The iPhone battery lasts for only 40 minutes of talk time, according to intel tech guru John Dvorak received from an inside Cingular source.
Retail Services
LEAKED: 6 More Geek Squad Manuals
By 4.5.07
Here’s 6 more Geek Squad manuals. Combine this with the 6 we’ve already posted and soon we’ll have enough info to open our own franchise.
Walmart Is Watching
By 4.5.07
The WSJ goes in depth today about Walmarts intense surveillance operation. According to the recently fired employee who intercepted calls and text messages from a New York Times reporter (and a few other Walmart employees) Walmart’s surveillance tactics include:
Religion On The Job
By 4.4.07
The law on this is Title VII of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits religious discrimination in the workplace. It requires employers to make “reasonable accommodations” for an employee’s religious beliefs — “reasonable” being anything that doesn’t create an “undue hardship” on the employer or on co-workers.
We think it’s great and wonderful and amazing that companies make these accommodations, but retailers should probably make sure there’s at least one friendly atheistic heathen-type cashier available at all times. Otherwise, at which register would we buy that gun that shoots pork-based birth control? —MEGHANN MARCO
Sprint Accidentally Sends You A Bill For $500, But At Least You Got Your $0.47 Check
By 4.4.07
Reader Todd (who left Sprint because of their constant billing errors 8 months ago) just received a $0.47 check…and someone else’s $500 cell phone bill:I got a check in the mail last night for 47 cents for the credit that is on my old cell phone account.
Canadian Best Buy Says Goodbye To Mail-In Rebates
By 4.4.07
Best Buy said consumers can expect to see prices remain low because the consumer electronics industry is so highly competitive. Instead of seeing fewer discounts, it could mean both retailers and suppliers take a hit on their bottom line. “I think you’re going to see us eat a little bit of it and the vendors eat a little bit of it,” Lotman said.
FCC Upholds In-Flight Cellphone Ban
By 4.4.07
Cellphones will stay banned from use during air travel, the FCC confirmed in an order released late Tuesday.
T-Mobile Confirms You Can Cancel Without Fee Over Texting Price Increase
By 4.3.07
Just like we told you, T-Mobile customers can cancel their cellphone contract without paying an early termination fee, but this time, T-Mobile itself actually made a public statement saying so!
Reader Kicks T-Mobile's Butt Over Denied Rebate
By 4.3.07
Kathlene used her mad consumer skills to force T-Mobile into honoring the rebate they were supposed to give her. She slayed their bogus reasons for denying her rebate. She escalated, and escalated. Finally, she emailed an extremely well-crafted letter to CEO Robert Dotson (pictured, looking like a pile of badass).
Bad Manners: Walmart Borrows Your Car Without Asking
By 4.3.07
My parents had a similarly horrible experience at Walmart last year here in South Edmonton Common, Edmonton, AB. They took their car into get an oil change, and left it there to do other errands. When they got there, the clerk at the desk could not ‘find’ their car and got all nervous. After about 15 minutes of ‘checking the lot’ the clerk gave in and said one of the mechanics had taken their car to go pick up a friend who’s car had broken down! My parents immediately got the manager involved, and the manager seemed to be taking the appropriate actions, and when the tech came back ~10 minutes later he wasn’t even apologetic about stealing their car to get his friend, he seemed to think he had the right to! My parents, being the nice pushovers they are, and seeing it as someone helping someone else and no harm was done other than ~20 minutes of time let it go. Walmart even made them pay for the oil change! The manager said he would call them back with a resolution, but none ever came.
Jonny’s parents should have explained to the manager that they charged $5.00 a minute for unauthorized car rental. —MEGHANN MARCO
Target Giddy Over Walmart's New York Defeat
By 4.3.07
The Minneapolis-based retailer views Wal-Mart’s move as “an opportunity,” but will take its time to find the right space at the right price, Jim Hogan, Target’s group vice president for New England stores, told M.B.A. candidates at Harvard Business School on Sunday.
Target is already alive and well in New York City, but has not yet made the move to Manhattan. —MEGHANN MARCO
Universities Settle Allegations Of Citibank Kickbacks For Student Loan Referrals
By 4.3.07
Eight universities agreed to stop accepting kickbacks from Citibank for private loan referrals, and five agreed to refund a total of $3.27 mil to thousands of students, following an investigation by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (pictured).
Don't Get Your Oil Changed At Walmart
By 4.2.07
The employees and their manager spent most the time spraying each other with air hoses and windshield fluid. 3 hours later, after seeing other folks come and go, we were told our vehicles were ready. We paid and left quickly, trying to avoid any other confrontation that would delay us even more. Flash forward to last week, my wife told me that her check engine light came on while going to work and the same on the way home.
We have to admit we didn’t know there was such a thing as a Walmart oil change before this letter.
Home Depot: This Faucet Costs $00.00
By 4.2.07
Sadly, the pricing mistake doesn’t carry over to the website, where the faucet is a cool $143.74. Maybe Tulsa has some sort of free faucet subsidy that we are unaware of. —MEGHANN MARCO
