My problem started yesterday morning when my wife and I decided we would either purchase 3 Microsoft Zunes or 3 iPods from Best Buy for part of our children’s Christmas gifts. I checked prices by going to bestbuy.com and searching Zune. [ed.note— item no longer on sale.]
Retail Services
Gawker Tshirt Shop Liquidation Sale
By 12.12.07
We’re liquidating the Gawker Tshirt Shop and all shirts are on sale for $17.99, down from $20 (yes, we know, Gawker is taking a cue from the CompUSA handbook. The liquidation company sets the prices! ::ducks). That means it’s your last chance to get The Consumerist “My Call Is important To You” before it becomes a valuable collector’s item and we post confessions from people who scalp it on eBay. A perfect gift for the consumer avenger in your life, even if that person is just you. Retailers will quake in fear when you stride up to the counter in this hot baby blue number. Printed on American Apparel so you’ll probably want to get one size larger than you normally do.
Walmart Pulls "Credit Card" Panties
By 12.12.07
Walmart has pulled the prostitution panties, according to Fox News.
The panties, which were sold in the juniors department, seemed to suggest that girls don’t need money, they just need a sugar daddy — in this case Santa Claus.
Bank Of America Plans To Lose An "Unknowable" Amount Of Money
By 12.12.07
Losses from the subprime meltdown are going to hurt Bank of America, but they won’t say how badly. They just want investors to be prepared when the 4th quarter numbers come in, says the NYT.
TryPhone Lets You Test Phone Interfaces Online
By 12.12.07
TryPhone seems like a great idea on the surface—you can preview mock-ups of current phone models and test out their interfaces through your browser. In reality, the beta launch feels underdeveloped, even for a web service beta, with only four models to choose from and limited interactivity on each. The idea is good, but we hope they work on execution.
Morning Deals
By 12.12.07
Sprint Mails Customers A "Get Out Of Sprint Free" Card
By 12.12.07
Sprint has mailed postcards to its customers saying that, beginning January 1st, it will stop charging so-called “recovery” fees and create new fees to replace (or possibly exceed) them. Sprint customers are now asking themselves whether or not this is a change to the Terms & Conditions—if so, then they should be able to cancel their contracts without paying an ETF, or early termination fee.
Avoid In-Store "Finance Traps" When Buying An HDTV
By 12.12.07
Several retailers are offering special deals on expensive HDTVs this season—things like no payments until x date or zero percent financing—but PC World cautions that they’re not always the bargains they appear to be. Their advice: “Cash is always best. If you need a special promotion to buy an HDTV, you can’t afford it.”
Best Buy Cease And Desists Blogger For Reporting Someone Else's Parody
By 12.12.07
Ok, so there’s these guys called Improv Everywhere and they like to do mass coordinated pranks inside stores. They did one where they sent a whole bunch of people in blue polo shirts and khakis to go to Best Buy and stand around. Genius. Anyway, they made some Tshirts that parody the Best Buy logo. Unfortunately, they’re selling them, so they’re infringing on Best Buy’s intellectual copyright. They get a cease and desist letter. Fair enough. Where it gets freaky is that Laughing Squid blogged about their Tshirts, and Laughing Squid got a cease and desist letter too. Bwuh? Best Buy PR said the problem was that Laughing Squid wasn’t “reporting” but was “promoting.” Ok… So bloggers aren’t journalists now, we’re promoters? Duly noted. We’ll get right on ordering kilos of coke and cutting up our enemies and dumping them in the East River.
By 12.11.07
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Cincinnati is the most expensive city to flight out of. [WSJ]
Amazon Sends "Best Customer Service E-mail I've Ever Received"
By 12.11.07
On Black Friday, Amazon.com held a raffle of sorts. Essentially, they had several awesome items at insane prices, and people were randomly selected to get these details. One of these items was a really nice laptop, regularly $1000, discounted to $300 for 250 lucky people. I was not one of those lucky people. That didn’t stop me from winning in my own sort of way.
Walmart "Junior" Panties Suggest That Your Genitals Are Better Than Credit Cards
By 12.11.07
Over at Feministing, a reader noticed these panties in the “juniors” section at the Wal-Mart on Kildare Farms Road in Cary, NC.
Newegg Honors Canceled PayPal Promotion Transactions
By 12.11.07
A couple of weeks ago, several online retailers ran a poorly managed PayPal promotion that offered sizable discounts. For Newegg, the three-day sale instead lasted less than a day, at which point Newegg was yanked from the participating retailers list on PayPal’s promotions page. But Newegg is going back and making good on orders that were in process when the deal was pulled, according to a reader who forwarded us Newegg’s email.
By 12.11.07
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The eBay of free online bartering systems for books, CDs, DVDs, and video games. [Swaptree]
Morning Deals
By 12.11.07
Depositing Checks In A Bank Of America ATM Is A Huge Pain In The Butt
By 12.10.07
I thought I’d give your readers a heads-up on how much Bank of America sucks, and why you should make all deposits to a bank teller and never, ever at the ATM.
