A few years ago, universal payment cards were a mini-fad online. The idea was that you carried one “smart” card which stored the numbers of all of your other credit cards. The most popular was Coin, which was ultimately acquired by Fitbit and shut down. Another card was Plastc, which has brought in $9 million through pre-orders since 2014, but has yet to ship — and is now out of business [More]
cautionary tales
Search For E.T. Atari Cartridges In The Desert Is Still Happening – Or Maybe Not
By 3.24.14
Last June, we shared with you the exciting news that a documentary film crew would be searching the New Mexico desert for a video game legend. They would dig up the desert landfill where millions of unsold copies of the notoriously terrible 1982 Atari game E.T. were allegedly interred. What happened with that? Not much, it turns out. [More]
Coby Electronics Shuts Down, Taking Customer Warranties With It
By 10.16.13
When consumer watchdog reporters across the country start doing pretty much the same story, it’s not a good sign for…well, anyone, really. The sad tale of the Coby Electronics customer is starting to repeat itself nationwide. A customer sent an item to Coby for warranty replacement, and never got anything back. Not long ago, Coby sold $400 million worth of gadgets per year. Now the company is dead. [More]
Be Sure To Specify ‘Weed Killer,’ Not ‘Every Plant In The Yard Killer’
By 7.18.12
Before an annual fundraiser he holds in his large backyard, a Minnesota man headed to the local garden center to pick up some weed killer in order to pretty things up. He spent $175 on five bottles of product from the company Ferti-lome. But the product he chose has a cousin in a similar bottle that doesn’t just kill weeds: it kills every plant in sight, then stays in the soil and prevents any plant growth for about six months. Guess which formula the garden center sold him? [More]
Invoking eBay Buyer Protection? Don't Use Multiple Accounts
By 5.10.12
Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea for De to purchase a diamond ring over eBay. But the site does have protections for buyers, and is notorious for siding with buyers in the case of a dispute. Just not in his case. Even though he got to deal with one of the rarest of beasts: an actual eBay employee over the phone, asking questions about the item using one eBay account and then using another to make the purchase was too much for eBay to understand. [More]
What Broke Sports Stars Can Teach You About Personal Finances
By 10.17.11
Athletic skill and financial acumen don’t always come in the same package, which is why many successful pro athletes run out of money once their fat paychecks stop rolling in. [More]
The $7,865.84 Verizon Bill
By 4.21.10
Yowza! David’s eyes popped out his head when he saw his $7,865.84 bill from Verizon. [More]
Make Only Minimum Credit Card Payments, And Your Heirs Will Still Be Paying During The Robot Wars Of 3510
By 2.20.10
Cracked shares a cautionary tale of what will theoretically happen to a person who makes only the minimum payment on a credit card balance of about $10,000. Like all solid financial advice, it begins with an Amazon.com addiction and ends with the Earth being destroyed two thousand years in the future by a power-mad Bank of America. [More]
Premiere Bathrooms Swindles Parkinson's Afflicted Elderly For $15,000 Bathtub
By 10.3.07
“My grandmother informs them once they are done that she will not be paying them any more money, and that this has gone to the states attorney’s office. On hearing this, one of the installers gets on his cell phone and calls his boss. They talk, he hangs up and walks into the bathroom and proceeds to take off the tub door. He walks out of the bathroom with this door and my grandmother says what are you doing and grabs the door…”
And This Is Your $4190.76 iPhone Bill
By 8.18.07
Like others, Pierre had found out the hard way just how extremely expensive international data transfer rates are…
If Your Contractor Doesn't Pay The Sub-Contractors, You Can Find Them Coming After You
By 5.11.07
If your contractor doesn’t pay his sub-contractrors, you can find yourself in a position where the sub-contractor is coming after your property and making you pay up, this cautionary tale from reader G warns…
