Bank of America’s profits are down 32%, prompting CEO Kenneth D. Lewis to make some angry promises.
Retail Services
Morning Deals
By 10.19.07
Walmart Threatening Legal Action Against Websites That Leak Its "Black Friday" Circular
By 10.18.07
You must wait until Nov. 19 to know what delicious deals Walmart has in store for America this “Black Friday.” The Mart of Wal is threatening legal action against any website so bold as to post the coveted “Black Friday” circular before that date.
Buy Yourself A Plasma TV For Christmas, Says Consumer Reports
By 10.18.07
Consumer Reports says the best bargain of the year might be the much-loved plasma TV. 42″ plasmas should average around $1,000 this holiday season—with “Black Friday” deals as low as $599 (if you’re willing to club someone’s grandmother to get one.)
Quickly Find Good Deals On SlickDeals And FatWallet With WiredDeals
By 10.18.07
One of the sites I visit every time I scour for items for Morning Deals is WiredDeals, a free registration site that tries to aggregate the best deals from the SlickDeals and FatWallet forums.
Apple Will Most Likely Sell Unlocked iPhones In France
By 10.18.07
Various sources are saying Apple has agreed to sell unlocked phones in France—because, well, French law says they have to—but our own Gizmodo says it’s only rumor at this point: “Apple told us that the piece was based solely off of reading French Law, not from statements by Orange or Apple.”
Morning Deals
By 10.18.07
Verizon Charges You For Telemarketing To You
By 10.18.07
When Verizon calls you to upsell you on a higher text message plan, it costs you minutes. Reader Alex got a little ring-a-ling from Verizon this morning:
After he identified himself (“Mike”), I immediately asked the salesperson if this call would count towards my daytime minutes. The representative informed me that, yes, it surely would. Needless to say I wasn’t exactly pleased with this revelation.
Best Buy Stops Selling Analog TVs
By 10.17.07
Best Buy has decided to (finally) stop selling soon-to-be-obsolete analog televisions, according to the AP. The FCC has been on the war path, sending secret agents to surf the web and inspect product displays to make sure that consumers are being warned not to buy analog TVs with the expectation that they will work properly without a converter box after 2009.
Best Buy Asks You To Wait 21 Days Before Escalating Your Issue
By 10.17.07
The thought that I’m going to have to endure another seven years of this nightmare while my service plan is still in effect makes me want to shoot myself in the head. The only hope I have is that you’ll screw up and erase the extended warranty I paid for so I have an excuse to throw these worthless appliances into your parking lot and replace them with a set that actually works, from a company that actually cares if their customers are sickened by the thought of ever doing business with them again.
Best Buy’s service plans do seem to have this effect on people, there’s just no denying it. We hope Speedball tries an EECB now that his spleen is good and vented.
Liveblogging The Senate Commerce Committee Hearing: Cellphone Companies And The Customers They Hate
By 10.17.07
Today at 10 a.m., the Senate Commerce Committee will pry through bone and muscle to see if cellphone companies really do have hearts of pure stone. The Committee will question the industry’s most egregious practices: junk fees, illegal contract extensions, and early termination fees. The industry is working overtime to cast itself as the consumer’s best friend, with AT&T recently agreeing to prorate ETFs as part of a desperate attempt to show that federal regulation is unnecessary.
Morning Deals
By 10.17.07
AT&T Says It Will Begin Prorating Termination Fees
By 10.17.07
Maybe the T-Mobile lawsuit has scared AT&T a bit, because they’ve announced that they’re changing their early termination policy: they will now prorate termination fees instead of charging a flat fee. They’re also removing the policy that required existing customers to extend a current agreement or sign up for a new one when changing their level of service. No word on when these changes will go into effect, but there’s nothing on their website yet.
Shopping Carts That Chastise You For Buying Too Much Junk Food?
By 10.16.07
Welcome to the future! We’ve seen (but been reluctant to use) shopping carts that let you ring up your crap as you place it into the cart, but now there’s talk of one that’ll give you a hard time about your diet as well.
Walmart Sanctifies The Toy Aisle With Talking Jesus Action Figures
By 10.16.07
The Des Moines Register would like you to know that Walmart is test marketing some talking Jesus action figures. The dolls will set you back $14.97.
Verizon Says It Will Only Share Your Info With Other Verizon Companies
By 10.16.07
Verizon says the information sharing opt-out notices it sent to customer, that we told you about a month ago, are only so other Verizon companies can market discounted service bundles, and is not for resell to third-party advertisers.
