I went into a Brooklyn Chase today to see if, in the wake of the concerns about them going bust, Washington Mutual customers were switching over. I went up to the manager and said, “I’m a WaMu customer —” “—God bless your soul,” he interjected.
Retail Services
Morning Deals
By 9.16.08
Highlights From Dealnews
- Graveyard Mall: Wooden Roll-top Desk Organizer for $9 + $6 s&h
- Amazon.com: Columbia Sportswear Men’s Shoes from $19 + $5 s&h
- Amazon.com: Green Mountain K-Cup 50-Packs for $9 + $6 s&h
Highlights From Dealhack
- Circuit City: Element FLX3711B 37-inch LCD HDTV $600
- American Express: Up to 5% Cash Back on Purchases with SimplyCash Business Card
- Geeks: Refurbished Dual AMD Opteron Rack Mount Servers from $200
Highlights From Buxr
- Hewlett Packard: $500 off $1399 HP Pavilion Notebooks w/ code NB0915
- Frys.com: Western Digital GreenPower 500GB Serial ATA/300 Hard Drive for $69.99 + shipping
- Edmund Scientific: $25 Off $50 or more w/ coupon code ES25
DirecTV Install Imbroglio Makes Longtime Customer Want To Destroy Furniture
By 9.16.08
While we’re waiting on our video boys to harvest the clip of Whoopie’s rant against DirecTV on The View this morning, here’s a little reader-submitted DirecTV install nightmare to tide you over. Andy used to think DirecTV was pretty good, but his experience trying to get them to hook up an HD/DVR to his TV has felt him feeling like he is “going to explode, or destroy pieces of furniture.”
Ex-Best Buy Employee Regrets Selling Warranties Now That He's A Customer
By 9.15.08
We just got an email from reader Mike, who claims to be a former Best Buy employee who regrets selling all those extended warranties now that he’s actually trying to use the one that he purchased.
Woman Donates Cellphone To Charity, But It Ends Up On Ebay With Personal Info Intact
By 9.15.08
People! Always wipe your cell phone before you sell it, give it away, or trade it in. Do not assume or expect that someone else will do this for you! This was just one of the mistakes that led to Rachel Swanson being called by strangers several weeks after she thought she donated her old phone to charity. But the store that handled the donation, and the company responsible for actually processing the donated phones, screwed up their parts, too. Here’s how it was supposed to have work, and what you should always do before donating your phone to any organization.
Morning Deals
By 9.15.08
Highlights From Dealhack
- Abt Electronics: Sony Cybershot S750 7.2MP Digital Camera $129 Shipped
- Office Depot: HP AMD Dual Core Widescreen Notebook $550 & Free Shipping
- B&H Photo: Panasonic Viera 42-inch Plasma HDTV $830 Shipped
Highlights From Buxr
- Amazon: J.A. Henckels 8 Piece Stylus Block Set for $49.99 w/ Free shipping
- Walmart: Eastsport Mesh Backpack for $9.88 + $0.97 Shipping
- Timberland: 30% Off Coupon w/ coupon code: FALLEVENT4
Highlights From Dealnews
Lehman Files For Chapter 11, BoA Buys Merrill Lynch
By 9.15.08
Bankers worked hard over the weekend to prevent the American financial system from imploding.
- Lehman filed for Chapter 11
- Bank of America bought Merrlil Lynch
- A special trading session was opened Sunday from 2-6pm to allow traders to try to unwind their positions
- The Fed is expected to temporarily make it easier for banks to borrow from the government
- European Central Banks stand ready to pump billions into the global market
- Washington Mutual’s new CEO’s disclosure of further writedowns and setting aside of capital calmed investors and stemmed the massive selloff of its stock
Your New Tires Could Be Six-Year-Old Death Traps
By 9.14.08
Those “new” tires of yours could be six-years old and ready to disintegrate on the highway. Tire rubber dries out after six years, but unlike in Europe and Asia, American companies are allowed to sell expired tires long after they turn into death donuts. A 20/20 investigation found that the “new” tires on sale at Sears and Walmart can be up to 12-years-old. Inside, how to tell when your tires were born…
For The Best Prices, Buy TVs Online
By 9.13.08
Call it the welcome side of Christmas Creep; manufacturers are discounting LCD and plasma TVs ahead of the traditional year-end holiday sale cluster mess, but you won’t find the best deals in retail stores.
$50 Import Charge For eBay Items From USA To Canada?
By 9.13.08
Inquiring readers named Kurt want to know: If a buyer from Canada buys something from someone in America on eBay, pays for it, including shipping, and then it shows up with a $50 C.O.D. charge for imports and customs, is that kosher? Discuss…
Amazon Pulls Negative Reviews Of 'Spore,' Then Reinstates Them
By 9.12.08
Earlier today, about 2200 reviews of the game Spore disappeared from the product page on Amazon.com, almost all of them negative. Did Amazon censor the reviews because of their anti-DRM nature? Amazon says no, that it was a technical glitch, and they restored the reviews by the end of today. An Amazon spokesperson told Ars Technica, “Amazon doesn’t censor or edit customer reviews based [on their content] and we’d only remove a review if it fell outside our guidelines.” Spore’s rating is back to a single star, and it’s #5 on Amazon’s video games chart.
Supermarkets Begin To Shrink
By 9.12.08
The New York Times reports that several supermarket and retail chains, including Safeway, Walmart, and Whole Foods, are beginning to experiment with much smaller store sizes that emphasize things like cafes, prepared meals, and produce. The idea is to emphasize speed over choice, and was apparently triggered by UK competitor Tesco, which has launched over 70 small-format supermarkets in Nevada, Arizona, and Southern California over the past year. Of course, the stores also require less shelf space for products than they did a year ago.
Get Fistfuls Of Coupons At Ultimatecoupons.com
By 9.12.08
Want a crapload of coupons? Check out Ultimatecoupons.com. They’ve got tons. You can navigate by topic or retailer or manufacturer and see if there’s some discounts available. Some of them are printable and some are online-only. The site design is underwhelming, but functional. What else is there to say? It’s coupons, you know what to do with them.
FTC: Protect Gift Card Holders When Companies Go Bankrupt
By 9.12.08
Consumers Union (CU) filed a petition with the FTC Thursday to protect consumer gift card holders more when retailers go bankrupt. For as long as the stores remain open, CU wants companies to have to hold gift card funds in a secure trust, unless bankruptcy courts say otherwise. Currently…
Sprint Keeps Sending Mysterious Security-Related Text Messages, But Doesn't Know Why
By 9.12.08
Chelsea wants to know why she keeps receiving these cryptic text messages from 9099. The messages alternate between telling her new phantom services have been added to her account, and sending her an account PIN and security answer. We thought it was someone trying to gain access to her account, but the PIN and security answer aren’t hers, and the services never show up on her bill.
Join The Verizon ETF Class Action
By 9.12.08
Wanna get in on the Verizon Early Termination Fee class action settlement? I did and went to verizonETFsettlement.com just like the postcard told me. Basically, if you were a Verizon Wireless customer from July 23, 1999 to August 10, 2008, and you were either charged an ETF, whether you paid it or not, you could be eligible for a piece of a $21 million pie (after the attorneys get their fees first), just file a claim form by October 14. In typical fashion, I tried filing a claim but the site keeps timing out. Something to bookmark and check in on later and hope they fixed it. Even when you think you’re giving Verizon its comeuppance, somehow you get screwed over. UPDATE: The website seems to be fixed now. By the way, at the end you will have to print out and mail in forms. They want you to attach documentation of your ETF. If you don’t have documentation, you can still make a claim but you will get a lesser amount.
Zappos Continues Awesomeness
By 9.12.08
Zappos online shoe store, famed for its amazing customer service, has done it again.
