Diane and Jo say they brought their computer to Best Buy‘s Geek Squad to get the CD drive fixed, but the Squad had some other ideas. After the dust cleared, the couple had gained a new hard drive they didn’t want and lost all their data.
Retail Services
USAA: Opt-Out Of Mandatory Binding Arbitration By Closing Your Account
By 8.28.09
The “credit union on steroids” has gone to mandatory binding arbitration for all disputes, removing customers’ ability to successfully sue them if things go wrong. Previously, USAA had arbitration as an option, but allowed members to opt out. Now, if you want to opt out of arbitration, you’ll have to close your accounts.
Morning Deals
By 8.28.09
- Lenovo: [Desktop PC] Lenovo C300 All-in-one Desktop 20″ LCD 1.6GHz Atom (1GB/160GB) $349 w/ free shipping
- JR.com: [Headphones] Sennheiser CX300 Stereo Headphones $16.99 Free Shipping
- Amazon: [Xbox] $100 off Xbox 360 Elite now $299.99 w/ free 12 + 1 month Xbox LIVE subscription ($50 value); $50 off Xbox 360 Pro now $249.99 w/ free game (Halo 3, Fable 2, or Halo Wars)
Which Cellphone Company Has The Worst Call Quality In Your Region?
By 8.28.09
If you want to decide which cellular provider to do business with based on performance, you might be interested in checking out the new “2009 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study” from J.D. Power and Associates. If you don’t have time, just remember that Verizon Wireless offers the most reliable call quality around the country, coming out on top in 4 of the 6 regions.
Amazon Answers My Questions, Sort Of, About Kindle Licenses
By 8.27.09
Let’s get straight to the bad news: although Amazon did answer my questions, their answers included “we’re working on that,” “I don’t know,” and “I don’t know (but it’s the publishers’ fault).” To be fair to the “Kindle Specialist” I spoke with this morning, he has promised to talk to the Kindle marketing department—why marketing? these are DRM issues!—and get back to me with better answers. Until then, this is what the average consumer can expect from a Kindle ebook license.
Morning Deals
By 8.27.09
- Highlights From Buxr
- Sony Style : [Game Console] Sony PlayStation Portable (Refurbished) for $99.99 w/ Coupon SONYPSPAMC99 w/ Free shipping
- JR.com : [Digital Camera] Fuji Film FinePix 10MP Digital Camera for $79.99 w/ Free shipping
- Shop PBS : [Entertainment] 25% Off Entire Purchase w/ Coupon THANKS25
Suspicious Stain Removal Advice Sought From Home Depot
By 8.27.09
Sure, there’s probably a perfectly innocuous explanation why a woman called the Home Depot in Jacksonville, Illinois and asked how to remove a large quantity of blood from her carpets. But that doesn’t stop people’s imaginations from running wild, and didn’t stop the employee who took the call from alerting the police.
Is Verizon Randomly Charging You $1.99 Per Line For "Data Usage"?
By 8.27.09
On August 14, the Cleveland Plain Dealer printed a column by a business writer who described her 6-month-long ordeal with Verizon concerning a mysterious $1.99 charge for “data usage.” The paper says that over 400 Plain Dealer readers responded with complaints similar to the one in the column. Now the paper says they have a promise from Verizon to refund these mysterious and erroneous charges.
Groceries Stores Turning To Single Checkout Lines
By 8.26.09
Rich, poor, Slimfast or Milky Way, one thing grocery store customers can usually agree on is that they hate waiting in line. Retailers have sought out a number of solutions over the years – from self-checkout terminals to entertaining distractions and ambient fragrances – but, according to the Wall Street Journal, the latest trend is single-line queues.
Move Over Museum Curators, Bank Of America Wants Your Job
By 8.26.09
Cash-strapped art museums across the country are turning to an unlikely source for new exhibitions: Banks. According to a story in the New York Times, Bank of America, Chase, and a number of other global entities have put together traveling art exhibits and are offering them to museums across the country.
Best Buy Will Bribe Customers To Keep Their New Fat PS3s
By 8.26.09
The PS3 Slim is hitting stores next week, or even sooner at some stores, so it’s natural that recent buyers of older-model, fatter, more expensive PS3s will be returning their consoles en masse.
Morning Deals
By 8.26.09
- Highlights From Buxr
- Meritline : [Puzzle] 3D Puzzle Leaning Tower of Pisa for $3.50 w/ coupon MLC400093082550A w/ Free shipping
- Restaurant.com : [Restaurant] 80% off Gift Certificates w/ Coupon TASTE
Coupon Master Spends $4 Weekly To Feed Family Of Six
By 8.26.09
If you want to learn how to be insanely efficient with coupon clipping and watching for sales, follow Kathy Spencer and learn from the master. WCVB TV in Boston notes that Spencer manages to spend only $4 on average each week to feed her husband, four kids, and four pets. We carefully re-read the pets line to make sure there was no past tense involved, as this would suggest cheating on where the food comes from. But nope, they’re still around, so it looks like she really is good with coupons and sales.
Morning Deals
By 8.25.09
- Newegg: [Software] Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking V10 Standard
SpeedSpeech Recognition Software $31.99 Free Shipping - 6th Ave Electronics: [HDTV] Toshiba 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV $637 Shipped
- Amazon : [Music] Download Video Game and receive $5 MP3 Amazon Credit (Kitten Sanctuary, shown here, is $6.99 to download) *note: you must purchase the game via Amazon’s “1-Click ordering” to receive the credit
Verizon And Nokia Announce "Constant Reboot" Feature
By 8.24.09
Ryan’s new Nokia Intrigue 7205, which Verizon gave him, doesn’t work with the Verizon network: “48 hours ago, the phone began cycling on and off continuously.” He’s not the only Intrigue owner experiencing this problem on Verizon, although Verizon is following that tired old “it couldn’t possibly be our fault so let’s make you jump through a dozen useless hoops” protocol. Sadly, a single Google search would give them the quick fix for Ryan and other Intrigue owners.
Broke Consumers Are Filling Up Carts And Leaving Them
By 8.24.09
This is a depressing phenomenon, if it’s real. According to the Associated Press, consumers are ditching items before they buy them. They’ve always done this, of course, but now they are supposedly doing it more.
