A few weeks ago, we shared with you the claims of some loyal Sephora customers who found that their accounts for placing online orders (and more importantly, for collecting rewards points) had been shut down. While Sephora claimed that account shutdowns were aimed at people buying large amounts of makeup to re-sell, customers complained that the only thing the company looked at was whether a given customer had a Chinese surname. Now customers living in the United States whose accounts were closed are filing a class action suit against the company. [More]
civil rights
Judge: Abercrombie & Fitch Violated Civil Rights Of Former Worker By Banning Head Coverings
By 9.10.13
It isn’t just disabled customers or extra-large shoppers Abercrombie & Fitch has been accused of discriminating against — a judge says the clothing retailer’s Hollister brand was also in the wrong when a store fired a worker after she refused to remove her head covering, a hijab she wears for religious reasons. [More]
What To Keep In Mind When Recording Police
By 4.11.12
Before you pull out your phone to take a video of law enforcement officers at work, you should brush up of the legal ramifications of what you’re about to do and take care to protect yourself. A misstep could get you in trouble. [More]
Cops Can Search Your Cellphone Without Warrant, Cali Supreme Court Rules
By 1.5.11
Cops don’t need a warrant to go through your text messages when you’ve been arrested, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday. [More]
Cop Records Himself Detained At Walmart Receipt Check
By 12.23.10
A tipster has sent in an audio recording of himself being stopped at the Walmart doors for refusing to show them his receipt. He says that it’s in his pocket and he just doesn’t feel like getting it out. According to the reader, two of the men who stop him are sheriff’s deputies. When he asks one of them their name, the man responds, “John Doe.” Our reader, who says he is a cop of 20 years himself, says it took nearly half an hour of asking them whether they are placing him under arrest or if he can be on his way before they let him go. [More]
4th Amendment Underwear
By 11.29.10
Safeguard your junk while asserting your rights in this fetching line of underwear featuring the 4th amendment – the one about unreasonable search and seizure – emblazoned in metallic ink. The maker claims the words are readable on TSA scanners. “Let them know they’re spying at the privates of a private citizen,” reads one of their slogans. [More]
Poll: Americans Deeply In Love With Full Body Scanners
By 11.16.10
CBS says the have a poll that shows Americans overwhelmingly support full body “naked” scanners at airports, despite what some “civil rights groups” have to say about them. [More]
Guy Hassled For Refusing To Answer Custom Cops' Questions Responds To 700 Of Yours
By 9.13.10
The American traveler who wouldn’t answer the questions of the passport control officer upon re-entry to these shores beyond the legally required minimum has posted a 10-point response to the over seven-hundred comments his story received. Long-story short: “The only absolute and unqualified right of citizenship is to residence within the territorial boundaries of the United States; a citizen cannot be either deported or denied reentry.” U.S. v. Valentine. [More]
Guy Won't Answer Customs Cops' Questions Because He Doesn't Have To. Hilarity Ensues.
By 9.10.10
If you love our recurring posts about people who won’t comply with stores demanding to see their receipts, you’ll go Lady GaGa over the American citizen who refuses to answer customs cops’ questions beyond the legally required bare minimum. [More]
Walmart Asks You To Please Have Your Receipt Ready
By 8.4.10
So as to mentally prime shopper drones to show their papers, a MI Walmart has taped a sign to its cash registers asking them to keep their receipts out for the greeters. [More]
Chicago's 28-Year-Old Handgun Ban Struck Down By Supreme Court
By 6.28.10
The Supreme Court has decided 5-4 in favor of firearm owners, ruling that Chicago’s 28-year-old gun ban is unconstitutional. [More]
Walmart Holds Another Customer Hostage
By 1.11.10
Kerri (not her real name) says she was detained last week at a Walmart in Utah, after she declined to show the receipt checker her receipt on the way out. She says a police officer blocked her from leaving, told her to show the receipt checker more respect, and then had her go back inside and let Walmart examine her bags while he wrote down the info from her drivers license. [More]
IKEA Starts Checking Receipts
By 9.24.09
Party time is over at the Red Hook IKEA where, taking a cue from their big-box brethren Walmart and Home Depot, the Swedish maker of flat-packed furniture has instituted some intense receipt checking procedures.
Update: Sears Says 'We Got No Mosquitos'
By 8.12.09
Sears says there’s no Mosquito device at any of their locations. The person who picked up the phone at the Sears our reader complained about said there’s no high-pitched whining or buzz noises going on by the entrances or inside, intentional or otherwise. She had read the buzz about the complaint “on Twitter” and sent several “young associates” to check it out and they found nothing out of the ordinary, besides, of course, the plastic humanoids frozen for all eternity, forced to display an ever-changing array of affordable and sensible garments. A commenter says he thinks the real culprit is a cheapo CRT monitor:
Updated: Customer Thinks Sears Blasts High-Pitched "Mosquito" To Ward Off Teens In Store
By 8.12.09
UPDATE: We called the Sears in question and they say there’s no high-pitched ringing going on at this store. They didn’t install any Mosquito devices and they aren’t having any malfunctions right now that would cause such a ringing. The woman who picked up in women’s apparel said that in response to what was being said on Twitter, they even sent out some young associates to check out all the entrances and they didn’t hear anything.
By 2.10.09
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We suppose people in prison are consumers, too. The state of California’s prison system has just been declared unconstitutional due to severe overcrowding. CNN says “California must reduce the number of inmates in its overcrowded prison system by up to 40 percent to stop a constitutional violation of prisoners’ rights.” Raise your hand if you want to go home. [CNN]
Babies "R" Us: Don't Try Using Our Nursing Chairs For Their Intended Purpose
By 9.16.08
Reader Addie says that she was at Babies “R” Us to pick up some stairway gates and try out a “glider”, but when she attempted to use the chair for its intended purpose, she was told that she was not allowed to breastfeed on the sales floor.
Privacy: What It's Like To Fly With No ID Under The TSA's New Regulations
By 6.23.08
David becomes our first reader to fly under the TSA’s new ID policy. Formerly, if you refused or were unable to show ID you could still fly — but were required to undergo secondary screening by the TSA. Now they’ve altered their position slightly– fliers who willingly refuse to show ID are now barred from flying. The new rule went into effect over the weekend, and David says that in order to board the plane after forgetting his driver’s license he had to answer questions about his political party affiliation and previous addresses.
