Rick moved and changed his address with his credit card company, CItibank, but didn’t change it with the bank’s rewards program vendor. No problem: just put in a different shipping address when he placed the order, right? Not exactly. Now the company’s best option is for him to wait for the package to be sent to the address where he no longer lives, complain of non-delivery, and wait for a new package to come. This seems a bit inefficient. [More]
Retail Services
Beware After-Market Auto Warranties From Third Parties
By 1.26.11
The Better Business Bureau sent out an alert that it’s been bombarded with complaints about extended auto warranty companies. Gripes include deceptive sales practices — including high-pressure phone sales tactics to get customers to pay upfront for contracts they can’t see — as well as insurance fraud. [More]
Change Your Old Amazon Password Now To Avoid This Cracking Risk
By 1.26.11
Some old Amazon account appear to have a flaw in their password protection scheme that makes them more vulnerable to a brute force cracking attempt. For affected accounts, if you haven’t changed your password in several years, and it’s over 8 characters long, it looks like all people have to do is enter the first 8 characters correctly and they’re in. Even if after the 8 characters they just type gobbledygook. [More]
What Do You Think Of The Stores-Within-Stores Trend?
By 1.26.11
These days, more and more big box and department store chains are taking a cue from shopping malls by renting out floor space to retailers to create smaller stores within stores. It’s a model that has helped some businesses to stay afloat in these tough times, but does it benefit you? [More]
Stupid Shipping Gang Thinks Every Dog Treat Needs Separate Box
By 1.26.11
Dog treats shipped in separate boxes large enough to put a dog inside. A wallpaper border crammed on the edge of a box that could fit five more rolls. And a laundry rack shipped to a FedEx store in a box large enough for its purchaser to climb inside. These are the tales of the Stupid Shipping Gang. [More]
Your, Um, I Mean, You're Gonna Like This Shirt
By 1.25.11
There is a tiny chance that this “Your Single Tunic” from Wet Seal totally intends its misuse of the word “your” as some sort of ironic wink meant to mock the plight of dating in the grammar-destructive text message age. But yeah, odds are this shirt did not display the message it intended. [More]
Man Scores 100% Discount On Electronics By Making Fake Receipts At Home
By 1.25.11
Here’s a story that should let you check off both the “receipt-checking” and “I make my own at home” boxes on your Consumerist bingo card. A man in New Mexico was recently arrested for allegedly forging receipts to steal goods from Sam’s Club and other stores in his area. [More]
Do You Love Your Dog Enough To Buy It A $32 Aromatherapy Candle?
By 1.25.11
Feel like you didn’t do enough holiday shopping for the canine companion on your list? Here’s your chance to atone for your stinginess by pampering your pooch with pricey candles catering to the canine nose. [More]
Bank Of America Can't Help Me Because They Can't Get Through To Their Own Help Line
By 1.24.11
Here’s yet another example of just how confused things are at Bank of America these days. It’s not just customers who can’t get answers from the company’s help line. Heck, even the bank’s employees can’t get through. [More]
Man Pays For Escort, Sues For Subsequent Threat Of Arrest
By 1.24.11
Ugh it is like, sooo annoying when you pay a prostitute to have sex and then you get arrested and it’s very upsetting and so you have to sue! A tourist in Las Vegas claims he was traumatized after police threatened him with arrest post-prostitute coitus in his hotel room. [More]
Bra Sizes Bloom Bigger With Introduction Of New L Cup
By 1.24.11
Good news for ladies who can’t make do with anything less than a KK cup bra: Lingerie company Bravissimo has introduced a side L, saying women were asking for more cup room. [More]
Bad Mortgages Could Cost Bank Of America $10 Billion
By 1.21.11
Bank of America, which earlier this month agreed to pay over $2.8 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims about faulty mortgages, says it could spend another $10 billion to address outstanding claims. The company says the number is the “upper range” of its estimated housing bubble liabilities. [More]
Kmart Doesn't Remember That It Sold These Shirts Without Ironclad Receipt Evidence
By 1.21.11
Roger is stuck with some clothes that relatives bought him for Christmas that don’t fit. Did these relatives cut the tags off? Buy him shirts from an obscure store with only a few locations? No. The shirts come from Kmart, which has so much trouble remembering its own recent inventory that they’ve deleted all trace of this recent merchandise from their systems and can’t take the shirts back. [More]
Walmart To Cut Sodium And Reduce Produce Prices
By 1.20.11
Walmart has announced a massive plan to cut sodium and added sugar from thousands of products, add stores in poor areas that don’t currently have supermarkets, and slash prices on produce. The plans were announced in partnership with First Lady Michelle Obama, whose “Lets Move” campaign aims to cut childhood obesity rates. [More]
The Item You Ordered From Sears May Or May Not Have Ever Existed
By 1.20.11
Michael admits that he probably should have known better than to order something from Ssears.com and…well, to expect it to show up. What he didn’t expect was to spend two suspenseful weeks where the retailer apparently wasn’t sure whether the items had been shipped, would be shipped, were in stock, were ever in stock, or actually existed. At least that’s how it sounds to us. This is impressive even by typical Sears standards. [More]
Avoiding Student Loan Default At Citibank: A Cautionary Tale
By 1.20.11
It’s an enormous relief to find someone at a large, powerful company who is kind, helpful, and able to solve your problems. Unfortunately, reader Flora learned that just because a person is kind and helpful, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t document your conversations with them in case things go horribly wrong. [More]
The World's Smallest Walmart Opens On A College Campus
By 1.20.11
America, please welcome the world’s smallest Walmart. It opened last week on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. Of course, the concept of “small” is relative when it comes to Walmarts: the new store is about 3,500 square feet of retail space, and replaces the former campus health center pharmacy. [More]
My Rotisserie Chicken Has a Chemical Found In Brake Fluid
By 1.19.11
Daniel took a hard look at the label on a rotisserie chicken he picked up at the supermarket and was unnerved to find propylene glycol on the pictured label. [More]
