses Minivan To Show How Much He Hates Bank Of America
By 2.18.11
While everyone else needs to e-mail us their nominations for this year’s Worst Company In America tournament, we’re pretty sure this California man’s minivan counts as one vote for Bank of America. [More]
Feds Find $9 Million In Opium Inside Adorable Acrylic Kitty Cats At JFK
By 2.18.11
Customs agents at JFK International Airport in New York City have seized $9 million of pure opium hidden inside a shipment of acrylic cats. [More]
Map Shows Which Areas Of The Country Have Broadband Access
By 2.18.11
The country’s access to broadband internet has inched its way above the two-thirds mark, according to a Commerce Department survey that found 68 percent of American households have high-speed internet access, compared to 63.5 percent last year. It also released a National Broadband Map that lets you search and analyze its data. [More]
BofA Slaps "Risky" Customers With $59 Annual Credit Card Fee
By 2.18.11
If Bank of America has decided that dealing with you is “risky business,” you’re gonna get smacked with a $59 annual credit card fee starting in May. What makes a customer a potential target for the new fee? [More]
Compared To The Rest Of The World, Americans Are Light Drinkers
By 2.18.11
Despite the best efforts of Tom Cruise to capture the booze-swilling hearts of a nation in Cocktail, Americans have one of the lowers per capita drinking rates in the world. [More]
Walmart Employee Claims Returning Books To Store Is Illegal
By 2.17.11
Have you ever purchased a book and then returned it, unread, to the store that it came from? If so, you’re a criminal. According to an employee at Myra’s local Walmart store, it’s illegal to return books to a store. It just can’t be done. Except that when the employee tried putting the return though, it worked just fine. [More]
Shopper Sues Department Store Over 80 Cents
By 2.17.11
A woman in New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against Century 21 (the department store; not the real estate agents) because she claims she was short-changed by 80 cents. [More]
