Highlights From Dealhack
It was a beautiful thing. And then I paid in cash. Scan of the 5/3 fee increase notice inside.
The Lansing State Journal has put together a list of 5 marked-up retail categories to be aware of when you’re making purchasing decisions, most of which you hopefully already know. If you can’t find wholesale sources or DIY replacements, then at least make sure you do a lot of comparison shopping to get the best deal.
You’re cut off! JPMorgan Chase and Citi announced they’ll no longer accept mortgages submitted by mortgage brokers. The move seems to be a way for the banks to exercise more control over the loans they undertake. At first blush, this sounds like a good thing, for banks to be looking their borrowers in the eye, a throwback to the days when credit was earned instead of splooged out like candy in a parade (days epitomized in this 1950’s short, “The Wise Use of Credit,” posted inside…) On the other hand, it could be more just a way to snag market share and shut out the competition, which can lead to higher interest rates, borrowing costs, fees, and lower service.
When the Authors Guild successfully agitated for the right to selectively remove the text-to-speech feature from books read on Amazon’s Kindle 2, they alienated an entire group of potential consumers: people who have trouble reading normal printed works. Now a group called the Reading Rights Coalition is going to storm the Authors Guild’s NYC office tomorrow at noon to protest.
Think you’re already a savvy shopper and smart saver? Well here’s a way to spend even less: don’t touch. A new study shows that if you touch stuff when you’re shopping, it increases your sense of ownership and makes you more willing to pay more for it. Here’s how the study came to that conclusion:
A megabank that now includes Washington Mutual? Or a hedge-fundy retail mash-up of Sears & Kmart? Which ruins your day?
Maybe things are different in your house but in PJ’s it’s rather disconcerting to receive a bill for $1,821.91 for the wife’s Blackberry. U.S. Cellular says that she used 150mb of data and now must pay the price. PJ’s wife has no idea what she might have done that would’ve been that large, and US Cellular can’t tell her either. They just want their monies.
Reader Joel isn’t too happy with the service he got from Sears. He was looking to get an older TV fixed and, rather than make sure that they could fix it, Sears sent a guy to drive on Joel’s lawn.
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The mice are all gone and the Pikesville Target is again open for business! [Baltimore Sun]
A Target in Pikesville, Maryland “has been closed until further notice because of a rodent problem,” reports WBAL Baltimore. Target officials wouldn’t tell customers why they were closed—our tipster aishel says they told him it was for maintenance, and a person interviewed by WBAL says she was told it was a “water main problem.” Target’s corporate office, however, confirmed there’s a big mouse problem. Update: The store has reopened.
Holy $#!@, this lounge chair will eat your fingers! Fox5 New York has a video report on dangerously unsafe lounge chairs sold at Kmart under the Martha Stewart brand. Naturally (we’re not making this up), the chairs are designed to complement the Martha Stewart Spontaneously Shattering Glass Patio Tables also sold at Kmart.
Once upon a time, way back in November, a St. Louis MBA student named Cheri was the one of the first inside her local Sears store on Black Friday morning. She rushed to get the best deal they were offering — a washer and dryer for $599. To her dismay, she found out that the heavily advertised deal was not available — customers were being asked to pay now and get the washer and dryer in 30 days. Even with this disappointment, the deal was too good to pass up, so she agreed. Months later there was no sign of her washer and dryer, so she took Sears to court. And won.
Highlights From Dealhack
We wrote in January about a new $10 per month fee that Chase was arbitrarily imposing on customers who had transferred balances to their Chase cards. Well after having a little chat with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Chase announced that they’ll stop charging this ridiculous fee and they’ll be refunding customers’ previous payments.
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