Retail Services
Morning Deals
By 2.5.08
Your Account Is Never Really Closed At Bank Of America
By 2.4.08
Paul writes, “Did you know a “closed” checking account is never really closed? Today I walked to the local BofA for the third time to close a checking account that every month seems to magically re-open with a $5.95 account fee. What the manager told me was quite shocking.”
Men's Wearhouse Can't Help You, Get Out
By 2.4.08
Clint at Seattlest went shopping for a suit for his wedding. The wedding isn’t until August, but he and his beyonce just wanted to see what Men’s Wearhouse had to offer. Mostly, they had to offer a really rude sales clerk who told them to get out of her store and come back in the summer when they were ready to shop.
Pick Up Some Haggling Tips At HowToHaggle.com
By 2.4.08
HowToHaggle.com is a short, easy-to-skim website devoted exclusively to the concept of haggling. It’s not the world’s most extensive resource, but the tips page lists 15 very good things to keep in mind the next time you want to score a better deal on a product.
Morning Deals
By 2.4.08
Walmart Ignores Widow's Letter Asking Why It Took Employees 9 Hours To Find Her Husband's Body In A Bathroom Stall
By 2.3.08
Karen Turner wants to know why Walmart employees told her that their bathroom stalls were unoccupied, even though they contained the body of Karen’s husband, 41-year-old airline mechanic Steven Turner. Karen needlessly spent hours searching for her husband, who went missing after dropping off his car that morning for an oil change. Walmart has yet to respond to a letter Karen sent in September. No condolences, no explanation. Nothing but silence.
This Spindle Of Memorex Burnable DVDs Is Full Of CDs
By 2.3.08
Stewart spent $105 on what he thought was a spindle of Memorex burnable DVDs. What he actually received was one burnable DVD sitting proudly atop a stack of CDs.
Intelius Says They'll Stop Selling Your Cellphone Number
By 2.1.08
“In response to consumer feedback,” Inteliius says it will discontinue selling your private cellphone number in its searchable online database. Liz Murray, Communications Manager at Intelius in a press release that, besides trying to explain away their actions, also spent half of its time touting the company’s Cell Phone Caller ID program, said, “As a company, we have strived to be at the forefront of innovation…We realize that in this instance we may have been ahead of our time.” That’s right, it was a notion from some future time where mankind has evolved into a more advanced being that doesn’t care about its privacy. Despite the press release, as of this writing, the company is still advertising the cell phone directory on its site.
Computer Techs Caught Overcharging, Lying, And Snooping Through Your Personal Files
By 2.1.08
KNBC did an undercover investigation into tech repair services and found that, yep, they routinely overcharge customers, charge for services not rendered, make shit up, and look through your personal videos and pictures. They tested Circuit City, Fry’s, some local repair places, and Best Buy. Surprisingly enough, Best Buy is the only place that correctly diagnosed the problem and didn’t peek through their pictures (Probably because bossman Robert Stephens had vowed to fry peepers with the giant laser he has hidden on top of the Geek Squad HQ if any more techs got caught).
Tmobile Ranked Highest In Customer Care
By 2.1.08
Tmobile is yet again as number one in customer care., according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Wireless Customer Care Rating. Tmobile scored 105, Verizon comes just behind at 101, Alltell and AT&T tie at 99, and Sprint puts in a poor showing at 83. The survey measures quality of interaction with customer service reps, automated response systems, in-store visits, and online chats. Tmobile consistently ranks high on the survey due to a company culture dedicated to solving problems on the first call. As for the other providers? The subheading on the rating agency’s press release says it all, “When Customer Care Issues Are Handled by an Automated Response System Wireless Provider Performance Drops Dramatically”
This Wii Baseball Bat Is Not Regulation
By 2.1.08
I found this on Amazon’s video outlet. No wonder it’s on sale.
We’re not, like, Barry Bonds or Sammy Sosa or anything, but yeah. Something seems a little off.
AT&T MMS Pics Are Being Reduced Without Explanation, If They're Sent At All
By 2.1.08
What’s up, AT&T? Your MMS messages have been acting wonky since the beginning of the year, according to posters on HowardForums. When they do come through, they’ve been reduced to a tiny postage-stamp size, whereas in the past they were delivered unaltered. We’ve been testing the service all morning with our N95 and not a single photo MMS gets in or out.
I Have 6 Kids And, For The Fourth Time, A Broken Fridge. Thanks, Best Buy.
By 2.1.08
Reader and Flickr Pool member Steve has 6 kids and no fridge thanks to Best Buy. He’s currently waiting around the house for his 4th repair guy in 8 months.
By 2.1.08
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An AT&T spokesman says yesterday’s data network outages across the U.S. were the result of the cut undersea cable in the Mediterranean that’s caused Internet and phone disruptions across Northern Africa, India and the Middle East. The cable will take 12-15 days to fix, although AT&T’s U.S. network was back up by the end of the day yesterday. [The Seattle Times]
3 Reasons Why It's Better To Be A Fired Sears CEO Than It Is To Be You
By 2.1.08
Bad at your job? So was Aylwin B. Lewis, president and chief executive of Sears Holdings Corp..
Best Buy Switches Laptop Cover, Then Accuses Customer Of Fraud
By 2.1.08
Jed’s Gateway MX6030 laptop worked pretty well for a couple of years, then the problems started—faulty power adapter, kaput motherboard, dead hard drive. Luckily, he’d bought a 3-year extended service plan. Unluckily, when his motherboard was replaced, the bottom of the laptop—where the serial and model numbers are located—was swapped out with one from a different model, so that when he brought it back for the hard drive repair, the store manager accused him of fraud.
Stuff From China Could Cost 10% More
By 2.1.08
Long the land of low low prices, the prices on consumer goods imported from China could rise by as much as 10 percent this year. What’s changed in China?
