Two Chinese entrepreneurs came up with a brilliant business idea: they bought regular old no-name condoms from a factory in one province, and bought packaging material with the globally recognized brand name of Durex, as well as Russian name brand Contex and China’s own brand Jissbon. When all of these big brand condoms started hitting the market at cut-rate prices, the authorities noticed, as the authorities tend to do. [More]
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Samsung: If You Want Us To Fix Your MP3 Player, You Have To Fly To Hong Kong
By 3.25.13 — Updated: 5.8.13
The beauty of shopping online is that it’s easy to bring products from all over the world into our homes with a little bit of typing and a major credit card. The problem with buying from abroad, though, is that products for different markets don’t come with the same consumer protections. And sometimes you don’t know that you’re buying a product destined for a different market at all. That’s where Cassi’s cautionary tale comes in. From a small discount site, Cassi bought a Samsung MP3 player. Samsung tells her that it was made for the Chinese market and that if she wants them to honor her warranty, she has to fly to Hong Kong. Being a sensible person, Cassi does not want to fly to Hong Kong over a $200 MP3 player. [More]
McDonald’s China Improves On Hamburger By Slapping A Couple Of Sausages On Top
By 3.20.13
Not enough meat on your McDonald’s burger? Throw another patty on. Still not sufficient? Forget going for a third patty, when you can just toss on a couple of sausage links. [More]
Pepsi-Chicken Lay’s Potato Chips Are Tastier Than They Sound, But Only Sold In China
By 12.13.12
If there’s anything that people across the globe truly need and want, it’s more fizzy sugar water. And so PepsiCo is investing more money in getting the attention and the business of consumers in the world’s largest market. Their latest attention-getting scheme and bit of inter-brand synergy between two of the company’s signature brands: Cola chicken-flavored Lay’s potato chips. [More]
FDA: We Can't Prove Chinese Jerky Killed Hundreds Of Dogs, But Maybe Avoid It Anyway
By 9.19.12
“Imported Chinese jerky?” you might be saying. “Who would buy their pet any food from a country whose safety standards would shock Upton Sinclair?” Lots of well-meaning Americans are feeding their dogs and cats imported treats. Every year, the United States imports 86 million pounds of pet food products from China. Some of that food is jerky that’s packaged and sold under brand names you may recognize: Waggin’ Train (Purina), Canyon Creek (Purina), and Milo’s Kitchen (Del Monte) are the most common. Now thousands of pet owners claim that these products may have sickened or even killed their animals, and demand recalls and justice. The only problem is that the FDA can’t find any proof of harmful chemicals or pathogens in the meat. [More]
Consumerist Friday Flickr Finds
By 8.10.12
Here are ten of the best photos that readers added to The Consumerist Flickr Pool this week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or just plain neatness. [More]
Chargebacks: Protecting You From Scammy Online Sellers
By 6.6.12
Ashley ordered a special occasion dress from the website of a manufacturer in China. She didn’t realize that the company was in China, despite the “About Us” on their site saying so, and the deeply mangled English on display on many of the pages. But no matter–sometimes shopping direct on Chinese sites can be a pleasant money-saving experience. This wasn’t. Her dress looked nothing like the photo of what she ordered, and the company will only refund her if she ships the fluffy dress back to China. That will cost $138, when the dress cost only $142. She’s not the only customer in this bind. So what should she do? [More]
This Is An Actual Sign Telling People Not To Have Sex In Cable Cars
By 5.2.12
Bad consumers are responsible for those signs that remind you not to litter, smoke, talk too loudly, turn off our cellphones, and apparently to stop having sex in cable cars. [More]
You Probably Shouldn't Trust Document Forgers With Your Personal Information
By 4.5.12
Sophisticated new ID-authentication systems mean that determined teens need sophisticated new fake IDs in order to get into clubs and buy booze. Enter ID Chief, a now-defunct site based in China. Provided with your photo, name, and Social Security number, ID Chief could provide you with a license from any state you choose, good enough to fool the scanners at even the finest liquor stores. The price? A money order for $75. Oh, and they sell your personal information to the highest bidder. [More]
Best Buy To Employees: "Don't Worry About Stores Being Closed. We're Opening Stores In China"
By 1.31.12
Back in January, Best Buy CEO Brian “Brooks and” Dunn confirmed reports that the electronics retailer would continue to shrink the footprint of its bricks-and-mortar stores. But a recent memo sent to employees says not to worry about those shuttered outlets because Best Buy is opening up new stores — in China. [More]
Cheap Chinese Labor Will Die On Jan 1 With A Minimum Wage Increase
By 11.11.11
Many of the things you buy and own were touched at some point by Chinese hands, and those hands are about to get a little more expensive. The Guangdong province in China, the seat of the country’s manufacturing might, is going to get a 20% minimum wage increase starting January 1st, 2012. [More]
U.S. Hoping Chinese People Will Travel Here To Buy Products Made There
By 10.3.11
With a large number of Americans still feeling the sting of the economic doldrums, the U.S. is banking on a hope that tourists from China will come to this country and spend money on products that were probably made in China. [More]
Feds Seize Deadly And Illegal Pest Poison Called "The Cat Be Unemployed"
By 9.21.11
The amusing name belied the deadly and illegal contents. “The Cat Be Unemployed” read the package, featuring a yellow background with a bright-eyed cartoon feline and thick black Chinese characters underneath. Within, was rat poison, and the chemical brodifacoum at 61 times its legal limit. It doesn’t kill just rodents. [More]
China's Demand For PCs Overtakes That Of U.S.
By 8.24.11
According to research firm estimates, China’s hunger for devouring PCs is finally surpassing that of the U.S. During the second quarter of the year, shipments in China rose 14 percent to 18.5 million while they fell 4.8 percent in the U.S. to 17.7 million. [More]
Only 1.2% Of American Spending Actually Ends Up In China
By 8.11.11
For all the ballyhoo about how Chinese products have infiltrated our shelves, it turns out that only 1.2% of American spending actually ends up in their coffers. How is this? [More]
Landlord Suspected Of Releasing Thousands Of Scorpions To Get Tenants Out
By 8.9.11
A man named Chen woke up recently to find a scorpion crawling over his body. Snapping on the bedroom light, he found his bedroom to be full of scorpions. He gathered his family and worked to capture several hundred of the arachnids. When they left the apartment, they found their neighbors had been battling the poison-tipped beasts, and their landlord, who wants them out to make way for a construction project, is suspected of letting them loose. [More]
China Shuts Down Two Fake Apple stores
By 7.25.11
Chinese officials moved to shut down two detailed fake Apple stores in Kumnmig after a blogger’s post exposing the counterfeits went viral. [More]
Counterfeit World Of Warcraft Theme Park Opens In China
By 7.22.11
The Chinese may have been the first to invent gunpowder and delicious pork-filled fried dumplings, but they have not caught up to the rest of the world when it comes to respecting intellectual property rights. Case in point, the recent opening of an entire themepark dedicated to World of Warcraft and Starcraft, two of the most popular online games in the world, in the Changzhou, Jiangsu province. It’s a sprawling $30 million megaplex spanning 600,000 square meters that aspires to compete with Disney and Universal Studios as a global theme park destination. And it’s a total knockoff. They didn’t pay Blizzard, the company behind those two games, a dime. [More]
