The Consumerist’s step-by-step guide to posting your complaint against a company online and getting results.
consumerist kit
More Price Tag Codes Decrypted
By 1.9.07
The popularity of yesterday’s “Target Price Drop Hack” post helped rustle out some other retailer’s secret pricing codes:
How To: Tell If Images Were Faked
By 1.9.07 — Updated: 2.27.13
As a skeptical consumer, you’ve probably looked at photo in the news or a piece of advertising and thought, hey, I bet that was faked. Now with a little help from Photoshop, and Tim Mathenson’s tutorial, you can tell.
10 Questions To Ask Your Doctor Before Surgery
By 1.9.07
Healthbolt’s got a good list of 10 questions you should ask before undergoing surgical procedure.
Get United Airlines Executive Customer Service
By 1.8.07
So you’ve got some intractable issue with United Airlines. You’ve called several times and spoken to supervisors, written letters, and you’re not getting anyway. It might be time to kick your issue up to executive customer service, a team of ninja specialists possessing superhuman complaint resolution powers. Here’s a guy to talk to:
Unsubscribe From Corporate Spam
By 1.6.07
In addition to their snail-mail block list, the Direct Marketer’s Association also runs an email block list. After providing your email address and responding to their verification, you can opt out of receiving a good chunk of email marketing.
Never Overstate Your Income On A Loan App
By 1.4.07
Never say you make more than you really do on your loan application. It’s:
Buy Drugs Online Safely
By 1.4.07
If Mexico or Canada are not viable travel destinations, you can also save money by saving drugs online, but beware of scam sites. (duh).
Threatening To Cancel Cable Can Get You Discounts
By 1.3.07
As we mentioned yesterday, threatening to cancel your cable for another provider can sometimes unleash a shower of freebies and rebates as the company tries to get you to stay.
HOW TO: Donate to Charity
By 12.28.06
It’s the end of the year, so we thought we’d offer some tips on charitable giving. There are only a few days left to donate items before the end of the year. Giving to charity is about more than just saving on your taxes, it’s also about helping a cause that’s important to you. You could save a panda, or cure a disease, or help someone who is hungry. Giving to charity is a way for you to decide where your money goes.
HOW TO Reduce Real Estate Taxes
By 12.28.06
How can you make sure you’re not paying too much real estate tax?
On-Line Energy Audit Tool for Fanatics
By 12.27.06
Want a “real” energy audit, but don’t want to pay for it? Introducing the Department of Energy’s Home Energy Saver! It’s a very intense energy simulator that takes into account the shape and square footage of your house, how many windows you have, shade trees, you local climate, the direction your house faces, the age of your appliances…everything! The site then suggests upgrades and calculates how long it will take for energy efficient changes to pay for themselves. Very, very, very cool tool for consumers who already know the basics and want to do more. —MEGHANN MARCO
Charitable Cash Donation Deductions Now Require Proof
By 12.27.06
Blueprint for Financial Prosperity scrutinized the new IRS rules about charitable donations and found an important change.
Don’t Buy Pre-Marinated Meats
By 12.26.06
To this end, we’ve uploaded a series of instructional videos produced by the “Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board” on “value-added cutting.”
