Staying in a hospital can feel like the song in Les Miserables where they charge you if the window sash is down, and charge you if it’s up. Luckily, FiveCentNickle’s got a good writeup on avoiding getting nicked and dimed on your medical expenses.
consumerist kit
Record Phone Calls With Regular Ol’ Telephone
By 10.20.06
Here’s a way to record your customer service calls without using fancy future-tech.
The Consumer Ethicist: Stop The Telemarketers!
By 10.20.06
I have been getting a lot of calls from a number on my cell phone. I know its a telemarketer, so I don’t answer anymore. My cell phone number is on the “do not call” list, if that means anything… I guess not.
Get A Human Quicker By Pretending To Speak Spanish
By 10.19.06
Here’s a great hack for getting to a telephone customer service rep quickly: fake that you speak Spanish.
HOWTO: Get A Live Best Buy Human On The Phone
By 10.19.06
If you’re trying to call Best Buy and none of the blue shirts will pick up the damn phone, here’s a lil’ trick that may help.
Buying A Car: Always Up The Ante
By 10.19.06
Over at the Get Rich Slowly blog, they have an excellent email from a reader illustrating the importance of never caving in to the high-pressure tactics of a car salesman.
Protect Yourself Online With A Firewall Bank Account
By 10.19.06
It’s one thing to protect your identity, weed out phish emails and shop safely, but if you *really* want to prevent a thief from stealing your account online…
Holiday Shopping Secrets
By 10.18.06
• Befriend the store staff. Ask with your best bambi eyes if there’s any unadvertised coupons or sales going on that week.
Audio: Sprint Waives Activation Fee If You Ask Nicely
By 10.18.06
Looks like there’s yet another charge Sprint lets its retail stores charge you that is totally unnecessary.
Guide To ID Theft Prevention
By 10.18.06
Sometimes ID theft seems like the weather. Everyone talks about it, but what can you do about it? This online guide covers on the dangers, how thieves get your info, and how to protect yourself
Tape On Your Wet Cellphone Won’t Help You At All
By 10.18.06
In response to our post on Saving A Wet Cellphone, and specifically the advice we for some reason gave about trying to trick companies to pay for dropping the blasted phone in the sink by taping over the water damage sticker, an anonymous tipster wrote:
Dumpsterdive Like A Pro
By 10.17.06
There’s nothing cheaper than free and there’s nothing more free than trash. And like the saying goes, one man’s trash is another’s totally sweet HeMan metal lunchbox.
Save A Wet Cellphone
By 10.16.06
There was a time when the best place to charge our cellphone was near an open window in our apartment. One day, it stopped working and we took it into the Verizon store to get it fixed. The first thing they did was open up the battery case. On top of the Verizon LG phone battery was a small dot, normally white, that changes color when the battery has been exposed to water. As such, they phone was no longer covered under warranty and we ended up signing a new contract just so we didn’t have to pay full retail for their phone. We wished that instead we had known about these neat tips (again, at WikiHow) on saving your wet cell phone.
New Ways To Escape Your Cellphone Contract
By 10.16.06
Spotted some good tips on getting out of your cellphone contract, without paying a penalty fee, over at Wiki-How. Most of them we’ve posted already but here’s some new kids on the block.
Convert Interest Rates To Actual Interest
By 10.16.06
It ain’t alchemy but it can turn lead into gold.
How Much To Tip All Those Grubby Bellhops
By 10.16.06
There is a large number of petulant, pouting employees ready to freeze you with an icy shoulder if you don’t pony up a tip. It can be hard trying to figure out just whom social etiquette dictates you tip and whom can safely be ignored.
Buy Man Wear At Department Stores, Not Boutiques
By 10.13.06
If you need to fill out that whole corporate casual section in your closet, save some bucks by shopping in a department store. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity writes:
