After Alexandra and her boyfriend both (but separately) ordered the same game from Best Buy, the retailer canceled thousands of orders due to a pricing error. It happens. However, she reports that while her boyfriend received a coupon code along with his cancellation notice, she received nothing. She thinks that Big Blue and Yellow profiled her. Best Buy? Profiling their customers? No way! [More]
Retail Services
Target CEO Issues Apology, Explains Support Of Anti-Gay Politician To Employees
By 8.5.10
We recently wrote about Target being on the hot seat with some people after the company donated $150,000 to be used for the campaign of a Minnesota gubernatorial candidate who is vocally against gay marriage. Today, in a memo sent to employees at Target HQ, CEO Gregg Steinhafel explains the company’s actions and issues a semi apology. [More]
Sign Up For MSN Internet At Best Buy? You Could Get $75
By 8.5.10
If you signed up for MSN Internet at Best Buy between 1999 and 2004, you could be entitled to up to $75. [More]
5 Things Not To Buy At Face Value
By 8.5.10
Haggling is commonly accepted in some facets of the market and laughed off in others, but the division between the two can be blurry. Kiplinger rounded up five items which you might not have known you could talk money off the price tag: [More]
Walmart Asks You To Please Have Your Receipt Ready
By 8.4.10
So as to mentally prime shopper drones to show their papers, a MI Walmart has taped a sign to its cash registers asking them to keep their receipts out for the greeters. [More]
Best Buy Replaces Your TV, Forgets About It, Offers You Another
By 8.4.10
Reader Wayne is an honest person. His Best Buy Insignia TV died and so, of course, he brought it back to the store. They kept it for a little while, decided they couldn’t fix it, and replaced it with a similar model. Then they forgot they did this. [More]
Amazon Coupon Codes For August 2010
By 8.4.10
Amazon has released a fresh steaming batch of grocery coupon codes for August. Some of the bigger discounts include: [More]
Geek Squad Will Turn On Your Ebook Device For You For $29.99
By 8.4.10
The best way to understand Geek Squad is to realize that they will help you with anything if it means they can charge you a fee. Want batteries in your remote control? Having trouble putting a USB plug into its port? Need to know the time? OPTIMIZE IT WITH GEEK SQUAD. Those are just solid business ideas and not (yet) actual services, but Geek Squad’s real offerings are almost as absurd. For example, Nate from the-digital-reader.com snapped this photo of their newish “eBook Device Setup” service for your Nook or Sony Reader, which promises to turn it on (“provide a functionality check”) and show you how to read (“what to expect when you take the device home”). [More]
How Buying Gift Cards To Shop Online Can Backfire
By 8.4.10
S. tells Consumerist that she had a bad experience with Lane Bryant, and now she doesn’t know where to turn. She doesn’t use credit cards, but couldn’t pass up a great online-only sale on jeans. She went to a brick-and-mortar store and purchased a gift card, then used the gift card to make the purchase online. Simple, right? Nope. Lane Bryant canceled her order, and now S. is stuck with a $50 Lane Bryant gift card she had budgeted for two pairs of jeans. [More]
Banana Republic Credit Card Comes With Free Account Errors, Late Fees, Disconnected Calls
By 8.3.10
Nick went shopping recently at Banana Republic and applied for a store credit card. Now he’s being called by a collections department and receiving contradictory stories about whether or not the retailer has his correct address on file. [More]
Connecticut AG Investigating Apple & Amazon Over E-Book Price Fixing
By 8.3.10
Amazon’s Kindle e-reader is the online retailer’s top-selling single item, and the company recently announced that its sales of e-books has outpaced sales of hardcover titles. Meanwhile, Apple has jumped into the e-book market with both feet, selling titles for reading on its iPad tablet computers. But now the Attorney General in Connecticut has launched an investigation into the pricing plans that both companies have hammered out with book publishers. [More]
American Apparel Isn't Doing Too Well
By 8.2.10
It’s been a while since we’ve had a good bankruptcy rumor floating around. Jezebel says thong superstore American Apparel is just asking for it: “[The retailer] has experienced declining year-on-year same-store sales in every month for which the company has made records available since February, 2009.” [More]
Amazon Offers To Connect With Your Facebook Account
By 8.2.10
Remember Beacon? This is not Beacon, Amazon wants you to know. The retailer has launched a new program where you can connect your Amazon account to your Facebook account, but it promises it won’t broadcast your purchases or bug your friends. Instead, the connection seems designed to funnel all the likes and favorites on your Facebook account (and those of your friends as well) into Amazon’s giant brain, so it can refine its shopping recommendations. Oh, and it will remind you of upcoming birthdays. [More]
"Elite" Shoppers Ignore Logos, Focus On Subtle Signals
By 7.31.10
Listen hun, your Gucci bag and Burbury scarf aren’t fooling anyone. Sophisticated shoppers, the ones you’re pretending to be, they know better. According to a recent study, the elite among us skip past the logos and instead focus on subtle cues like distinctive designs and details to figure out who’s truly high brow. [More]
Chase Banker: I Hate That We're Required To Pull People Out Of Line To Offer Upsells
By 7.31.10
Chase now requires bankers to drag customers waiting for a teller out of line so they can upsell other bank products. One longtime banker wrote in to apologize for the practice, which “blatantly exploits a customer’s trust,” and to encourage customers to call Chase and tell them that they hate it, too. Read the banker’s full heartfelt note, after the jump. [More]
Colleges Are Now Required To List Textbooks During Class Registration
By 7.31.10
Finding the best textbooks prices just got a whole lot easier now that colleges are required to provide students with a list of required textbooks when they register for classes. The requirement was mandated back in the 2008 as part of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, but only took effect this year. [More]
What's Your Most Expensive Habit?
By 7.29.10
Booze, drugs and gambling aren’t the only pricey habits. For example, as much as I enjoy cooking, it’s often so much easier and convenient to have something delivered or get take-out. It’s gotten to the point that many of the restaurants know my order before I even have time to say it. I know I’m throwing away good money, but it’s a hard habit to shake. [More]
Walmart Wants You To Get Liquored Up For Back-To-School Shopping
By 7.29.10
I found these plastic shot glasses nestled among the crayons and glue sticks in the back-to-school section of my local Walmart. I’m not sure what it implies. Do college students use Elmer’s Glue now?
My friend with several school-aged children saw it differently, noting, “That might be what I need to survive back to school shopping.” For the parents. Brilliant.
