Shopping for toys at Target, Anthony noticed an interesting change in a small, inexpensive doll that his daughter enjoys. The princesses have been affected by a toy shrink ray–the dolls are smaller, the mold used to make them is different, and they come with fewer accessories–for the same price, naturally. [More]
Retail Services
FTC Sues Intel For Decade Of Illegal Sales Tactics
By 12.17.09
The FTC sued microprocessor giant Intel yesterday, alleging the company had engaged in illegal sales tactics for the past 10 years, relying on backroom strongarming instead of over technical innovation to maintain market dominance. [More]
Borders Gets Into Ebook Business, Relaunches Shortcovers As Kobo Books
By 12.16.09
Shortcovers, an ebook retailer that I recommended to a Sony Reader owner last month, has morphed into something called kobobooks.com, and it’s now partially owned by Borders. If you own an ereader other than a Kindle, or if you read ebooks primarily on a smartphone, you might want to add it to your list of sources for ebooks. [More]
Walmart Overcharges Soldiers Stationed Abroad For Shipping
By 12.16.09
The idea behind military mail is to allow people in a given country to send mail to their loved ones stationed anywhere in the world, for the same price as mailing a letter or package to any other destination in the United States. However, the military paper Stars and Stripes reports that some retailers are increasing prices for customers with APO/FPO addresses, claiming “higher transportation costs.” The biggest offender? Walmart. Surprise! [More]
The Opposite Of Christmas Creep: Christmas Retreat
By 12.16.09
Around the 12th of December, Jasper in northern Virginia needed some lights to finish decorating his Christmas tree. He drove to store after store in search of a simple string of indoor lights, but could find none. I suppose that’s what happens when stores start putting Christmas decorations out long before Halloween. [More]
Best Buy 'Optimized,' Raised Prices On Laptop Model I Wanted
By 12.16.09
The Mexican Reader tells us a Best Buy tale we’ve heard all too many times — He goes into a Best Buy to buy a computer, only to find he can’t buy the one he wanted at the advertised price because everything in the inventory has been “optimized.” [More]
Reach Chase Executive Customer Service
By 12.16.09
Here’s another Chase Executive Customer Service contact to add to our collection: [More]
Walmart Accidentally Sells All-Nude Beefcake Calendar Online
By 12.15.09
A woman in Phoenix was shopping for travel calendars on Walmart.com when she came upon one called “All About the Boys 2010.” It wasn’t so much about travel as it was about fully nude models of a European porn company, which didn’t sit well with Wendy McNaughton. [More]
Restrictive Monsanto Seed Contracts Investigated
By 12.15.09
An AP investigation examines the cofidential contracts between Monsanto, which makes 90% of the world’s genetically engineered seeds, and the famers and smaller seed companies it bends to its will with extremely restrictive licensing agreements. [More]
Amazon, Macy's, Buy.com Named Best Big E-tailers
By 12.15.09
ResellerRatings.com analyzed 350,000 online reviews of more than 10,000 online sellers and found that among big e-tailers, Amazon was the best place to buy cameras, Macy’s was the sweet spot to order fashion accessories and Buy.com was the top computer destination. [More]
'Ethical Gifts' Might Offend Recipients
By 12.15.09
Finally science has quantified that feeling of disappointment when you open up an envelope and Christmas card to find that a donation to a charity has been made in your name instead of cash or a gift card. [More]
Overstock Thinks Disney Fans Are Pervs
By 12.15.09
Aijin was shopping for Disney Princess gear on Overstock.com, then fielded an indecent proposal from the website, suggesting Disney Princess fans would go on to purchase Girls Gone Wild videos. [More]
Which Notebook Brands Are The Best?
By 12.14.09
The website Laptop has launched a new series of posts about notebooks and netbooks. This time, they’re grouping the models by brand and asking readers to weigh in. Up first: HP, which generally has good aesthetics and keyboards as well as multitouch technology, but bad touchpads and heat issues. They also note that customer service is pretty bad for HP products. [More]
Chase Cannot Find A Human Being To Read A Check
By 12.14.09
Chase has these fancy new ATMs that take checks without envelopes. It scans the check and blah, blah, robots, science, a better tomorrow. The interesting thing about them is that reader Angela says that when the ATM makes an error, Chase mails the check back to you so that you, the customer, can take it to a branch bank and show it to a human being. Apparently, even though Chase already has the check in its possession — it cannot find a human being to read a check. [More]
Amazon Ruins Christmas Even When You Ask It Not To
By 12.14.09
Reader Shane has an Amazon Wish List that he tells people to look at because he’s apparently impossible to shop for. Amazon lets you choose whether or not you’d like to be informed if something has been purchased from your list, then apparently tells you even if you asked it not to. [More]
Videodrome #3: Paper Puppet Reenactments Of Removed YouTubes
By 12.14.09
Faster! Leaner! Meaner! Ben Popken rounds up Consumerist.com’s top stories of the week, from psychotic stewardesses to deadly foreclosures. This week we introduce a new feature: printing out the internet and turning it into a puppet show. [More]
