A handy tip that could’ve saved a couple people a few thousand dollars *cough* And This Is Your $4190.76 iPhone Bill *cough* iPhone/AT&T $3,000 International Roaming Bill Serves As Cruel Warning…or you can always just get a prepaid local SIM card, providing you’ve already unlocked your iPhone, of course.
Retail Services
When Travelling Internationally, Pop Out The iPhone SIM Card To Check Email Without Huge Roaming Charges
By 9.10.07
Citibank Recruits Students To Become "Credit Card Pushers"
By 9.10.07
BusinessWeek has been examining one of the fastest-growing segments of credit card debtors, college students. Last week, they profiled a young man from the University of Pittsburgh who was recruited by a Citibank rep, at his university’s student union building, to get other students to apply for credit cards with free t-shirts and lines like “Even if you apply, you can always cut up the card,” and “It’s easy to pay off your balance once you graduate and get a great job.” For every completed application, he’d receive $5-10, and probably a tiny dark spot on his soul.
By 9.10.07
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A reader reports that thanks to a big update over the weekend, customers haven’t been able to connect to Chase services via Quicken, MS Money, or Quickbooks, though web browsers still work. Seamus writes, “The worst part is that only about half of their support staff are even aware of the problem, and no resolution time has been given. Another “upgrade” gone wrong!”
Target: Putting Merchandise In Correct Bins Not Our Responsibility
By 9.10.07
Reader Marie went to the Target store in Biddeford, Maine and was told by the on-duty manager that “it is not the responsibility of the department manager or stocker” to ensure that the store’s bins actually contain the items that they are supposed to.
Man Attempts To Return Walmart Ammunition At 1300 Feet Per Second
By 9.10.07
It’s Walmart’s policy, clearly visible on their website and in their stores, that all sales of guns and ammunition are final. One San Diego man didn’t like that policy so he tried to return the ammunition in another way. By firing it in the Walmart parking lot.
Instruction Manual? Check. Battery? Check. Cords? Check. Camera? Whoops!
By 9.9.07
I purchased a camera from Target the day before my vacation. Later that night I opened the box and there was no camera! Everything else was in there the owner manual, battery, cords, etc. but no camera! I called Target customer service and they said to bring the box back.
Introducing The Most Impressive Cell Phone Bill Of The 110th Congress
By 9.8.07
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) recently announced plans to introduce our wet dream of a cellphone bill. The bill realizes our wildest legislative fantasies: a world where cellphone companies stop inventing official-sounding fees and levying harsh ETFs, and instead allow their customers to take unlocked phones to the company with the best reception according to precise coverage maps provided free of charge.
11th Walmart Flipflop Chemical Burning Case Reported
By 9.8.07
When it got worse the dermatologist said that it was definitely not a fungus…
Ready To Give Up Paper Books Yet? Amazon & Google Hope So
By 9.8.07
The “promise” of e-books is so old it’s got hair on it, but now two online giants are stepping up to the plate with their own spin on how best to sell books digitally. Next month, Amazon will finally release its long-rumored Kindle, an e-ink reader which will wirelessly connect to Amazon via EVDO, so you can purchase books even more easily than new iPod Touch owners can buy songs while they’re at Starbucks. And before the end of the year, Google will start charging for full online access to some digital copies of books in its database.
Home Depot's Eco Options Program Fails To Impress Consumer Reports
By 9.7.07
Home Depot really wants you to think of their much ballyhoo’d “Eco Options” program as a quick, easy and painless way to be an environmentalist.
Lost Cellphone At Credit Union, Would They Turn Over The Surveillance Tapes?
By 9.6.07
“I went to my Credit Union last night to pay my car payment. I think during sometime between getting out the appropriate papers and leaving the place I must have misplaced my phone. On my drive home, I realized I didn’t have my phone.
Receipt Check Policies For Costco, Sam's Club, And BJ's
By 9.6.07
In most cases, a receipt check is voluntary, but several wholesale shopping clubs make you agree to them as part of the membership contract.
Walmart Rolls Back Prices Negative Sixteen Cents
By 9.6.07
Reader Jonathan’s son snapped this photo of a Walmart price “rollback” in Tawas City, Michigan, this Labor Day Monday. The current price is $1.98, the previous, $1.82. “I do see the irony of being in a Wal-Mart on Labor Day,” writes Jonathan, “and I still feel unclean for it.”
Morning Deals
By 9.6.07
Chase Accuses You Of Check Fraud, Threatens To Report You
By 9.6.07
Dan got a new job (Congratulations, Dan!) and moved from Chicago to Indianapolis. The move meant he had to close his Citibank account and open a new one. He chose Chase because they have lots of branches nearby.
Adventures In Receipt Check Refusals Continue
By 9.6.07
Rich in Michigan writes that a Michigan Sam’s Club employee foiled his efforts to circumvent the receipt-checking line.
I was detained in a Sams Club receipt-checking line today. When I attempted to steer my cart around the line and out the exit door, an employee with a nametag of ‘Linda’ stepped in front of my cart and asked me to surrender my receipt. When I asked if I was being detained, she assured me that I was…
