You may remember reader Mark, who left a bad Yelp review for a local tavern back in 2013, then received a request from the business’s new owner asking him to change or remove the review. Mark declined. That was a year ago: the owner apparently went through his Yelp inbox recently to rage at correspondents. Here is our gift to small business owners: another cautionary tale about how not to handle your online presence. [More]
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Copies Of ‘E.T.’ From The Atari Graveyard Sold For Up To $1,500
By 11.14.14
Last week, we shared the exciting news that a local historical society would auction a bunch of trash on eBay. Well, okay, that “trash” was really some of the millions of unsold Atari cartridges that were crushed, covered with cement, and left in the desert for three decades. They were left in the desert because nobody wanted them in 1983, but cartridges sold for as much as $1,537 on eBay, with auctions concluding this week. [More]
Linkwallet Emerges, Says Wallets Will Ship By End Of 2014
By 9.5.14
Since backing a hardware project on a crowdfunded site feels like shopping, people get annoyed when the things they “bought” don’t show up when expected. Like the Ping Wallet, which we featured here on the site yesterday. A year after raising $59,000, the smart wallet is the subject of a Kickstarter backer revolt. However, the company’s CEO has re-emerged and says that the delays are just because he wants to send backers a wallet that doesn’t suck. [More]
Donations Pour In, Replace Wigs Taken By Lowdown Thief
By 8.11.14
Police in Houston are currently dealing with a series of thefts that may or may not be related. Ten stores that sell hair in the Houston area in the last week have been robbed. It began with the theft of eleven wigs destined for a fancy spa event for women who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment. Good news: donors have replaced those wigs. [More]
Atheist Group Points Out Diner’s “Praying In Public” Discount Is A Civil Rights Violation
By 8.8.14
Last week, a diner in North Carolina made headlines for giving a 15% discount to customers who said grace before eating. While the owner argued that the discount was more about rewarding customers who express “gratitude,” it’s hard to ignore that the discount is described on receipts as a discount for “Praying in Public.” [More]
Topless Macy’s Shoplifter Puts On A Shirt, Turns Herself In
By 7.29.14
The department stores of California can rest easy: the woman who lost half of her clothing and her purse in a scuffle with Macy’s store security last week before fleeing the store and driving off has turned herself in. Police had her purse and identification, and an onlooker also wrote down her license plate number, so her identity and whereabouts were not exactly a mystery. She has been released on $20,000 bail. [San Marino Tribune] [More]
Comcast Solves Customer Service Issue, Keeps Calling To Solve It
By 7.22.14
Hey, remember reader Karen, who had trouble convincing Comcast that they had somehow locked her out of all online access to her accounts? She spent more than two weeks fighting her own one-woman Battle of Kabletown, finally getting the attention of the ComcastCares team with Consumerist’s help. It looked like everything worked out for her. It did…except for how Comcast continued to call her about her open “trouble ticket” for days. [More]
USPS Is Not Encouraging You To Buy Christmas Stamps In June
By 6.25.14
Maybe it was a terrible mixup or an employee prank. We’ll probably never know why a poster advertising Christmas stamps suddenly appeared in the window at reader Chris’s local post office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but we’re kind of relieved to know that it was not part of a massive Christmas Creep marketing push. [More]
Good News: Best Buy Doesn’t Really Charge $70 To Deliver Dryer Power Cord
By 6.17.14
Good news from Best Buy! Remember reader Christopher? He was shopping for a dryer on the Best Buy web site when he saw that while the delivery on his dryer is free, but delivery on his $30 power cord cost $70. There’s good news: Best Buy contacted him through us, and he learned that this was all a terrible mistake. [More]
eBay Issues New Coupons After Non-Coupon Ran Out Of Money
By 4.3.14
A recent promotion where eBay sent $10 coupons via e-mail to selected users was very successful. It was so successful that the money allocated to the promotion apparently ran out, and users who tried to apply the coupon only got an error message telling them that the coupon had “no remaining funding.” As promised, eBay has issued a new coupon that reportedly works. [More]
Americans Might Get Flowers And Beer By Drone After All
By 3.13.14
Great news for people who were looking forward to a future of receiving small deliveries on their doorsteps by unmanned drone. A federal judge’s decision last week means that a Michigan-based florist can go ahead and continue their tests of flower delivery by unmanned aerial vehicle. [More]
Stuck With Offensive Movies No More: Ultraviolet Will Let Consumers Delete Content
By 2.18.14
Last March, a reader contacted us about a free movie automatically added to his Flixster account that he didn’t even want to look at. He didn’t ask for the movie or download it on purpose, and he wanted it to go away. For some baffling reason, this was not possible. [More]
Police Catch Phone Thieves Who Robbed Girl Scouts Selling Cookies
By 2.12.14
What kind of monster robs Girl Scouts selling cookies out in front of a grocery store? Teenage boys, apparently. Police in Florida have made an arrest in the theft of a smartphone (a Samsung Galaxy S3, if you keep track of these things) from the sales table. The suspect is a 15-year-old boy. [More]
Family Claims They’re Fine With Server’s “Lifestyle,” Left $18 Tip
By 11.26.13
A few weeks ago, a New Jersey waitress set the Internets on fire with by posting a receipt, allegedly from her job, with a hateful message instead of a tip. “Sorry I cannot tip because I do not agree with your lifestyle & the way you live your life,” read the message on the receipt. The customer has now come forward to say that they left a 20% tip and would say no such thing. [More]
Vaseline Lip Therapy Is ‘Advanced’ So It Will Come Out Of A Tube
By 8.19.13
We had a very simple question for Unilever. If petroleum jelly or petrolatum has basically been the same stuff since the 19th century, and Vaseline Lip Therapy is 100% petrolatum, why does the tube claim that it’s “advanced”? This is not a terribly pressing consumer question, but it bothered reader Will. So we contacted Vaseline’s slippery headquarters to find out. [More]
What Should Sprint Customer With No Service Do? Ask For An Airave Femtocell
By 6.25.13
A femtocell sounds like it should be the name of the battery that powers a Fembot, but it is not. To grossly oversimplify, it’s a type of tiny cell phone tower that harnesses your broadband Internet connection and serves only your house. Our readers tell us that it might be reader Jay’s last hope to be able to talk on the phone in his own home. [More]
Victoria’s Secret Sends $50 Apology Gift Card, Still Doesn’t Make Any Sense
By 5.28.13
Last week, we shared the story of Debra, who returned $114 worth of merchandise to Victoria’s Secret, but only received $97 back. When she complained, Vicky’s response was that sending items back meant that her purchase was under the $100 threshold to get a $15 off discount. Except, um, her purchase was well over the limit, and she sent everything back. She complained again, and the refunded her $15. After our post ran, the chain tracked her down and sent an apology and a $50 gift certificate, along with a second explanation that doesn’t make any sense either. [More]
Suing Lancôme Because Makeup Lacks Magic Powers Takes Serious Chutzpah
By 5.3.13
All one observant Jewish mom wanted was to look pretty for the day of her son’s bar mitzvah, during the sabbath when she isn’t allowed to apply or touch up her makeup between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. She bought a bottle of Lancôme makeup online that boasted 24-hour coverage…but also expected the promises the product’s ad made to be literally true. We posted this story when it broke earlier this week, but got hold of some new information that makes the whole situation even more stupid. [More]
