Usually when you purchase a new vehicle, you know you’ll have to buy insurance separately, and — depending on the terms of the sale — pay for maintenance costs somewhere down the proverbial and literal road. Tesla says it’s planning to eventually bundle all of that together for one price. [More]
bundles
United Airlines Creates “Essentials,” “Enhanced” Bundles For Extra Legroom, Checked Bags
By 1.4.16
In a day and age when it seems as if you can bundle just about anything from cable, Internet, and phone service to those little extras you’re charged during a hotel stay. So it makes sense that airlines would also offer the same options for customers looking for extra legroom or an additional checked bag. [More]
Want ESPN Without Having To Buy Other Channels? Maybe In A Few Years
By 7.27.15
As some cable and live-streaming services take a step back from offering costly sports-filled channels in their bundles, the parent company of the biggest sports network on cable is looking at other ways to continue its dominance, namely by selling direct to consumers. [More]
Apple Reportedly Planning To Launch Streaming TV Service This Fall
By 3.17.15
Coming off an announcement last week that it would carry thes oon to launch HBO Now streaming service, Apple reportedly has imminent plans to offer online access to live TV and on-demand content. [More]
FiOS: Lock In A $20 Per Month Price Increase With A Two Year Contract! Huh?
By 2.17.10
Our buddies over at the CR Money Blog noticed something odd about a new offer from Verizon. You can get FiOS for $89.00 for a year! Sounds good, until you realize that the prices goes up after 12 months– but the contract doesn’t end for another year. [More]
Dell Won't Send Me My TV And Home Theater
By 12.7.09
In mid-November Todd jumped on a sensational deal for a big-screen HDTV and a home theater system. He placed his order, sure that he wouldn’t find a more appealing offer on Black Friday, but says Dell has yet to ship his order or explain the delay. [More]
Couple Signs Up for $77.99 Verizon Bundle, Charged More Than Double
By 10.12.09
An Oregon couple signed up for $77.99 Verizon-Qwest bundle that included phone, internet and TV service, and were surprised to see the actual bill come to $158.49.
Being Forced To Buy Wii Bundles Makes You Very Angry
By 12.8.08
You know what makes you angry? Wii bundles. Here’s the situation. You go to the store to buy a Wii. You ask if they have any in stock. They do. You decide to buy the Wii — only to find out that they won’t sell you the Wii without forcing you to buy a bunch of other stuff. You become very angry. You write to us.
How To Cancel An Order You've Placed On Walmart.com
By 6.27.08
As we noted in this earlier post, it’s technically not possible to cancel an order after you’ve placed it on Wal-Mart’s website. A helpful reader says there are a couple of ways around this, although neither option will immediately free up any hold on your funds.
Walmart.com Holds $550 Hostage For PS3 Bundle It Won't Ship
By 6.26.08
Consumerist reader The Unicorn has $550 tied up in some strange Wal-Mart purgatory for a PlayStation 3 bundle that they won’t ship to her, even though it clearly states in their online terms that they won’t charge you for your order until it’s shipped. Her customer service queries are being met with content-free scripted CSR-bot responses. She writes, “Here’s the thing: don’t ever buy anything from Walmart, ever. I knew this, and ignored it, and now I’m paying the price.”
Best Buy Agrees To Hand Over $100 Gift Card That Manager Denied
By 6.17.08
A few days ago we reported that Cliff didn’t receive a $100 gift card when he purchased a PS3 bundle from Best Buy, despite an unpublicized corporate memo that seemed to say otherwise. The manager at Cliff’s Best Buy said “You can buy any other PlayStation and you can get the gift card, but not on that one.” This didn’t match up with what others were reporting, so Cliff sent an email blast to the executive level asking why the offer wasn’t honored. Yesterday a Best Buy rep called Cliff and said that they’d be mailing him a $100 gift card. We’re impressed the Best Buy resolved this so quickly.
Best Buy Responds (Partially) To $100 Gift Card Story
By 6.15.08
When Cliff sent us his story about the denied $100 gift card from Best Buy, he also sent it to over a dozen addresses at Best Buy HQ. A few hours ago we got this email cc’ed to us from a VP of Executive Customer Care:
Best Buy Ignores Internal Memo, Doesn't Honor $100 Gift Card Promo On Metal Gear Solid Bundle
By 6.14.08
According to this conversation over at the SlickDeals forum, Wal-Mart was offering a $100 gift card with any Blu-ray player purchase, including the PS3—and Best Buy Corporate issued a memo saying they would match Wal-Mart’s deal and offer $100 gift cards as well. Cliff tried to take advantage of this unadvertised special when he purchased a Metal Gear Solid PS3 bundle a couple of days ago, but the manager of the store refused, saying the bundle was off-limits: “You can buy any other Playstation and you can get the gift card, but not on that one.” Oddly, though, other members of SlickDeals were reporting success with the very same bundle around the country.
Qwest Sells Woman "Cheaper" Package That Costs More, Has Unmentioned 2-Year Commitment, And Requires New Modem
By 4.7.08
Matt’s mom, a longtime Qwest customer, called up the company to switch her long distance over from AT&T. The CSR suggested she switch over to a bundled package that would save her $11 a month and offer faster Internet connection speeds. What the CSR didn’t mention was that the new package required a 2-year commitment, that it wouldn’t work with her current DSL modem, and that it actually came out to about $3 more per month.
Nintendo Officially Disapproves Of "Bundling"
By 12.18.07
Bundling may be a popular tactic retailers employ to force customers to spend more money, but Nintendo of America’s celeb-President Reggie Fils-Aime has come out against it, finally: “Retailers have already been given feedback that we are not big fans of that,” he told Reuters this week. Is the pre-purchase deal with GameStop one way Nintendo is preventing that from happening this December? If anyone actually buys one of those empty DVD cases, let us know if they try to upsell you to a bundle.
Are Bundled Packages A Threat To Privacy?
By 9.16.07
The L.A. Times read the privacy policies of several bundled service providers and found that they are feverishly monitoring their subscriber’s activities. With the ability to monitor internet, phone, and television preferences, bundled service providers are able to track nearly every aspect of their subscriber’s digital lives. While Google retains personally identifiable for less than two years, some ISPs like Time Warner cling to your data for an astounding fifteen years in order to “comply with tax and accounting requirements.” It gets worse.
There are red flags to be found in each telecom provider’s privacy policy. A close reading of Time Warner’s policy reveals:
FCC Talks "A La Carte" Cable
By 9.13.07
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin thinks your cable bill is too high.
Customers Seeking Better Customer Service Buy Bundles From Telecoms, Not Cable Companies
By 8.2.07
Well done Charter, people would prefer to buy bundled services from AT&T because they think phone companies provide better customer service than cable companies. Both cable companies and telecoms rank towards the bottom of the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
