Brett tried on a pair of “Made in Italy” Ray-Bans at a Sunglass Hut and liked them, but they were the display model so he had to come back to pick up his own a few days later. When he did, he discovered that the real pair he bought said “Made in China,” and in his opinion they felt lower quality. [More]
Retail Services
Converse Outlet Slashes Shoes Cost By Whole Penny After Raising MSRP By $5
By 8.27.10
New York lawyer Eric spotted a pathetic attempt by a Maryland Converse outlet store to pretend that it was offering a discount on this pair of shoes. One sticker slashes the dubious MSRP by a penny, from $30 to $29.99, but another sticker reveals that the original price was $25. [More]
Fed Up With Being Held Up, Store Owner Adopts No-Cash Policy
By 8.27.10
After being robbed at gunpoint for the second time in two years, the owner of a novelty shop in Fort Wayne, IN, has decided to no longer accept cash payments. [More]
How To Avoid The Nefarious Tricks Of Outlet Malls
By 8.26.10
What is an outlet store? Long ago, factories where consumer goods were made were actually situated in the United States, and shoppers could visit factory stores to find overruns, merchandise with tiny errors, and other wonderful cut-rate goodness. (As an exciting bonus, if you took a wrong turn, you could end up on the factory floor.) Outlet malls have proliferated, but there are few factories left in America. Today, a store proclaiming itself to be an “outlet” is more likely to be peddling lower-quality merchandise under a well-known brand name. So how do you know when an outlet isn’t offering any true deals? [More]
Your Local Mall's New Anchor Store…. Costco?
By 8.26.10
There are a lot of empty anchor stores in American malls these days, especially since major department store chains have continued devouring each other. What to do with these massive empty retail spaces? Well, one possible tenant that doesn’t normally occupy enclosed malls is interested….Costco. [More]
Ontrac Delivery Staff Unsure How To Operate Intercoms, Actually Deliver Packages
By 8.26.10
Dick tells Consumerist that his recent Amazon order was more of a comedy of errors than the simple business transaction that it should have been. It wasn’t Amazon’s fault. Their delivery company Ontrac somehow managed to not deliver his package, then send it back to Amazon, then deliver both the replacement item that Amazon sent and the original package to Dick within an hour of each other. Something is terribly wrong here. [More]
Do Pay-By-Smartphone Systems Put Consumers At Risk?
By 8.25.10
As smartphones like the iPhone or Droid become more popular and more sophisticated, developers are finding new ways for consumers to use these mobile devices to replace existing items like airplane boarding passes, coupons and now credit cards. Soon, smartphone owners will be able to pay for purchases with a wave of their phones, but they should first be aware of the possible risks involved. [More]
Stashitware Turns Your Underwear Into A Man Purse
By 8.25.10
Hey guys, do you know what will really sex up a special occasion? First, take off your pants to reveal your enormous crotch bulge. Then reach into your underwear and pull out a 2 liter bottle of Coke. [More]
Bank Of America Quizzes Me About Sister's Real Estate Holdings For Account Verification
By 8.25.10
Seth tells Consumerist that when he tried to open an additional savings account with Bank of America, recently, the überbank put up some privacy roadblocks that he found intrusive and problematic. He’s already a customer, but the bank insisted on verifying his identity when he applied for a new savings account online. One of the questions was about his sister’s financial transactions, not his, which made him uncomfortable. [More]
Tips On Tipping Everyone From Your Pizza Guy To Your Sherpa
By 8.24.10
We all that know that tipping your waiter 15-20% is the standard (though some of you will surely disagree) or that you usually throw the pizza guy at least a couple bucks, especially if he braves flood waters to deliver your order. But what about your tattoo artist, or your salmon fishing guide or your sherpa? [More]
The Story Behind Trader Joe's 'Two-Buck Chuck' Wine
By 8.24.10
Ever wonder how Trader Joe’s stores can sell Charles Shaw wines — more commonly known as Two-Buck Chuck — for such low prices? CNN.com just posted this interview with Fred Franzia, the man behind the discount drinks. [More]
Canon 7D Or Barbie Video Girl: Which Is Better?
By 8.24.10
Sometimes when you’re comparison shopping for electronics, it helps to find a fan-made video test that looks at the devices side by side. Luckily for you, if you can’t decide whether to buy an $1800 Canon 7D or a $50 Barbie Video Girl, now you’ve got some help. (Hint: only one of these can be called “the sassiest camera money can buy.”) [More]
190 Tons Of Walmart Deli Meat Recalled Over Potential Listeria Contamination
By 8.24.10
A New York company called Zemco Industries has recalled 380,000 pounds of deli meat that it distributed to Walmart under the Marketside label, because it might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Although nobody has reported any illness and healthy people aren’t usually in danger, listeriosis can kill old people, infants, and others with weak immune systems. [More]
Ticketmaster Promises Better Transparency On Pricing
By 8.24.10
Ticketmaster has announced that for some venues, it will begin showing the combined ticket price (actual ticket + service fees) up front, and will allow a short refund window of three days. The company is still loathsome–on their blog, the CEO Nathan Hubbard chummily states that when it comes to service fees, “You don’t like them mostly because you don’t understand what the heck they are for.” But these are still welcome changes to what’s almost always the worst part of attending a live event: dealing with Ticketmaster. [More]
This Condom Warning Label Arouses Confusion
By 8.23.10
A reader bought this box of condoms from her local Safeway, and she says this sticker was underneath the outer packaging. People be freaky, but is there anyone who would want a raw chicken condom that you have to keep frozen until use? (Meh, probably.) [More]
My Computer Has Vanished Into The Best Buy Black Hole
By 8.20.10
Rebecca has some sort of Geek Squad protection plan for her computer, so when it needed some fixing, she brought it in for repair. Little did she know when she dropped of her computer that fateful day, that she might never see her PC alive again. [More]
All HDMI Cables Are Pretty Much The Same
By 8.20.10
MSNBC’s HD Guru blog skewers the shifty HDMI cable industry, which is based on ridiculous, unsupported claims of higher data speed, frame rates and refresh rates in exchange for exorbitant prices. [More]
Family Drinks Milk Containing Dead Mouse For 3 Days, Sues Walmart
By 8.20.10
I’ve never tasted milk that contained the corpse of a dead mouse, so I can’t say whether or not it would be noticeable, but a couple in Kentucky claim they drank three days’ worth of moused-up milk they’d purchased at Sam’s Club before ever noticing the rotting rodent inside. Now, as happens in these situations, they have filed a lawsuit. [More]
