We know that Consumerist has readers in Canada; we can hear them gloating every time we write about health care. But for years, we’ve had something our neighbors to the north (unless you’re reading this in Alaska) have been coveting — Netflix. Alas, that piece of Americana is soon to go international when it launches a video-streaming service in Canada later this year. [More]
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Video: Guy Has Epic Meltdown At Mall Doors Because He Can't Shop During G20 Protests
By 7.8.10
Passions ran hot during the recent G20 summit and inevitable protests in Toronto. Riot police tromped, windows were smashed, monetary policy was set, and this would-be consumer screamed at the locked doors of the mall for a good two minutes demanding to be let in so he could exercise his inalienable right to shop and really show those capitalist pigs what for. [More]
Former Sandwich Artist: Subway Fired Me For Feeding Fire Victims
By 6.11.10
A former employee at a Subway in Nova Scotia claims that she was shown the door by her employer after she attempted to use her free daily sub to feed a pair of neighbors who had been put out of their homes by a fire. [More]
Family Of Four Dies In Sinkhole After Yard Silently Liquefies
By 5.13.10
The bodies of a family of four were found on their couch at the bottom of a crevasse after the area underneath their house suddenly gave way Monday. The culprit was an ancient one, the modern-day after-effects of a 10,000-year old inland sea. [More]
FutureShop Accuses You Of Scamming For No Good Reason
By 5.5.10
Adam was shocked when he tried to return a router and a switch to FutureShop and they accused him of being a scammer. All because of a little dust on the items. Well, that little dust turned into quite a dustup when a huffy assistant manager at the Canadian Best Buy subsidiary got involved. “Fine, I will play along with your little game,” she ended up saying to Adam once the actual manager overrode her and made her stop getting in the way of the return. What the heck? [More]
Holy Crap, The FreeCreditReport.com Guy Is French-Canadian
By 3.27.10 — Updated: 12.13.12
In celebration of the upcoming FTC-mandated drastic changes to “free” credit report advertising and web sites, public radio program Marketplace located the actor and musician who serves as the public face of FreeCreditReport.com in its horrifically catchy ads. That’s when they discovered something that, as they put it, means you will never look at the ads the same way again. The singing spokesdude, Eric Violette, is actually a pretty talented musician, but he isn’t the man singing the jingle. See, the commercials were cast and filmed in Montreal, and Violette has a distinct French accent. [More]
Man Sues Airline For Not Looking At His Scrotum
By 3.11.10
A man recently filed suit against Canadian airline Air Transat because the flight attendants refused to give proper medical attention… to his scrotum. [More]
Depressed Lady Loses Benefits Because Of Her Facebook Photos
By 11.20.09
A depressed woman has lost her benefits because her insurance agent found Facebook photos where she appears to be having fun.
MoneyGram Agrees To Pay $18 Million Back To Fraud Victims
By 10.20.09
MoneyGram International announced today that it would pay $18 million to the FTC to settle charges it allowed wire fraud to happen between 2004 and 2008. MoneyGram’s press release notes that they disagree with the FTC’s view of the matter, but $18 million is a hell of a lot of money to pay if you don’t think you were in the wrong. The press release from the FTC, on the other hand, provides plenty of detail illustrating MoneyGram’s negligence, as well as the criminal behavior of some of its employees who were in on the frauds.
Linens 'N Things Resurrected (In Canada)
By 10.13.09
In today’s marketplace, going out of business doesn’t mean you go away forever. Your storefronts may disappear, but you’ll just pop up again online—like CompUSA and Circuit City—or you’ll come back on someone else’s shelves as a brand, like Linens ‘N Things.
Complaint From Canada Prompts Facebook Privacy Changes
By 8.30.09
If you’re suspicious of Facebook’s use of your personal data, the social networking site has made some recent changes that may make you very happy. And for this, you can blame thank Canada.
Sunwing Airlines Also Breaks Guitars – Then Replaces Them
By 7.21.09
Musician Dave Carroll told us that United breaks guitars, but did you know that other airlines break guitars, too? Oh yes!
By 7.13.09
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Tim Horton’s a Canadian doughnut place that, I’m told, is awesome. The chain opened 12 locations in NYC today, prompting excited people to email us about it. Example: “Tim Hortons is in NYC! Tim Horton’s takes Manhattan! Exciting! Let’s tell the world!” The world has now been told, but help us out here — what should New Yorkers order on their first trip to Tim Horton’s? [Tim Horton’s] (Thanks, Dave!)
Data Roaming: Don't Try This On The AT&T Network
By 6.26.09
For as long as there’s been mobile Internet, there have been outrageous roaming charges for using mobile Internet abroad. Now, people affected by this issue have a celebrity spokesman: Adam Savage of “Mythbusters” fame.
Movie Theater Pays $10,000 Damages In Snack Search Lawsuit
By 6.2.09
What ruins your movie-going experience more than being searched for surreptitious snacks? Having your mom discover that you’re taking birth control pills when movie theater employees go through your purse.
By 5.20.09
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Sorry, Canada. GM is shutting down 42% of their dealerships north of the border. [Bloomberg]
Debt Collectors Using Cute Chicks On Facebook As Bait
By 5.5.09
Debt collectors are using cute chicks as bait on Facebook to track down and keep track of debtors. For some reason, someone at CBV collections decided to out the truth behind the online construct “Jenny Anderson,” that she was the tool of professional skiptracers, to all 658 of her “friends.” Reader Bryan, who happens to be a reporter, was one of them, and he took a snapshot and interviewed “Jenny” a bit. The story, inside…
Circuit City Puts The Source Up For Sale
By 1.22.09
With the demise of Circuit City, several of you wondered what’s going to happen to The Source (that’s how you say Circuit City in Canadian). The answer is that they’re on the auction block. [Canoe.Money] (Thanks to Mario Pants!)
