When personal finance magazine Kiplinger asked the Geek Squad about our video that caught one of their technicians stealing porn from our harddrive (peeping tomism, hardly limited to Geek Squad, is just as rampant in the computer repair industry as the photo developing industry), an unidentified Geek Squad spokeswoman ingenuously responded, “We have been the target of a blog that prefers to focus on the exceptions to our service and not the overall, vast majority of successful services we provide to clients.” That’s like saying dirt is unfairly targeted by a broom. Where there’s a valid complaint, we’ll post. Where there’s a consumer whose rights aren’t respected, we will defend. We don’t have a vendetta against the Geek Squad, or any other company. We have a vendetta against bad customer service. That’s our bottom line. After the jump, the original undercover video…
Retail Services
Citigroup Developing Citi-Branded Phone That Can Make Contactless Payments
Do you wish you had a way to spend your money more easily, without all that opening-the-wallet or punching-the-pin-number manual labor? The trade publication Cards & Payments (registration required) says that it’s received a copy of a report filed with the FCC that indicates Citigroup is developing a Near Field Communication, or NFC, mobile phone that would allow its customers to make contactless payments at participating retailers.
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Buy It Later is a cool Firefox extension that monitors specific products for you for price drops or for them to come back in stock. [BuyLater via Lifehacker]
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Bank of America Corp said it has agreed to pay $28 million to Countrywide Financial Corp Chief Operating Officer David Sambol to run the company’s mortgage operations. That’s 37% more than Bank of America’s CEO makes. [Reuters]
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Suburban Chicago-based Sears Holding has named John W. Froman as president of tools and lawn operations. This makes Mr. Froman the “Tool and Lawn King of Chicago.” [BusinessWeek]
Morning Deals
Woot: The Woot-off is still in effect.Sears: 10% off almost everything March 30th 6-9pmJ&R: Harman Kardon HKTS-11 5.1-Channel Speaker System for $260 + free shippingHighlights From DealhackSony Style: Save $500 off Vaio SZ Dual Core Notebook PC with CouponBuy.com: Dane-Elec 4GB SDHC Card $12 with…
LEAKS: Best Buy Internal Doc Says Their "Extended Warranties" Are A "Myth"
An internal Best Buy training document sent to The Consumerist reveals Best Buy’s position on the “Extended Warranty” debate. Best Buy says they don’t sell those pesky “extended warranties” that get so much bad press— instead they sell “performance service plans.” The document also instructs Best Buy employees on how to sell these warranties to Upscale Suburban “Barry” and “Jill.” It’s important for consumers to be familiar with these tactics so they are able to recognize them while shopping in a high pressure sales environment such as Best Buy. Understanding the sales pitch puts you on equal ground with the salesperson.
Geek Squad Laptop Comedy of Errors
Reader George is having serious trouble with Geek Squad. It started when he bought a laptop from Best Buy a few years ago. He sent it in to get a loose AC jack replaced. They replace it. Two months later, it’s loose again. It’s replaced again, but this time, when his picks it up, the door to the DVD/CD drive is warped and won’t open. George’s in a hurry, so he asked the Geek to make a note about the damage, and he’ll bring it back for repair. From here on out, nothing goes right. First they can’t find his account, then they can’t find the note, then they can’t find his computer, then they can’t work their own computers. His full story, inside.
Surviving On 99-Cent-Store Food For A Week In NYC
Henry Alford of the New York Times writes that sometimes he will “plop a can of chicken broth down on the checkout counter and think, ‘$2.19? For someone to boil chicken bones? I want that job,'” so he decided to try going a week with food from 99 cent stores in New York City.
Best Buy Calls Cops On You For Telling Fellow Customer Jawbone Headset Is Overpriced, Sucks
Best Buy called the cops on Alex because he told another shopper that the Jawbone headset he was considering was poor quality and marked up $30 from the manufacturer’s price. Alex went to Best Buy to purchase a new Bluetooth headset because the Jawbone he recently purchased from Verizon wasn’t cutting it. While browsing the headsets, he struck up a conversation with another customer who was checking out the Jawbone. Alex told his fellow customer that he had been disappointed in the quality of the Jawbone, and that Best Buy was charging $30 more than the manufacturer or Verizon. A sales associate overheard this and told the manager, who asked Alex to leave the store, then threatened to call the police, then did.
Morning Deals
CircuitCity.com: Outlet Clearance Sale: Over 1,300 items starting at 78 centsWoot: It’s a woot-off!epassportphoto.com: Passport size photos for 20 centsHighlights From DealhackCloudveil: Save 40% off Clearance Performance OuterwearAmazon: Flip F260 Video Ultra Series Camcorder $140 ShippedButterfly…
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Want to reduce your Bank of America spam mail? Our commenter tinder posted a link to their opt-out page in our earlier post on Chase spam. [www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/]
How To Get Chase To Stop Sending You Direct Mail Offers Over And Over And Over
Anyone who’s a customer of Chase knows how hardcore they can be about direct mail advertising. Martin writes:
Over the last 12-24 months, I’ve been annoyed with about 3-4 mailings a week from Chase for various add-on services and useless products. Already a customer of theirs, I did not appreciate this onslaught of advertising. Here’s a quick opt-out website in which you can cancel all direct marketing letters from Chase… dnmoptions.chase.com.
Court Says Man Can Continue To Sell Tasteless Walmart Parody T-Shirts
Timothy Batten in Atlanta ruled that Charles Smith may maintain his Web sites, http://www.walocaust.com and http://www.walqaeda.com. Smith also may continue to sell novelty, satirical merchandise that criticizes the company, the judge said.
Morning Deals
Amazon: Polk Audio RTi12 Floorstanding Loudspeaker for $379.97 + free shippingPurplus Software: Carrara 5 Standard for $69.96 + free shippingMegabus: $.50 tickets Boston->NY, Ny–Philly, Wash DC, Buffalo & A.C for travel on May 30th-June 5thHighlights From DealhackGeeks.com: 3-Day Sale: up to 80%…
Best Buy Keeps Your Credit Card And SSNs In Plain View On The Sales Floor
I saw something a little weird at our local Best Buy [redacted]. While on my break from work I decided to stop by the store and pick up the latest copy of Rainbow Six Vegas 2. While walking through the audio section of the Home Theater department I passed by a computer terminal next to some stereo equipment and an open filing cabinet in the middle with a tray on-top. At first I thought it was just storage for binders, pamphlets, sales ad’s and stuff they might need on the floor, but when I looked into the tray I saw completed credit card forms, with peoples names, addresses, social security # and etc…
This Is Why Phishing Works
The following (sad) letter yesterday from reader H demonstrates why phishing works:
Dear Sir:
Walmart Successfully Sues Brain-Damaged Worker For $469,216
A Walmart worker who was hit by a truck and left brain-dead-damaged has lost her final round of appeals and must repay the retailer $469,216. This is because she both had Walmart pay for her medical expenses and she successfully sued the trucking company for medical expenses. While, on the face of it, reptilian, standard employer-sponsored-insurance contracts have clauses prohibiting double-dipping, and, as we all learned from Seinfeld, double-dipping is gross for society. [St. Louis Post Dispatch] (Thanks to Michael!)
