Subway, a fast food chain that serves sandwich-like objects, has a problem: it has a restaurant on just about every street corner, and marketed itself with the slogan “Eat Fresh.” Yet its competitors are following trends, and people want food with simpler ingredients and fewer additives, and meat and dairy raised with fewer antibiotics. Today, Subway announced a policy change that’s good for public health: serving meat raised without routine antibiotic use by 2016 for chicken, and 2025 for beef and pork. [More]
good news
Bank Reverses Erroneous Foreclosure On Family With Very Sick Child
By 9.28.10
After the Washington Post reported on their plight, a family with a gravely ill child that got foreclosed on a day after they were told their loan modification was approved, the bank investigated and found that they had screwed things up. [More]
Mandatory Binding Arbitration Is Almost Dead
By 7.24.10
A provision buried deep within the recently passed Wall Street reform bill has the power to finally kill off mandatory binding arbitration, one of the more dangerous anti-consumer practices still sanctioned by law. While the bill includes a limited provision banishing arbitration agreements from mortgages and home equity loans, it also gives broad powers to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to kill off arbitration in all other consumer financial products. [More]
Walmart Racist PA System Prank Culprit Arrested
By 3.20.10
The police in Washington Township, N.J. have tracked down and arrested the alleged perpetrator of last weekend’s unauthorized PA announcement of “Attention Walmart customers: All black people leave the store now.” It will surprise absolutely no one that the suspect is a 16-year-old boy. [More]
Xbox Live No Longer Bans Gay People From Describing Themselves
By 3.5.10
One of Xbox Live’s more irksome policies has been that if your gamertag happens to mention that you are gay or lesbian, that’s not permitted. (Or if you use your real name, which happens to contain the letters G-A-Y in that order.) But Microsoft has changed their code of conduct, and this policy is no more. [More]
Whistleblower Nurse Acquitted
By 2.12.10
The West Texas nurse who went on trial this past Monday for reporting a doctor to the state board was found not guilty after just an hour of deliberation, reports the New York Times. The jurors who spoke to the Times after the case said it seemed pretty cut and dried to them. Now the nurse’s lawyers are focusing on their civil lawsuit against the county, the sherrif, the county attorney–who is described in the article as the surgeon’s personal attorney as well–and the hospital administrator who fired the nurse for going over his head. Hooray for whistleblowers! [More]
Hammacher Schlemmer Helps Consumerist Reader With Refund
By 11.25.09
This morning, the general manager of Hammacher Schlemmer saw the post about The Unrefundable Headache Wrap and left his contact info in the comments section. I forwarded it on to Tanya, and she’s just emailed me back with good news. [More]
Police Drop Theft Charges Against Pub Non-Tippers
By 11.23.09
Police in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are withdrawing charges against the two college students who refused to tip at a pub last month, says The Morning Call.
T-Mobile Posts Instructions On How To Restore Sidekick Data
By 10.20.09
If you’ve been waiting impatiently to get your data back on your Sidekick, here’s your opportunity. IntoMobile reports that T-Mobile has posted data retrieval instructions on its website. They note that most but not necessarily all contacts should be there, but if you’re one of the unlucky few who lost all of your data, T-Mobile has a shiny $100 gift card for you.
Senate Protects Employee Rights With Forced Arbitration Ban
By 10.7.09
Yesterday, the Senate adopted an amendment that will prevent federal funding from going to any contractor that requires its employees to use mandatory binding arbitration, instead of court, for sexual assault and civil rights claims against the company.
Washington Redskins Relent, No Longer Bankrupting Elderly Season Ticket Holder
By 9.5.09
Good news! The Washington Redskins are no longer suing a 72-year-old grandmother and real estate agent who was unable to pay for her season tickets after falling on hard times. The team has vacated the $66,364 judgment against her. Yay!
Walmart Responds, Fixes Ruined Transmission
By 9.2.09
We’re not entirely sure Consumerist is responsible for Walmart finally getting back to Jeff on his ruined transmission—and frankly, because of the length of time between the incident and his complaint, as well as Walmart’s reputation for silence on consumer complaints like this, we didn’t expect much to happen at all. We were wrong, and we tip our hats to Walmart for making good on a very expensive mistake. Read Jeff’s update below.
Robocalls Banned!
By 8.28.09
Today the FTC banned pretty much all telemarketing-based robocalls starting Tuesday, September 1st, 2009. At that point, “violators will face penalties up to $16,000 per call,” notes the Los Angeles Times.
Sunbeam Shows How To Do Customer Service Right
By 7.31.09
Too often, it seems that long-running companies shave away at customer service in an attempt to remain profitable. Sunbeam, however, proves that there are still companies out there who take pride in their products, and who make considerable effort to keep the customers they have.
National Arbitration Forum Exits Credit Card Dispute Business
By 7.20.09
Score one for the consumer over unfair arbitration. Just last week, Minnesota’s Attorney General sued the National Arbitration Forum (NAF) for fraud, false advertising, and deceptive trade practices—and now the company has agreed to pull out of the credit card business entirely. According to the settlement reached on July 17th, “The only business NAF can now be involved with is in arbitrating Internet domain disputes, a business it has long been in.”
Bank of America Charges Guy Twice For Money Order, When Told, Corrects Problem With Ninja Reflexes
By 7.3.09
Nathaniel got a money order to pay rent, and noticed Bank of America charged him twice for the transaction. He placed a call to customer service expecting a long, difficult battle, but was pleasantly surprised with the outcome:
Zagg Zags When It Could Have Zigged, Helps A Brother Out
By 6.30.09
David wrote in to tell us how he bought a cell phone, accidentally ruined the screen protector, then sought out the phone-condom manufacturer Zagg to try to buy a new one. What happened next was the stuff of a Frank Capra movie. Check out his story to see why David has gone Zagg-nuts:
Reader Has Amazing Best Buy Experience
By 5.19.09
Our reader The_Lone_Gunman just had a great experience with the Best Buy in Irving, Texas. Snark fails us at a time like this, so we’ll just humbly print his email.
