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Because of a United employee misrepresenting cat carrier policies, this man endured a big hassle and is no longer flying United. [United Really Sucks]
BLOGS
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.
Free $5 Tylenol Coupons
By 10.17.07
Because of recent recalls of useless and potentially deadly children’s cold medicines, Tylenol is giving out $5 coupons. Be advised though that you have to install a special coupon printing program to take advantage of the offer. Turn on your printer, disable popup blocks, hit the red button, install the program, and a $5 coupon good for TYLENOL, MOTRIN, PediaCare, Benadryl, SUDAFED, St. Joseph, or Immodium pops out.
Credit Cards Encourage Spending More
By 10.16.07
A 2001 MIT study published in Marketing Letters found:
In studies involving genuine transactions of potentially high value we show that willingness-to-pay can be increased when customers are instructed to use a credit card rather than cash. The effect may be large (up to 100%) and it appears unlikely that it arises due solely to liquidity constraints.
No wonder Dave Ramsey encourages people trying to get out of debt to cut up their credit cards.
By 10.16.07
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Nitrogen in your car tires can marginally reduce air-loss, just don’t use it to replace regularly checking tire pressure. [ConsumerReports]
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.
Verizon's Plan To Share Your Call Data Generates Blog Scrutiny
By 10.15.07
Just a little over a month ago, we alerted Verizon Wireless users to an opportunity to opt-out of Verizion sharing some of your information with unnamed third parties. Specifically, the information is subscriber’s CPNI, which consists of what numbers you call, what numbers call you, and how much the call costs. It is not linked to your name, number, or address.
Free Facebook Gift: Walmart Ghost Cookie
By 10.15.07
Today’s free gift that social network site Facebook users can electronically give to each other appears to be a frosting-coated ghost cookie in a plastic bag. Oh, and the cookie says Walmart on it. Spooky. Now is time for a fun Halloween game. Make this simple marketing ploy into a metaphor, and then read a lot into it.
By 10.13.07
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You’re more likely to get sick in an office building than in an airplane. [Rick Seaney]
By 10.11.07
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Risky mortgages weren’t just for the poor and financially unsophisticated, spikes in high-rate loans were seen across the income spectrum. [WSJ via Consumer World Blog]
By 10.11.07
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Powermark Homes abuses DMCA to silence PowermarkHomesSucks.com without having to go through one of those pesky court thingies. [Consumer Law & Privacy Blog]
77,552 Of Graduating College Seniors Have $40,000+ In Student Debt
By 10.11.07
This graph from GOOD and FutureFarmers shows the number of graduating seniors with more than 40,000 in student debt by 2004.
AT&T's New TOS "Respects Freedom Of Expression"
By 10.11.07
BoingBoing reports that AT&T has altered the language in its reviled TOS to say it thinks it’s okay for people to speak their mind. Really, they hard-wired that into the legalese:
PowerBook Explodes, Man's Apple Crush Grows
By 10.10.07
Jimm Lasser went to sleep with his PowerBook sitting underneath his bed, and woke to find it bursting into flames. From the pictures, it looks like there was a battery malfunction.
After Blogs Cry "Censorship," AT&T Says It Will Change Terms Of Service
By 10.10.07
After getting roundly whiplashed for having a clause in their Terms of Service that could be interpreted as meaning they reserved the right to terminate the service of any customer who criticized them, AT&T DSL reached out to several blogs today with the following commitment to change their ToS:
We are revising the terms of service to clarify our intent. The language in question will be revised to reflect AT&T’s respect for our customers’ right to express opinions and concerns over any matter they wish. And we will make clear that we do not terminate service because a customer expresses their opinion about AT&T.
We’ll reserve judgment until the pixels dry. As of now, their ToS is still the same.
Consumers Fear Hidden Fees More Than They Do Identity Thieves
By 10.10.07
One in four adults incurred overdraft fees in the past 12 months, according to a new study by Gartner. One in six adults said they were more upset about hidden fees than getting their identity stolen and accounts jacked by a thief. Probably because you have better chance of getting your money back from the latter than the former.
Walmart's Total Retail Space Is Larger Than Manhattan
By 10.9.07
The latest issue of GOOD Magazine has a sweet graphic showing the comparative landmass taken up by the world’s largest retail chains. Walmart leads with a total square footage larger than Manhattan. By comparison, McDonald’s has a net footrprint of about 1 and 3/4 Central Parks. The image also shows 7-11, Blockbuster, Subway, KFC, GAP, Burger King, Starbucks, and Wendy’s.
Donning Copyright Cloak, DirectBuy Forbids Posting Of Cease And Desist Letter Sent To Consumer Opinion Site
By 10.9.07
DirectBuy got more pushback than they expected after sending a cease-and-desist to InfomercialScams.com over the site’s users calling the direct to consumer seller of furniture and home supplies a “scam” and a “nightmare.” Absurdly, DirectBuy even tried to threaten legal action if their cease and desist was published, saying it was copyrighted!
