Impatient consumers can shoot themselves in the foot when trying to port their number from their old cellphone provider to their new one, reports the NYT. Instead, make sure you follow these basic steps:
Retail Services
By 3.12.08
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How retailers trick you into buying more crap than you really need. Mmmm, delicious sample day at Costco. [Joe Consumer]
Walmart Apologizes For Making Fun Of A Muslim Woman Wearing A Veil
By 3.12.08
“Please don’t stick me up,” a cashier told the shopper on Feb. 2, according to the Nevada chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Pepsi & Amazon Won't Fix PepsiStuff Error, Keep Ignoring Customer
By 3.11.08
Jon saved up a bunch of PepsiStuff points and decided to redeem them for an item PepsiStuff is promoting on its website. That’s how these point redemption programs usually work, you see. PepsiStuff.com apparently thinks otherwise—they’ll let you redeem the points for a COBY player (ha ha ha ha), but the Sony alarm clock is just redemption bait. You’re not supposed to actually pick that.
By 3.11.08
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Walmart ends Linux in-store experiment, will sell Linux-based machines online only. [AP]
FBI Said To Be Investigating Countrywide
By 3.11.08
The FBI has opened an investigation into Countrywide for suspected securities fraud, reports the New York Times. The Justice Department and FBI “are looking at whether officials at Countrywide, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, misrepresented its financial condition and the soundness of its loans in security filings.” So far everything is unofficial because nobody has been authorized to discuss the case, and a Countrywide spokeswoman says, “”We are not aware of any such investigation.”
Just Shop For Items With Free Shipping
By 3.10.08
Free Shipping On is a new site lets you shop only for stuff with free shipping at Amazon, eBay and tons of other sites.
Chase Reactivates Dead Card Without Your Permission
By 3.10.08
Erica writes:
Recently, my husband and I got two new Chase credit cards in the mail. I didn’t look closely, assuming that this was a new card for our never-used Chase Mastercard account. This account has been around for seven years, but we prefer another card with a rewards system; the Mastercard account is open only to benefit our credit rating. Therefore, no urgency in activating it — I dropped it in the bill pile to deal with later.
Morning Deals
By 3.10.08
Best Buy Won't Match J&R's "Wholesale" Prices
By 3.8.08
The Best Buy in Secaucus, NJ refused to match J&R’s price for a Bluetooth headset, claiming that J&R was not covered by Best Buy’s price match guarantee. Best Buy employees first called J&R—a large New York electronics retailer—a wholesaler. A manager later insisted that J&R was a Mom & Pop store and refused to match the lower price. When reader Steven attempted to cut through the absurdity by calling corporate, he was told that the price match is provided at each store’s discretion. Read his full story, inside.
By 3.7.08
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In response to yesterday’s post, another AT&T employee writes, “Just to clear up some confusion, AT&T may charge an administrative fee when paying your wireless bill with a representative. There is no charge to use the automated payment systems. The source for this is the tagline on my bill.”
Reach 5 High-Up Verizon Wireless People
By 3.7.08
Some cellphone problems are like a nagging itch in the middle of your back you can’t reach, if and Tier-1 customer service can’t either, some of the five Verizon Wireless muckety-mucks after the jump might be able to help you scratch it if you call or email them.
By 3.7.08
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If you keep a gun in the house, don’t use the Stack-On P-B 201 Pistol Box sold by Walmart to keep it safe and out of sight. A local news investigation found the pistol safe can be opened with a normal filing cabinet key. [WMCTV]
By 3.7.08
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A Nextel customer service rep says that earlier this week around 25,000 customers erroneously received a text message saying they would be billed $5.3 million in overages. That’s each, as in $5.3 million per person. “Suffice it to say it was a busy day at the call center,” says our insider. Anyone get one of these messages and can send in a picture of it?
Congress To Subprime CEOs: How Come You Got Paid Millions To Wreck The Economy? Hm?
By 3.7.08
Congress got to ask the subprime CEOs what everyone else is thinking: Why did you get millions and millions of dollars to fail so spectacularly?
